in the amazon jungle adventures in remote parts of the upper amazon river, including a sojourn among cannibal indians by algot lange edited in part by j. odell hauser with an introduction by frederick s. dellenbaugh to the memory of my father introduction when mr. algot lange told me he was going to the headwaters of the amazon, i was particularly interested because once, years ago, i had turned my own mind in that direction with considerable longing. i knew he would encounter many set-backs, but i never would have predicted the adventures he actually passed through alive. he started in fine spirits: buoyant, strong, vigorous. when i saw him again in new york, a year or so later, on his return, he was an emaciated fever-wreck, placing one foot before the other only with much exertion and indeed barely able to hold himself erect. a few weeks in the hospital, followed by a daily diet of quinine, improved his condition, but after months he had scarcely arrived at his previous excellent physical state. many explorers have had experiences similar to those related in this volume, but, at least so far as the fever and the cannibals are concerned, they have seldom survived to tell of them. their interviews with cannibals have been generally too painfully confined to internal affairs to be available in this world for authorship, whereas mr. lange, happily, avoided not only a calamitous intimacy, but was even permitted to view the culinary preparations relating to the absorption of less favoured individuals, and himself could have joined the feast, had he possessed the stomach for it. these good friends of his, the mangeromas, conserved his life when they found him almost dying, not, strange as it may appear, for selfish banqueting purposes, but merely that he might return to his own people. it seems rather paradoxical that they should have loved one stranger so well as to spare him with suspicious kindness, and love others to the extent of making them into table delicacies. the explanation probably is that these mangeromas were the reverse of a certain foreign youth with only a small stock of english, who, on being offered in new york a fruit he had never seen before, replied, "thank you, i eat only my acquaintances"--the mangeromas eat only their enemies. mr. lange's account of his stay with these people, of their weapons, habits, form of battle, and method of cooking the human captives, etc., forms one of the specially interesting parts of the book, and is at the same time a valuable contribution to the ethnology of the western amazon (or marañon) region, where dwell numerous similar tribes little known to the white man. particularly notable is his description of the wonderful wourahli (urari) poison, its extraordinary effect, and the _modus operandi_ of its making; a poison used extensively by amazonian tribes but not made by all. he describes also the bows and arrows, the war-clubs, and the very scientific weapon, the blow-gun. he was fortunate in securing a photograph of a mangeroma in the act of shooting this gun. special skill, of course, is necessary for the effective use of this simple but terrible arm, and, like that required for the boomerang or lasso, practice begins with childhood. the region of mr. lange's almost fatal experiences, the region of the javary river (the boundary between brazil and peru), is one of the most formidable and least known portions of the south american continent. it abounds with obstacles to exploration of the most overwhelming kind. low, swampy, with a heavy rainfall, it is inundated annually, like most of the amazon basin, and at time of high water the rivers know no limits. lying, as it does, so near the equator, the heat is intense and constant, oppressive even to the native. the forest-growth--and it is forest wherever it is not river--is forced as in a huge hothouse, and is so dense as to render progress through it extremely difficult. not only are there obstructions in the way of tree trunks, underbrush, and trailing vines and creepers like ropes, but the footing is nothing more than a mat of interlaced roots. the forest is also sombre and gloomy. to take a photograph required an exposure of from three to five minutes. not a stone, not even a pebble, is anywhere to be found. disease is rampant, especially on the smaller branches of the rivers. the incurable _beri-beri_ and a large assortment of fevers claim first place as death dealers, smiting the traveller with fearful facility. next come a myriad of insects and reptiles--alligators, huge bird-eating spiders, and snakes of many varieties. snakes, both the poisonous and non-poisonous kinds, find here conditions precisely to their liking. the bush-master is met with in the more open places, and there are many that are venomous, but the most terrifying, though not a biting reptile is the water-boa, the sucurujú (_eunectes murinus_) or anaconda. it lives to a great age and reaches a size almost beyond belief. feeding, as generally it does at night, it escapes common observation, and white men, heretofore, have not seen the largest specimens reported, though more than thirty feet is an accepted length, and bates, the english naturalist, mentions one he heard of, forty-two feet long. it is not surprising that mr. lange should have met with one in the far wilderness he visited, of even greater proportions, a hideous monster, ranking in its huge bulk with the giant beasts of antediluvian times. the sucurujú is said to be able to swallow whole animals as large as a goat or a donkey, or even larger, and the naturalist referred to tells of a ten-year-old boy, son of his neighbour, who, left to mind a canoe while his father went into the forest, was, in broad day, playing in the shade of the trees, stealthily enwrapped by one of the monsters. his cries brought his father to the rescue just in time. as the javary heads near the eastern slopes and spurs of the great peruvian cordillera, where once lived the powerful and wealthy inca race with their great stores of pure gold obtained from prolific mines known to them, it is again not surprising that mr. lange should have stumbled upon a marvellously rich deposit of the precious metal in a singular form. the geology of the region is unknown and the origin of the gold mr. lange found cannot at present even be surmised. because of the immense value of the rubber product, gold attracts less attention than it would in some other country. the rubber industry is extensive and thousands of the wild rubber trees are located and tapped. the trees usually are found near streams and the search for them leads the rubber-hunter farther and farther into the unbroken wilderness. expeditions from time to time are sent out by rich owners of rubber "estates" to explore for fresh trees, and after his sojourn at remate de males and floresta, so full of interest, mr. lange accompanied one of these parties into the unknown, with the extraordinary results described so simply yet dramatically in the following pages, which i commend most cordially, both to the experienced explorer and to the stay-by-the-fire, as an unusual and exciting story of adventure. frederick s. dellenbaugh. new york, november , . preface it is difficult, if not impossible, to find a more hospitable and generous nation than the brazilian. the recollection of my trip through the wilds of amazonas lingers in all its details, and although my experiences were not always of a pleasant character, yet the good treatment and warm reception accorded me make me feel the deepest sense of gratitude to the brazilians, whose generosity will always abide in my memory. there is in the brazilian language a word that better than any other describes the feeling with which one remembers a sojourn in brazil. this word, _saudades_, is charged with an abundance of sentiment, and, though a literal translation of it is difficult to arrive at, its meaning approaches "sweet memories of bygone days." although a limitation of space forbids my expressing in full my obligation to all those who treated me kindly, i must not omit to state my special indebtedness to three persons, without whose invaluable assistance and co-operation i would not have been able to complete this book. first of all, my thanks are due to the worthy colonel rosendo da silva, owner of the rubber estate floresta on the itecoahy river. through his generosity and his interest, i was enabled to study the work and the life conditions of the rubber workers, the employees on his estate. the equally generous but slightly less civilised benjamin, high potentate of the tribe of mangeroma cannibals, is the second to whom i wish to express my extreme gratitude, although my obligations to him are of a slightly different character: in the first place, because he did not order me to be killed and served up, well or medium done, to suit his fancy (which he had a perfect right to do); and, in the second place, because he took a great deal of interest in my personal welfare and bestowed all the strange favours upon me that are recorded in this book. he opened my eyes to things which, at the time and under the circumstances, did not impress me much, but which, nevertheless, convinced me that, even at this late period of the world's history, our earth has not been reduced to a dead level of drab and commonplace existence, and that somewhere in the remote parts of the world are still to be found people who have never seen or heard of white men. last, but not least, i wish to express my deep obligation to my valued friend, frederick s. dellenbaugh, who, through his helpful suggestions, made prior to my departure, contributed essentially to the final success of this enterprise, and whose friendly assistance has been called into requisition and unstintingly given in the course of the preparation of this volume. a.l. new york, january, . contents chapter i remate de males, or "culmination of evils" ii the social and political life of remate de males iii other incidents during my stay in remate de males iv the journey up the itecoahy river v floresta: life among the rubber-workers vi the fatal march through the forest vii the fatal "tambo no. " viii what happened in the forest ix among the cannibal mangeromas x the fight between the mangeromas and the peruvians index illustrations a little village built on poles the javary river the mouth of the itecoahy river nazareth trader's store remate de males or "culmination of evils" the street in remate de males general view of remate de males sunset on the itecoahy river an ant nest in a tree the launch "carolina" the banks of the itecoahy the mouth of the ituhy river the toucan the banks of the itecoahy river clearing the jungle urubus "nova aurora" "defumador" or smoking hut matamata tree the urucu plant the author in the jungle the mouth of the branco branding rubber on the sand-bar the landing at floresta the banks at floresta a general view of floresta morning coronel rosendo da silva chief marques interior of a rubber-worker's hut joão the murumuru palm a "seringueiro" tapping a rubber tree smoking the rubber-milk forest interior a fig-tree completely overgrown with orchids chico, the monkey turtle eggs on the sand-bank the pirarucu the last resting-place of the rubber-workers "seringueiros" joão floresta creek lake innocence alligator from lake innocence another alligator from lake innocence rubber-workers' home near lake innocence harpooning a large sting-ray shooting fish on lake innocence the pirarucu amazonian game-fish the track of the anaconda--the sucuruju the paca rubber-worker perreira and wife in their sunday clothes a "new home" sewing-machine in an indian hut the remarkable pachiuba palm-tree kitchen interior the beginning of the fatal expedition a halt in the forest jungle scenery forest creek top of hill page marsh-deer and mutum-bird jungle darkness creek in the unknown eating our broiled monkey at tambo no. hunting the fatal tambo no. a photograph of the author the front view of tambo no. caoutchouc process no. caoutchouc process no. caoutchouc process no. creek near tambo no. the author's working table at tambo no. forest scenery near tambo no. our parting breakfast mangeroma vase chapter i remate de males, or "culmination of evils" my eyes rested long upon the graceful white-painted hull of the r.m.s. _manco_ as she disappeared behind a bend of the amazon river, more than miles from the atlantic ocean. after days of continuous travel aboard of her, i was at last standing on the brazilian frontier, watching the steamer's plume of smoke still hanging lazily over the immense, brooding forests. more than a plume of smoke it was to me then; it was the final link that bound me to the outside world of civilisation. at last it disappeared. i turned and waded through the mud up to a small wooden hut built on poles. it was the end of january, , that saw me approaching this house, built on brazilian terra firma--or rather terra aqua, for water was inundating the entire land. i had behind me the amazon itself, and to the right the javary river, while the little house that i was heading for was esperança, the official frontier station of brazil. the opposite shore was peru and presented an unbroken range of dense, swampy forest, grand but desolate to look upon. a middle-aged man in uniform came towards me and greeted me cordially, in fact embraced me, and, ordering a servant to pull my baggage out of the water, led me up a ladder into the house. i told him that i intended to go up the javary river, to a place called remate de males, where i would live with a medical friend of mine, whereupon he informed me that a launch was due this same night, which would immediately proceed to my proposed destination. later in the evening the launch came and i embarked after being once more embraced by the courteous cor. monteiro, the frontier official. the captain of this small trading launch was an equally hospitable and courteous man; he invited me into his cabin and tried to explain that this river, and the town in particular, where we were going, was a most unhealthy and forbidding place, especially for a foreigner, but he added cheerfully that he knew of one white man, an englishman, who had succeeded in living for several years on the javary without being killed by the fever, but incidentally had drank himself to death. the night was very dark and damp, and i did not see much of the passing scenery; a towering black wall of trees was my total impression during the journey. however, i managed at length to fall asleep on some coffee-bags near the engine and did not wake till the launch was exhausting its steam supply through its whistle. my next impression was that of a low river bank fringed with dirty houses lighted by candles. people were sitting in hammocks smoking cigarettes, dogs were barking incessantly, and frogs and crickets were making a deafening noise when i walked up the main and only street of this little town, which was to be my headquarters for many months to come. after some inquiry, i finally found my friend, dr. m----, sitting in a dark, dismal room in the so-called _hotel agosto_. with a graceful motion of his hand he pointed to a chair of ancient structure, indicating that having now travelled so many thousand miles to reach this glorious place, i was entitled to sit down and let repose overtake me. indeed, i was in remate de males. never shall i forget that first night's experience with mosquitoes and ants. besides this my debut in a hammock for a bed was a pronounced failure, until a merciful sleep temporarily took me from the sad realities. remate de males lies just where a step farther would plunge one into an unmapped country. it is a little village built on poles; the last "blaze" of civilisation on the trail of the upper river. when the rainy winter season drives out of the forests every living creature that can not take refuge in the trees, the rubber-workers abandon the crude stages of the manufacture that they carry on there and gather in the village to make the best of what life has to offer them in this region. at such times the population rises to the number of some souls, for the most part brazilians and domesticated indians or _caboclos_. nothing could better summarise the attractions (!) of the place than the name which has become fixed upon it. translated into english this means "culmination of evils," remate de males. some thirty years ago, a prospector with his family and servants, in all about a score, arrived at this spot near the junction of the javary and the itecoahy rivers, close to the equator. they came by the only possible highway, the river, and decided to settle. soon the infinite variety of destroyers of human life that abound on the upper amazon began their work on the little household, reducing its number to four and threatening to wipe it out altogether. but the prospector stuck to it and eventually succeeded in giving mankind a firm hold on this wilderness. in memory of what he and succeeding settlers went through, the village received its cynically descriptive name. remate de males, separated by weeks and weeks of journey by boat from the nearest spot of comparative civilisation down the river, has grown wonderfully since its pioneer days. dismal as one finds it to be, if i can give an adequate description in these pages, it will be pronounced a monument to man's nature-conquering instincts, and ability. surely no pioneers ever had a harder battle than these brazilians, standing with one foot in "the white man's grave," as the javary region is called in south america, while they faced innumerable dangers. the markets of the world need rubber, and the supplying of this gives them each year a few months' work in the forests at very high wages. i always try to remember these facts when i am tempted to harshly judge remate de males according to our standards; moreover, i can never look upon the place quite as an outsider. i formed pleasant friendships there and entered into the lives of many of its people, so i shall always think of it with affection. the village is placed where the itecoahy runs at right angles into the javary, the right-hand bank of the itecoahy forming at once its main and its only street. the houses stand facing this street, all very primitive and all elevated on palm-trunk poles as far as possible above the usual high-water mark of the river. everything, from the little sheet-iron church to the pig-sty, is built on poles. indeed, if there is anything in the theory of evolution, it will not be many generations before the inhabitants and domestic animals are born equipped with stilts. opposite remate de males, across the itecoahy, is a collection of some ten huts that form the village of são francisco, while across the javary is the somewhat larger village of nazareth. like every real metropolis, you see, remate de males has its suburbs. nazareth is in peruvian territory, the javary forming the boundary between brazil and peru throughout its length of some miles. this same boundary line is a source of amusing punctiliousness between the officials of each country. to cross it is an affair requiring the exercise of the limits of statesmanship. i well remember an incident that occurred during my stay in the village. a sojourner in our town, an indian rubber-worker from the ituhy river, had murdered a woman by strangling her. he escaped in a canoe to nazareth before the brazilian officials could capture him, and calmly took refuge on the porch of a house there, where he sat down in a hammock and commenced to smoke cigarettes, feeling confident that his pursuers would not invade peruvian soil. but local diplomacy was equal to the emergency. our officials went to the shore opposite nazareth, and, hiding behind the trees, endeavoured to pick off their man with their . winchesters, reasoning that though their crossing would be an international incident, no one could object to a bullet's crossing. their poor aim was the weak spot in the plan. after a few vain shots had rattled against the sheet-iron walls of the house where the fugitive was sitting, he got up from among his friends and lost himself in the jungle, never to be heard of again. about sixty-five houses, lining the bank of the itecoahy river over a distance of what would be perhaps six blocks in new york city, make up remate de males. they are close together and each has a ladder reaching from the street to the main and only floor. at the bottom of every ladder appears a rudimentary pavement, probably five square feet in area and consisting of fifty or sixty whiskey and gin bottles placed with their necks downwards. thus in the rainy season when the water covers the street to a height of seven feet, the ladders always have a solid foundation. the floors consist of split palm logs laid with the round side up. palm leaves form the roofs, and rusty corrugated sheet-iron, for the most part, the walls. each house has a sort of backyard and kitchen, also on stilts and reached by a bridge. through the roofs and rafters gambol all sorts of wretched pests. underneath the houses roam pigs, goats, and other domestic animals, which sometimes appear in closer proximity than might be wished, owing to the spaces between the logs of the floor. that is in the dry season. in the winter, or the wet season, these animals are moved into the houses with you, and their places underneath are occupied by river creatures, alligators, water-snakes, and malignant, repulsive fish, of which persons outside south america know nothing. near the centre of the village is the "sky-scraper," the _hotel de augusto_, which boasts a story and a quarter in height. farther along are the _intendencia_, or government building, painted blue, the post-office yellow, the _recreio popular_ pink; beyond, the residence of mons. danon, the plutocrat of the village, and farther "downtown" the church, unpainted. do not try to picture any of these places from familiar structures. they are all most unpretentious; their main point of difference architecturally from the rest of the village consists in more utterly neglected façades. the post-office and the meteorological observatory, in one dilapidated house, presided over by a single self-important official, deserve description here. the postmaster himself is a pajama-clad gentleman, whose appearance is calculated to strike terror to the souls of humble _seringueiros_, or rubber-workers, who apply for letters only at long intervals. on each of these occasions i would see this important gentleman, who had the word _coronel_ prefixed to his name, joão silva de costa cabral, throw up his hands, in utter despair at being disturbed, and slowly proceed to his desk from which he would produce the letters. with great pride this "pooh-bah" had a large sign painted over the door. the post-office over which he presides is by no means overworked, as only one steamer arrives every five weeks, or so, but still he has the appearance of being "driven." but when he fusses around his "_observatorio meteorologico_," which consists of a maximum and minimum thermometer and a pluviometer, in a tightly closed box, raised above the ground on a tall pole, then indeed, his air would impress even the most blasé town-sport. i was in the village when this observatory was installed, and after it had been running about a week, the mighty official called on me and asked me confidentially if i would not look the observatory over and see if it was all right. my examination showed that the thermometers were screwed on tight, which accounted for the amazingly uniform readings shown on his chart. the pluviometer was inside the box, and therefore it would have been difficult to convince scientists that the clouds had not entirely skipped remate de males during the rainy season, unless the postmaster were to put the whole observatory under water by main force. he also had a chart showing the distribution of clouds on each day of the year. i noticed that the letter "n" occupied a suspiciously large percentage of the space on the chart, and when i asked him for the meaning of this he said that "n"--which in meteorological abbreviation means nimbus--stood for "_none_" (in portuguese _não_). and he thought that he must be right because it was the rainy season. the hotel, in which i passed several months as a guest, until i finally decided to rent a hut for myself, had points about it which outdid anything that i have ever seen or heard of in comic papers about "summer boarding." the most noticeable feature was the quarter-of-a-story higher than any other house in the village. while this meant a lead as to quantity i could never see that it represented anything in actual quality. i would not have ventured up the ladder which gave access to the extra story without my winchester in hand, and during the time i was there i never saw anyone else do so. the place was nominally a store-house, but having gone undisturbed for long periods it was an ideal sanctuary for hordes of vermin--and these the vermin of the amazon, dangerous, poisonous, not merely the annoying species we know. rats were there in abundance, also deadly scolopendra and centipedes; and large bird-eating spiders were daily seen promenading up and down the sheet-iron walls. on the main floor the building had two large rooms across the centre, one on the front and one on the rear. at each side were four small rooms. the large front-room was used as a dining-room and had two broad tables of planed palm trunks. the side-rooms were bedrooms, generally speaking, though most of the time i was there some were used for stabling the pigs and goats, which had to be taken in owing to the rainy season. it is a simple matter to keep a hotel on the upper amazon. each room in the _hotel de augusto_ was neatly and chastely furnished with a pair of iron hooks from which to hang the hammock, an article one had to provide himself. there was nothing in the room besides the hooks. no complete privacy was possible because the corrugated sheet-iron partitions forming the walls did not extend to the roof. the floors were sections of palm trees, with the flat side down, making a succession of ridges with open spaces of about an inch between, through which the ground or the water, according to the season, was visible. the meals were of the usual monotonous fare typical of the region. food is imported at an enormous cost to this remote place, since there is absolutely no local agriculture. even sugar and rice, for instance, which are among the important products of brazil, can be had in new york for about one-tenth of what the natives pay for them in remate de males. a can of condensed milk, made to sell in america for eight or nine cents, brings sixty cents on the upper amazon, and preserved butter costs $ . a pound. the following prices which i have had to pay during the wet season in this town will, doubtless, be of interest: one box of sardines $ . one pound of unrefined sugar . one roll of tobacco ( pounds) . one basket of farinha retails in para for $ . . one bottle of ginger ale . one pound of potatoes . calico with stamped pattern, pr. yd. . one collins machete, n.y. price, $ . . one pair of men's shoes . one bottle of very plain port wine, , reis or . under such circumstances, of course, the food supply is very poor. except for a few dried cereals and staples, nothing is used but canned goods; the instances where small domestic animals are slaughtered are so few as to be negligible. furthermore, as a rule, these very animals are converted into jerked meat to be kept for months and months. some fish are taken from the river, but the amazon fish are none too palatable generally speaking, with a few exceptions; besides, the natives are not skilful enough to prepare them to suit a civilised palate. a typical, well provided table on the amazon would afford dry farinha in the first place. this is the granulated root of the macacheira plant, the _jatropha manihot_, which to our palates would seem like desiccated sawdust, although it appears to be a necessity for the brazilian. he pours it on his meat, into his soup, and even into his wine and jams. next you would have a black bean, which for us lacks flavour even as much as the farinha. with this there would probably be rice, and on special occasions jerked beef, a product as tender and succulent as the sole of a riding boot. great quantities of coffee are drunk, made very thick and prepared without milk or sugar. all these dishes are served at once, so that they promptly get cold and are even more tasteless before their turn comes to be devoured. for five months i experienced this torturing menu at the hotel with never-ceasing regularity. the only change i ever noticed was on sundays or days of feast when beans might occupy the other end of the table. but what can the brazilians do? the cost of living is about ten times as high as in new york. agriculture is impossible in the regions where the land is flooded annually, and the difficulties of shipping are enormous. when i left the hotel and started housekeeping on my own account, i found that i could not do a great deal better. by specialising on one thing at a time i avoided monotony to some extent, but then it was probably only because i was a "new broom" at the business. as illustrating the community life that we enjoyed at the hotel, i will relate a happening that i have set down in my notes as an instance of the great mortality of this region. one afternoon a woman's three-months-old child was suddenly taken ill. the child grew worse rapidly and the mother finally decided that it was going to die. her husband was up the river on the rubber estates and she did not want to be left alone. so she came to the hotel with the child and besought them to let her in. the infant was placed in a hammock where it lay crying pitifully. at last the wailings of the poor little creature became less frequent and the child died. before the body was quite cold the mother and the landlady commenced clearing a table in the dining-room. i looked at this performance in astonishment because it was now evident that they were going to prepare a "_lit de parade_" there, close to the tables where our meals were served. the body was then brought in, dressed in a white robe adorned with pink, yellow, and sky-blue silk ribbons. loose leaves and branches were scattered over the little emaciated body, care being taken not to conceal any of the fancy silk ribbons. empty whiskey and gin bottles were placed around the bier, a candle stuck in the mouth of each bottle, and then the whole thing was lighted up. it was now getting dark fast, and as the doors were wide open, a great crowd was soon attracted by the brilliant display. all the " " of the little rubber town seemed to pour in a steady stream into the dining-room. it was a new experience, even in this hotel where i had eaten with water up to my knees, to take a meal with a funeral going on three feet away. we had to partake of our food with the body close by and the candle smoke blowing in our faces, adding more local colour to our jerked beef and beans than was desirable. more and more people came in to pay their respects to the child that hardly any one had known while it was alive. through it all the mother sat on a trunk in a corner peacefully smoking her pipe, evidently proud of the celebration that was going on in honour of her deceased offspring. the kitchen boy brought in a large tray with cups of steaming coffee; biscuits also were carried around to the spectators who sat against the wall on wooden boxes. the women seemed to get the most enjoyment out of the mourning; drinking black coffee, smoking their pipes, and paying little attention to the cause of their being there, only too happy to have an official occasion to show off their finest skirts. the men had assembled around the other table, which had been cleared in the meantime, and they soon sent the boy out for whiskey and beer, passing away the time playing cards. i modestly inquired how long this feast was going to last, because my room adjoined the dining-room and was separated only by a thin sheet-iron partition open at the top. the landlady, with a happy smile, informed me that the mourning would continue till the early hours, when a launch would arrive to transport the deceased and the guests to the cemetery. this was about four miles down the javary river and was a lonely, half-submerged spot. there was nothing for me to do but submit and make the best of it. all night the mourners went on, the women drinking black coffee, while the men gambled and drank whiskey in great quantities, the empty bottles being employed immediately as additional candlesticks. towards morning, due to their heroic efforts, a multitude of bottles totally obliterated the "_lit de parade_" from view. i managed to fall asleep completely exhausted when the guests finally went off at nine o'clock. the doctor diagnosed the case of the dead child as chronic indigestion, the result of the mother's feeding a three-months-old infant on jerked beef and black beans. life in the hotel during the rainy season is variegated. i have spoken of having eaten a meal with water up to my knees. that happened often during the weeks when the river was at its highest level. once when we were having our noon-day meal during the extreme high-water period a man came paddling his canoe in at the open door, sailed past us, splashing a little water on the table as he did so, and navigated through to the back room where he delivered some supplies. during this feat everybody displayed the cheerful and courteous disposition usual to the brazilians. at this season you must wear wading boots to eat a meal or do anything else about the house. sleeping is somewhat easier as the hammocks are suspended about three feet above the level of the water, but an involuntary plunge is a thing not entirely unknown to an amateur sleeping in a hammock; i know this from personal experience. every morning the butcher comes to the village between five and six o'clock and sharpens his knife while he awaits calls for his ministrations. he is an undersized man with very broad shoulders and a face remarkable for its cunning, cruel expression. his olive-brown complexion, slanting eyes, high cheek-bones, and sharp-filed teeth are all signs of his coming from the great unknown interior. his business here is to slaughter the cattle of the town. he does this deftly by thrusting a long-bladed knife into the neck of the animal at the base of the brain, until it severs the medulla, whereupon the animal collapses without any visible sign of suffering. it is then skinned and the intestines thrown into the water where they are immediately devoured by a small but voracious fish called the _candiroo-escrivão_. this whole operation is carried on inside the house, in the back-room, as long as the land is flooded. it must be remembered that during the rainy season an area equal in size to about a third of the united states is entirely submerged. there is a network of rivers that eventually find their way into the amazon and the land between is completely inundated. in all this immense territory there are only a few spots of sufficient elevation to be left high and dry. remate de males, as i have explained, is at the junction of the itecoahy and the javary rivers, the latter miles in length, and thirty miles or so below the village the javary joins the amazon proper, or solimoés as it is called here. thus we are in the heart of the submerged region. when i first arrived in february, , i found the river still confined to its channel, with the water about ten feet below the level of the street. a few weeks later it was impossible to take a single step on dry land anywhere. the water that drives the rubber-workers out of the forests also drives all animal life to safety. some of the creatures seek refuge in the village. i remember that we once had a huge alligator take temporary lodgings in the backyard of the hotel after he had travelled no one knows how many miles through the inundated forest. at all hours we could hear him making excursions under the house to snatch refuse thrown from the kitchen, but we always knew he would have welcomed more eagerly a member of the household who might drop his way. and now a few words about the people who lived under the conditions i have described, and who keep up the struggle even though, as they themselves have put it, "each ton of rubber costs a human life." in the first place i must correct any erroneous impression as to neatness that may have been formed by my remarks about the animals being kept in the dwellings during the rainy season. the brazilians are scrupulous about their personal cleanliness, and in fact, go through difficulties to secure a bath which might well discourage more civilised folk. no one would dream, for an instant, of immersing himself in the rivers. in nine cases out of ten it would amount to suicide to do so, and the natives have bathhouses along the shores; more literally bathhouses than ours, for their baths are actually taken in them. they are just as careful about clothing being aired and clean. indeed, the main item of the brazilian woman's housekeeping is the washing. the cooking is rather happy-go-lucky; and there is no use cleaning and polishing iron walls; they get rusty anyhow. the people are all occupied with the rubber industry and the town owes its existence to the economic necessity of having here a shipping and trading point for the product. the rubber is gathered farther up along the shores of the javary and the itecoahy and is transported by launch and canoe to remate de males. here it is shipped directly or sold to travelling dealers who send it down to manaos or para via the boat of the amazon steam navigation co., which comes up during the rainy season. thence it goes to the ports of the world. the rubber-worker is a well paid labourer even though he belongs to the unskilled class. the tapping of the rubber trees and the smoking of the milk pays from eight to ten dollars a day in american gold. this, to him, of course, is riches and the men labour here in order that they may go back to their own province as wealthy men. nothing else will yield this return; the land is not used for other products. it is hard to see how agriculture or cattle-raising could be carried on in this region, and, if they could, they would certainly not return more than one fourth or one fifth of what the rubber industry does. the owners of the great rubber estates, or _seringales_, are enormously wealthy men. there are fewer women than men in remate de males, and none of the former is beautiful. they are for the most part indians or brazilians from the province of ceara, with very dark skin, hair, and eyes, and teeth filed like shark's teeth. they go barefooted, as a rule. here you will find all the incongruities typical of a race taking the first step in civilisation. the women show in their dress how the well-paid men lavish on them the extravagances that appeal to the lingering savage left in their simple natures. women, who have spent most of their isolated lives in utterly uncivilised surroundings, will suddenly be brought into a community where other women are found, and immediately the instinct of self-adornment is brought into full play. each of them falls under the sway of "dame fashion"--for there are the _latest things_, even on the upper amazon. screaming colours are favoured; a red skirt with green stars was considered at one time the height of fashion, until an inventive woman discovered that yellow dots could also be worked in. in addition to these dresses, the women will squander money on elegant patent-leather french slippers (with which they generally neglect to wear stockings), and use silk handkerchiefs perfumed with the finest parisian eau de cologne, bought at a cost of from fourteen to fifteen dollars a bottle. arrayed in all her glory on some gala occasion, the whole effect enhanced by the use of a short pipe from which she blows volumes of smoke, the woman of remate de males is a unique sight. chapter ii the social and political life of remate de males the social life of the town is in about the same stage of development as it must have been during the stone age. when darkness falls over the village, as it does at six o'clock all the year round, life practically stops, and a few hours afterwards everyone is in his hammock. there is one resort where the town-sports come to spend their evenings, the so-called _recreio popular_. its principal patrons are _seringueiros_, or rubber-workers, who have large rolls of money that they are anxious to spend with the least possible effort, and generally get their desire over the gaming boards. the place is furnished with a billiard table and a gramophone with three badly worn records. the billiard table is in constant use by a certain element up to midnight, and so are the three eternal records of the gramophone. it will take me years surrounded by the comforts of civilisation to get those three frightful tunes out of my head, and i do not see how they could fail to drive even the hardened _seringueiros_ to an early grave. another resort close by, where the native _cachassa_ is sold, is patronised principally by negroes and half-breeds. here they play the guitar, in combination with a home-made instrument resembling a mandolin, as accompaniment to a monotonous native song, which is kept up for hours. with the exception of these two places, the village does not furnish any life or local colour after nightfall, the natives spending their time around the mis-treated gramophones, which are found in almost every hut. the men of the village, unlike the women, are not picturesque in appearance. the officials are well paid, so is everyone else, yet they never think of spending money to improve the looks of the village or even their own. most of them are ragged. a few exhibit an inadequate elegance, dressed in white suits, derby hats, and very high collars. but in spite of the seeming poverty, there is not a _seringueiro_ who could not at a moment's notice produce a handful of bills that would strike envy to the heart of many prosperous business men of civilisation. the amount will often run into millions of reis; a sum that may take away the breath of a stranger who does not know that one thousand of these brazilian reis make but thirty cents in our money. the people of the amazon love to gamble. one night three merchants and a village official came to the hotel to play cards. they gathered around the dining-room table at eight o'clock, ordered a case of pabst beer, which sells, by the way, at four dollars and sixty cents a bottle in american gold, and several boxes of our national biscuit company's products, and then began on a game, which resembles our poker. they played till midnight, when they took a recess of half an hour, during which large quantities of the warm beer and many crackers were consumed. then, properly nourished, they resumed the game, which lasted until six o'clock the next morning. this was a fair example of the gambling that went on. the stakes were high enough to do honours to the fashionable gamblers of new york, but there was never the slightest sign of excitement. at first i used to expect that surely the card table would bring forth all sorts of flashes of tropic temperament--even a shooting or stabbing affair. but the composure was always perfect. i have seen a loser pay, without so much as a regretful remark, the sum of three million and a half reis, which, though only $ in our money, is still a considerable sum for a labourer to lose. once a month a launch comes down from iquitos in peru, about five days' journey up the amazon. this launch is sent out by iquitos merchants, to supply the wants of settlers of the rubber estates on the various affluents. it is hard to estimate what suffering would result if these launches should be prevented from reaching their destinations, for the people are absolutely dependent upon them, the region being non-producing, as i have said, and the supplies very closely calculated. in remate de males, the superintendent, or the mayor of the town, generally owns a few head of cattle brought by steamer, and when these are consumed no meat can be had in the region but swift's canned "corned beef." then there are the steamers from the outer world. during the rainy season, the _mauretania_ could get up to remate de males from the atlantic ocean without difficulty, though there is no heavy navigation on the upper javary river. but steamers go up the amazon proper several days' journey farther. you can at the present get a through steamer from iquitos in peru down the amazon to new york. these boats occasionally bring immigrants from the eastern portions of brazil, where they have heard of the fortunes to be made in working the rubber, and who have come, just as our prospectors came into the west, hoping to take gold and their lives back with them. besides passengers, these boats carry cattle and merchandise and transport the precious rubber back to para and manaos. they are welcomed enthusiastically. as soon as they are sighted, every man in town takes his winchester down from the wall and runs into the street to empty the magazine as many times as he feels that he can afford in his exuberance of feeling at the prospect of getting mail from home and fresh food supplies. on some occasions, marked with a red letter on the calendar, canoes may be seen coming down the itecoahy river, decorated with leaves and burning candles galore. they are filled with enthusiasts who are setting off fireworks and shouting with delight. they are devotees of some up-river saint, who are taking this conventional way of paying the headquarters a visit. the priest, who occupies himself with saving the hardened souls of the rubber-workers, is a worthy-looking man, who wears a dark-brown cassock, confined at the waist with a rope. he is considered the champion drinker of remate de males. the church is one of the neatest buildings in the town, though this may be because it is so small as to hold only about twenty-five people. it is devoid of any article of decoration, but outside is a white-washed wooden cross on whose foundation candles are burned, when there is illness in some family, or the local patron saint's influence is sought on such a problem as getting a job. the religion is, of course, catholic, but, as in every case where isolation from the source occurs, the natives have grafted local influences into their faith, until the result is a catholicism different from the one we know. the administration of the town is in the hands of the superintendent, who is a federal officer not elected by the villagers. his power is practically absolute as far as this community is concerned. under him are a number of government officials, all of whom are extremely well paid and whose duty seems to consist in being on hand promptly when the salaries are paid. the chief of police is a man of very prepossessing appearance, but with a slightly discoloured nose. his appointment reminded me of that of sir joseph porter, k.c.b., in _pinafore_, who was made "ruler of the queen's navee" in spite of a very slight acquaintance with things nautical. our chief of police had been _chef d' orchestre_ of the military band of manaos. they found there that his bibulous habits were causing his nose to blush more and more, so he was given the position of chief of police of remate de males. it must be admitted that in his new position he has gone on developing the virtue that secured it for him, so there is no telling how high he may rise. the police force consists of one man, and a very versatile one, as will be seen, for he is also the rank and file of the military force. i saw this remarkable official only once. at that time he was in a sad condition from over-indulgence in alcoholic beverages. there are exact statistics of comparison available for the police and military forces. the former is just two-thirds of the latter in number. expressed in the most easily understood terms, we can put it that our versatile friend has a chief to command him when a policeman, and a coronel and lieutenant when he is a soldier. whether there is any graft in it or not, i do not know, but money is saved by the police-military force being one man with interchangeable uniforms, and the money must go into somebody's pocket. it might be thought that when the versatile one had to appear in both capacities at once, he might be at a loss. but not a bit of it. the landing of one of the down-river steamers offers such an occasion. as soon as the gangplank is out, the policeman goes aboard with the official papers. he is welcomed, receives his fee, and disappears. not two minutes afterwards, the military force in full uniform is seen to emerge from the same hut into which the policeman went. he appears on the scene with entire unconcern, and the rough and ready diplomacy of remate de males has again triumphed. one of the reasons for the flattering (!) name of the town, "culmination of evils," is the great mortality of the community, which it has as a part of the great javary district. its inhabitants suffer from all the functional diseases found in other parts of the world, and, in addition, maladies which are typical of the region. among the most important of these are the paludismus, or malarial swamp-fever, the yellow-fever, popularly recognised as the black vomit, and last but not least the beri-beri, the mysterious disease which science does not yet fully understand. the paludismus is so common that it is looked upon as an unavoidable incident of the daily life. it is generally caused by the infectious bite of a mosquito, the _anopheles_, which is characterised by its attacking with its body almost perpendicular to the surface it has selected. it is only the female mosquito that bites. there are always fever patients on the amazon, and the _anopheles_, stinging indiscriminately, transfers the malarial microbes from a fever patient to the blood of well persons. the latter are sure to be laid up within ten days with the _sezoes_, as the fever is called here, unless a heavy dose of quinine is taken in time to check it. the yellow fever mosquito, the _stygoma faciata_, seems to prefer other down-river localities, but is frequent enough to cause anxiety. they call the yellow fever the black vomit, because of this unmistakable symptom of the disease, which, when once it sets in, always means a fatal termination. the beri-beri still remains a puzzling malady from which no recoveries have yet been reported, at least not on the amazon. on certain rivers, in the matto grosso province of brazil, or in bolivian territory, the beri-beri patients have some chance of recovery. by immediately leaving the infested district they can descend the rivers until they reach a more favourable climate near the sea-coast, or they can go to more elevated regions. but here on the amazon, where the only avenue of escape is the river itself, throughout its length a hot-bed of disease where no change of climate occurs, the time consumed in reaching the sea-coast is too long. the cause of this disease, and its cure, are unknown. it manifests itself through paralysis of the limbs, which begins at the finger-tips and gradually extends through the system until the heart-muscles become paralysed and death occurs. the only precautionary measures available are doses of quinine and the use of the mosquito-net, or _mosquitero_. the latter's value as a preventive is problematical, however, for during each night one is bound to be bitten frequently, yes, hundreds of times, by the ever-present insects in spite of all. but if we curse the mosquito, what are we to say of certain other pests that add to the miseries of life in that out-of-the-way corner of the globe, and are more persistent in their attentions than even the mosquito? in the first place, there are the ants. they are everywhere. they build their nests under the houses, in the tables, and in the cracks of the floors, and lie in ambush waiting the arrival of a victim, whom they attack from all sides. they fasten themselves on one and sometimes it takes hours of labour to extract them. many are the breakfasts i have delayed on awaking and finding myself to be the object of their attention. it proved necessary to tie wads of cotton covered with vaseline to the fastenings of the hammock, to keep the intruders off. but they even got around this plan. as soon as the bodies of the first arrivals covered the vaseline, the rest of the troops marched across them in safety and gained access to the hammock, causing a quick evacuation on my part. articles of food were completely destroyed by these carnivorous creatures, within a few minutes after i had placed them on the table. i present here a list of the various species of ants known to the natives, together with the peculiarities by which they distinguish them. i collected the information from indians on the seringal "floresta" on the itecoahy river. _aracara_--the dreaded fire-ant whose sting is felt for hours. _auhiqui_--lives in the houses where it devours everything edible. _chicitaya_--its bite gives a transient fever. _monyuarah_--clears a large space in the forest for its nest. _sauba_--carries a green leaf over its head. _tachee_--a black ant whose bite gives a transient fever. _tanajura_--one inch long and edible when fried in lard. _taxyrana_--enters the houses like the _auhiqui_. _termita_--builds a typical cone-shaped nest in the dry part of the forests. _tracoã_--its bite gives no fever, but the effect is of long duration. _tucandeira_--black and an inch and a half long, with a bite not only painful but absolutely dangerous. _tucushee_--gives a transient fever. _uça_--builds large nests in the trees. while convalescing from my first attack of swamp-fever, i had occasion to study a most remarkable species of spider which was a fellow lodger in the hut i then occupied. in size, the specimen was very respectable, being able to cover a circle of nearly six inches in diameter. this spider subsists on large insects and at times on the smaller varieties of birds, like finches, etc. its scientific name is _mygale avicularia_. the natives dread it for its poisonous bite and on account of its great size and hairy body. the first time i saw the one in my hut was when it was climbing the wall in close proximity to my hammock. i got up and tried to crush it with my fist, but the spider made a lightning-quick move and stopped about five or six inches from where i hit the wall. several times i repeated the attack without success, the spider always succeeding in moving before it could be touched. somewhat out of temper, i procured a hammer of large size and continued the chase until i was exhausted. when my hand grew steady again, i took my automatic pistol, used for big game, and, taking a steady aim on the fat body of the spider, i fired. but with another of the remarkably quick movements the spider landed the usual safe distance from destruction. then i gave it up. for all i know, that animal, i can scarcely call it an insect after using a big game pistol on it, is still occupying the hut. about nine months later i was telling captain barnett, of the r.m.s. _napo_ which picked me up on the amazon on my way home, about my ill success in hunting the spider. "lange," he asked, "why didn't you try for him with a frying-pan?" chapter iii other incidents during my stay in remate de males remate de males, with nazareth and são francisco, is set down in the midst of absolute wilderness. directly behind the village is the almost impenetrable maze of tropical jungle. if with the aid of a machete one gets a minute's walk into it, he cannot find his way out except by the cackling of the hens around the houses. a dense wall of vegetation shuts in the settlement on every side. tall palms stand above the rest of the trees; lower down is a mass of smaller but more luxuriant plants, while everywhere is the twining, tangled _lianas_, making the forest a dark labyrinth of devious ways. here and there are patches of tropical blossoms, towering ferns, fungoid growths, or some rare and beautiful orchid whose parasitical roots have attached themselves to a tree trunk. and there is always the subdued confusion that betokens the teeming animal life. looking up the itecoahy river, one can see nothing but endless forest and jungle. and the same scene continues for a distance of some eight or nine hundred miles until reaching the headwaters of the river somewhere far up in bolivian territory. no settlements are to be found up there; a few _seringales_ from seventy-five to a hundred miles apart constitute the only human habitations in this large area. so wild and desolate is this river that its length and course are only vaguely indicated even on the best brazilian maps. it is popularly supposed that the itecoahy takes its actual rise about two weeks' journey from its nominal head in an absolutely unexplored region. i found the life very monotonous in remate de males, especially when the river began to go down. this meant the almost complete ending of communication with the outer world; news from home reached me seldom and there was no relief from the isolation. in addition, the various torments of the region are worse at this season. sitting beside the muddy banks of the itecoahy at sunset, when the vapours arose from the immense swamps and the sky was coloured in fantastical designs across the western horizon, was the only relief from the sweltering heat of the day, for a brief time before the night and its tortures began. soon the chorus of a million frogs would start. at first is heard only the croaking of a few; then gradually more and more add their music until a loud penetrating throb makes the still, vapour-laden atmosphere vibrate. the sound reminded me strikingly of that which is heard when pneumatic hammers are driving home rivets through steel beams. there were other frogs whose louder and deeper-pitched tones could be distinguished through the main nocturnal song. these seemed always to be grumbling something about "_rubberboots--rubberboots_." by-and-bye one would get used to the sound and it would lose attention. the water in the river floated slowly on its long journey towards the ocean, almost miles away. large dolphins sometimes came to the surface, saluting the calm evening with a loud snort, and disappeared again with a slow, graceful movement. almost every evening i could hear issuing from the forest a horrible roar. it came from the farthest depths and seemed as if it might well represent the mingled cries of some huge bull and a prowling jaguar that had attacked him unawares. yet it all came, i found, from one throat, that of the howling monkey. he will sit alone for hours in a tree-top and pour forth these dreadful sounds which are well calculated to make the lonely wanderer stop and light a camp-fire for protection. on the other hand, is heard the noise of the domestic animals of the village. cows, calves, goats, and pigs seemed to make a habit of exercising their vocal organs thoroughly before retiring. dogs bark at the moon; cats chase rats through openings of the palm-leaf roofs, threatening every moment to fall, pursued and pursuers, down upon the hammocks. vampires flutter around from room to room, occasionally resting on the tops of the iron partitions, and when they halt, continuing to chirp for a while like hoarse sparrows. occasionally there will come out of the darkness of the river a disagreeable sound as if some huge animal were gasping for its last breath before suffocating in the mud. the sound has its effect, even upon animals, coming as it does out of the black mysterious night, warning them not to venture far for fear some uncanny force may drag them to death in the dismal waters. it is the night call of the alligator. the sweet plaintive note of a little partridge, called _inamboo_, would sometimes tremble through the air and compel me to forget the spell of unholy sounds arising from the beasts of the jungle and river. throughout the evening this amorous bird would call to its mate, and somewhere there would be an answering call back in the woods. many were the nights when, weak with fever, i awoke and listened to their calling and answering. yet never did they seem to achieve the bliss of meeting, for after a brief lull the calling and answering voices would again take up their pretty song. slowly the days went by and, with their passing, the river fell lower and lower until the waters receded from the land itself and were confined once more to their old course in the river-bed. as the ground began to dry, the time came when the mosquitoes were particularly vicious. they multiplied by the million. soon the village was filled with malaria, and the hypodermic needle was in full activity. a crowd of about fifty indians from the curuça river had been brought to remate de males by launch. they belonged to the territory owned by mons. danon and slept outside the store-rooms of this plutocrat. men, women, and children arranged their quarters in the soft mud until they could be taken to his rubber estate some hundred miles up the javary river. they were still waiting to be equipped with rubber-workers' outfits when the malaria began its work among them. the poor mistreated indians seemed to have been literally saturated with the germs, as they always slept without any protection whatever; consequently their systems offered less resistance to the disease than the ordinary brazilian's. in four days there were only twelve persons left out of fifty-two. during the last weeks of my stay in remate de males, i received an invitation to take lunch with the local department secretary, professor silveiro, an extremely hospitable and well educated brazilian. the importance of such an invitation meant for me a radical change in appearance--an extensive alteration that could not be wrought without considerable pains. i had to have a five-months' beard shaved off, and then get into my best new york shirt, not to forget a high collar. i also considered that the occasion necessitated the impressiveness of a frock-coat, which i produced at the end of a long search among my baggage and proceeded to don after extracting a tarantula and some stray scolopendra from the sleeves and pockets. the sensation of wearing a stiff collar was novel, and not altogether welcome, since the temperature was near the ° mark. the reward for my discomfort came, however, in the shape of the best meal i ever had in the amazon region. during these dull days i was made happy by finding a copy of mark twain's _a tramp abroad_ in a store over in nazareth on the peruvian side of the javary river. i took it with me to my hammock, hailing with joy the opportunity of receiving in the wilderness something that promised a word from "god's own country." but before i could begin the book i had an attack of swamp-fever that laid me up four days. during one of the intermissions, when i was barely able to move around, i commenced reading mark twain. it did not take more than two pages of the book to make me forget all about my fever. when i got to the ninth page, i laughed as i had not laughed for months, and page made me roar so athletically that i lost my balance and fell out of my hammock on the floor. i soon recovered and crept back into the hammock, but out i went when i reached page , and repeated the performance at pages , , and until the supplementary excitement became monotonous. whereupon i procured some rags and excelsior, made a bed underneath the hammock, and proceeded to enjoy our eminent humourist's experience in peace. chapter iv the journey up the itecoahy river with the subsiding of the waters came my long-desired opportunity to travel the course of the unmapped itecoahy. in the month of june a local trader issued a notice that he was to send a launch up the river for trading purposes and to take the workers who had been sojourning in remate de males back to their places of employment, to commence the annual extraction of rubber. the launch was scheduled to sail on a monday and would ascend the itecoahy to its headwaters, or nearly so, thus passing the mouths of the ituhy, the branco, and las pedras rivers, affluents of considerable size which are nevertheless unrecorded on maps. the total length of the branco river is over three hundred miles, and it has on its shores several large and productive _seringales_. when on my way up the amazon to the brazilian frontier, i had stopped at manaos, the capital of the state of amazonas. there i had occasion to consult an englishman about the javary region. in answer to one of my inquiries, i received the following letter, which speaks for itself: referring to our conversation of recent date, i should wish once more to impress upon your mind the perilous nature of your journey, and i am not basing this information upon hearsay, but upon personal experience, having traversed the region in question quite recently. owing to certain absolutely untrue articles written by one h----, claiming to be your countryman, i am convinced that you can not rely upon the protection of the employees of this company, as having been so badly libelled by one, they are apt to forget that such articles were not at your instigation, and as is often the case the innocent may suffer for the guilty. on the other hand, without this protection you will find yourself absolutely at the mercy of savage and cannibal indians. i have this day spoken to the consul here at manaos and explained to him that, although i have no wish to deter you from your voyage, you must be considered as the only one responsible in any way for any ill that may befall you. finally, i hope that before disregarding this advice (which i offer you in a perfectly friendly spirit) you will carefully consider the consequences which such a voyage might produce, and, frankly speaking, i consider that your chance of bringing it to a successful termination is nil. believe me to be, etc., j.a.m. during the time of my journey up the river and of my stay in remate de males, i had seen nothing of the particular dangers mentioned in this letter. the only indians i had seen were such as smoked long black cigars and wore pink or blue pajamas. the letter further developed an interest, started by the hints of life in the interior, which had come to me in the civilisation of remate de males. i was, of course, particularly desirous of finding out all i could about the wild people of the inland regions, since i could not recall that much had been written about them. henry w. bates, the famous explorer who ascended the amazon as far as teffé, came within miles of the mouth of the javary river in the year , and makes the following statement about the indigenous tribes of this region: the only other tribe of this neighbourhood concerning which i obtained any information was the mangeromas, whose territory embraces several hundred miles of the western banks of the river javary, an affluent of the solimoës, a hundred and twenty miles beyond são paolo da olivença. these are fierce and indomitable and hostile people, like the araras of the madeira river. they are also cannibals. the navigation of the javary river is rendered impossible on account of the mangeromas lying in wait on its banks to intercept and murder all travellers. now to return to the letter; i thought that perhaps my english friend had overdrawn things a little in a laudable endeavour to make me more cautious. in other words, it was for me the old story over again, of learning at the cost of experience--the story of disregarded advice, and so i went on in my confidence. when the announcement of the launch's sailing came, i went immediately for an interview with the owner, a brazilian named pedro smith, whose kindness i shall never forget. he offered me the chance of making the entire trip on his boat, but would accept no remuneration, saying that i would find conditions on the little overcrowded vessel very uncomfortable, and that the trip would not be free from actual bodily risk. when even he tried to dissuade me, i began to think more seriously of the englishman's letter, but i told him that i had fully made up my mind to penetrate the mystery of those little known regions. i use the term "little known" in the sense that while they are well enough known to the handful of indians and rubber-workers yet they are "terra incognita" to the outside world. the white man has not as yet traversed this itecoahy and its affluents, although it would be a system of no little importance if located in some other country--for instance, in the united states. my object was to study the rubber-worker at his labour, to find out the true length of the itecoahy river, and to photograph everything worth while. i had with me all the materials and instruments necessary--at least so i thought. the photographic outfit consisted of a graflex camera with a shutter of high speed, which would come handy when taking animals in motion, and a large-view camera with ten dozen photographic plates and a corresponding amount of prepared paper. in view of the difficulties of travel, i had decided to develop my plates as i went along and make prints in the field, rather than run the risk of ruining them by some unlucky accident. perhaps at the very end of the trip a quantity of undeveloped plates might be lost, and such a calamity would mean the failure of the whole journey in one of its most important particulars. such a disastrous result was foreshadowed when a porter, loaded with my effects, clambering down the sixty-foot incline extreme low water made at remate de males, lost his balance in the last few feet of the descent and dropped into the water, completely ruining a whole pack of photographic supplies whose arrival from new york i had been awaiting for months. luckily this was at the beginning of this trip and i could replace them from my general stock. a hypodermic outfit, quinine, and a few bistouries completed my primitive medical department. later on these proved of the greatest value. i would never think of omitting such supplies even in a case where a few pounds of extra weight are not rashly to be considered. it turned out that in the regions i penetrated, medical assistance was a thing unheard of within a radius of several hundred miles. a luger automatic pistol of a calibre of nine millimetres, and several hundred cartridges, were my armament, and for weeks this pistol became my only means of providing a scant food supply. thus equipped i was on hand early in the morning of the day of starting, anxious to see what sort of shipmates i was to have. they proved all to be _seringueiros_, bound for the upper river. our craft was a forty-foot launch called the _carolina_. there was a large crowd of the passengers assembled when i arrived, and they kept coming. to my amazement, it developed that one hundred and twenty souls were expected to find room on board, together with several tons of merchandise. the mystery of how the load was to be accommodated was somewhat solved, when i saw them attach a lighter to each side of the launch, and again, when some of the helpers brought up a fleet of dugouts which they proceeded to make fast by a stern hawser. but the mystery was again increased, when i was told that none of the passengers intended to occupy permanent quarters on the auxiliary fleet. as i was already taken care of, i resolved that if the problem was to worry anybody, it would be the _seringueiros_, though i realised that i would be travelling by "slow steamer" when the little old-fashioned _carolina_ should at length begin the task of fighting the five-mile current with this tagging fleet to challenge its claim to a twelve-horse-power engine. the _seringueiros_ and their families occupied every foot of space that was not reserved for merchandise. hammocks were strung over and under each other in every direction, secured to the posts which supported the roof. between them the rubber-coated knapsacks were suspended. on the roof was an indiscriminate mass of chicken-coops with feathered occupants; and humanity. about midships on each lighter was a store-room, one of which was occupied by the clerk who accompanied the launch. in this they generously offered me the opportunity of making my headquarters during the trip. the room was about six feet by eight and contained a multitude of luxuries and necessities for the rubber-workers. there were . winchester rifles in large numbers, the usual, indispensable collins machete, and tobacco in six-feet-long, spindle-shaped rolls. there was also the "***" hennessy cognac, selling at , reis ($ . gold) a bottle; and every variety of canned edible from california pears to horlick's malted milk, from armour's corned beef to heinz's sweet pickles. every one was anxious to get started; i, who had more to look forward to than months of monotonous labour in the forests, not the least. at last the owner of the boat arrived, it being then two o'clock in the afternoon. he came aboard to shake hands with everyone and after a long period of talking pulled the cord leading to the steam-whistle, giving the official signal for departure. it then developed that one of the firemen was missing. without him we could not start on our journey. the whistling was continued for fully forty minutes without any answer. finally, the longed-for gentleman was seen emerging unsteadily from the local gin-shop with no sign of haste. he managed to crawl on board and we were off, amid much noise and firing of guns. after a two-hours' run we stopped at a place consisting of two houses and a banana patch. evidently the owner of this property made a side-business of supplying palm-wood as fuel for the launch. a load was carried on board and stowed beside the boiler, and we went once more on our way. i cannot say that the immediate surroundings were comfortable. there were people everywhere. they were lounging in the hammocks, or lying on the deck itself; and some were even sprawling uncomfortably on their trunks or knapsacks. a cat would have had difficulty in squeezing itself through this compact mass of men, chattering women, and crying children. but i had no sooner begun to reflect adversely on the situation, than the old charm of the amazon asserted itself again and made me oblivious to anything so trivial as personal comfort surroundings. i became lost to myself in the enjoyment of the river. that old fig-tree on the bank is worth looking at. the mass of its branches, once so high-reaching and ornamental, now lie on the ground in a confused huddle, shattered and covered with parasites and orchids, while millions of ants are in full activity destroying the last clusters of foliage. it is only a question of weeks, perhaps days, before some blast of wind will throw this humbled forest-monarch over the steep bank of the river. when the water rises again, the trunk with a few skeleton branches will be carried away with the current to begin a slow but relentless drift to old father amazon. here and there will be a little pause, while the river gods decide, and then it will move on, to be caught somewhere along the course and contribute to the formation of some new island or complete its last long journey to the atlantic ocean. as the launch rounds bend after bend in the river, the same magnificent forest scenery is repeated over and over again. sometimes a tall matamatá tree stands in a little accidental clearing, entirely covered with a luxuriant growth of vegetation. but these are borrowed plumes. bushropes, climbers, and vines have clothed it from root to topmost branch, but they are only examples of the legion of beautiful parasites that seem to abound in the tropics. they will sap the vitality of this masterpiece of nature, until in its turn it will fall before some stormy night's blow. all along the shore there is a myriad life among the trees and beautifully coloured birds flash in and out of the branches. you can hear a nervous chattering and discern little brown bodies swinging from branch to branch, or hanging suspended for fractions of a second from the network of climbers and aerial roots. they are monkeys. they follow the launch along the trees on the banks for a while and then disappear. the sun is glaring down on the little craft and its human freight. the temperature is degrees (f.) in the shade and the only place for possible relief is on a box of cognac alongside the commandant's hammock. he has fastened this directly behind the wheel so that he can watch the steersman, an indian with filed teeth and a machete stuck in his belt. would anyone think that these trees, lining the shore for miles and miles and looking so beautiful and harmless by day, have a miasmatic breath or exhalation at night that produces a severe fever in one who is subjected for any length of time to their influence. it would be impossible for even the most fantastical scenic artist to exaggerate the picturesque combinations of colour and form ever changing like a kaleidoscope to exhibit new delights. a tall and slender palm can be seen in its simple beauty alongside the white trunk of the embauba tree, with umbrella-shaped crown, covered and gracefully draped with vines and hanging plants, whose roots drop down until they reach the water, or join and twist themselves until they form a leaf-portière. and for thousands of square miles this ever changing display of floral splendour is repeated and repeated. and it would be a treat for an ornithologist to pass up the river. a hundred times a day flocks of small paroquets fly screaming over our heads and settle behind the trees. large, green, blue, and scarlet parrots, the araras, fly in pairs, uttering penetrating, harsh cries, and sometimes an egret with her precious snow-white plumage would keep just ahead of us with graceful wing-motion, until she chose a spot to alight among the low bushes close to the water-front. the dark blue toucan, with its enormous scarlet and yellow beak, would suddenly appear and fly up with peculiar jerky swoops, at the same time uttering its yelping cry. several times i saw light green lizards of from three to four feet in length stretched out on branches of dead trees and staring at us as we passed. night came and drew its sombre curtain over the splendours. i was now shown a place of unpretentious dimensions where i could suspend my hammock, but, unluckily, things were so crowded that there was no room for a mosquito-net around me. under ordinary circumstances, neglect of this would have been an inexcusable lack of prudence, but i lay down trusting that the draft created by the passage of the boat would keep the insect pests away, as they told me it would. i found that experience had taught them rightly. to the post where i tied the foot-end of my hammock there were fastened six other hammocks. consequently seven pairs of feet were bound to come into pretty close contact with each other. while i was lucky enough to have the hammock closest to the rail, i was unlucky enough to have as my next neighbour a woman; she was part brazilian negro and part indian. she had her teeth filed sharp like shark's teeth, wore brass rings in her ears, large enough to suspend portières from, and smoked a pipe continually. i found later that it was a habit to take the pipe to bed with her, so that she could begin smoking the first thing in the morning. she used a very expensive parisian perfume, whether to mitigate the effects of the pipe or not, i do not know. under the conditions i have described i lay down in my hammock, but found that sleep was impossible. there was nothing to do but resign myself to fate and find amusement, with all the philosophy possible, by staring at the sky. i counted the stars over and over again and tried to identify old friends among the constellations. among them the southern cross was a stranger to me, but the great dipper, one end of which was almost hidden behind the trees, i recognised with all the freedom of years of acquaintance. my mind went back to the last time i had seen it; across the house-tops of old manhattan it was, and under what widely different conditions! at last a merciful providence closed my eyes and i was soon transported by the arms of morpheus to the little lake in central park that i had liked so well. i dreamed of gliding slowly over the waters of that placid lake, and awoke to find myself being energetically kicked in the shins by my female neighbour. there was nothing to do but indulge in a few appropriate thoughts on this community-sleeping-apartment life, and then i got up to wander forward, as best i could in the dark, across the sleeping forms and take refuge on top of my case of cognac. we seemed to be down in a pool of vast darkness, of whose walls no one could guess the limits. i listened to the gurgling of water at the bow and wondered how it was possible for the man at the wheel to guide our course without colliding with the many tree trunks that were scattered everywhere about us. the river wound back and forth, hardly ever running straight for more than half a mile, and the pilot continually had to steer the boat almost to the opposite bank to keep the trailing canoes from stranding on the sand-bars at the turns. now and then a lightning flash would illuminate the wild banks, proving that we were not on the bosom of some cimmerian lake, but following a continuous stream that stretched far ahead, and i could get a glimpse of the dark, doubly-mysterious forests on either hand; and now and then a huge tree-trunk would slip swiftly and silently past us. the only interruption of the perfect quiet that prevailed was the occasional outburst of roars from the throat of the howling monkey, which i had come to know as making the night hideous in remate de males. but the present environment added just the proper atmosphere to make one think for a second that he was participating in some phantasm of dante's. there was no particular incident to record on the trip, till june the th, in the night-time, when we arrived at porto alegre, the glad harbour, which consisted of one hut. this hut belonged to the proprietor of a _seringale_. i followed the captain and the clerk ashore and, with them, was warmly received by the owner, when we had clambered up the ladder in front of the hut. he had not heard from civilisation for seven months, and was very glad to see people from the outside world, especially as they were bringing a consignment of merchandise that would enable him to commence the annual tapping of the rubber trees. about a dozen _seringueiros_ and their families disembarked here and went without ceremony to their quarters, where they had a fire going in less than no time. it is the custom in this section of brazil to make visitors welcome in a rather complicated manner. you first place your arm around the other man's waist, resting the palm of your hand on his back. then with the other hand you pat him on the shoulder, or as near that point as you can reach. whether it recalled my wrestling practice or not, i do not know, but the first time i ever tried this, i nearly succeeded in throwing down the man i was seeking to honour. after the proprietor had greeted each of us in this cordial way, we sat down. a large negress made her appearance, smoking a pipe and carrying a tray full of tiny cups, filled with the usual unsweetened jet-black coffee. after a brief stay, during which business was discussed and an account given of the manner of death of all the friends who had departed this life during the season in remate de males, we took our leave and were off again, in the middle of the night, amid a general discharging of rifles and much blowing of the steam-whistle. the night was intensely dark, what moon there was being hidden behind clouds most of the time, and an occasional flash of lightning would show us that we were running very close to the shores. i decided to go on the roof of the right-hand lighter, where i thought i would get better air and feel more comfortable than in the close quarters below. on the roof i found some old rags and a rubber coated knapsack. taking these to the stern, i lay down upon them and went to sleep. i imagine that i must have been asleep about two hours, when i was aroused by a crashing sound that came from the forepart of the boat. luckily, i had fallen asleep with my eyeglasses on, otherwise, as i am near-sighted, i should not have been able to grasp the situation as quickly as proved necessary. we were so close to the shore that the branches of a low-hanging tree swept across the top of the lighter, and it was this branch that caused the turmoil as the craft passed through it, causing everything to be torn from the roof; trunks, bags, and chicken-coops, in a disordered mass. i had received no warning and hardly had collected my senses before this avalanche was upon me. seizing the branches as they came, i held on for dear life. i tried to scramble over them to the other part of the roof, but having fallen asleep on the stern there was no chance. i felt myself being lifted off the boat, and as i blindly held on i had time to wonder whether the tree would keep me out of the water, or lower me into the waiting jaws of some late alligator. but it did better than that for me. the branches sagged under my weight, and i soon saw that they were going to lower me upon the trailing canoes. i did not wait to choose any particular canoe, but, as the first one came beneath me, i dropped off, landing directly on top of a sleeping rubber-worker and giving him probably as bad a scare as i had had. for the remainder of the night i considered the case of cognac, previously referred to, a marvellously comfortable and safe place to stay. during the next day we made two stops, and at the second took on board eighteen more passengers. it seemed to me that they would have to sleep in a vertical position, since, as far as i could discover, the places where it could be done horizontally were all occupied. at five in the afternoon of this day, we arrived at a small rubber estate called boa vista, where the owner kept cut palm-wood to be used for the launch, besides bananas, pineapples and a small patch of cocoa-plants. the firemen of our launch were busily engaged in carrying the wood, when one of them suddenly threw off his load and came running down the bank. the others scattered like frightened sheep, and only with difficulty could be brought to explain that they had seen a snake of a poisonous variety. we crept slowly up to the place under the wood-pile which they had pointed out, and there about a foot of the tail of a beautifully decorated snake was projecting. i jammed my twenty-four-inch machete through it longitudinally, at the same time jumping back, since it was impossible to judge accurately where the head might come from. it emerged suddenly about where we expected, the thin tongue working in and out with lightning speed and the reptile evidently in a state of great rage, for which i could hardly blame it, as its tail was pinned down and perforated with a machete. we dispatched it with a blow on the head and on measuring it found the length to be nearly nine feet. the interrupted loading of wood continued without much additional excitement and we were soon on our way again. that night i passed very badly. my female neighbour insisted on using the edge of my hammock for a foot-rest, and, to add to my general discomfort, my hammock persisted in assuming a convex shape rather than a more conventional and convenient concave, which put me in constant danger of being thrown headlong into the river, only a few inches away. finally, i took my hammock down from its fastenings and went aft where i found a vacant canoe among those still trailing behind. i threw my hammock in the bottom and with this for a bed managed to fall asleep, now and then receiving a blow from some unusually low branch which threatened to upset my floating couch. the next morning it was found that we had lost two canoes, evidently torn loose during the night without anybody noticing the accident. luckily, i had not chosen either of these to sleep in, nor had anyone else. i cannot help thinking what my feelings would have been if i had found myself adrift far behind the launch. for several days more we continued going up the seemingly endless river. human habitations were far apart, the last ones we had seen as much as eighty-five miles below. we expected soon to be in the territory owned by coronel da silva, the richest rubber proprietor in the javary region. i found the level of this land we were passing through to be slightly higher than any i had traversed as yet, although even here we were passing through an entirely submerged stretch of forest. there were high inland spaces that had already begun to dry up, as we could see, and this was the main indication of higher altitude than had been found lower down the river. another indication was that big game was more in evidence. the animals find here a good feeding place without the necessity of migrating to distant locations when the water begins to come through the forest. at a place, with the name of nova aurora, again consisting of one hut, we found a quantity of skins stretched in the sunlight to dry. they were mostly the hides of yellow jaguars, or pumas, as we call them in the united states, and seven feet from the nose to the end of the tail was not an unusual length. although, as we learned, they had been taken from the animals only a few weeks previously, they had already been partly destroyed by the gnawing of rats. a tapir, weighing nearly seven hundred and fifty pounds, had been shot the day before and was being cut up for food when we arrived. we were invited to stay and take dinner here, and i had my first opportunity of tasting roast tapir. i found that it resembled roast beef very much, only sweeter, and the enjoyment of this food belongs among the very few pleasant memories i preserve of this trip. while they were getting dinner ready, i noticed what i took to be a stuffed parrot on a beam in the kitchen. but when i touched its tail i found that it was enough alive to come near snapping my finger off. it was a very large arara parrot with two tail feathers, each about thirty-six inches long, a magnificent specimen worthy of a place in a museum. parrots of this particular species are very difficult to handle, being as stupid and malicious as they are beautiful. they often made me think of dandies who go resplendent in fine clothes but are less conspicuous for mental excellences. after having indulged in black coffee, we were invited to give the house and the surroundings a general inspection. directly behind the structure was the smoking hut, or _defumador_, as it is called. inside this are a number of sticks inclined in pyramid form and covered with palm-leaves. in the floor a hole was dug for the fire that serves for coagulating the rubber-milk. over this pit is hung a sort of frame for guiding the heavy stick employed in the smoking of the rubber. at this time the process had not become for me the familiar story that it was destined to be. beneath the hut were several unfinished paddles and a canoe under construction. the latter are invariably of the "dugout" type. a shape is roughly cut from a tree-trunk and then a fire is built in the centre and kept burning in the selected places until the trunk is well hollowed out. it is then finished off by hand. paddles are formed from the buttresses which radiate from the base of the matamatá tree, forming thin but very strong spurs. they are easily cut into the desired shape by the men and receive decorations from the hands of the women who often produce striking colour effects. a beautiful scarlet tint is obtained from the fruit of the urueu plant, and the genipapa produces a deep rich-black colour. these dyes are remarkably glossy, and they are waterproof and very stable. after sunset the launch was off again. everything went quietly until midnight, when we were awakened with great suddenness. the launch had collided with a huge log that came floating down the stream. it wedged itself between the side of the boat and the lighter and it required much labour to get ourselves loose from it. after we got free, the log tore two of the canoes from their fastenings and they drifted off; but the loss was not discovered until the next morning, when we were about thirty-five miles from the scene of the accident. two more days passed without any incident of a more interesting nature than was afforded by occasional stops at lonely _barracãos_ where merchandise was unloaded and fuel for the engine taken in. we were always most cordially received by the people and invited to take coffee, while murmurs of "_esta casa e a suas ordenes_"--this house is at your disposal--followed our departure. unlike many conventional phrases of politeness, i do not know that the sentiment was entirely exaggerated, it is typical of the brazilian and is to be reckoned with his other good qualities. they always combine a respect for those things that are foreign, with their decided patriotism. the hospitality the stranger receives at their hands is nothing short of marvellous, and no greater insult can be inflicted than to offer to pay for accommodations. i find any retrospective glance over the days i spent among these people coloured with much pleasure when i review incidents connected with my contact with them. there is a word in the portuguese language which holds a world of meaning for anyone who has been in that land so richly bestowed with the blessings of nature, brazil. it is _saudades_, a word that arouses only the sweetest and tenderest of memories. there were seven more days of travel before we reached the headquarters of floresta, the largest rubber-estate in the javary region. it covers an area somewhat larger than long island. coronel da silva, the owner, lives in what would be called an unpretentious house in any other place but the amazon. here it represents the highest achievement of architecture and modern comfort. it is built on sixteen-foot poles and stands on the outskirts of a half-cleared space which contains also six smaller buildings scattered around. the house had seven medium-sized rooms, equipped with modern furniture of an inexpensive grade. there was also an office which, considering that it was located about miles from civilisation, could be almost called up-to-date. i remember, for instance, that a clock from new haven had found its way here. in charge of the office was a secretary, a mr. da marinha, who was a man of considerable education and who had graduated in the federal capital. several years of health-racking existence in the swamps had made him a nervous and indolent man, upon whose face a smile was never seen. the launch stopped here twenty-four hours, unloading several tons of merchandise, to replenish the store-house close to the river front. i took advantage of the wait to converse with coronel da silva. he invited me cordially to stop at his house and spend the summer watching the rubber-work and hunting the game that these forests contained. it was finally proposed that i go with the launch up to the branco river, only two days' journey distant, and that on its return i should disembark and stay as long as i wished. to this i gladly assented. we departed in the evening bound for the branco river. on this trip i had my first attack of fever. i had no warning of the approaching danger until a chill suddenly came over me on the first day out from floresta. i had felt a peculiar drowsiness for several days, but had paid little attention to it as one generally feels drowsy and tired in the oppressive heat and humidity. when to this was added a second chill that shook me from head to foot with such violence that i thought my last hour had come, i knew i was in for my first experience of the dreaded javary fever. there was nothing to do but to take copious doses of quinine and keep still in my hammock close to the rail of the boat. the fever soon got strong hold of me and i alternated between shivering with cold and burning with a temperature that reached and degrees. towards midnight it abated somewhat, but left me so nearly exhausted that i was hardly able to raise my head to see where we were going. our boat kept close to the bank so as to get all possible advantage of the eddying currents. i was at length aroused from a feverish slumber by being flung suddenly to the deck of the launch with a violent shock, while men and women shouted in excitement that the craft would surely turn over. we were careened at a dangerous angle when i awoke and in my reduced condition it was not difficult to imagine that a capsize was to be the result. but with a ripping, rending sound the launch suddenly righted itself. it developed that we had had a more serious encounter with a protruding branch than in any of the previous collisions. this one had caught on the very upright to which my hammock was secured. the stanchion in this case was iron and its failure to give way had caused the boat to tilt. finally the iron bent to an s shape and the branch slipped off after tearing the post from its upper fastenings. it was a narrow escape from a calamity, but the additional excitement aggravated my fever and i went from bad to worse. therefore it was found advisable, when we arrived, late the next day, at the mouth of the branco, to put me ashore to stay in the hut of the manager of the rubber estate, so that i might not cause the crew and the passengers of the launch inconvenience through my sickness and perhaps ultimate death. i was carried up to the hut and placed in a hammock where i was given a heavy dose of quinine. i dimly remember hearing the farewell-toot of the launch as she left for the down-river trip, and there i was alone in a strange place among people of whose language i understood very little. in the afternoon a young boy was placed in a hammock next to mine, and soon after they brought in a big, heavy brazilian negro, whom they put on the other side. like me they were suffering from javary fever and kept moaning all through the afternoon in their pain, but all three of us were too sick to pay any attention to each other. that night my fever abated a trifle and i could hear the big fellow raving in delirium about snakes and lizards, which he imagined he saw. when the sun rose at six the next morning he was dead. the boy expired during the afternoon. it was torture to lie under the mosquito-net with the fever pulsing through my veins and keeping my blood at a high temperature, but i dared not venture out, even if i had possessed the strength to do so, for fear of the mosquitoes and the sand-flies which buzzed outside in legions. for several days i remained thus and then began to mend a little. whether it was because of the greater vitality of the white race or because i had not absorbed a fatal dose, i do not know, but i improved. when i felt well enough, i got up and arranged with the rubber-estate manager to give me two indians to paddle me and my baggage down to floresta. i wanted to get down there where i could have better accommodations before i should become sick again. chapter v floresta: life among the rubber-workers it was half past five in the morning when we arrived at the landing of the floresta estate. since it was too early to go up to the house i placed my trunk on the bank and sat admiring the surrounding landscape, partly enveloped in the mist that always hangs over these damp forests until sunrise. the sun was just beginning to colour the eastern sky with faint warm tints. before me was the placid surface of the itecoahy, which seemed as though nothing but my indian's paddles had disturbed it for a century. just here the river made a wide turn and on the sand-bar that was formed a few large freshwater turtles could be seen moving slowly around. the banks were high and steep, and it appeared incredible that the flood could rise so high that it would inundate the surrounding country and stand ten or twelve feet above the roots of the trees--a rise that represented about sixty-seven feet in all. when i turned around i saw the half-cleared space in front of me stretching over a square mile of ground. to the right was coronel da silva's house, already described, and all about, the humbler _barracãos_ or huts of the rubber-workers. in the clearing, palm-trees and guava brush formed a fairly thick covering for the ground, but compared with the surrounding impenetrable jungle the little open space deserved its title of "clearing." a few cows formed a rare sight as they wandered around nibbling at the sparse and sickly growth of grass. by-and-bye the sun was fully up; but even then it could not fully disperse the mists that hung over the landscape. the birds were waking and their calls filled the air. the amorous notes of the inamboo were repeated and answered from far off by its mate, and the melancholy song of the wacurão piped musically out from the vastness of the forest. small green paroquets flew about and filled the air with their not altogether pleasant voices. these are the same birds that are well-known to the residents of new york and other large cities, where a dozen of them can often be seen in charge of an intrepid italian, who has them trained to pick cards out of a box for anyone desiring his fortune told for the sum of five cents. here they must provide by their own efforts for their own futures, however. even at this hour the howling monkey had not left off disturbing the peace with its hideous din. gradually the camp woke up to the day's work. a tall pajama-clad man spied me and was the first to come over. he was a very serious-looking gentleman and with his full-bearded face looked not unlike the artist's conception of the saviour. he bade me welcome in the usual generous terms of the brazilians and invited me into the house, where i again met coronel da silva. this first-mentioned grave-looking man was mr. da marinha. the kindness with which he welcomed me was most grateful; especially so in my present physical condition. i noticed what had not been so apparent on my first meeting with him, that recent and continuous ravages of fevers and spleen troubles had reduced him, though a fairly young man, to the usual nerve-worn type that the white man seems bound to become after any long stay in the upper amazon region. not knowing where i might stop when i left remate de males, i had brought with me a case of canned goods. i only succeeded in insulting the coronel when i mentioned this. he gave me his best room and sent for a new hammock for me. such attentions to a stranger, who came without even a letter of introduction, are typical of brazilian hospitality. after a plentiful meal, consisting of fried fish and roast loin of tapir, which tasted very good, we drank black coffee and conversed as well as my limited knowledge of the portuguese language permitted. after this, naturally, feeling very tired from my travels and the heat of the day, i arranged my future room, strung my hammock, and slept until a servant announced that supper was served. this meal consisted of jerked beef, farinha, rice, black beans, turtle soup, and the national goiabada marmalade. the cook, who was nothing but a sick rubber-worker, had spoiled the principal part of the meal by disregarding the juices of the meat, and cooking it without salt, besides mixing the inevitable farinha with everything. but it was a part of the custom of the country and could not be helped. _de gustibus non est disputandum._ when this meal was over, i was invited to go with the secretary, mr. da marinha, the man who had first greeted me in the morning, to see a sick person. at some distance from the house was a small barracão, where we were received by a _seringueiro_ named marques. this remarkable man was destined to figure prominently in experiences that i had to undergo later. he pulled aside a large mosquito-net which guarded the entrance of the inner room of this hut. in the hammock we found a middle-aged woman; a native of cearã. her face was not unattractive but terribly emaciated, and she was evidently very sick. she showed us an arm bound up in rags, and the part exposed was wasted and dark red. it was explained that three weeks before, an accident had forced a wooden splinter into her thumb and she had neglected the inflammation that followed. i asked her to undo the wrappings, a thing which i should never have done, and the sight we saw was most discouraging. the hand was swollen until it would not have been recognised as a hand, and there was an immense lesion extending from the palm to the middle of the forearm. the latter was in a terrible condition, the flesh having been eaten away to the bone. it was plainly a case of gangrene of a particularly vicious character. suddenly it dawned upon me that they all took me for a doctor; and the questions they asked as to what should be done, plainly indicated that they looked to me for assistance. i explained that i had no knowledge of surgery, but that in spite of this i was sure that if something were not done immediately the woman would have little time to live. i asked if there was not a doctor that could be reached within a few days' journey. we discussed sending the woman to remate de males by canoe, but this idea was abandoned, for the journey even undertaken by the most skilful paddlers could not be made in less than eighteen days, and by that time the gangrene would surely have killed the patient. coronel da silva was called in. he said that the woman was the wife of the chief of the _caucheros_ and that her life must be saved if possible. i explained my own incapacity in this field once more, but insisted that we would be justified in undertaking an amputation as the only chance of preventing her death. i now found myself in a terrible position. the operation is a very difficult one even in the hands of a skilful surgeon, and here i was called to perform it with hardly an elementary knowledge of the science and not even adequate instruments. at the same time, it seemed moral cowardice to avoid it, since evidently i was the one best qualified, and the woman would die in agony if not soon relieved. i trembled all over when i concluded that there was no escape. we went to the room and got the bistoury and the forceps given me by a medical friend before i left home. besides these, i took some corrosive sublimate, intended for the preparation of animal skins, and some photographic clips. the secretary, after a search produced an old and rusty hacksaw as the only instrument the estate could furnish. this we cleaned as carefully as possible with cloths and then immersed it in a solution of sublimate. before going to the patient's hut i asked the owner and the woman's husband if they were reconciled to my attempt and would not hold me responsible in case of her death. they answered that, as the woman was otherwise going to die, we were entirely right in doing whatever we could. i found the patient placidly smoking a pipe, her injured arm over the edge of the hammock. by this time she understood that she was to have her arm amputated by a surgical novice. she seemed not to be greatly concerned over the matter, and went on smoking her pipe while we made the arrangements. we placed her on the floor and told her to lie still. we adjusted some rubber cloth under the dead arm. her husband and three children stood watching with expressionless faces. two monkeys, tied to a board in a corner were playing and fighting together. a large parrot was making discursive comment on the whole affair, while a little lame dog seemed to be the most interested spectator. the secretary took the bistoury from the bowl containing the sublimate and handed it to me with a bow. with a piece of cotton i washed the intended spot of operation and traced a line with a pencil on the arm. imagine with what emotions i worked! after we had once started, however, we forgot everything except the success of our operation. i omit a description of the details, as they might prove too gruesome. the woman fainted from shock just before we touched the bone,--nature thus supplying an effective, if rude, anæsthetic. we had forgotten about sewing together the flesh, and when we came to this a boy was dispatched to the owner's house for a package of stout needles. these were held in the fire for a few seconds, and then immersed when cold in the sublimate before they were used to join the flesh. by the time it was done, i was, myself, feeling very sick. finally i could stand the little room of torture no longer, and left the secretary dressing the wound. would she recover from the barbaric operation? this question kept coursing through my head as i vainly tried for a long time to go to sleep. the next day, after an early observation of my patient, who seemed to have recovered from the shock and thus gave at least this hope of success, i spent my time going around to visit the homes of the _seringueiros_. they were all as polite as their chief, and after exchanging the salute of "boa dia," they would invite me to climb up the ladder and enter the hut. here they would invariably offer me a cup of strong coffee. there were always two or three hammocks, of which i was given the one i liked best. the huts generally consist of two rooms with a few biscuit-boxes as chairs, and winchester rifles and some fancy-painted paddles to complete the furniture. the following day i arose with the sun and, after some coffee, asked a huge small-pox-scarred fellow to accompany me on my first excursion into the real jungle. up to this time i had only seen it from my back porch in remate de males and from the deck of the launch _carolina_, but now i was in the heart of the forest and would indulge in jungle trips to my heart's content. we entered through a narrow pathway called an _estrada_, whose gateway was guarded by a splendid palm-tree, like a cerberus at the gates of dark hades. the _estrada_ led us past one hundred to one hundred and fifty rubber trees, as it wound its way over brooks and fallen trees. each of the producing trees had its rough bark gashed with cuts to a height of ten to twelve feet all around its circumference. these marks were about an inch and a half in length. alongside of the tree was always to be found a stick, on the end of which were a dozen or so of small tin-cups used in collecting the rubber-milk. every worker has two _estradas_ to manage, and by tapping along each one alternately he obtains the maximum of the product. this particular _estrada_ was now deserted as the _seringueiro_ happened to be at work on the other one under his jurisdiction. it was in a sense agreeable to work there as the sun could not penetrate the dense foliage and the air was therefore cool. after we had walked for about an hour, my big guide complained of being tired and of feeling unwell. i told him he could go back to the camp and leave me to find my way alone. accordingly he left me and i now had the task of carrying without assistance my large x view-camera, a shotgun, a revolver, and a machete. gradually my ear caught a terrible sound which to the uninitiated would have seemed like the roaring of a dozen lions in combat, but the dreadful notes that vibrated through the forest were only those of the howling monkey. i always had a great desire to see one of this species in the act of performing this uncanny forest-concert, therefore i left the rubber pathway after placing my camera on the ground, up against a rubber tree, and commenced following the noise, cutting my way through the underbrush. i walked and walked, but the sound seemed to remain the same distance away, and i stopped to reconnoitre. i hesitated whether to proceed or not, fearing i might lose the way and not be able to find my camera again. the monkey was not visible at all; it fact, it was not possible to see anything, unless it was very close by, so dense was the foliage. i laid my automatic pistol on a fallen tree-trunk, and was trying to figure out the chances of getting a look at my simian friend and at the same time not losing my valuable property on the pathway, when i heard another startling sound, this time near-by. i prepared myself for whatever species of animal was due, and could feel the excitement a hunter knows when he thinks he is about to get a sight of big game. suddenly the undergrowth parted in front of me and a herd of wild boars came trotting out. i drew a bead on the biggest of the lot and fired, letting five soft-nose bullets go through his head to make sure; the others fled, and i hastened to the spot to examine my prize more closely. it was a boar of medium size, weighing in the neighbourhood of one hundred and twenty-five pounds, and he had a fine set of tusks. he was rather vicious-looking and was doing considerable kicking before he gave up the ghost. it was impossible for me to carry him through the bush owing to the fact that i had the valuable camera and apparatus to take care of, so i made a mental note of the spot, and cut his ears off. it took four hours' search to find the camera, in spite of my belief that i had not gone far, and it was late in the afternoon when i arrived at headquarters. the very next morning there was a good opportunity to see the smoking of rubber-milk. a _seringueiro_ had collected his product and when i went to the smoking-hut i found him busy turning over and over a big stick, resting on two horizontal guides, built on both sides of a funnel from which a dense smoke was issuing. on the middle of the stick was a huge ball of rubber. over this he kept pouring the milk from a tin-basin. gradually the substance lost its liquidity and coagulated into a beautiful yellow-brown mass which was rubber in its first crude shipping state. the funnel from which the smoke issued was about three feet high and of a conical shape. at its base was a fire of small wooden chips, which when burning gave forth an acrid smoke containing a large percentage of creosote. it is this latter substance which has the coagulating effect upon the rubber-milk. when the supply of milk was exhausted, he lifted the ball and stick off the guides and rolled it on a smooth plank to drive the moisture out of the newly-smoked rubber. then he was through for the day. he placed the stick on two forked branches and put some green leaves over the funnel to smother the fire. on top of the leaves he put a tin-can and a chunk of clay, then filled the hole in the ground with ashes. under this arrangement the fire would keep smouldering for twenty-four hours, to be used anew for the next repetition of the smoking process. in the afternoon we again went out to hunt. this time i took only a -gauge shotgun. as we travelled through the forest i was impressed once more by the fascination of the grandly extravagant vegetation. but there is little charm about it, nothing of the tranquillity our idyllic catskills or even the sterner adirondacks, create. there is no invitation to repose, no stimulus to quiet enjoyment, for the myriad life of the amazon's jungle forest never rests. there is always some sound or some movement which is bound to stir in one the instinct of self-preservation. you have to be constantly alive to the danger of disagreeable annoyance from the pests that abound, or of actual bodily harm from animals of the reptilian order. were i in possession of adequate descriptive power i could picture the impression that this jungle creates upon the mind of one from the north, but now, as i once more sit in a large city with sky-scrapers towering about me, and hear the rattling noise of the elevated railway train as it rushes past, my pen fails me and i have to remove myself on the wings of thought to those remote forests, fully realising, "_beatus ille, qui procul negotiis, ut_" etc., etc. then i can feel again the silence and the gloom that pervade those immense and wonderful woods. the few sounds of birds and animals are, generally, of a pensive and mysterious character, and they intensify the feeling of solitude rather than impart to it a sense of life and cheerfulness. sometimes in the midst of the noon-day stillness, a sudden yell or scream will startle one, coming from some minor fruit-eating animal, set upon by a carnivorous beast or serpent. morning and evening, the forest resounds with the fearful roar of the howling monkeys, and it is hard, even for the stoutest heart, to maintain its buoyancy of spirit. the sense of inhospitable wilderness, which the jungle inspires, is increased tenfold by this monstrous uproar. often in the still hours of night, a sudden crash will be heard, as some great branch or a dead tree falls to the ground. there are, besides, many sounds which are impossible to account for and which the natives are as much at a loss to explain as myself. sometimes a strange sound is heard, like the clang of an iron bar against a hard, hollow tree; or a piercing cry rends the air. these are not repeated, and the succeeding stillness only tends to heighten the unpleasant impression which they produce on the mind. the first thing that claimed our attention, shortly after we started, was a sound of breaking branches and falling leaves, somewhere in the distance. through the trees i could perceive that it was a big dark-grey monkey, which we had alarmed. he was scrambling up a tall tree when i fired at him. i evidently missed, for i could see him prepare for a mighty jump to a lower tree where he would be out of sight. but in the jump he got another load of pellets, which struck him in the back. his leap fell short of the mark and he landed headlong among some bushes, kicking violently as i came up to him. as he seemed strongly built and had a rather savage expression, it did not seem wise to tackle him with bare hands, therefore, as i desired to get him alive, i ran back and procured my focussing cloth, which i tied around his head. thus i got him safely back to the camp, where he was tied to a board and the bullets extracted from his flesh. then his wounds, which were not serious, were bound up and he was put into a cage with a bunch of bananas and a saucer of goat's milk to cheer him up a bit. the suddenness with which these monkey delicacies disappeared, convinced me that his complete recovery was a matter of only a short time, unless perchance some hungry rubber-worker, surreptitiously, had removed these viands while nobody was looking, for bananas and milk are things which will tempt any amazonian from the narrow path of rectitude; but it was not so in this case. the conviction as to recovery proved right, and with the improvement of his health he displayed a cheerful and fond disposition that decided me to take him back with me to new york when i should go. i have since been informed that he belonged to the humboldt sika species. i watched him for several months and came to like him for the innocent tricks he never tired of playing. one night he managed to liberate himself from the tree near the hut where he was tied. he disappeared for two days, but on the third he returned, chains and all. he had doubtless found life in the jungle trees not altogether cheerful with a heavy chain secured to his waist, and he had returned reconciled to captivity and regular meals. there is at present one specimen of this kind of monkey at the bronx zoölogical gardens in charge of the head keeper. at the time of low water, the so-called _prayas_ appear at the bends of the river; they grow with the accumulation of sand and mud. they are wide and often of a considerable area, and on them the alligators like to bask in the sunshine of early morning and late afternoon, and the _tartarugas_, or fresh-water turtles, lay their eggs. these eggs are laid in the months of september and october on moon-lit nights and are somewhat smaller than the ordinary hen's egg, the yolk tasting very much the same, but they are covered with a tough parchment-like shell. here on the upper amazon the people prepare a favourite meal by collecting these eggs and storing them for two or three weeks, when they tear open the shell and squeeze out the yolks, mixing them all up into a mush with the inevitable farinha. few people, except native brazilians, ever acquire a relish for this remarkable dish. i spent a whole day waiting for the elusive alligators on one of these sand-bars, but evidently they were too wise, for they never came within camera-range. i did, however, see some tapir-tracks, leading down to the water's edge. after the long wait i grew discouraged, and chose a camping place farther up the river, where i prepared a meal consisting of turtle eggs and river water. the meal was not absolutely undisturbed, as the air was full of a species of fly that derives its principal sustenance from the bodies of various dead animals always to be found through the jungle, whose teeming life crowds out all but those fittest to survive. i had begun my vigil before sunrise, when there are two or three hours very cool and humid. in the dry season the dew which collects is of the greatest importance to animal and plant life. for the tired and thirsty wanderer, the calyx of the beautiful scarlet orchid, which grows abundantly in this region, contains the refreshment of two or three ounces of clear, cool water. but you must look carefully into this cup of nature to see that no insects lurk in its depths to spoil the draught. i have previously described the breakfast table of the millionaire coronel r. da silva, with its black beans, the dreadful farinha, the black coffee, and the handful of mutilated _bolachas_ or biscuits. the only variable factor was the meat, sometimes wild hog, occasionally tapir, and very often the common green parrot or the howling monkey. at most meals the _pirarucu_ fish appears, especially on mondays when the rubber-workers have had the whole of sunday in which to indulge in the sport of shooting this gamy two-hundred-pound fish. they carry their _pirarucu_ to headquarters and courteously offer the best cuts to the coronel, afterwards cutting the rest into long strips and leaving them to dry in the sun. jerked beef was always to be relied upon when other supplies ran low. there must have been some terrible mystery connected with the milk. there were twenty-one cows on the place, but never a drop of milk from them was to be had. i was always afraid to ask any questions about this deficiency for fear i might be treading on dangerous ground, but with the lack of any other explanation i ascribe it to continual sickness from which the cattle must probably suffer, in common with every other living thing here. during the month of september, the number of patients from fever, pleurisy, and accidents, at floresta headquarters, amounted to % of the population. a fever resembling typhoid resulted in several cases from drinking the river-water. the coronel claimed that mangeroma indians living in the interior about miles from floresta had poisoned the creeks and affluents of the itecoahy to take revenge upon the traders who brought the much dreaded peruvian rubber-workers up to the itecoahy river estates. these peruvians are hated because they abduct the women of the indigenous tribes, when on their expeditions far into the forests where these tribes live, and consequently they are hunted down and their entrance to the region as far as possible prevented. at this morning hour in new york (floresta is on the same meridian as new york), thousands of toilers are entering the hot subways and legions of workers are filing into their offices and stuffy shops to take their places at the huge machinery which keeps the world in motion. at the very same hour a handful of rubber-workers are passing my house, returning from their first trip in the _estradas_, where they have been tapping the trees, and on their way to the huts and a frugal breakfast. here in the wilds of brazil there are no subways, no worry about the "market," nor indeed any thought for the morrow. nature supplies the rubber trees, and the "boss" the tools to work them with; the philosophy of the rubber-worker goes no farther. a shirt, trousers, and a hat are all the dress that fashion requires, and often the worker even finds the shirt superfluous. he wears a pair of overalls, and carries slung over his shoulder his rifle and the little hatchet for tapping the trees, besides a small rubber bag in which he keeps a supply of farinha and jerked beef, should he be prevented from reaching his hut in regulation time. the _seringueiro_ is free in his movements and in his mind, he is a quick and keen observer of nature, and an expert in knowledge of the cries and calls of the animals of the forest. he knows their habits and hiding-places to perfection, and he could probably astonish the naturalist by informing him of many things he has observed that his brother scientist never has heard of. he knows the names of the trees and plants in the forest and what they can be used for, though his knowledge of them is often supplemented by superstitious imaginings. he knows the multitudinous fish of the amazon, whether they are to be caught with a net, speared, or shot with bow and arrows, or, if the hunter is of a progressive disposition, shot with rifle ball. there are varieties that have, as yet, not been seen, classified, or identified by the scientist of to-day--i am positive of having seen several such. the inhabitant of this region is clean in his habits and in his mind as soon as he gets away from the evil influence of civilisation--which for him is the town of remate de males or "culmination of evils." he takes a bath at least twice a day, and attends closely to the cleanliness of his wardrobe, which for that matter does not absorb any considerable amount of time. as a rule, he is industrious, but frequent attacks of fever, dysentery, liver and spleen complaints, or pneumonia make him in the end, like all living things here not native to the forests, sluggish in general, and irritable on occasion. a little distance from the headquarters lies a beautiful lake. it is not wider than the itecoahy itself, four hundred feet on an average, and is about five miles long. it runs parallel with the river, and has only one outlet. in the dry season this amounts to nothing more than a little rivulet across which a large fallen tree has formed a natural bridge, but in january, when the waters rise, the creek is so full that the servants of coronel da silva can wash the linen there. after some weeks of sojourn at floresta, i found my way to this lake, and it was here that i was able to observe some of the largest specimens of amazonian reptiles in their haunts, where the equatorial sun had full opportunity to develop an amazing growth of faunal and floral life. it was a most enchanting stretch of water. i had heard of the dangers lurking beneath its surface long before i saw it, so when i arrived there one morning i was surprised to find a placid lake, set in picturesque and romantic surroundings. my first impulse was to exclaim, partly to myself, and partly to the indian joão who accompanied me, "why, this is lake innocence," so peaceful did it appear. in fact, so much did it charm me that during the remainder of my stay at floresta there was hardly a day some part of which i did not spend in the immediate vicinity of this lake. but it was treacherous. it was the home of six or seven old alligators and of young ones--too numerous to count; the oldest reaching a length of about seventeen feet. they would lie perfectly still under the banks, among the dead branches and snags, which made the shores generally inaccessible to boat or canoe, but when a person approached they would make their presence known by violent splashing in the water and repeated loud grunts, very much resembling those of a walrus. then they would burrow under the soft mud and remain quiet for an hour or two. in the early forenoon, before the sun became too hot, they would sun themselves, but in the sweltering mid-day hours they remained buried in the mud, and were then very hard to rouse. i found, on the shores of the lake, two alligator nests, formed of many twigs and branches stuck together, half in the water and half in the soft slimy mud. there they deposited their eggs, oblong tough ones; and one could always count on finding the female in the neighbourhood, should one desire to visit her. i came near stepping on one of these female alligators during a morning hunt with my camera. i was intently examining a group of eggs i found under a cluster of branches, when i was startled by a splash in the water and a loud grunt. as fast as the muddy ground would let me, i scrambled up the bank, and when i reached the top i saw the alligator swimming away from the very spot where i had been standing, its small close-set eyes fastened on me. then it disappeared in the mud. my next encounter occurred one forenoon, when i was sitting close to the dried-up canal which formed the outlet of the lake. it was almost mid-day. i was sitting in the shade, safe from the blazing sun, enjoying a peaceful smoke. the air was fairly vibrating with heat, causing the blood to surge through my veins. not a sound was heard except the irritating buzz of the ever-present mosquitoes. for some time i had been aware of the slow, stealthy movement of a large body near-by, though only half consciously. the heat made me sluggish and sleepy, but suddenly i awoke to the fact that the moving thing, whatever it might be, was near me. mechanically, i released the "safety" of my automatic pistol, and then realised that out of the reeds near me was creeping a medium-sized alligator. he was making straight for the water, and i do not know whether he was cognisant of my presence or not. he was moving steadily, advancing a few inches, stopping for a minute, then resuming the journey. i believe i was not more than five feet from the head as it emerged from the fringe of reeds. i raised my camera, secured a focus, and snapped the shutter. the click of the apparatus and perhaps my movement drew his attention. he stopped abruptly. the long jaws opened toward me, displaying an enormous expanse of pink flesh and two rows of shining teeth. i lost not a second in throwing aside the camera and jumping back to a position of relative safety, whence i fired into the open mouth of the beast. i killed him. on examining the carcass, i noticed that he had unusually large eyes, indicating that he was a young specimen. a few days later i again went to this lake--which, from my remarks, had now come to be generally called "lago innocencia"--to catch fish with my indian friend joão. he carried a bow, four arrows with detachable heads, and a harpoon six feet long. the little boat which we found close to the outlet of the lake was pushed away from the shore, we each seized one of the peculiarly decorated paddles, and were off, looking for finny game. we paddled quietly along near the shore, now and then receiving a bump from some concealed snag which nearly upset us. it requires considerable skill to navigate one of these poorly-made dugouts, the slightest move causing a disproportionate amount of disturbance of equilibrium. suddenly joão jumped up, his black eyes glowing with excitement. he motioned me to keep quiet, but it was quiet superfluous for him to do this, as i was unable to talk, or even look around, for fear the canoe might upset. he seized the harpoon, and with a powerful swing sent it into the water ahead of us, at the same time grasping the line which was attached to the end. the spear sank deep into the water, and then by the vivacity with which it danced around i could tell there was something on the end of it. as he began to pull in the line, the struggle became so violent that i crept forward on my knees in the bottom of the canoe and helped him recover the spear. only after some strenuous balancing feats and a stiff fight by both of us, did we land our game. it was a large flat fish at least four feet square, with a long whip-shaped tail, at the base of which were two barbed bones each about three and a half inches in length. our first act was to sever this tail with a hatchet, as it was far too active to make the fish a pleasant neighbour in close quarters. when the sting-ray, or, as the brazilians call it, the _araya_, was dead, i cut out the two barbed bones and no longer wondered why these fish are so dreaded by those who know them. joão told me that they attack anyone who ventures into the water, and with their sharp, barbed bones inflict a wound that in most cases proves fatal, for the bones are brittle and break off in the flesh. superstition and carelessness are the main factors that make the wound dangerous; the people believe too much in an ever-present evil spirit which abides in all the vicious and fiendish animals of the forest and swamp. once wounded by any of these malignant creatures, they believe there is no hope of recovery and they hardly try to survive. besides, lack of proper care and treatment of a wound generally results in its terminating in a case of septicaemia and ultimately gangrene. i have mentioned the _pirarucu_ several times as being the largest edible fish of the amazon. when full grown, it attains a weight of two hundred and fifty pounds. in lake innocence we saw this remarkable fish feeding close to the shore in shallow water, surrounded by a school of young ones. the old one was about seven feet in length and the others but recently hatched, from nine to ten inches. the indian who pointed them out to me stood up in the bow of the canoe and, fitting one of his five-foot arrows to the bow-string, sent it through the air and into the head of the big fellow. the bow which he used was of his own manufacture. it was about seven and a half feet long, very tough and straight, and made of caripari wood. the shafts of the arrows were made of long straight reeds, the stalks of a certain species of wild cane. the detachable part of the arrow is a short but extremely hard piece of wood upon which is fitted an iron head with two barbs. when the point pierces the flesh this hard piece comes off, but remains attached to the shaft by a short stout cord. this allows the shaft free play so that it will not break during the struggles of the victim. then there is a line attached to the head itself so that the hunter can handle the struggling animal or fish by means of it and of the shaft of the arrow. the whole contrivance is a marvel of ingenuity in meeting the conditions the amazon hunter is called on to face. when the arrow struck this particular _pirarucu_, at close range, he made straight for the shore, hauling the canoe and its contents after him at considerable speed. we got tangled among the low branches and fought the fish in considerable danger of being overturned--and i should not at all care to be capsized on lake innocence. finally, we got our prize ashore. i sent the indian to headquarters, telling him to go, as fast as he could and bring assistance so that we could get the fish home. i myself mounted guard over the carcass to see that neither the turkey buzzards nor the carnivorous mammals should destroy it. if we had left it alone for even a short time, we would have found, on our return, little to remind us of its existence. the indian returned shortly with two men. they stuck a pole through the great gills of the _pirarucu_ and in this fashion carried it to the settlement. these waters contain great quantities of another and smaller fish known as the _piranha_, scientifically termed _serraselmus piraya_. this is quite as much dreaded by the natives as the alligator, or even as the shark along the coast. its ferocity seems to know no bounds. it will attack other fish and bite large pieces out of their fins and tails. although it is not much larger than the herring it can make fatal attacks on man when in large numbers. mr. c.b. brown in his work on guiana gives the following account of this fish: the _piranhas_ in the corentins were so abundant and were so ferocious that at times it was dangerous to go into the water to a greater depth than the knees. even then small bodies of these hungry creatures would swim in and make a dash close to our legs, and then retreat to a short distance. they actually bit the steering paddles as they were drawn through the water astern of the boat. a tapir which i shot as it swam across the water had his nose bitten off by them whilst we were towing it to the shore. the men used to catch some of them for the sport of it, and in taking the hook from the mouth produced a wound from which the blood ran freely. on throwing them back into the water in this injured condition, they were immediately set upon and devoured by their companions. even as one was being hauled in on the line, its comrades, seeing that it was in difficulties, attacked it at once. i heard about these fiends but had no opportunity to witness their ferocity until one day, in crossing the river in a dugout, we wounded a wild hog that had also decided to cross at the same time and at the same place. the man with the stern paddle seized his machete as he saw the hog swimming close by the port-side of the canoe and stabbed it in the shoulder, intending to tow it ashore and have a luxurious dinner of roast hog. but his dream was never realised, for the _piranhas_ which had tasted the blood, i suppose, came in large numbers and set upon the unfortunate hog. in a minute the water seemed to be boiling, so great was the activity of the little demons as they tore away pieces of the flesh until it was vanishing by inches. when we reached the other shore there was not enough left of the hog to furnish a single meal. later i learned that certain indian tribes leave their dead in the river for the _piranhas_ to strip the flesh from the bones. it is then customary to take the remaining skeleton and let it dry in the sun, after which it is rubbed with the juice of the _urucu_ plant (the _bixa orellana_), which produces a bright scarlet colour. then it is hung up in the hut and the indians consider that a token of great reverence has been thus bestowed on the deceased. before leaving the subject of fish, i will mention another species, smaller than the _piranha_, yet, although not as ferocious, the cause of much dread and annoyance to the natives living near the banks of the rivers. in fact, throughout the amazon this little worm-like creature, called the _kandiroo_, is so omnipresent that a bath-house of a particular construction is necessary. the kandiroo is usually three to four inches long and one sixteenth in thickness. it belongs to the lampreys, and its particular group is the myxinos or slime-fish. its body is coated with a peculiar mucus. it is dangerous to human beings, because when they are taking a bath in the river it will approach and with a swift powerful movement penetrate one of the natural openings of the body whence it can be removed only by a difficult and dangerous operation. a small but hard and pointed dorsal fin acts as a barb and prevents the fish from being drawn back. while i was in remate de males the local doctor was called upon to remove a _kandiroo_ from the urethra of a man. the man subsequently died from the hemorrhage following the operation. largely through the danger of the attack from this scourge, though perhaps not entirely, the natives have adopted the method of bathing in use. a plunge into the river is unheard of, and bath-houses are constructed so as to make this unnecessary. a hole about eighteen inches square is cut in the middle of the floor--built immediately above the water--through which the bather, provided with a calabash or gourd of the bread-fruit tree, dips water up and pours it over himself after he has first examined it carefully. the indigenous indians, living in the remote parts of the forest, do not use this mode of protection, but cover the vulnerable portions of the body carefully with strips of bark, which render complete immersion less dangerous. during my walks in the forest i often came across snakes of considerable length, but never found any difficulty in killing them, as they were sluggish in their movements and seemed to be inoffensive. the rubber-workers, who had no doubt had many encounters with reptiles, told me about large _sucurujus_ or boa-constrictors, which had their homes in the river not many miles from headquarters. they told me that these snakes were in possession of hypnotic powers, but this, like many other assertions, should be taken with a large grain of salt. however, i will relate an incident which occurred while i lived at floresta, and in which i have absolute faith, as i had the opportunity of talking to the persons involved in the affair. josé perreira. a rubber-worker, had left headquarters after having delivered his weekly report on the rubber extracted, and was paddling his canoe at a good rate down the stream, expecting to reach his hut before midnight. arriving at a recess in the banks formed by the confluence of a small creek called igarapé do inferno, or the creek of hell, he thought that he heard the noise of some game, probably a deer or tapir, drinking, and he silently ran his canoe to the shore, where he fastened it to a branch, at the same time holding his rifle in readiness. finally, as he saw nothing, he returned to the canoe and continued his way down-stream. hardly more than ten yards from the spot, he stopped again and listened. he heard only the distant howling of a monkey. this he was used to on his nightly trips. no! there was something else! he could not say it was a sound. it was a strange something that called him back to the bank that he had left but a few minutes before. he fastened his canoe again to the same branch and crept up to the same place, feeling very uneasy and uncomfortable, but seeing nothing that could alarm him--nothing that he could draw the bead of his rifle on. yet, something there was! for the second time he left, without being able to account for the mysterious force that lured him to this gloomy, moon-lit place on the dark, treacherous bank. in setting out in the stream again he decided to fight off the uncanny, unexplainable feeling that had called him back, but scarcely a stone's throw from the bank he had the same desire to return,--a desire that he had never before experienced. he went again, and looked, and meditated over the thing that he did not understand. he had not drunk _cachassa_ that day and was consequently quite sober; he had not had fever for two weeks and was in good health physically as well as mentally; he had never so much indulged in the dissipations of civilisation that his nerves had been affected; he had lived all his life in these surroundings and knew no fear of man or beast. and now, this splendid type of manhood, free and unbound in his thoughts and unprejudiced by superstition, broke down completely and hid his face in his hands, sobbing like a child in a dark room afraid of ghosts. he had been called to this spot three times without knowing the cause, and now, the mysterious force attracting him, as a magnet does a piece of iron, he was unable to move. helpless as a child he awaited his fate. luckily three workers from headquarters happened to pass on their way to their homes, which lay not far above the "creek of hell," and when they heard sobbing from the bank they called out. the hypnotised _seringueiro_ managed to state that he had three times been forced, by some strange power, to the spot where he now was, unable to get away, and that he was deadly frightened. the rubber-workers, with rifles cocked, approached in their canoe, fully prepared to meet a jaguar, but when only a few yards from their comrade they saw directly under the root where the man was sitting the head of a monstrous boa-constrictor, its eyes fastened on its prey. though it was only a few feet from him, he had been unable to see it. one of the men took good aim and fired, crushing the head of the snake, and breaking the spell, but the intended victim was completely played out and had to lie down in the bottom of the canoe, shivering as if with ague. the others took pains to measure the length of the snake before leaving. it was palmas or feet inches. in circumference it measured palmas, corresponding to a diameter of inches. its mouth, they said, was two palmas or sixteen inches, but how they mean this to be understood i do not know. this event happened while i was living at headquarters. i had a long talk with perreira, but could not shake his statement, nor that of the three others; nevertheless, i remained a sceptic as to this alleged charming or mesmeric power of the snakes, at least so far as man is concerned. at that time we were awaiting the arrival of the monthly launch from the town of remate de males, and had spent a day weighing rubber at the camp of one of the employees, half a day's journey from headquarters. the rubber-pellets were loaded into our large canoe to take up to floresta. we spent the evening drinking black coffee and eating some large, sweet pineapples, whereafter we all took a nap lasting until midnight, when we got up to start on our night trip. it had been considered best to travel at night, when it was nice and cool with none of the pestering insects to torture us, and we were soon paddling the heavy canoe at a merry rate, smoking our pipes and singing in the still, dark night. soon we rounded a point where the mighty trees, covered with orchids and other parasitic plants, sent their branches down to the very water which in its depths was hiding the dreaded water-snakes. the only sound we heard was the weird calling of the night-owl, the "mother of the moon" as the indians call it. except this and the lapping sound of water, as we sped along, nothing disturbed the tranquillity of the night. i was in the act of lighting another pipe when one of the men cried out: "what's this?" we all stopped paddling and stared ahead at a large dark object, resting on a moon-lit sand-bar not far from us. then someone said, "_sucuruju_." few people can comprehend the feeling that creeps into one's heart when this word is pronounced, under such circumstances, in the far-off forest, in the middle of the night. the word means boa-constrictor, but it meant a lot more at this moment. an indescribable feeling of awe seized me. i knew now that i was to face the awful master of the swamps, the great silent monster of the river, of which so much had been said, and which so few ever meet in its lair. running the canoe ashore we advanced in single file. i now had a chance to inspect the object. on a soft, muddy sand-bar, half hidden by dead branches, i beheld a somewhat cone-shaped mass about seven feet in height. from the base of this came the neck and head of the snake, flat on the ground, with beady eyes staring at us as we slowly advanced and stopped. the snake was coiled, forming an enormous pile of round, scaly monstrosity, large enough to crush us all to death at once. we had stopped at a distance of about fifteen feet from him, and looked at each other. i felt as if i were spellbound, unable to move a step farther or even to think or act on my own initiative. the snake still made no move, but in the clear moonlight i could see its body expand and contract in breathing; its yellow eyes seeming to radiate a phosphorescent light. i felt no fear, nor any inclination to retreat, yet i was now facing a beast that few men had ever succeeded in seeing. thus we stood looking at each other, scarcely moving an eyelid, while the great silent monster looked at us. i slid my right hand down to the holster of my automatic pistol, the mm. luger, and slowly removed the safety lock, at the same time staring into the faces of the men. in this manner i was less under the spell of the mesmerism of the snake, and could to some extent think and act. i wheeled around while i still held control of my faculties, and, perceiving a slight movement of the snake's coils, i fired point-blank at the head, letting go the entire chamber of soft-nose bullets. instantly the other men woke up from their trance and in their turn fired, emptying their winchesters into the huge head, which by this time was raised to a great height above us, loudly hissing in agony. our wild yelling echoed through the deep forest. the snake uncoiled itself and writhing with pain made for the water's edge. by this time we were relieved of the terrible suspense, but we took care to keep at a respectful distance from the struggling reptile and the powerful lashing of its tail, which would have killed a man with one blow. after half an hour the struggles grew weaker, yet we hesitated to approach even when it seemed quiet and had its head and a portion of its body submerged in the water. we decided to stay through the night and wait here a day, as i was very anxious to skin the snake and take the trophy home to the states as a souvenir of a night's adventure in this far-off jungle of the amazon. we went up in the bushes and lit a fire, suspended our hammocks to some tree-trunks, and slept soundly not more than ten yards from the dying leviathan. we all got up before sunrise, had our coffee in haste, and ran down to see the snake. it was dead, its head practically shot to pieces. we set to work, stretching the huge body out on the sand-bar, and by eight o'clock we had the entire snake flat on the ground, ready to measure and skin. it was a most astonishing sight, that giant snake lying there full length, while around it gathered six amazon indians and the one solitary new yorker, here in the woods about as far from civilisation as it is possible to get. i proceeded to take measurements and used the span between my thumb and little finger tips as a unit, knowing that this was exactly eight inches. beginning at the mouth of the snake, i continued to the end and found that this unit was contained eighty-four times. thus times divided by gives exactly feet as the total length. in circumference, the unit, the "palma," was contained times and a fraction, around the thickest part of the body. from this i derived the diameter feet inch. these measurements are the result of very careful work. i went from the tail to the nose over again so as to eliminate any error, and then asked the men with me also to take careful measurements in their own manner, which only confirmed the figures given above. then we proceeded to skin the snake, which was no easy task under the fierce sun now baking our backs. great flocks of _urubus_, or vultures, had smelled the carcass and were circling above our heads waiting for their share of the spoils. each man had his section to work on, using a wooden club and his machete. the snake had been laid on its belly and it was split open, following the spinal column throughout its length, the ventral part being far too hard and unyielding. about two o'clock in the afternoon we had the work finished and the carcass was thrown into the river, where it was instantly set upon by the vigilant _piranhas_ and alligators. standing in front of this immense skin i could not withhold my elation. "men," i said, "here am i on this the th day of july, , standing before a snake-skin the size of which is wonderful. when i return to my people in the united states of america, and tell them that i have seen and killed a boa-constrictor nearly eighteen metres in length, they will laugh and call me a man with a bad tongue." whereupon my friend, the chief, rose to his full height and exclaimed in a grieved tone: "sir, you say that your people in the north will not believe that we have snakes like this or even larger. that is an insult to brazilians, yet you tell us that in your town nova york there are _barracãos_ that have thirty-five or even forty stories on top of each other! how do you expect us to believe such an improbable tale as that?" i was in a sad plight between two realities of such mighty proportions that they could be disbelieved in localities far removed from each other. we brought the skin to headquarters, where i prepared it with arsenical soap and boxed it for later shipment to new york. the skin measured, when dried, feet inches, with a width of feet inch. kind reader, if you have grown weary of my accounts of the reptilian life of the amazon, forgive me, but such an important role does this life play in the every-day experience of the brave rubber-workers that the descriptions could not be omitted. a story of life in the amazon jungle without them would be a deficient one, indeed. there is a bird in the forests, before referred to, called by the indians "_a mae da lua_," or the "mother of the moon." it is an owl and makes its habitation in the large, dead, hollow trees in the depths of the jungle, far away from the river front, and it will fly out of its nest only on still, moonlit nights, to pour forth its desolate and melancholy song. this consists of four notes uttered in a major key, then a short pause lasting but a few seconds, followed by another four notes in the corresponding minor key. after a little while the last two notes in the minor key will be heard and then all is still. when the lonely wanderer on the river in a canoe, or sitting in his hammock, philosophises over the perplexing questions of life, he is assisted in his dreary analysis by the gloomy and hair-raising cry of the mother of the moon. when the first four notes strike his ear, he will listen, thinking that some human being in dire distress is somewhere out in the swamps, pitifully calling for help, but in so painful a manner that it seems as if all hope were abandoned. still listening, he will hear the four succeeding melancholy notes, sounding as if the desolate sufferer were giving up the ghost in a last desperate effort. the final two notes, following after a brief interval, tell him that he now hears the last despairing sobs of a condemned soul. so harrowing and depressing is this song that, once heard, the memory of it alone will cause one's hair to stand on end and he will be grateful when too far away to hear again this sob of the forest. a surprise was in store for me one day when i visited the domicile of a rubber-worker living at the extreme end of the estate. i expected to find a dwelling of the ordinary appearance, raised on poles above the ground, but instead this hut was built among the branches of a tree some twenty feet above the level of the earth. i commenced climbing the rickety ladder leading to the door of the hut. half-way up a familiar sound reached my ear. yes, i had surely heard that sound before, but far away from this place. when i finally entered the habitation and had exchanged greetings with the head of the family, i looked for the source of the sound. turning round i saw a woman sitting at a _sewing-machine_, working on a shirt evidently for her husband. i examined this machine with great curiosity and found it to be a "new home" sewing-machine from new york. what journeys and transfers had not this apparatus undergone before it finally settled here in a tree-top in this far-off wilderness! one afternoon while sitting in the office at headquarters discussing amazonian politics with coronel da silva, francisco, a rubber-worker, came up and talked for a while with the coronel, who then turned to me and said: "do you want to get the skin of a black jaguar? francisco has just killed one on his _estrada_ while collecting rubber-milk; he will take you down to his _barracão_, and from there he will lead you to the spot where the jaguar lies, and there you can skin him." i thanked francisco for his information and went for my machete, having my pistol already in my belt. i joined him at the foot of the river bank outside the main building, where he was waiting for me in his canoe, and we paddled down-stream to his hut. on our way (he lived about two miles below floresta) he told me that he was walking at a good rate on the narrow path of the _estrada_ when he was attracted by a growling and snarling in the thicket. he stopped and saw a black jaguar grappling with a full-grown buck in a small opening between the trees. the jaguar had felled the buck by jumping on its back from the branches of a tree, and, with claws deeply imbedded in the neck, broke its spine and opened its throat, when francisco drew the bead on the head or neck of the jaguar and fired. the jaguar fell, roaring with pain. francisco was too much in a hurry to leave the narrow path of the rubber-workers and go to the spot where the victim was writhing in its death agonies, but hastened on for his dinner. remembering later that the coronel had offered an attractive sum of money for any large game they would bag for my benefit, and having finished his dinner, he paddled up to headquarters and reminded the coronel of the promised reward. when we came to the hut of the rubber-worker a large dog greeted us. this dog looked like a cross between a great dane and a russian greyhound; it was rather powerfully built, although with a softness of movement that did not correspond with its great frame. francisco whistled for the dog to follow us. he carried his winchester and a machete, while i discovered that my pistol had been left unloaded when i hurried from headquarters, so i was armed with nothing but a machete. after walking for nearly half an hour, we slowed down a little and francisco looked around at the trees and said that he thought we were on the spot where he had heard the growlings of the jaguar. it was nearing half-past five and the sun was low so we launched ourselves into the thicket towards the spot where the jaguar had been killed. we advanced rapidly; then slower and slower. the great dog at first had been very brave, but the closer we came to the spot we were looking for, the more timid the dog became, until it uttered a fearful yell of fright, and with its tail between its legs slunk back. there was nothing to do but to leave the contemptible brute alone with its fear, so we pushed ahead. suddenly we came to the place, but there was no jaguar. there were plenty of evidences of the struggle. the mutilated body of a beautiful marsh-deer was lying on the moist ground, pieces of fur and flesh were scattered around, and the blood had even spurted on the surrounding leaves and branches. francisco had wounded the jaguar, no doubt--at least he said so, but plainly he had not killed it nor disabled it to such extent that it had remained on the spot. we commenced searching in the underbrush, for it was evident it could not be far off. the bloody track could be followed for some distance; in fact, in one place the thorny roots of the remarkable _pachiuba_ palm-tree, the roots that the women here use for kitchen graters, had torn off a bunch of long, beautiful hair from the sides of the jaguar, which very likely was weak and was dragging itself to some cluster of trees where it could be safe, or else to find a point of vantage to fall upon its pursuers. we searched for some time. the forest was growing dark, and the many noises of the night began. first came the yelping of the toucan, which sounded like the carefree yap-yap of some clumsy little pup. then came the chattering of the night monkeys and the croaking of the thousands of frogs that hide in the swamps. and still no traces of the jaguar. again we separated. the dog had run home utterly scared. now and then we would whistle so as not to lose track of each other. i regretted that i had been so careless as to leave my ammunition at home, as it might happen that the wounded and enraged cat would spring at us from some dark cluster of branches, and then a machete would hardly be an adequate weapon. we searched for over an hour until it was pitch dark, but, sad to relate, we never found that jaguar. we went home silently. francisco did not secure the reward. this incident is of no particular interest as the result of the excursion was nil and our humour consequently very bad. but it serves to show how the mind of man will be influenced by local surroundings, and how it adapts itself to strange customs, and how a novice may be so greatly enthused that he will, half-armed, enter upon a reckless hunt for a wounded jaguar. chapter vi the fatal march through the forest thus i lived among these kind and hospitable people for five months until one day my lust for further excitement broke out again, induced by a seemingly commonplace notice posted outside the door of the storeroom. it read: "the men--marques, freitas, anisette, magellaes, jerome, and brabo--are to make themselves ready to hunt caoutchouc in the eastern virgin forest." puzzled as to the meaning of this, i consulted the chief and was informed that coronel da silva was about to equip and send out a small expedition into the forests, far beyond the explored territory, to locate new caoutchouc trees, which were to be cut and the rubber or caoutchouc collected, whereupon the expedition was to return to headquarters with these samples and a report on the number of trees observed. this greatly interested me, and i asked the chief, marques, whose wife i had operated upon previously, if i could accompany him on this trip. he consented unwillingly, saying that it was very dangerous and that the same number of men that went out never came back. however, this was too rare a chance to let pass, and i made my preparations to accompany the expedition on this journey into regions where even the native _caucheros_ had never before been. on a monday morning we all assembled at the floresta headquarters, where coronel da silva bade us good-bye, and at the same time once more warned me against venturing on this trip, but i was determined and could not be persuaded to give it up. the expedition consisted of the six men, above mentioned, all, except the chief, marques, unmarried. after leaving the main building we went down to the store-room where we chose the necessary articles of food--enough to last us for three or four weeks. our staples were to be dried _pirarucu_, the largest fish of the amazon, some dried or "jerked" beef, and a large quantity of the farinha, the eternal woody and unpalatable meal that figures on every brazilian's table. besides these, we carried sugar, coffee, rice, and several bottles of "painkiller" from fulton street, n.y. hammocks and cooking utensils completed our outfit. i took with me a large plate camera, photographic plates and paper, chemicals, scales and weights; also a magnifying glass, a primitive surgical outfit, and a hypodermic needle with several dozen prepared "ampules." my men were armed with the usual . winchesters and some ancient muzzle-loaders, while i had my mm. automatic luger pistol. when we were fully packed, each man carried a load weighing eighty-five pounds, strapped by means of bark strips to the shoulders, with his rifle in his left hand and a machete to clear the path in his right. thus equipped, we left headquarters, not knowing how or when we would see it again, while the natives fired a farewell salute, wishing us god-speed. after a few hours by canoe, up the itecoahy, we left the river and turned our faces inland. our way now led through dense forest, but for four hours we travelled in a region familiar to the rubber-workers, and we were able to follow pathways used by them in their daily work. let no one think that a jungle trail is broad and easy. as i stumbled along the tortuous, uneven path, in the sweltering mid-day heat, pestered by legions of _piums_ or sand-flies and the omnipresent mosquitoes, climbing, fallen trees that impeded us at every turn, i thought that i had reached the climax of discomfort. little could i know that during the time to come i was to look back upon this day as one of easy, delightful promenading. the four hours' march brought us to an open place, apparently a clearing, where the _estrada_ suddenly seemed to stop. exhausted, i threw myself on the moist ground while the chief explained our position. he said that we were now at the end of the cut _estrada_ and that beyond this we would have no path to follow, though he had somewhat explored the region farther on the year previous, during a similar expedition. we found that the undergrowth had been renewed to such an extent that his old track was indistinguishable, and we had to hew our every step. when we resumed the march i received a more thorough understanding of what the word _jungle_ really means. ahead of us was one solid and apparently impenetrable wall of vegetation, but my men attacked it systematically with their heavy machetes. slowly we advanced, but i wondered that we made any progress at all. the skill of these sons of the forest in cutting a pathway with their long knives became a constant wonder to me. where an inexperienced person would have lost himself, looking for a round-about easy course, these men moved straight ahead, hewing and hacking right and left, the play of the swift blades seemingly dissolving all obstacles in their path. some idea of the density of the growth can be gathered from the fact that if a man moved off he became instantly invisible although he might be only a yard or two away. late in the afternoon we reached a small hut or _tambo_ built on the former trip by the chief. it was nothing but a roof on poles, but it was a welcome sight to us as it meant rest and food. we were tired and hungry and were glad to find a small creek close by where we could refresh ourselves, taking care to keep out of the reach of the alligators and water-snakes swimming close to the weeds by the shore. for our supper we gave the dried _pirarucu_ flesh a boil and soaked some farinha in water, eating this tasteless repast with as much gusto as we would if it had been roast beef. let me here recommend this diet for any gourmet whose appetite has been impaired, and he will soon be able to enjoy a stew of shoe-leather. one of the men, a good-natured athlete, jerome by name, was sent out after fresh meat, and brought back a weird little animal resembling a fox (_cuti_). we decided to test it as a stew, but, lacking salt, we found the dried _pirarucu_ preferable. the excitement of the night was furnished by ants, which had built a nest in the _tambo_ where we had swung our hammocks. the visitors swarmed up poles and down ropes and would not be denied entrance. wads of cotton smeared with vaseline and bandaged around the fastenings of the hammock proved no obstacle. it was impossible to sleep; mosquitoes came to the assistance of the ants and managed to find their way through the mosquito-net. to complete the general "cheerfulness," the tree-tops were full of little spider-monkeys whispering mournfully throughout the dark and showery night. the second day's march took us through the region which the chief had explored the year before, and we spent the night in another _tambo_ built on that occasion. our progress, however, was made with increasing difficulty, as the land had become more hilly and broken and the forest, if possible, more dense and wild. we were now at a considerable distance from the river-front and in a region where the yearly inundation could never reach. this stage of the journey remains among the few pleasant memories of that terrible expedition, through what i may call the gastronomic revel with which it ended. jerome had succeeded in bringing down with his muzzle-loader a _mutum_, a bird which in flavour and appearance reminds one of a turkey, while i was so lucky as to bag a nice fat deer (marsh-deer). this happened at _tambo_ no. . we called each successive hut by its respective number. here we had a great culinary feast, so great that during the following days i thought of this time with a sad "_ils sont passé, ces jours de fête_." now, guided by the position of the sun, we held a course due west, our ultimate destination being a far-off region where the chief expected to find large areas covered with fine caoutchouc trees. the ground was hilly and interspersed with deeply cut creeks where we could see the ugly heads of the _jararaca_ snakes pop up as if they were waiting for us. there was only one way of crossing these creeks; this was by felling a young tree across the stream for a bridge. a long slender stick was then cut and one end placed at the bottom of the creek, when each man seizing this in his right hand steadied himself over the tree to the other side of the deep treacherous water. it required steady nerve to walk this trunk, such as i did not possess, therefore i found it safer to hang from the levelled bole by my hands and travel across in that manner. _tambo_ no. we constructed ourselves, as we did every other for the rest of the journey. we always selected a site near a creek that we were following, and cleared away the underbrush so as to leave an open area of about twenty-five feet square, always allowing one tree to remain for a corner. a framework of saplings tied together with strips of _matamata_ bark was raised for a roof, and across this were laid gigantic leaves of the _murumuru_, twenty-five to thirty feet long. the hammocks were then strung beneath, and we managed to keep comparatively sheltered from the nightly rain that always occurs in these deep forests. after the frugal meal of _pirarucu_ and dried farinha, or of some game we had picked up during the march, we would creep into our hammocks and smoke, while the men told hunting stories, or sang their monotonous, unmelodious tribal songs. it must have been about two o'clock in the morning when i was awakened by a terrific roaring which fairly made the forest tremble. sitting up and staring fearfully into the darkness, i heard the crashing of underbrush and trees close upon us. my first thought was of a hurricane, but in the confusion of my senses, stunned by the impact of sound, i had few clear impressions. my companions were calling one another. the noise grew louder, more terrifying. suddenly the little world around me went to smash in one mad upheaval. the roof of the _tambo_ collapsed and fell upon us. at the same instant i felt some huge body brush past me, hurling me sprawling to the ground. the noise was deafening, mingled with the shrieks and excited yellings of my men, but the object passed swiftly in the direction of the creek. some one now thought of striking a light to discover the extent of the damage. the _tambo_ was a wreck; the hammocks were one tangled mass. jerome, who had jumped from his hammock when he first heard the noise, followed the "hurricane" to the creek and soon solved the mystery of the storm that swept our little camp. he told us, it was a jaguar, which had sprung upon the back of a large tapir while the animal was feeding in the woods behind our _tambo_. the tapir started for the creek in the hope of knocking the jaguar off its back by rushing through the underbrush; not succeeding in this, its next hope was the water in the creek. it had chosen a straight course through our _tambo_. the next day we were successful in killing two howling monkeys; these were greeted with loud yells of joy, as we had not been able to locate any game during the last twenty-four hours' march. this is easy to understand. we were much absorbed in cutting our way through the bushes and the game was scared away long before we could sight it. after the ninth day of wearisome journeying, the chief found signs of numerous caoutchouc trees, indicating a rich district, and it was accordingly decided that _tambo_ no. should be our last. we were now fully miles from the floresta headquarters and some miles back in the absolutely unknown. that night the temperature went down to ° fahrenheit, a remarkable drop so close to the equator and on such low ground, but it was undoubtedly due to the fact that the sun never penetrates the dark foliage of the surrounding dense forests where the swamps between the hills give off their damp exhalations. up to this point i had not feared the jungle more than i would have feared any other forest, but soon a dread commenced to take hold of me, now that i could see how a great danger crept closer and closer--danger of starvation and sickness. our supplies were growing scant when we reached _tambo_ no. , and yet we lingered, forgetful of the precarious position into which we had thrust ourselves, and the violated wilderness was preparing to take its revenge. i suppose our carelessness in remaining was due in part to the exhausted state to which we had been reduced, and which made us all rejoice in the comfort of effortless days rather than face new exertions. chapter vii the fatal "tambo no. " we were three weeks at _tambo_ no. before the sharp tooth of necessity began to rouse us to the precarious situation. occasionally a lucky shot would bring down a _mutum_ or a couple of monkeys and, on one occasion, a female tapir. thus feasting to repletion, we failed to notice that the lucky strikes came at longer intervals; that the animals were deserting our part of the forest. during these three weeks we were not wholly idle. the chief had the men out every day making excursions in the neighbourhood to locate the caoutchouc trees. as soon as a tree was found, they set to work bleeding the base of it to let the milky sap ooze out on the ground where it would collect in a small pool. then they would fell the tree and cut rings in the bark at regular intervals so that the milk could flow out. in a few days when the milk had coagulated, forming large patches of caoutchouc, they would return for it. the pieces were washed in the creek and then tied into large bundles ready for transporting. in all they located more than caoutchouc trees. at this time too i made my remarkable discovery of gold deposits in the creek. it seems to me now like the plot of some old morality play, for while we were searching eagerly for the thing that we considered the ultimate goal of human desires--wealth, the final master, death, was closing his net upon us day by day. our food supply was nearly gone. while strolling along the shores of the creek in search of game, i noticed irregular clumps or nodules of clay which had accumulated in large quantities in the bed of the stream, especially where branches and logs had caused whirlpools and eddies to form. they had the appearance of pebbles or stones, and were so heavy in proportion to their size that my curiosity was aroused, and throwing one of them on the bank i split it open with my machete. my weakened heart then commenced to beat violently, for what i saw looked like gold. i took the two pieces to my working table near our _tambo_, and examining the dirty-yellow heart with my magnifying glass, i found the following: a central mass about one cubic inch in size, containing a quantity of yellowish grains measuring, say, one thirty-second of an inch in diameter, slightly adhering to each other, but separating upon pressure of the finger, and around this a thick layer of hard clay or mud of somewhat irregular shape. it immediately struck me that the yellow substance might be gold, though i could not account for the presence of it in the centre of the clay-balls. i carefully scraped the granules out of the clay, and washing them clean, placed them on a sheet of paper to dry in the sun. by this time the attention of the other men had been attracted to what i was doing, and it seemed to amuse the brave fellows immensely to watch my painstaking efforts with the yellow stuff. i produced some fine scales i had for weighing chemicals for my photographic work, and suspended these above a gourd filled with water. then i went down to the creek and collected more of the clay-balls and scraped the mud of one away from the solid centre of what i took to be grains of gold. a fine thread i next wound around the gold ball and this was tied to one end of the balance. after an equilibrium had been established, i found that the weight of the gold was grains. next i raised the gourd until the water reached the suspended ball, causing the opposite pan of the scales to go down. to again establish equilibrium, i had to add grains. with this figure i divided the actual weight of the gold, which gave me . , and this i remembered was close to the specific gravity of pure gold. still a little in doubt, i broke the bulb of one of my clinical thermometers and, placing the small quantity of mercury thus obtained in the bottom of a tray, i threw a few of the grains into it, and found that they immediately united, forming a dirty-grey amalgam. i was now sure the substance was gold and in less than five hours i collected enough to fill five photographic × plate-boxes, the only empty receptacles i could lay my hands on. i could have filled a barrel, for the creek was thick with the clay-balls as far as i could see; but i had a continuous fever and this, with the exhaustion from semi-starvation, caused me to be indifferent to this great wealth. in fact, i would have gladly given all the gold in the creek for _one_ square meal. if the difficulties in reaching this infernal region were not so great, i have no doubt that a few men could soon make themselves millionaires. the deadly fever came among us after a few days. it struck a young man called brabo first; the next day i fell sick with another serious attack of swamp-fever, and we both took to our hammocks. for five days and nights i was delirious most of the time, listening to the mysterious noises of the forest and seeing in my dreams visions of juicy steaks, great loaves of bread, and cups of creamy coffee. in those five days the only food in the camp was howling monkey, the jerked beef and the dried farinha having given out much to my satisfaction, as i became so heartily disgusted with this unpalatable food that i preferred to starve rather than eat it again. at first i felt the lack of food keenly, but later the pain of hunger was dulled, and only a warm, drugged sensation pervaded my system. starvation has its small mercies. i became almost childishly interested in small things. there was a peculiar sound that came from the deep forest in the damp nights; i used to call it the "voice of the forest." to close one's eyes and listen was almost to imagine oneself near the murmuring crowd of a large city. it was the song of numerous frogs which inhabited a creek near our _tambo_. then i would hear four musical notes uttered in a major key from the tree-tops close by, soon answered by another four in a similar pitch, and this musical and cheerful(!) conversation was continued all night long. the men told me that this was the note of a species of frog that lived in the trees. one day the jungle took the first toll from us. young brabo was very low; i managed to stagger out of my hammock to give him a hypodermic injection, but he was too far gone for it to do him any good. he died in the early afternoon. we dug a grave with our machetes right behind our _tambo_. no stone marks this place; only a small wooden cross tied together with bark-strips shows where our comrade lies--a son of the forest whom the forest claimed again. the arrival of death in our camp showed us all how far we were in the grasp of actual, threatening danger. we stood about the grave in silence. these men, these indians of the amazon, were very human; somehow, i always considered them equals and not of an inferior race. we had worked together, eaten and slept and laughed together, and now together we faced the mystery of death. the tie between us became closer; the fraternity of common flesh and blood bound us. the next day i arose and was able to walk around, having injected my left arm with copious doses of quinine and arsenical acid. borrowing thus false strength from drugs, i was able, to some extent, to roam around with my camera and secure photographs that i wanted to take home with me to the states. i had constructed a table of stalks of the _murumuru_ palm-leaves, and i had made a sun-dial by the aid of a compass and a stick, much to the delight of the men, who were now able to tell the hour of the day with precision. the next day i had another attack of fever and bled my arm freely with the bistoury, relieving myself of about sixteen ounces of blood. shortly after nine o'clock in the morning i heard a shot which i recognised as being that of jerome's muzzle-loader; soon afterward he made his appearance with a splendid specimen of a jet-black jaguar, killed by a shot behind the ear. he skinned it after first asking me if i wanted to get up and take a photograph of it, but i was too weak to do it and had to decline. the chief one day brought into camp a fine deer and a _mutum_ bird, which relieved our hunger for a while. as we were preparing a luxurious meal, jerome returned with two red howling monkeys, but we had all the meat we could take care of, and these monkeys were rejected and thrown away. by this time the chief informed us that enough caoutchouc trees had been located to justify our return to the floresta headquarters with a satisfactory report--of course, excepting the death of poor brabo. furthermore it was decided that owing to the lack of provisions we should separate. he directed that the men freitas, magellaes, and anisette should take a course at a right angle to the itecoahy, so as to reach this river in a short time, where they were to procure a canoe and secure assistance for the rest of us. this, of course, was a chance, but under the circumstances every step was a chance. the chief himself, jerome, and i would retrace the route which we had lately travelled and reach floresta that way. the evening before our departure i did not think myself strong enough to carry my load a single step, but the hypodermic needle, with quinine, which had now become my constant stand-by, lent me an artificial strength, and when the packing was done the next morning, i stood up with the rest and strapped the load on my shoulders. we parted with the other three men before sunrise, with clasps of the hand that were never to be repeated, and so turned our faces toward the outer world. my only hope was to retain sufficient strength in my emaciated, fever-racked body to drag myself back to floresta, and from there, in the course of time, get canoe or launch connection to the frontier down the river, and then wait for the steamer that would take me back to "god's country," where i could eat proper food, and rest--rest. the jungle no longer seemed beautiful or wonderful to me, but horrible--a place of terror and death. in my drug-dazed sleep on that back-track, i started up in my hammock, bathed in a sweat of fear from a dream; i saw myself and my companions engulfed in a sea of poisonous green, caught by living creepers that dragged us down and held us in a deadly octopus embrace. the forest was something from which i fled; it was hideous, a trap, with its impenetrable wall of vegetation, its dark shadows, and moist, treacherous ground. i longed for the open; struggled for it, as the swimmer struggles up for air to escape from the insidious sucking of the undertow. starving, weak from fever, oppressed by the thought of death, but lashed on by stimulants and the tenacity of life, i headed with my two comrades out of the world of the unknown, toward the world of men--to _life_. chapter viii what happened in the forest on the second day of the return trip, we had a remarkable experience. probably not more than two hundred yards from the _tambo_ where we had spent the night, we heard the noise, as we thought, of a tapir, but nothing could surpass our astonishment when we saw a human being. who could it be that dared alone to disturb the solitude of the virgin forest, and who went along in these dreary woods humming a melody? it was a young indian who approached us cautiously when jerome spoke in a tongue i did not understand, and evidently told him that we were friends on the way back to our homes by the river. he was an unusually fine specimen of a savage, well built, beautifully proportioned, and with a flawless skin like polished bronze. his clothing was limited to a bark girdle, and a feather head-dress not unlike that worn by some north american indians. he was armed with bow and arrows and a blow-gun; and he had a small rubber pouch filled with a brownish substance, the remarkable wourahli poison. he explained to jerome that his tribe lived in their _maloca_, or tribal house, about hours' march from this place, and that he had been chasing a tapir all day, but had lost its track, and was now returning to his home. he pointed in a north-western direction with his blow-gun, signifying thereby the general route he was going to follow in order to reach his destination. we sat down on the ground and looked at each other for quite a while, and thus i had my first chance of studying a blow-gun and the poisoned arrows, outside a museum, and in a place where it was part of a man's life. at the time i did not know that i was to have a little later a more thorough opportunity of examining this weapon. i asked the indian, jerome acting as interpreter, to demonstrate the use of the gun, to which he consented with a grin. we soon heard the chattering of monkeys in the tree-tops, and deftly inserting one of the thin poisoned arrows in the ten-foot tube he pointed the weapon at a swiftly moving body among the branches, and filling his lungs with air, let go. with a slight noise, hardly perceptible, the arrow flew out and pierced the left thigh of a little monkey. quick as lightning he inserted another arrow and caught one of the other monkeys as it was taking a tremendous leap through the air to a lower branch. the arrow struck this one in the shoulder, but it was a glancing shot and the shaft dropped to the ground. in the meantime the indian ran after the first monkey and carried it up to me. it seemed fast asleep, suffering no agony whatever; and after five or six minutes its heart ceased beating. the other monkey landed on the branch it was aiming for in its leap, but after a short while it seemed uneasy and sniffed at everything. finally, its hold on the branch relaxed, it dropped to the ground and was dead in a few minutes. it was a marvellous thing to behold these animals wounded but slightly, the last one only scratched, and yet dying after a few minutes as if they were falling asleep. it was then explained to me that the meat was still good to eat and that the presence of poison would not affect the consumer's stomach in the least; in fact, most of the game these indians get is procured in this manner. i was lucky enough to secure a snap-shot of this man in the act of using his blow-gun. it proved to be the last photograph i took in the brazilian jungles. accidents and sickness subsequently set in, and the fight for life became too hard and all-absorbing even to think of photographing. he left us after an hour's conversation, and we resumed our journey homewards. we had a slight advantage in retracing our former path. although the reedy undergrowth had already choked it, we were travelling over ground that we knew, and it was also no longer necessary to delay for the building of _tambos_; we used the old ones again. jerome had complained for some time of a numbness in his fingers and toes, and also of an increasing weakness of the heart that made every step a torment. the chief and i tried our best to cheer him up, although i felt certain that the brave fellow himself knew what dreadful disease had laid its spell upon him. however, we kept on walking without any words that might tend to lower our already depressed spirits. but our march was no longer the animated travel it had been on the way out; we talked like automatons rather than like human, thinking beings. suffering, hunger, and drugs had dulled our senses. only the will to escape somehow, the instinct of self-preservation, was fully awake in us. a sweep of the machete to cut a barrier bushrope or climber, one foot placed before the other, meant that much nearer to home and safety. such was now the simple operation of our stupefied and tired brains, brains that could not hold one complex thought to its end; too tired--tired! at nightfall we stumbled into our old _tambo_ no. . there was no thought of securing food, no possibility of getting any; we had been too tired to even attempt to shoot game during the day. the two monkeys which the indian had killed with his blow-gun were the only food we had and these we now broiled over the camp-fire and devoured fiercely. after this meal, none too good, we slung our hammocks with difficulty and dropped in. jerome's numbness increased during the night. we were up and on the trail again with the dawn. in the afternoon we descended a hill to find ourselves confronted by a swamp of unusual extent. the chief was in the lead as we crossed the swamp and we lost him from our sight for a few minutes. while crossing this wide, slimy-bottomed place, i noticed a peculiar movement in the water near me, and soon made out the slender bodies of swamp-snakes as they whipped past among the branches and reeds. these snakes are called by the brazilians _jararacas_ and are very poisonous; however, i had no fear for myself as i wore heavy buffalo-hide boots, but the men walked barefooted, and were in great danger. i cried out a warning to jerome, who took care to thrash about him. we supposed that we had passed this snake-hole without mishap when we rejoined the chief on "terra firma." he was leaning over, as we approached him, and he turned a face to us that was stricken with fear. he pointed to the instep of his right foot and there on the skin were two tiny spots, marked by the fangs of the snake. without a word we sank to the ground beside him in despair. the unfortunate man, with dilated eyes fixed upon the ground, crouched waiting for the coming of the pain that would indicate that the poison was working its deadly course, and that the end was near if something was not done immediately. losing no more time, i cried to jerome to pour out some gunpowder while i sucked the wound. while doing this i fumbled in the spacious pockets of my khaki hunting-coat and secured the bistoury with which i made a deep incision in the flesh over the wound, causing the blood to flow freely. in the meantime, jerome had filled a measure with black powder and this was now emptied into the bleeding wound and a burning match applied at once. the object of this was to cauterise the wound, a method that has been used with success in the outskirts of the world where poisonous reptiles abound and where proper antidotes cannot be had. the chief stood the ordeal without a murmur, never flinching even at the explosion of the gunpowder. jerome and i made him as comfortable as possible, and sat sadly by his side watching him suffer and die by inches. it is no easy thing to see a man meet death, but under these circumstances it was particularly distressing. the chief had been a man of a strong constitution particularly adapted to the health-racking work of a rubber-hunter. he it was who with his forest-wisdom had planned all our moves, and had mapped our course through the blind forest, where a man could be lost as easily as on the open sea. he had proved himself a good leader, save for the fatal mistake in delaying our return, over-anxious as he was to render his employer, coronel da silva, full and faithful service. he was extremely capable, kind, and human, and a good friend to us all. we had looked to him for advice in all our needs. he knew the language of the wild beasts of the forest, he knew a way out of everything, and at home he was a most devoted father. now, this splendid fellow, the sole reliance, in this vast and intricate maze, of jerome and myself, succumbed before our eyes to one of the dangers of the merciless wilderness. he was beyond all hope. nothing in our power could to any extent add to the prolongation of his life which slowly ebbed away. about four o'clock in the afternoon his respirations grew difficult, and a few moments later he drew his last painful breath. he died three hours after being bitten by the _jararaca_. for the second time during that ill-fated journey i went to work digging a grave with my machete, jerome lending me whatever assistance he could in his enfeebled state. my own condition was such that i had to rest and recover my breath with every few stabs of the machete. we completed that day's journey late in the afternoon, arriving at _tambo_ no. after taking almost an hour for the last half mile. jerome could now scarcely stand without my assistance. there was no longer any attempt to disguise the nature of his sickness. he had _beri-beri_, and that meant in our situation not the slightest chance of recovery. even with the best of care and nursing his case would be hopeless, for in these regions the disease is absolutely fatal. we built a fire and managed to get our hammocks fastened in some fashion, but there was not a scrap of food to be had. the heart-leaves from a young palm were chewed in a mood of hopeless desperation. the next morning it was a task of several minutes for me to get out of the hammock and on my feet. jerome made several painful efforts and, finally, solved his problem by dropping to the ground. he could not rise until i came to his assistance. then we two tottering wrecks attempted to carry our heavy loads, but jerome could not make it; he cast from him everything he owned, even the smallest personal belongings so dear to his simple, pure soul. it was heartrending to see this young man, who in health would have been able to handle three or four of his own size, now reduced to such a pitiful state. and in my own case, the fever which i had fought off by constant use of the hypodermic needle, now swept over me with renewed violence. the drug did not have the same effect as when i was new to the ravages of the fever. at this point my recollections became almost inextricably confused. i know that at times i raved wildly as i staggered on, for occasionally i came to myself with strange phrases on my lips addressed to no one in particular. when these lucid moments brought coherent thought, it was the jungle, the endless, all-embracing, fearful jungle, that overwhelmed my mind. no shipwrecked mariner driven to madness by long tossing on a raft at sea ever conceived such hatred and horror of his surroundings as that which now came upon me for the fresh, perpetual, monotonous green of the interminable forest. about noon the weight on my back became unbearable and i resolved to sacrifice my precious cargo. i threw away my camera, my unexposed plates, all utensils, and four of the boxes of gold dust. this left me with one box of gold, a few boxes of exposed plates (which i eventually succeeded in carrying all the way back to new york), and fifty-six bullets, the automatic revolver, and the machete. last, but not least, i kept the hypodermic needle and a few more ampules. we had walked scarcely a quarter of a mile when jerome collapsed. the poor fellow declared that he was beaten; it was no use to fight any more; he begged me to hurry the inevitable and send a bullet through his brain. the prospect of another visitation of death aroused me from my stupor. i got him to a dry spot and found some dry leaves and branches with which i started a fire. jerome was beyond recognising me. he lay by the fire, drawing long, wheezing breaths, and his face was horribly distorted, like that of a man in a violent fit. he babbled incessantly to himself and occasionally stared at me and broke out into shrill, dreadful laughter, that made my flesh creep. all this overwhelmed me and sapped the little energy i had left. i threw myself on the ground some little distance from the fire, not caring if i ever rose again. how long it was before a penetrating, weird cry aroused me from this stupor, i do not know, but when i raised my head i saw that the forest was growing dark and the fire burning low. i saw too that jerome was trying to get on his feet, his eyes bulging from their sockets, his face crimson in colour. he was on one knee, when the thread of life snapped, and he fell headlong into the fire. i saw this as through a hazy veil and almost instantly my senses left me again. i have no clear knowledge of what happened after this. throughout the rest of the night, my madness mercifully left me insensible to the full appreciation of the situation and my future prospects. it was night again before i was able to arouse myself from my collapse. the fire was out, the forest dark and still, except for the weird cry of the owl, the uncanny "mother of the moon." poor jerome lay quiet among the embers. i did not have the courage, even if i had had the strength, to pull the body away, for there could be nothing left of his face by now. i looked at him once more, shuddering, and because i could not walk, i crept on all fours through the brush, without any object in mind,--just kept moving--just crept on like a sick, worthless dog. one definite incident of the night i remember quite distinctly. it occurred during one of those moments when my senses returned for a while; when i could realise where i was and how i got there. i was crawling through the thicket making small, miserable progress, my insensible face and hands torn and scratched by spines and thorns which i did not heed, when something bumped against my thigh; i clutched at it and my hand closed around the butt of my automatic pistol. the weapon came out of its holster unconsciously, but as i felt my finger rest in the curve of the trigger, i knew that some numbed and exhausted corner of my brain had prompted me to do this thing; indeed, as i weighed the matter with what coolness i could bring to bear, it did not seem particularly wicked. with the pistol in my hand and with the safety released, i believed that the rest would have been easy and even pleasant. what did i have in my favour? what prospect did i have of escaping the jungle? none whatever--none! there was no shadow of hope for me, and i had long ago given up believing in miracles. for eight days i had scarcely had a mouthful to eat, excepting the broiled monkey at _tambo_ no. , shot by the young indian. the fever had me completely in its grasp. i was left alone more than one hundred miles from human beings in absolute wilderness. i measured cynically the tenaciousness of life, measured the thread that yet held me among the number of the living, and i realised now what the fight between life and death meant to a man brought to bay. i had not the slightest doubt in my mind that this was the last of me. surely, no man could have been brought lower or to greater extremity and live; no man ever faced a more hopeless proposition. yet i could or would not yield, but put the pistol back where it belonged. all night long i crawled on and on and ever on, through the underbrush, with no sense of direction whatever, and still i am sure that i did not crawl in a circle but that i covered a considerable distance. for hours i moved along at the absolute mercy of any beast of the forest that might meet me. the damp chill of the approaching morning usual in these regions came to me with a cooling touch and restored once more to some extent my sanity. my clothes were almost stripped from my body, and smeared with mud, my hands and face were torn and my knees were a mass of bruises. chapter ix among the cannibal mangeromas i have a vague recollection of hearing the barking of dogs, of changing my crawling direction to head for the sound, and then, suddenly, seeing in front of me a sight which had the same effect as a rescuing steamer on the shipwrecked. to my confused vision it seemed that i saw many men and women and children, and a large, round house; i saw parrots fly across the open space in brilliant, flashing plumage and heard their shrill screaming. i cried aloud and fell forward when a little curly-haired dog jumped up and commenced licking my face, and then i knew no more. when i came to i was lying in a comfortable hammock in a large, dark room. i heard the murmur of many voices and presently a man came over and looked at me. i did not understand where i was, but thought that i, finally, had gone mad. i fell asleep again. the next time i woke up i saw an old woman leaning over me and holding in her hand a gourd containing some chicken-broth which i swallowed slowly, not feeling the cravings of hunger, in fact not knowing whether i was dead or alive. the old woman had a peculiar piece of wood through her lip and looked very unreal to me, and i soon fell asleep again. on the fifth day, so i learned later, i began to feel my senses return, my fever commenced to abate, and i was able to grasp the fact that i had crawled into the _maloca_, or communal village, of the mangeromas. i was as weak as a kitten, and, indeed, it has been a marvel to me ever since that i succeeded at all in coming out of the shadow. the savages, by tender care, with strengthening drinks prepared in their own primitive method, wrought the miracle, and returned to life a man who was as near death as any one could be, and not complete the transition. they fed me at regular intervals, thus checking my sickness, and when i could make out their meaning, i understood that i could stay with them as long as i desired. luckily i had kept my spectacles on my nose (they were the kind that fasten back of the ears) during the previous hardships, and i found these sticking in their position when i awoke. my khaki coat was on the ground under my hammock, and the first thing was to ascertain if the precious contents of its large pockets had been disturbed, but i found everything safe. the exposed plates were there in their closed boxes, the gold dust was also there and mocked me with its yellow glare, and my hypodermic outfit was intact and was used without delay, much to the astonishment of some of the men, standing around my hammock. when my head was clear and strong enough to raise, i turned and began my first visual exploration of my immediate surroundings. the big room i found to be a colossal house, forty feet high and one hundred and fifty feet in diameter, thatched with palm-leaves and with sides formed of the stems of the _pachiuba_ tree. it was the communal residence of this entire tribe, consisting, as i learned later, of two hundred and fifty-eight souls. a single door and a circular opening in the roof were the only apertures of this enormous structure. the door was very low, not more than four feet, so that it was necessary to creep on one's knees to enter the place, and this opening was closed at night, that is to say, about six o'clock, by a sliding door which fitted so snugly that i never noticed any mosquitoes or _piums_ in the dark, cool room. the next day i could get out of my hammock, though i could not stand or walk without the aid of two women, who took me over to a man i later found to be the chief of the tribe. he was well-fed, and by his elaborate dress was distinguished from the rest of the men. he had a very pleasant, good-natured smile, and almost constantly displayed a row of white, sharp-filed teeth. this smile gave me some confidence, but i very well knew that i was now living among cannibal indians, whose reputation in this part of the amazon is anything but flattering. i prepared for the new ordeal without any special fear--my feelings seemed by this time to have been pretty well exhausted and any appreciation of actual danger was considerably reduced as a result of the gamut of the terrors which i had run. i addressed the chief in the portuguese language, which i had learned during my stay at floresta headquarters, and also in spanish but he only shook his head; all my efforts were useless. he let me know in a friendly manner that my hammock was to be my resting-place and that i would not be molested. his tribe was one that occupied an almost unknown region and had no connection with white men or brazilians or people near the river. i tried in the course of the mimical conversation to make him understand that, with six companions from a big chief's _maloca_ (meaning coronel da silva and the floresta headquarters), i had penetrated into the woods near this mighty chief's _maloca_,--here i pointed at the chief--that the men had died from fever and i was left alone and that luckily, i had found my way to the free men of the forest (here i made a sweeping movement with my hands). he nodded and the audience was over. i was led back to my hammock to dream and eat, and dream again. although the chief and his men presented an appearance wholly unknown to me, yet it did not seem to distract me at the first glance, but as my faculties slowly returned to their former activity, i looked at them and found them very strange figures, indeed. every man had two feathers inserted in the cartilage of his nose; at some distance it appeared as if they wore moustaches. besides this, the chief had a sort of feather-dress reaching half way down to his knees; this was simply a quantity of _mutum_ feathers tied together as a girdle by means of plant-fibres. the women wore no clothing whatever, their only ornamentation being the oval wooden piece in the lower lip and fancifully arranged designs on face, arms, and body. the colours which they preferred were scarlet and black, and they procured these dyes from two plants that grew in the forest near by. they would squeeze the pulp of the fruits and apply the rich-coloured juice with their fingers, forming one scarlet ring around each eye, outside of this a black and larger ring, and, finally, two scarlet bands reaching from the temples to the chin. there were probably sixty-five families in this communal hut, all having their little households scattered throughout the place without any separating partitions whatever. the many poles which supported the roof formed the only way of distinguishing the individual households. the men strung their hammocks between the poles in such a way that they formed a triangle, and in the middle of this a fire was always going. here the women were doing the cooking of game that the men brought in at all times of the day. the men slept in the hammocks, while the women were treated less cavalierly; they slept with their children on the ground under the hammocks around the little family triangle. as a rule they had woven mats made of grass-fibre and coloured with the juices of the _urucu_ plant and the _genipapa_, but in many instances they had skins of jaguars, and, which was more frequent, the furs of the three-toed sloths. these were placed around the family fire, directly under the hammocks occupied by the men. in these hammocks the men did most of the repair work on their bows and arrows when necessary, here they fitted the arrow heads to the shafts, in fact, they spent all their time in them when not actually hunting in the forests. the hospitality of my friends proved unbounded. the chief appointed two young girls to care for me, and though they were not startling from any point of view, especially when remembering their labial ornaments and their early developed abdominal hypertrophies, they were as kind as any one could have been, watching me when i tried to walk and supporting me when i became too weak. there was a certain broth they prepared, which was delicious, but there were others which were nauseating and which i had to force myself to eat. i soon learned that it was impolite to refuse any dish that was put in front of me, no matter how repugnant. one day the chief ordered me to come over to his family triangle and have dinner with him. the meal consisted of some very tender fried fish which were really delicious; then followed three broiled parrots with fried bananas which were equally good; but then came a soup which i could not swallow. the first mouthful almost choked me,--the meat which was one of the ingredients tasted and smelled as if it had been kept for weeks, the herbs which were used were so bitter and gave out such a rank odour that my mouth puckered and the muscles of my throat refused to swallow. the chief looked at me and frowned, and then i remembered the forest from which i had lately arrived and the starvation and the terrors; i closed my eyes and swallowed the dish, seeking what mental relief i could find in the so-called auto-suggestion. but i had the greatest respect for the impulsive, unreasoning nature of these sons of the forest. easily insulted, they are well-nigh implacable. this incident shows upon what a slender thread my life hung. the friends of one moment might become vindictive foes of the next. besides the head-chief there were two sub-chiefs, so that in case of sickness or death there would be always one regent. they were plainly distinguished by their dress, which consisted mainly of fancifully arranged feather belts of _arara_, _mutum_, and trumpeter plumes covering the shoulders and abdomen. these articles of dress were made by young women of the tribe: women who wanted to become favourites of the chief and sub-chiefs. they often worked for months on a feather dress and when finished presented it to the particular chief whose favour they desired. the chiefs had several wives, but the tribesmen were never allowed to take more than one. whenever a particularly pretty girl desired to join the household of the great chief or of a sub-chief, she set to work and for months and months she made necklaces of alligator teeth, peccary teeth, and finely carved ivory nuts and coloured pieces of wood. she also would weave some elaborate hammock and fringe this with the bushy tails of the squirrels and the forest-cats, and when these articles were done, she would present them to the chief, who, in return for these favours, would bestow upon her the great honour of accepting her as a wife. there seemed to be few maladies among these people; in fact, during the five weeks i spent with them, i never saw a case of fever nor of anything else. when a person died the body was carried far into the woods, where a fire was built, and it was cremated. the party would then leave in a hurry and never return to the same spot; they were afraid of the spirit of the dead. they told me that they could hear the spirit far off in the forests at night when the moon was shining. the men were good hunters and were experts in the use of bow and arrow and also the blow-gun, and never failed to bring home a fresh supply of game for the village. this supply was always divided equally, so that no one should receive more than he needed for the day. at first glance the men might appear lazy, but why should they hurry and worry when they have no landlord, and no grocer's bills to pay; in fact, the value of money is entirely unknown to them. i was allowed to walk around as i pleased, everybody showing me a kindness for which i shall ever gratefully remember these "savages." i frequently spent my forenoons on a tree trunk outside the _maloca_ with the chief, who took a particular interest in my welfare. we would sit for hours and talk, he sometimes pointing at an object and giving its indian name, which i would repeat until i got the right pronunciation. thus, gradually instructed, and by watching the men and women as they came and went, day after day, i was able to understand some of their language and learned to answer questions fairly well. they never laughed at my mistakes, but repeated a word until i had it right. the word of the chief was law and no one dared appeal from the decisions of this man. in fact, there would have been nobody to appeal to, for the natives believed him vested with mysterious power which made him the ruler of men. i once had occasion to see him use the power which had been given him. i had accompanied two young indians, one of whom was the man we had met in the forest on our return trip not far from that fatal _tambo_ no. . his name, at least as it sounded to me, was reré. they carried bows and arrows and i my automatic pistol, although i had no great intention of using it. what little ammunition i had left i desired to keep for an emergency and, besides, i reasoned that i might, at some future time, be able to use the power and noise of the weapon to good advantage if i kept the indians ignorant of them for the present. we had scarcely gone a mile, when we discovered on the opposite side of a creek, about one hundred and fifty yards away, a wild hog rooting for food. we were on a slight elevation ourselves and under cover of the brush, while the hog was exposed to view on the next knoll. almost simultaneously my companions fitted arrows to their bow-strings. instead of shooting point blank, manipulating the bows with their hands and arms, they placed their great and second toes on the cords on the ground, and with their left arms gave the proper tension and inclination to the bows which were at least eight feet long. with a whirr the poisoned arrows shot forth and, while the cords still twanged, sailed gracefully through the air, describing a hyperbola, fell with a speed that made them almost invisible, and plunged into the animal on each side of his neck a little back from the base of the brain. the hog dropped in his tracks, and i doubt if he could have lived even though the arrows had not been poisoned. tying his feet together with plant-fibres we slung the body over a heavy pole and carried it to the _maloca_. all the way the two fellows disputed as to who was the owner of the hog, and from time to time they put the carcass on the ground to gesticulate and argue. i thought they would come to blows. when they appealed to me i declared that the arrows had sped so rapidly that my eyes could not follow them and therefore could not tell which arrow had found its mark first. a few yards from the house my friends fell to arguing again, and a crowd collected about them, cheering first the one then the other. my suggestion that the game be divided was rejected as showing very poor judgment. finally, the dispute grew to such proportions that the chief sent a messenger to learn the cause of the trouble and report it to him. the emissary retired and the crowd immediately began to disperse and the combatants quieted. the messenger soon returned saying that the great chief would judge the case and ordered the men to enter the _maloca_. with some difficulty the hog was dragged through the door opening and all the inhabitants crawled in after. the chief was decked out in a new and splendid feather dress, his face had received a fresh coat of paint (in fact, the shells of the _urucu_ plant with which he coloured his face and body scarlet were still lying under his hammock), and his nose was supplied with a new set of _mutum_ feathers. he was sitting in his hammock which was made of fine, braided, multi-coloured grass-fibres and was fringed with numerous squirrel tails. the whole picture was one which impressed me as being weirdly fantastic and extremely picturesque, the reddish, flickering light from the fires adding a mystic colour to the scene. on the opposite side of the fire from where the chief was sitting lay the body of the hog, and at each end of the carcass stood the two hunters, straight as saplings, gazing stolidly ahead. in a semi-circle, facing the chief and surrounding the disputants, was the tribe, squatting on the ground. the chief motioned to me to seat myself on the ground alongside of the hammock where he was sitting. the men told their story, now and then looking to me for an affirmative nod of the head. after having listened to the argument of the hunters for a considerable time without uttering a syllable, and regarding the crowd with a steady, unblinking expression, with a trace of a satirical smile around the corners of his mouth, which suited him admirably, the chief finally spoke. he said, "the hog is mine.--go!" the matter was ended with this wise judgment, and there seemed to be no disposition to grumble or re-appeal to the great authority. my life among the mangeromas was, for the greater part, free from adventure, at least as compared with former experiences, and yet i was more than once within an inch of meeting death. in fact, i think that i looked more squarely in the eyes of death in that peaceful little community than ever i did out in the wilds of the jungle or in my most perilous adventures. the creek that ran near the _maloca_ supplied the indians with what water they needed for drinking purposes. besides this the creek gave them an abundant supply of fish, a dish that made its appearance at every meal. whatever washing was to be done--the natives took a bath at least twice a day--was done at some distance down the creek so as not to spoil the water for drinking and culinary purposes. whenever i was thirsty i was in the habit of stooping down at the water's edge to scoop the fluid up in my curved hands. one morning i had been tramping through the jungle with two companions who were in search of game, and i was very tired and hot when we came to a little stream which i took to be the same that ran past the _maloca_. my friends were at a short distance from me, beating their way through the underbrush, when i stooped to quench my thirst. the cool water looked to me like the very elixir of life. at that moment, literally speaking, i was only two inches from death. hearing a sharp cry behind me i turned slightly to feel a rough hand upon my shoulders and found myself flung backwards on the ground. "poison," was the reply to my angry question. then my friend explained, and as he talked my knees wobbled and i turned pale. it seems that the mangeromas often poison the streams below the drinking places in order to get rid of their enemies. in the present case there had been a rumour that a party of peruvian rubber-workers might be coming up the creek, and this is always a signal of trouble among these indians. although you cannot induce a brazilian to go into the indian settlements or _malocas_, the peruvians are more than willing to go there, because of the chance of abducting girls. to accomplish this, a few peruvians sneak close to the _maloca_ at night, force the door, which is always bolted to keep out the evil spirit, but which without difficulty can be cut open, and fire a volley of shots into the hut. the indians sleep with the blow-guns and arrows suspended from the rafters, and before they can collect their sleepy senses and procure the weapons the peruvians, in the general confusion, have carried off some of the girls. the mangeromas, therefore, hate the peruvians and will go to any extreme to compass their death. the poisoning of the rivers is effected by the root of a plant that is found throughout the amazon valley; the plant belongs to the genus _lonchocarpus_ and bears a small cluster of bluish blossoms which produce a pod about two inches in length. it is only the yellow roots that are used for poisoning the water. this is done by crushing the roots and throwing the pulp into the stream, when all animal life will be killed or driven away. it seems strange that during my stay among the mangeromas, who were heathens and even cannibals, i saw no signs of idolatry. they believed implicitly in a good and an evil spirit. the good spirit was too good to do them any harm and consequently they did not bother with him; but the evil spirit was more active and could be heard in the dark nights, howling and wailing far off in the forest as he searched for lonely wanderers, whom he was said to devour. thinking to amuse some of my friends, i one day kindled a flame by means of my magnifying glass and a few dry twigs. a group of ten or twelve indians had gathered squatting in a circle about me, to see the wonder that i was to exhibit, but at the sight of smoke followed by flame they were badly scared and ran for the house, where they called the chief. he arrived on the scene with his usual smile. he asked me to show him what i had done. i applied the focussed rays of the sun to some more dry leaves and twigs and, finally, the flames broke out again. the chief was delighted and begged me to make him a present of the magnifier. as i did not dare to refuse, i showed him how to use it and then presented it with as good grace as i could. some time after this, i learned that two peruvians had been caught in a trap set for the purpose. the unfortunate men had spent a whole night in a pit, nine feet deep, and were discovered the next forenoon by a party of hunters, who immediately killed them with unpoisoned, big-game arrows. in contrast to the north-american indians they never torture captives, but kill them as quickly as possible. i had plenty of opportunity to investigate the different kinds of traps used by the mangeromas for catching peruvian _caboclos_ or half-breeds. first of all in importance is the pit-trap, into which the aforesaid men had fallen. it is simple but ingenious in its arrangement. a hole about nine feet deep and eight feet wide is dug in the ground at a place where the _caboclos_ are liable to come. a cover is laid across this and cleverly disguised with dead leaves and branches so as to exactly resemble the surrounding soil. this cover is constructed of branches placed parallel, and is slightly smaller than the diameter of the pit. it is balanced on a stick, tied across the middle in such a manner that the slightest weight on any part will cause it to turn over and precipitate the object into the pit whence egress is impossible. besides this, the walls of the pit are inclined, the widest part being at the bottom, and they gradually slope inward till the level of the ground is reached. when the victim is discovered he is quickly killed, as in the case noted above. the second trap, which i had an opportunity to investigate, is the so-called _araya_ trap. it is merely a small piece of ground thickly set with the barbed bones of the sting-ray. these bones are slightly touched with wourahli poison and, concealed as they are under dead leaves, they inflict severe wounds on the bare feet of the _caboclos_, and death follows within a short period. the third trap, and the most ingenious of all, is the blow-gun trap. one day the sub-chief, a tall, gloomy-looking fellow, took me to one of these traps and explained everything, till i had obtained a thorough knowledge of the complicated apparatus. the blow-gun of these indians is supplied with a wide mouth-piece and requires but slight air pressure to shoot the arrow at a considerable speed. in the trap one is placed horizontally so as to point at a right angle to the path leading to the _maloca_. at the "breech" of the gun is a young sapling, severed five feet above the ground. to this is tied a broad and straight bark-strip which, when the sapling is in its normal vertical position, completely covers the mouth-piece. the gun was not loaded on this occasion, as it had been accidentally discharged the day before. to set the trap, a long, thin, and pliable climber, which in these forests is so plentiful, is attached to the end of the severed sapling, when this is bent to its extreme position and is then led over branches, serving as pulleys, right across the path and directly in front of the mouth of the blow-gun and is tied to some small root covered with leaves. when the _caboclo_ passes along this path at night to raid the indian _maloca,_ he must sever this thin bushrope or climber, thereby releasing suddenly the tension of the sapling. the bark-flap is drawn quickly up against the mouth-piece with a slap that forces sufficient air into the gun to eject the arrow. all this takes place in a fraction of a second; a slight flapping sound is heard and the arrow lodges in the skin of the unfortunate _caboclo_. he can never walk more than twenty yards, for the poison rapidly paralyses his limbs. death follows in less than ten minutes. the bodies of these captured _caboclos_ are soon found by the "police warriors" of the tribe and carried to the _maloca_. on such occasions a day of feasting always follows and an obscure religious rite is performed. it is true that the mangeromas are cannibals, but at the same time their habits and morals are otherwise remarkably clean. without their good care and excellent treatment, i have no doubt i would now be with my brave companions out in that dark, green jungle. but to return to my story of the two peruvians caught in the pit-trap: the warriors cut off the hands and feet of both corpses, pulled the big game arrows out of the bodies, and had an audience with the chief. he seemed to be well satisfied, but spoke little, just nodding his head and smiling. shortly after the village prepared for a grand feast. the fires were rebuilt, the pots and jars were cleaned, and a scene followed which to me was frightful. had it not happened, i should always have believed this little world out in the wild forest an ideal, pure, and morally clean community. but now i could only hasten to my hammock and simulate sleep, for i well knew, from previous experience, that otherwise i would have to partake of the meal in preparation: a horrible meal of human flesh! it was enough for me to see them strip the flesh from the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet and fry these delicacies in the lard of tapir i hoped to see no more. an awful thought coursed through my brain when i beheld the men bend eagerly over the pans to see if the meat were done. how long would it be, i said to myself, before they would forget themselves and place my own extremities in the same pots and pans. such a possibility was not pleasant to contemplate, but as i had found the word of these indians to be always good, i believed i was safe. they were never false and they hated falsehood. true, they were cunning, but once their friend always their friend, through thick and thin. and the chief had promised that i should not be eaten, either fried or stewed! therefore i slept in peace. i had long desired to see the hunters prepare the mysterious wourahli poison, which acts so quickly and painlessly, and which allows the game killed by it to be eaten without interfering with the nutritive qualities. only three men in this village understood the proper mixing of the ingredients, although everybody knew the two plants from which the poisonous juices were obtained. one of these is a vine that grows close to the creeks. the stem is about two inches in diameter and covered with a rough greyish bark. it yields several round fruits, shaped like an apple, containing seeds imbedded in a very bitter pulp. the other is also a vine and bears small bluish flowers, but it is only the roots of this that are used. these are crushed and steeped in water for several days. the three men in our village who understood the concoction of this poison collected the plants themselves once a month. when they returned from their expedition they set to work at once scraping the first named vine into fine shavings and mixing these in an earthen jar with the crushed pulp of the roots of the second plant. the pot is then placed over a fire and kept simmering for several hours. at this stage the shavings are removed and thrown away as useless and several large black ants, the _tucandeiras_, are added. this is the ant whose bite is not only painful but absolutely dangerous to man. the concoction is kept boiling slowly until the next morning, when it has assumed a thick consistency of a brown colour and very bitter to the taste. the poison is then tried on some arrows and if it comes up to the standard it is placed in a small earthen jar which is covered with a piece of animal skin and it is ready for use. the arrows, which are from ten to twelve inches long, are made from the stalks of a certain palm-leaf, the jacy palm. they are absolutely straight and true; in fact, they resemble very much a lady's hat-pin. when the gun is to be used, a piece of cotton is wound around the end of an arrow and the other end or point inserted first in the barrel, the cotton acting as a piston by means of which the air forces the shaft through the tube. the men always carry a small rubber-pouch containing a few drams of the poison; the pouch was worn strapped to the waist on the left side, when on their hunting excursions, and they were extremely careful in handling it and the arrows. the slightest scratch with the poison would cause a quick and sure death. i was so far recuperated by this time that i thought of returning to civilisation, and i, accordingly, broached the subject to the chief, who answered me very kindly, promising that he would send me by the next full-moon, with some of the wourahli men, down to the branco river, and from there they would guide me within a safe distance of the rubber-estate, situated at the junction with the itecoahy. one day i was informed that a friendly call on a neighbouring tribe was being contemplated and that i could accompany the chief and his men. at last the time arrived and the expedition was organised. i was not absolutely sure how i would be treated by these up-stream indians, and i am almost ashamed to confess that, in spite of all the faithful, unswerving friendship which the mangeromas had shown me, i had it in my mind that these other indians might harm me, so black was the name that people down at the settlements had given them. until this time, as related above, i had thought best not to exhibit the character of my automatic pistol, and i had never used it here, but before i started on this journey i decided to give them an example of its power, and possibly awe them. inviting the chief and all the tribe to witness my experiment, i explained to them that this little weapon would make a great noise and bore a hole through a thick tree. the chief examined it gingerly after i had locked the trigger mechanism. he had heard of such arms, he said, but thought that they were much larger and heavier. this one, he thought, must be a baby and he was inclined to doubt its power. selecting an "assai" palm of about nine inches diameter, across the creek, i took steady aim and fired four bullets. three of the bullets went through the same hole and the fourth pierced the trunk of the palm about two inches higher. the chief and his men hurried across the creek and examined the holes which caused then to discuss the affair for more than an hour. the empty shells which had been ejected from the magazine were picked up by two young girls who fastened them in their ears with wire-like fibres, whereupon a dozen other women surrounded me, beseeching me to give them also cartridge-shells. i discharged more than a dozen bullets, to please these children of the forest, who were as completely the slaves of fashion as are their sisters of more civilised lands. early the next morning we started up the river. in one canoe the chief and i sat on jaguar skins, while two men paddled. in another canoe were four men armed with bows and arrows and blow-guns, and a fifth who acted in the capacity of "wireless operator." the system of signalling which he employed was by far the most ingenious device i saw while in brazil, and considering their resources and their low state of culture the affair was little short of marvellous. before the canoes were launched, a man fastened two upright forked sticks on each side of one, near the middle. about three and a half feet astern of these a cross-piece was laid on the bottom of the craft. to this was attached two shorter forked sticks. between each pair of upright forked sticks was placed another cross-piece, thus forming two horizontal bars, parallel to each other, one only a few inches from the bottom of the boat and the other about a foot and a half above the gunwales. next, four slabs of caripari wood of varying thickness, about three feet long and eight inches wide, were suspended from these horizontal bars, so as to hang length-wise of the canoe and at an angle of forty-five degrees. each pair of slabs was perforated by a longitudinal slit and they were joined firmly at their extremities by finely carved and richly painted end-pieces. the operator strikes the slabs with a wooden mallet or hammer, the head of which is wrapped with an inch layer of caoutchouc and then with a cover of thick tapir-skin. each section of the wooden slabs gives forth a different note when struck, a penetrating, xylophonic, tone but devoid of the disagreeably metallic, disharmonic bysounds of that instrument. the slabs of wood were suspended by means of thin fibre-cords from the crosspieces, and in this manner all absorption by the adjacent material was done away with. by means of many different combinations of the four notes obtained which, as far as i could ascertain, were _do--re--mi--fa_, the operator was able to send any message to a person who understood this code. the operator seized one mallet with each hand and gave the thickest section, the _do_ slat, a blow, followed by a blow with the left hand mallet on the _re_ slat; a blow on the _mi_ slat and on the _fa_ slat followed in quick succession. these four notes, given rapidly and repeated several times, represented the tuning up of the "wireless," calculated to catch the attention of the operator at the _maloca_ up-creek. the sound was very powerful, but rather pleasant, and made the still forest resound with a musical echo. he repeated this tuning process several times, but received no answer and we proceeded for a mile. then we stopped and signalled again. very faintly came a reply from some invisible source. i learned afterwards that at this time we were at least five miles from the answering station. as soon as communication was thus established the first message was sent through the air, and it was a moment of extreme suspense for me when the powerful notes vibrated through the depth of the forest. i shall never forget this message, not only because it was ethnographically interesting, but because so much of my happiness depended upon a favourable reply. i made the operator repeat it for my benefit when we later returned to our village, and i learned it by heart by whistling it. when printed it looks like this: after each message the operator explained its meaning. the purport of this first message was so important to me that i awaited the translation with much the same feelings that a prisoner listens for the verdict of the jury when it files back into the court-room. questions and answers now came in rapid succession. "a white man is coming with us; he seems to have a good heart, and to be of good character." whereupon the deciding answer was translated: "you are all welcome provided you place your arms in the bottom of the canoe." next message: "we ask you to place your arms in the _maloca_; we are friends." after the last message we paddled briskly ahead, and at the end of one hour's work we made a turn of the creek and saw a large open space where probably five hundred indians had assembled outside of two round _malocas_, constructed like ours. how much i now regretted leaving my precious camera out in the forest, but that was a thing of the past and the loss could not be repaired. the view that presented itself to my eyes was a splendid and rare one for a civilised man to see. the crowd standing on the banks had never seen a white man before; how would they greet me? little dogs barked, large scarlet _araras_ screamed in the tree-tops, and the little children hid themselves behind their equally fearful mothers. the tribal chief, a big fellow, decorated with squirrel tails and feathers of the _mutum_ bird around, his waist and with the tail feathers of the scarlet and blue _arara_-parrot adorning his handsome head, stood in front with his arms folded. we landed and the operator dismantled his musical apparatus and laid it carefully in the bottom of the canoe. the two chiefs embraced each other, at the same time uttering their welcome greeting "_he--he_." i was greeted in the same cordial manner and we all entered the chief's _maloca_ in a long procession. here in the village of the kindred tribe we stayed for two days, enjoying unlimited hospitality and kindness. most of the time was spent eating, walking around the _malocas_, looking at dugouts, and at the farinha plants. on the third day we went back to our _maloca_ where i prepared for my return trip to civilisation. it was now the beginning of october. i would, finally, have recorded many words of the mangeroma language had not my pencil given out after i had been there a month. the pencil was an "ink-pencil," that is, a pencil with a solid "lead" of bluish colour, very soft, sometimes called "indelible pencil." this lead became brittle from the moisture of the air and broke into fragments so that i could do nothing with it, and my recording was at an end. fortunately i had made memoranda covering the life and customs before this. chapter x the fight between the mangeromas and the peruvians i was sitting outside the _maloca_ writing my observations in the note-book which i always carried in my hunting-coat, when two young hunters hurried toward the chief, who was reclining in the shade of a banana-tree near the other end of the large house. it was early afternoon, when most of the men of the mangeromas were off hunting in the near-by forests, while the women and children attended to various duties around the village. probably not more than eight or ten men remained about the _maloca_. i had recovered from my sickness and was not entirely devoid of a desire for excitement--the best tonic of the explorer. the two young hunters with bows and arrows halted before the chief. they were gesticulating wildly; and although i could not understand what they were talking about, i judged from the frown of the chief that something serious was the matter. he arose with unusual agility for a man of his size, and shouted something toward the opening of the _maloca_, whence the men were soon seen coming with leaps and bounds. anticipating trouble, i also ran over to the chief, and, in my defective mangeroma lingo, inquired the cause of the excitement. he did not answer me, but, in a greater state of agitation than i had previously observed in him, he gave orders to his men. he called the "wireless" operator and commanded him to bring out his precious apparatus. this was soon fastened to the gunwales of the canoe where i had seen it used before, on my trip to the neighbouring tribe, and soon the same powerful, xylophonic sounds vibrated through the forest. it was his intention to summon the hunters that were still roaming around the vicinity, by this "c.q.d." message. the message i could not interpret nor repeat, although it was not nearly as complex as the one i had learned before. after a while, the men came streaming into the _maloca_ from all directions, with anxiety darkening their faces. i had now my first inkling of what was the cause of the commotion, and it did not take me long to understand that we were in danger from some peruvian _caboclos_. the two young men who had brought the news to the chief had spied a detachment of peruvian half-breeds as they were camping in our old _tambo_ no. , the one we had built on our sixth day out from floresta. there were about a score of them, all ugly _caboclos_, or half-breed _caucheros_, hunting rubber and no doubt out also for prey in the shape of young mangeroma girls, as was their custom. the traps set by the indians, as described in a previous chapter, would be of no avail in this case, as the number of peruvians was greater than in any previous experience. the enemy had been observed more than ten miles off, in an easterly direction, when our two hunters were on the trail of a large herd of peccaries, or wild boars, they had sighted in the early morning. the peruvians were believed to be heading for the _maloca_ of the mangeromas, as there were no other settlements in this region excepting the up-creek tribe, but this numbered at least five hundred souls, and would be no easy prey for them. i now had a remarkable opportunity to watch the war preparations of these savage, cannibal people, my friends, the mangeromas. their army consisted of twelve able-bodied men, all fine muscular fellows, about five feet ten in height, and bearing an array of vicious-looking weapons such as few white men have seen. first of all were three club-men, armed with strong, slender clubs, of hard and extremely tough caripari wood. the handle, which was very slim, was provided with a knob at the end to prevent the club from slipping out of the hand when in action. the heavy end was furnished with six bicuspid teeth of the black jaguar, embedded in the wood and projecting about two inches beyond the surface. the club had a total length of five feet and weighed about eight pounds. the second division of the wild-looking band consisted of three spear-men, each provided with the three-pronged spears, a horrible weapon which always proves fatal in the hands of these savages. it is a long straight shaft of caripari wood, about one inch in thickness, divided into three parts at the end, each division being tipped with a barbed bone of the sting-ray. these bones, about three and a half inches long, were smeared with wourahli poison, and thus rendered absolutely fatal even when inflicting only a superficial wound. each man carried two of these spears, the points being protected by grass-sheaths. the third division was composed of three bow-and-arrow men, the youngest men in the tribe, boys of sixteen and seventeen. they were armed with bows of great length, from six to seven feet, and each bore, at his left side, a quiver, containing a dozen big-game arrows fully five feet long. these arrows, as far as i could ascertain, were not poisoned, but their shock-giving and rending powers were extraordinary. the arrow-heads were all made of the bones of the sting-ray, in themselves formidable weapons, because of the many jagged barbs that prevent extraction from a wound except by the use of great force, resulting in ugly laceration. the fourth and last division consisted of three blow-gun men, the most effective and cunning of this deadly and imposing array. as so much depended upon the success of a first attack on the peruvians, who not only outnumbered us, but also were armed with winchesters, the blow-guns were in the hands of the older and more experienced men. all, except the club-men, wore, around the waist, girdles fringed with _mutum_ plumes, and the captains added, to their uniforms multi-coloured fringes of squirrel tails. their faces all had the usual scarlet and black stripes. the chief, and his principal aide, or sub-chief, had on their gayest feathers, including head ornaments of _arara_ plumes and egrets. the club-men were naked, except for their head-gear, which consisted simply of a band of _mutum_ plumes. when the warriors stood together in their costumes, ready for battle, they presented an awe-inspiring sight. the chief gave the order for the bow-and-arrow men to start in single file, the others to follow after, in close succession. the chief and i fell in at the rear. in the meantime i had examined my luger automatic pistol to make sure of the smooth action of the mechanism, and found besides that i had in all thirty-seven soft-nose bullets. this was my only weapon, but previous narrow escapes from death and many close contacts with danger had hardened me, so i was willing to depend entirely upon my pistol. the women and children of the _maloca_ stood around, as we disappeared in the jungle, and, while they showed some interest in the proceeding, they displayed little or no emotion. a couple of sweethearts exchanged kisses as composedly as if they had been bluecoats parting with the ladies of their choice before going to the annual parade. soon we were in the dark, dense jungle that i was now so well acquainted with, and, strange to say, the green and tangled mass of vegetation contained more terrors for me than the bloody combat that was to follow. for an hour we travelled in a straight line, pushing our way as noiselessly as possible through the thick mass of creepers and lianas. about three o'clock, one of the scouts sighted the peruvians, and our chief decided that an attack should be made as soon as possible, before darkness could set in. we stopped and sent out two bow-and-arrow men to reconnoitre. an anxious half hour passed before one of them returned with the report that the peruvians were now coming towards us and would probably reach our position in a few minutes. i could almost hear my heart thump; my knees grew weak, and for a moment i almost wished that i had stayed in the _maloca_. the chief immediately directed certain strategic movements which, in ingenuity and foresight, would have been worthy of a napoleon. we were between two low hills, covered with the usual dense vegetation, which made it impossible to see an advancing enemy at a distance of more than five yards. the three blow-gun men were now ordered to ascend the hills on each side of the valley and conceal themselves about half-way up the slopes, and towards the enemy. they were to insert the poisoned arrows in their guns and draw a bead on the peruvians as they came on cutting their way through the underbrush. the bow-and-arrow men posted themselves farther on about five yards behind the blow-gun men, with big-game arrows fitted to the bowstrings, ready to shoot when the first volley of the deadly and silent poisoned arrows had been fired. farther back were the spear-men with spears unsheathed, and finally came the three brave and ferocious club-men. of these last warriors, a tall athlete was visibly nervous, not from fear but from anticipation. the veins of his forehead stood out, pulsating with every throb of his heart. he clutched the heavy club and continually gritted his white, sharp-filed teeth in concentrated rage. it was wisely calculated that the peruvians would unconsciously wedge themselves into this trap, and by the time they could realise their danger their return would be cut off by our bow-and-arrow men in their rear. after a pause that seemed an eternity to most of us no doubt, for the savage heart beats as the white man's in time of danger and action, we heard the talking and shouting of the enemy as they advanced, following the natural and easiest route between the hills and cutting their way through the brush. i stood near the chief and the young club-man arara, who, on account of his bravery and great ability in handling his club, had been detailed to remain near us. before i could see any of the approaching foe, i heard great shouts of anger and pain from them. it was easy for me to understand their cries as they spoke spanish and their cursings sounded loud through the forest. the blow-gun men, perceiving the peruvians at the foot of the hill only some twenty feet away, had prudently waited until at least half a dozen were visible, before they fired a volley of poisoned arrows. the three arrows fired in this first volley all hit their mark. hardly had they gone forth, when other arrows were dexterously inserted in the tubes. the work of the blow-gun men was soon restricted to the picking out of any stray enemy, their long, delicate, and cumbersome blow-guns preventing them from taking an active part in the mêlée. now the conflict was at its height and it was a most remarkable one, on account of its swiftness and fierceness. the bow-and-arrow men charging with their sting-ray arrows poisoned with the wourahli took the place of the cautiously retreating blow-gun men. at the same instant the spear-men rushed down, dashing through the underbrush at the foot of the hill, like breakers on a stormy night. the rear-guard of the peruvians now came into action, having had a chance to view the situation. several of them filed to the right and managed to fire their large-calibre bullets into the backs of our charging bow-and-arrow men, but, in their turn, they were picked off by the blow-gun men, who kept firing their poisoned darts from a safe distance. the fearful yells of our men, mingled with the cursing of the peruvians, and the sharp reports of their heavy rifles, so plainly heard, proved that the centre of battle was not many yards from the spot where i was standing. the club-men now broke into action; they could not be kept back any longer. the tension had already been too painful for these brave fellows, and with fierce war-cries of "_yob--hee--hee_" they launched themselves into the fight, swinging their strong clubs above their heads and crashing skulls from left to right. by this time the peruvians had lost many men, but the slaughter went on. the huge black clubs of the mangeromas fell again and again, with sickening thuds, piercing the heads and brains of the enemy with the pointed jaguar teeth. suddenly two peruvians came into view not more than twelve feet from where the chief, arara the big club-man, and i were standing. one of these was a spaniard, evidently the captain of this band of marauders (or, to use their correct name, _caucheros_). his face was of a sickly, yellowish hue, and a big, black moustache hid the lower part of his cruel and narrow chin. he took a quick aim as he saw us in his path, but before he could pull the trigger, arara, with a mighty side-swing of his club literally tore the spaniard's head off. now, at last, the bonds of restraint were broken for this handsome devil arara, and yelling himself hoarse, and with his strong but cruel face contracted to a fiendish grin, he charged the enemy; i saw him crush the life out of three. the chief took no active part in the fight whatever, but added to the excitement by bellowing with all his might an encouraging "_aa--oo--ah_." no doubt, this had a highly beneficial effect upon the tribesmen, for they never for an instant ceased their furious fighting until the last peruvian was killed. during the final moments of the battle, several bullets whirred by me at close range, but during the whole affair i had had neither opportunity nor necessity for using my pistol. now, however, a _caboclo_, with a large, bloody machete in his hand, sprang from behind a tree and made straight for me. i dodged behind another tree and saw how the branches were swept aside as he rushed towards me. then i fired point-blank, sending three bullets into his head. he fell on his face at my feet. as i bent over him, i saw that he had a blow-gun arrow in his left thigh; he was therefore a doomed man before he attacked me. this was my first and only victim, during this brief but horrible slaughter. as i was already thoroughly sick from the noise of cracking rifles and the thumping of clubs smashing their way into the brains of the peruvians, i rushed toward the centre of the valley where the first attack on the advance guard of the enemy had taken place, but even more revolting was the sight that revealed itself. here and there bushes were shaking as some _caboclo_ crawled along on all fours in his death agony. those who were struck by the blow-gun arrows seemed simply to fall asleep without much pain or struggle, but the victims of the club-men and the bow-and-arrow men had a terrible death. they could not die by the merciful wourahli poison, like those shot by the blow-gun, but expired from hemorrhages caused by the injuries of the ruder weapons. one poor fellow was groaning most pitifully. he had received a well-directed big-game arrow in the upper part of the abdomen, the arrow having been shot with such terrible force that about a foot of the shaft projected from the man's back. the arrow-head had been broken off by striking a vertebra. the battle was over. soon the _urubus_, or vultures, were hanging over the tree-tops waiting for their share of the spoils. the men assembled in front of the chief for roll-call. four of our men were killed outright by rifle-bullets, and it was typical of these brave men that none were killed by machete stabs. the entire marauding expedition of twenty peruvians was completely wiped out, not a single one escaping the deadly aim of the mangeromas. thus was avoided the danger of being attacked in the near future by a greater force of peruvians, called to this place from the distant frontier by some returning survivor. it is true that the mangeromas lay in ambush for their enemy and killed them, for the greater part, with poisoned arrows and spears, but the odds were against the indians, not only because the _caboclos_ were attacking them in larger numbers, but because they came with modern, repeating fire-arms against the hand weapons of the mangeromas. these marauders, too, came with murder and girl-robbery in their black hearts, while the mangeromas were defending their homes and families. but it is true that after the battle, so bravely fought, the indians cut off the hands and feet of their enemies, dead or dying, and carried them home. the fight lasted only some twenty minutes, but it was after sunset when we reached the _maloca_. the women and children received us with great demonstrations of joy. soon the pots and pans were boiling inside the great house. i have previously observed how the mangeromas would partake of parts of the human body as a sort of religious rite, whenever they had been successful with their man-traps; now they feasted upon the hands and feet of the slain, these parts having been distributed among the different families. i crept into my hammock and lit my pipe, watching the great mass of naked humanity. all the men had laid aside their feather-dresses and squirrel tails, and were moving around among the many fires on the floor of the hut. some were sitting in groups discussing the battle, while women bent over the pots to examine the ghastly contents. here, a woman was engaged in stripping the flesh from the palm of a hand and the sole of a foot, which operation finished, she threw both into a large earthen pot to boil; there, another woman was applying an herb-poultice to her husband's wounds. over it all hung a thick, odoriferous smoke, gradually finding its way out through the central opening in the roof. this was a feast, indeed, such as few white men, i believe, have witnessed. that night and the next day, and the following four days, great quantities of _chicha_ were drunk and much meat was consumed to celebrate the great victory, the greatest in the annals of the mangeromas of rio branco. earthen vessels and jars were used in the cooking of food. the red clay (tabatinga clay) found abundantly in these regions formed a superior material for these utensils. they were always decorated symbolically with juices of the scarlet _urucu_ and the black _genipapa_. even when not burned into the clay, these were permanent colours. men and women wore their hair long and untrimmed as far as i could observe. the older and more experienced of the tribesmen would have quite elaborate head-gear, consisting of a band of _mutum_ plumes, interspersed with parrot-tail feathers, while the younger hunters wore nothing but a band of the _mutum_ plumes. the body was uncovered, save by a narrow strip of bark encircling the waist. a broad piece, woven of several bark-strips into a sort of mat, protected the lower anterior part of the abdomen. the women wore no clothing whatever. their colour was remarkably light. probably nothing can designate this better than the statement that if a mangeroma were placed alongside of an italian, no difference would be noticeable. their cheek-bones were not as high as is usual with tribes found on the amazon; they seemed to come from a different race. their eyes were set straight without any tendency to the mongolian slanting that characterises the peruvian _caboclos_ and the tribes of the northern affluents. the women had unusually large feet, while those of the men were small and well-shaped. the general appearance of a young mangeroma was that of a well-proportioned athlete, standing about five feet ten in his bare feet. no moccasins, nor any other protection for the feet, were worn. the supply of wourahli poison had run low and three wourahli men were to go out in the forest to collect poison plants, a journey which would require several days to complete. this occasion was set as the time of my departure. it was a rainy morning when i wrapped my few belongings in a leaf, tied some grass-fibres around them, and inserted them in the large pocket of my khaki-coat. the box with the gold dust was there, also the boxes with the exposed photographic plates. most of the gold had filtered out of the box, but a neat quantity still remained. one of my servants--a handsome girl--who, excepting for the labial ornaments, could have been transformed into an individual of quite a civilised appearance by opportunity, gave me a beautiful black necklace as a souvenir. it was composed of several hundred pieces, all carved out of ebony nuts. it had cost her three weeks of constant work. i embraced and was embraced by almost everybody in the _maloca_, after which ceremony we went in procession to the canoe that was to take me down to the branco river. the chief bade me a fond farewell, that forever shall be implanted in my heart. i had lived here weeks among these cannibal indians, had enjoyed their kindness and generosity without charge; i could give them nothing in return and they asked nothing. i could have stayed here for the rest of my natural life if i had so desired, but now i was to say good-bye forever. how wonderful was this farewell! it was my opportunity for acknowledging that the savage heart is by no means devoid of the feelings and sentiments that characterise more elevated, so-called civilised individuals. for the last time i heard the little dog bark, the same that had licked my face when i fainted in front of the _maloca_ upon my first arrival; and the large _arara_ screamed in the tree-tops as i turned once more towards the world of the white man. the journey was without incident. the wourahli men set me off near the mouth of the branco river, at a distance which i covered in less than five hours by following the banks. i was greeted by coronel maya of the _compagnie transatlantique de caoutchouc_, who sent me by canoe down the old itecoahy, until we reached the floresta headquarters. here i gave coronel da silva an account of the death of chief marques, and the brave jerome, which made a deep impression upon this noble man. the three men, magellaes, anisette, and freitas, had returned in safety after they separated from us. i met the wife of chief marques. she was the woman whose arm i had amputated. when i saw her she was carrying, with the arm left to her, a pail of water from the little creek behind headquarters. she was a different woman, and i was pleased to know that my desperate surgical operation had resulted so well. her cheeks were full and almost rosy. her health, i was told, excepting for occasional attacks of ague, was very good. soon after, the launch arrived from remate de males and i put my baggage on board. the coronel accompanied me down river for about forty-eight hours and then, reaching the northern extremity of his estate, he bade me a fond good-bye with the words: "_sempre, illustrissimo senhor, minha casa e a suas ordenes_," "my house, most illustrious sir, is always at your disposal." when i arrived at remate de males i had another attack of malaria, which almost severed the slender thread by which my life hung; my physical resistance was gone. but i managed to develop my plates before breaking down completely, and after having disposed of my small quantity of gold dust, for which i realised some three hundred and forty dollars, i was taken down to the mouth of the javary river, where i had landed almost a year previous, now a physical and, i might almost say, mental wreck. i stayed in the house of coronel monteiro, the frontier official at esperança, for five long days, fighting with death, until one afternoon i saw the white hull of the r.m.s. _napo_ appear at a bend of the amazon, only five hundred yards away. closer she came--this rescuing instrument of providence. she was none too soon, for i had now reached the last notch of human endurance. she dropped anchor; a small gasoline launch was lowered into the water; three white-coated officers stepped into it--they came ashore--they climbed the stairs. the captain, a stout, kind-looking englishman, approached my hammock and found therein a very sick white man. i was carried aboard and placed in the hands of the ship's physician. at last those black forests of the amazon were left behind. after twenty-two days' sail, sandy hook lighthouse loomed on our port side, and soon after, i could rest--rest, and _live_ again! none our little brazilian cousin the little cousin series (trade mark) each volume illustrated with six or more full page plates in tint. cloth, mo, with decorative cover per volume, $ . list of titles by col. f. a. postnikov, isaac taylor headland, edward c. butler, and others =our little african cousin= =our little alaskan cousin= =our little arabian cousin= =our little argentine cousin= =our little armenian cousin= =our little australian cousin= =our little austrian cousin= =our little belgian cousin= =our little bohemian cousin= =our little boer cousin= =our little brazilian cousin= =our little bulgarian cousin= =our little canadian cousin of the maritime provinces= =our little chinese cousin= =our little cossack cousin= =our little cuban cousin= =our little czecho-slovac cousin= =our little danish cousin= =our little dutch cousin= =our little egyptian cousin= =our little english cousin= =our little eskimo cousin= =our little finnish cousin= =our little french cousin= =our little german cousin= =our little grecian cousin= =our little hawaiian cousin= =our little hindu cousin= =our little hungarian cousin= =our little indian cousin= =our little irish cousin= =our little italian cousin= =our little japanese cousin= =our little jewish cousin= =our little korean cousin= =our little malayan (brown) cousin= =our little mexican cousin= =our little norwegian cousin= =our little panama cousin= =our little persian cousin= =our little philippine cousin= =our little polish cousin= =our little porto rican cousin= =our little portuguese cousin= =our little quebec cousin= =our little roumanian cousin= =our little russian cousin= =our little scotch cousin= =our little servian cousin= =our little siamese cousin= =our little spanish cousin= =our little swedish cousin= =our little swiss cousin= =our little turkish cousin= the page company beacon street boston, mass. [illustration: "he threw himself down upon the grass." (_see page _)] our little brazilian cousin by mary f. nixon-roulet _author of "our little alaskan cousin," "our little spanish cousin," etc._ _illustrated by_ louis de meserac [illustration] boston the page company publishers _copyright, _ by l. c. page & company (incorporated) _all rights reserved_ made in u.s.a. first impression, september, second impression, july, third impression, october, fourth impression, june, fifth impression, january, sixth impression, february, printed by c. h. simonds company boston, mass., u.s.a. to my little god-son john aubrey ball introduction probably the most important of the south american republics, brazil has now won for herself world recognition and esteem. though costa rica, cuba, guatemala, haiti, honduras, nicaragua, and panama made formal declarations of war against the german empire, brazil alone was able to offer material service. each brave ally offered her all to the cause of freedom, from the great navy and army, the brains, brawn, and resources of the british empire, to the little army of three hundred men from the tiny principality of thirty-eight square miles, san marino. brazil's offering was her splendid navy, which did signal patrol service and was a valued reserve. we can be certain that two great nations, large and small brothers of the western hemisphere, the united states and brazil, brought together in the fellowship of such a great cause, will ever show their mutual admiration, and keep bright their friendship. preface our little brazilian cousin lives in a land not so well known as the countries of europe and asia, but one of great natural beauty and charm. through it flows the greatest river of the world, the amazon, whose banks are covered with rich tropical vegetation, most beautiful to behold. its forests are full of birds of brilliant plumage and strange animals, while the indians, who were once the only people here, are not yet all civilized. the little brazilian cousins are nearly all descended from the portuguese who came to this land, and made it their own, before it finally became a republic like the united states. they built many great cities, and have cultivated the country so that now it is becoming rich and powerful. with such a beautiful home, and with such advantages, our little brazilian cousin will soon become one of the most important of all the little cousins, as he is now one of the most picturesque and interesting. contents chapter page i. a quiet siesta ii. in the forest iii. a tropical storm iv. along the amazon v. a visit to grandmamma's vi. en route to rio vii. in the capital viii. a gala day in rio ix. the coffee plantation x. a treat in prospect xi. the falls of iguazu xii. guacha list of illustrations page "he threw himself down upon the grass" (_see page _) _frontispiece_ "he placed himself on a raft and was rowed to the middle of the great river" "this he kept up until the paddle had a thick coating of rubber" "the fazenda of the senhor dias stood upon a hill overlooking the amazon" "the children saw for the first time the harbour of rio de janeiro" "'i must not be silly and cry,' she said to herself" our little brazilian cousin chapter i a quiet siesta affonzo was tired of talking to the white cockatoo. it was the time of day when his little sister lola took her siesta, and he had no one to play with. he was himself such a big boy, soon eleven years old, that he felt no longer the need of the daily siesta, although in the warm country of brazil where he lived, even grown people like a nap in the middle of the day. affonzo himself did not feel very lively. the sun beat down like a great ball of fire and only the cool veranda or the shady garden seemed enticing. the garden should have been pleasant enough to satisfy any boy, for it was a vision of tropic beauty. tall palms waved their feathery branches heavenward, and gaily coloured flowers flaunted their gorgeous petals while brilliant birds flittered hither and yon. but affonzo was used to all this beauty, and he wanted something new to do, for this little brazilian cousin was very like his american ones and could not be quiet very long. even the fruit garden seemed tiresome. generally he was glad to spend his time there, for the huge banana trees which grew in a banana patch at the end of the house were sure of several visits from him during the day. the plants were twice as tall as he, and the fruit grew in great bunches, many of them weighing fifty pounds, and affonzo always chose the finest for himself and lola to eat. besides these there were figs, pineapples, mangoes, grapes and oranges all of which grow in brazil. the american watermelon also had been planted and the senhor was watching eagerly to see if it would bear fruit, for he had been told that in other parts of brazil it grew rapidly and bore well. affonzo was much interested in it too, for his cousin in the states had sent the seeds and told him how delicious the fruit was. he strolled toward the sunny slope where the vines were tended by joachim, the black who took care of the garden and helped about the house. joachim's mother had nursed affonzo's mother in the days when there were black slaves in brazil, and he was devoted to the whole family. he was just like a faithful black dog watching the place, and was especially fond of the children. he could cook and bake, wait on the senhor, tend the garden or the horses, and could always be trusted to take care of little lola who was his great friend. affonzo looked at the green melon and wondered how it tasted. he had heard so much about it that he was very curious and could hardly wait until the day came when it should be served, for his mother had promised that each should have a taste. above the melon vines grew one of the tallest of the banana trees, and the fruit seemed to affonzo to be finer at that particular time than he had ever seen it. he was very hungry and felt he must have one of those bananas at once. ordinarily he would have climbed the tree like a little monkey and helped himself, but his mother had excused him from his siesta on condition that he be quiet, and though he looked longingly at the fruit he did not start to climb. he threw himself down upon the grass and looked up through the thick foliage at the blue above. "i wish something would happen," he said to himself. "it seems to me that nothing ever happens. one half the year i must be in para and stay at my grandfather's to go to the laure sodré institute--i am tired of the very name!--and the other half i must stay here at the fazenda with no playmate but lola, and she is made to sleep half the day. i wish something would happen," and he sighed discontentedly. "how hungry i am," he thought. "i must have one of those bananas, they never looked so good! i believe mamma will not care if i climb for one, for she only said i must keep quiet and i'm sure i'll make no noise." with that the boy rose to his feet, and with a quick glance around, he began to climb and was soon squirming around the trunk of the tree like a snake. once there he reached for the best bananas and filled the pockets of his linen suit with them. he was just starting down when he heard voices coming and peering cautiously down the garden path he saw his father with an uncle of whom he was very fond, and whom he had not seen for some time. "uncle prudente," he thought. "i wonder when he came from para and how long he is going to stay. oh, dear! how will i get down from here?" affonzo knew that his father would not be likely to pass over any disobedience and that he would be punished if he came down at that moment. so he crouched among the leaves and was still as a mouse while the two gentlemen came directly under the banana tree and stopped to talk. "this is the american melon," said the senhor. "it will be ripe in another week. there are others ripening but this is the finest. if it is good i shall keep all the seeds and have a large crop next year. if juan comes, i shall ask him to bring me the seeds of various kinds, for there is nothing like variety in a garden. in our hot climate these should do well and they are very agreeable when properly cooled. i hope juan will come; a long visit from him would be a good thing for affonzo, who is growing spoiled from being the only boy. he is wilful and high-spirited but on the whole he is--what is that?" the senhor stopped suddenly and affonzo never knew what he himself was, besides being wilful and high spirited. distressed at being a listener, he had leaned too far out on the branch on which he sat and it broke under his weight. he gave a wild clutch and fell down, down, down. he thought he would never stop, and oh, horror! when he did light, it was astride the shoulders of his uncle. affonzo was a sturdy little fellow and his uncle was slight and small, the result being that both went down in a heap on top of the melon. for a moment no one spoke; then his father pulled him off his uncle and helped his irate brother to his feet. uncle prudente's white linen suit was splashed from head to foot with watermelon juice, his panama hat was crushed out of shape, watermelon juice ran down his face and several black seeds stuck to his face. he was speechless with rage, but he looked so very funny that affonzo, sore and bruised by his fall and terribly frightened, could not help laughing. he sat down upon the ground and laughed till he cried, and the noise woke all the parrots dozing in the trees, and all began jabbering at once, while the cockatoo gave one of his terrible screeches. when the noise had subsided a little, senhor dias said sternly to affonzo, "what is the meaning of this?" affonzo was silent, but he quickly sprang to his feet and stood respectfully in front of his father, for brazilian boys are taught to treat their elders with great deference. "what were you doing in that tree?" demanded his father. "eating bananas," said affonzo simply. "does your mother permit that?" asked the senhor, for in brazil, as in most south american countries, the mother arranges all matters in regard to the children. "my mother allows me to climb trees and eat bananas," said affonzo. "that was not a disobedience, but--" "but what?" demanded his father. "but," continued affonzo slowly. "she had at the hour of the siesta requested me to keep quiet." "do you call this quiet?" asked his father sternly though his eyes twinkled. "such a noise has not been heard at the fazenda for many days." "not very quiet," said affonzo, his head drooping, though he could scarce keep from laughing again. "i ask your pardon, my uncle," he added. "i intended nothing of disrespect. i did but lose my hold upon the tree and the next thing i knew i sat astride of your august shoulders. i pray you pardon me." affonzo's tone was contrite, and his dancing eyes were on the ground. "say no more of it," said his uncle, as he laid his hand on the boy's head. "boys will be boys and affonzo is not unlike others. but next time i come do not receive me with such a fierce embrace. indeed i thought my neck was broken with the warmth of your welcome." affonzo's laugh rang out gaily, but he sobered down when his father said, "i excuse you since your uncle asks it, but remember after this that the commands of your mother are to be obeyed. go now with your uncle and attend to his wants while he repairs the damage your carelessness has wrought." affonzo bowed to his father and made the military salute as all school boys are taught to do in brazil, but he sighed to himself as he went, "i wonder what he meant about juan but i am afraid to ask. and the worst of it all is, that now i shall never know how the american melon tasted." chapter ii in the forest the sun was just rising and its slanting rays cast a golden glow over the thick foliage when affonzo sprang out of bed next morning, awakened by the noisy chattering of the birds. "hurrah!" he exclaimed. "it is a fine day! how glad i am, for now i can go hunting with my father and uncle prudente." he hurried into his clothes and down to the breakfast-room, where joachim was serving strong black coffee, rolls and fruit to his father and uncle. "here you are, bright and early," said the senhor. "do you want to go with us? perhaps you would better not!" affonzo's face fell. "oh, father! last night you promised!" he said, and his father answered, "oh, you may go. i merely thought perhaps it might tire you too much, for we shall have a long tramp." "we must start at once," said his uncle, "if we are to have any sport before midday," and they started toward the forest. the fazenda of the senhor dias was situated on the edge of the magnificent woods which line the banks of the amazon near the city of para. "no wonder that this region around para is called the paradise of brazil," said the senhor as they entered the forest, where heavy dew glittered on the leaves like diamonds in an emerald crown. "every time i enter the forest it seems to me more splendid than it did the last time." "what are those huge trees?" asked affonzo. "you ought to know those, for they are among the most famous of all brazilian trees. they are the stanba or stone wood, and beside them grows a cinnamon tree. in addition to these there is the jacaranda, pas d' arc, the euphorbia, the large lofty cotton-wood tree, the tall white syringa." "i know that one," said affonzo. "it is a rubber tree. won't you take me to see the rubber gathered to-day?" "not to-day, but to-morrow, perhaps, for your uncle wishes to make the rounds and you may go with him." "thank you, that will be delightful," said affonzo. their path led through the forest where long racemes of tropic moss hung down and waved in the breeze, while fern and vines grew in a tangle across the narrow path. often the undergrowth was so thick, that joachim had to go before the party and cut it away with his _tracado_.[ ] "you must keep silent now," said the senhor. "we shall frighten the game away if we talk. ah!" as he spoke he raised his gun to his shoulder and fired. there was a shrill cry, a flash of red and green wings, and a large bird with an enormous bill fluttered to the ground before them. "a toucan!" cried affonzo, as joachim quickly bagged the bird. "isn't it queer that the bird's cry sounded just like its name, _toucano! toucano!_" "that is just the reason that the indians named them _toucano_," said the senhor. "but listen, i hear monkeys." looking carefully about, the hunters saw two monkeys at the top of a high tree, about which clung a monkey's ladder, an enormous vine which wound around the tree from its roots to its very topmost branches. when the little animals saw that they were perceived, they tried to conceal themselves behind the huge leaves of the tree, and the senhor's shot showed no result beyond an increased chattering. "it seems a shame to kill such cunning little creatures," said affonzo, but his father said, "we hunt for food, not for mere sport, my son. monkeys make an excellent dinner, and you will be glad enough to eat after we have tramped all morning through the heat." "master will not hit the monkeys," said joachim. "i will get them," and he quickly stripped off all his clothing, except his cotton trousers, and began to climb the monkey ladder. it was not easy to climb with his gun in one hand but he was careful and as nimble as a cat, and he soon neared the top of the tree. he perched in a crotch of the tree, which branched out thickly at the top, and hiding behind some leaves he waited until he could get a glimpse of the monkeys. at last he spied one of them at the end of a branch and firing quickly, the monkey fell to the ground, fifty feet below. joachim climbed down after it and the party soon went its way through the forest. now the senhor shot, and then his brother, and the boy himself was allowed to fire at an ocelot which crept through the bushes, and great was his delight when he shot it. as the noon hour approached, the sun rose high in the heavens, and the heat grew so intense that the senhor said, "we will go no farther. let us rest and eat until it grows cooler. joachim, lead us to a shady spot where we may camp." "yes, senhor," said the black, and soon he brought them to a ruined building of stone, covered with vines and hidden among the trees. here upon the stone floor of the ruin, he kindled a fire and cooked the monkey, the flesh of which was simply delicious, and affonzo ate until he was so sleepy that he could not keep his eyes open. "what was this building?" he asked his father. "i did not know anyone had ever lived here." "no one knows what it was," replied his father. "it has been here for years and the indians say it was built many, many years ago by a black gown, as they called the early missionaries. it may have been the beginning of a mission house, but in any case it makes a very nice cool place in which to take our siesta now. so sleep, my son, and wake refreshed." affonzo closed his eyes and was soon in dreamland. he slept long but had strange dreams of some one's putting a heavy stone upon his chest and pressing it down. at last he awoke with the pressure still on him. he lay quite still, drowsily wondering what was the matter with him and before he stirred, joachim's voice said in a hoarse whisper, "don't move, little master, don't even open your eyes!" affonzo had been trained to habits of strictest obedience, and he lay perfectly still without moving a muscle, although wondering very much what was the matter. he heard joachim dart quickly to his side. there was the sound of a blow, and a loud exclamation from his father, and joachim said, "jump up, there is no danger now!" as affonzo sprang to his feet, the weight rolled off his chest, and he saw the body of a large snake pinned to the earth by the blade of joachim's trocado. it was a _jararaca_, a brazilian snake about six feet long, of a yellowish colour. sleeping in the cool of the old stone ruin it had been disturbed by the intruders, and had crawled across affonzo's body to reach the door. "my boy, you have joachim to thank for saving your life," said his father warmly, as he put his arm around his boy and drew him to his side. "the _jararaca_ is very poisonous, and had your awakening disturbed him, he might have driven his fangs into you." "good old joachim," said affonzo, as he threw his arms around the black's neck. negro servants in brazil who have been in a family for years are always much beloved, and affonzo was devoted to the old negro. joachim didn't say much, but smiled at the boy as he took the dead body of the snake outside, and prepared to take off its beautiful skin. footnote: [footnote : a sharp blade like the cuban machete.] chapter iii a tropical storm "what fortunes could be made in these forests," said the senhor dias to his brother, "if people with capital only knew of the riches stored here. mahogany, satinwood, rosewood and many other kinds of trees grow here in the greatest abundance, and were there railroads and ships to transport them, brazil would be one of the richest countries in the world." "we should try to develop our own land," said his brother, and the two men entered into a long conversation as to the wonderful forests of the country, to which affonzo listened with interest. "oh, father!" he exclaimed, at last. "when you go up the river to see the forests may i go with you?" "perhaps, but i could not make a promise without first asking your mother's consent. the trip will be an interesting one, but very hard, though it might do you good." "i should love to go," said affonzo, and his uncle added, "he will grow up a milksop if you keep him in the nursery much longer; let him go." "it is about time we were starting now," said the senhor. "joachim, make ready the bag. your uncle and i will walk on a little ahead, affonzo, and you can follow with joachim. but do not stray away from him, or you will miss the path, and all manner of dangers lurk in these forests." affonzo sat lazily waiting and watching as the black put up the dinner things. "take care of my snake skin," he said, and joachim smiled, and replied, "that will make a fine belt for the little master when it is dried." "i should like that very much," said affonzo. "you must make it for me." "yes, sir," said joachim as he swung over his strong shoulders the wicker-work hamper and game bag. "is the young master ready to go?" "i am," affonzo replied, and the two started down the narrow path along which the senhor had disappeared. "what kind of a tree is that?" asked affonzo pointing to a tall tree a hundred feet high. "that is the _castanhao_," said joachim. "some people call it the brazil nut, and i have often gathered nuts from it for you to eat. the nuts grow at the very top of the tree in shells like cocoanuts, and each shell has fifteen or twenty nuts in it. often i have thought my head was broken when a shell fell upon it." "i wonder why we don't catch up with my father?" said affonzo. "joachim, what makes it so dark?" "storm coming. we must hurry," was the brief answer. heavy clouds had gathered quickly; not a glimmer of sunlight came through the trees, and great drops of rain began to fall. "father!" cried affonzo, but there was no answer. "father!" he called again and joachim shouted, "senhor! senhor!" nothing was heard but the screaming of the wind, and the rain fell faster and faster. vivid flashes of lightning illuminated the forest, and the thunder muttered and grumbled in the distance. "come with me quickly," said joachim, as he seized the boy by the hand. "we mustn't stay here." "but my father," cried affonzo and tried to get away from joachim, but the negro held tight to him. "the senhor can take care of himself; i must take care of you," he said, as he pulled the boy into a side path which led through the woods. they made their way with difficulty through the dense tangle of underbrush and vines. often a swinging branch would strike affonzo on the face, or he would tangle his feet in a swaying vine and fall full length in a bed of fern. the rain poured down in torrents, but the leaves and interlaced branches served as a shield from the great drops which pelted down like bullets. soon they came to a small hut with a thatched roof and no door to bar the entrance. into it joachim pulled the boy with scant ceremony. as they entered the hut a man rose hurriedly from his grass couch, and affonzo recognized an indian who had often been to the fazenda to see his father. "ah, vicente," said joachim. "give us shelter." "welcome," said the _syringuero_.[ ] "the storm is bad. you reached shelter just in time. see!" he pointed through the door-way and affonzo saw that the streams of water were well-nigh rivers, and the thunder and lightning were almost incessant. "where do you suppose my father is?" he asked, and joachim answered, "the senhor has found shelter, do not fear; and he will know you are safe with me." "there is nothing to do but sit still, i suppose," said affonzo, rather mournfully, for that was the hardest thing in all the world for him to do. vicente gave him a slow smile. he was an old indian of wiry frame, with keen black eyes. his hair was straight and black, his chin firm and strong, his features clean-cut, his face proud and intelligent. he was in great contrast to curly-haired, black joachim with his good-humoured, stolid face. [illustration: "he placed himself on a raft and was rowed to the middle of the great river."] vicente was one of the indians whose fathers had owned the land before the portuguese discovered it and named it brazil from the red colour of its dye woods. he gathered rubber from the great trees which grew in the forest, and lived alone in his little hut. he sat smoking and watching the boy who looked out into the rain feeling very miserable. "vicente," he said at last, "have you lived long in the forest?" "many years have i been here," said the old man. "and my fathers were here before me. they hunted and fished and were chiefs in the land until the white men came. many died, many went to the great hills, but i stayed here, for the home of my fathers is my home." "tell me a story, vicente," begged the little boy. "in the days of my fathers," said vicente, "and of my father's fathers and their fathers, things were not as to-day they are in the country of the great river. there were no white senhores. the indians dwelt alone. they roamed the forests hunting with the bow and arrow; they fished in the great stream; they dwelt in their lodges and were happy. "often there were fights with other indians and these were of great glory. but my people were peaceful and loved not war, never fighting if they could first have peace. to secure peace for our village, each year they made a sacrifice and this was the manner of it. "a chief smeared his body with gum and then powdered himself with gold dust. he powdered it all over, for in our mountains was much gold and precious gems. he placed himself on a raft and was rowed to the middle of the great river. there he raised his hands to heaven, praying the great spirit to save his village, and jumping into the water he washed off the precious dust. this he sacrificed for his village. "this was done each year and should have been done still, when, perhaps, the indian villages would not have been destroyed and deserted, but it ceased for the sin of one man. a chief loved gold. that is an evil and a foolishness, for gold is but for use and not for love. he loved its glitter, and it seemed to him stupid to waste it in a sacrifice. "it was his turn to make the river sacrifice and become the gilded man.[ ] but he was angry within himself, and said, 'why shall i do this thing? if the village wishes gold, why must it take mine? it is a foolish thing!' "yet he could not refuse the sacrifice, for to be the gilded man was thought an honour, and did he refuse, many would suspect him of faithlessness to his tribe. so he gilded himself as was the custom, and his brother chiefs rowed him to the river and he raised his hands to heaven. "'spirits of rain and wind, of fire and water, of good and evil, keep our village and our people,' he cried. 'we offer all to thee!' then he plunged into the stream and washed the gold from his arms and legs. all the time his heart was hot within him and he thought to himself, 'how my soul grieves to see this waste of the beautiful, shining dust!' then an evil spirit tempted him and he did not wash off all the gold. he left beneath his arms where others could not see it, some of the glittering dust, and returned to his village, an insult to the spirits of heaven. "that night came fierce rain and wind and with it a horde of enemies who descended like a hurricane and destroyed the village,--men, women and children. so the chief with all his gold was destroyed utterly and he was the last gilded man. thus were the spirits of heaven avenged!" "thank you, vicente," cried affonzo. "that is a good story. but see, the rain is over. now we must hurry to find my father," pointing as he spoke to the doorway. the sky was clear and bright, already rose-tinted with the rays of the setting sun, low in the heavens. "you must not go yet," said vicente. "ground too wet, trees wet, bad for white people. you must wait." "but i must find my father," persisted affonzo, who, though he was a brave boy, began to be somewhat frightened. but vicente knew the danger of the steaming forest with its snakes, mosquitoes and insects swarming after the storm. "not safe to go now," he said, and joachim, who was quite comfortable where he was, said, "little master must sleep here and go home in the morning." "you shall have a good supper," said vicente, who began at once to prepare the meal, and affonzo was forced to submit. so he watched with interest the preparations for supper, for like most boys, he was generally hungry. vicente built a fire in the stone fireplace in front of his hut, and from a stone jar in the corner he brought pork, some coarse bread, wild honey found in the woods, and bananas. "take a bird from our bag," said affonzo, wishing to give his share of the feast, and joachim brought out a parrot which was soon stewing in the pot with the pork, and a handful of peppers and herbs. when the savoury stew was done, the meal was spread upon a rough bench at the door, and the three odd companions sat down together. "quite a festive party," said a laughing voice, and jumping up, affonzo saw his father and uncle approaching through the trees. "oh, papa, how glad i am to see you! i feared you would be wet through, but you must have found shelter as we did, for you are scarcely wet at all." "i worried about you, more than you did about me, i fancy," said his father, "though i hoped joachim would bring you here. your uncle and i missed the path some way, and could not find you or the old house again, so we took refuge in a deserted hut." "the senhors will sup with me," said vicente, "and remain here for the night since the forest is unsafe for the boy." "a thousand thanks; we will stay if you can arrange for so many," was the reply, and as vicente assured them that they would all be most welcome, they ate their supper with much enjoyment. the two senhors slept in indian hammocks swung between giant rubber trees, while affonzo curled up in a blanket and slept, as did vicente and joachim, on a fragrant couch of dried grass. footnotes: [footnote : rubber gatherer.] [footnote : this is the indian legend of _el dorado_, which is really _el hombre dorado_, or the gilded man, and it was this story which led so many of the early explorers to search for "_el dorado_."] chapter iv along the amazon "come, son," said the senhor early next morning. "we have a long day before us and you must eat plenty of breakfast. that is if you want to go with your uncle and me. if not, you may go back home with joachim." "where are you going?" asked affonzo as he smoothed down his linen suit, and combed his hair with a pocket comb from his dapper little uncle's case. he had washed his face in the stream which gurgled near the hut, and that was all the toilet he could make, which seemed odd to him, for he was something of a dandy. "we are going the rounds with vicente to see the rubber plantation, and then go home by the river." "do let me go with you, i am sure my mother would not object," cried affonzo. "i shall send joachim home with word of your safety to ease her mind, and as you wish it so much, you may come with us; so eat and we will start." senhor dias was a rubber exporter. from his plantation near para went out huge balls of the rubber, solid, tough and brown. it is very interesting to watch the process of obtaining this from the milk-white sap of the rubber trees. "well, vicente, shall we start now," said the senhor when they had breakfasted. "when the senhor is ready," said vicente. the indian lived by himself all the year around in his little hut. all along the amazon these cabins may be found, hidden in the woods, and in each one dwells only a single indian. it is a lonely and dangerous life, the climate is unhealthful, the swampy lands of the river valley where the rubber trees grow are low and malarious, and the _syringuero_ has often to wade knee deep in mud, and work all day in wet clothing. the indians are trustworthy workers and many of them earn a good living. old vicente had worked there so long that he would not have known how to act anywhere else, but he was glad to have company on his lonely rounds. so he smiled at affonzo as the boy skipped along, gathering one gorgeous flower after another, as merry as the sunshine after the rain. "you'd better walk a little more slowly, and save your strength for the day's tramp," said his father. "you'll be tired by night." vicente guided them down a well-worn path through the marsh land. on each side were splendid trees, the rubber tree growing as high as seventy feet. the trunk, smooth and round, was covered with light-coloured bark, the leaves, oval and about a foot long, hanging in clusters of three. the fruit grows in clusters also, and consists of a small black nut which the natives like very much. affonzo picked one up and tasted it, but made a very wry face as it was quite bitter. selecting a fine tree, vicente made a deep cut in the bark with his hatchet. below it, by means of some damp clay, he fastened an earthen cup, into which the cream-coloured sap flowed slowly. "by to-morrow the cup will be full," he said. "and i will come again. now we will find another." the next tree was half a mile away and it had frequently been tapped before, for a row of incisions girdled it. vicente emptied the cups attached to these into a large pail which he carried, and made a new gash higher up. "do let me tap just one tree," said affonzo, and vicente allowed him to do so and helped him fasten on one of the cups to catch the sap. affonzo was delighted, and tramped along gaily, although his short legs found it difficult to keep up with the long strides of his father and uncle. at last vicente finished his rounds, and said, as he showed the senhor his brimming pail, "this is all to-day. does the senhor wish to see it cooked?" "yes, i want affonzo to see it all, as i know he will be interested," said senhor dias, and they all followed the indian to a little hut, such as the one in which they had slept the night before. "let us eat first," said the senhor. "our walk has given us all appetites." so vicente built a fire and roasted a _lagarto_[ ] which he had killed on the way through the forest. the delicate white flesh tasted delicious to affonzo, and so did the bananas and oranges and black coffee, which vicente made thick and strong as it is liked in brazil. [illustration: "this he kept up until the paddle had a thick coating of rubber."] vicente then made another fire of nuts and the wood of the _motacu_[ ] under a jug-shaped calabash, the smoke coming out through the neck. this smoke hastens the drying of the liquid rubber, and makes a better quality than can be obtained in any other way. "i don't see how that stuff that looks like cream can ever be made like rubber," said affonzo. "watch vicente," said his father, "and you will see." as he spoke, vicente dipped a long paddle into the liquid, and then held it over the smoke. it quickly dried and he dipped the paddle into the juice again, repeating the process of drying. this he kept up until the paddle had a thick coating of rubber, like a large, flattened ball. then he split the ball open along one side, and pulled the paddle out. "there now!" said the senhor. "the rubber is all ready to go to market. perhaps some day you will bounce a ball or wear a pair of goloshes made of this very rubber." "won't that be fine!" said affonzo. "what are you going to do now," he asked, as his father rose as if to go. "as soon as vicente has finished cooking, we will go to the river, and go home by water," said the senhor. "then you will see some of the wood your uncle and i mean to export." "that will be much better than tramping," said affonzo, whose short legs began to be stiff and sore with all the walking he had done. vicente soon finished cooking his rubber, and put up the utensils before following affonzo and the two men down the path to the river. "vicente is a good indian, isn't he?" said affonzo. "one of the best i have ever known," said his father. "he has worked for us for years and has always been honest and reliable. it is strange that he should be so hospitable and friendly, for his ancestors and ours were always at war. when your grandfather was a young man there was always fear of the natives, and at one time there was an indian uprising in which many portuguese were killed. the indians captured the city of para, burned many of the houses, and destroyed everything they couldn't carry away with them. they held the city over a year before the portuguese could recapture it." "it must have been exciting to live then," cried affonzo, who loved to read of wars and battles and thought they must be interesting things. but his uncle said, "more peaceful times are less exciting, but far pleasanter and you would better be thankful that you live now. there is the river! how beautiful it looks!" affonzo had often seen the amazon, the greatest river in the world, and had been on it in the steamers which ply between para and mañaos, but he had never seen it at this point, and he exclaimed in wonder at its beauty. the river was two miles wide, and in the centre was a broad deep channel down which the water flowed slowly. on each side of this were stretches of shallow water, while on either bank grew thick forests of superb trees. vicente drew a canoe from a thicket about a sheltered cove and the little party embarked, vicente paddling carefully. "isn't this splendid?" cried affonzo. "i feel as if i were orellaño discovering the river." "why, what do you know about him?" asked his uncle. "oh, he was fine," said affonzo. "he was one of gonzalo pizzarro's lieutenants and he crossed the andes to find cinnamon trees. he had only fifty men and they built a boat and started down the river and had a terrible time for days. at last they reached the mouth of the river, and were picked up by some spanish ships. it told all about it in my geography." "did it tell how he named the river?" asked uncle prudente. "orellaña fell in with an indian tribe where the women fought side by side with the men; you know women soldiers are called amazons, so he called the river 'rio de las amazones.'" "see those magnificent satin-wood trees," said senhor dias to his brother. "nowhere in all the world is there such wood from which to make fine furniture as here." then the two gentlemen fell into a talk about business plans, and affonzo curled up in the canoe and watched the interesting things they passed. it was a scene of contrast. a native boat, one end thatched over for a house, a hammock, in which a man lolled lazily, swung across its deck, was passing by a large steamer gay with flags and striped awnings. he also saw boats laden with rubber, and many rafts made of great logs held together by long wooden pins driven through them, for their long voyage to para. as they continued down the stream, the thatched native huts became fewer, and there could be seen the tiled roofs of the country homes of the wealthy. it was not long before affonzo saw, gleaming through the trees, the white walls of their own fazenda and, landing quickly, he bade good-by to vicente, and rushed across the lawn to tell all his adventures to his mother and lola. footnotes: [footnote : a brazilian lizard.] [footnote : a kind of palm.] chapter v a visit to grandmamma's the fazenda of the senhor dias stood upon a hill overlooking the amazon. about it were trees and gardens, and a small stream flowed through the grounds toward the great river. a pleasant little summer-house was set under a giant palm tree and about the whole place was an air of ease and comfort. upon the broad, pillared veranda and between the shady trees hammocks were slung for the midday siesta, and the life of the villa was cheerful and pleasant. [illustration: "the fazenda of the senhor dias stood upon a hill overlooking the amazon."] affonzo was very tired the day after his jaunt through the forest, and toward evening he lazily lay in a cool hammock swinging back and forth. his sister sat on a cushion at his feet listening in delight to the story of his adventures. lola was only eight years old and she thought her big brother of eleven quite the most wonderful boy in the world. "how i wish you could have been with me, lola," said affonzo. "of course you could not, for girls can not go to the places that boys can. but it was most exciting! what you would like would be to hear vicente. he told me a wonderful story." "do tell it to me," said lola, and affonzo retold the story of the gilded man, to her great delight. "oh! what a nice story," cried lola as he finished. "what was the indian's house like?" "it wasn't a real house, you know," said affonzo. "it was a little round hut all thatched with straw, and he had bows and arrows and all kinds of things." affonzo was rather vague in his description. "the trees around were the finest i ever saw. oh! i am sure there is no country in the world like ours!" lola smiled, and, touching the strings of her guitar, sang softly: "minha terra tene palmerias onde canta a sabia as aves que acqui gorgeiao nao gorgeiao como la. "nosso ceo teni mais estrellas nossos varzenes tem mais flores nossos bosques tem mais vida, nossos vida mais amores."[ ] "brava, little one," cried uncle prudente who had come out from his siesta refreshed and cool. "that was very prettily sung, little patriot. have you children heard the news?" "what news, my uncle?" asked affonzo. "that you are to go home with me to-morrow to see your grandmother." "how glad i am!" cried affonzo, and lola danced up and down in delight, saying, "it is long since we have been in para, and the ride on the river will be so pleasant." the next day was bright and fair and their sail down the great river as pleasant as they had anticipated. the air was cool and the sun partially under a cloud, so that the heat was not too great and the banks of the stream, with their trees and flowers, presented views as vivid and changing as a kaleidoscope. the city of para is one of the most important places in brazil. from it are sent out into the world all the produce of the wonderful valley of the amazon,--woods, rubber and fruits. its markets are busy spots of industry, and its harbour teems with shipping. the mother of the senhor dias lived in a handsome house on the edge of the town. since the death of her husband she had lived with her only unmarried son, the uncle prudente of whom the children were so fond. she received the travellers warmly. her son martim's wife was very dear to her, his children her idols, especially affonzo. he was his grandfather's image; with his flashing black eyes, his proud mouth, his quick, impetuous manner, he was so like the noble old man she had so loved, that he seemed to embody the youth of her beloved dead. "you must remain for a long visit with me," she said to the children. "i have asked the children of friends to come and play with you in the garden this afternoon. some of your school-mates will be here, affonzo, and some little folk for lola. i hope you will have a pleasant time." "you are most kind, grandmamma," cried both children, and when their friends came, they all repaired to the shady garden behind the house. there were about a dozen boys and girls all chattering at once, but in a moment's quiet lola said, "let us play 'dona sancha.' i should like it so much and we have thirteen, just the right number." "yes," said a little girl named catharina. "there are seven girls and six boys. one of us must be it." "who shall be it?" they all cried merrily, and one of the larger girls stood them in a row and repeated, "i am a little widow from the seacoast there; i wish to find a husband but i can't tell where. shall i marry this one? yes. shall i marry that one? no. shall i marry this one? yes, for i love him so." the lot fell to a little black-eyed girl called constancia, who was then blindfolded and around whom the others formed a circle by joining hands. then all danced around constancia singing, "madame dona sancha covered with silver and gold, take away your veil then, your eyes we would behold." at this constancia uncovered her face, and sang, "i am the daughter of a count, the grandchild of a king, behind a stone they made me hide, a most peculiar thing." then the others sang, "valentin-tin-tin-- who is married, who is married, she who is not must remain alone." at the last words the boys and girls let go of each other's hands and each one, including constancia, made a rush for a partner. lola was the one to be left out and she had to be blindfolded, and take constancia's place in the centre of the ring. so the game went on, each girl taking her turn in the centre as often as she failed to catch a partner in the scramble. when the children were tired of play, their grandmother sent out christovao, an old white-haired negro who had once been a slave, and he showed them many wonderful tricks of juggling. he made flowers to bloom in their hats, money to grow on trees, and many other queer things to happen, and his pet monkey kept them laughing with his queer antics. then they all sat down around the stone fountain and had a delicious luncheon of _doces_,[ ] _cocada_,[ ] and sweet cakes, and affonzo and lola went to bed that night quite delighted with their first day in para. footnotes: [footnote : my country has shades where the sabia sings the birds of your glades no like melody brings our heaven has more stars our fields have more flowers our woods have more life our life has more love.] [footnote : preserves.] [footnote : cocoa jelly.] chapter vi en route to rio para is one of the most beautiful of brazilian cities, with large cool houses, and squares and gardens gay with wonderful orchids,--purple, crimson, gold and white. the weeks spent at grandmamma's were full of delight to affonzo and lola, and they enjoyed all the pleasant happenings of life in the city. one day in october they sat in the garden playing with the pet monkey, a saucy little creature with a thousand cunning tricks and ways, almost human in his intelligence. "i wonder how soon we shall go home," said affonzo. "i begin to weary of doing nothing." "i do not know," said lola. "but i heard mamma say something strange about it to-day. she and my father were talking while i was playing with the cockatoo and mamma said, 'it will be a long trip and i should dislike to leave them behind.' 'it would do you little good to go with them,' said my father, and mamma replied that the worry of leaving them would take away all the pleasure of the trip if they were not to accompany her; then she saw me looking and bade my father be silent. what trip could they mean?" "i am sure i do not know, and you should never remember a conversation not meant for you," said affonzo, virtuously. then, his curiosity getting the better of his virtue, "i wonder where they can be intending to go!" "but if i should not remember what i hear, then you should not either," said lola pertly, for she did not like to have affonzo correct her. "we are two quite different people," said affonzo. "i am much older than you." "when one is old, one should behave better than one who is young," lola retorted. "both are quite old enough not to quarrel," said their mother's voice sternly, as she came up unnoticed. "what are you quarrelling about?" both children were silent and ashamed. "if you dare not tell the cause, then cease the quarrel," said the senhora. "and remember that well-bred children do not dispute. now sit down while i tell you what is going to happen. "your father has intended for some time to make a business trip to rio de janeiro, going by boat from para. he wishes me to go with him, for i have not been well of late, and he thought best to leave you two with your grandmother. i wished you to accompany me, and some news has just come which has caused him to give his consent. "your uncle juan, who went to study medicine in philadelphia, married there a beautiful north american lady, and has a little daughter the age of affonzo. she is named maria and she had the great misfortune to lose her mother a few months ago. she grieves terribly and her father is bringing her to brazil in the hope that among his people she will grow well and strong again. they will reach rio de janeiro in a short time, and we want to be there to see them. would you like to go with us on this trip?" "indeed yes, mamma!" cried both in one breath. "when do we start?" "to-morrow," she replied. "i did not tell you before, because i feared you would too much excite yourselves. then too i thought something might happen to prevent our going and you would be disappointed." "hurrah," cried affonzo. "we shall see uncle hilario!" "and i shall see my cousin martim!" cried lola. "yes, we shall visit my dear brother, and you shall have a very happy time with two cousins to play with. "now you must be good children and give me a chance to pack up your clothes. no questions!" she held up her finger playfully. "those you may save to ask me on ship-board. here is a map which shows just where we are going, and you may trace out the course and affonzo can tell you about all the places from his geography, lola," and she left the two children poring over the geography, their tongues fairly clacking in their excitement. the _icamiaba_ is a large steamer plying from mañaos to rio, and by noon the next day the little party of four were safely embarked and the steamer made its way out of the beautiful harbour. the long voyage was begun, but to affonzo and lola it was not tedious, for, the only children on board, they soon became pets with all and were in a fair way to being spoiled with attention. the second day out the steamer made its first stop at pernambuco on the easternmost point of brazil, and the children watched the entrance into the harbour with great interest. "pernambuco is called the venice of america," said their father. "you know venice is an italian city built on islands, with waterways instead of streets, and here there are so many canals and arms of water reaching in from the sea that pernambuco is called the venice of america." "what a lot of steamers there are!" exclaimed affonzo as they approached the reef which protects the harbour. this reef runs along the brazilian coast for hundreds of miles, forming a natural breakwater, sometimes twelve feet above high tide. "n-i-l-e," spelled affonzo as they passed a huge steamer anchored outside the harbour. "what kind of a boat is that?" "english," said his father. "the english run a line of steamers from southampton to lisbon, and thence to rio janeiro. these boats carry a thousand passengers, and are so large that they cannot go through the cut in the breakwater." "oh, papa! what a queer building! what is it?" asked lola, as they passed an odd-looking fort on the rocks. "that is a relic of dutch days in brazil," said the senhor. "you know the dutch once laid claim to all this part of the country." "did they?" asked lola in surprise. "how did they get here and what became of them?" "it is a long story, little one, but quite an interesting one," said her father. "you know brazil was discovered by a portuguese, pedro alvarez cabral, who sailed into the bay of porto seguro at bahia, april , , and took possession of the land in the name of the portuguese crown, naming it vera cruz. the spaniards had made discoveries in the north of south america, the english and french had come in along the amazon and within the next few years the dutch entered the river and built forts on the xingu. then came a long struggle between the dutch and the portuguese as to who should possess the land. in , a dutch admiral took possession of bahia, but a handful of portuguese recaptured the place the next year; then came a succession of battles, first the dutch being victorious, then the portuguese. at last the dutch sent prince maurice of nassau as governor general of their possessions in brazil, but he returned to holland in and from that time on the portuguese were successful. they laid siege to pernambuco (then called recife) and blockaded the port with sea forces while the land army assaulted it on the other side. the dutch surrendered in and brazil became a portuguese colony." "then i suppose everything was peaceful," said affonzo, but his father laughed and said, "there has not been much peace in brazil since the portuguese first discovered it. after the foreigners left, the indians remained unconquered, and the portuguese sent many expeditions against the natives in the interior. many adventurers went on these expeditions, and they were called bandierantes.[ ] they treated the indians cruelly and enslaved many, although the pope had forbidden making slaves of the indians. "another fight which took place near here was with negro slaves. some of them escaped and fled to the forest of palmeiras, in the province of alagoas. here they maintained a colony for sixty years and were only subdued in . some of their chiefs leaped from a high rock into the sea rather than be captured." "how did they get slaves in our country?" asked lola. "that's a rather big subject for such a little girl," said her father. "the early settlers could not get any one to work for them, so they brought black people from africa, as did most of the southern countries. one good thing was that here slavery was abolished without a drop of blood being shed, while in north america they had a terrible war. "now we are entering the harbour, affonzo. see how many ships! in one year there were one thousand one hundred and eighty-one ships here! they come from all parts of the world, laden with all manner of things, but they nearly all go away freighted with sugar. there are thousands of tons of it exported every year. the boat will stop here some hours, so we will go ashore and drive about the city." "oh, thank you, papa," cried the children, and their mother added, "it will be a pleasant change from the ship." so the four went ashore and drove about the cheerful city, with its gaily painted houses, passing one public building glazed in yellow and green tiles, another in imitation pink marble trimmed in sky blue. crossing a long bridge, they saw magnificent gardens with brilliant flowering plants, and the fine fruit-market where they purchased the luscious pernambuco _abacoxi_ the finest-flavoured pineapple in the world. "it is a very fine city," said affonzo as they returned to the steamer. "but not as handsome as para," said lola. "that's the prettiest city in all brazil," and her father laughed. when they steamed into bahia two days later just at twilight, she still insisted that para was the most beautiful place in the world, but affonzo was delighted with bahia. "capt. diego alvarez was one of the early explorers here," said the senhor, as they sat upon the deck in the moonlight, watching the crescent of lights which rise from the harbour toward heaven, for the main portion of bahia is built upon a high bluff overlooking the river. "he was captured by the indians and was about to be killed, when the chief's daughter threw herself in front of him and saved his life. alvarez fell in love with her and married her, taking her with him to france, where she was honoured and cared for all her life. some of the best families in bahia boast that she is their ancestor." "what are sent out from here?" asked affonzo. "thousands and thousands of cocoanuts, for one thing," said the senhor. "it is a fortune for a family to have a cocoa plantation, for the trees produce from fifty to eighty years, and need little attention after the first year or two. they are very easy to raise. after planting, the weeds are kept away from the trees, and during the first year, banana plants are grown between the rows to shade the young trees. the fourth year the first crop is gathered and the trees produce two hundred clusters of fruit with thirty or forty nuts each. people net about sixty thousand dollars a year from a plantation of fifty thousand trees." "it must pay to raise cocoanuts at that rate," said affonzo. "does _manaioca_ pay as well?" "not quite, but it is about as easy to raise. everyone has to have _manaioca_. the rich use if for puddings and desserts in the form of tapioca, while the poor people use the _fariulia de manaioca_[ ] as their chief food. it also makes good starch, for the roots ground up in water deposit their starch as a fine white powder. "a farm of twelve acres belonging to a friend of mine and planted with forty thousand plants produces eighty thousand pounds of tapioca, which at the lowest price brings two thousand four hundred and twenty-five dollars." "the children are growing to be regular little encyclopedias," said the senhora. "they must go to bed now, or i am afraid their brains will burst with so much knowledge." "not much danger of that," laughed the senhor. "most of it goes in at one ear and comes out the other," but lola and affonzo exclaimed indignantly, "oh, no, papa, indeed it does not." footnotes: [footnote : flag bearers.] [footnote : tapioca meal.] chapter vii in the capital a week after they had left home, the children saw for the first time the harbour of rio de janeiro, the _icamiaba_ entering the beautiful bay between the sugar loaf mountain and the fortress of santa cruz, in all the glory of a brazilian sunset. [illustration: "the children saw for the first time the harbour of rio de janeiro."] at the left was the curious mountain called _seria dos orgaos_, so named from its resemblance to a church organ. charming islets dotted the bay, and orange trees, bananas, always green and loaded with fruit, and flowers everywhere met the eye. mountains seemed to rise from the sea; the cliffs are nearly perpendicular with scarce a yard of greensward at the water's edge, and they guard jealously the most beautiful harbour in the world. scarcely two ships can enter between the islands marking the entrance of the bay, which is so narrow that the discoverer thought it a river and named it "rio." within, however, the sheet of water widens until it is a glorious inner sea, called by the indians, "nictheroy"--hidden waters. the houses of the city, walled in stucco, are of a deep canary yellow with roofs tiled in deep red, turning to fire beneath the sun's departing rays. "how beautiful it is," said the senhora. "it seems to me my old home never looked so fair!" "it is one of the most beautiful places in the world," said her husband. "see those large buildings, children. that is the sailors' hospital on ilha da governador,[ ] which was once used as a hunting preserve by the royal family. it is a beautiful island and many strange things have happened there. one was the death of the founder of the city, estacio de sa. he was a famous indian fighter, and here received a fatal wound from an arrow." "something seems to have happened everywhere in brazil," said lola. "how near we are to land." "yes," cried her mother. "and there is your uncle waving his hat upon the wharf. martim is with him! he sees us! wave to him, daughter!" and the usually calm senhora, flushed and excited, waved her handkerchief, smiling happily. "i have not seen you look so gay for many months," said her husband, and she replied, "it is so long since i have seen my dear old home and my own people!" soon the ship was made fast, and the children stepped off the gang plank to be greeted warmly by the uncle whom they had not seen since lola was a baby, and the cousin whom they had never seen before. "your aunt luiza and maria are anxiously awaiting you at home," he said. "here is the carriage, so we will hasten." "drive through the street do ouvidor, papa, will you not?" asked martim. "it is so gay with the french shops, my cousins will enjoy it." martim was a handsome boy of twelve, with a bright, pleasant face, an only child, for the senhor and senhora lopez had lost all their other children in an epidemic of yellow fever some years before. "what are those men doing with long poles over their shoulders," asked lola, pointing to several men who carried bamboo rods with baskets hung at the ends. "they are fish and vegetable vendors," martim replied. "some of those baskets weigh over a hundred pounds. those other men with the gaily-painted tin trunks on their backs peddle clothing." "they make a lot of noise," said affonzo. "yes, they warn people they are coming by clapping together two pieces of wood fastened to their hands by a leather strap," said his cousin. "oh! what a beautiful statue!" cried lola. "that is the emperor dom pedro i," said her uncle. "it was made by a noted french sculptor and represents the emperor shouting the brazilian watch word 'independencia ou morte.'[ ] here we are at home!" as the carriage turned into a broad street on either side of which were old fashioned houses with broad verandas and red and white blinds. "there is aunt luiza waiting to welcome you!" the children jumped out of the carriage and ran to meet their aunt, who kissed them warmly and drew forward a tall girl of ten, who looked pale and sad. her hair was very light, her eyes deep blue, and she was a great contrast to black-eyed, brown-cheeked lola. "this is maria, your north american cousin," said their aunt, and lola kissed her warmly on either cheek. "we are so glad to have you come," she said. "and my mother is going to take you home with us for a nice long visit. i have always wanted a sister, so let us play we are sisters." maria kissed her and smiled, while aunt luiza said, "come, children, it is very late; dinner is waiting and then all you little folk must get to bed early so you will be ready for to-morrow. there are ever so many things for you to see." early next day the four cousins set out for a morning's sight-seeing, accompanied by their uncle hilario. the senhor lopez was one of those rare men who are really fond of children, and he enjoyed their society. most of the streets of the city have no curbing, and the children had to be careful lest they be run down by passing carriages. their uncle decided first to take them to the famous botanical gardens and as they entered the main gateway, they saw the avenue of fine royal palms. "the avenue is almost half a mile long," said the senhor. "and the trees are a hundred feet high." "aren't they fine," said affonzo. "they are the tallest palms i ever saw." "they meet together at the top and form a regular archway the whole length of the walk," said martim. "what is that very high mountain?" asked lola. "that is the corcovado, and some day we shall go over there and ascend it," said martim. "we shall have to start very early in the morning, for it is a long trip." "here comes doctor barbosa, papa," said martim. "i wonder if he will go around the gardens with us." "perhaps he will, if he is not too busy. if he does, he can tell you all about the trees and flowers for he has explored the country along the amazon and knows all about the brazilian flora." as the senhor spoke, doctor barbosa came up smiling, for he and senhor lopez were old friends. "you have quite a bevy of little folk with you to-day," he said pleasantly. "this is my nephew, affonzo diaz, doctor barbosa," said the senhor. "and these girls are my nieces, charlotta and maria. of course you know martim." "i am very glad to see you all," said the doctor with a smile. "this is the first visit of affonzo and his sister to our city," said senhor lopez. "indeed," replied the doctor. "i really think then that you should let me help show them around the gardens. i have a few moments of leisure just now, that i will be glad to devote to you." "that will be delightful," said the senhor. "you know so much about this place and i so little that i am sure the children will much prefer you as a guide." bowing in appreciation of the compliment, the doctor led the party down the avenue. "these gardens," he said, pointing down across the avenue, "as you see, are on the border of a large sheet of water. that is called the lagoa de rodrigo freitas, and is separated from the sea only by a narrow strip of sand." "what are those crooked, twisted trees," asked lola, as they passed into another long avenue. "they are mangoes. they are not very handsome to look at, but you know what delicious fruit they bear." "indeed i do," said lola. "this," said the doctor, pointing to a tall palm beside the pathway, "is a bahia palm. it is from trees of this kind that your brooms and brushes at home are made." next they saw the great candelabra tree. "it looks," said maria, "as if it were already to be lighted for church, doesn't it?" "see the beautiful grove of orange trees," said the senhor. "oh yes," said affonzo. "and the trees have both fruit and blossoms on them." "that is not at all uncommon with many of our tropical fruit trees," said doctor barbosa. "many of the trees here," he continued, "are useful for other purposes than fruit-bearing. there is the cow tree over yonder. its sap looks like milk, and when exposed to the air is soon changed to glue, and from this a useful cement is made." as the party approached a little lake in the centre of the gardens, they saw a small eight-sided pavilion. on its top was a bust. "whose statue is that?" asked affonzo. "if you will step closer, you can read the inscription on the tablet," said the doctor. "and that will answer your question." "to the memory of friar leandro do sacramento of the order of carmelites, a graduate in the natural sciences at the university of coimbra, first professor of botany in the school of medicine in rio, and first technical director of the botanical gardens." "if i can do as much for this beautiful park as friar leandro did, i shall be content," said doctor barbosa. "what a magnificent palm that is!" said the senhor lopez, as they turned from the pavilion and came in sight of an unusually tall tree. "yes," said the doctor, "that is a royal palm, over one hundred and twenty-five feet high. the seed is said to have been brought here by a portuguese naval officer who escaped from prison on the isle de france. it was planted with great care by the regent, dom joao himself, and here is the splendid result. i am sorry that i must leave you now, but you must come again to see the gardens." "thank you very much for all that you have shown us," said affonzo, and all the children chorused, "thank you very much." "it is past noon and we ought to be at home now," said the senhor looking at his watch. "i believe i am hungry," said martim, "though i hadn't thought about it before." so they all went back to the house with appetites such as the balmy air of rio gives to young and vigorous boys and girls. footnotes: [footnote : governor's island.] [footnote : independence or death.] chapter viii a gala day in rio in the fortnight which followed the four cousins became very well acquainted with each other. maria soon lost her shyness, and taught the others many new games and sports, while they in turn taught her the brazilian ones which her father had played when a boy at home. the little brazilians found their north american cousin very interesting. she was different from them in many ways and they never tired of hearing her tell of things in the united states. although admiring her father's country very much, she was devoted to her mother's as well, and could never be made to admit that things were better in south america than they were in the north. "come, children," said the senhora lopez one morning, "this is the day of the inauguration. the president himself has given your father tickets, for they are great friends and we must all be ready early so as to escape the crowd." "indeed, mamma," said martim, "i think the crowd's the greatest fun of all. i shall never forget the procession the day of the parade in honour of your senhor root, maria. it was one of the finest we ever had in rio." "i wish i had seen it," said maria. "when our president is inaugurated we have grand processions in washington. my grandfather took me to the last one, and it was splendid." "our inauguration procession is fine, too. you will see to-day that they know how to do things down here as well as you do," said martim, as they started for the reviewing-stand. "i don't doubt that," said maria pleasantly. "but i can't quite make out why you have a president at all. brazil used to be an empire and have a splendid emperor. you showed me his statue in the park. what became of him?" "the last emperor of brazil is dead, my child," said her uncle. "he died in paris in , some said of a broken heart, because he had been sent away from his beloved brazil." "why did you send him away; wasn't he a good man?" asked maria. "yes, indeed, very good, and many of the people were very fond of him," was the reply. "he was always interested in the people and tried to arrange the laws for their best interests. he was very democratic and travelled about a great deal, keeping his eyes wide open to learn everything which might help his people. he even went to your united states at the time of the centennial in philadelphia." "if he was so good, why did they send him away?" asked maria puzzled. "it is rather hard to explain politics to little folk," said her uncle, smiling. "some of the brazilians wanted to have a republic like the united states, for they thought that country was so prosperous that they wanted brazil to be like it. "the people thought that the united states had progressed more rapidly and was more prosperous than brazil and they did not see why their own land should not be as great or greater than any other american country. brazil was the only south american country which was not a republic. i think the chief reason, however, was that the heir to the throne was not at all liked, and the brazilians were afraid that he would not be as wise a ruler as dom pedro had been. even those who most wanted a republic were sorry to have the old emperor expelled, and many of them cried bitterly when he went away." "i should think they might have waited until he died," said maria. "if he was old he wouldn't have lived long, and then they needn't have had his heir whom they didn't like. i do not think it was nice at all to send him away when he had always been good and kind." "if it had been in the united states you would have shot him, like you do your presidents, wouldn't you?" asked affonzo mischievously, for he loved to tease his cousin. "we have only had three presidents killed out of twenty-six," said maria. "how many of yours have been assassinated?" "i'm sure i don't know," said affonzo, rather taken aback at the quickness of her retort. "in the early days," said uncle hilario, "before the republic was very firmly established, the presidents used to have to be taken from the army so they could fight to keep their positions. now, however, things are quieter and we do not have to have our ruler backed by sword and guns." "here we are at the grand stand. the music is just beginning to draw near. hurrah! there come the soldiers!" cried affonzo. "aren't they fine-looking fellows!" "what gorgeous uniforms they have!" cried lola, and maria exclaimed, "aren't the plumed horses splendid!" and they chattered all at once till their uncle fairly covered his ears with his hands. they had a good look at the two presidents--president campos-salles whose term of office was just over, and affonzo penna who was the new president--and returned home quite excited with the events of the morning. next day they had planned an excursion to the top of corcovado, that beautiful mountain which rises above rio, serene and lofty, toward the clouds, and all was excitement as the little party started off. "think of having mamma with us!" cried lola. "uncle hilario, have you and mamma been up the mountain before?" "i should say we had," he laughed, then turning to his sister, "do you remember the time we were caught in the terrible storm?" "it was a terrific cloud burst, but we didn't mind it," she said, laughing too. "in those days climbing corcovado was something of a feat. there was no cog-wheel railway as there is to-day but only a bridle-path. we had to start long before daybreak and climb up the side of the mountain. we had to take servants along to carry provisions and there was always a large party going. "the time your uncle speaks of, he and i got separated from the rest of the party going down and we came near losing our way entirely. there came up a terrible storm and when we finally arrived at home an hour after the others we were drenched to the skin, and they had sent people out to hunt for us. "it is a very different thing to-day to go up the mountain seated in a carriage, find a café at the top, and have nothing to do but look at the sights as we pass. they are well worth looking at! see! there is the bay, its water as blue as the sky, and you get a fine view of the old aqueduct." "i wondered what that was," said maria. "it looks like the pictures i have seen of the campagna at rome. is it made of stone?" "yes," said her uncle. "it was built of stone nearly two hundred years ago and is over four miles long. in some places its arches are over sixty feet high and it is as strong as when it was built. through it passes all the water drunk in rio, and is so delicious that we have a saying 'who has drunk of the waters of carioca can drink no other water,' and 'when you have drunk of the water of carioca, you can live nowhere else but here.'" "when rio people speak of the friends who have lived in rio they say, 'he is a cariocan.'" "then mamma is a cariocan!" cried lola, and maria added, "and my father, too." "it seems to almost walk across the chasm," said affonzo. "where does the water come from?" "when we reach the top of the mountain, i will show you," said his uncle. "see those magnificent waterfalls and cascades! the scenery around here is as fine as any in brazil." "it is almost as nice as the white mountains at home," said maria wickedly. she loved to stir up her cousins and knew that to compare anything with the states always provoked a discussion. this time her remarks were met with a storm of protest, at which she only laughed naughtily. "i don't believe you have such trees," said lola at last. "there are mangoes, tamarinds, bread-fruits, bananas, cocoa trees, oranges and palms all growing together. aren't they splendid?" "yes, indeed," said maria. "and the flowers are simply gorgeous. those trees with the flowering vine all draped around them and hanging down in long racemes are as beautiful as anything i ever saw." "here we are at the end of the railway," said martim. "now for a climb." it was but a short distance to the top, and the children hurried along, followed more slowly by their elders. "here we are at last," said the senhor as they reached the top. "now you can see seventy miles, for there is organ mount fifty miles away, and yonder is cape frio, which is seventy miles away." "among the mountain peaks there lies the sea of gold," said uncle hilario. "there is a tale told that in the early portuguese days in brazil a murderer, who had been condemned to death, escaped from prison and fled to the hills. he wandered about, fed only by the bounty of the forest and at last he discovered the lake of gold. from its shining sands he made a fortune, and returned in two years to rio to buy his pardon." "the lake of gold," said affonzo. "i wonder if that is where the gilded man washed himself." "who was the gilded man?" asked maria. "it's an indian story vicente told me," said affonzo. "do tell it to me," she said, and he told her the quaint tale with which she was delighted. they lunched in picnic fashion on the grass and had a merry time, resting afterwards while the senhora and uncle hilario told them stories of old days in brazil. at last it came time to return and the two boys, after whispering together went to their uncle with a request. "may we not walk down?" martim asked. "we won't get lost and we want to do what you and mother did." "oh, do let us!" cried maria, who always wanted to do every thing the boys did, but the senhora shook her head. at last it was arranged that uncle hilario should walk down with the boys, while the girls went discreetly home in the train with the senhora. the boys were jubilant. "see the ships, uncle," cried affonzo as they looked across the bay to the broad atlantic. "they are just over the horizon line. what's that puff of smoke for?" as a puff came from a ship nearing the harbour. "watch the fort," said the senhor, and there another puff was seen. "eyes are better than ears at this range. that was a salute from the ship answered by the guns from the fort. we can see the smoke, but cannot hear the report. "here is the source of carioca. the name is from an indian word, kaa-ry-og, and means 'the house of the streams from the woods.' see how the stream is shaded by these giant trees? that is what makes it so cold. the water flows amidst all manner of sweet-smelling aromatic plants, and goes into an aqueduct full of pleasant scents. it is said to have some medicinal qualities." "it is nice enough here to cure any sickness," said martim, and they went slowly on down the mountain, following the same bridle-path which their uncle had followed so many years before, reaching home without any accident, tired but delighted with the tramp. chapter ix the coffee plantation the senhor lopez' business was to export coffee, as that of his brother-in-law was to export rubber. he had a large coffee _fazenda_ in sao paulo, the province of brazil most devoted to coffee raising, and he often went there to inspect the plantation. he suggested therefore that his wife, his sister, and the children should spend a week with him at the _fazenda_, and the two mothers decided to do so, knowing how much pleasure it would give the little folk. it was an all day's ride to sao paulo, but there was so much to see as the train moved over the plains, across rivers and through forests and hills, that the children did not find it tiresome, and were very bright and gay as, just at sunset, they neared sao paulo. "this is one of the finest cities of brazil," said their uncle. "ten years ago it was not a large place but now it has three hundred thousand people, many beautiful buildings, electric lights and trolley cars. it has also some very good schools and colleges, and students come here from all parts of the country. perhaps affonzo will go to college here some day." "it seems a good ways from home," said the boy. "but uncle," he added, as they passed a crowd of queer looking people in the station, "what a lot of foreigners there are here!" "yes, more than in any other brazilian city. a number of italians work in the mills and on the farms, and the germans are on the coffee plantations. "to-night we will rest, and to-morrow morning we will see sao paulo, and in the afternoon go to the _fazenda_," said the senhor, as they reached the hotel. the next day they had a pleasant drive through the city and saw many interesting things. "mackenzie college is one of the best seats of learning in brazil," said the uncle. "it is on the plan of the north american colleges, with kindergarten, primary grades and grammar school. there is also a normal school and a manual training shop." "you see, you have to copy us," said maria with a laugh. "all the schools in the states are good. you ought to live there." martim made a wry face. "maybe they are," he said, "but i don't believe i'd care to live in the states just on account of the schools when i can live here, and have a school just as good." "children!" said martim's mother, but his father hastily interposed, "mackenzie college is named for mr. john g. mackenzie, of new york city, who gave a large sum of money to build it. but here we are at the garden of light. now you may get out of the carriage and rest yourselves by running about these magnificent alleys of trees, seeing the lakes and fountains." "maria and martim do not get along as well as the little girl and affonzo," he said to his wife, as soon as the children were out of sight. "it doesn't matter," she said serenely. "it does not hurt either of them to argue if it doesn't go too far. children are far better for not being noticed. affonzo gets along better with his cousin because he has lola to quarrel with; martim grows selfish from being too much alone." she sighed and her husband's face clouded as he thought of the children they had lost. "we will keep maria with us if the father is willing, as long as she is in brazil." "better still, let both maria and martim return home with us," said the senhora dias. "then all four young folk will learn to accommodate themselves to each other." "that is an excellent plan, and it is kind in you to suggest it," said the senhora lopez, and her husband added, "we shall try to arrange it that way." "come, children," he called a few minutes later. "we must return for lunch now as we drive to the _fazenda_ afterwards. do you know what we old folk have been planning?" "no, papa, what is it?" asked martim. "something pleasant, i am sure," said lola. "for you are the dearest uncle in the world." "thank you, little flatterer," he pinched her cheek playfully. "it is that you four cousins are all to return to para for the winter." "oh, delightful," cried lola. "how nice!" maria said, and the boys seemed equally pleased. the afternoon air was clear and bracing, and the children were in high spirits as the party drove to the _fazenda_. the road wound through a beautiful country, past vineyards, and tea and coffee plantations, for sao paulo is one of the most productive provinces of brazil. as they passed row after row of small trees lola said, "what pretty, glossy leaves those trees have!" "those are coffee trees," said martim. "they grow about twelve feet tall." "but where are the brown berries," asked maria. "are they all picked?" martim laughed. "it's easy to see that you've never seen coffee growing," he said. "did you think you could go and pick the browned berries and stew a pot of coffee?" "no," said maria demurely, "because we don't 'stew' coffee where i live." everybody laughed at this passage-at-arms between the two children, and senhor lopez said, "we are beginning to see trees belonging to our plantation now. it is three miles square and we have just reached the edge of the land. the house is still three miles away." "how does the coffee grow, uncle hilario?" asked maria. "do you see the cluster of green pods on the trees, my dear? well, seeds are within the pods, and when they are ripened must be dried, roasted and ground before they are ready for your coffee-pot. later in the season the fruit turns bright red in colour, and makes a vivid contrast to the foliage of the trees, which is green the year around." "are the trees planted, or do they grow wild like our rubber trees?" asked affonzo. "they are planted in rows and sometimes grow as high as twenty-five feet. usually they are between ten and fifteen feet high when they first bear fruit," said the senhor. "it takes from three to five years for them to bear." "when is the harvest time?" asked maria. "we have two crops so there are two harvests, one in february and one in august. sometimes you see fruit and flowers on the same tree at the same time. the blossoms grow in little white bunches and are very fragrant." "i should think it would take a lot of people to pick all this coffee," said affonzo. "it does. if you were to be here next february you would see hundreds of negroes and italians, men, women, and children, busy up and down these long rows. many of them live in those little houses," he said, pointing to a street lined with small wooden huts crowded close together. about the houses were scores of small, dark-skinned children at play. "at the present time," said the senhor, "the men and women are at work in the sheds and ware-houses making the coffee ready for market. we shall ship thousands of pounds next month. to-morrow i will take you about and show you what we have to do. i wish you might have been here during the harvest season. it is very interesting to watch the pickers with the huge baskets strapped to their shoulders. there is great rivalry among them to see who can be the fastest picker on the place." before they reached the _fazenda_ their carriage passed through two gates which closed after them with a spring, and the senhor said, "the _fazenda_ factory is always enclosed by one and sometimes two fences, for the cattle graze loose with only a pickaninny or the _madrinla_[ ] to watch them." "it looks like a fortress," said maria. "yes, and some _fazendas_ are called 'fortaleza' for that very reason," said her uncle. "it is really very much like the old fortresses of feudal times, within the walls of which went on all manner of things. inside the _fazenda_ palisades there are the houses of the labourers, apothecary's shop, hospital, ware-houses, and _terrerios_,[ ] besides the house of the owner." "why are there so few trees?" asked lola. "nearly all the trees are cut down to make pasture lands and only a few shade trees are left, such as those fine palms. here we are at the house. when you are rested i will take you about and show you how the coffee is made ready for market." footnotes: [footnote : the bell cow.] [footnote : drying fields.] chapter x a treat in prospect the week at the _fazenda_ was a time of pleasant rest to the elders and full of delight to the children. they rode the horses and saw the cows milked and fed the pigs. these last were always taken very good care of by the _fazendeiro_,[ ] for they afford the principal food for all on the plantation. there was very little in regard to coffee-raising that the children did not learn, for their inquisitive little noses were poked into every shed and room to see what was going on. their uncle hilario went with them one day and explained it all fully while they listened eagerly. "first the coffee goes to this large shed and is dumped into the great vat," he said. "the iron thing in the centre of the vat is the pulping machine. you see it is round like a cylinder and covered with teeth, and there are holes in the bottom. the teeth are covered on one side with a curved sheet of metal. when the cylinder revolves, water is turned into the vat, and as it flows through, the seeds are carried through the holes in the cylinder into tanks where the remaining matter is washed away. "then they go to the drying terrace," he said as they left the building and went toward a large piece of ground exposed to the blazing sun and covered with cement. "here it is. after the pulp has been removed from the seeds there is left a thin skin. the seeds are spread in thin layers upon the ground and left to dry thoroughly in the sun, while workmen constantly turn them over and over with rakes to hasten the drying." "how long does it take to dry them?" asked martim. "several weeks," said his father. "on some _fazendas_ they use steam heat, but we like the sun-dried coffee much the best. after the seeds are thoroughly dried they are taken to another building and passed through heavy rollers and the chaff separated and blown away. "now we will go to the sorting room," and they entered a long, low building where a number of women and girls were working at long tables piled with heaps of coffee berries. men were constantly bringing in baskets full of the berries, which the women and girls sorted into different grades according to their quality. "how fast their fingers fly," said maria. "i don't see how they do it." "they have done it so often and practice makes perfect," said her uncle. "as they sort the seeds they put them in sacks and the men carry them to another ware-house, where they are packed in sacks and weighed ready to be shipped." "uncle, what are those girls doing who are flying about everywhere with sieves in their hands?" asked lola. "they gather up all the berries which the men scatter as they carry the coffee about," he answered. "you see we do not want to waste anything. "do you see those wagons being loaded? the coffee in those sacks is ready to go to sao paulo, and thence to santos to be shipped to north america. our coffee goes to every part of the world, for the coffee of the _fazenda esperança_ is considered especially good. "now you have followed the coffee berry from the tree to the market and i hope you will try to remember all about it, for the coffee industry is one of the greatest in the country." "it's ever so interesting, uncle," said maria. "and thank you for telling us about it." "i have enjoyed it more than you have," he answered. "it is a pleasure to talk to such eager little listeners. "rest yourselves now, for you must be tired with all this tramping. i am going to the house to see your mother about some plans for to-morrow." "do tell us, uncle," they all cried, but he only shook his head and laughed as he went away. "i shall simply _die_ of curiosity if i do not find out what uncle is planning," said maria. "i don't see what good that would do," said martim, "for you wouldn't be likely to either know about it or to do it if you were dead." maria made a naughty little face at him, and a quarrel seemed imminent when lola, who had gone to the house when her uncle did, came running toward them waving her hand wildly. "oh! what do you think!" she cried as she ran up to them. "the loveliest thing has happened." "what?" cried all the children at once, but lola was too out of breath to answer. "uncle hilario is certainly a darling!" she said at last. "he has prepared the loveliest treat for us! he says that to-morrow we all start for the falls of iguazu, and maria, your father has come and--" but she had no chance to finish her sentence, for martim shouted, "the falls of iguazu! hurrah!" and ran off to the house, while maria with a squeal of "daddy!" pelted after him as fast as she could go. lola and affonzo looked at each other and laughed. "what's it all about, lolita?" he asked and she answered, "uncle hilario told me that they had only been awaiting uncle juan's arrival to make the excursion to these wonderful falls and that we start to-morrow." "where are the falls?" asked affonzo. "indeed, i don't know, but it is several days' journey and we can go only part of the way by train. we must take a boat and perhaps ride upon burros. it is far in the woods, and very few people go there." "let us go and find out all about it," said affonzo, and the two children hurried to the house as the rest of the party had done. there they found considerable excitement, every one asking a thousand questions which were not answered until the mothers placed their fingers in their ears and demanded silence. maria was seated upon her father's knees, her usually sober little face bright with happiness, as she whispered to lola, "he is going to para with us, to stay all winter, so i can be with him and have you too!" lola gave her hand a loving squeeze, but said nothing, for uncle hilario began to speak. "the falls of iguazu, children, are one of the most beautiful places in all brazil. they lie at the joining of the parana and iguazu rivers, at the point where the frontiers of brazil, paraguay and argentina meet. we will go by rail to curitaba but part of the way lies through the mountains and will be hard to travel. the sail down the river will be delightful. your mother, martim, will stay here on the plantation, and any one who wishes may stay with her. uncle juan, martim and i, your father and mother, lola, are going. who else wants to be in the party?" "i!" cried all three children at once, and lola added, "we'll be so good, uncle, if we can only go!" "well, you may all go, then," said the senhor lopez, "and i think it will be a delightful trip. no--" as they all started to ask questions--"don't ask me a thing to-day. there will be plenty of time to talk about it on our journey, and i have not a moment to spare, for it takes a great deal of planning to get such a party off." "yes, and i have all i can possibly attend to," said lola's mother. "so you little folk must amuse yourselves." "i am the only one who has nothing to do," said uncle juan. "suppose you all come out under the palms with me, and i will try to tell you something of the country we are going to see." so joyfully they trooped after him and listened spellbound to his words. "the country where we are going," he said, "is called the 'land of the missiones' because it is here that the early missions were founded by the jesuits. these devoted men went all over that part of brazil trying to convert the indians and making settlements, some of which are still standing after two hundred years. san ignacio, though deserted by the indians, is still in existence near iguazu and there was once there a prosperous indian settlement built around a _plaza_, with a school, dwelling houses and a church. "the falls are magnificent, but you will have to wait and see them before you can understand how really beautiful they are." "not so beautiful as niagara, father, of course!" said maria, and her father said, "some people think they are quite as fine, daughter; but have you a chip on your shoulder now about the states? maria would never admit to any north american that anything in the states could be finer than it was down here," he added to the boys. martim exclaimed, "well, she's a queer sort of a girl! she never would let us praise anything here, because she'd always say the states were finer." "the states were mamma's," she murmured, and her father held her close and kissed her as he whispered, "little loyalty!" footnotes: [footnote : owner of the plantation.] chapter xi the falls of iguazu the morning dawned cool and pleasant. all were ready for an early start and there followed a week of delight for the children. the railway journey over, they took their way through the forests, over plains and across rivers. in some the hoofs of the horses or of the sure-footed little burros the children rode sank in the sand which covered the land as at one time the sea had covered it. again, trees appeared, and at last they reached the virgin forest where monkeys scampered among the trees and the cries of parrots were heard in the air, as their brilliant plumage flashed in the sunlight. at times the bridle path was so narrow that no two horses could have passed each other had they met. convolvulus and creeping plants encircled the huge trees, and, swaying in the breeze, long vines swung gracefully down, often forming natural swings in which the children delighted. at night the party camped in tents, the negro servants cooking wonderful meals from the game shot during the day. the days were not too hot and at night a fire was often necessary, for when the _terral_[ ] did not blow from the land the _veracao_[ ] wafted zephyrs from the ocean. the air was laden with the subtle perfume of the magnolia and orange blossom, and life seemed an existence of pleasure and joy. the senhor's trip had not been all for pleasure. it was his intention to increase his export trade in native woods, and he had made the journey through the forest to see whether it would be possible to get wood to the sea, were he to buy a tract of land in this region. the children, however, knew nothing about this. they were occupied with having a good time, and they were having it. martim and affonzo hunted and fished, while the girls vied with each other in weaving rush baskets and in making flower-chains of the wonderful flowers which grew everywhere along the road, in gorgeous beauty. as they neared iguazu, the roar of the cataract could be heard for miles, and when they finally saw the falls, beyond the first surprised "oh!" which broke from all, there was nothing said. the river iguazu makes a sharp bend above the falls and a portion of it rushes around the inner bank and falls into a gorge two hundred and ten feet deep; the remainder of the current, however, sweeps over the edge of a cliff and making two great leaps of a hundred feet falls in a huge half moon three thousand feet wide. all about was the most charming brazilian scenery, with trees over one hundred feet high overgrown with tropical vines, and above all shone the deep blue of the tropical sky. "well, little yankee, how about niagara now?" asked martim teasingly. "there's only one niagara," said maria sturdily, and her father added, "niagara and iguazu cannot be compared. the one is surrounded by cultivated parks and thriving modern cities, the other with the abandon of nature. niagara makes a single leap over a precipice one hundred and eighty feet high, while iguazu is broken in fall but far wider. either one is a possession for any country to be proud of and neither one is worth a single quarrel. "we are to camp here for some days. i hope you little folk will have a nice time and i am not going to issue a lot of commands to spoil your pleasure. only one thing is forbidden; you must never go away from camp without one of the servants unless you are with one of us grown people. do you understand?" "yes, sir," they all said, and he added, "i am sure i can trust you. the forest is full of all manner of animals and creeping things, and it would be very easy to lose your way, so that we could never find you again. now, have all the fun you can for our week here will soon be over." what orgies of delight followed! the girls bathed in the stream and ran wild in the sunshine, happy and tanned, going into the forest with the boys, except when they were going hunting. several days before their return home, the whole party went up to san ignacio to see the ruins of the old mission in the heart of the woods. huge trees mark the site of the flourishing town, where once were cheerful homes which only eighty years ago were burned. so well were these dwellings built that the ruins are in excellent preservation, and the children played hide-and-seek in and out of the deserted walls, their merry laughter waking the echoes of the past. maria had taught them the game she called 'high spy,' and they enjoyed it greatly, she most of all. [illustration: "'i must not be silly and cry,' she said to herself."] "now then, martim, it's your turn to be it," she said. "and you can't find me!" as she sped away to hide in some new and strange place. before she knew it she had gone farther into the forest than she meant, and she did not know how to return. she turned this way and that, but there seemed no path. all about her the woods hemmed her in everywhere like a great green curtain. then catching her foot in a swinging vine she fell and hurt her ankle. frightened, she stood under a great magnolia to think. "i must not be silly and cry," she said to herself. "i can't have gone very far, and if i sit still they'll be sure to come and find me. if i go on i may just get farther and farther away. i am going to stay right here anyway, until my ankle is better," as she seated herself quietly. maria was a brave child and old for her age, and she sat quite still, though the tears came into her eyes. soon she grew very drowsy and could hardly keep awake, for the woods were full of soft, cooing sounds and at last she dropped asleep. it was almost twilight when she awoke, and the rays of the setting sun gleamed between the leaves. drowsily stirring, she heard the sound of voices, and sitting up suddenly she saw a little indian girl talking to a splendid cockatoo which perched upon her hand. the parrot was chattering in portuguese, and his little mistress was talking to him lovingly, but she sprang away in fright as maria got up from the ground. "can you show me the way to the camp?" she asked. "i am lost." "what camp? where did you come from?" asked the indian. she was a little younger than maria, and dressed in a quaint little peasant's costume of blue skirt and red blouse with a huge straw hat upon her black hair. quickly maria told her story and the little girl said, "i can take you back. you must have run very quickly to have come so far. we must start at once to reach the mission before dark." "oh, thank you ever so much," said maria. "i am so anxious to get back, for my father will be hunting for me." "he might hunt all night and not find you, for the forest has many paths," said the little girl. she had a sad little face but it was very sweet when she smiled. "what is your name?" asked maria as the two girls trudged along through the forest, her companion still carrying the cockatoo. "_guacha_,[ ] because i have no mother," she answered. "that is my indian name, but i am also called teresa." "my mother is dead, too," said maria, and the two little girls looked into one another's eyes with sympathy. "my father is dead, also," said guacha. "we were of the mission indians, but all my own people died of the fever two years ago." "but who do you live with?" asked maria. "have you no friends at all?" "oh, i live with some of the indians who were my father's friends!" said guacha, "and chiquita here is my good friend," and she smiled at the bird, who chattered to her gaily and pecked gently at her cheek. "i wish you could go home with me!" cried maria impulsively, and just then she heard a shout resounding through the forest, "maria! maria!" sounded her father's voice, and the two little girls hurried along faster, maria answering the call as loudly as she could. in a few moments they came in sight of the camp, and maria was caught to her father's breast and kissed and scolded all in the same breath, while the rest of the children gathered around, eager with questions, all but guacha, who stood apart, wistful and silent. maria did not forget her, however, for escaping from her father's arms, she took the little indian girl by the hand and said, "scold me all you want to, daddy, though i did not mean to run away, but be kind to guacha, who brought me back and who has no father." then the little indian was made welcome, thanked and made much of, and the senhora said, "you must stay all night with us, dear child, for it is too late for you to return home through the forest. will they be worried about you?" "thank you, senhora, i will stay," she said simply. "there is no one at all to worry about me." footnotes: [footnote : land breeze] [footnote : sea breeze.] [footnote : a lamb without a mother.] chapter xii guacha chiquita and guacha proved a pleasant addition to the happy circle of little folk, for, though shy at first, the little indian soon thawed out in the genial atmosphere about her. many quaint little stories she told of indian ways and customs, legends of the times of the inca conquests, and stories of the days when her forefathers had been caciques of the tribe. she was a sweet-natured little soul, and the senhora kept her with them until the last day of their stay. the evening before they were to return to sao paulo, all sat around the camp-fire, laughing, talking, and telling stories, guacha beside maria, for the two little girls had grown nearly inseparable. the green and red cockatoo was perched upon guacha's shoulder, half asleep, but when his little mistress laughed, he chuckled sleepily, that half amused, half contemptuous laugh which makes a parrot seem so human. "to-morrow we start toward home," said lola dreamily, as she sat resting her head against her mother's knee. "_saudade_,[ ] little daughter?" asked her father. "oh, no, papa, how could i be really homesick when i am having such a delightful time with my cousins," said lola sweetly. "but i should like to see grandmamma in para and my dear old nurse at the _fazenda_." "i want to see joachim and vicente," said affonzo. "i want to see mamma," said martim. big boy that he was, he was not ashamed of being devoted to his mother. maria's eyes filled with tears, and she slipped one hand into her father's and he held it tight. the senhora hummed lightly under her breath the sweet brazilian "home sweet home,"[ ] then the young folk took up the strain and sang together: "mine is the country where the palm-trees rear their stately heads toward the azure sky, and where, in accents ever soft and clear, the sabiá sings her hymn of melody; here, in my exile, say what warblers rare can with the sabiá's notes their own compare? "friendless, alone, at night, i dream of thee; my slumbering senses wrapped in peace and bliss i see the palms; the sabiá's melody falls on my ears; once more i feel the kiss of lips i love; i wake, the vision's gone, the sabiá to his native woods has flown. "spare me, o god, until in peace i lie asleep for ever in the land i love, then may the sabiá carol joyfully, perched in the palms, my resting-place above. so gathering in the first-fruits of my love, no longer homesick, every heart-ache past, bearing the sheaves for which in grief i strove, a plenteous harvest may i reap at last." as they finished, maria heard from the slight figure beside her a sigh that was almost a sob and she turned quickly to find guacha's eyes filled with tears, fixed upon her. "what is it?" she whispered. "are you ill?" "oh no," said guacha. "but you all love each other so dearly and i have no one to love, only chiquita," as the cockatoo rubbed his fluffy head against her cheek. "you have me," said maria. "but you are going away from me," she answered mournfully. "no, my child." maria's father laid his hand kindly upon the little indian's dark head. "you may come with us if you will." "oh, papa!" cried maria, her face alight with eager delight. "will you really take guacha back with us?" "i thought that you might like to have her go back with us and play that she was your sister," he said pleasantly. "your aunt says she will take care of you both during the rest of the year, and the old people who have cared for your little friend are ready to give her to us if she wants to come. how about it, guacha? will you go far off to para and be guacha's sister?" she looked from him to maria, from maria to the senhora, who smiled at her kindly. "may i take chiquita?" she asked. "he hasn't a friend in all the world but me." "of course you may take your birdie, you dear little girl," said the senhora, "and we shall all hope to have you very happy with us." guacha gave a contented little sigh, and slipped her hand into maria's. "you are all so good," she said. "i could never be anything but happy with you." "it will be ever so jolly," broke out affonzo, the irrepressible. "yes," said martim. "i'll have another girl cousin to tease, but she won't treat me as unkindly as you treat your brazilian cousins, maria." "well, maybe not," laughed maria, "but you know guacha is the only one of you all who is really and truly my little brazilian cousin." the end. footnotes: [footnote : homesickness.] [footnote : written by goncalves dias, who perished by shipwreck in sight of his native shores.] selections from the page company's books for young people the blue bonnet series _each large mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume_ $ . =a texas blue bonnet= by caroline e. jacobs. "the book's heroine, blue bonnet, has the very finest kind of wholesome, honest, lively girlishness."--_chicago inter-ocean._ =blue bonnet's ranch party= by caroline e. jacobs and edyth ellerbeck read. "a healthy, natural atmosphere breathes from every chapter."--_boston transcript._ =blue bonnet in boston= by caroline e. jacobs and lela horn richards. 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"such books as this are an admirable means of stimulating among the young americans of to-day interest in the story of their pioneer ancestors and the early days of the republic."--_boston globe._ =the pioneer boys on the great lakes=; or, on the trail of the iroquois. "the recital of the daring deeds of the frontier is not only interesting but instructive as well and shows the sterling type of character which these days of self-reliance and trial produced."--_american tourist, chicago._ =the pioneer boys of the mississippi=; or, the homestead in the wilderness. "the story is told with spirit, and is full of adventure."--_new york sun._ =the pioneer boys of the missouri=; or, in the country of the sioux. "vivid in style, vigorous in movement, full of dramatic situations, true to historic perspective, this story is a capital one for boys."--_watchman examiner, new york city._ =the pioneer boys of the yellowstone=; or, lost in the land of wonders. "there is plenty of lively adventure and action and the story is well told."--_duluth herald, duluth, minn._ =the pioneer boys of the columbia=; or, in the wilderness of the great northwest. "the story is full of spirited action and contains much valuable historical information."--_boston herald._ * * * * * transcriber's notes: punctuation errors repaired. varied spelling was retained, for example text uses both orellaño and orellaña once for the same person. also, tracado and trocado for a machete-type blade. page , "litttle" changed to "little" (said a little girl) page , "manaos" changed to "mañaos" (mañaos to rio, and) page , "accomodate" changed to "accommodate" (folk will learn to accommodate) page , "existance" changed to "existence" (is still in existence) none produced from scanned images of public domain material from the google print project.) brazilian tales translated from the portuguese with an introduction by isaac goldberg author of "studies in spanish-american literature," etc. boston the four seas company _copyright, , by_ the four seas company boston, mass., u. s. a. the four seas press contents page preliminary remarks the attendant's confession by joaquim maria machado de assis the fortune-teller by joaquim maria machado de assis life by joaquim maria machado de assis the vengeance of felix by josÉ medeiros e albuquerque the pigeons by coelho netto aunt zeze's tears by carmen dolores to j. d. m. ford smith professor of the french and spanish languages, harvard university some informal preliminary remarks the noted brazilian critic, josé verissimo, in a short but important essay on the deficiencies of his country's letters, has expressed serious doubt as to whether there exists a genuinely brazilian literature. "i do not know," he writes, "whether the existence of an entirely independent literature is possible without an entirely independent language." in this sense verissimo would deny the existence of a swiss, or a belgian, literature. in this sense, too, it was no doubt once possible, with no small measure of justification, to deny the existence of an american, as distinguished from an english, literature. yet, despite the subtle psychic bonds that link identity of speech to similarity of thought, the environment (which helps to shape pronunciation as well as vocabulary and the language itself) is, from the standpoint of literature, little removed from language as a determining factor. looking at the question, however, from the purely linguistic standpoint, it is important to remember that the spanish of spanish america is more different from the parent tongue than is the english of this country from that of the mother nation. similar changes have taken place in the portuguese spoken in brazil. yet who would now pretend, on the basis of linguistic similarity, to say that there is no united states literature as distinguished from english literature? after all, is it not national life, as much as national language, that makes literature? and by an inversion of verissimo's standard may we not come face to face with a state of affairs in which different literatures exist within the same tongue? indeed, is not such a conception as the "great american novel" rendered quite futile in the united states by the fact that from the literary standpoint we are several countries rather than one? the question is largely academic. at the same time it is interesting to notice the more assertive standpoint lately adopted by the charming mexican poet, luis g. urbina, in his recent "la vida literaria de méxico," where, without undue national pride he claims the right to use the adjective mexican in qualifying the letters of his remarkable country. urbina shows that different physiological and psychological types have been produced in his part of the new world; why, then, should the changes stop there? nor have they ceased at that point, as señor urbina's delightful and informative book reveals. so, too, whatever the merits of the academic question involved, a book like alencar's "guarany," for instance, could not have been written outside of brazil; neither could verissimo's own "scenes from amazon life." ii. brazilian literature has been divided into four main periods. the first extends from the age of discovery and exploration to the middle of the eighteenth century; the second includes the second half of the eighteenth century; the third comprises the years of the nineteenth century up to , while that date inaugurates the triumph of romanticism over pseudo-classicism. romanticism, as in other countries, gave way in turn to realism and various other movements current in those turbulent decades. sometimes the changes came not as a natural phase of literary evolution, but rather as the consequence of pure imitation. thus, verissimo tells us, symbolism, in brazil, was a matter of intentional parroting, in many cases unintelligent. it did not correspond to a movement of reaction,--mystical, sensualist, individualist, socialistic or anarchistic,--as in europe. two chief impulses were early present in brazilian letters: that of portuguese literature and that of the jesuit colleges. at the time of the discovery of brazil only italy, spain, france and portugal possessed a literary life. portugal, indeed, as the brazilian critic points out, was then in its golden period. it boasted chroniclers like fernao lopes, novelists like bernardim ribeiro, historians like joao de barros, and dramatists of the stamp of gil vicente. the jesuit colleges, too, were followed by other orders, spreading latin culture and maintaining communication between the interior and the important centers. it is natural, then, that early letters in brazil should have been portuguese not only in language, but in inspiration, feeling and spirit. similarly, we find the early intellectual dependence of the spanish american countries upon spain, even as later both the spanish and the portuguese writers of america were to be influenced greatly by french literature. "brazilian poetry," says verissimo in the little essay already referred to, "was already in the seventeenth century superior to portuguese verse." he foresaw a time when it would outdistance the mother country. but brazilian literature as a whole, he found, lacked the perfect continuity, the cohesion, the unity of great literatures, chiefly because it began as portuguese, later turned to east (particularly france) and only then to brazil itself. in the early days it naturally lacked the solidarity that comes from easy communication between literary centers. this same lack of communication was in a sense still true at the time he wrote his essay. the element of communicability did exist during the romantic period ( - ), whereupon came influences from france, england, italy, and even germany, and letters were rapidly denationalized. what was thus needed and beneficial from the standpoint of national culture prejudiced the interests of national literature, says verissimo. he finds, too, that there is too little originality and culture among brazilian writers, and that their work lacks sincerity and form ( ). poetry was too often reduced to the love of form while fiction was too closely copied from the french, thus operating to stifle the development of a national dramatic literature. excessive preoccupation with politics and finance (where have we heard that complaint elsewhere?) still further impeded the rise of a truly native literature. perhaps verissimo's outlook was too pessimistic; he was an earnest spirit, unafraid to speak his mind and too much a lover of truth to be misled by a love of his country into making exaggerated claims for works by his countrymen. we must not forget that he was here looking upon brazilian letters as a whole; in other essays by him we discover that same sober spirit, but he is alive to the virtues of his fellow writers as well as to their failings. it is with the prose of the latest period in brazilian literature that we are here concerned. from the point of view of the novel and tale brazil shares with argentina, columbia, chile and mexico the leadership of the latin-american[ ] republics. if columbia, in jorge isaacs' _maria_, can show the novel best known to the rest of the world, and chile, in such a figure as alberto blest-gana (author of _martin rivas_ and other novels) boasts a "south american balzac," brazil may point to more than one work of fiction that is worthy of standing beside _maría_, _martin rivas_ or josé marmol's exciting tale of love and adventure, _amalia_. the growing importance of brazil as a commercial nation, together with a corresponding increase of interest in the study of portuguese (a language easily acquired by all who know spanish) will have the desirable effect of making known to the english reading public a selection of works deserving of greater recognition. [ ] i am aware of the recent objection to this term (see my studies in spanish american literature, pp. - ), but no entirely satisfactory substitute has been advanced. just to mention at random a few of the books that should in the near future be known to american readers, either in the original or through the medium of translations, i shall recall some of the names best known to brazilians in connection with the modern tale and novel. if there be anything lacking in the array of modern writers it is a certain broad variety of subject and treatment to which other literatures have accustomed us. it is not to be wondered at that in surroundings such as the amazon affords an "indian" school of literature should have arisen. we have an analogous type of fiction in united states literature, old and new, produced by similar causes. brazilian "indianism" reached its highest point perhaps in josé alencar's famous _guarany_, which won for its author national reputation and achieved unprecedented success. from the book was made a libretto that was set to music by the brazilian composer, carlos gomez. the story is replete with an intensity of life and charming descriptions that recall the pages of chateaubriand, and its prose often verges upon poetry in its idealization of the indian race. of the author's other numerous works _iracema_ alone approaches _guarany_ in popularity. the dominant note of the author, afterward much repeated in the literary history of his nation, is the essential goodness and self-abnegation of the national character. alfred d'escragnolle taunay ( - ) is among the most important of brazil's novelists. born at rio de janeiro of noble family he went through a course in letters and science, later engaging in the campaign of paraguay. he took part in the retreat of la laguna, an event which he has enshrined in one of his best works, first published in french under the title _la retraite de la laguna_. he served also as secretary to count d'eu, who commanded the brazilian army, and later occupied various political offices, rising to the office of senator in . his list of works is too numerous to mention in a fragmentary introduction of this nature; chief among them stands _innocencia_; a sister tale, so to speak, to isaacs's _maría_. according to verissimo, _innocencia_ is one of the country's few genuinely original novels. it has been called, by mérou ( ), "the best novel written in south america by a south american," a compliment later paid by guglielmo ferrero to graça aranha's _canaan_. viscount taunay's famous work has been translated into french twice, once into english, italian, german, danish, and even japanese. the scene is laid in the deserted matto grosso, a favorite background of the author's. innocencia is all that her name implies, and dwells secluded with her father, who is a miner, her negress slave conga, and her caliban-like dwarf tico, who loves innocencia, the miranda of this district. into innocencia's life comes the itinerant physician, cirino de campos, who is called by her father to cure her of the fever. cirino is her ferdinand; they make love in secret, for she is meant by paternal arrangement for a mere brute of a mule driver, manaçao by name. innocencia vows herself to cirino, when the mule-driver comes to enforce his prior claim; the father, bound by his word of honor, sides with the primitive lover. the tragedy seems foreordained, for innocencia makes spirited resistance, while manaçao avenges himself by killing the doctor. a comic figure of a german scientist adds humor and a certain poignant irony to the tale. such a bare outline conveys nothing of the mysterious charm of the original, nor of its poetic atmosphere. comparing _innocencia_ with what has been termed its sister work, _maría_, i believe that _maría_ is the better tale of the two, although there is much to be said for both. the point need not be pressed. the heroine of _maría_ is more a woman, less a child than innocencia, hence the fate of the spanish girl is tragic where that of the other maiden is merely pitiful. _innocencia_, on the other hand, is stouter in texture. in _maría_ there is no love struggle; the struggle is with life and circumstance; in _innocencia_ there is not only the element of rivalry in love, but in addition there is the rigid parent who sternly, and at last murderously, opposes the natural desires of a child whom he has promised to another. where _maría_ is idyllic, poetic, flowing smoothing along the current of a realism tempered by sentimentalism, _innocencia_ (by no means devoid of poetry) is romantic, melodramatic, rushing along turbulently to the outcome in a death as violent as maría's is peaceful. there is in each book a similar importance of the background. in _innocencia_ the "point of honor" is quite as strong and vindictive as in any play of the spanish golden age. _maría_ shares with _innocencia_ relieving touches of humor and excellent pages of character description. taunay's _o encilhamento_ is a violent antithesis to the work just considered. here the politician speaks. in passages of satire that becomes so acrimonious at times as to indicate real personages, the wave of speculation that swept argentina and brazil is analyzed and held up to scorn. the novel is really a piece of historical muck-raking and was long an object of resentment in the republic. everything from taunay's pen reveals a close communion with nature, an intimate understanding of the psychology of the vast region's inhabitants. his shorter tales, which i hope later to present to the english-reading public, reveal these powers at their best. now it is a soldier who goes to war, only, like a military enoch arden, to return and find his sweetheart in another's arms; now it is a clergyman, "the vicar of sorrows," who, in the luxuriant environment of his charge suffers the tortures of carnal temptations, with the spirit at last triumphant over the flesh. whatever of artifice there is in these tales is overcome, one of his most sympathetic critics tells us, by the poetic sincerity of the whole. taunay, too, has been likened to pierre loti for his exotic flavor. in _yerecé a guaná_ we have a miniature _innocencia_. yerecé and alberto monteiro fall in love and marry. the latter has been cured, at the home of yerecé, of swamp fever. the inevitable, however, occurs, and montero hears the call of civilization. the marriage, according to the custom of the tribe into which montero has wed, is dissolved by the man alone. he returns to his old life and she dies of grief. a work that may stand beside _innocencia_ and verissimo's _scenes from amazon life_ as a successful national product is inglez de sousa's _o missionario_. antonio de moraes, in this story, is not so strong in will as taunay's vicar of sorrows. antonio is a missionary "with the vocation of a martyr and the soul of an apostle," on duty in the tropics. the voluptuous magnetism of the amazon seizes his body. slowly, agonizingly, but surely he succumbs to the enchantment, overpowered by the life around him. since machado de assis (who should precede azevedo) and coelho netto (who should follow him, if strict chronological order were being observed) are both referred to in section three, which deals particularly with the authors represented in this sample assortment of short tales, they are here omitted. with the appearance of _o mulato_ by aluizio azevedo ( - ), the literature of brazil, prepared for such a reorientation by the direct influence of the great portuguese, eça de queiroz, and emile zola, was definitely steered toward naturalism. "in aluizio azevedo," says benedicto costa, "one finds neither the poetry of josé de alencar, nor the delicacy,--i should even say, archness--of macedo, nor the sentimental preciosity of taunay, nor the subtle irony of machado de assis. his phrase is brittle, lacking lyricism, tenderness, dreaminess, but it is dynamic, energetic, expressive, and, at times, sensual to the point of sweet delirium." _o mulato_, though it was the work of a youth in his early twenties, has been acknowledged as a solid, well-constructed example of brazilian realism. there is a note of humor, as well as a lesson in criticism, in the author's anecdote (told in his foreword to the fourth edition) about the provincial editor who advised the youthful author to give up writing and hire himself out on a farm. this was all the notice he received from his native province, maranhao. yet azevedo grew to be one of the few brazilian authors who supported himself by his pen. when brazilian letters are better known in this nation, among azevedo's work we should be quick to appreciate such a pithy book as the _livro de uma sogra_,--the book of a mother-in-law. and when the literature of these united states is at last (if ever, indeed!) released from the childish, hypocritical, puritanic inhibitions forced upon it by quasi official societies, we may even relish, from among azevedo's long shelf of novels, such a sensuous product as _cortiço_. i have singled out, rather arbitrarily it must be admitted, a few of the characteristic works that preceded the appearance of graça aranha's _canaan_, the novel that was lifted into prominence by guglielmo ferrero's fulsome praise of it as the "great american novel."[ ] for south america, no less than north, is hunting that literary will o' the wisp. both _maria_ and _innocencia_ have been mentioned for that honor. [ ] issued, in english ( ) by the publishers of this book. there is a distinct basis for comparison between _innocencia_ and the more famous spanish american tale from colombia; between these and _canaan_, however, there is little similarity, if one overlook the poetic atmosphere that glamours all three. aranha's masterpiece is of far broader conception than the other two; it adds to their lyricism an epic sweep inherent in the subject and very soon felt in the treatment. it is, in fact, a difficult novel to classify, impregnated as it is with a noble idealism, yet just as undoubtedly streaked with a powerful realism. this should, however, connote no inept mingling of genres; the style seems to be called for by the very nature of the vast theme--that moment at which the native and the immigrant strain begin to merge in the land of the future--the promised land that the protagonists are destined never to enter, even as moses himself, upon mount nebo in the land of moab, beheld canaan and died in the throes of the great vision. _canaan_ is of those novels that centre about an enthralling idea. the type which devotes much attention to depictions of life and customs, to discussions upon present realities and ultimate purposes, is perhaps more frequent among spanish and portuguese americans than among our own readers who are apt to be overinsistent in their demands for swift, visible action. yet, in the hands of a master, it possesses no less interest than the more obvious type of fiction, for ideas possess more life than the persons who are moved by them. the idea that carries milkau from the old world to the new is an ideal of human brotherhood, high purpose and dissatisfaction with the old, degenerate world. in the state of espirito santo, where the german colonists are dominant, he plans a simple life that shall drink inspiration in the youth of a new, virgin continent. he falls in with another german, lentz, whose outlook upon life is at first the very opposite to milkau's blend of christianity and a certain liberal socialism. the strange milieu breeds in both an intellectual langour that vents itself in long discussions, in breeding contemplation, mirages of the spirit. milkau is gradually struck with something wrong in the settlement. little by little it begins to dawn upon him that something of the old-world hypocrisy, fraud and insincerity, is contaminating this supposedly virgin territory. here he discovers no paradise à la rousseau--no natural man untainted by the ills of civilization. graft is as rampant as in any district of the world across the sea; cruelty is as rife. his pity is aroused by the plight of mary, a destitute servant who is betrayed by the son of her employers. not only does the scamp desert her when she most needs his protection and acknowledgment, but he is silent when his equally vicious parents drive her forth to a life of intense hardship. she is spurned at every door and reduced to beggary. her child is born under the most distressing circumstances, and under conditions that strike the note of horror the infant is slain before her very eyes while she gazes helplessly on. mary is accused of infanticide, and since she lacks witnesses, she is placed in a very difficult position. moreover, the father of her child bends every effort to loosen the harshest measures of the community against her, whereupon milkau, whose heart is open to the sufferings of the universe, has another opportunity to behold man's inhumanity to woman. his pity turns to what pity is akin to; he effects her release from jail, and together they go forth upon a journey that ends in the delirium of death. the promised land had proved a mirage--at least for the present. and it is upon this indecisive note that the book ends. ferrero's introduction, though short, is substantial, and to the point. it is natural that he should have taken such a liking to the book, for aranha's work is of intense interest to the reader who looks for psychological power, and ferrero himself is the exponent of history as psychology rather than as economic materialism. "the critics," he says, "will judge the literary merits of this novel. as a literary amateur i will point out among its qualities the beauty of its style and its descriptions, the purity of the psychological analysis, the depth of the thoughts and the reflections of which the novel is full, and among its faults a certain disproportion between the different parts of the book and an ending which is too vague, indefinite and unexpected. but its literary qualities seem to me to be of secondary importance to the profound and incontrovertible idea that forms the kernel of the book. here in europe we are accustomed to say that modern civilization develops itself in america more freely than in europe, for in the former country it has not to surmount the obstacle of an older society, firmly established, as in the case of the latter. because of this, we call america 'the country of the young,' and we consider the new world as the great force which decomposes the old european social organization." that idea is, as ferrero points out, an illusion due to distance. he points out, too, that here is everywhere "an old america struggling against a new one and, this is very curious, the new america, which upsets traditions, is formed above all by the european immigrants who seek a place for themselves in the country of their adoption, whereas the real americans represent the conservative tendencies. europe exerts on american society--through its emigrants--the same dissolving action which america exerts--through its novelties and its example--on the old civilization of europe." the point is very well taken, and contains the germ of a great novel of the united states. and just as _canaan_ stands by itself in brazilian literature, so might such a novel achieve preeminence in our own. ferrero is quite right in indicating the great non-literary importance of the novel, though not all readers will agree with him as to the excessive vagueness of the end. hardly any other type of ending would have befitted a novel that treats of transition, of a landscape that dazzles and enthralls, of possibilities that founder, not through the malignance of fate, but through the stupidity of man. there is an epic swirl to the finale that reminds one of the disappearance of an ancient deity in a pillar of dust. for an uncommon man like milkau an uncommon end was called for. numerous questions are touched upon in the course of the leisurely narrative, everywhere opening up new vistas of thought; for aranha is philosophically, critically inclined; his training is cosmopolitan, as his life has been; he knows the great germans, scandinavians, belgians and russians; his native exuberance has been tempered by a serenity that is the product of european influence. he is some fifty-two years of age, has served his nation at christiania as minister, at the hague, and as leader in the allied cause. he is, therefore, an acknowledged and proven spokesman. the author of _canaan_ has done other things, among which this book, which has long been known in french and spanish, stands out as a document that marks an epoch in brazilian history as well as a stage in brazilian literature. whether it is "the" great american novel is of interest only to literary politicians and pigeon-holers; it is "a" great novel, whether of america or europe, and that suffices for the lover of belles lettres. iii. in considering the work of such writers as these and the authors represented in this little pioneer volume one should bear continually in mind the many handicaps under which authorship labors in portuguese and spanish america: a small reading public, lack of publishers, widespread prevalence of illiteracy, instability of politics. under the circumstances it is not so much to be wondered at that the best work is of such a high average as that it was done at all. for in nations where education is so limited and illiteracy so prevalent the manifold functions which in more highly developed nations are performed by many are perforce done by a few. hence the spectacle in the new spanish and portuguese world, as in the old, of men and women who are at once journalists, novelists, dramatists, politicians, soldiers, poets and what not else. such a versatility, often joined to a literary prolixity, no doubt serves to lower the artistic worth of works produced under such conditions. in connection with the special character of the tales included in the present sample of modern brazilian short stories,--particularly those by machado de assis and medeiros e albuquerque--it is interesting to keep in mind the popularity of poe and hawthorne in south america. the introspection of these men, as of de maupassant and kindred spirits, appeals to a like characteristic of the brazilians. such inner seeking, however, such preoccupation with psychological problems, does not often, in these writers, reach the point or morbidity which we have become accustomed to expect in the novels and tales of the russians. stories like _the attendant's confession_ are written with a refinement of thought as well as of language. they are not, as so much of brazilian literature must perforce seem to the stranger's mind, exotic. they belong to the letters of the world by virtue of the human appeal of the subject and the mastery of their treatment. chief among the writers here represented stands joaquim maria machado de assis. ( - ). born in rio de janeiro of poor parents he was early beset with difficulties. he soon found his way into surroundings where his literary tastes were awakened and where he came into contact with some of the leading spirits of the day. the noted literary historians of his country, sylvio roméro and joao ribeiro (in their _compendio de historia da litteratura brazileira_) find the writing of his first period of little value. the next decade, from his thirtieth to his fortieth year, is called transitional. with the year , however, machado de assis began a long phase of maturity that was to last for thirty years. it was during this fruitful period that _memorias postumas de braz cubas, quincas borbas, historias sem data, dom casmurro, varias historias_ and other notable works were produced. the three tales by machado de assis in this volume are translated from his _varias historias_. that same bitter-sweet philosophy and gracious, if penetrating, irony which inform these tales are characteristic of his larger romances. four volumes of poetry sustain his reputation as poet. he is found, by roméro and ribeiro, to be very correct and somewhat cold in his verse. he took little delight in nature and lacked the passionate, robust temperament that projects itself upon pages of ardent beauty. in the best of his prose works, however, he penetrates as deep as any of his countrymen into the abyss of the human soul. the judgment of verissimo upon machado de assis differs somewhat from that of his distinguished compatriots. both because of the importance of machado de assis to brazilian literature, and as an insight into verissimo's delightful critical style, i translate somewhat at length from that writer. "with _varias historias_," he says in his studies of brazilian letters, "sr. machado de assis published his fifteenth volume and his fifth collection of tales ... to say that in our literature machado de assis is a figure apart, that he stands with good reason first among our writers of fiction, that he possesses a rare faculty of assimilation and evolution which makes him a writer of the second romantic generation, always a contemporary, a modern, without on this account having sacrificed anything to the latest literary fashion or copied some brand-new aesthetic, above all conserving his own distinct, singular personality ... is but to repeat what has been said many times already. all these judgments are confirmed by his latest book, wherein may be noted the same impeccable correctness of language, the same firm grasp upon form, the same abundancy, force and originality of thought that make of him the only thinker among our writers of fiction, the same sad, bitter irony ... "after this there was published another book by sr. machado de assis, _yayá garcia_. although this is really a new edition, we may well speak of it here since the first, published long before, is no longer remembered by the public. moreover, this book has the delightful and honest charm of being in the writer's first manner. "but let us understand at once, this reference to machado de assis's first manner. in this author more than once is justified the critical concept of the unity of works displayed by the great writers. all of machado de assis is practically present in his early works; in fact, he did not change, he scarcely developed. he is the most individual, the most personal, the most 'himself' of our writers; all the germs of this individuality that was to attain in _braz cubas_, in _quincas borbas_, in the _papeis avulsos_ and in _varias historias_ its maximum of virtuosity, may be discovered in his first poems and in his earliest tales. his second manner, then, of which these books are the best example, is only the logical, natural, spontaneous development of his first, or rather, it is the first manner with less of the romantic and more of the critical tendencies ... the distinguishing trait of machado de assis is that he is, in our literature, an artist and a philosopher. up to a short time ago he was the only one answering to such a description. those who come after him proceed consciously and unconsciously from him, some of them being mere worthless imitators. in this genre, if i am not misemploying that term, he remained without a peer. add that this philosopher is a pessimist by temperament and by conviction, and you will have as complete a characterization as it is possible to design of so strong and complex a figure as his in two strokes of the pen. "_yayá garcia_, like _resurreiçao_ and _helena_, is a romantic account, perhaps the most romantic written by the author. not only the most romantic, but perhaps the most emotional. in the books that followed it is easy to see how the emotion is, one might say, systematically repressed by the sad irony of a disillusioned man's realism." verissimo goes on to imply that such a work as this merits comparison with the humane books of tolstoi. but this only on the surface. "for at bottom, it contains the author's misanthropy. a social, amiable misanthropy, curious about everything, interested in everything,--what is, in the final analysis, a way of loving mankind without esteeming it... "the excellency with which the author of _yayá garcia_ writes our language is proverbial ... the highest distinction of the genius of machado de assis in brazilian literature is that he is the only truly universal writer we possess, without ceasing on that account to be really brazilian." when the brazilian academy of letters was founded in , machado de assis was unanimously elected president and held the position until his death. oliveira lima, who lectured at harvard during the college season of - , and who is himself one of the great intellectual forces of contemporary brazil, has written of machado de assis: "by his extraordinary talent as writer, by his profound literary dignity, by the unity of a life that was entirely devoted to the cult of intellectual beauty, and by the prestige exerted about him by his work and by his personality, machado de assis succeeded, despite a nature that was averse to acclaim and little inclined to public appearance, in being considered and respected as the first among his country's men-of-letters: the head, if that word can denote the idea, of a youthful literature which already possesses its traditions and cherishes above all its glories ... his life was one of the most regulated and peaceful after he had given up active journalism, for like so many others, he began his career as a political reporter, paragrapher and dramatic critic." coelho netto (anselmo ribas, - ) is known to his countrymen as a professor of literature at rio de janeiro. his career has covered the fields of journalism, politics, education and fiction. although his work is of uneven worth, no doubt because of his unceasing productivity, he is reckoned by so exacting a critic as verissimo as one of brazil's most important writers,--one of the few, in fact, that will be remembered by posterity. among his best liked stories are "death," "the federal capital," "paradise," "the conquest," and "mirage." netto's short stories are very popular; at one time every other youth in brazil was imitating his every mannerism. he is particularly felicitous in his descriptions of tropical nature, which teem with glowing life and vivid picturesqueness. coelho netto is considered one of the chief writers of the modern epoch. "he is really an idealist," writes verissimo, "but an idealist who has drunk deeply of the strong, dangerous milk of french naturalism." he sees nature through his soul rather than his eyes, and has been much influenced by the mystics of russia, germany and scandinavia. his style is derived chiefly from the portuguese group of which eça de queiroz is the outstanding figure, and his language has been much affected by this attachment to the mother country. his chief stylistic quality is an epic note, tempered by a sentimental lyricism. in his book _le roman au brésil_ (the novel in brazil, which i believe the author himself translated from the original portuguese into french) benedicto costa, after considering aluizio azevedo as the exponent of brazilian naturalism and the epicist of the race's sexual instincts, turns to coelho netto's neo-romanticism, as the "eternal praise of nature, the incessant, exaggerated exaltation of the landscape..." in netto he perceives the most brazilian, the least european of the republic's authors. "one may say of him what taine said of balzac: 'a sort of literary elephant, capable of bearing prodigious burdens, but heavy-footed.' and in fact ... he reveals a great resemblance to balzac,--a relative balzac, for the exclusive use of a people,--but a balzac none the less." despite his lack of ideas, his mixture of archaisms, neologisms, his exuberance, his slow development of plots, his lack of proportion (noticeable, naturally, in his longer works rather than in his short fiction) he stands pre-eminent as a patron of the nation's intellectual youth and as the romancer of its opulent imagination. medeiros e albuquerque ( - ) is considered by some critics to be the leading exponent in the country of "the manner of de maupassant, enveloped by an indefinable atmosphere that seems to bring back edgar allan poe." he has been director-general of public instruction in rio de janeiro, professor at the normal school and the national school of fine arts, and also a deputy from pernambuco. with the surprising versatility of so many south americans he has achieved a reputation as poet, novelist, dramatist, publicist, journalist and philosopher. iv. the part that women have played in the progress of the south american republics is as interesting as it is little known. the name of the world's largest river--the amazon, or more exactly speaking, the amazons--stands as a lasting tribute to the bravery of the early women whom the explorer orellana encountered during his conquest of the mighty flood.[ ] for he named the river in honor of the tribes' fighting heroines. centuries later, when one by one the provinces of south america rose to liberate themselves from the spanish yoke, the women again played a noble part in the various revolutions. the statue in colombia to policarpa salavarieta is but a symbol of south american gratitude to a host of women who fought side by side with their husbands during the trying days of the early nineteenth century. one of them, manuela la tucumana, was even made an officer in the argentine army. [ ] this derivation of the river's name is by many considered fanciful. a more likely source of the designation is the indian word "amassona," i.e., boat-destroyer, referring to the tidal phenomenon known as "bore" or "proroca," which sometimes uproots tress and sweeps away whole tracts of land. if women, however, have enshrined themselves in the patriotic annals of the southern republics, they have shown that they are no less the companions of man in the more or less agreeable arts of peace. when one considers the great percentage of illiteracy that still prevails in southern america, and the inferior intellectual position which for years has been the lot of woman particularly in the spanish and portuguese nations, it is surprising that woman's prominence in the literary world should be what it is. the name of the original seventeenth century spirit known as sor inés de la cruz (mexico) is part of spanish literature. only recently has she been indicated as her nation's first folklorist and feminist! her poems have found their way into the anthologies of universal poesy. the most distinguished spanish poetess of the nineteenth century, gertrudis gómez de avellaneda, was a cuban by birth, going later to spain, where she was readily received as one of the nation's leading literary lights. her poetry is remarkable for its virile passion; her novel "sab" has been called the spanish "uncle tom's cabin" for its stirring protest against slavery and its idealization of the oppressed race. she was a woman of striking beauty, yet so vigorous in her work and the prosecution of it that one facetious critic was led to exclaim, "this woman is a good deal of a man!" but south america has its native candidate for the title of spanish "uncle tom's cabin," and this, too, is the work of a woman. clorinda matto's "aves sin nido" (birds without a nest) is by one of peru's most talented women, and exposes the disgraceful exploitation of the indians by conscienceless citizens and priests who had sunk beneath their holy calling. it seems, indeed, that fiction as a whole in peru has been left to the pens of the women. such names as joana manuele girriti de belzu, clorinda matto and mercedes cabello de carbonero stand for what is best in the south american novel. the epoch in which these women wrote (late nineteenth century) and the natural feminine tendency to put the house in order (whether it be the domestic or the national variety) led to such stories as carbonero's "las consequencias," "el conspirador" and "blanca sol." the first of these is an indictment of the peruvian vice of gambling; the second throws an interesting light upon the origin of much of the internal strife of south america, and portrays a revolution brought on by the personal disappointment of a politician. "blanca sol" has been called a peruvian "madame bovary." although brazil has not yet produced any amazons of poetry or fiction to stand beside such names as sor inés de la cruz or gertrudis gómez de avallaneda, it has contributed some significant names to the women writers of latin america. not least among these is carmen dolores (emilia moncorvo bandeira de mello) who was born in at rio de janeiro and died in , after achieving a wide reputation in the field of the short story, novel and feuilleton. in addition to these activities she made herself favorably known in the press of rio, sao paulo and pernambuco. her career started with the novel _confession_. other works are _the struggle_, _a country drama_, and _brazilian legends_. the story in this volume is taken from a collection entitled _the complex soul_. * * * * * * * the present selection of tales makes no pretense at completeness, finality or infallibility of choice. this little book is, so to speak, merely a modest sample-case. some of the tales first appeared, in english, in the _boston evening transcript_ and the _stratford journal_ (boston), to which organs i am indebted for permission to reprint them. isaac goldberg. _roxbury, mass._ the attendant's confession by joaquim maria machado de assis first president of the brazilian academy of letters so it really seems to you that what happened to me in is worth while writing down? very well. i'll tell you the story, but on the condition that you do not divulge it before my death. you'll not have to wait long--a week at most; i am a marked man. i could have told you the story of my whole life, which holds many other interesting details: but for that there would be needed time, courage and paper. there is plenty of paper, indeed, but my courage is at low ebb, and as to the time that is yet left me, it may be compared to the life of a candle-flame. soon tomorrow's sun will rise--a demon sun as impenetrable as life itself. so goodbye, my dear sir; read this and bear me no ill will; pardon me those things that will appear evil to you and do not complain too much if there is exhaled a disagreeable odor which is not exactly that of the rose. you asked me for a human document. here it is. ask me for neither the empire of the great mogul nor a photograph of the maccabees; but request, if you will, my dead man's shoes, and i'll will them to you and no other. you already know that this took place in . the year before, about the month of august, at the age of forty-two, i had become a theologian--that is, i copied the theological studies of a priest at nictheroy, an old college-chum, who thus tactfully gave me my board and lodging. in that same month of august, , he received a letter from the vicar of a small town in the interior, asking if he knew of an intelligent, discreet and patient person who would be willing, in return for generous wages, to serve as attendant to the invalid colonel felisbert. the priest proposed that i take the place, and i accepted it eagerly, for i was tired of copying latin quotations and ecclesiastic formulas. first i went to rio de janeiro to take leave of a brother who lived at the capital, and from there i departed for the little village of the interior. when i arrived there i heard bad news concerning the colonel. he was pictured to me as a disagreeable, harsh, exacting fellow; nobody could endure him, not even his own friends. he had used more attendants than medicines. in fact he had broken the faces of two of them. but to all this i replied that i had no fear of persons in good health, still less of invalids. so, after first visiting the vicar, who confirmed all that i had heard and recommended to me charity and forbearance, i turned toward the colonel's residence. i found him on the veranda of his house, stretched out on a chair and suffering greatly. he received me fairly well. at first he examined me silently, piercing me with his two feline eyes; then a kind of malicious smile spread over his features, which were rather hard. finally he declared to me that all the attendants he had ever engaged in his service hadn't been worth a button, that they slept too much, were impudent and spent their time courting the servants; two of them were even thieves. "and you, are you a thief?" "no, sir." then he asked me my name. scarcely had i uttered it when he made a gesture of astonishment. "your name is colombo?" "no, sir. my name is procopio josé gomes vallongo." vallongo?--he came to the conclusion that this was no christian name and proposed thenceforth to call me simply procopio. i replied that it should be just as he pleased. if i recall this incident, it is not only because it seems to me to give a good picture of the colonel, but also to show you that my reply made a very good impression upon him. the next day he told the vicar so, adding that he had never had a more sympathetic attendant. the fact is, we lived a regular honeymoon that lasted one week. from the dawn of the eighth day i knew the life of my predecessors--a dog's life. i no longer slept. i no longer thought of anything, i was showered with insults and laughed at them from time to time with an air of resignation and submission, for i had discovered that this was a way of pleasing him. his impertinences proceeded as much from his malady as from his temperament. his illness was of the most complicated: he suffered from aneurism, rheumatism and three or four minor affections. he was nearly sixty, and since he had been five years old had been accustomed to having everybody at his beck and call. that he was surly one could well forgive; but he was also very malicious. he took pleasure in the grief and the humiliation of others. at the end of three months i was tired of putting up with him and had resolved to leave; only the opportunity was lacking. but that came soon enough. one day, when i was a bit late in giving him a massage, he took his cane and struck me with it two or three times. that was the last straw. i told him on the spot that i was through with him and i went to pack my trunk. he came later to my room; he begged me to remain, assured me that there wasn't anything to be angry at, that i must excuse the ill-humoredness of old age ... he insisted so much that i agreed to stay. "i am nearing the end, procopio," he said to me that evening. "i can't live much longer. i am upon the verge of the grave. you will go to my burial, procopio. under no circumstances will i excuse you. you shall go, you shall pray over my tomb. and if you don't," he added, laughing, "my ghost will come at night and pull you by the legs. do you believe in souls of the other world, procopio?" "nonsense!" "and why don't you, you blockhead?" he replied passionately, with distended eyes. that is how he was in his peaceful intervals; what he was during his attacks of anger, you may well imagine! he hit me no more with his cane, but his insults were the same, if not worse. with time i became hardened, i no longer heeded anything; i was an ignoramus, a camel, a bumpkin, an idiot, a loggerhead--i was everything! it must further be understood that i alone was favored with these pretty names. he had no relatives; there had been a nephew, but he had died of consumption. as to friends, those who came now and then to flatter him and indulge his whims made him but a short visit, five or ten minutes at the most. i alone was always present to receive his dictionary of insults. more than once i resolved to leave him; but as the vicar would exhort me not to abandon the colonel i always yielded in the end. not only were our relations becoming very much strained, but i was in a hurry to get back to rio de janeiro. at forty-two years of age one does not easily accustom himself to perpetual seclusion with a brutal, snarling old invalid, in the depths of a remote village. just to give you an idea of my isolation, let it suffice to inform you that i didn't even read the newspapers; outside of some more or less important piece of news that was brought to the colonel, i knew nothing of what was doing in the world. i therefore yearned to get back to rio at the first opportunity, even at the cost of breaking with the vicar. and i may as well add--since i am here making a general confession--that having spent nothing of my wages, i was itching to dissipate them at the capital. very probably my chance was approaching. the colonel was rapidly getting worse. he made his will, the notary receiving almost as many insults as did i. the invalid's treatment became more strict; short intervals of peace and rest became rarer than ever for me. already i had lost the meagre measure of pity that made me forget the old invalid's excesses; within me there seethed a cauldron of aversion and hatred. at the beginning of the month of august i decided definitely to leave. the vicar and the doctor, finally accepting my explanations, asked me but a few days' more service. i gave them a month. at the end of that time i would depart, whatever might be the condition of the invalid. the vicar promised to find a substitute for me. you'll see now what happened. on the evening of the th of august the colonel had a violent attack of anger; he struck me, he called me the vilest names, he threatened to shoot me; finally he threw in my face a plate of porridge that was too cold for him. the plate struck the wall and broke into a thousand fragments. "you'll pay me for it, you thief!" he bellowed. for a long time he grumbled. towards eleven o'clock he gradually fell asleep. while he slept i took a book out of my pocket, a translation of an old d'arlincourt romance which i had found lying about, and began to read it in his room, at a small distance from his bed. i was to wake him at midnight to give him his medicine; but, whether it was due to fatigue or to the influence of the book, i, too, before reaching the second page, fell asleep. the cries of the colonel awoke me with a start; in an instant i was up. he, apparently in a delirium, continued to utter the same cries; finally he seized his water-bottle and threw it at my face. i could not get out of the way in time; the bottle hit me in the left cheek, and the pain was so acute that i almost lost consciousness. with a leap i rushed upon the invalid; i tightened my hands around his neck; he struggled several moments; i strangled him. when i beheld that he no longer breathed, i stepped back in terror. i cried out; but nobody heard me. then, approaching the bed once more, i shook him so as to bring him back to life. it was too late; the aneurism had burst, and the colonel was dead. i went into the adjoining room, and for two hours i did not dare to return. it is impossible for me to express all that i felt during that time. it was intense stupefaction, a kind of vague and vacant delirium. it seemed to me that i saw faces grinning on the walls; i heard muffled voices. the cries of the victim, the cries uttered before the struggle and during its wild moments continued to reverberate within me, and the air, in whatever direction i turned, seemed to shake with convulsions. do not imagine that i am inventing pictures or aiming at verbal style. i swear to you that i heard distinctly voices that were crying at me: "murderer; murderer!" all was quiet in the house. the tick-tick of the clock, very even, slow, dryly metrical, increased the silence and solitude. i put my ear to the door of the room, in hope of hearing a groan, a word, an insult, anything that would be a sign of life, that might bring back peace to my conscience; i was ready to let myself be struck ten, twenty, a hundred times, by the colonel's hand. but, nothing--all was silent. i began to pace the room aimlessly; i sat down, i brought my hands despairingly to my head; i repented ever having come to the place. "cursed be the hour in which i ever accepted such a position," i cried. and i flamed with resentment against the priest of nichteroy, against the doctor, the vicar--against all those who had procured the place for me and forced me to remain there so long. they, too, i convinced myself, were accomplices in my crime. as the silence finally terrified me, i opened a window, in the hope of hearing at least the murmuring of the wind. but no wind was blowing. the night was peaceful. the stars were sparkling with the indifference of those who remove their hats before a passing funeral procession and continue to speak of other things. i remained at the window for some time, my elbows on the sill, my gaze seeking to penetrate the night, forcing myself to make a mental summary of my life so that i might escape the present agony. i believe it was only then that i thought clearly about the penalty of my crime. i saw myself already being accused and threatened with dire punishment. from this moment fear complicated my feeling of remorse. i felt my hair stand on end. a few minutes later i saw three or four human shapes spying at me from the terrace, where they seemed to be waiting in ambush; i withdrew; the shapes vanished into the air; it had been an hallucination. before daybreak i bandaged the wounds that i had received in the face. then only did i pluck up enough courage to return to the other room. twice i started, only to turn back; but it must be done, so i entered. even then, i did not at first go to the bed. my legs shook, my heart pounded. i thought of flight; but that would have been a confession of the crime.... it was on the contrary very important for me to hide all traces of it. i approached the bed. i looked at the corpse, with its widely distended eyes and its mouth gaping, as if uttering the eternal reproach of the centuries: "cain, what hast thou done with thy brother?" i discovered on the neck the marks of my nails; i buttoned the shirt to the top, and threw the bed-cover up to the dead man's chin. then i called a servant and told him that the colonel had died towards morning; i sent him to notify the vicar and the doctor. the first idea that came to me was to leave as soon as possible under the pretext that my brother was ill; and in reality i had received, several days before, from rio, a letter telling me that he was not at all well. but i considered that my immediate departure might arouse suspicion, and i decided to wait. i laid out the corpse myself, with the assistance of an old, near-sighted negro. i remained continually in the room of the dead. i trembled lest something out of the way should be discovered. i wanted to assure myself that no mistrust could be read upon the faces of the others; but i did not dare to look any person in the eye. everything made me impatient; the going and coming of those who, on tip-toe crossed the room; their whisperings; the ceremonies and the prayers of the vicar.... the hour having come, i closed the coffin, but with trembling hands, so trembling that somebody noticed it and commented upon it aloud, with pity. "poor procopio! despite what he has suffered from his master, he is strongly moved." it sounded like irony to me. i was anxious to have it all over with. we went out. once in the street the passing from semi-obscurity to daylight dazed me and i staggered. i began to fear that it would no longer be possible for me to conceal the crime. i kept my eyes steadily fixed upon the ground and took my place in the procession. when all was over, i breathed once more. i was at peace with man. but i was not at peace with my conscience, and the first nights, naturally, i spent in restlessness and affliction. need i tell you that i hastened to return to rio de janeiro, and that i dwelt there in terror and suspense, although far removed from the scene of the crime? i never smiled; i scarcely spoke; i ate very little; i suffered hallucinations and nightmares.... "let the dead rest in peace," they would say to me. "it is out of all reason to show so much melancholy." and i was happy to find how people interpreted my symptoms, and praised the dead man highly, calling him a good soul, surly, in truth, but with a heart of gold. and as i spoke in such wise, i convinced myself, at least for a few moments at a time. another interesting phenomenon was taking place within me--i tell it to you because you will perhaps make some useful deduction from it--and that was, although i had very little religion in me, i had a mass sung for the eternal rest of the colonel at the church of the blessed sacrament. i sent out no invitations to it, i did not whisper a word of it to anybody; i went there alone. i knelt during the whole service and made many signs of the cross. i paid the priest double and distributed alms at the door, all in the name of the deceased. i wished to deceive nobody. the proof of this lies in the fact that i did all this without letting any other know. to complete this incident, i may add that i never mentioned the colonel without repeating, "may his soul rest in peace!" and i told several funny anecdotes about him, some amusing caprices of his ... about a week after my arrival at rio i received a letter from the vicar. he announced that the will of the colonel had been opened and that i was there designated as his sole heir. imagine my stupefaction! i was sure that i had read wrongly; i showed it to my brother, to friends; they all read the same thing. it was there in black and white, i was really the sole heir of the colonel. then i suddenly thought that this was a trap to catch me, but then i considered that there were other ways of arresting me, if the crime had been discovered. moreover, i knew the vicar's honesty, and i was sure that he would not be a party to such a plan. i reread the letter five times, ten times, a hundred times; it was true. i was the colonel's sole heir! "how much was he worth?" my brother asked me. "i don't know, but i know that he was very wealthy." "really, he's shown that he was a very true friend to you." "he certainly was--he was...." thus, by a strange irony of fate, all the colonel's wealth came into my hands. at first i thought of refusing the legacy. it seemed odious to take a sou of that inheritance; it seemed worse than the reward of a hired assassin. for three days this thought obsessed me; but more and more i was thrust against this consideration: that my refusal would not fail to awake suspicion. finally i settled upon a compromise; i would accept the inheritance and would distribute it in small sums, secretly. this was not merely scruple on my part, it was also the desire to redeem my crime by virtuous deeds; and it seemed the only way to recover my peace of mind and feel that accounts were straight. i made hurried preparations and left. as i neared the little village the sad event returned obstinately to my memory. everything about the place, as i looked at it once again, suggested tragic deeds. at every turn in the road i seemed to see the ghost of the colonel loom. and despite myself, i evoked in my imagination his cries, his struggles, his looks on that horrible night of the crime.... crime or struggle? really, it was rather a struggle; i had been attacked, i had defended myself; and in self-defence.... it had been an unfortunate struggle, a genuine tragedy. this idea gripped me. and i reviewed all the abuse he had heaped upon me; i counted the blows, the names ... it was not the colonel's fault, that i knew well; it was his affliction that made him so peevish and even wicked. but i pardoned all, everything!... the worst of it was the end of that fatal night ... i also considered that in any case the colonel had not long to live. his days were numbered; did not he himself feel that? didn't he say every now and then, "how much longer have i to live? two weeks, or one, perhaps less?" this was not life, it was slow agony, if one may so name the continual martyrdom of that poor man.... and who knows, who can say that the struggle and his death were not simply a coincidence? that was after all quite possible, it was even most probable; careful weighing of the matter showed that it couldn't have been otherwise. at length this idea, too, engraved itself upon my mind.... something tugged at my heart as i entered the village; i wanted to run back; but i dominated my emotions and i pressed forward. i was received with a shower of congratulations. the vicar communicated to me the particulars of the will, enumerated the pious gifts, and, as he spoke, praised the christian forbearance and the faithfulness which i had shown in my care of the deceased, who, despite his temper and brutality, had so well demonstrated his gratitude. "certainly," i said, looking nervously around. i was astounded. everybody praised my conduct. such patience, such devotion. the first formalities of the inventory detained me for a while; i chose a solicitor; things followed their course in regular fashion. during this time there was much talk of the colonel. people came and told me tales about him, but without observing the priest's moderation. i defended the memory of the colonel. i recalled his good qualities, his virtues; had he not been austere?... "austere!" they would interrupt. "nonsense! he is dead, and it's all over now. but he was a regular demon!" and they would cite incidents and relate the colonel's perversities, some of which were nothing less than extraordinary. need i confess it? at first i listened to all this talk with great curiosity; then, a queer pleasure penetrated my heart, a pleasure from which, sincerely, i tried to escape. and i continued to defend the colonel; i explained him, i attributed much of the fault-finding to local animosity; i admitted, yes, i admitted that he had been a trifle exacting, somewhat violent.... "somewhat! why he was as furious as a snake!" exclaimed the barber. and all--the collector, the apothecary, the clerk--all were of the same opinion. and they would start to relate other anecdotes. they reviewed the entire life of the deceased. the old folks took particular delight in recalling the cruelties of his youth. and that queer pleasure, intimate, mute, insidious, grew within me--a sort of moral tape-worm whose coils i tore out in vain, for they would immediately form again and take firmer hold than ever. the formalities of the inventory afforded me a little relief; moreover, public opinion was so unanimously unfavorable to the colonel that little by little the place lost the lugubrious aspect that had at first struck me. at last i entered into possession of the legacy, which i converted into land-titles and cash. several months had elapsed, and the idea of distributing the inheritance in charity and pious donations was by no means so strong as it had at first been; it even seemed to me that this would be sheer affectation. i revised my initial plan; i gave away several insignificant sums to the poor; i presented the village church with a few new ornaments; i gave several thousand francs to the sacred house of mercy, etc. i did not forget to erect a monument upon the colonel's grave--a very simple monument, all marble, the work of a neapolitan sculptor who remained at rio until , and who has since died, i believe, in paraguay. years have gone by. my memory has become vague and unreliable. sometimes i think of the colonel, but without feeling again the terrors of those early days. all the doctors to whom i have described his afflictions have been unanimous as regards the inevitable end in store for the invalid, and were indeed surprised that he should so long have resisted. it is just possible that i may have involuntarily exaggerated the description of his various symptoms; but the truth is that he was sure of sudden death, even had this fatality not occurred.... good-bye, my dear sir. if you deem these notes not totally devoid of value reward me for them with a marble tomb, and place there for my epitaph this variant which i have made of the divine sermon on the mount: "blessed are they who possess, for they shall be consoled." the fortune-teller by joaquim maria machado de assis hamlet observes to horatio that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy. this was the selfsame explanation that was given by beautiful rita to her lover, camillo, on a certain friday of november, , when camillo laughed at her for having gone, the previous evening, to consult a fortune-teller. the only difference is that she made her explanation in other words. "laugh, laugh. that's just like you men; you don't believe in anything. well, let me tell you, i went there and she guessed the reason for my coming before i ever spoke a word. scarcely had she begun to lay out the cards when she said to me: 'the lady likes a certain person ...' i confessed that it was so, and then she continued to rearrange the cards in various combinations, finally telling me that i was afraid you would forget me, but that there were no grounds for my fear." "she was wrong!" interrupted camillo with a laugh. "don't say that, camillo. if you only realized in what anguish i went there, all on account of you. you know. i've told you before. don't laugh at me; don't poke fun at me...." camillo seized her hands and gazed into her eyes earnestly and long. he swore that he loved her ever so much, that her fears were childish; in any case, should she ever harbor a fear, the best fortune-teller to consult was he himself. then he reproved her, saying that it was imprudent to visit such houses. villela might learn of it, and then ... "impossible! i was exceedingly careful when i entered the place." "where is the house?" "near here. on guarda-velha street. nobody was passing by at the time. rest easy. i'm not a fool." camillo laughed again. "do you really believe in such things?" he asked. it was at this point that she translated hamlet into every-day speech, assuring her lover that there was many a true, mysterious thing in this world. if he was skeptical, let him have patience. one thing, however, was certain: the card reader had guessed everything. what more could he desire? the best proof was that at this moment she was at ease and content. he was about to speak, but he restrained himself. he did not wish to destroy her illusions. he, too, when a child, and even later, had been superstitious, filled with an arsenal of beliefs which his mother had instilled, and which had disappeared by the time he reached twenty. the day on which he rid himself of all this parasitic vegetation, leaving behind only the trunk of religion, he wrapped his superstition and his religion (which had both been inculcated by his mother) in the same doubt, and soon arrived at a single, total negation. camillo believed in nothing. why? he could not have answered; he had not a solitary reason; he was content simply to deny everything. but i express myself ill, for to deny is in a sense to affirm, and he did not formulate his unbelief. before the great mystery he simply shrugged his shoulders and went on. the lovers parted in good spirits, he more happy than she. rita was sure that she was loved; but camillo was not only sure that she loved him, but saw how she trembled for him and even took risks, running to fortune-tellers. however much he had reproved her for this, he could not help feeling flattered by it. their secret meeting-place was in the old barbonos street at the home of a woman that came from rita's province. rita went off through mangueiras street, in the direction of botafogo, where she resided; camillo entered guarda-velha street, keeping his eye open, as he passed, for the home of the card reader. villela, camillo and rita: three names, one adventure and no explanation of how it all began. let us proceed to explain. the first two were friends since earliest childhood. villela had entered the magistracy. camillo found employment with the government, against the will of his father, who desired him to embrace the medical profession. but his father had died, and camillo preferred to be nothing at all, until his mother had procured him a departmental position. at the beginning of the year villela returned from the interior, where he had married a silly beauty; he abandoned the magistracy and came hither to open a lawyer's office. camillo had secured a house for him near botafogo and had welcomed him home. "is this the gentleman?" exclaimed rita, offering camillo her hand. "you can't imagine how highly my husband thinks of you. he was always talking about you." camillo and villela looked at each other tenderly. they were true friends. afterwards, camillo confessed to himself that villela's wife did not at all belie the enthusiastic letters her husband had written to him. really, she was most prepossessing, lively in her movements, her eyes burning, her mouth plastic and piquantly inquiring. rita was a trifle older than both the men: she was thirty, villela twenty-nine and camillo twenty-six. the grave bearing of villela gave him the appearance of being much older than his wife, while camillo was but a child in moral and practical life.... he possessed neither experience nor intuition. the three became closely bound. propinquity bred intimacy. shortly afterwards camillo's mother died, and in this catastrophe, for such it was, the other two showed themselves to be genuine friends of his. villela took charge of the interment, of the church services and the settlement of the affairs of the deceased; rita dispensed consolation, and none could do it better. just how this intimacy between camillo and rita grew to love he never knew. the truth is that he enjoyed passing the hours at her side; she was his spiritual nurse, almost a sister,--but most of all she was a woman, and beautiful. the aroma of femininity: this is what he yearned for in her, and about her, seeking to incorporate it into himself. they read the same books, they went together to the theatre or for walks. he taught her cards and chess, and they played of nights;--she badly,--he, to make himself agreeable, but little less badly. thus much, as far as external things are concerned. and now came personal intimacies, the timorous eyes of rita, that so often sought his own, consulting them before they questioned those of her own husband,--the touches of cold hands, and unwonted communion. on one of his birthdays he received from villela a costly cane, and from rita, a hastily pencilled, ordinary note expressing good wishes. it was then that he learned to read within his own heart; he could not tear his eyes away from the missive. commonplace words, it is true; but there are sublime commonplaces,--or at least, delightful ones. the old chaise in which for the first time you rode with your beloved, snuggled together, is as good as the chariot of apollo. such is man, and such are the circumstances that surround him. camillo sincerely wished to flee the situation, but it was already beyond his power. rita, like a serpent, was charming him, winding her coils about him; she was crushing his bones, darting her venomous fangs into his lips. he was helpless, overcome. vexation, fear, remorse, desire,--all this he felt, in a strange confusion. but the battle was short and the victory deliriously intoxicating. farewell, all scruple! the shoe now fitted snugly enough upon the foot, and there they were both, launched upon the high road, arm in arm, joyfully treading the grass and the gravel, without suffering anything more than lonesomeness when they were away from each other. as to villela, his confidence in his wife and his esteem for his friend continued the same as before. one day, however, camillo received an anonymous letter, which called him immoral and perfidious, and warned him that his adventure was known to all. camillo took fright, and, in order to ward off suspicion, began to make his visits to villela's house more rare. the latter asked him the reason for his prolonged absence. camillo answered that the cause was a youthful flirtation. simplicity evolved into cunning. camillo's absences became longer and longer, and then his visits ceased entirely. into this course there may have entered a little self-respect,--the idea of diminishing his obligations to the husband in order to make his own actions appear less treacherous. it was at this juncture that rita, uncertain and in fear, ran to the fortune-teller to consult her upon the real reason for camillo's actions. as we have seen, the card reader restored the wife's confidence and the young man reproved her for having done what she did. a few weeks passed. camillo received two or three more anonymous letters, written with such passionate anger that they could not have been prompted by mere regard for virtue; surely they came from some violent rival of his. in this opinion rita concurred, formulating, in ill-composed words of her own, this thought: virtue is indolent and niggardly, wasting neither time nor paper; only self-interest is alert and prodigal. but this did not help to ease camillo; he now feared lest the anonymous writer should inform villela, in which case the catastrophe would follow fast and implacably. rita agreed that this was possible. "very well," she said. "give me the envelopes in which the letters came, so that i may compare the handwriting with that of the mail which comes to him. if any arrives with writing resembling the anonymous script, i'll keep it and tear it up ..." but no such letter appeared. a short time after this, however, villela commenced to grow grave, speaking very little, as if something weighed upon his mind. rita hurried to communicate the change to her lover, and they discussed the matter earnestly. her opinion was that camillo should renew his visits to their home, and sound her husband; it might be that villela would confide to him some business worry. with this camillo disagreed; to appear after so many months was to confirm the suspicions and denunciations of the anonymous letters. it was better to be very careful, to give each other up for several weeks. they arranged means for communicating with each other in case of necessity and separated, in tears. on the following day camillo received at his department this letter from villela: "come immediately to our house; i must talk to you without delay." it was past noon. camillo left at once; as he reached the street it occurred to him that it would have been much more natural for villela to have called him to his office; why to his house? all this betokened a very urgent matter; moreover, whether it was reality or illusion, it seemed to camillo that the letter was written in a trembling hand. he sought to establish a connection between all these things and the news rita had brought him the night before. "come immediately to our house; i must talk to you without delay," he repeated, his eyes staring at the note. in his mind's eye he beheld the climax of a drama,--rita cowed, weeping; villela indignant, seizing his pen and dashing off the letter, certain that he, camillo, would answer in person, and waiting to kill him as he entered. camillo shuddered with terror; then he smiled weakly; in any event the idea of drawing back was repugnant to him. so he continued on his way. as he walked it occurred to him to step into his rooms; he might find there a message from rita explaining everything. but he found nothing, nobody. he returned to the street, and the thought that they had been discovered grew every moment more convincing; yes, the author of the previous anonymous communications must have denounced him to the husband; perhaps by now villela knew all. the very suspension of his calls without any apparent reason, with the flimsiest of pretexts, would confirm everything else. camillo walked hastily along, agitated, nervous. he did not read the letter again, but the words hovered persistently before his eyes; or else,--which was even worse--they seemed to be murmured into his ears by the voice of villela himself. "come immediately to our house; i must talk to you without delay." spoken thus by the voice of the other they seemed pregnant with mystery and menace. come immediately,--why? it was now nearly one o'clock. camillo's agitation waxed greater with each passing moment. so clearly did he imagine what was about to take place that he began to believe it a reality, to see it before his very eyes. yes, without a doubt, he was afraid. he even considered arming himself, thinking that if nothing should happen he would lose nothing by this useful precaution. but at once he rejected the idea, angry with himself, and hastened his step towards carioca square, there to take a tilbury. he arrived, entered and ordered the driver to be off at full speed. "the sooner the better," he thought. "i can't stand this uncertainty." but the very sound of the horse's clattering hoofs increased his agitation. time was flying, and he would be face to face with danger soon enough. when they had come almost to the end of guarda-velha street the tilbury had to come to a stop; the thoroughfare was blocked by a coach that had broken down. camillo surveyed the obstruction and decided to wait. after five minutes had gone by, he noticed that there at his left, at the very foot of the tilbury, was the fortune teller's house,--the very same as rita had once consulted. never, as at this moment, had he so desired to believe in card-reading. he looked closer, saw that the windows were closed, while all the others on the street were opened, filled with folks curious to see what was the matter. it looked for all the world like the dwelling of indifferent fate. camillo leaned back in his seat so as to shut all this from view. his excitement was intense, extraordinary, and from the deep, hidden recesses of his mind there began to emerge spectres of early childhood, old beliefs, banished superstitions. the coachman proposed another route; he shook his head and said that he would wait. he leaned forward to get a better look at the card-reader's house ... then he made a gesture of self-ridicule: it had entered his mind to consult the fortune-teller, who seemed to be hovering over him, far, far above, with vast, ash-colored wings; she disappeared, reappeared, and then her image was lost; then, in a few moments, the ash-colored wings stirred again, nearer, flying about him in narrowing circles ... in the street men were shouting, dragging away the coach. "there! now! push! that's it! now!" in a short while the obstruction was removed. camillo closed his eyes, trying to think of other things; but the voice of rita's husband whispered into his ears the words of the letter: "come immediately ..." and he could behold the anguish of the drama. he trembled. the house seemed to look right at him. his feet instinctively moved as if to leave the carriage and go in ... camillo found himself before a long, opaque veil ... he thought rapidly of the inexplicability of so many things. the voice of his mother was repeating to him a host of extraordinary happenings; and the very sentence of the prince of denmark kept echoing within him: "there are more things in heaven and earth, horatio, than are dreamt of in our philosophy." what could he lose by it, if...? he jumped out to the pavement, just before the fortune-teller's door; he told the driver to wait for him, and hastened into the entry, ascending the stairs. there was little light, the stairs were worn away from the many feet that had sought them, the banister was smooth and sticky; but he saw and felt nothing. he stumbled up the stairs and knocked. nobody appearing, he was about to go down; but it was too late now,--curiosity was whipping his blood and his heart beat with violent throbs; he turned back to the door, and knocked once, twice, three times. he beheld a woman; it was the card-reader. camillo said that he had come to consult her, and she bade him enter. thence they climbed to the attic by a staircase even worse than the first and buried in deeper gloom. at the top there was a garret, ill lighted by a small window. old furniture, somber walls, and an air of poverty augmented, rather than destroyed, the prestige of the occupant. the fortune-teller told him to be seated before the table, and she sat down on the opposite side with her back to the window, so that whatever little light came from without fell full upon camillo's face. she opened a drawer and took out a pack of worn, filthy cards. while she rapidly shuffled them she peered at him closely, not so much with a direct gaze as from under her eyes. she was a woman of forty, italian, thin and swarthy, with large, sharp, cunning eyes. she placed three cards upon the table, and said: "let us first see what has brought you here. the gentleman has just received a severe shock and is in great fear ..." camillo, astonished, nodded affirmatively. "and he wishes to know," she continued, "whether anything will happen to him or not ..." "to me and to her," he explained, excitedly. the fortune-teller did not smile; she simply told him to wait. she took the cards hastily once more and shuffled them with her long tapering fingers whose nails were so long and unclean from neglect; she shuffled them well, once, twice, thrice; then she began to lay them out. camillo's eyes were riveted upon her in anxious curiosity. "the cards tell me ..." camillo leaned forward to drink in her words one by one. then she told him to fear nothing. nothing would happen to him or to the other. he, the third, was aware of nought. nevertheless, great caution was indispensable; envy and rivalry were at work. she spoke to him of the love that bound them, of rita's beauty ... camillo was bewildered. the fortune-teller stopped talking, gathered the cards and locked them in the drawer. "the lady has restored peace to my spirit," he said, offering her his hand across the table and pressing that of the card-reader. she arose, laughing. "go," she said. "go, _ragazzo innamorato_ ..."[ ] [ ] italian for "love-sick boy," "young lover," etc. and arising, she touched his head with her index finger. camillo shuddered, as if it were the hand of one of the original sybils, and he, too, arose. the fortune-teller went to the bureau, upon which lay a plate of raisins, took a cluster of them and commenced to eat them, showing two rows of teeth that were as white as her nails were black. even in this common action the woman possessed an air all her own. camillo, anxious to leave, was at a loss how much to pay; he did not know her fee. "raisins cost money," he said, at length, taking out his pocket-book. "how much do you want to send for?" "ask your heart," she replied. camillo took out a note for ten milreis'[ ] and gave it to her. the eyes of the card-reader sparkled. her usual fee was two milreis. [ ] in united states money ten brazilian milreis are equivalent to about $ . . "i can see easily that the gentleman loves his lady very much ... and well he may. for she loves the gentleman very deeply, too. go, go in peace, with your mind at ease. and take care as you descend the staircase,--it's dark. don't forget your hat ..." the fortune-teller had already placed the note in her pocket, and accompanied him down the stairs, chatting rather gaily. at the bottom of the first flight camillo bid her good-bye and ran down the stairs that led to the street, while the card-reader, rejoicing in her large fee, turned back to the garret, humming a barcarolle. camillo found the tilbury waiting for him; the street was now clear. he entered and the driver whipped his horse into a fast trot. to camillo everything had now changed for the better and his affairs assumed a brighter aspect; the sky was clear and the faces of the people he passed were all so merry. he even began to laugh at his fears, which he now saw were puerile; he recalled the language of villela's letter and perceived at once that it was most friendly and familiar. how in the world had he ever been able to read any threat of danger into those words! he suddenly realized that they were urgent, however, and that he had done ill to delay so long; it might be some very serious business affair. "faster, faster!" he cried to the driver. and he began to think of a plausible explanation of his delay; he even contemplated taking advantage of this incident to re-establish his former intimacy in villela's household ... together with his plans there kept echoing in his soul the words of the fortune-teller. in truth, she had guessed the object of his visit, his own state of mind, and the existence of a third; why, then, wasn't it reasonable to suppose that she had guessed the rest correctly, too? for, the unknown present is the same as the future. and thus, slowly and persistently the young man's childhood superstitions attained the upper hand and mystery clutched him in its iron claws. at times he was ready to burst into laughter, and with a certain vexation he did laugh at himself. but the woman, the cards, her dry, reassuring words, and her good-bye--"go, go, _ragazzo innamorato_," and finally, that farewell barcarolle, so lively and gracious,--such were the new elements which, together with the old, formed within him a new and abiding faith. the truth is that his heart was happy and impatient, recalling the happy hours of the past and anticipating those yet to come. as he passed through gloria street camillo gazed across the sea, far across where the waters and the heaven meet in endless embrace, and the sight gave him a sensation of the future,--long, long and infinite. from here it was but a moment's drive to villela's home. he stepped out, thrust the iron garden gate open and entered. the house was silent. he ran up the six stone steps and scarcely had he had time to knock when the door opened and villela loomed before him. "pardon my delay. it was impossible to come sooner. what is the matter?" villela made no reply. his features were distorted; he beckoned camillo to step within. as he entered, camillo could not repress a cry of horror:--there upon the sofa lay rita, dead in a pool of blood. villela seized the lover by the throat and, with two bullets, stretched him dead upon the floor. life by joaquim maria machado de assis end of time. ahasverus, seated upon a rock, gazes for a long while upon the horizon, athwart which wing two eagles, crossing each other in their path. he meditates, then falls into a doze. the day wanes. ahasverus. i have come to the end of time; this is the threshold of eternity. the earth is deserted; no other man breathes the air of life. i am the last; i can die. die! precious thought! for centuries of centuries i have lived, wearied, mortified, wandering ever, but now the centuries are coming to an end, and i shall die with them. ancient nature, farewell! azure sky, clouds ever reborn, roses of a day and of every day, perennial waters, hostile earth that never would devour my bones, farewell! the eternal wanderer will wander no longer. god may pardon me if he wishes, but death will console me. that mountain is as unyielding as my grief; those eagles that fly yonder must be as famished as my despair. shall you, too, die, divine eagles? prometheus. of a surety the race of man is perished; the earth is bare of them. ahasverus. i hear a voice.... the voice of a human being? implacable heavens, am i not then the last? he approaches.... who are you? there shines in your large eyes something like the mysterious light of the archangels of israel; you are not a human being?... prometheus. no. ahasverus. of a race divine, then? prometheus. you have said it. ahasverus. i do not know you; but what matters it that i do not? you are not a human being; then i may die; for i am the last and i close the gate of life. prometheus. life, like ancient thebes, has a hundred gates. you close one, and others will open. you are the last of your species? then another better species will come, made not of clay, but of the light itself. yes, last of men, all the common spirits will perish forever; the flower of them it is which will return to earth and rule. the ages will be rectified. evil will end; the winds will thenceforth scatter neither the germs of death nor the clamor of the oppressed, but only the song of love everlasting and the benediction of universal justice.... ahasverus. what can all this posthumous joy matter to the species that dies with me? believe me, you who are immortal, to the bones that rot in the earth the purples of sidonia are worthless. what you tell me is even better than what campanella dreamed. in that man's ideal city there were delights and ills; yours excludes all mortal and physical ailments. may the lord hear you! but let me go and die. prometheus. go, go. but why this haste to end your days? ahasverus. the haste of a man who has lived for thousands of years. yes, thousands of years. men who existed scarcely scores of them invented a feeling of ennui, _tedium vitae_, which they could never know, at least in all its implacable and vast reality, because it is necessary to have journeyed through all the generations and all the cataclysms to feel that profound surfeit of existence. prometheus. thousands of years? ahasverus. my name is ahasverus; i dwelt in jerusalem at the time they were about to crucify christ. when he passed my door he weakened under the burden of the beam that he carried on his shoulders, and i thrust him onward, admonishing him not to stop, not to rest, to continue on his way to the hill where he was to be crucified.... then there came a voice from heaven, telling me that i, too, should have to journey forever, continuously, until the end of time. such was my crime; i felt no pity for him who was going to his death. i do not know myself how it came about. the pharisees said that the son of mary had come to destroy the law, and that he must be slain; i, ignorant wretch, wished to display my zeal and hence my action of that day. how many times have i seen the same thing since, traveling unceasingly through cities and ages! whenever zealotry penetrated into a submissive soul, it became cruel or ridiculous. my crime was unpardonable. prometheus. a grave crime, in truth, but the punishment was lenient. the other men read but a chapter of life; you have read the whole book. what does one chapter know of the other chapter? nothing. but he who has read them all, connects them and concludes. are there melancholy pages? there are merry and happy ones, too. tragic convulsion precedes that of laughter; life burgeons from death; swans and swallows change climate, without ever abandoning it entirely; and thus all is harmonized and begun anew. you have beheld this, not ten times, not a thousand times, but ever; you have beheld the magnificence of the earth curing the affliction of the soul, and the joy of the soul compensating for the desolation of things; the alternating dance of nature, who gives her left hand to job and her right to sardanapalus. ahasverus. what do you know of my life? nothing; you are ignorant of human existence. prometheus. i, ignorant of human life? how laughable! come, perpetual man, explain yourself. tell me everything; you left jerusalem ... ahasverus. i left jerusalem. i began my wandering through the ages. i journeyed everywhere, whatever the race, the creed, the tongue; suns and snows, barbarous and civilized peoples, islands, continents; wherever a man breathed, there breathed i. i never labored. labor is a refuge, and that refuge was denied me. every morning i found upon me the necessary money for the day ... see; this is the last apportionment. go, for i need you no longer. (_he draws forth the money and throws it away._) i did not work; i just journeyed, ever and ever, one day after another, year after year unendingly, century after century. eternal justice knew what it was doing: it added idleness to eternity. one generation bequeathed me to the other. the languages, as they died, preserved my name like a fossil. with the passing of time all was forgotten; the heroes faded into myths, into shadow, and history crumbled to fragments, only two or three vague, remote characteristics remaining to it. and i saw them in changing aspect. you spoke of a chapter? happy are those who read only one chapter of life. those who depart at the birth of empires bear with them the impression of their perpetuity; those who die at their fall, are buried in the hope of their restoration; but do you not realize what it is to see the same things unceasingly,--the same alternation of prosperity and desolation, desolation and prosperity, eternal obsequies and eternal halleluiahs, dawn upon dawn, sunset upon sunset? prometheus. but you did not suffer, i believe. it is something not to suffer. ahasverus. yes, but i saw other men suffer, and in the end the spectacle of joy gave me the same sensations as the discourses of an idiot. fatalities of flesh and blood, unending strife,--i saw all pass before my eyes, until night caused me to lose my taste for day, and now i cannot distinguish flowers from thistles. everything is confused in my wearied retina. prometheus. but nothing pained you personally; and what about me, from time immemorial suffering the wrath of the gods? ahasverus. you? prometheus. my name is prometheus. ahasverus. you! prometheus! prometheus. and what was my crime? out of clay and water i made the first men, and afterwards, seized with compassion, i stole for them fire from the sky. such was my crime. jupiter, who then reigned over olympus, condemned me to the most cruel of tortures. come, climb this rock with me. ahasverus. you are telling me a tale. i know that hellenic myth. prometheus. incredulous old fellow! come see the very chains that fettered me; it was an excessive penalty for no crime whatever; but divine pride is terrible ... see; there they are ... ahasverus. and time, which gnaws all things, does not desire them, then? prometheus. they were wrought by a divine hand. vulcan forged them. two emissaries from heaven came to secure me to the rock, and an eagle, like that which now is flying across the horizon, kept gnawing at my liver without ever consuming it. this lasted for time beyond my reckoning. no, no, you cannot imagine this torture ... ahasverus. are you not deceiving me? you, prometheus? was that not, then, a figment of the ancient imagination? prometheus. look well at me; touch these hands. see whether i really exist. ahasverus. then moses lied to me. you are prometheus, creator of the first men? prometheus. that was my crime. ahasverus. yes, it was your crime,--an artifice of hell; your crime was inexpiable. you should have remained forever, bound and devoured,--you, the origin of the ills that afflict me. i lacked compassion, it is true; but you, who gave me life, perverse divinity, were the cause of all. prometheus. approaching death confuses your reason. ahasverus. yes, it is you; you have the olympic forehead, strong and beautiful titan; it is you indeed ... are these your chains? i see upon them no trace of your tears. prometheus. i wept them for your humankind. ahasverus. and humanity wept far more because of your crime. prometheus. hear me, last of men, last of ingrates! ahasverus. what need have i of your words? i desire your groans, perverse divinity. here are the chains. see how i raise them; listen to the clank of the iron ... who unbound you just now? prometheus. hercules. ahasverus. hercules ... see whether he will repeat his service now that you are to be bound anew. prometheus. you are raving. ahasverus. the sky gave you your first punishment, now earth will give you the second and the last. not even hercules will ever be able to break these fetters. see how i brandish them in the air, like feathers! for i represent the power of millennial despairs. all humanity is concentrated within me. before i sink into the abyss, i will write upon this stone the epitaph of a world. i will summon the eagle, and it will come; i will tell it that the last man, on departing from life, leaves him a god as a gift. prometheus. poor, ignorant wretch, who rejects a throne! no, you cannot reject it. ahasverus. now it is you who are raving. kneel, and let me manacle your arms. so, 'tis well you will resist no more. bend this way; now your legs ... prometheus. have done, have done. it is the passions of earth turning upon me; but i, who am not a human being, do not know ingratitude. you will not be spared a jot of your destiny; it will be fulfilled to the letter. you yourself will be the new hercules. i, who announced the glory of the other, now proclaim yours; and you will be no less generous than he. ahasverus. are you mad? prometheus. the truth unknown to man is the madness of him who proclaims it. proceed, and have done. ahasverus. glory pays nothing, and dies. prometheus. this glory will never die. have done; have done; show the sharp beak of the eagle where it is to devour my entrails. but hear me ... no, hear nothing; you cannot understand me. ahasverus. speak; speak. prometheus. the ephemeral world cannot understand the world eternal; but you will be the link between the two. ahasverus. tell me everything. prometheus. i speak nothing; fetter these wrists well, that i shall not flee,--so that i shall be here on your return. tell you all? i have already told you that a new race shall people the earth, formed of the chosen spirits of the extinct humanity; the multitude of others will perish. a noble family, all-seeing and powerful, will be the perfect synthesis of the divine and the human. the times will be others, but between them and these a link is necessary, and you shall be that link. ahasverus. i? prometheus. you yourself; you, the chosen one; you, the king. yes, ahasverus. you shall be king. the wanderer will find rest. the despised of men shall rule over mankind. ahasverus. wily titan, you are deceiving me ... king,--i? prometheus. you, king. who else, then? the new world needs to be bound by a tradition, and none can speak of one to the other as you can. thus there will be no gap between the two humanities. the perfect will proceed from the imperfect, and your lips will tell the new world its origin. you will relate to the new humanity all the ancient good and evil. and thus will you live anew like the tree whose dead branches are lopped off, only the flourishing ones being preserved, but here growth will be eternal. ahasverus. resplendent vision! i myself? prometheus. your very self. ahasverus. these eyes ... these hands ... a new and better life ... glorious vision! titan, it is just. just was the punishment; but equally just is the glorious remission of my sin. shall i live? i myself? a new and better life? no, you are jesting with me. prometheus. very well, then; leave me. you will return some day, when this vast heaven will be open to let the spirits of the new life descend. you will find me here at peace. go. ahasverus. shall i again greet the sun? prometheus. the selfsame sun that is about to set. friend sun, eye of time, nevermore shall your eyelids close. gaze upon it, if you can. ahasverus. i cannot. prometheus. you will be able to, when the conditions of life shall have changed. then your retina will gaze upon the sun without peril, for in the man of the future will be concentrated all that is best in nature, energizing or subtle, scintillating or pure. ahasverus. swear that you are not lying. prometheus. you will see whether i lie. ahasverus. speak, speak on; tell me everything. prometheus. the description of life is not worth the sensation of life; you shall experience it deeply. the bosom of abraham in your old scriptures is nothing but this final, perfect world. there you will greet david and the prophets. there will you tell to the astounded listeners, not only the great events of the extinct world, but also the ills they will never know: sickness, old age, grief, egotism, hypocrisy, abhorrent vanity, imbecility, and the rest. the soul, like the earth, will possess an incorruptible tunic. ahasverus. i shall gaze ever on the immense blue sky? prometheus. behold how beautiful it is. ahasverus. as beautiful and serene as eternal justice. magnificent heaven, more beautiful than the tents of caesar. i shall behold you forever; you will receive my thoughts, as before; you will grant me clear days, and friendly nights ... prometheus. dawn upon dawn. ahasverus. ah, speak on, speak on. tell me everything. let me unbind these chains ... prometheus. loosen them, new hercules, last man of the old world, who shall be the first of the new. such is your destiny; neither you nor i,--nobody can alter it. you go farther than your moses. from the top of mount nebo, at the point of death, he beheld the land of jericho, which was to belong to his descendants and the lord said unto him: "thou hast seen with thine eyes, yet shalt not pass beyond." _you_ shall pass beyond, ahasverus; you shall dwell in jericho. ahasverus. place your hand upon my head; look well at me; fill me with the reality of your prediction; let me breathe a little of the new, full life ... king, did you say? prometheus. the chosen king of a chosen people. ahasverus. it is not too much in recompense for the deep ignominy in which i have dwelt. where one life heaped mire, another life will place a halo. speak, speak on ... speak on ... (_he continues to dream. the two eagles draw near._) first eagle. ay, ay, ay! alas for this last man; he is dying, yet he dreams of life. second eagle. not so much that he hated it as that he loved it so much. the vengeance of felix by josé de medeiros e albuquerque ( - ) member of the brazilian academy of letters old felix had followed his trade of digger in all the quarries that rio de janeiro possessed. he was a sort of hercules with huge limbs, but otherwise stupid as a post. his companions had nicknamed him hardhead because of his obstinate character. once an idea had penetrated his skull it would stick there like a gimlet and the devil himself couldn't pull it out. because of this trait there arose quarrels, altercations on points of the smallest significance, which the man's acquaintances would purposely bring up, knowing his evil humor. but felix, despite his vigorous and sanguine constitution, was by no means quick to anger, nor immediately responsive to injury; on the contrary he was exceedingly patient in his vindictiveness. for the longest time he would ruminate upon his vengeance, most astutely, and he would carry it out at the moment when he believed himself perfectly secure. oh! his ruses were not of very great finesse and required very little talent; but by dint of considering and reconsidering the case, by dint of waiting patiently for the propitious opportunity to present itself, he finally would play some evil trick upon his comrades. so that nobody liked him. felix had married, but his wife did not long survive. just long enough to leave him a son and a daughter, who grew up knowing little restraint, chumming around with all the good-for-nothings of the vicinity, plaguing all the neighbors, who on their part, were not slow to punish the rascals. thus several years went by. the son became a notorious character, the daughter an impudent, cynical little runabout who, on certain occasions, would fill their rickety abode with her chatter about affairs concerning the "man" of so-and-so or such-and-such. and thus things were going when the old man took it into his head to fall ill. an excruciating rheumatism attacked both his legs, rendering him incapable of moving about, and confining him to an old, lame armchair that was balanced by a complicated arrangement of old boxes that could never be got to remain steady. the illness became chronic. the daughter helped out the finances of the house with her earnings as laundry-woman ... and perhaps by earnings of a different nature. anyway, they got along. the old fellow, willy-nilly, spent his days invariably riveted to his armchair, groaning with pain at the least movement, swearing, fretting and fuming, despairing of life. and, since his daughter simply refused from the very beginning to let him have even a drop of brandy, he was perforce cured of his vice. just about this time there happened to them the worst of all possible adventures. the son, whom the father had not seen for several weeks, one fine day attacked a peaceful citizen and, with a terrible knife thrust in the stomach, despatched him to a better world; as to which event circumstances seemed so contrary that the son allowed himself to be arrested. the old man was in the habit of reading his gazette religiously, from the first line to the last; thus he learned the news. and it was through the same newspaper that he followed the trial and learned of his son's conviction. this made him furious, not so much because of the sentence as because of a special circumstance. the policeman who had arrested his son was--just think of it!--bernardo,--yes, bernardo, his own neighbor--the same chap who would greet him daily with the ironic words: "how are things, felix old boy? and when will you be ready for a waltz?" even on the day of imprisonment and during those that followed bernardo had permitted himself these witty remarks. bernardo was a _cabra_ of bahai, a pretentious mulatto whose enormous head of hair, carefully parted in the middle into two flourishing masses, was kept so only through the services of odorous pomade that cost four sous a pot. he had been, in his day, a dishonest political henchman, well-known for his exploits; then, supported by the liberal leader whose election he had worked for, he escaped prison and entered the police service. at that time police officers were called "bats",--a sobriquet that troubled bernardo very little. and it had been he--what anger flashed in old felix's eyes as he thought of it!--he, whose past activities would well bear examination, he who had arrested felix's son!... from that moment one preoccupation alone filled felix's hours--vengeance! this hatred dominated his existence and became the only power that could vanquish the ever-growing misery of his broken-down body. the mere thought that he could not grow well, while the _cabra_ would daily continue to live in insolent impunity, was enough to give him convulsions of rage; he would foam at the mouth, gnash his teeth and, in that obtuse brain of his, concoct scheme upon scheme of vengeance, almost all of them impracticable, for he was chained to the spot in stupid impotence. at times he would wish to call bernardo and with thunderous violence pour torrents of insult upon his head. but what end would that serve? felix's treacherous, cowardous nature counselled him to have prudence. so, on the first days after the arrest, when the mulatto would go by, the old man feigned slumber. then, in the continuing uncertainty as to what method of vengeance to pursue, and in order not to let his hatred betray itself, he spoke to the policeman as if nothing had happened. nevertheless there was one thing that puzzled him greatly: his daughter had said nothing to him about the entire affair. did she know nothing about it? it was almost impossible that the mulatto, with his chatterbox habits, had not spoken of the matter. had his daughter feared to shock him with the news? this was all the less probable since she had never had any particular love for him. scarcely did a day pass that she did not call him a "good-for-nothing," "a lazy lout," and other similar tendernesses. so he breathed not a word, and continued to ruminate upon his vengeance. months rolled on. far from getting better the illness increased. as soon as the old fellow tried to move, horrible pains seized him at every joint. his daughter maltreated him, and at the height of his attacks she would reply to his complaints that he'd do better if he left the house, and she even threatened to send him to the hospital. it was now june. the weather was one long succession of heavy rains; the invalid suffered atrociously from the cold and the damp, and his daughter, disgruntled at the bad weather, which interfered with her washing, lived in unbroken sulkiness. she treated him worse than a dog, and it was truly with the patience of a dog that he endured everything, so much did he fear being sent away. a plan of vengeance had arisen in his brain, and slowly, during the months, ever since he had learned that his case was incurable, his project had absorbed his entire mental activity,--indeed, his whole existence. he breathed only for his plan, for the sure, propitious opportunity. at last it came, and a terrible day it was. at dusk his daughter had left, closing the door, as was her habit, and had not returned at night. the old man was parched with thirst and his physical torture had doubled. he resolved upon quick action. in the morning,--it might have been about seven o'clock--his daughter returned, or rather, rolled into the room, and with her, pell-mell came "jane", bernardo's "friend". jane was roundly berating his daughter. "you rotten thing!" she cried. "i'll show you! trying to take away somebody else's man." and the two women came to blows, rousing the entire neighborhood. they tried at last to separate the combatants, but it would have been easier to break them to bits, so fiercely did they struggle against each other. there was a whistle; the police arrived, and the women were taken to the lock-up. all this as quick as a flash. the old man had not had time to utter a word. but an extreme rage, blind,--an anger such as only savage beasts can know, overpowered him. what! his daughter, the mistress of bernardo! this was the last straw! towards noon the mulatto came back. he had spent the night away from home, under the pretext of a special patrol; he returned, ignorant of the morning's events. he came in smiling, in that measured walk of his, waddling along. he approached felix and asked him the classic question: "now then, how goes it?" felix did not reply and merely made a sign with his hand. the policeman entered. when he had come near, felix said to him in a low voice that he had something very serious to tell him. but first of all he insisted that bernardo go and bring his large knife. "why that, felix? what do you want to do with a knife?" asked the other. the old man smiled mysteriously. "quick, my boy, i'll tell you afterwards, and you'll see that my story will be worth the trouble." "all right, i'll get it," replied the officer. and a minute later he was back with the knife, which he gave to the invalid. "now," continued the latter, "go and close the door, so that nobody will hear. close it well, and turn the key." bernardo felt some mistrust at all this mystery, but knowing for certain that the helpless old man could do him no harm, he obeyed, curiously waiting to learn what the other was up to. "so, you want to tell me now?--not yet! here, first put this watch in your pocket." and the old man drew from his pocket an ancient nickel watch which he gave to the _cabra_. "what am i to do with this, felix?" asked the mulatto. "keep it, i tell you," was the reply. "the old duffer is crazy for sure," thought bernardo, nevertheless doing as he was told. then, seeing in what manner the invalid had grasped the knife he discreetly withdrew a few paces. well, almost immediately felix made a sudden movement that caused his pain to increase anew, and he began to groan, to utter most terrible cries, almost shrieks. "i am dying! i am dying!" bernardo had never heard such awful groaning; his mistrust grew, and, seeing that the old man still clutched the knife, he thought the invalid would kill him if he should attempt to approach. he therefore again stepped back a few paces and awaited developments, persuaded that he had a lunatic in front of him. the groaning became louder and louder, so that it was easily to be heard outside. finally, the _cabra_, tired of waiting, said, "i'll be back right away, felix." and he was about to leave. brusquely, the old man uncovered his own breast, and with a rapid movement, right over the heart, he thrust in the blade with all his might, up to the hilt. not a drop of blood spurted out, the thick blade obstructing the wound. his face convulsed with an expression of excruciating torment; his hanging arms grew rigid. the officer rushed to the door, opened it, called for help and returned to pull the knife from the wound, and to see whether it was yet possible to save the unfortunate man. men and women, wildly excited, ran up to the house crying loudly, and, seeing this man with a long knife whence the blood was dripping, seeing also the pierced breast of old felix, the whole populace rushed upon bernardo, disarmed him, crying "kill him! kill him!" bernardo was punched and kicked and cudgelled from one infuriated person to the other in the crowd, and led to the police-station by a multitude which every moment waxed greater and more threatening. several months later the trial came to an end. bernardo was sentenced to hard labor for life. nobody would believe his story. the proofs were overwhelming. had he not been caught red-handed? the presence of the nickel-watch in his pocket indicated sufficiently that the motive of the crime was robbery. the vengeance of old felix had been well calculated: the result was there. the old man had conquered. the pigeons by coelho netto member brazilian academy of letters when the pigeons leave, misfortune follows. --indian superstition. when joanna appeared at the door yawning, fatigued after the long sleepless night spent at her son's bedside, triburcio, on the terrace, leaning against his spade, was watching the pigeon-house closely. the sun was already setting and gilded the moist leaves. at the edge of the ravine, turtle-doves and starlings were circling in the air, making a joyous noise above the high branches of the neighboring trees. the _caboclo_[ ] indian did not remove his eyes from the pigeon-house. the wrinkles on his forehead bore witness to an inner struggle--, grave thoughts which were clouding his spirit. a pigeon took to flight, then another, and still another; he turned his head, following them with his gaze until they were out of sight, and then returned to his melancholy contemplation. [ ] caboclo signifies copper-colored. indigenous tribes of brazil are so called from the color of their skin. the birds came and went, entered the pigeon-house and left in agitated manner, cooing loudly; they circled above the dwelling, sought the trees, alighted on the thatch of the cabin, descended to earth in spiral flight. some seemed to be getting their bearings, to seek a route: they gazed across the clear stretches of space and penetrated to the distant horizons. others would fly off, describing vast circles, and would return to the pigeon-house. then all would come together as if for a discussion, to plan their departure. some, undecided, opened their wings as if about to fly away, but soon would close them again. still others would dart off, only to come back aimlessly, and the noise increased to a hubbub of hurried leaving. the indian gazed fixedly. well he knew that the life of his little son was at stake, and depended upon the decision of the birds. "when the pigeons leave, misfortune quickly follows." joanna noticed his preoccupation. "what is the matter?" she asked. the _caboclo_ scratched his head and made no reply. the woman insisted. "what is the trouble, tiburcio?" "the pigeons have taken a whim into their heads, joanna." "and you are lost in the contemplation of it? i have not cared to speak, but i know well the meaning of what i see." the _caboclo_ slung the spade across his shoulder and walked slowly up the road that led to the plantation, through the wet hay which exhaled a piquant odor. some hens were clucking, hidden in the high grass, and a little ribbon of water which flowed gently along sparkled here and there through the openings in the brushwood. tiburcio, head bowed, spade on his shoulder, could not shake off the deep impression that had been made upon him by the sudden migration of the birds. it was the fatal sign. to be sure, he had heard the owl's screech for many and many a night; but he had seen no cause for fear in this: everything was going along nicely; their little son was in good health and they, too, knew no illness. but now the warning of the evil omen was confirmed. the pigeons which he had himself brought up were flying away. they were leaving, thus forecasting the arrival of death. he turned back; he raised his eyes. there were the birds high above, still circling about, and joanna was at the threshold of the cabin, leaning against the jamb, her arms crossed, her head hanging. the poor woman was surely weeping. within him he felt a mute explosion of hatred and revolt against the ungrateful birds. never had he had the courage to kill a single one of them. he lived only for the purpose of keeping the pigeon-house in order, thinking only of making it larger so that it might accommodate more pairs. and the little child, was it not he who crushed the millet for the fledglings, who climbed the mango-tree, going from branch to branch to see whether there wasn't some crack through which the rain came in? who knows? perhaps the pigeons were leaving their dwelling because they no longer saw him? he shrugged his shoulders and continued on his way. as he crossed the dam his heart palpitated wildly. he stopped. the water, held back in its course, threw back a motionless reflection of him. but although he looked down upon it he saw not his image; his thoughts were entirely with the little child who, burning with fever, was in delirium. he chose a side path. the millet stems were so high that he disappeared within them with a crumpling of dry leaves. the soft ant-hills which it was his daily custom to level off failed to attract his attention. he walked straight on. parrots flew by, chattering, with their green wings shining in the sun, and huge grasshoppers were jumping in the leaves. he came upon a straw hut,--here the child was wont to play with its toys;--there was even now a boot of wild sugar-cane. but already the grass was beginning to invade the abandoned shelter.... for a month the little child had not visited the place. when the father came to the field of manioc he sat down, bent almost in two. the spade weighed upon his shoulders like a burden. the strength had oozed out of his legs. his whole body was broken with fatigue, as if at the end of a long journey. he sat down upon a hillock and began to trace lines upon the earth, with a distraught air. at times it seemed as if he heard the echo of his wife's voice. he would raise his head and strain his ears to catch the sound. but only the rustling of the leaves stirred by the breeze and the chirping of the insects in the sun came to him. all earth seemed to perspire. a diaphanous vapor rose tremblingly from the hot soil; the leaves hung languidly, and through the intense blueness of the sky passed some _urubus_[ ] in search of distant lodgings. [ ] urubu: the black vulture of south america. suddenly a pigeon winged through the air, then another, and still another. they were leaving ... they were leaving!... a beating of wings,--more on the way. they would never return, never! they were fleeing in horror, feeling the approach of death. for a long time he gazed about him, but could see only the rich verdure waving to the wind in the warm transparency of the atmosphere. he should have taken his child to town as soon as the illness had appeared. but who could have foretold this? he raised his eyes to heaven and they lingered upon the luminous azure; then came another pigeon. he shook his head and, striking his fist against his thigh, slung his spade back upon his shoulder and turned in the direction of his house. when joanna saw him on the terrace she appeared to divine his thoughts. "it is well you returned, my dear! all alone here i am at a loss as to what to do." he looked at the pigeon-house, saw that it was deserted, and ominously silent. as evening fell tiburcio sat down upon the threshold of the cabin and began to smoke, waiting for the pigeons. the grasshoppers were shrilling; all the birds who had their nests in the tree nearby retired and, as it was still light, they lingered in the branches to trill their good-night cadences. the sky grew pale. the landscape was veiled in a light mist. the evening breeze scattered the gentle odor of lilies. not very far off a dog barked now and then. at times a grave lowing saddened the silence. tiburcio did not remove his eyes from the pigeon-house, unless it was to pierce the shadows and try to discover in the distance one of the birds. perhaps some of them would return. where could they find a better shelter? the forest was full of dangers and domestic pigeons could scarcely live in the brushwood. what other pigeon-roost could have attracted them? if he had but followed the line of their flight ... some had taken the direction of the fields, others had flown towards the mountains, and there was no sign of any returning. it was now quite dark. joanna lighted a candle. already the frogs were croaking in the marshes. a star shone in the sky. tiburcio fixed his gaze upon it and began to pray in low tones. the silence was scarcely broken by the murmuring of the water as it ran and broke over the stones in the ravine not far away, just behind the cabin. tiburcio sighed, arose, leaned against the jamb and lacked courage to go inside. joanna came near the door. "and now?" "the same thing," he replied. he stepped down, called her, and together they went towards the terrace. near the mango-tree, directly under the pigeon-house, they stopped, and the indian, as if in fear of being heard by the child, asked softly, "joanna, don't you know any prayers for this?" and he pointed to the deserted pigeon-roost. "only lina knows," she answered. "she can pronounce the proper spells?" "so they say." tiburcio stood as if in a dream. suddenly, in a firm voice, he announced, "i am going to her." "now?" "certainly!... haven't you just said that she was a sorceress?" "i have never seen it, tiburcio.... that's what people say." "but you?" "i? no. and i am afraid that it is too late. you have seen your self how far gone he is! he is no longer interested in anything. i move about, i speak, i go here and there, i come back again into the room,--but it is all nothing to him. ah! god in heaven!" her voice died out suddenly she melted into tears. tiburcio withdrew and commenced to pace slowly up and down the terrace. the white moon was rising. the fields became less obscure and, in the light, the shadows of the trees, very black, stretched across the ground. "patience, dear woman, patience!" the strident crickets were chirping. the _caboclo_ murmured, "yes, i know ..." of a sudden joanna shuddered. quivering she turned towards the cabin, from whose wide door shone a ray of livid light; for a moment her astonished gaze lingered and then, with a bound she was gone. tiburcio, motionless, without understanding what his wife had just done, quietly awaited her return, when a piercing cry rang out. the _caboclo_ rushed to the cabin and made for the room where the candle was burning. the woman, on her knees before the little bed, leaning over the child, was sobbing desperately. "what has happened, joanna?" she gave a hoarse cry and threw her arms across the corpse of her son. "look! it's all over!" she bent down, her face brushed a cheek that was burning; her trembling hands felt a little body that was still aflame. she touched the sunken chest, where the ribs showed through like laths, and the hollow abdomen. "listen to his heart, tiburcio!" he could only reply, "it is all over!" the mother arose with a leap, disfigured, her hair dishevelled, her eyes sparkling. she tried to speak, stretched her hands out to her husband, but fell limp upon a basket and, bowed down, bathed in tears, she began to repeat the name of her son with an infinite tenderness that was rent by sobs. "my luiz! my little luiz! but a moment ago living, oh blessed virgin!" tiburcio turned away and in the room, before the table, he stopped, his eyes wandering, his lips trembling, the tears rolling in big drops down his bony face. joanna left the chamber, wavering as if drunk, and seeing him, threw herself into his arms; he held her without uttering a word, and they stood thus in embrace for a long time, in the dark, narrow room where the crickets were chirping. joanna went back to the chamber. tiburcio remained leaning against the table, his eyes fixed upon the candle which flickered in the breeze. slowly the light of the moon came in, white, climbing upon the walls. he arose with a sigh, went to the door, sat down upon the threshold, lighted his pipe and looked leisurely out upon the country, which was growing brighter beneath the moon. suddenly it seemed to him that he heard the cooing of pigeons. above, the stars were shining, the tree tops glittered in the moonlight. could it be an illusion? motionless, he concentrated his attention. the cooing continued. he arose impetuously, walked straight to the pigeon-roost and leaned against the trunk of the mango-tree. "could it be the pigeons who were returning after the passing of death?" he began to mutter in fury, replying to his thoughts. "now it's too late! a curse upon them!" a beating of wings, a tender cooing, and little cries came from the pigeon-house. there was no doubt now. he went forward and, from the middle of the terrace watched the pigeon-house, walking resolutely towards the cabin. joanna was sobbing hopelessly. he took the candle, went to the kitchen, and seeing the axe in a corner he seized it, still muttering. he then turned back to the terrace and, having reached the mango-tree, rolled up the sleeves of his coarse shirt so that he might swing the axe. at the first blow against the post which supported the pigeon-house the birds grew still. tiburcio redoubled his efforts. a crack now weakened the structure, but still it resisted. he leaned the axe against the trunk and, grasping the branches, raised himself to the top of the tree. from there he supported himself between two boughs and gave the large box a furious kick. the pigeon-roost fell shattered to the ground. two pigeons flew off in great fright, dazed. uncertain of their direction in the clearness of the night, they lit upon the roof of the hut. the _caboclo_ slid down lightly along the trunk and saw two little bodies who were whining, staggering, dragging themselves along. they were two little pigeons. he bent over them, took them in his hands and began to examine them. they were ugly, still without wings, having only a thin down to cover the muscles of their soft, wrinkled bodies. the indian turned them over this way and that in his shrivelled hands. he felt their fragile bones, and the little things struggled to fly away, moving the stumps of their wings; they stretched out their necks and whined. gnashing his teeth, tiburcio squeezed the fledglings and crushed them. their tender bones cracked like bits of wood. the blood gushed forth and trickled, warm, through the tightened fingers of the man. under the impulse of his fury he threw them to the ground; they flattened out, soft as rotten fruit. and the _caboclo_, growling to himself, trampled upon them. the parent-birds were cooing dolorously upon the thatched roof, flying hither and thither. joanna, embracing her dead child, was still sobbing when tiburcio entered the chamber. he stopped before the little bed, and looked down. of a sudden the woman shook, arose with a start, seized her husband's arm, her eyes distended and her mouth wide open, her head bending over as if to hear voices, faraway sounds. "what is it, joanna? what is the matter with you?" in terror she stammered reply. "the pigeons, dear husband. don't you hear them?" it was their sad cooing that came from the roof of the house. "they are returning! who knows? he is yet warm!" she cried. and in the heart of the woman arose a great hope. tiburcio shrugged his shoulders. "now it's their turn to mourn!" he answered. "they are sobbing, like us. it's a pair that remained behind because of the little ones. i dashed the pigeon-house to earth, i have killed the fledglings. see!" and he showed his bloody hands. "they flew away; they're on the house. do you want to see?" he went out; she followed. they walked to the terrace. tiburcio pointed to the ruined pigeon-house. then he grasped the crushed bodies of the little birds. "look!" without breathing a word joanna looked on. in her horror she had stopped weeping. she gazed upon her husband, whose burning eyes flashed fire. he threw the first little pigeon upon the roof bellowing, "'t is well!" he threw the second. "'t is well!" he repeated. the pigeons, frightened, flew off into the dark foliage. "'t is well," he said once more. joanna, dumb, terrified, could not remove her eyes from her husband, who was now crying with sobs, his opened hands stained with blood. "come, dear husband. it was the will of god. our little son is in heaven!" and slowly she heartened him. they entered their cabin and, before the pallet of the dead child, the tears gushed from their eyes, while, on the roof above, the pigeons, who had returned, were cooing dolorously. aunt zeze's tears by carmen dolores (emilia moncorva bandeira de mello, - ) pale and thin, for eighteen years she had lived with her youngest sister, who had married very early and now possessed five children: two young ladies of marriageable age, a third still in short dresses, and two little boys. maria-josé, whose nickname was zézé, had never been beautiful or winning. upon her father's death it was thought best that she should go to live with her sister engracigna's family. here she led a monotonous existence, helping to bring up her nephews and nieces, who were born in that young and happy household with a regularity that brooked small intervals between the births. a long, pointed nose disfigured her face, and her lips, extremely thin, looked like a pale crack. her thoughtful gaze alone possessed a certain melancholy attractiveness. but even here, her eyes, protruding too far for the harmony of the lines upon her face seemed always to be red, and her brows narrow and sparse. of late, an intricate network of wrinkles as fine as hairs, had formed at the corner of her eyes. from her nose, likewise, two furrows ran along the transparent delicacy of her skin and reached either side of her mouth. when she smiled, these wrinkles would cover her countenance with a mask of premature age, and threatened soon to disfigure her entirely. and yet, from habit, and through passive obedience to routine, maria-josé continued to dress like a young girl of eighteen, in brightly colored gowns, thin waists and white hats that ill became her frail and oldish face. she would remain for a long time in painful indecision when it was a matter of picking out some piece of goods that was of too bright a red or blue,--as if instinctively she understood the disharmony of these hues with her age, whose rapid oncoming they moreover placed in all the more noticeable contrast. and at such times engracigna and her daughters would say to her with a vehemence whose effect they little guessed, "why, zézé! buy something and be done with it!... how silly! do you want to dress like a widow? what a notion!" and at bottom they meant it. none of them saw maria-josé as she really was. living with her day by day had served to efface the actual appearance of the faded old maid. for, in the minds of the mother and her daughters, who were moreover of a frivolous and indifferent sort, zézé had grown to be the type, very vague, to be sure, but the eternal type of young girl of marriagable years who always should be well dressed and smiling. when she would be out walking with her nieces, of sixteen and seventeen years, who wore the same clothes as she herself did, but whose graceful and lively charm became their gay colors of youth so well, zézé's intelligence saw only too plainly the contrast between her and them; she would hold aloof from the laughing set, morose, wounded, as if oppressed by an unspeakable shame. ah! who can depict the secret chagrin of an old maid who sees pass by in useless monotony her dark, loveless, despairing days, without hope even of some event of personal interest, while about her moves the busy whirl of happier creatures whose life has but one goal, who feel emotions and tendernesses, and who look upon her simply as an obscure accessory in the household's affairs! they all loved her, of course, but not one of them suspected that she, too, could cherish those aspirations that are common to all human beings. her self-denial seemed to be a most natural thing; indeed, they hardly considered her in the light of a living person; she was no longer of any consequence. this was an attitude that satisfied the general egotism of the family, and to which they all had grown accustomed, never suspecting the grievous aspect of her sacrifice which was hidden by a sentiment of proud dignity. so, when they would go to the theatre, and the box held only five--engracigna, her husband, fabio, and the three young ladies,--maria-josé knew beforehand that her sister, snugly wrapped in her opera-cloak, would come to her and say gently, in that purring voice of hers: "you'll stay at home with the children tonight, won't you, zézé? little paul isn't very well, and i wouldn't think of leaving him with anybody else...." and she would remain behind, without betraying the revolt within her which, upon each occasion of these evidences of selfishness, would make the anemic blood in her veins tremble with agitation. alone in the dining-room she would ply her needle mechanically, while her nephews would amuse themselves with the toys scattered upon the table,--colored pictures and lead soldiers. every other moment they would call her. "aunt zézé, look at george pinching me!" "i am not! paul hit me first!..." and the good aunt would quiet them. then, after both had been put to sleep in their little twin beds, she would rest her elbows upon the window-sill of her gloomy old-maid's room, and placing both hands beneath her sharp chin, her gaze directed towards heaven, she would lose herself in contemplation of the stars that shone in the limpid sky, less lonely, surely, than she upon earth. in vain did her eyes seek in the eyes of another that expression of sympathy and tenderness which alone would console her.... the truth is that maria-josé was suffering from the disappointment of unrequited passion. she had fallen in love with monjardin, a poet and great friend of her brother-in-law, fabio. monjardin came to the house every sunday. older than she, almost forty, but having preserved all the attractiveness of youth,--a black moustache, a vigorous, yet graceful figure, eyes still bright, charming and wide-awake,--monjardin, without knowing it, had conquered zézé. this had come about in a rather curious manner. finding the conversation of fabio's wife and daughters too commonplace, monjardin, when he would recite some of his poems or tell some story connected with his literary life, preferred to address maria-josé, whom he saw to be of a serious and impressive nature. "let's have another poem, please, mr. monjardin!" she would ask in supplicating tone. "for instance, that one you call 'regrets.' you know?" and then he would describe in his verse the grief of a heart, disillusioned and broken by the cruelties of fate, that evoked in vain the remembrance of yesterday's lost loves, vanished in the mists of eternal despair. he recited these bitter griefs in a strong, healthy man's voice, erect in the center of the parlor, looking mechanically, distractedly at maria-josé with his dreamy eyes; the concentrated effort of his memory brought to his face an involuntary immobility which maria-josé, most deliciously touched, drank in. the poet had announced that he had written a poem which he would recite at zézé's anniversary dinner. the date for this was but a few days distant, and ever since the poet's announcement the whole family had taken to teasing the old maid, christening her "the muse of inspiration," and asking her when the wedding would take place.... she smiled ingenuously; at such times her face would even take on an air of unusual happiness; her features grew animated, less wrinkled and more firm. on the day of the celebration maria-josé came out of her room radiant with hope. at the belt of her white dress bloomed a rose; a little blood, set pulsing by her agitated heart, brought a feeble color to her marble cheeks, from which now protruded her long nose in a manner less displeasing than usual. "see, mamma," remarked one of the nieces, "doesn't zézé look like a young girl today?" they dined amidst merry chatter. seated directly across from monjardin, maria-josé, hiding her glances behind the fruit-bowls that covered the table, looked at him furtively without surfeit. her poor heart beat as if it would burst, waiting in agonized suspense for the poem in which the poet, without doubt, was to declare his intimate feelings for her. monjardin had already pointed to his pocket as a token that he had the verses with him, and zézé had trembled with gratification as she bashfully lowered her long face. champagne sparkled in the glasses and toasts were given. several guests of distinction spoke first, then followed the hosts and their children,--frolicsome little things. finally monjardin arose and unfolded a manuscript, asking permission to declaim the verses which he had composed in honor of maria-josé, the central figure of the occasion. the guests greeted his remarks with noisy and enthusiastic approbation. "hear! hear!" engracigna and her daughters leaned over and cast malicious glances in the direction of maria-josé, but she was paying no attention to them. her ears were buzzing; it seemed that everything was turning round. monjardin, the center of all eyes, made pompous preparation; he pulled down his vest, arranged his sleeves and, in sonorous, cadenced voice began to recite his alexandrines, scanning the lines impeccably. his poem opened with a eulogy of the ineffable virtue, compounded of self-abnegation and chastity, that distinguished the angelic creature who, with her white tutelary wings, watched over the happiness of his dear friend's love nest. he then recalled that the date of this day commemorated the happy birth of a being of immaculate purity, maria-josé, a veritable saint who had renounced all her own aspirations so that she might consecrate herself entirely to the duties of her sister's family; gentle figure of the mother-guardian, who would soon be the beloved grandmother sharing with her sister the joys of younger households which would soon be formed, offsprings of that home which her devoted tenderness as aunt and sister at present cultivated. as he came to a close, the poet raised his cup of sparkling wine and, in exalted voice, drank to the health of zézé amidst the loud huzzahs of all present. "long live aunt zézé! hurrah for aunt zézé!" cried the children, glass in hand, while the nieces laughed loudly, blushing to the ears, for they had understood very well the poet's reference to future "younger households." fabio and his wife, their eyes somewhat brightened by the strong champagne, proposed in turn their toast to zézé. "here's to zézé and the eighteen happy years we've lived together!..." maria-josé, as soon as she had seized the significance of monjardin's verses, had grown deathly pale; stricken by sudden disillusionment, she felt a glacial chill overwhelm her body to the very marrow; she feared that she would faint straightway and provide a spectacle for the guests, who were all drinking her health, their eyes focussed upon her. a veil of tears spread before her sight.... in vain she tried to repress them, to force a smile of thanks upon her face. the smile wrinkled into a dolorous grimace; she succeeded only in convulsing her contracted visage with the sobs that she sought to restrain. overcome at last, humiliated, powerless, she broke into tears, and this unforeseen denouement put an end at once to all the pleasure of the dinner. "zézé! zézé! what ails you?..." engracigna had rushed to her side in alarm; everyone rose, seeking the reason for the outburst; they surrounded the poor creature, whose head had sunk upon the table, in the midst of the rose petals, the fruits and the glasses which were strewn in charming confusion. "what is the trouble?..." a nervous attack, perhaps?... confusion produced in her by the touching poem?... finally they raised maria-josé's head and bathed it in cool water; whereupon the face of the poor old maid stood revealed in all the ugliness that her spasms of convulsive weeping cast over it, with her large aquiline nose, her protruding eyes and her livid lips ... and now monjardin drew near. delicately raising the icy fingers of maria-josé he lifted them to the edge of his perfumed moustache and placed upon them a grateful kiss; then, turning to engracigna's daughters he said, with a solemn, self-complacent tone, "aunt zézé's tears are the most beautiful homage that could be rendered to my poor verses." narrative of services in the liberation of chili, peru, and brazil, from spanish and portuguese domination by thomas, earl of dundonald, g.c.b. admiral of the red; rear-admiral of the fleet, etc. etc. vol. i london: james ridgway, no , piccadilly mdccclix to the most noble the marquis of lansdowne, k.g. etc. etc. my lord, i am proud to have been honoured with your lordship's permission to dedicate to you the following narrative of historical events, respecting which the public has not previously been placed in a position to form a correct judgment. your lordship's generous acquiescence enables me to discharge a double debt: first--of thanks to one whose high political character this country will ever warmly cherish;--secondly--of deep-felt gratitude for the countenance and efficient aid experienced from your lordship at a period when party faction made me the object of bitter resentment; the injustice of which could in no way be better demonstrated, than by the fact that--in the midst of unmerited obloquy, it was my high privilege to preserve your lordship's friendship and esteem. i have the honour to be, your lordship's obliged and faithful servant, dundonald. contents. preface chapter i. invitation to take command of chilian navy--arrival at valparaiso--first expedition to peru--attack on spanish shipping at callao--departure for huacho--capture of spanish convoys of money--paita taken--return to valparaiso to reorganise the squadron--offer to give up my share of prize money to the republic--this offer declined by the supreme director--popular congratulations--attempt on lady cochrane's life. chapter ii. second expedition to peru--disappointment at not being provided with troops--failure of rockets--departure for arica--capture of pisco--capture of spanish ships at puna--determine to make an attempt on valdivia--arrival off that port, and capture of spanish brig of war _potrillo_--troops obtained from conception--flag-ship nearly wrecked--attack on forts, and conquest of valdivia. chapter iii. departure for chiloe--preparations of the enemy--capture of fort corona--failure at fort aguy, and subsequent retreat--return to valdivia--capture of osorio--return to valparaiso--enthusiastic reception--chagrin of the ministry--importance of conquest of valdivia in a political point of view--promotion of officers under arrest--employment of indians by the spaniards--career of benavides--mutinous spirit of the seamen in consequence of their captures being appropriated by government--resignation of my commission--refusal thereof--renewed offer of an estate--this again declined--seamen obtain their wages--private purchase of an estate--government gives notice of taking it--appointment of flag captain against my wishes--annoyance given to me by minister of marine--renewed resignation of the command--officers of the squadron resign in a body--government begs of me to retain the command--my consent--general san martin--the senate--zenteno--corruption of parties in the administration. chapter iv. obstacles to equipping the squadron--sailing of the liberating expedition--debarcation at pisco--long inaction of the army--general san martin removes to ancon--capture of the esmeralda--exchange of prisoners--acknowledgment of the service by general san martin--lady cochrane's visit to mendoza. chapter v. san martin's violation, of truth--removal of blockade--spanish depression--troops dying of fever--san martin's designs on guayaquil--mutinous conduct of officers--refusal to obey orders--deposition of viceroy--san martin gives me troops--jealousy of san martin--attack on arica--capture of tacna--capture of moquega--refusal of more men--an armistice ratified--distress of lima--dissatisfaction of the army--lady cochrane in action--devotion of seamen. chapter vi. return to callao--lima abandoned--hesitation of general san martin to occupy the city--loss of the _san martin_--excesses of the spaniards--proclamation of independence--san martin assumes autocratic power under the title of protector--my remonstrance--his reply--mutinous state of the squadron from neglect. chapter vii. tampering with chilian officers--the archbishop of lima--his expulsion--negociation for surrender of the forts--this counteracted--san martin's bombastic proclamations--his refusal to encounter the enemy--the spaniards relieve callao--delusive proclamation--the unblushing falsehood--spaniards carry off the treasure--discontent of the squadron. chapter viii. prolonged destitution of squadron--the men mutiny in a body--the seamen's letters--san martin sends away the public treasure--my seizure of it--private property restored--san martin's accusations against me--the squadron paid wages--attempt on the officers' fidelity--i am asked to desert from chili--ordered to quit on refusal--monteagudo's letter--my reply--justification of seizing the treasure--- no other course possible. chapter ix. arrival at guayaquil--address to guayaquilenos--injurious monopolies--ministerial folly--departure from guayaquil--arrival in mexico--anchor at acapulco--mock ambassadors--plot against me--return to guayaquil--venganza taken possession of--agreement with junta--general la mar--orders to withhold supplies--abominable cruelty--courtly splendour--destruction of a division of the army--dissatisfaction of officers--renewed overtures from san martin--their refusal by me--warning to the chilian government. chapter x. return to valparaiso--thanks of the government--reasons for satisfaction--illegitimate trade--turned to good account--denunciation of officers deserted--investigation of accounts--san martin's charges against me--my refutation--government refuses its publication--cruelty to spanish prisoners--retirement to quintero--political fruits of our success--destitute condition of squadron--infamous attempt to promote dissatisfaction therein--object of this course--steps taken to defeat it--disavowed by the minister--sympathy of officers--attempt to get rid of gen. freire--its eventual result--letter of the captains. chapter xi. negociations with bolivar--exile of monteagudo--complaints of the limeños--extravagance of the government--exculpation of san martin--effects of popular dissension--disagreement of bolivar and san martin--vote of peruvian congress--extraordinary neglect of the chilian squadron--san martin's arrival at valparaiso--i demand his trial--countenance of the supreme director--squadron at length paid wages--revolt of conception--general freire apprises me of it--freire asks for my support--his letter not replied to--san martin's influence. chapter xii. the squadron taken from me--i accept invitation from brazil--letter to the supreme director--san martin quits chili--his prudence--opinion of his aide-de camp--ministerial neglect--permission to quit chili--letter to general freire--for the first time made public--letter to the captains and officers--to the chilian people--to the foreign merchants--to the president of peru--san martin actuated by revenge--this shewn from his letters. chapter xiii. freire marches on valparaiso--elected supreme director--he begs of me to return--my reply--subsequent letter to general freire. chapter xiv. injustice to the squadron--inconsistency of this--estate taken from me--my losses by litigation--endeavours to enforce my claims--petty excuses for evading them--i am charged with expenses of the army--and with costs for making legal captures--my conduct approved at the time--- ministerial approbation--paltry compensation at length given--ministerial corruption--proved by san martin--cause of official animosity to me--conclusion. appendix. preface. the first of these volumes forms a history of the consolidation of chilian independence, and of the subsequent liberation of peru--through the instrumentality of the chilian squadron under my command; a service which called forth from the governments and people of the liberated states the warmest expressions of gratitude to the naval service collectively, and to myself personally, as having planned and conducted the operations whereby these results were attained. it records also the strangely inconsistent fact that--beyond these marks of national approbation--neither chili nor peru ever awarded to the squadron or myself any more substantial reward--though, in a pecuniary sense, deeply indebted to us; for, during the greater portion of the war of independence, the subsistence of the crews, and the repairs and equipment of the chilian squadron were solely provided for by our own exertions, without cost to the government; since, in addition to the capture of spanish ships-of-war and merchant vessels--money, provisions, and stores to a great extent fell into our hands; all of which--though our own stipulated right--were voluntarily devoted to state exigencies, in the full conviction that, at the expiration of the war, the value of our sacrifices would, as a point of national honour, be returned to us by chili. as regards peru, our still unpaid for captures of ships-of-war formed her first naval force, for which the only requital has been, a vote of her first national assembly--almost its inaugural act--ascribing to me the double praise of her liberation from the spanish yoke, and of her subsequent deliverance from an intolerable military tyranny. the volume contains another point, which forms a yet stranger sequel to my services on the western shores of south america. after the expiration of thirty years, chili granted me the absurdly inadequate sum of £. , _in full of all my claims!_ and this, with the knowledge that, after my return to england i was involved in litigation on account of the legal seizure of vessels under the orders of her former government--by which i was subjected to a loss, directly and indirectly, of _more than three times the amount_. the chilian portion of this history, therefore, resolves itself into the fact, that not only did i reap no reward whatever, for the liberation of chili and peru, but that the independence of both countries was achieved _at a heavy pecuniary sacrifice to myself!_ in compensation for which, as well as for my recognised services--chili has thought its national honour sufficiently vindicated by allotting me _one-third of my losses only_, without other compensation of any kind! i regret to add, that my necessities at the time, arising for the most part from the pecuniary difficulties to which i had been subjected on chilian account, compelled me to accept the amount tendered. the second volume is of a character somewhat similar. it narrates the circumstances under which--by promises the most inviting, and stipulations the most binding--i was induced to accept the command, or rather organization of the first brazilian navy. it details the complete expulsion of all portuguese armaments, naval and military, from the eastern shores of the south american continent, by the squadron alone, wholly unaided by military co-operation; in the course of which arduous service, ships of war, merchant vessels, and valuable property to the extent of several millions of dollars were captured under the imperial order, and their value--in spite of previous stipulations--_refused to the captors_, on the falsely assumed ground that the provinces liberated were brazilian--though a brazilian military force had been recently beaten in an attempt to expel the portuguese--and though these provinces were, at the period of my assuming the command, in the uninterrupted occupation of the very portuguese fleets and armies afterwards expelled, it was falsely pretended that the property captured was not enemy's property--though expressly described as such in numerous imperial decrees--and more especially by the instructions given to me by his imperial majesty to seize or destroy it wherever found. it was, in short, subsequently decided by a court of admiralty--for the most part composed of portuguese members, acting under the influence of a portuguese faction in the administration--that neither myself nor the squadron were entitled to the prizes made--though most inconsistently, the same tribunal condemned the ships of war taken--as "_droits_" to the crown--for which, compensation was awarded to the squadron by his imperial majesty, but never paid by the ministers to whom the order was directed. not to anticipate the contents of the volume devoted to brazilian affairs. it being found after the expulsion of the enemy, that the stipulations made with myself were too binding to be easily set aside, several futile attempts were made to evade them, but this being found impossible, the unworthy expedient was resorted to of summarily dismissing me from the service, after the establishment of peace with portugal--an event entirely consequent on my individual services. by this expedient--of the rectitude or otherwise of which the reader will be able to judge from the documentary evidence laid before him--i was got rid of without compensation for my claims, which for thirty years were altogether repudiated; but, at the expiration of that period, fully recognised as _having been due from the beginning!_ the brazilian government, however, satisfied its own sense of justice by awarding me less than _one-half the simple interest of the amount stipulated in my patents_; thus retaining the whole of the principal admitted to be due. the preceding remarks form a _synopsis_ of my career on both sides of the continent of south america; the narrative, where dispute might arise, being carefully founded on, and in all cases accompanied by documentary evidence, which admits neither dispute nor contradiction. the trifling amount awarded by chili, would probably not have been granted at all, but for the earnest remonstrance of lord palmerston, warmly seconded by the efforts of the hon. mr. jerningham, british minister to the chilian republic, by whose joint exertions the government was induced to admit--that national honour was involved in fulfilling national obligations; though an infinitesimal view of either the one or the other was certainly taken when awarding me the insignificant sum previously mentioned. in brazil the case was somewhat different. it is to his present imperial majesty, don pedro ii. that i owe any investigation of my claims, by the appointment of a commission (_secçoes_), which reported that they ought never to have been withheld, as being my stipulated right. but even the limited amount awarded in consequence of this decision, was on the point of being further diminished one half by its projected payment in a depreciated currency--and, had it not been for the intervention of lord clarendon, and of the hon. mr. scarlett, british minister at rio de janeiro, of whose zealous exertions in my favour i cannot speak too warmly--this further injustice would have been perpetrated without the knowledge or sanction of his present imperial majesty. it may be asked, why--with the clear documentary evidence in my possession--and now adduced--i have for so many years endured an amount of obloquy and injustice, which might at any time have been set aside by its publication? the reply is obvious. the withholding of my claims by the governments of both sides the south american continent, and the ruinous expense to which i was put on account of chili, entailed upon me many years of pecuniary difficulty. to have told even the truth--unbacked as i then was, by the british government--would have been to have all my claims set at defiance, so that compulsory discretion was a sufficient reason for my silence. it was long before i could induce a british minister to satisfy himself of the rectitude of my conduct--the soundness of my claims--or the dishonesty of those who, believing me to be powerless, laughed at reiterated demands for my stipulated rights. yet more i have never sought from those to whom i gave liberty and dominion. there is, however, a reason for the present publication, of which i have never lost sight. amidst all the injustice which it has been my lot to sustain, i have ever determined--for the sake of my family--to whom my character is an heir-loom--that no obloquy shall follow me to the grave, for none have i merited. on the day these volumes see the light, this resolution will be partially fulfilled. on that day i shall have completed the eighty-third year of a career strangely chequered, yet not undistinguished; and, therefore, the opinions of either chilians or brazilians are now of small moment to me in comparison with a reputation which has been demmed worthy of belonging to history. none of the present ruling powers in either chili or brazil can possibly be offended with me for giving a guardedly temperate documentary narrative of what must hereafter form the basis of their national annals. i do not for a moment contemplate that men of enlightened views such as now direct the affairs of both countries have either part or sympathy with self-interested adventurers who in popular revolutions too often rise to the surface, and for a time make confusion worse confounded; till replaced--as a matter of course, no less than by necessity--by men of greater grasp of mind and more exalted aspirations. but this is as it maybe--my reputation as a british seaman is to me of the highest moment, and it shall not be sullied after my death by the aspersions of those who wilfully revenged the thwarting of their anti-imperial designs, by imputations which can alone enter into the minds of men devoid of generous impulses and therefore incapable of appreciating higher motives. i have not followed their example, but where it is necessary to bring forward such persons--they will be viewed through the medium of their own documents, which are incontestible and irresistible, and which would as easily convict me of untruth as they convict my maligners of practices unworthy the honour of a nation. to my own countrymen these volumes can scarcely be matter of indifference; though, perhaps, few reflect that the numerous fleets of british merchantmen which now frequent both shores of south america, are the consequence of the deliverance of these vast territories from an exclusive colonial yoke. it is true that england had previously formed a treaty with portugal, permitting english vessels to trade to her south american colonies, but such was the influence of portuguese merchants with the local governments, that it was nearly inoperative; so that, practically, the portuguese were in the exclusive possession of that commerce which my expulsion of the fleet and army of the mother country unreservedly threw open to british enterprise. the same, even in a higher degree, may be said with regard to chili and peru. yet, scarcely had my mission to chili become known, than the influence of spain induced the british ministry to pass a "foreign enlistment act," the penal clauses of which were evidently aimed at me, for having entered into the service of unacknowledged governments without permission--though i had shortly before been most unjustly driven from the service of my native country. in blind animosity towards me, my former english persecutors failed to perceive the advantage to british commerce, of freeing both sides of south america from lingering war and internal dissension. an amusing instance of this occurred on my return to england. having occasion to wait upon the then attorney-general relative to a patent which i had in hand, he brusquely inquired "_whether i was not afraid to appear before him?_" on my replying that "i was not aware of having reason to fear appearing in the presence of any man," he told me the question had been officially put to him, whether i could be punished under the "foreign enlistment act," for the part i had taken in the liberation of chili, peru, and brazil? to this i replied, that "if government was indiscreet enough further to persecute me for having thrown open to british commerce the largest field for enterprise of modern times, they could take what steps they chose, for that i, having accepted service in south america before the passing of the act, was not afraid of the consequences of having infringed its provisions." it is almost needless to say that no such prosecution was instituted, though the will was good, despite the national benefits conferred. i will not enter farther into the subject in a preface to volumes which themselves form only a summary of events in which i was a principal actor, but at the same time, one, which i hope will prove satisfactory and decisive. it would have been easy to have dilated the narrative, but my object is solely to leave behind me a faithful record of events which must one day become history, and there is no history like documentary history. to those high personages who have advocated my cause with other nations, the present volume will give satisfaction, as affording additional proof that their advocacy rested upon no visionary basis. to the members of the press, who have adopted the same views, this exposition will be equally satisfactory. to all these i owe the thanks of recognising in me, a love for that service, from which--for a time i was unjustly expelled. it is my intention, if god spare my life, to add to these memoirs a narrative of my former experience in the british navy, and, what may be of greater utility, an exposition of that which, from jealousy and other causes no less unworthy, _i was not permitted to effect_. to these i shall add a few remarks upon my connexion with the liberation of greece, developing some remarkable facts, which have as yet escaped the notice of historians. these reminiscences of the past will, at least, be instructive to future generations and if any remarks of mine will conduce to the permanent greatness and security of my country, i shall deem the residue of my life well spent in recording them. at my advanced age, such a task as that now partially executed, would, perhaps, have presented insuperable difficulties, but for the assistance rendered me by mr. earp, who, with great perseverance, has unravelled--what, in the lapse of time, had become the almost inextricable confusion of my papers. that, however, has, with his assistance, been accomplished in such a way as to base upon original documents every incident contained in the work--the more important of these documents being adduced, so as to admit of neither doubt nor question. the same course will be pursued in the forthcoming english portion of my career, with a result, i trust, equally clear and convincing. dundonald. chapter i. invitation to take command of chilian navy--arrival at valparaiso--first expedition to peru--attack on spanish shipping at callao--departure for huacho--capture of spanish convoys of money--paita taken--return to valparaiso to reorganize the squadron--offer to give up my share of prizemoney to the republic--this offer declined by the supreme director--popular congratulations--attempt on lady cochrane's life. in the year , don jose alvarez, accredited agent of the government of chili--as yet unacknowledged by european powers--applied to me to undertake the organization of a naval force in that country, capable of contending against the spaniards; who, notwithstanding the successful revolt of the chilenos by land, still maintained their predominance on the waters of the pacific. having at that time no professional employment, in consequence of my unjust expulsion from the british naval service, by the machinations of the powerful political party which i had offended--and finding that chili was making great efforts to create a navy, in furtherance of which object a war steamer had been placed on the stocks in london--i accepted the invitation, engaging to superintend her building and equipment, and to take her to valparaiso when completed. meanwhile, alvarez received orders from his government, that, if his proposals had been accepted, no time must be lost in my departure, as the position of chili was critical, the spaniards threatening valparaiso by sea, and being still in possession of the continent from conception to chiloe, where they were organizing the savage indian tribes to carry desolation into the newly emancipated provinces. reliable information had also been received, that the court of madrid was making strenuous efforts to recover its lost possessions by a powerful reinforcement to its pacific squadron, against which the chileno ships of war, in their present state, were not in a condition to contend. alvarez therefore begged me not to wait for the steamer, the completion and equipment of which he would hasten, but at once to sail for chili in the _rose_ merchantman, then on the eve of departure. knowing that the whole of peru was in the hands of the spaniards, and that they were also in possession of valdivia, the strongest fortified harbour to the southward--from both of which there would be considerable difficulty in dislodging them after the arrival of the anticipated reinforcements--i embarked without delay; and on the th of november, , landed at valparaiso, accompanied by lady cochrane and our two children. our reception, both from the authorities and the people, was enthusiastic, the supreme director, general o'higgins, coming from the seat of government, santiago, to welcome us. this excellent man was the son of an irish gentleman of distinction in the spanish service, who had occupied the important position of viceroy of peru. the son had, however, joined the patriots, and whilst second in command had not long before inflicted a signal defeat upon the spaniards in the interior; in reward for which service the gratitude of the nation had elevated him to the supreme directorate. a variety of _fêtes_ was given at valparaiso in honour of our arrival, these being prolonged for so many days as to amount to a waste of time. the same scenes were, however, re-enacted at the distant capital, whither the supreme director insisted on taking us, till i had to remind his excellency that our purpose was rather fighting than feasting. nevertheless, the reception we had met impressed me with so high a sense of chilian hospitality, that, heartbroken as i had been by the infamous persecution which had driven me from the british navy, i decided upon chili as my future home; this decision, however, being only an exemplification of the proverb _"l'homme propose--dieu dispose."_ the chilian squadron had just returned from a successful cruise, the gallant admiral blanco encalada, who commanded it, having captured a noble spanish -gun frigate, the _maria isabel_, in the bay of talcahuano. the squadron consisted of the recently captured spanish frigate, now named the _o'higgins_, in honour of the supreme director; the _san martin_, guns, formerly the _cumberland_ indiaman, which had been bought into the service; the _lautaro_, guns, also a purchased indiaman; the _galvarino_, guns, recently the british sloop of war _hecate_; the _chacabuco_, guns; and the _aracauno_, guns; a force which, though deficient in organization and equipment, was very creditable to the energy of a newly emancipated people. a few days after my arrival a commission was issued, conferring upon me the title of "vice-admiral of chili, admiral and commander in chief of the naval forces of the republic." admiral blanco, with patriotic liberality, relinquishing his position in my favour, though, from his recent achievement, justly entitled to retain it; paying me also the additional compliment of personally announcing to the ships' companies the change which had been effected. my advent was regarded by the captains of the squadron with great jealousy, the more so, as i had brought with me from england officers upon whom i could place implicit reliance. it so happened that two of the chilian commanders, captains guise and spry, had shortly before arrived from england with the _hecate_, which had been sold out of the british navy, and bought by them on speculation. the buenos ayrean government having declined to purchase her, they had brought her on to chili, where the government took her and received her former owners into its service. these officers, together with captain worcester, a north american, got up a cabal, the object of which was to bring about a divided command between myself and admiral blanco, or, as they expressed it--"two commodores and no cochrane." finding that admiral blanco would not listen to this, they persuaded one or two of the inferior ministers--whose jealousy it was not difficult to excite--that it was dangerous and discreditable to a republican government to allow a nobleman and a foreigner to command its navy, and still more so, to allow him to retain his title; the object being to place admiral blanco in the chief command, with myself as his second--by which arrangement, as he had not been accustomed to manage british seamen, they expected to control him as they pleased. admiral blanco, however, insisted on reversing our positions, offering his services as second in command, in which arrangement i gladly acquiesced. this insignificant squabble would not be worth narrating, but for its bearing on subsequent events; as well as enabling me to confer a pleasing testimony to the patriotic disinterestedness of admiral blanco, who is still one of the brightest ornaments of the republic which he so eminently aided to establish. on the nd of december my flag was hoisted on board the _o'higgins_, after which the greatest despatch was used to get the squadron ready for sea. anxious to avoid delay, on the th of january i sailed with four ships only, the _o'higgins, san martin, lautaro,_ and _chacabuco_; leaving admiral blanco to follow with the _gaharino, aracauno,_ and _puyrredon_. a mutiny having broken out on board the _chacabuco_, it became necessary to enter coquimbo, where the leading mutineers were landed, tried, and punished. i shall here narrate an incident which occurred on our departure. lady cochrane, with her children, had returned from santiago to valparaiso, to take leave of me on embarkation. she had just gone ashore, and the last gun had been fired to summon all hands on board, when, hearing a loud _hurrah_ near the house where she resided, she went to the window, and saw our little boy--now lord cochrane, but then scarcely more than five years old--mounted on the shoulders of my flag-lieutenant, waving his tiny cap over the heads of the people, and crying out with all his might, _"viva la patria!"_ the mob being in a frenzied state of excitement. the child had slipped out of lady cochrane's house with the officer, insisting on being carried to his father; with which request the lieutenant, nothing loth, complied. to the horror of lady cochrane, she saw her boy hurried down to the beach amidst the shouts of the multitude, and, before she could interfere, placed in a boat and rowed off to the flag-ship, which was at the time under weigh, so that he could not be sent ashore again; there being no alternative but to take him with us, though without clothes--which were afterwards made for him by the sailors--and with no other attendance save that which their rough but kindly natures could administer. on our way along the coast we received information that the _antonio_ was about to sail from callao for cadiz, with a considerable amount of treasure, so that, in the hope of intercepting her, we cruized just out of sight of the port till the st of february. as she did not make her appearance, preparations were made to put in execution a plan which had been formed to attack the spanish shipping during the carnival, when, in the height of that festival, less vigilance than ordinary might reasonably be expected. we had previously ascertained that the naval force in the harbour consisted of the frigates _esmeralda_ and _venganza_, a corvette, three brigs of war, a schooner, twenty-eight gun-boats, and six heavily-armed merchantmen; the whole being moored close in under the batteries, which mounted upwards of guns, whilst the aggregate force of the shipping was guns, as appeared from an official account of their armament. a direct attack with our small force seemed, therefore, a thing not at present to be attempted; but in its place i had formed the design to cut out the frigates during the carnival, which terminated on the rd. knowing that two north american ships of war were daily expected at callao, it was arranged to take in the _o'higgins_ and _lautaro_, under american colours, leaving the _san martin_ out of sight behind san lorenzo, and if the _ruse_ were successful, to make a feint of sending a boat ashore with despatches, and in the meantime suddenly to dash at the frigates, and cut them out. unfortunately, one of those thick fogs, so common on the peruvian coast, arose, in which the _lautaro_ parted company, and did not rejoin the flag-ship for four days afterwards, when the carnival being at an end, our plan was rendered abortive. the fog, which in the climate of peru often continues for a considerable length of time, lasted till the th, when hearing heavy firing, and imagining that one of the ships was engaged with the enemy, i stood with the flag-ship into the bay; the other ships, imagining the same thing, also steered in the direction of the firing, when the fog clearing for a moment, we discovered each other, as well as a strange sail near us; which, when taken possession of by the flag-ship, proved to be a spanish gun-boat, with a lieutenant and twenty men, who, on being made prisoners, informed us that the firing was a salute in honour of the viceroy, who had that morning been on a visit of inspection to the batteries and shipping, and was then on board the brig of war _pezuela_, which we saw crowding sail in the direction of the batteries. the fog again coming on, suggested to me the possibility of a direct attack, which, if not altogether successful, would give the spaniards such an idea of our determination of purpose, as would inspire them with respect for the chilian squadron, and might induce their ships to refrain from the protection of their commerce; in which case a blockade would prevent the necessity of separating our small force in chase of them, should they evince a desire of getting to sea. accordingly, still maintaining our disguise under american colours, the _o'higgins_ and _lautaro_ stood towards the batteries, narrowly escaping going ashore in the fog. the viceroy having no doubt witnessed the capture of the gun-boat, had, however, provided for our reception, the garrison being at their guns, and the crews of the ships of war at their quarters. notwithstanding the great odds, i determined to persist in an attack, as our withdrawing without firing a shot, would produce an effect upon the minds of the spaniards the reverse of that intended; having sufficient experience in war to know that moral effect, even if the result of a degree of temerity, will not unfrequently supply the place of superior force. the wind falling light, i did not venture on laying the flag-ship and the _lautaro_ alongside the spanish frigates, as at first intended, but anchored with springs on our cables, abreast of the shipping, which was arranged in a half-moon of two lines, the rear rank being judiciously disposed so as to cover the intervals of the ships in the front line. a dead calm succeeding, we were for two hours exposed to a heavy fire from the batteries, in addition to that from the two frigates, the brigs _pezuela_ and _maypeu_, and seven or eight gun-boats; nevertheless, the northern angle of one of the principal forts was silenced by our fire. a breeze springing up, we weighed anchor, standing to and fro in front of the batteries, and returning their fire; when captain guise, who commanded the _lautaro_, being severely wounded, that ship sheered off, and never again came within range. as from want of wind, or doubt of the result, neither the _san martin_ nor _chacabuco_ had ever got within fire, the flag-ship was thus left alone to continue the action; but as this, from want of co-operation on the part of the other ships, was useless, i was reluctantly compelled to relinquish the attack, and withdrew to the island of san lorenzo, about three miles distant from the forts; the spaniards, though nearly quadruple our numbers, exclusive of their gun-boats, not venturing to follow us. the annexed was the spanish naval force present: _frigates_.--esmeralda, guns; venganza, guns; sebastiana, guns. _brigs_.--maypeu, guns; pezuela, guns; potrilla, guns; and one, name unknown, guns. _schooner_, name unknown, one long , and culverins. _armed merchantmen_.--resolution, guns; cleopatra, guns; la focha, guns; guarmey, guns; fernando, guns; san antonio, guns. total, fourteen vessels, of which ten were ready for sea; and twenty-seven gun-boats. in this action my little boy had a narrow escape. as the story has been told by several chilian writers somewhat incorrectly, i will recapitulate the circumstances. when the firing commenced, i had placed the boy in my after-cabin, locking the door upon him; but not liking the restriction, he contrived to get through the quarter gallery window, and joined me on deck, refusing to go down again. as i could not attend to him, he was permitted to remain, and, in a miniature midshipman's uniform, which the seamen had made for him, was busying himself in handing powder to the gunners. whilst thus employed, a round shot took off the head of a marine close to him, scattering the unlucky man's brains in his face. instantly recovering his self-possession, to my great relief, for believing him killed, i was spell-bound with agony, he ran up to me exclaiming, "i am not hurt, papa: the shot did not touch me; jack says, the ball is not made that can kill mamma's boy." i ordered him to be carried below; but, resisting with all his might, he was permitted to remain on deck during the action. our loss in this affair was trifling, considering that we were under the fire of more than two hundred guns; but the ships were so placed that the enemy's frigates lay between us and the fortress, so that the shot of the latter only told upon our rigging, which was considerably damaged. the action having been commenced in a fog, the spaniards imagined that all the chilian vessels were engaged, and were not a little surprised, as it again cleared, to find that their own frigate, the quondam _maria isabella_, was their only opponent. so much were they dispirited by this discovery, that as soon as possible after the close of the contest, their ships of war were dismantled, the top masts and spars being formed into a double boom across the anchorage so as to prevent approach. the spaniards were also previously unaware of my being in command of the chilian squadron, but on becoming acquainted with this fact, bestowed upon me the not very complimentary title of "el diablo," by which i was afterwards known amongst them. the title might have been rendered more appropriate, had my efforts been better seconded by the other vessels. on the following day, having repaired damages, the flag-ship and _lautaro_ again went in and commenced a destructive fire upon the spanish gun-boats, the neutral vessels in the harbour removing out of the line of shot. as the gun-boats withdrew to a position closer under the batteries, where we could make little impression upon them without getting severely punished by the fire of the fortress, we contented ourselves with the demonstration made. on the nd of march, i despatched capt. foster with the gun-boat captured from the spaniards, and the launches of the _o'higgins_ and _lautaro_--to take possession of the island of san lorenzo, when an unworthy instance of spanish cruelty presented itself in the spectacle of thirty-seven chilian soldiers taken prisoners eight years before. the unhappy men had ever since been forced to work in chains under the supervision of a military guard--now prisoners in turn; their sleeping place during the whole of this period being a filthy shed, in which they were every night chained by one leg to an iron bar. the joy of the poor fellows at their deliverance, after all hope had fled, can scarcely be conceived. from the liberated patriots and the spanish prisoners, i learned that in lima there were a number of chilian officers and seamen taken on board the _maypeu_, whose condition was even more deplorable than their own, the fetters on their legs having worn their ancles to the bone, whilst their commander, by a refinement of cruelty, had for more than a year been lying under sentence of death as a rebel. upon this, i sent a flag of truce to the viceroy, don joaquim de la pezuela, requesting him to permit the prisoners to return to their families, in exchange for the spanish prisoners on board the squadron, and others in chili--where there were great numbers, who were comparatively well treated. the viceroy denied the charge of ill-treatment--asserted his right, if he thought proper, to regard his prisoners as pirates; retorting that after the battle of maypeu, general san martin had treated the spanish commissioner as a spy, and had repeatedly threatened him with death. the exchange of prisoners was uncourteously refused, the viceroy concluding his reply with an expression of surprise that a british nobleman should command the maritime forces of a government "unacknowledged by all the powers of the globe." to this latter observation, i considered it incumbent upon me to reply that "a british nobleman was a free man, and therefore had a right to adopt any country which was endeavouring to re-establish the rights of aggrieved humanity; and that i had hence adopted the cause of chili, with the same freedom of judgment that i had previously exercised when refusing the offer of an admiral's rank in spain, made to me not long before, by the spanish ambassador in london;" this offer having been made by the duke de san carlos, in the name of ferdinand the seventh. our means being clearly inadequate to any decisive attack on the spanish ships of war, i resolved to try the effect of an explosion vessel, and accordingly established a laboratory on the island of san lorenzo, under the superintendence of major miller, the commandant of marines. whilst engaged in this duty, that able and gallant officer was so severely burned by an accidental explosion, as to render his further services on this occasion unavailable. on the nd of march--our preparations being completed--we again stood towards the batteries, the flag-ship going close in under the combined fire of the forts and shipping, in order to divert the attention of the enemy from the explosion vessel, which was set adrift in the direction of the frigates, but, unfortunately, when within musket shot of them, she was struck by a round shot and foundered, causing complete failure in our object. the _san martin_ and the _lautaro_ keeping far astern, there was no alternative but to withdraw from further attack, leaving the explosion vessel to her fate. as other attempts, with our want of means, would answer no better purpose than useless demonstration, and as the ships were now destitute of water and provisions, we were obliged to fall back upon huacho, leaving the _chacabuco_ to watch the movements of the enemy. the inhabitants of huacho, who were well disposed to co-operate in any effort for the emancipation of peru, afforded us every assistance in provisioning and watering the ships, for which the commandant, cevallos, shot two influential persons who had been foremost in aiding us, and severely punished others; at the same time seizing our water casks, and sending me an insolent letter of defiance, on which a party of seamen and marines was landed and put the garrison to flight; the officer commanding the party however withdrew from pursuit at hearing salutes fired on the arrival of admiral blanco with the _galvarino_ and _puyrredon_, mistaking this for an engagement with a newly-arrived enemy. the whole of the government property found in the spanish custom-house was captured. the people of huacho having volunteered information that a quantity of specie belonging to the philippine company had been placed for safety on board a vessel in the river barrança, she was forthwith overhauled, and the treasure transferred to the flag-ship. leaving admiral blanco at huacho with the _san martin_ and _puyrredon_, on the th of april we sailed for supe, with the _o'higgins_ and _galvarino_, having previously ascertained that a sum of money destined for the payment of spanish troops was on its way from lima to guambucho; on the following day a party of marines being landed at patavilca, captured the treasure, amounting to , dollars, together with a quantity of military stores. on the th, having received further information that the philippine company had placed other treasure on board the french brig, _gazelle_, at guambucho, we sailed for that place, and, on the th, the seamen of the _o'higgins_ examined her, and brought off an additional sum of , dollars. the secret of our obtaining possession of these and other convoys of spanish money along the coast, was, that i paid the inhabitants highly for information relative to their transmission, and was thus enabled to seize the treasure even in the interior of the country. as the chilian ministry subsequently refused to allow me "secret service money," these, disbursements were actually made at my own expense. it was also my object to make friends of the peruvian people, by adopting towards them a conciliatory course, and by strict care that none but spanish property should be taken, whilst their own was in all cases respected. confidence was thus inspired, and the universal dissatisfaction with spanish colonial rule speedily became changed into an earnest desire to be freed from it. had it not been for this good understanding with the inhabitants, i should scarcely have ventured to detach marines and seamen for operations at a distance into the country, as was subsequently the case; the people giving me the most reliable information of every movement of the enemy. on the th, we arrived at paita, where the spaniards had established a garrison. a party of marines and seamen was again landed, on which the enemy fled from the fort, and a quantity of brass ordnance, spirits, and military stores, was captured. contrary to strict orders, some marines stole a number of valuable church ornaments, but on the complaint of the authorities i caused them to be restored, punishing the offenders, and at the same time presenting the priests with a thousand dollars to repair the damage done in their churches; this act, though far from conciliating the priests--who dreaded chilian success--adding greatly to our popularity amongst the inhabitants, which was my object in bestowing the amount. our thus refraining from plunder was almost beyond the comprehension of a people who had bitter experience of spanish rapacity, whilst the undisciplined chilenos, who formed the greater portion of the squadron, as little comprehended why their plundering propensities should be restrained. on the th of may, i proceeded with the flag-ship alone to reconnoitre callao, having learned that the _chacabuco_ and _puyrredon_ had been chased off the port by the spanish frigates. finding that these were again moored under shelter of the batteries, we returned to supe, convinced that our previous visit to callao had proved sufficient to deter them from putting to sea for the protection of their own coasts; this, indeed, forming my chief reason for having persisted in attacks which, with our small force, could answer no other purpose; but this alone was an advantage gained, as it enabled us to communicate freely with the inhabitants on the coast, and to ascertain their sentiments, which--from our forbearance, no less than command of the sea--were almost uniformly in favour of co-operation with chili for their emancipation. both at lima and on the coast, the best effect was produced by the circulation of the following proclamation:-- "compatriots! the repeated echoes of liberty in south america have been heard with pleasure in every part of enlightened europe, more especially in great britain, where i, unable to resist the desire of joining in such a cause, determined to take part in it. the republic of chili has confided to me the command of her naval forces. to these must the dominion of the pacific be consigned. by their co-operation must your chains be broken. doubt not but that the day is at hand on which, with the annihilation of despotism and your now degraded condition, you will rise to the rank of a free nation, to which your geographical position and the course of events naturally call you." "but it is your duty to co-operate in preparing for this success, and to remove obstacles, under the assurance that you will receive the most efficacious assistance from the government of chili, and your true friend, cochrane." this proclamation was accompanied by another from the chilian government, declaratory of the sincerity of its intentions, so that these combined caused us to be everywhere received as liberators. on the th, we returned to supe, and having learned that a spanish force was in the vicinity, a detachment of marines and seamen was, after dark, pushed through a heavy surf, and landed, in the hope of taking them by surprise. but the enemy was on the alert, and on the following morning our little party fell into an ambuscade, which would have proved serious, had not major miller, who commanded the marines, promptly formed his men, who, attacking in turn, soon put the enemy to flight at the point of the bayonet, capturing their colours, and the greater portion of their arms. on the th, a detachment of spanish troops arrived from lima under major camba, who, notwithstanding his superiority of numbers, did not venture to attack our small party, which withdrew to the ships with a number of cattle taken from the spaniards; camba writing to the viceroy so effective a description of his having "driven the enemy into the sea," that he was immediately promoted. not to enter into further details of our visits to other parts of the coast, where similar captures of provisions and military stores, &c. were effected--it being my practice to compel the spaniards to supply all the wants of the squadron, nothing being ever taken from the natives without payment,--i resolved--as our means were clearly incommensurate with our main object--to return to valparaiso, for the purpose of organizing a more effective force, and on the th of june reached that port, where we found admiral blanco with the _san martin_ and _chacabuco_, he having been obliged to raise the blockade of callao for want of provisions; a step with which the government was highly displeased, though with more reason to blame its own negligence or want of foresight in not providing them. admiral blanco was nevertheless put under arrest, but a court of inquiry being held, he was honourably acquitted. the objects of the first expedition had been fully accomplished, viz. to reconnoitre, with a view to future operations, when the squadron should be rendered efficient; but more especially to ascertain the inclinations of the peruvians with regard to their desire for emancipation--a point of the first importance to chili, as being obliged to be constantly on the alert for her own newly-acquired liberties, so long as the spaniards were in undisturbed possession of peru. to the accomplishment of these objects had been superadded the restriction of the spanish naval force to the shelter of the forts, the defeat of their military forces wherever encountered, and the capture of no inconsiderable amount of treasure. it had, however, become evident to me that the passive system of defence which the spaniards adopted in callao, would render it a difficult matter to get at them without more effective means than the guns of the ships, which were greatly inferior in number to those of the enemy's fortress and shipping combined, whilst their experience in the use of artillery was greater than that of our crews. the supreme director having paid a visit to the squadron--on the st of june i addressed to him a letter, stating my apprehension that the finances of the government might be limited, and that i would gladly give up to the exigencies of the republic the whole of my share of prize-money taken during our recent cruize, provided it were applied to the manufacture of rockets. this offer was declined, with a compliment from the supreme director, on the advantage already gained, by compelling the spaniards ignominiously to shut "themselves up in their port, in spite of their numerical superiority." complimentary addresses from the chilian people were also presented to me in profusion, and a public panegyric was pronounced at the national institute of the capital, upon the service rendered; but as this was only a recapitulation of what has been already narrated--conveyed in flowery rhetorical phrases--in the use of which the occidentals are almost as expert, and often as exaggerated, as are the orientals--i shall refrain from giving it. suffice it to say, that the people were not a little delighted with the plain facts, that whereas only a few months before theirs had been the blockaded port, they were now able to beard the enemy in his stronghold, till then believed--both by spaniards and chilians--to be inviolable; and that, with only four ships on our part, the spanish viceroy had been shut up in his capital, and his convoys, both by sea and land, intercepted, whilst his ships of war did not venture to emerge from their shelter under the batteries of callao. the manufacture of rockets was now carried on in earnest, under the superintendence of mr. goldsack, an eminent engineer, who had been engaged in england for the purpose. from a mistaken notion of parsimony, the labour of constructing and filling them was allotted to a number of spanish prisoners, with what result will appear in the sequel. in these and other preparations two months were consumed, in the course of which another vessel--an american built corvette--was added to the squadron, and named by the supreme director the _independencia_. during my absence lady cochrane chiefly resided at valparaiso, where she diligently employed herself in promoting objects essential to the welfare of the squadron; after a time removing to a delightful country house at quillota, where her life was endangered by a ruffian in the interest of the spanish faction. this man, having gained admission to her private apartment, threatened her with instant death if she would not divulge the secret orders which had been given to me. on her declaring firmly that she would not divulge anything, a struggle took place for a paper which she picked off a table; and before her attendants could come to her assistance she received a severe cut from a stiletto. the assassin was seized, condemned, and ordered for execution, without the last offices of the catholic religion. in the dead of the night preceding the day fixed for his execution, lady cochrane was awoke by loud lamentations beneath her window. on sending to ascertain the cause, the wretched wife of the criminal was found imploring her ladyship's intercession that her husband should not be deprived of the benefits of confession and absolution. forgiving the atrocity of the act, lady cochrane, on the following morning used all her influence with the authorities, not for this alone, but to save the man's life, and at length wrung from them a reluctant consent to commute his punishment to banishment for life. chapter ii. second expedition to peru--disappointment at not being provided with troops--failure of rockets--departure for arica--capture of pisco--capture of spanish ships at puna--determine to make an attempt on valdivia--arrival off that port, and capture of spanish brig of war potrillo--troops obtained from conception--flag-ship nearly wrecked--attack on forts, and conquest of valdivia. on the th of september, , i again sailed for the peruvian coast, with admiral blanco as second in command. the squadron consisted of the _o'higgins, san martin, lautaro, independencia_, and _puyrredon_, the _galvarino_ and _araucano_ not being in readiness. two vessels accompanied the squadron, to be afterwards fitted up as fire-ships. the government was exceedingly anxious that some decisive blow should be at once struck. with the exception of the rockets, the squadron was in little better condition than before, a loan having failed, whilst , dollars only were subscribed by the merchants. the crews for the most part consisted of _cholos_, or native peasants, whom it was difficult to shape into good seamen, though they fought gallantly when well led. the officers were nearly all english or north american, this being a redeeming feature, but very few of them possessed the tact to bring up the men to anything like a seaman-like standard; a by no means easy task however, as a considerable portion of those embarked did duty both as marines and seamen. i begged of the government to supply me with , troops, asserting that even with that number of men it would be possible to take the castles of callao, and destroy the whole of the spanish shipping in the harbour. i was assured that this force had been provided, and was in readiness to embark at coquimbo, where, on my arrival on the th, in place of , troops i found only !--and these in so ragged a condition, that a subscription of dollars was raised by the inhabitants, and given to major miller to buy clothing for them. i was so much annoyed at this, as to be on the point of returning to valparaiso to throw up my commission; but, reflecting that the squadron was in possession of rockets, and that the government might even yet forward a military force, i made up my mind to proceed, and on the th the squadron again came to an anchor in callao roads. the two following days were occupied in making rocket rafts, and in getting ready life-preservers for the men, in case of their falling from the rafts. on the st of october the _galvarino, puyrredon_, and _araucano_, stood into the bay to reconnoitre, and sustained a heavy fire from the shore, upon which i ordered the _independencia_ to their aid; but that vessel was brought to an anchor when at the distance of several miles from them. on the same day lieutenant-colonel charles, a most able and gallant officer, reconnoitred in a boat, and made trial of some rockets, upon which he reported unfavourably. in this affair the mast of the _araucano_ was struck by a round shot, and severely damaged--the circumstance being merely mentioned to shew the state in which the squadron was equipped; the only means of repairing the damage being by fishing the mast with an anchor-stock taken from the _lautaro_, whilst an axe had to be borrowed for the purpose from the flag-ship! on the nd, the _araucano_ again went in, accompanied by a squadron of boats under the command of captain guise, and fired several rockets, but with no perceptible effect--the spaniards having unrigged their ships; the brig sustained considerable damage from the firing of the forts and shipping. after dark, an attack by rockets and shells was arranged, the _galvarino_ taking in tow a mortar raft, under the command of major miller, and placing it, under a heavy fire, within half a mile of the enemy's batteries. the _puyrredon_ followed with another raft, carrying the shells and magazine; the _araucano_ took charge of a rocket-raft, under captain hind, whilst the _independencia_ towed in a second rocket-raft, under lieut-colonel charles, the rest of the squadron remaining at anchor. great expectations were formed, as well by myself as the whole squadron, as to the effect to be produced by these destructive missiles, but they were doomed to disappointment, the rockets turning out utterly useless. some, in consequence of the badness of the solder used, bursting from the expansive force of the charge before they left the raft, and setting fire to others--captain hind's raft being blown up from this cause, thus rendering it useless, besides severely burning him and thirteen men: others took a wrong direction in consequence of the sticks not having been formed of proper wood, whilst the greater portion would not ignite at all from a cause which was only discovered when too late. it has been stated in the last chapter that the filling of the tubes was, from motives of parsimony, entrusted to spanish prisoners, who, as was found on examination, had embraced every opportunity of inserting handfulls of sand, sawdust, and even manure, at intervals in the tubes, thus impeding the progress of combustion, whilst in the majority of instances they had so thoroughly mixed the neutralizing matter with the ingredients supplied, that the charge would not ignite at all, the result being complete failure in the object of the expedition. it was impossible to blame the spanish prisoners in the chilian arsenal for their loyalty, but to me their ingenuity was a bitter ground for disappointment, as with useless rockets we were no better off than in the first expedition; nor indeed so well off, for in the interval the spaniards had so strengthened their booms at the anchorage, as to render it impossible for the ships to get at them--whilst, by constant practice, their fire had acquired a precision which our crews could not equal. the only damage effected was by major miller's mortar, the shells sinking a gun-boat, and doing some execution in the forts and amongst the shipping. as daylight appeared, i ordered the whole of the rafts to be towed off, there being no further use in their remaining exposed to the heavy fire of the batteries. as it was, our loss was trifling, only about twenty being killed and wounded; but amongst these i had to regret the death of a promising young officer, lieut. bealey, who was cut in two by a round shot. the failure of the rockets was very unfairly attributed by the chilian government to mr. goldsack, whereas the fault lay in itself for having neither supplied him with proper workmen nor materials. from the scarcity and high, price of spelter, he had also been compelled to make use of an inferior solder for the tubes, and thus the saving of a few hundred dollars frustrated the success of a great object. the consequence to poor goldsack was utter ruin, though of his capability there could be no question, he having for many years been one of the principal assistants of sir w. congreve at woolwich. by the th, one of the explosion vessels was completed, and i resolved to try her effect on the booms and shipping, for which purpose she was placed in charge of lieut. morgell, who carried her in gallant style towards the enemy's shipping, but the wind falling calm, she became a target for their really excellent practice, and was in a short time riddled through and through. as the spaniards began to fire red-hot shot, lieut. morgell was compelled to abandon her, first setting fire to the train, then turning her adrift, thus causing her to explode, though at a distance which did no damage to the enemy. whilst this was going on, a strange sail was reported off the bay, and the _araucano_ went in chase, captain crosbie returning the next morning with the intelligence that she was a frigate. upon this, the squadron got under weigh, in pursuit, when she made all sail, and as i did not deem it expedient to quit the bay of callao, the chase was given up, and we returned in the evening to our former anchorage. it was afterwards learned that she was the _prueba_, of guns, just arrived from cadiz; whence she had convoyed another ship, with a cargo valued at half a million of dollars; this ship contriving to slip into callao during the short absence of the squadron in pursuit of the frigate, so that we lost both prizes. it was useless to remain any longer at callao, as my instructions peremptorily commanded me not to approach with the ships within range of the enemy's batteries, nor to make any attempt on their squadron, except with the rockets and fire-ships. i was moreover ordered to return within a given time to valparaiso, these restrictions being insisted on by the minister of marine, ostensibly from what he considered my temerity in having attacked the forts and shipping at callao on the first expedition--but really, from his own narrow-minded jealousy, that i, a foreigner, should effect anything which might give me undue prominence in the estimation of the chilian people. i had, however, other reasons for quitting callao. the newly-arrived spanish frigate _prueba_, was at large, and as i had reason to believe, was sheltering at guayaquil, from which port i made up my mind to dislodge her. the government had not sent any of the promised supplies for the squadron, which was running short of provisions, so that it was necessary to resort to my former practice of compelling the spaniards to furnish them; whilst as no troops had been supplied, it was clear that there had never been an intention of sending any; the assurance of the minister of marine that they were waiting for me at coquimbo being only a _ruse_ on his part to get me to sea without a military force. we now received intelligence that the _prueba_ had been accompanied from spain by two line of battle ships, and that these were daily expected at arica, whither i proceeded in quest of them, but was disappointed in not finding them. it was subsequently learned, that although they had sailed from cadiz, in company with the _prueba_, they never reached the pacific, one of them, the _europe_, being pronounced unseaworthy on crossing the line; and the other, the _elmo_, foundering on the passage round cape horn! on the th of november, three hundred and fifty troops--now brought by the experience and zeal of lieut.-col. charles into a tolerably soldier-like condition--were distributed on board the _lautaro, galvarino_, and the remaining fire-ship, and were despatched to pisco, under the command of captain guise, for supplies to be taken from the spaniards, the troops being under the orders of lieut.-col. charles, and the marines under the direction of major miller. as it was not improbable that the expected spanish ships would make for callao, whilst it was more than probable that the _prueha_ would again attempt to run in, i therefore proceeded towards that port, and on the th anchored at san lorenzo, the united states frigate _macedonia_ being also at anchor there. the presence of the latter put the spaniards on their mettle, for shortly after our arrival, they made a show of sending twenty-seven gun-boats to attack us, not however, venturing to get their frigates under weigh. preparations being made on our part to cut off the gun-boats, they quickly retreated, to the no small amusement of the north americans, for whose edification the spectacle had been exhibited. i was not mistaken in the expectation that the _prueba_ might again attempt to take shelter under the forts of callao. on her appearance, we immediately gave chase, but she once more escaped in the night. on my return, i fell in with, and captured her boat, which had been sent ashore with despatches to the viceroy, and from the information gained from the crew, i now felt certain that she would take refuge in guayaquil, whither i determined to follow her. before doing so in the narrative, the success of the expedition despatched to pisco must be mentioned. it was the intention of the officers commanding to land in the night, and thus take the garrison by surprise; but this plan was frustrated by the wind dying away, so that the landing could not be effected till broad daylight, when the garrison, supported by field artillery and cavalry, were prepared to receive them. nothing daunted, the patriot troops landed without firing a shot, through the fire of the guns, whilst the spanish infantry from house tops, and the church tower, thinned their ranks at every step. at length it came to the bayonet, for which the spaniards did not wait, but rushed into the square of the town, after having mortally wounded the brave col. charles. major miller instantly followed, when their last volley in the square, before flying in all directions, brought down him also, with three bullets in his body, so that his life was despaired of. the ships remained for four days, during which they obtained all they wanted; but , gallons of spirits, placed on the beach for shipment, was destroyed by order of captain guise, in consequence of his not being able to control the men, who, from the facility of obtaining liquor, were becoming unmanageable. on the th, the _galvarino_ and _lautaro_ rejoined me at santa, which place had previously been taken possession of by the marines left on board the flag-ship. on the st, i despatched the _san martin, independencia,_ and _araucano_ to valparaiso, together with a transport filled with sick--an epidemic of a destructive nature having broken out on board the squadron. this disease, which carried off many men, had been introduced on board by the minister of marine's army of ninety men, shipped at coquimbo. i now proceeded in search of the _prueba_, with the flag-ship, _lautaro, galvarino_, and _puyrredon_. on the th, we entered the river guayaquil, and leaving the _lautaro_ and the brigs outside, the flag-ship crowded all sail during the night--though without a pilot--arriving next morning at the island of puna, under which two large vessels were anchored, and instantly attacked, when, after a brisk fire of twenty minutes, they struck, proving to be the _aguila_, of guns, and _vigonia_, of guns, both laden with timber, destined for lima. the village of puna was also taken possession of. on rejoining the other vessels with the prizes, they were found ready to sail, imagining from the firing that i had fallen in with the _prueba_, and might possibly get the worst of the contest. the _prueba_ was at guayaquil as had been anticipated, but having been lightened of her guns and stores she had been towed up the river, where, from the shallowness of the water, it was impossible to get at her; whilst, as she lay under the protection of the batteries, i did not deem it practicable to cut her out with the boats. a circumstance here occurred which would not be worth mentioning, did it not bear upon future matters. captains guise and spry--imagining that i should now return to valparaiso, and that the comparative failure of the expedition would be attributed to me, instead of to the worthless rockets, and to my instructions not to attempt anything beyond their use--endeavoured to get up a mutiny, by circulating a report that i did not intend to permit the ships left outside to share in the prizes, and had indeed left them behind for this purpose; having also permitted my officers to plunder the prizes _ad libitum_, before leaving the river--further declaring, that i intended to claim a double share, from having acted in the capacity of admiral and captain. as there was not the slightest doubt of their having sedulously circulated these reports, with the object of entering the port of valparaiso with the squadron in a discontented condition, i determined to take serious notice of their conduct. on the necessary steps being taken, they both pledged their honour that they had not made or even heard of such a report! but i had no intention to return to valparaiso, and still less to make officers so inimical to me acquainted with my future plans. on the th of december, major miller was so far recovered as to be removed on board the flag-ship, after which i despatched the _lautaro_ to valparaiso with the two prizes, first transferring to her armament the beautiful brass guns taken in the _vigonia_; leaving the _galvarino_ and _puyrredon_ to watch the movements of the spanish frigate. as the reader may suppose, i was greatly annoyed at having been foiled at callao, from causes altogether beyond my control, for the bad rockets, and worse faith of the minister of marine in not supplying me with the promised troops, were no faults of mine. my instructions, as has been said, were carefully drawn up to prevent my doing anything rash--as the first trip to callao had been represented by certain officers under my command, who had no great relish for fighting. at the same time the chilian people expected impossibilities; and i had, for some time, been revolving in my mind a plan to achieve one which should gratify them, and allay my own wounded feelings. i had now only one ship, so that there were no other inclinations to consult; and felt quite sure of major miller's concurrence where there was any fighting to be done, though a ball in the arm, another through the chest, passing out at his back, and a left hand shattered for life, were not very promising fighting incentives as far as physical force was concerned, yet the moral courage of my gallant guest was untouched, and his capacity to carry out my plans was greater than before, as being more matured by sharp experience. my design was, with the flag-ship alone, to capture by a _coup de main_ the numerous forts and garrison of valdivia, a fortress previously deemed impregnable, and thus to counteract the disappointment which would ensue in chili from our want of success before callao. the enterprise was a desperate one; nevertheless, i was not about to do anything desperate, having resolved that, unless fully satisfied as to its practicability, i would not attempt it. rashness, though often imputed to me, forms no part of my composition. there is a rashness without calculation of consequences; but with that calculation, well-founded, it is no longer rashness. and thus, now that i was unfettered by people who did not second my operations as they ought to have done, i made up my mind to take valdivia, if the attempt came within the scope of my calculations. the first step clearly was to reconnoitre the place, where the flag-ship arrived on the th of january, , under spanish colours, and made a signal for a pilot, who--as the spaniards mistook the _o'higgins_ for the long-expected _prueba_--promptly came off, together with a complimentary retinue of an officer and four soldiers, all of whom were made prisoners as soon as they came on board. the pilot was ordered to take us into the channels leading to the forts, whilst the officer and his men, knowing there was little chance of finding their way on shore again, thought it most conducive to their interests to supply all the information demanded, the result being increased confidence on my part as to the possibility of a successful attack. amongst other information obtained was the expected arrival of the spanish brig of war _potrillo_, with money on board for the payment of the garrison. as we were busily employing ourselves in inspecting the channels, the officer commanding the garrison began to suspect that our object might not altogether be pacific, this suspicion being confirmed by the detention of his officer. suddenly a heavy fire was opened upon us from the various forts, to which we did not reply, but, our reconnoissance being now completed, withdrew beyond its reach. having occupied two days in reconnoitring--on the third the _potrillo_ hove in sight; and being also deceived by our spanish colours was captured without a shot-- , dollars and some important despatches being found on board. as nothing could be done without troops, with which the chilian ministers had been careful not to supply me, i determined to sail to conception, where governor freire had a considerable force to keep in check the savage tribes of indians whom the spaniards employed, under the monster benavides and his brother, to murder the defenceless patriots. on the nd of january we anchored in talcahuano bay, where we found the buenos ayrean brig _intrepido_ and the chilian schooner _montezuma_. governor freire received us with great hospitality; and after explanation of my plans, placed two hundred and fifty men at my disposal, under the command of a gallant frenchman, major beauchef; notwithstanding that freire was on the eve of attacking benavides, and by thus weakening his division might incur the displeasure of the government. no time was lost in embarking the men in the three vessels, the _montezuma_ being taken into the service, and the buenos ayrean brig volunteering to accompany us. it was highly praiseworthy on the part of general freire to place these troops under my orders, inasmuch as they were destined for a service in the praise of which, even if successful, he could not participate; whilst, if unsuccessful, he would certainly have incurred great blame. he knew, moreover, that the ministry had refrained from supplying me with regular troops; yet he not only generously contributed them, but pledged himself not to communicate my plans to the government; our destination being even kept secret from the officers, who were told not to encumber themselves with baggage, as we were only going to tucapel, in order to harass the enemy at arauco, thus making it appear that we were about to aid general freire against benavides, instead of his aiding us to capture valdivia. but our difficulties, though we had obtained the troops, were not at an end. the flag-ship had only two naval officers on board, one of these being under arrest for disobedience of orders, whilst the other was incapable of performing the duty of lieutenant; so that i had to act as admiral, captain, and lieutenant, taking my turn in the watch--or rather being constantly on the watch--as the only available officer was so incompetent. we sailed from talcahuano on the th of january, when i communicated my intentions to the military officers, who displayed great eagerness in the cause--alone questioning their success from motives of prudence. on explaining to them that if unexpected projects are energetically put in execution they almost invariably succeed, in spite of odds, they willingly entered into my plans; and major miller's health being now sufficiently re-established, his value as a commander was as great as ever. on the night of the th, we were off the island of quiriquina, in a dead calm. from excessive fatigue in the execution of subordinate duties, i had laid down to rest, leaving the ship in charge of the lieutenant, who took advantage of my absence to retire also, surrendering the watch to the care of a midshipman, who fell asleep. knowing our dangerous position, i had left strict orders to be called the moment a breeze sprang up, but these orders were neglected, and a sudden wind taking the ship unawares, the midshipman, in attempting to bring her round, ran her upon the sharp edge of a rock, where she lay beating, suspended, as it were, upon her keel, and had the swell increased, she must inevitably have gone to pieces. we were forty miles from the mainland, the brig and schooner being both out of sight. the first impulse both of officers and crew was to abandon the ship, but as we had six hundred men on board, whilst not more than a hundred and fifty could have entered the boats, this would have been but a scramble for life. pointing out to the men that those who escaped could only reach the coast of arauco, where they would meet nothing but torture and inevitable death at the hands of the indians, i with some difficulty got them to adopt the alternative of attempting to save the ship. the first sounding gave five feet water in the hold, and the pumps were entirely out of order. our carpenter, who was only one by name, was incompetent to repair them; but having myself some skill in carpentry i took off my coat, and by midnight got them into working order, the water meanwhile gaining on us, though the whole crew were engaged in bailing it out with buckets. to our great delight the leak did not increase, upon which i got out the stream anchor, and commenced heaving off the ship, the officers clamouring first to ascertain the extent of the leak. this i expressly forbade, as calculated to damp the energy of the men, whilst as we now gained on the leak, there was no doubt the ship would swim as far as valdivia, which was the chief point to be regarded, the capture of the fortress being my object, after which the ship might be repaired at leisure. as there was no lack of physical force on board, she was at length floated; but the powder magazine having been under water, the ammunition of every kind--except a little upon deck and in the cartouch boxes of the troops--was rendered unserviceable; though about this i cared little, as it involved the necessity of using the bayonet in our anticipated attack, and to facing this weapon the spaniards had, in every case, evinced a rooted aversion. before making the land to the southward of punta galera, the troops in the _o'higgins_ as well as the marines, were, in a high sea, removed into the _intrepido_ and _montezuma_, to which i shifted my flag, ordering the _o'higgins_ to stand off and on out of sight of land, to avoid creating suspicion. we then made for the harbour, intending to land the same evening and take the spaniards by surprise, but, as it fell calm, this plan was frustrated. the fortifications of valdivia are placed on both sides of a channel three quarters of a mile in width, and command the entrance, anchorage, and river leading to the town, crossing their fire in all directions so effectually, that with proper caution on the part of the garrison no ship could enter without suffering severely, while she would be equally exposed at anchor. the principal forts on the western shore are placed in the following order:--el ingles, san carlos, amargos, chorocomayo alto, and corral castle. those on the eastern side are niebla, directly opposite amargos, and piojo; whilst on the island of manzanera is a strong fort mounted with guns of large calibre, commanding the whole range of the entrance channel. these forts, with a few others, amounted in the whole to fifteen, and in the hands of a skilful garrison would render the place almost impregnable, the shores on which they stand being almost inaccesible by reason of the surf, with the exception of a small landing place at the aguada del ingles. it was to this landing-place that we first directed our attention, anchoring the brig and schooner off the guns of fort ingles, on the afternoon of feb. rd, amidst a swell which rendered immediate disembarkation impracticable. the troops were carefully kept below; and to avert the suspicion of the spaniards, we had trumped up a story of our having just arrived from cadiz, and being in want of a pilot: upon which they told us to send a boat for one. to this we replied, that our boats had been washed away in the passage round cape horn. not being quite satisfied, they began to assemble troops at the landing-place, firing alarm guns, and rapidly bringing up the garrisons of the western forts to fort ingles, but not molesting us. unfortunately for the credit of the story about the loss of the boats, which were at the time carefully concealed under the lee of the vessels, one drifted astern, so that our object became apparent, and the guns of fort ingles, under which we lay, forthwith opened upon us, the first shots passing through the sides of the _intrepido_, and killing two men, so that it became necessary to land in spite of the swell. we had only two launches and a gig, into which i entered to direct the operation, major miller, with forty-four marines, pushing off in the first launch, under the fire of the party at the landing place, by which the coxswain being wounded, the major had to take the helm, and whilst doing this, received a ball through his hat, grazing the crown of his head. ordering a few only of his party to fire, the whole leaped ashore at the landing place, driving the spaniards, before them at the point of the bayonet. the second launch now pushed off from the intrepido, and, in this way, in less than an hour, three hundred men had made good their footing on shore. the most difficult task--the capture of the forts--was to come; the only way in which the first, fort ingles, could be approached being by a precipitous path, along which the men could only pass in single file; the fort itself being inaccessible except by a ladder, which the enemy, after being routed by major miller, had drawn up. as soon as it was dark, a picked party, under the guidance of one of the spanish prisoners, silently advanced to the attack, expecting to fall in with a body of the enemy outside the fort, but all having re-entered, our men were unopposed. this party having taken up its position, the main body moved forward, cheering and firing in the air, to intimate to the spaniards that their chief reliance was on the bayonet. the enemy, meanwhile, kept up an incessant fire of artillery and musketry in the direction of the shouts, but without effect, as no aim could be taken in the dark. whilst the patriots were thus noisily advancing, a gallant young officer, ensign vidal--who had previously distinguished himself at santa--got under the inland flank of the fort, and with a few men, contrived unperceived to tear up some pallisades, by which a bridge was made across the ditch, whereby he and his small party entered, and formed noiselessly under cover of some branches of trees which overhung it, the garrison directing their whole attention to the shouting patriots in an opposite direction. a volley from vidal's party convinced the spaniards that they had been taken in flank. without waiting to ascertain the number of those who had outflanked them, they instantly took to flight, filling with a like panic a column of three hundred men, drawn up behind the fort. the chilians, who were now well up, bayoneted them by dozens, in their efforts to gain the other forts, which were opened to receive them; the patriots thus entering at the same time, and driving them from fort to fort into the castle of corral, together with two hundred more, who had abandoned some guns advantageously placed on a height at fort chorocomayo. the corral was stormed with equal rapidity, a number of the enemy escaping in boats to valdivia, others plunging into the forest; whilst upwards of a hundred, besides officers, fell into our hands, the like number being found bayoneted on the following morning. our loss was seven men killed, and nineteen wounded. the spaniards had, no doubt, regarded their position as impregnable, which, considering its difficulty of access and almost natural impenetrability, it ought to have been, if properly defended. they had only found out their error when too late, thus justifying my former remark to the military officers, that an attack where least expected is almost invariably crowned with success. much less had the spaniards calculated on a night attack, the most favourable of all to the attacking party, as necessitating unity of action--and the least favourable of all to the party attacked, as inspiring doubt and panic, almost certain to end in irresolution and defeat. the garrison consisted of the cantabria regiment of the line, numbering about eight hundred, with whom was associated a militia of upwards of a thousand. on the th, the _intrepido_ and _montezuma_, which had been left at the aguada inglesa, entered the harbour, being fired at in their passage by fort niebla on the eastern shore. on their coming to an anchor at the corral, two hundred men were again embarked to attack forts niebla, carbonero, and piojo. the _o'higgins_ now appearing in sight off the mouth of the harbour, the spaniards abandoned the forts on the eastern side, no doubt judging that as the western forts had been captured without the aid of the frigate, they had--now that she had arrived--no chance of successfully defending them; the patriot troops were therefore disembarked at fort niebla till the tide served to take them to the town of valdivia. in crossing the harbour, the _intrepido_, from want of precaution in taking soundings, grounded on a bank in the channel, where, bilged by the surf, she finally became a wreck. nor was the _o'higgins_ in a much better condition, as, from the injury sustained at quiriquina, it became necessary to put her ashore on a mud bank, as the sole means of saving her from going down in deep water, so that the only vessel left was the little schooner _montezuma_. on the th, the troops were again embarked to pursue the flying garrison up the river, when we received a flag of truce informing us that the enemy had abandoned the town, after plundering the private houses and magazines; and, together with the governor, colonel montoya, had fled in the direction of chiloe. from the disorders which were committed by the spaniards, previous to their retreat, the town was in great consternation, many of the inhabitants having also fled; a proclamation issued by me, to the effect that no one should be molested in person or property, had, however, the effect of inducing them to return; and an additional order immediately to choose for themselves a governor, at once restored peace and tranquillity--the disposition of the people being for the most part good, whilst any leaning which might have existed in favour of spanish rule was dissipated by the excesses which, previous to their flight, the royalist troops had committed. the fortifications were so numerous, that at first it was my intention to destroy them and embark the artillery, as the spaniards who had escaped to chiloe--where another spanish regiment was stationed--might return after my departure and recover them, the force which could be spared to garrison them being insignificant when distributed amongst fifteen forts. on further reflection, i could not make up my mind to destroy fortresses, the erection of which had cost upwards of a million of dollars, and which chili would find it difficult to replace; and therefore determined on leaving them intact, with their artillery and ammunition, intending, before my return to valparaiso, to render the rout of the spaniards who had escaped, yet more complete. the booty which fell into our hands, exclusive of the value of the forts and public buildings, was considerable, valdivia being the chief military depot in the southern part of the continent. amongst the military stores, were upwards of , cwt. of gunpowder, , cannon shot, of which , were brass, , musket cartridges, a large quantity of small arms, guns, of which were brass, and the remainder iron; the ship _dolores_, afterwards sold at valparaiso for , dollars, with public stores, also sold for the like value; and plate, of which general sanchez had previously stripped the churches of conception, valued at , dollars. from correspondence found in the archives of valdivia, it was clear that quintanilla, the governor of chiloe, had serious apprehensions of a revolt at san carlos, so that, in place of returning to valparaiso, i resolved to see what could be effected there. the loss of the _intrepido_ was a serious drawback to our means of transporting troops, and the flag-ship would no longer float; as, however, we had possession of the _dolores_, it was resolved to crowd into her and the _montezuma_ all the troops that could be spared, leaving major beauchef the whole of those brought from conception. meanwhile, i despatched a _piragua_ to valparaiso with the intelligence of our success; the unexpected news, as was afterwards learned, creating such an amount of popular enthusiasm as had never before been witnessed in chili. the most amusing part of the affair was, that by the time my despatches announcing our victory reached vaparaiso, the other ships of the squadron had also arrived, when captain guise and his officers had attributed our rocket failure at callao to my want of skill in their use; the inference desired, being my want of capability to command a squadron. not a word of blame was then attributed to poor goldsack, who had superintended their manufacture, as indeed none was deserved, though the blame afterwards attributed to him ended as before stated in his ruin. to this alleged want of professional skill on my part, zenteno had drawn up an elaborate accusation against me of disobedience to orders, in not having returned, according to my instructions; the whole _clique_ felicitating themselves on my dismissal with disgrace. even the people did not know what judgment to form, as all materials for forming an opinion were kept from them, whilst every pretence tending to my discredit was carefully made known. on news of the victory, all this was immediately hushed up--the ministers, to retrieve their own credit, joined in the popular enthusiasm, which it would have been unavailing to thwart--and poor goldsack was overwhelmed with reproach for the failure of his rockets, though the whole blame rested with the government in having employed spanish prisoners as his workmen. chapter iii. departure for chiloe--preparations of the enemy--capture of fort corona--failure at fort aguy, and subsequent retreat--return to valdivia--capture of osorio--return to valparaiso--enthusiastic reception--chagrin of the ministry--importance of conquest of valdivia in a political point of view--promotion of officers under arrest--employment of indians by the spaniards--career of benavides--mutinous spirit of the seamen in consequence of their captures being appropriated by government--resignation of my commission--refusal thereof--renewed offer of an estate--this again declined--seamen obtain their wages--private purchase of an estate--government gives notice of taking it--appointment of flag captain against my wishes--annoyance given to me by minister of marine--renewed resignation of the command--officers of the squadron resign in a body--government begs of me to retain the command--my consent--general san martin--the senate--zenteno--corruption of parties in the administration. having provided for the safety of the city and province of valdivia, by establishing a provisional government, and left major beauchef with his own troops to maintain order--on the th of february, i sailed with the _montezuma_ schooner, and our prize the _dolores_, for the island of chiloe, taking with me two hundred men, under the command of major miller, my object being to wrest chiloe from spain, as i had done valdivia. unfortunately, the services of the flag-ship, the _o'higgins_, were not available, there being no way of rendering her seaworthy, without tedious repairs, for which there was no time, as our success depended on attacking chiloe before the governor had leisure to prepare for defence. neither of our vessels being armed for fighting, i depended altogether upon major miller and our handful of soldiers to oppose a thousand regular troops, besides a numerous militia; but having been informed that the garrison was in a mutinous state, i calculated that by judicious management, they might be induced to join the patriot cause. unluckily, our design had got wind, and the spanish governor, quintanilla, a judicious officer, had managed to conciliate them. on coming to an anchor on the th, at huechucucay, we found a body of infantry and cavalry, with a field-piece, ready to dispute our landing; but drawing off their attention by a feigned attack upon a distant spot, and thus dividing them into two parties, major miller got on shore, and soon routed them, capturing their field-piece. a night attack being decided upon, the troops, a hundred and seventy in number, moved on under the direction of a guide, who, wilfully or treacherously, misled them, the men thus wandering about in the dark throughout the whole night. at dawn, they found their way to fort corona, which, with a detached battery, was taken without loss. halting for a short time to refresh the men, major miller bravely, but too precipitately, moved on fort aguy, in broad daylight; this fort being the stronghold of the enemy, mounting twelve guns, with others flanking the only accessible path by which entrance could be gained, and being garrisoned by three companies of regulars, two companies of militia, and a full proportion of artillerymen. the fort stood on a hill, washed on one side by the sea, and having on the other an impenetrable forest, the only access being by a narrow path, whilst the means of retreat for the garrison was by the same path, so that the attack became for the latter a matter of life and death, since, in case of defeat, there was no mode of escape, as at valdivia. in spite of these odds, and the spectacle of two fanatical friars on the ramparts, with lance in one hand, and crucifix in the other, urging on the garrison to resist to the death the handful of aggressors--the indomitable courage of miller did not allow him to remain in the forts he had already taken till nightfall, when he would have been comparatively safe by attacking in the dark. choosing out of his small band a forlorn hope of sixty men, he perilled his own safety, upon which so much depended, by leading them in person; every gun and musket of the enemy being concentrated on a particular angle of the path which he must needs pass. as the detachment reached the spot, a shower of grape and musketry mowed down the whole, twenty out of the sixty being killed outright, whilst nearly all the rest were mortally wounded. seeing their gallant commander fall, the marines, who were waiting to follow, dashed through the fire, and brought him off, with a grape-shot through his thigh, and the bones of his right foot crushed by a round shot. another dash by the force which remained brought off the whole of the wounded, though adding fearfully to their numbers. this having been accomplished, captain erescano, who succeeded to the command, ordered a retreat; the spaniards, animated by success, and urged on by the friars, following just within musket-shot, and making three separate attacks, which were on each occasion repelled, though from the killed and wounded, the pursuers were now fully six times their number. nevertheless one-half of the diminished band kept the enemy at bay, whilst the other half spiked the guns, broke up the gun-carriages, and destroyed the military stores in the forts captured in the morning, when they resumed their march to the beach, followed by the spaniards as before. the marines who, with affectionate fidelity, had borne off major miller, had been careful to protect him from fire, though two out of the three who carried him were wounded in the act; and when, on arriving at the beach, they were invited by him to enter the boat, one of them, a gallant fellow named roxas, of whom i had spoken highly in my despatches from valdivia, on account of his distinguished bravery, refused, saying, "no, sir, i was the first to land, and i mean to be the last to go on board." he kept his word; for on his commander being placed in safety, he hastened back to the little band, now nearly cut up, and took his share in the retreat, being the last to get into the boats. such were the chilenos, of whom the mean jealousy of the minister of marine, zenteno, refused to allow me a thousand for operations at callao--which could have been conducted with ease, as valdivia had been captured with less than a third of that number. our force being now seriously diminished, and feeling convinced that the fanatics of chiloe were devoted to the cause of spain, there was nothing left but to return to valdivia, where, finding that the spaniards who had been dispersed in the neighbourhood were committing excesses, i despatched major beauchef with men to osorio to secure that town, the relief being accepted with great joy even by the indians, of whom, wrote major beauchef to me, "i have embraced more than a thousand caciques and their followers. they have all offered their services to fight in the patriotic cause; but as circumstances do not require this, i have invited them to return to their own lands, and have received their promises to be ready if the country should call for their services." the spaniards being driven from osorio, the flag of chili was, on the th of february, hoisted on the castle by major beauchef, who returned to valdivia. there being nothing further to require my presence, i placed the _o'higgins_ under the orders of my secretary, mr. bennet, to superintend her repairs, and embarked in the _montezuma_, for valparaiso, taking with me five spanish officers who had been made prisoners, amongst whom was colonel fausto de hoyos, the commandant of the cantabria regiment. on my departure, the spaniards, elated by their success at chiloe, combined with those who had been driven from valdivia, in an attempt to recover their lost possessions, but major beauchef, having timely intelligence of their intention, set out to meet them. a number of volunteers having joined the patriot force, major beauchef on the th of march encountered the enemy on the river toro, and instantly attacked them, when, in about an hour, the spanish officers mounted their horses and fled in a body, leaving the men to their fate. nearly three hundred of these immediately surrendered, and major beauchef--having captured the whole of the arms and baggage--returned in triumph to valdivia. on the th of february, i arrived at valparaiso, in the _montezuma_, amidst the most lively demonstrations of enthusiasm on the part of the populace, and warm expressions of gratitude from the supreme director. but my reception by his ministers was wholly different. zenteno, through whose orders i had broken, declared, that the conquest of valdivia "was the act of a madman! that i deserved to have lost my life in the attempt; and even now ought to lose my head for daring to attack such a place without instructions, and for exposing the patriot troops to such hazard;" afterwards setting on foot a series of intrigues, having for their object the depreciation of the service which had been rendered, so that i found myself exposed to the greatest possible vexation and annoyance, with not the slightest indication of national acknowledgment or reward to myself, officers, or men. the chagrin of zenteno and the bad passions of his adherents were further enhanced by the congratulatory addresses which poured in on both the supreme director and myself from all parts, the people declaring, contrary to the assertions of zenteno, that i had acted, not from any feeling of personal vanity, but from a conviction of the national utility of the act; and that by its accomplishment the valour of the chilenos had been so displayed as to shew that they had the utmost confidence in their officers, and hence possessed the moral as well as physical courage necessary for further achievements. notwithstanding the envious dissatisfaction of zenteno, the government was compelled, in deference to the popular voice, to award medals to the captors, the decree for this stating that "the capture of valdivia was the happy result of the devising of an admirably arranged plan, and of the most daring and valorous execution." the decree further conferred on me an estate of , quadras from the confiscated lands of conception, which i refused, as no vote of thanks was given by the legislature; this vote i finally obtained as an indemnification to myself for having exceeded my orders; such being necessary after zenteno's expressions of ill-will towards me on account of breaking through instructions. situated as chili then was, it is impossible to over-rate the importance of this acquisition--the capture of a noble harbour protected by fifteen forts, and the magazines with their vast amount of military stores, being even secondary to the political advantages gained by the republic. the annexation of this province, at one blow conferred on chili complete independence, averting the contemplated necessity for fitting out a powerful military expedition for the attainment of that object, vitally essential to her very existence as an independent state; because, so long as valdivia remained in the hands of the spaniards, chili was, in her moments of unguardedness or disunion, in constant danger of losing the liberties she had, as yet, but partially acquired. the resources of the province of valdivia, together with those of conception, had contributed the means whereby the spaniards maintained their hold upon the chilian territory. not only were they deprived of these resources--now added to those of chili--but a great saving was effected by exonerating the republic from the necessity of maintaining a military force in the southern provinces, as a check upon both spaniards and indians, who, at the moment of our conquest of valdivia, were being let loose in all directions against the chilian patriots. setting aside, therefore, the removal of danger, and the complete establishment of independence, the money value alone of the conquest was, to a government of very limited means, of the first importance, as doing away with the necessity of military expenditure, estimated by competent judges at a million of dollars, merely to attempt the accomplishment of an object, which, without any additional cost, i had effected with a single ship, so unseaworthy that she had to be left behind. but the advantage of the conquest did not end here. had it not been for this capture, the spanish power in chili, aided by the indians, would have found it easy to maintain itself in such a country for a protracted period, despite any military force chili was in a condition to bring against it; so that no effective co-operation with the people of peru could have been undertaken--as common prudence would have deterred them from entering into distant revolutionary projects, so long as the spaniards were in possession of any part of the chilian territory; whilst the necessity of defending herself through a protracted civil war, would have prevented chili from aiding in the liberation of peru, which would thus have remained a permanent base of operations for the spaniards to annoy, if not again to recover, the chilian provinces. a further advantage was the successful negociation of a loan of one million sterling in england, which was accomplished solely on account of what had been achieved, every attempt at this having failed so long as the spaniards were in possession of the most important harbour and fortress in the country, from which, as a basis, they might organize future attempts to recover the revolted provinces. notwithstanding these advantages, not a penny in the shape of reward, either for this or any previous service, was paid to myself, the officers, or seamen, nevertheless the government appropriated the money arising from the sale of the _dolores_, and the stores with which she was loaded; neither was there any account taken of the value of the guns and the enormous amount of ammunition left in the forts at valdivia. the men who performed this achievement were literally in rags, and destitute of everything, no attempt being made by the department of marine to lessen their sufferings--for to this extent was their condition reduced. in place of reward, every encouragement was offered to the officers to disobey my orders. two of these i had marked for punishment, for deliberate murder. ensign vidal having captured two spanish officers in fort ingles, they surrendered their swords, receiving the gallant youth's pledge of safety; but captain erescano coming up, immediately butchered them. another case was even worse: ensign latapia, who had been left in command of the castle of corral, after my departure to chiloe, ordered two of his prisoners to be shot; and four officers would have met the same fate, had not my secretary, mr. bennet, taken them on board the _o'higgins_. for this i placed latapia under arrest, making the necessary declarations for a court-martial, and conveyed him as a prisoner to valparaiso, where, in place of being punished, both he and erescano were promoted, and taken into the liberating army of general san martin. i have spoken of the aid afforded to the spaniards by the indians. on the th of march general freire, afterwards supreme director, wrote me a letter congratulatory of my success against valdivia, which he concluded by informing me that its capture had already caused the indians of angol, and their cacique, benavente, to declare in favour of chili, and that he did not doubt but that this would shortly be followed by a similar declaration on the part of the indians throughout the province; general freire not being aware that i had already produced this effect by distributing amongst them an immense quantity of trumpery stores and gewgaws, accumulated by the spaniards in the magazines at valdivia, for the purpose of rewarding murderous inroads into the chilian territory. it will be interesting briefly to note the employment of indians by the spaniards. their agent, or leader, in this horrible warfare, was a wretch named benavides, who may fairly lay claim to the distinction of being the most perfect monster who ever disgraced humanity. he had originally been a common soldier in the buenos ayrean army, and, together with his brother, had _carte blanche_ from the spaniards to commit the most fearful atrocities on the chilian patriots, who could not defend themselves against the stealthy cowardice of indian warfare. his invariable practice was, whenever a village or estate could be surprised, to sew up the leading inhabitants as tightly as possible in raw ox-hides stripped from their own cattle, when, being laid in the burning sun, the contraction of the hides as they dried caused a slow and lingering death of perfect agony, which it was the amusement of himself and the savages whom he led to enjoy whilst smoking their cigars. when any persons of influence fell into his hands, he cut out their tongues, and otherwise horribly mutilated them--a bishop and several other gentlemen surviving as witnesses of his atrocities. valdivia was this man's _point d'appui_, whence he drew his supplies, and when we took the place a small vessel fell into our hands, laden with arms and ammunition for his disposal amongst the indians. she was destined for arauco, and had on board two spanish officers and four non-commissioned officers, sent for the purpose of rendering the indians still more formidable by indoctrinating them into european modes of warfare. the wretch benavides was afterwards bought over by general san martin, and sent to conception for the orders of general freire, who told him to his face that he would have nothing to do with such a monster; whereupon benavides left conception, and commenced a desolating warfare upon the inhabitants of the coast, even refining upon his former barbarities. the country getting too hot for him, he again offered his services to the spaniards, and was on his way to peru in a small vessel, when, being compelled to go ashore for water, in the vicinity of valparaiso, one of his men betrayed him, and he was sent to santiago, where he was hung. the seamen were becoming mutinous, in consequence of neither receiving pay nor prize-money, every promise given being broken, as well to them as to myself. as they looked to me for the vindication of their rights, and, indeed, had only been kept from open outbreak by my assurance that they should be paid, i addressed a letter of expostulation to the supreme director, recounting their services and the ill-merited harshness to which they were exposed at the hands of his ministers, notwithstanding that since their return they had aided the government in the construction of wharves and other conveniences necessary for the embarkation of troops and stores to peru--a military expedition to that country being now decided on. the fact was, that the proceeds of the captures were appropriated by the government, which, to avoid repayment, declared that the conquest of valdivia was a _restoration!_ though the place had never been in possession of chili. on my refusing to allow the stores i had brought from thence to be disembarked, unless as a compensation to the seamen, it was alleged as a reason for the course pursued that even if valdivia had not belonged to the republic, chili did not make war on every section of america. it was therefore put to my liberality and honourable character whether i would not give up to the government all that the squadron had acquired? these views were written by monteagudo, afterwards the willing instrument of general san martin in peru. i asked him, "whether he considered that which had been advanced as just, or according to law?" the reply was, "_certainly not, but i was ordered to write so!_" finding that i would surrender nothing, it was next debated in the council whether i ought not to be brought to a court martial for having delayed and diverted the naval forces of chili to the reduction of valdivia, without the orders of government! no doubt this course would have been decided on but from the unsettled condition of the republic and fear of the populace, who denounced the views of the ministry as heartily as they advocated my proceedings. as nothing in the shape of justice could be obtained for the squadron, on the th of may, i begged his excellency the supreme director to accept the resignation of my commission, as, by retaining it, i should only be instrumental in promoting the ruin which must follow the conduct of his advisers; at the same time telling him i had not accepted it to have my motives misconstrued, and my services degraded as they had been on account of objects which i was unable to divine, unless, indeed, a narrow-minded jealousy, such as that which designated the capture of valdivia, its "_restoration_," though it had never before passed from under the dominion of the spaniards. this course had not been anticipated, though it was not adopted in any spirit of intimidation, but from repugnance to the heartless ingratitude with which important national services had been met. the ministers were, however, thus brought for a time to their senses, the justice of my complaints being acknowledged, and every assurance given that for the future the government would observe good faith towards the squadron. an estate, as has been said, had been offered to me as a reward for my services, which was declined for reasons already adduced. the offer was now renewed, but again declined, as nothing but promises were as yet forthcoming to the service, and the only hold upon the seamen was my personal influence with them, in consequence of my unyielding advocacy of their rights--a hold which i was not likely to forego for a grant to myself. in place, therefore, of accepting the estate, i returned the document conveying the grant, with a request that it might be sold, and the proceeds applied to the payment of the squadron; but the requisition was not complied with. seeing that i was determined not to be trifled with, and shamed by my offer of applying the estate to the payment of the men, general san martin, who was appointed to command the military portion of the expedition to peru, came to valparaiso in june, and on the th of july, the squadron was paid wages in part only, but as i insisted on the whole being liquidated, this was done on the th; but without any portion of their prize-money. my share alone of the value of captures made at and previous to the capture of valdivia was , dollars, and for this i received the assurance of the supreme director that it should be paid to me at the earliest possible moment; upon which i accepted the estate which continued to be pressed upon me, the grant expressing the purpose for which it was given, adding as a reason that "my name should never cease from the land." this estate, situated at rio clara, was, after my departure from chili, forcibly resumed by the succeeding government; and the bailiff, whom i had placed upon it for the purpose of seeing how it could be improved by culture and the introduction of valuable european seeds, was forcibly expelled from its supervision. on my first refusal to accept the estate--for the reason before assigned--in order to convince the chilians how great was my desire to be enrolled amongst the number of their citizens, i purchased a hacienda at herradura, about eight miles from valparaiso. the effect produced by this upon the ministry was almost ludicrous. it was gravely argued amongst them as to what i, a foreigner, could intend by purchasing an estate in chili? the conclusion to which they came being, as i was credibly informed, that as the whole population was with me, i must intend, when opportunity served, to set myself up as the ruler of the republic, relying upon the people for support! such was statesmanship at that day in chili. it so happened, that soon after purchasing this property i pointed out to the government how much better the bay of herradura was calculated for a naval arsenal, than the ill-protected bay of valparaiso; offering at the same time to make them a gratuitous present of all the land required for the establishment of a naval arsenal and marine depot. this offer was, no doubt, construed into an act, on my part, to gain additional popularity--though this, perhaps, would have been no easy matter; and a notice was served upon me not to make any improvements, as the government intended to appropriate the estate--but would not reimburse any outlay, though they would repay me the purchase money, and also for any improvements that had already have been effected! i instantly solicited an explanation of the supreme director, and received an apology, attributing the whole affair to the officiousness of the attorney-general, who had founded his proceeding on an old spanish law; and there, for a time, the matter dropped, but for a time only--viz. so long as the necessities of the state required my services. a new source of annoyance now arose, in all kinds of attempts to lessen my authority in the navy, but as i was always on the alert to maintain my position, these resulted in nothing but defeat to their concoctors. at length an overt act was committed in the appointment of captain spry as my flag captain on board the _o'higgins_, which had been repaired at valdivia, and was now come down to valparaiso. an order to this effect was sent to me, which i promptly refused to obey, adding that captain spry should never tread my quarter-deck as flag captain, and that if my privilege as an admiral were not admitted, the government might consider my command as at an end, for so long as i continued in command of the squadron, i would not permit an executor of my orders to be forced upon me. the point was immediately conceded, and captain crosbie was appointed flag captain. the nomination of spry was, no doubt, meant to control my efforts in the future expedition to peru, the credit of which, if any, was to be reserved for the army. as far as i knew anything of captain spry, i had no personal objections to him, but, restricted as i had been by the minister of marine zenteno, i had great doubts as to the motives for appointments of his making, being convinced that his principal aim was to prevent me from doing anything beyond keeping the spaniards in check, an operation to which i was by no means inclined to accede, as had been evinced by the recent conquest of valdivia, in excess of his instructions. encouraged by the annoyance given to me by the minister of marine and his party, one or two of my captains thought themselves at liberty to manifest a disregard to my authority, which, as their admiral, i did not choose to tolerate. the most influential of these was captain guise, who, having been guilty of several acts of direct disobedience and neglect of duty, was, by my orders, put in arrest, pending a demand made by me that the government should institute a court martial for the investigation of his conduct. this act greatly irritated zenteno, who desired to support him, and refused consent to the inquiry; thus establishing a precedent for the captain of any ship to consider himself independent of the admiral. such an act of folly in violation of the discipline of the navy, no less than of personal insult to myself, determined me to have nothing more to do with the chilian administration, and on july th, i once more transmitted to the government my resignation, at the same time demanding my passport to quit the country, notifying to the officers of the squadron that on the receipt of the same i should cease to command. a meeting was immediately held amongst them, and on the same day, i received--not a valedictory address, as might have been expected--but two letters, one signed by five captains, and the other by twenty-three commissioned officers, containing resolutions of abandoning the service also, at the same time handing in their commissions. to this proof of attachment, i replied, by requesting that they would not sacrifice their own positions on my account, and recommended them not to make their resolutions public till they had further considered the matter, as it might be seriously detrimental to the interests of the country. the following letter was addressed to me on this occasion by the officers of the squadron:-- "on board the _independencia_, july , ." my lord, the general discontent and anxiety which your lordship's resignation has occasioned amongst the officers and others of the squadron, afford a strong proof how much the ungrateful conduct of the government is felt by those serving under your command. "the officers whose names are subscribed to the enclosed resolutions, disdaining longer to serve under a government which can so soon have forgotten the important services rendered to the state, beg leave to put in your hands their commissions, and to request you will be kind enough to forward them to the minister of marine. at the same time that we are thus forced to withdraw ourselves from the service, our warmest wishes will be offered up for the prosperity and liberty of the country." "signed by commissioned officers." the following resolutions accompanied this letter:-- "resolved-- . that the honour, safety, and interest of the chilian navy entirely rest on the abilities and experience of the present commander-in-chief." " . that, as the feelings of unbounded confidence and respect which we entertain for him cannot be transferred to another, we have come to the resolution of resigning our commissions, and of transmitting them to government, through the hands of our admiral." " . that our commissions shall be accompanied by a letter expressive of our sentiments, signed by all whose commissions are enclosed." "signed by officers." pending the acceptance of my resignation by the government, the equipment of the squadron was carried on with the greatest alacrity, so that there might be no ground for complaint that the termination of my command had caused any remissness in our duties. i, however, withheld the commissions which had been enclosed to me by the officers of the squadron, lest the measure should excite popular dissatisfaction, and thus cause a danger for which the government was unprepared. the only captains who did not sign the resolutions were guise and spry, the former being in arrest, and the latter being offended with me on account of my refusal to accept him as flag captain. there is no doubt but that he immediately communicated to zenteno the resolutions of the officers, for on the th i received from him the following letter:-- "valparaiso, july th, ." "my lord," "at a moment when the services of the naval forces of the state are of the highest importance, and the personal services of your lordship indispensable, the supremacy, with the most profound sentiments of regret, has received your resignation, which, should it be admitted, would involve the future operations of the arms of liberty in the new world in certain ruin; and ultimately replace in chili, your adopted home, that tyranny which, your lordship abhors, and to the annihilation of which your heroism has so greatly contributed." "his excellency the supreme director commands me to inform your lordship that should you persist in resigning the command of the squadron which has been honoured by bearing your flag--the cause of terror and dismay to our enemies, and of glory to all true americans; or should the government unwisely admit it, this would indeed be a day of universal mourning in the new world. the government, therefore, in the name of the nation returns you your commission, soliciting your re-acceptance of it, for the furtherance of that sacred cause to which your whole soul is devoted." "the supremacy is convinced of the necessity which obliges your lordship to adopt the measures which placed captain guise, of the _lantaro_, in arrest, and of the justice of the charges exhibited against this officer; but being desirous of preventing any delay in the important services in which the ships of war are about to proceed, it is the request of his excellency the supreme director that his trial be postponed to the first opportunity which does not interfere with the service of the squadron, so important at the present epoch." "(signed) jose ignacio zenteno." in addition to this communication from the minister of marine, i received private letters from the supreme director and general san martin, begging me to continue in command of the naval forces, and assuring me that there should be no further cause for complaint. on receipt of these letters i withdrew my resignation, and returned to the officers of the squadron their commissions, at the same time setting captain guise at liberty, and reinstating him in the command of his ship. i would not have done this but from a feeling of attachment to the supreme director, general o'higgins, whose amiable disposition--too easy to contend with the machinations of those around him,--- was a sufficient assurance that he was neither an actor in, nor even privy to the system of annoyance pursued towards me by a clique of whom zenteno was the agent. like many other good commanders, o'higgins did not display that tact in the cabinet which had so signally served his country in the field, in which,--though general san martin, by his unquestionable powers of turning the achievements of others to his own account, contrived to gain the credit--the praise was really due to general o'higgins. the same easy disposition, after the elevation of the latter to the supreme directorate, induced him to consent to the establishment of a senatorial court of consultation, conceding to it privileges altogether incompatible with his own supremacy; and it was with this body that all the vexations directed against me originated--as has been asserted by writers on chili, at the instigation of general san martin; but having no documentary evidence to prove this, i shall not take upon myself to assert the fact, notwithstanding that the subsequent conduct of the general gave more than probability to the generally received opinion. there was, however, no doubt but that general san martin had been privy to much of the annoyance given to the squadron and myself, as, upon my accusing him of this, he replied that he only "wanted to see how far the supreme director would allow a party spirit to oppose the welfare of the expedition;" adding, "never mind, my lord, i am general of the army, and you shall be admiral of the squadron." _"bien, milord, yo soy general del exercito, y v. sara almirante de la esquadra."_ his allusion to the complicity of the supreme director i knew to be false, as his excellency was anxious to do all in his power both for the squadron and his country; had not the senate, on which he had conferred such extraordinary powers, thwarted all his endeavours. general san martin was, however, much surprised when i shewed him the letters and returned commissions of the officers, he having no conception of their determination not to serve under any command but my own; this step on their part being fraught with the greatest danger to the equipment of the contemplated expedition. the senate just noticed was an anomaly in state government. it consisted of five members, whose functions were to remain only during the first struggles of the country for independence; but this body had now assumed a permanent right to dictatorial control, whilst there was no appeal from their arbitrary conduct, except to themselves. they arrogated the title of "most excellent," whilst the supreme director was simply "his excellency;" his position, though nominally head of the executive, being really that of mouth-piece to the senate, which, assuming all power, deprived the executive government of its legitimate influence, so that no armament could be equipped, no public work undertaken, no troops raised, and no taxes levied, except by the consent of this irresponsible body. for such a clique, the plain, simple good sense, and thorough good feeling of the supreme director was no match; as, being himself above meanness, he was led to rely on the honesty of others from the uprightness of his own motives. though in every way disposed to believe, with burke, that "what is morally wrong can never be politically right," he was led to believe that a crooked policy was a necessary evil of government; and as such a policy was adverse to his own nature, he was the more easily induced to surrender its administration to others who were free from his conscientious principles. of these the most unscrupulous was zenteno, who, previous to the revolution, had been an attorney at conception, and was a _protégé_ of general san martin--carrying with him into state administration the practical cunning of his profession, with more than its usual proportion of chicanery. as he was my bitter opponent, obstructing my plans for the interests of chili in every possible way, it might ill become me to speak of him as i then felt, and to this day feel. i will therefore adduce the opinion of mrs. graham, the first historian of the republic, as to the estimation in which he was generally held:--"zenteno has read more than usual among his countrymen, and thinks that little much. like san martin, he dignifies scepticism in religion, laxity of morals, and coldness of heart, if not cruelty, with the name of philosophy; and while he could shew creditable sensibility for the fate of a worm, would think the death or torture of a political opponent matter for congratulation." i was his political opponent, as wishing to uphold the authority of the supreme director, and hence, no doubt, his enmity to me; his influence even extending so far as to prevent the supreme director from visiting me whilst in santiago, on the ground that such a course on his part would be undignified! at this distance of time--now that chili is in possession of a government acting on more enlightened principles--there is no necessity for withholding these remarks, without which the subsequent acts of the chilian government towards me might be liable to misconstruction as to my representations of them. so long as chili was in a transition state from a corrupt and selfish government to one acting in accordance with the true interests of the country, i forbore to make known these and other circumstances, which, having now become matters of history, need not any longer be withheld. writing in this spirit, i may mention a reason, notorious enough at the time, why the squadron was not paid even its wages. the government _had_ provided the means, but those to whom the distribution was entrusted retained the money during their pleasure, employing it for their own advantage in trading speculations or in usury, only applying it to a legitimate purpose when further delay became dangerous to themselves. one great cause of the hatred displayed towards me by these people, was my incessant demands that the claims of the squadron should be satisfied as regarded wages. as to prize-money, not a dollar was ever conceded by the government either to myself, officers, or men, so long as i remained in chili; but i had the satisfaction to see that the constant watch which i kept on those financial disorders, was the means of ameliorating the system, though with the additional dislike to myself of those whose short-sighted policy i was thwarting, and whose avaricious speculations were thus curtailed. in spite of his enmity, the minister of marine had been officially compelled to write me the following letter:-- "my lord," "if victories over an enemy are to be estimated according to the resistance offered, or the national advantages obtained, the conquest of valdivia is, in both senses, inestimable; encountering, as you did, the natural and artificial strength of that impregnable fortress which, till now, had obstinately defended itself by means of those combined advantages. the memory of that glorious day will occupy the first pages of chilian history, and the name of your excellency will be transmitted from generation to generation by the gratitude of our descendants." "his excellency the supreme director, highly gratified by that noble conquest, orders me to inform you (as i have now the satisfaction of doing), that he experiences, in his own name, and in that of the nation, the most heartfelt gratification at that signal achievement. the meritorious officers, beauchef, miller, erescano, carter, and vidal, and all the other officers and soldiers who, in imitation of your excellency, encountered such vast dangers, will be brought to the notice of government, in order to receive a decorative medal, in gratitude for their gallantry, and in proof that chili rewards the heroes who advocate her cause." our national flag has been displayed amidst the most festive public demonstrations, above those of valdivia and cantabria, in proof of the subjection of our enemies. "i beg, with the greatest gratification, the honour to announce to you your letter of the rd instant, transmitting those of major beauchef and major miller." "god preserve your excellency many years." (signed) jose ignacio zenteno. "the vice-admiral commanding the chilian squadron." it is difficult to see how a man who could have written the above letter, even officially, could have become my worst enemy; the reasons for which will, however, develop themselves as we proceed. as the estate which was conferred upon me at rio clara was afterwards taken from me, without reason assigned, i will here give the letter conveying it, as this will again have to be alluded to. the attorney-like cunning of zenteno prevented its conveyance by any more formal document than the decree conferring it. "my lord," "a decree of this date has been issued by his excellency the supreme director, of which the annexed is a copy:--" "desirous to expedite, without loss of time, the gift of _quadras_ of land, which, by decree of the senate, was assigned to the commander-in-chief of the squadron, vice-admiral lord cochrane, as a demonstration of public appreciation for his distinguished services in the '_restoration,_' of the important fortress of valdivia; the said _quadras_ are assigned on the lands of rio clara, in the province of conception, being part of the confiscated estate of pablo furtado, a fugitive spaniard." "'the present deed shall serve as a sufficient title to the property in favour of the vice-admiral, being communicated to the minister of finance, in order to the accustomed formalities, to receive possession and enjoy the benefits.'" "i have the honour to communicate the above, by supreme orders, for your information." "god preserve your excellency many years." "(signed) jose ignacio zenteno. administration of marine, valparaiso, august so, . published by order of his excellency." * * * * * chapter iv. obstacles to equipping the squadron--sailing of the liberating expedition--debarcation at pisco--long inaction of the army--general san martin removes to ancon--capture of the esmeralda--exchange of prisoners--acknowledgment of the service by general san martin--lady cochrane's visit to mendoza. the difficulties which attended the equipment of the squadron and troops destined for the liberation of peru were very great, the government being without credit, whilst its treasury had been completely exhausted by efforts to organise an army--a loan being impossible, and indeed refused. by my influence with the british merchants, i managed to obtain considerable quantities of naval and military stores, and in addition, a contribution to a subscription which was set on foot, in place of a forced loan, upon which the government hesitated to venture. the greatest difficulty was, however, with regard to the foreign seamen, who, disgusted with the want of faith towards them, refused to re-enter the service. the government, upon this, requested me to resort to impressment, which i declined, telling them, moreover, that the captain of the british frigate then in port would not permit his countrymen to be impressed. the alternative proposed was to use my influence with the men, by issuing such a proclamation, dictated by myself, as would render them dependent for their pay and prize-money upon general san martin, and on the success of the expedition; it being evident that they would not place further confidence in the promises of the government. a joint proclamation was therefore issued by gen. san martin and myself, my signature being added as a guarantee, whilst his bore the authority of commander-in-chief. the following extract will shew the nature of this proclamation:-- "on my entry into lima, i will punctually pay to all foreign seamen who shall voluntarily enlist into the chilian service, the whole arrears of their pay, to which, i will also add to each individual, according to his rank, one year's pay over and above his arrears, as a premium or reward for his services, if he continue to fulfil his duty to the day of the surrender of that city, and its occupation by the liberating forces." (signed) jose de san martin. "cochrane." this proclamation had the desired effect, and the crews of the ships were immediately completed. the chilian force amounted to men, general san martin, to the great disappointment of general freire, being nominated captain-general--the force under his command was designated the "liberating army" _(exercito libertador)_. whilst the expedition was in process of formation, the supreme director had apprised the peruvian people of its object, and lest they should entertain any jealousy of its presence uninvited, had declared his views in a general proclamation, from which the following is an extract:-- "peruvians--do not think we shall pretend to treat you as a conquered people? such a desire could have entered into the heads of none but those who are inimical to our common happiness. we only aspire to see you free and happy; _yourselves will frame your own government_, choosing that form which is most consistent with your customs, your situation, and your wishes. consequently, _you will constitute a nation as free and independent as ourselves_." this, and subsequent proclamations, will require to be borne in mind, as the result by no means corresponded with the intentions of the supreme director, whose honesty of purpose was afterwards set at nought by those in whose estimation peru was only a field for the furtherance of their own ambition. the chileno officers, both native and foreign, certainly believed in the sincerity of their leaders, but were subsequently doomed to be miserably disappointed as regarded the chief of them. on the st of august, , the squadron sailed amidst the enthusiastic plaudits of the people, who felt proud that in so short a time the power of spain had not only been humbled, but that they were enabled to despatch an army to liberate her principal remaining state. on the th, the squadron hove to off coquimbo, taking on board another battalion of troops. on the th we again sailed, when general san martin made known to me his intention of proceeding with the main body of the army to truxillo, a place four degrees to leeward of lima, where the army could have gained no advantage, nor, indeed, have found anything to do, except to remain there safe from any attack by the spaniards, who could not approach it by land, whilst the squadron could protect it by sea. by representing to general san martin that this course would cause great dissatisfaction amongst the chileno officers and men, who expected to be landed and led at once against lima, for the immediate conquest of which they were amply sufficient, he consented to give up his plan of proceeding to truxillo, but firmly refused to disembark his men in the vicinity of lima; for what reason i could not then divine. my own plan was to land the force at chilca, the nearest point to callao, and forthwith to obtain possession of the capital; an object by no means difficult of execution, and certain of success. finding all argument unavailing, we sailed for pisco, where the expedition arrived on the th of september, and on the th, to my great chagrin, the troops were disembarked, and for fifty days remained in total inaction! with the exception of despatching colonel arenales into the interior with a detachment, which, after defeating a body of spaniards, took up a position to the eastward of lima. even on arriving at pisco, general san martin declined to enter the town, though the spanish forces consisted of less than three hundred men. landing the troops under major-general las heras, he went down the coast in the schooner _montezuma_ the inhabitants meanwhile retiring into the interior, taking with them their cattle, slaves, and even the furniture of their houses. this excess of caution excited great discontent in the army and the squadron, as contrasting strangely with the previous capture of the place, in the preceding year, by lieut.-colonel charles and major miller, with their handful of men. on the return of general san martin, he professed to be greatly chagrined at the departure of the inhabitants, and the consequent loss of supplies. instead of attributing this to his own tardy movements, he declared his disbelief in the accounts he had received from peru as to the friendly disposition of the inhabitants, even throwing out doubts as to the success of the expedition in consequence. it was of the first importance to have taken the place immediately, and to have conciliated the inhabitants, as the ships were scantily provisioned, and all but destitute of other necessary supplies. a detailed account, however, of the capture of the place was transmitted to santiago, where it was duly recorded in the official organ as the first feat of the great expedition. during these fifty days the squadron was also necessarily kept in inaction, having achieved nothing beyond the capture of a few merchantmen along the coast, and a fruitless chase of two spanish frigates, the _prueba_ and _venganza_, which i did not follow up, as involving risk to the transports during my absence. this delay was productive of the worst disasters which could have befallen the expedition. the people were eager to receive us, and not calculating on such tardiness on the part of general martin--were everywhere declaring in our favour; but being unsupported, were fined, imprisoned, and subjected to corporal punishment by the viceroy. rendered cautious by this, they naturally distrusted the force idling away its time at pisco, manifesting reluctance to bring forward the requisite supplies, upon which they were treated, by order of general san martin, with military rigour; being thus harassed, the peruvians began to look upon the chilenos as oppressors in common with the spaniards, to the no small danger of losing every desire for national independence. nevertheless, on reaching pisco, gen. san martin had promulgated a proclamation from the supreme director full of fervent appeals to god and man as regarded the good intentions of the chilian government: the following are extracts:-- "peruvians, here are the engagements under which chili--before the supreme being--and calling all nations to witness as avengers of any violation of the compact, engages to aid you--setting death and toil at defiance. you shall be free and independent. you shall choose your own government and laws, by the spontaneous will of your representatives. no military or civil influence, direct or indirect, shall your brethren use to influence your social dispositions. you shall dismiss the armed force sent to your assistance the moment you judge proper, without regard to our opinion of your danger or security. never shall any military division occupy the soil of a free people, unless called for by your lawful magistrate. neither by ourselves, nor by our aid, shall party opinions which may have preceded your liberty be punished. ready to overthrow any armed force which may resist your rights, we beseech you to forget all grievances antecedent to the day of your glory, so as to reserve the most severe justice to obstinacy and oppression." such, were the inducements held out to the peruvian people, and such was their first experience with regard to their liberators. yet even amidst inaction the fruits of demonstration early became manifest, a vessel arriving on the th of october, from guayaquil, with the intelligence that on receiving news of the sailing of the expedition, that province had declared itself independent. upon the arrival of this welcome news, i again begged of general san martin to reimbark the troops and move on lima, and at length succeeded in inducing him to make a move. previous to our departure, general san martin issued the following proclamation, here given to shew how promises solemnly entered into could afterwards be broken. "peruvians! i have paid the tribute which, as a public man, i owe to the opinion of others, and have shewn what is my object and mission towards you. i come to fulfil the expectations of all those who wish to belong to the country which gave them birth, and who desire to be governed by their own laws. on the day when peru shall freely pronounce as to the form of her institutions, be they whatever they may, _my functions shall cease_, and i shall have the glory of announcing to the government of chili, of which i am a subject, that their heroic efforts have at last received the consolation of giving liberty to peru, and peace to the neighbouring states." the troops being reimbarked--on the th we sailed from pisco, and on the following day anchored before callao. after having reconnoitred the fortifications, i again urged on general san martin an immediate disembarcation of the force, but to this he once more strenuously objected, to the great disappointment of the whole expedition; insisting on going to ancon, a place at some distance to the northward of callao. having no control over the disposition of the troops, i was obliged to submit; and on the th, detached the _san martin, galvarino,_ and _araucano_, to convoy the transports to ancon, retaining the _o'higgins, independencia_, and _lautaro_, as if for the purpose of blockade. the fact was, that--annoyed in common with the whole expedition--at this irresolution on the part of general san martin, i determined that the means of chili, furnished with great difficulty, should not be wholly wasted, without some attempt at accomplishing the objects of the expedition; and accordingly formed a plan of attack with the three ships which i had kept back--though being apprehensive that my design would be opposed by general san martin, i had not even mentioned to him my intentions. this design was to cut out the _esmeralda_ frigate from under the fortifications, and also to get possession of another ship, on board of which we had learned that a million of dollars was embarked for flight, if it became necessary; my opinion being that if such display of power were manifested, the spaniards would either surrender the capital or abandon it. the enterprise was hazardous, for since my former visit the enemy's position had been much strengthened, no less than pieces of artillery being mounted on shore, whilst the _esmeralda_ was crowded with the best sailors and marines that could be procured, these sleeping every night at quarters. she was, moreover, defended by a strong boom with chain moorings, and by armed blockships; the whole being surrounded by twenty-seven gun-boats; so that no ship could possibly get at her. for three days we occupied ourselves in preparations, still keeping secret the purpose for which they were intended. on the evening of th of november, this was communicated to the ships by the following proclamation:-- "marines and seamen," "this night we are going to give the enemy a mortal blow. tomorrow you will present yourselves proudly before callao, and all your comrades will envy your good fortune. one hour of courage and resolution is all that is required of you to triumph. remember, that you have conquered in valdivia, and be not afraid of those who have hitherto fled from you." "the value of all the vessels captured in callao will be yours, and the same reward in money will be distributed amongst you as has been offered by the spaniards in lima to those who should capture any of the chilian squadron. the moment of glory is approaching, and i hope that the chilenos will fight as they have been accustomed to do, and that the english will act as they have ever done at home and abroad." "cochrane." on issuing this proclamation, it was stated that i should lead the attack in person, volunteers being requested to come forward, on which the whole of the marines and seamen on board the three ships offered to accompany me. as this could not be permitted, a hundred and sixty seamen and eighty marines were selected, and after dark were placed in fourteen boats alongside the flag-ship, each man armed with cutlass and pistol, being, for distinction's sake, dressed in white, with a blue band on the left arm. the spaniards i expected would be off their guard, as, by way of _ruse_, the other ships had been sent out of the bay under the charge of captain foster, as though in pursuit of some vessels in the offing--so that the spaniards would consider themselves safe from attack for that night. at ten o'clock all was in readiness, the boats being formed in two divisions, the first commanded by my flag-captain crosbie, and the second by captain guise,--my boat leading. the strictest silence, and the exclusive use of cutlasses were enjoined; so that, as the oars were muffled, and the night dark, the enemy had not the least suspicion of the impending attack. it was just upon midnight when we neared the small opening left in the boom, our plan being well-nigh frustrated by the vigilance of a guard-boat, upon which my launch had luckily stumbled. the challenge was given, upon which, in an under-tone, i threatened the occupants of the boat with instant death if they made the least alarm. no reply was made to the threat, and in a few minutes our gallant fellows were alongside the frigate in line, boarding at several points simultaneously. the spaniards were completely taken by surprise--the whole, with the exception of the sentries, being asleep at their quarters--and great was the havoc made amongst them by the chileno cutlasses whilst they were recovering themselves. retreating to the forecastle, they there made a gallant stand, and it was not until the third charge that the position was carried. the fight was for a short time renewed on the quarter-deck, where the spanish marines fell to a man, the rest of the enemy leaping overboard and into the hold to escape slaughter. on boarding the ship by the main chains, i was knocked back by the butt end of the sentry's musket, and falling on a thole pin of the boat, it entered my back near the spine, inflicting a severe injury, which caused me many years of subsequent suffering. immediately regaining my footing, i reascended the side, and when on deck, was shot through the thigh, but binding a handkerchief tightly round the wound, managed, though with great difficulty, to direct the contest to its close. the whole affair, from beginning to end, occupied only a quarter of an hour, our loss being eleven killed and thirty wounded, whilst that of the spaniards was a hundred and sixty, many of whom fell under the cutlasses of the chilenos before they could stand to their arms. greater bravery i never saw displayed than that of our gallant fellows. before boarding, the duties of all had been appointed, and a party was told off to take possession of the tops. we had not been on deck a minute, when i hailed the foretop, and was instantly answered by our own men, an equally prompt answer being returned from the frigate's maintop. no british man-of-war's crew could have excelled this minute attention to orders. the uproar speedily alarmed the garrison, who, hastening to their guns, opened fire on their own frigate, thus paying us the compliment of having taken it; though, even in this case, their own men must still have been on board, so that firing on them was a wanton proceeding, as several spaniards were killed or wounded by the shot of the fortress, and amongst the wounded was captain coig, the commander of the _esmeralda_--who, after he was made prisoner, received a severe contusion by a shot from his own party. the fire from the fortress was, however, neutralised by a successful expedient. there were two foreign ships of war present during the contest--the united states frigate _macedonian_, and the british frigate _hyperion_; and these, as previously agreed on with the spanish authorities in case of a night attack--hoisted peculiar lights as signals, to prevent being fired upon. this contingency being provided for by us--as soon as the fortress commenced its fire on the _esmeralda_, we also ran up similar lights, so that the garrison became puzzled which vessel to fire at; the intended mischief thus involving the _hyperion_ and _macedonian_, which were several times struck, the _esmeralda_ being comparatively untouched. upon this the neutral frigates cut their cables and moved away; whilst captain guise, contrary to my orders, cut the _esmeralda_ cables also, so that there was nothing to be done but to loose her top-sails and follow; the fortress then ceasing its fire. my orders were not to cut the cables of the, _esmeralda_; but after taking her to capture the _maypu_, a brig of war previously taken from chili--and then to attack and cut adrift every ship near, there being plenty of time before us; no doubt existing but that when the _esmeralda_ was taken, the spaniards would desert the other ships as fast as their boats would permit them, so that the whole might either have been captured or burned. to this end all my previous plans had been arranged; but on being placed _hors de combat_ by my wounds, captain guise, on whom the command of the prize devolved, chose to interpose his own judgment, and content himself with the _esmeralda_ alone, cutting her cables without my orders; the reason assigned being, that the english had broken into her spirit-room and were getting drunk, whilst the chilenos were disorganized by plundering. it was a great mistake, for if we could capture the _esmeralda_, with her picked and well-appointed crew, there would have been little or no difficulty in cutting the other ships adrift in succession. it would only have been the rout of valdivia over again, chasing the enemy, without loss, from ship after ship, instead of from fort to fort. the following extract, from the order issued preparatory to the attack, will clearly shew the plan frustrated by cutting the _esmeralda_ adrift:-- "on securing the frigate, the chilian seamen and marines are not to give the chilian cheer, but to deceive the enemy, and give time for completing the work: they are to cheer '_viva el rey_.'" "the two brigs of war are to be fired on by the musketry _from the esmeralda_, and are to be taken possession of by lieutenants esmonde and morgell, in the boats they command; which, being done, they are to cut adrift, run out, and anchor in the offing as quickly as possible. the boats of the _independencia_ are to turn adrift all the outward spanish merchant ships; and the boats of the _o'higgins_ and _lautaro_, under lieutenants bell and robertson, are to set fire to one or more of the headmost hulks; but these are not to be cut adrift, so as to fall down upon the rest." (signed) "cochrane." by the cutting of the _esmeralda's_ cables, not one of these objects was effected. the captured frigate was ready for sea, with three months' provisions on board, and with stores sufficient for two years. she was, no doubt, if opportunity offered, intended to convoy the treasure-ship, which, by the precipitancy of captain guise, we had missed; indeed the spanish admiral being on board at the time, with his flag flying, was a pretty clear proof that she was on the point of departure; instead of which, the admiral, his officers, and seamen were made prisoners, the remainder of the crew, originally in number, being killed, wounded, or drowned. an incident occurred during the contest which, at this distance of time, i shall not refrain from mentioning. his britannic majesty's ship _hyperion_ was so close to the _esmeralda_, as to be a witness of the whole proceeding. a midshipman was standing at the gangway looking on, amongst others, when his truly english nature, unable to restrain itself as our gallant fellows cleared the forecastle of the enemy, gave vent to its expression by clapping his hands in approbation. it was afterwards reported that he was immediately ordered below by his commander, captain searle, who threatened to put him under arrest. such was the feeling of an english commander towards me. i should not have condescended to notice this occurrence but for the bravado shown by the same officer on a previous occasion, by casting loose his guns, with their tompions out, when my flag-ship entered the roads; thereby either intimating that he considered me a pirate, or that he would so treat me, if he had an opportunity. when approaching the _esmeralda_, the british frigate also hailed each boat separately, with the evident intention of alarming the enemy; which would no doubt have been the case, had not the spaniards been thrown off their guard by the before-mentioned ruse of sending the ships out of the bay. far different was the conduct of the commander of the united states frigate _macedonian_--whose sentinels did not hail the boats--the officers in an under-tone wishing us success; and still more honourable was the subsequent testimony of that talented officer, captain basil hall, who commanded his britannic majesty's ship _conway_, then in the pacific. this testimony, though in some degree a recapitulation of the events already related, but slightly inaccurate as regards the number of men employed, i feel proud to adduce:-- "while the liberating army, under general san martin, was removing to ancon, lord cochrane, with part of his squadron, anchored in the outer roads of callao. the inner harbour was guarded by an extensive system of batteries, admirably constructed, and bearing the general name of the 'castles of callao.' the merchant ships, as well as the men of war, consisting of the _esmeralda_, a large -gun frigate, and two sloops of war, were moored under the guns of the castle, within a semicircle of fourteen gun-boats, and a boom made of spars chained together." "lord cochrane, having previously reconnoitred these formidable defences in person, undertook, on the th of november, , the desperate enterprise of cutting out the spanish frigate, although she was known to be fully prepared for an attack. his lordship proceeded in fourteen boats, containing men--all volunteers from the different ships of the squadron--in two divisions, one under the orders of captain crosby, and the other under captain guise, both officers commanding the chileno squadron." "at midnight, the boats having forced their way across the boom, lord cochrane, who was leading, rowed alongside the first gun-boat, and taking the officer by surprise, proposed to him, with a pistol at his head, the alternative of silence or death. no reply being made, the boats pushed on unobserved, and lord cochrane, mounting the _esmeralda's_ side, was the first to give the alarm. the sentinel on the gangway levelled his piece and fired, but was instantly cut down by the coxwain, and his lordship, though wounded in the thigh, at the same moment stepped on the deck, the frigate being boarded with no less gallantry on the opposite side by captain guise, who met lord cochrane midway on the quarter-deck, as also captain crosby, and the afterpart of the ship was soon carried, sword in hand. the spaniards rallied on the forecastle, where they made a desperate resistance, till overpowered by a fresh party of seamen and marines, headed by lord cochrane. a gallant stand was again made on the main deck, but before one o'clock the ship was captured, her cables cut, and she was steered triumphantly out of the harbour." "this loss was a death-blow to the spanish naval force in that quarter of the world; for, although there were still two spanish frigates and some smaller vessels in the pacific, they never afterwards ventured to shew themselves, but left lord cochrane undisputed master of the coast." on the morning of the th a horrible massacre was committed on shore. the market-boat of the united states frigate was, as usual, sent for provisions, when the mob took it into their heads that the _esmeralda_ could not have been cut out without the assistance of the _macedonian_, and, falling upon the boat's crew, murdered the whole of them. the wounded amongst the _esmeralda's_ crew were sent on shore under a flag of truce, a letter from me to the viceroy proposing an exchange of prisoners being at the same time transmitted. the proposal was this time civilly acceded to, and the whole were sent on shore; the chilian prisoners, who had long languished in the dungeons of the fortress, being returned, and ordered to join the army of general san martin. on transmitting the intelligence of our success to general san martin, i received from him the following acknowledgment of the achievement:-- _ th november, ._ "my lord," "the importance of the service you have rendered to the country by the capture of the frigate _esmeralda_, and the brilliant manner in which you conducted the gallant officers and seamen under your orders to accomplish that noble enterprise, on the night of the memorable th of november, have augmented the gratitude due to your former services by the government, as well as that of all interested in the public cause, and in your fame." "all those who participated in the risks and glory of the deed, also deserve well of their countrymen, and i have the satisfaction to be the medium of transmitting the sentiments of admiration which such transcendent success has excited in the chiefs of the army under my command. permit me to express them to you, in order that they may be communicated to the meritorious officers, seamen, and marines of the squadron, to whom will be religiously fulfilled _the promises you made_." "it is grievous that, connected with the memory of so glorious a deed, regret for those who shed their blood in its achievement should enter; but let us hope that such thoughts will be dissipated, by your adding further deeds of glory to the country, and to your name." "god preserve you many years." "jose de san martin." san martin's expression of religiously fulfilling the "promises i made," is in allusion to the promise, signed by himself, which had been exacted previous to the departure of the squadron from valparaiso, that the men should have a year's pay given to them. with the preceding letter general san martin voluntarily sent another promise to the captors, of , dollars, to be paid on gaining possession of lima. neither the one promise nor the other were ever fulfilled, nor did they ever obtain any prize-money. to the administration in chili general san martin wrote as follows:-- "head quarters, supe, dec. , . senor minister," "i have the honour of forwarding to you the despatches of the right hon. lord cochrane, vice-admiral of the squadron, relative to the heroic capture of the frigate _esmeralda_, by boarding her under the batteries of callao." "it is impossible for me to eulogise in proper language the daring enterprise of the th of november, by which lord cochrane has decided the superiority of our naval forces--augmented the splendour and power of chili--and secured the success of this campaign." "i doubt not that his excellency the supreme director will render the justice due to the worthy chief, his officers, and other individuals who have had a share in that successful action." "i beg you will honour me by congratulating his excellency on this important success, and principally on account of the influence it will have on the great object which occupies his attention." "jose de san martin." "to don jose ignacio zenteno, minister of marine." soon after my departure for peru, lady cochrane undertook a journey across the _cordillera_, to mendoza, the passes being, at that season, often blocked up with snow. having been entrusted with some despatches of importance, she pushed on rapidly, and on the th of october arrived at the celebrated _ponte del inca_, , feet above the level of the sea. here the snow had increased to such an extent as to render farther progress impossible, and her ladyship was obliged to remain at a _casucha_, or strong house, built above the snow for the safety of travellers; the intense cold arising from the rarity of the atmosphere, and the absence of all comfort--there being no better couch than a dried bullock's hide--producing a degree of suffering which few ladies would be willing to encounter. whilst proceeding on her mule up a precipitous path in the vicinity, a royalist, who had intruded himself on the party, rode up in an opposite direction and disputed the path with her, at a place where the slightest false step would have precipitated her into the abyss below. one of her attendants, a tried and devoted soldier, named pedro flores, seeing the movement, and guessing the man's intention, galloped up to him at a critical moment, striking him a violent blow across the face, and thus arresting his murderous design. the ruffian finding himself vigorously attacked, made off, without resenting the blow, and so, no doubt, another premeditated attempt on lady cochrane's life was averted. chapter v. san martin's violation of truth--removal of blockade--spanish depression--troops dying of fever--san martin's designs on guayaquil--mutinous conduct of officers--refusal to obey orders--deposition of viceroy--san martin gives me troops--jealousy of san martin--attack on arica--capture of tacna--capture of moquega--refusal of more men--an armistice ratified--distress of lima--dissatisfaction of the army--lady cochrane--goes into the interior--dangerous position--lady cochrane in action--devotion of seamen. on the th of november i went to ancon with our prize, this being hailed with great enthusiasm by the army, which--now that the spanish naval force had received, what even the spaniards themselves considered its death blow--made certain that it would be at once led against lima, before the authorities recovered from their consternation. to their mortification--no less than my own--general san martin, in defiance of all argument to the contrary, ordered the troops on board the transports, having decided on _retreating to huacho!_ whither the _o'higgins_ and _esmeralda_, abandoning the blockade, had to convoy them. in place of prompt action--or rather demonstration, for the occupation of the city would have amounted to little more--he issued a proclamation, promising, as before, the most perfect freedom to the peruvian people if they would join him:-- "spaniards, your destiny is in your own hands. i come not to declare war against the fortunes and persons of individuals. the enemy of the liberty and independence of america alone is the object of the vengeance of the arms of the patria. i promise you in the most positive manner, that your property and persons shall be inviolable, and that you shall be treated as respectable citizens, if you co-operate in the great cause," &c. &c. by the th the army was again disembarked, amidst evident manifestations of dissatisfaction on the part of the officers, who were naturally jealous of the achievements of the squadron, from being themselves restrained from enterprise of any kind. to allay this feeling general san martin had recourse to an almost incredible violation of truth, intended to impress upon the chilian people, that the army, and not the squadron, had captured the _esmeralda!_--indeed stating as much in words, and declaring that the whole affair was the result of his own plans, to which i had agreed! though the truth is, that doubting his confidants, i had concealed from him my intentions of making the attack. the following is an extract from the bulletin issued to the army:-- "before the general-in-chief left the vice-admiral of the squadron, _they agreed on the execution of a memorable project, sufficient to astound intrepidity itself!_ and to make the history of the liberating expedition of peru eternal!" "those valiant soldiers who for a length of time have suffered with the most heroic constancy the severest oppression, and the most inhuman treatment in the dungeons of casas-matas, have just arrived at our head-quarters. flattering promises of liberty, and the threats of death, were not sufficient to destroy their loyalty to their country; they have waited with firmness the day on which their companions in arms should rescue them from their misery, and revenge the insults which, humanity has received in their persons. this glory was reserved _to the liberating army, whose efforts have snatched from the hands of tyranny these respectable victims._ let this be published for the satisfaction of these individuals, _and that of the army, to whose arms they owe their liberty_." it thus went forth to the people of chili, that the army captured the frigate, and subsequently released the prisoners, though not a man in the whole force had the most distant idea that an attack was even contemplated, much less could it have co-operated, seeing that it was far away in cantonments! this bulletin excited the astonishment of the troops; but as it contributed to their _amour propre_, by representing to the chilian people that the achievement which had been effected was due to them, they accepted it; whilst i thought it beneath me to refute a falsehood palpable to the whole expedition. it had, however, as general san martin no doubt calculated, the effect of allaying, for the moment, a dissatisfaction which foreboded serious consequences. on the th we again sailed from huacho, to renew the blockade at callao, beyond which nothing could be done; though even this was of importance, as cutting off supplies from the capital, the inhabitants of which, in consequence of the privations they were subjected to, caused great uneasiness to the viceregal government. several attempts were now made to entice the remaining spanish naval force from their shelter under the batteries, by placing the _esmeralda_ apparently within reach, and the flag-ship herself in situations of some danger. one day i carried her through an intricate strait called the boqueron, in which nothing beyond a fifty-ton schooner was ever seen. the spaniards, expecting every moment to see the ship strike, manned their gun-boats, ready to attack as soon as she was aground, of which there was little danger, for we had found, and buoyed off with small bits of wood invisible to the enemy, a channel through which a vessel could pass without much difficulty. on the nd of december the _esmeralda_, being in a more than usually tempting position, the spanish gun-boats ventured out in the hope of recapturing her, and for an hour maintained a smart fire; but on seeing the _o'higgins_ manoeuvring to cut them off, they precipitately retreated. the preceeding successes caused great depression amongst the spanish troops, and on the following day the battalion of numantia, numbering disciplined men, deserted in a body, and joined the chilian forces at chancay. on the th, forty spanish officers followed their example; and every day afterwards, officers, privates, and civilians of respectability, joined the patriot army, which thus became considerably reinforced; the defection of so large a portion of his troops being a severe loss to the viceroy. on the th, colonel arenales, who, after his previous success, had marched into the interior, defeated a division of the royalist army at pasco. on his proceeding to huamanga, the authorities fled, and the inhabitants declared themselves independent. tarma was next abandoned, and followed the same example, as did huanuco, cueñca, and loxa; whilst, on the news of the capture of the _esmeralda_ arriving at truxillo, that important province also revolted, under the direction of the spanish governor, the marquis of torre tagle. notwithstanding this succession of favourable events, general san martin still declined to march on lima, remaining inactive at haura, though the unhealthy situation of the place was such, that nearly one-third of his troops died of intermittent fever, during the many months they remained there. in place of securing the capital, where the army would have now been welcomed, he proposed to send half the army to guayaquil, in order to annex that province, this being the first manifestation on the part of general san martin to found a dominion of his own--for to nothing less did he afterwards aspire, though the declared object of the expedition was to enable the south pacific provinces to emancipate themselves from spain, leaving them free to choose their own governments, as had been repeatedly and solemnly declared, both by the chilian government and himself. finding that i would not consent to avert the naval force from the purposes to which it was destined, the project was abandoned; but the troops which had advanced to chancay were ordered to fall back on haura, this step being actually a further retreat as regarded the position of the spanish forces, which thus managed to check further desertion by apprehending and shooting all who attempted it. still general san martin was determined, if possible, to accomplish his views on guayaquil. two deputies, tomas guido and colonel luzuriago, were despatched with complimentary messages to torre tagle and others, warning them against the designs of bolivar, whose success in the north led san martin to fear that he might have designs on peru. the deputies were strictly enjoined to represent that if such were bolivar's intention, guayaquil would only be regarded as a conquered province; whilst, if the people of that place would adhere to him, he would, on the fall of lima, make it the _principal port of a great empire_, and that the establishment of the docks and arsenals which _his navy_ would require, would enrich the city beyond measure. they were at the same time exhorted to form a militia, in order to keep out bolivar. by way of conciliating me, general san martin proposed in a flattering way to call the captured frigate the "_cochrane_," as two vessels before had been named the "_san martin_," and "_o'higgins_;" but to this i demurred, as acquiescence in such a proceeding might in the estimation of others have identified me with any course the general might be inclined to pursue, and i had already formed my conjectures as to what were evidently his future purposes. finding me firm in declining the proffered honour, he told me to give her what name i thought proper; but this was also refused, when he said, "let her be called the '_valdivia_,' in memory of your conquest of that place;" her name was accordingly changed from the _esmeralda_ to the _valdivia_. the command of the frigate had been given to captain guise; and after her change of name, his officers wrote to him a letter deprecating the name, and alleging, that as they had nothing to do with the conquest of valdivia, it ought to be withdrawn, and one more consonant with their feelings substituted. this letter was followed by marked personal disrespect towards myself, from the officers who had signed it, who made it no secret that the name of guise was the one sought to be substituted. as the conversations held by these officers with the rest of the squadron were of such a derogatory nature as regarded my character and authority, as might lead to serious disorganization, i brought the whole of the officers who had signed the letter to a court-martial, two being dismissed the service, the remainder being dismissed the ship, with a recommendation to general san martin for other appointments. during the arrest of these officers, i had determined upon an attack upon the fortifications of callao, intending to carry them by a coup de main, similar to that which had succeeded at valdivia, and having, on the th, taken soundings in the _potrillo_, was convinced of the feasibility of the plan. on the th, this intention was notified by an order, stating that on the following day i should make the attack with the boats of the squadron and the _san_ _martin_, the crew of which received the order with loud cheers, volunteers for the boats eagerly pressing forward from all quarters. in place of preparing to second the operations, captain guise sent me a note refusing to serve with any other but the officers under arrest--stating that unless they were restored, he must resign his command. my reply was that i would neither restore them nor accept his resignation, without some better reason for it than the one alleged. captain guise answered, that my refusal to restore his officers was a sufficient reason for his resignation, whereupon i ordered him to weigh anchor on a service of importance; the order being disobeyed on the ground that he could no longer act, having given over the command of the ship to lieutenant shepherd. feeling that something like a mutiny was being excited, and knowing that guise and his colleague, spry, were at the bottom of the matter, i ordered the latter to proceed with the _galvarino_ to chorillos, when he also requested leave to resign, as "his friend captain guise had been compelled so to do, and he had entered the chilian navy conditionally to serve only with captain guise, under whose patronage he had left england." such was the state of mutiny on board the _galvarino_, that i deputed my flag-captain, crosbie, to restore order, when spry affected to consider himself superseded, and claimed exemption from martial law. i therefore tried him by court-martial, and dismissed him from the ship. the two officers now made their way to head-quarters, where general san martin immediately made spry his naval _aide-de-camp_, thus promoting him in the most public manner for disobedience to orders, and in defiance of the sentence of the court-martial; this being pretty conclusive proof that they had been acting under the instructions of general san martin himself, for what purpose will appear in the course of the narrative. the course now pursued by general san martin sufficiently showed that the disturbance previously made at valparaiso emanated also from himself, and that in both cases the mutinous officers felt quite secure in his protection; though i will do both the credit of supposing them ignorant at the time of the treacherous purposes of which they were afterwards the instruments. knowing that i should take their punishment into my own hands if they returned to the squadron, general san martin kept both about his own person at head-quarters, where they remained. so dissatisfied were the spanish troops at lima with the government of their viceroy, pezuela, to whose want of military capacity they absurdly attributed our successes, that they forcibly deposed him, after compelling him to appoint general lacerna as his successor. the deposed viceroy wishing to send his lady and family to europe, applied to general san martin for a passport, to avoid capture by the chilian squadron. this was refused; but lady cochrane having arrived at callao in the british frigate _andromache_, to take leave of me previous to her departure for england, the viceroy's lady, donna angela, begged of her ladyship to use her influence with the general to obtain leave for her departure for europe. lady cochrane immediately proceeded to haura, and effected the object; after which she remained for a month at head-quarters, residing at the house of a peruvian lady, donna josefa monteblanco. a passage was also, by lady cochrane's influence, procured for the lady in the _andromache_, on board which ship captain sherriff politely invited me to meet her. at this interview the ex-vicequeen expressed her surprise at finding me "a gentleman and _rational being_ and not the _ferocious brute_ she had been taught to consider me!" a declaration, which, from the unsophisticated manner in which it was made, caused no small merriment in the party assembled. as i was determined not to be idle, general san martin was with some difficulty prevailed upon to give me a division of troops, under the command of lieutenant-colonel miller. on the th of march we sailed for pisco, of which, on its previous abandonment by the army, after a useless sojourn of fifty days, the enemy had again taken possession. on the th it was retaken, when it was found that the spaniards had severely punished the alleged defection of the inhabitants for contributing to the supplies of the patriot force during its stay. not imagining that we should return, the spanish proprietors of estates had brought back their cattle, of which we managed to seize some head, besides horses for the use of the chilian forces, the squadron thus supplying their wants instead of remaining in total inaction. previous to going to pisco, i had again urged on general san martin to advance on lima, so convinced was i of the goodwill of the inhabitants. on his refusal, i begged him to give me , men, with whom i offered to take the capital, but this was also declined. i then offered to undertake the capture of lima with , men, but even this was refused, and the detachment under colonel miller was only given to me to get rid of my importunity. of this detachment i however determined to make the most before our return. the only way of accounting for this indisposition on the part of general san martin to place an adequate military force at my disposal, was the reason current amongst the officers of the army, who were all eager to place themselves under my orders; viz. the violent jealousy which caused him to look upon me as a rival, though without reason, as i should certainly not have attempted to interfere with him in the government of peru when its reduction was complete. suspicious himself he could not trust me, employing every effort to lessen my reputation amongst his officers, and endeavouring to the utmost to prevent the squadron from gathering fresh laurels; even sacrificing his own reputation to this insane jealousy, by preventing anything being done in which i could take part. on the th i shifted my flag into the _san martin_, and leaving the _o'higgins_ and _valdivia_ at pisco to protect the troops, sailed for callao, where we arrived on the nd of april. on the th, we again attacked the enemy's shipping under the batteries, and did them considerable damage, but made no further attempt to gain possession of them, as i had other aims in view. after this demonstration, the object of which was to deter them from quitting their shelter, we returned to pisco. general san martin having now given me discretionary power to do what i pleased with the few troops placed at my disposal, i determined on attacking arica, the southernmost port of peru. reimbarking the troops, and abandoning pisco, we sailed on the st, and on the st of may arrived off arica, to the governor of which i sent a summons to surrender, promising to respect persons and personal property. as this was not complied with, an immediate bombardment took place, but without any great effect, as, from the difficulties of the port, it was impracticable to get sufficiently near to the fortifications. after a careful survey, the _san martin_ was on the th, hauled nearer in shore, and some shells were thrown over the town by way of intimidation. as this had not the desired effect, a portion of the troops was landed at sama, to the northward of the town, being followed by colonel miller with the remainder, and captain wilkinson with the marines of the _san martin_; when the enemy fled, and the patriot flag was hoisted on the batteries. we took here a considerable quantity of stores, and four spanish brigs, besides the guns of the fort and other detached artillery. a quantity of european goods, belonging to the spaniards at lima, was also seized and put on board the _san martin_. on the th colonel miller, with the troops and marines, advanced to tacna, and by my directions took possession of the town, which was effected without opposition, two companies of infantry deserting the royalist cause and joining his force. these i ordered to form the nucleus of a new regiment, to be called the "tacna independents." learning that the spanish general ramirez had ordered three detachments from arequipa, puno, and la paz, to form a junction at tacna, to execute the usual spanish order--to "drive the insurgents into the sea"--miller determined on attacking them separately. the arequipa detachment, under colonel hera, was fallen in with at maribe, and immediately routed, the result being that nearly the whole were killed or taken prisoners, together with four hundred mules and their baggage. in this affair we lost a valued officer, mr. welsh, an assistant surgeon, who had volunteered to accompany the detachment. this gentleman was sincerely mourned by all, and his early death was a great loss to the patriot service. this action was fought none too soon, for before it was over the other detachments from puno and la plaz appeared in sight, so that the patriots had to face a fresh enemy. with his usual promptness miller despatched captain hind, with a rocket party, to oppose their passage of a river; when, finding that the arequipa detachment had been cut up, the royalists remounted their mules and decamped, in the direction of moquega. on the nd miller pursued the runaway royalists, and, on the th, entered moquega, by a forced march of nearly a hundred miles, where he found the enemy, deserted by their colonel. notwithstanding the fatigue of the chilenos, an instant attack was made, when the whole, with the exception of about twenty killed, were made prisoners. the inhabitants at once gave in their adherence to the cause of independence, their governor, colonel portocarrera, being the first to set the example. on the th colonel miller learned that a spanish force was passing torata, about fifteen miles distant, when, coming up with them on the following day, they were all taken prisoners or dispersed, as were also those who had fled from arica, numbering four hundred men; so that in less than a fortnight after landing at arica, the patriot forces had killed and made prisoners upwards of one thousand of the royalist army, by a series of difficult forced marches, and amidst hunger and privations of every kind, which were cheerfully borne by the chilenos, who were no less inspired by a love of country than with attachment to their commander. the result was the complete submission of the spaniards from the sea to the cordilleras, arica forming the key to the whole country. having ascertained that colonel miller was at moquega, i took the _san martin_ to ilo, from which anchorage the patriot force was supplied with everything requisite. the sick were taken on board the brigs captured at arica, as were also the spanish colonels, sierra and suares, who had been taken prisoners, but whom i liberated on their _parole_, not to serve again until regularly exchanged. it has been said that, before sailing to arica, i had procured from general san martin discretionary powers to do as i pleased with the troops placed at my disposal. my object was believed to be to create a diversion in favour of the general, but this was the least part of my intention; for, as the army had remained inactive from its first landing in peru--with the exception of the detachment under colonel arenales,--no diversion would have been of much use. i wrote to the government at santiago for , men, or, if these could not be sent, for , and also for , stand of arms, of which there was abundance in the arsenal to equip recruits, who would have been forthcoming; and with these we could, with the greatest ease, have secured the whole of the southern provinces of peru, the people being warmly disposed in our favour. i therefore told the government that with such a force, we could hold the whole of lower peru, and gain eventual possession of upper peru. my request was refused, on the false ground that the government had no means to equip such an expedition, and thus the good will manifested by the natives was thrown away. in spite of this neglect, i determined to persevere, relying upon sacrifices made by the peruvians themselves in our favour. general ramirez was actively engaged in drawing men from distant garrisons to act against our small force, which was suffering severely from ague. nevertheless, every effort was made again to advance into the interior--a number of recruits from the adjacent provinces having been enrolled--and everything promised a general revolt in favour of independence, when the governor of arequipa communicated to us intelligence that an armistice had been agreed upon for twenty days, between general san martin and the viceroy lacerna. this happening just at the moment when hostilities could have been carried on with the greatest effect, and we were preparing to attack arequipa itself--was annoying in the extreme; the more so, as the application had come from the viceroy, who, being the first to receive intelligence of our success, had, no doubt, deceived general san martin into the arrangement, in order to check our operations in the south. this armistice was ratified on the rd of may, and sent by express to the governor of arequipa, the unusual haste proving the object of the viceroy in persuading general san martin to its ratification. to have regarded the armistice as a preliminary to the independence of peru was a great mistake on the part of general san martin, as the viceroy lacerna had no more power to acknowledge the absolute independence of the colonists, than had his predecessor; and therefore the object of the armistice could have been none other than to put a stop to our progress, thereby giving the spanish generals time to collect their scattered forces, without any corresponding advantage to the patriot cause. being thus reluctantly reduced to inaction, i dropped down to mollendo, where we found a neutral vessel taking in corn for supplying the city of lima, which city, from the vigilance of the squadron, was reduced to great straits, as shewn in an address from the _cabildo_ to the viceroy:--"the richest and most opulent of our provinces has succumbed to the unopposable force of the enemy, and the remaining provinces are threatened with the same fate; whilst this suffering capital of lima is undergoing the horrible effects of a rigorous blockade, hunger, robberies, and death. our soldiers pay no respect to the last remains of our property, even our oxen, indispensable for the cultivation of the land, being slain. if this plague continues, what will be our lot--our miserable condition?" from this extract it is plain that lima was on the point of being starved out by the squadron, whilst the inhabitants foresaw that, although the army of general san martin was inactive, our little band in the south would speedily overrun the provinces, which were willing to second our efforts in favour of independence. to return to the shipment of wheat for the relief of lima. on ascertaining the fact, i wrote to the governor of arequipa, expressing my surprise that neutrals should be allowed to embark provisions during an armistice; the reply being that the most positive orders should be given to put a stop to it, upon which i retired from mollendo, but leaving an officer to keep watch, and finding that the embarkation was persisted in, i returned and shipped all the wheat found on shore. the consequence of this was that colonel la hera, with , royalists, took possession of moquega, on pretence that i had broken the armistice. my private advices from head quarters informed me that the dissatisfaction of the chilian army was daily increasing, on account of their continued inaction, and from jealousy at our success; knowing also, that the capital of peru was, from the straits to which it was reduced, as well as from inclination, eager to receive them. general san martin nevertheless declined to take advantage of the circumstances in his favour, till dissension began to assume the character of insubordination. a daily toast at the tables of the officers was, to those who fight for the liberties of peru, not those who write. "_a los que pelean por la libertad del peru, no los que escriven_." general san martin, aware of the state of feeling in the army, went on board the schooner _montezuma_, for the re-establishment of his health. i was further informed that the viceroy was negociating with general san martin for the prolongation of the armistice to _sixteen months_, in order to give time for communication with the court of madrid, to ascertain whether the parent state would consent to the independence of peru! at the same time official information was forwarded to me that a further prolongation of twelve days had been conceded. feeling certain that there was something wrong at head-quarters, i determined to proceed to callao for the purpose of learning the true state of affairs, leaving colonel miller to return to arica, and in case of emergency, victualling and equipping the prizes, so as to be in readiness, if necessary, for the reception of his troops. during my absence lady cochrane sailed for england, partly for the sake of her health, but more for the purpose of obtaining justice for me, for in addition to the persecution which i had undergone, a "foreign enlistment bill" had been passed, the enactments of which were especially aimed at my having engaged in a service which had for its object the expulsion of spain, then in alliance with england, from her colonies in the pacific. as an incident relating to her ladyship has been mentioned in the "memoirs of general miller," i may be pardoned for giving it as narrated in that work. "on the th, six hundred infantry and sixty cavalry, all picked men, were placed under the command of lieutenant-colonel miller, who received directions to embark on a secret service under the orders of lord cochrane, and proceeded to huacho. on the day after his arrival there, and whilst he was inspecting the detachments in the plaza, lady cochrane galloped on to the parade to speak to him. the sudden appearance of youth and beauty on a fiery horse, managed with skill and elegance, absolutely electrified the men, who had never before seen an english lady. '_que hermosa! que graciosa! que linda! que airosa! es un angel del cielo_!' were exclamations which escaped from one end of the line to the other. colonel miller, not displeased at this involuntary homage to the beauty of his countrywoman, said to the men, 'this is our _generala_;' on which her ladyship, turning to the line, bowed to the troops, who no longer confining their expressions of admiration to suppressed interjections, loud _vivas_ burst from officers and men, to which lady cochrane, smiling her acknowledgments, cantered off the ground like a fairy." in the month of february, during my absence, lady cochrane, tired of the crowded villages occupied by the liberating army, undertook a journey into the interior, in the hope that change of air might prove advantageous to our infant child, which was in a precarious state of health. she performed the journey on horseback, under the intense heat of a vertical sun, across a desert, impeded by the precipitous beds of torrents which intersect the country in every direction. on her arrival at quilca, she was most hospitably received by the marchioness de la pracer, who placed her palace and every luxury at lady cochrane's disposal. in the midst of the festivities which followed, her child was taken dangerously ill, whilst no medical assistance of any kind was at hand. on this she determined to return to the coast, and seek the aid of an english or spanish physician, but as the royalist army was advancing towards the direction necessary to be taken, this was judged impracticable till they had passed. whilst her ladyship was in this state of suspense, information was received that the royalists, having gained intelligence that she was at quilca, had determined to seize her and her infant that very evening, and to detain them as hostages. this intelligence arrived just as a large party was assembled in the ball-room, when, with a decision which is one of her chief characteristics, lady cochrane ordered a _palanquin_--presented to her by the marquis of torre tagle--to be got ready instantly, and placing the child and its nurse in it, she despatched them under the protection of a guard. leaving the ball-room secretly, she changed her dress, immediately following on horseback with relays of her best horses. travelling all night and the following day without intermission, the party came to one of those swollen torrents which can only be crossed by a frail bridge made of cane-rope, a proceeding of extreme danger to those who are not well accustomed to the motion produced by its elasticity. whilst the party was debating as to how to get the palanquin over, the sound of a royalist bugle was heard close at hand. lady cochrane sprang to the palanquin, and taking out her suffering infant, rushed on to the bridge, but when near the centre, the vibration became so great that she was compelled to lie down, pressing the child to her bosom--being thus suspended over the foaming torrent beneath, whilst in its state of vibration no one could venture on the bridge. in this perilous situation, pedro, the faithful soldier of whom mention has been previously made, seeing the imminent danger of her ladyship, begged of her to lie still, and as the vibration ceased, crept on his hands and knees towards her ladyship, taking from her the child, and imploring her to remain motionless, when he would bring her over in the same way; but no sooner had he taken the child, than she followed, and happily succeeded in crossing, when the ropes being cut, the torrent was interposed between her and her pursuers. all travellers agree in describing these torrent bridges as most perilous. they are constructed of six elastic cane or hide ropes, four of which, with some sticks laid across, form the floor, and two the parapet. only one person can pass at a time, and as the weight of the passenger causes the bridge to belly downwards, he remains suspended as it were in an elastic bag, from which it requires considerable skill to extricate himself with safety. mules and horses cannot go over at all, but are hauled through the torrent with ropes. having reached the coast in safety, lady cochrane came down to me at callao. whilst she was on board, i received private information that a ship of war laden with treasure was about to make her escape in the night. there was no time to be lost, as the enemy's vessel was such an excellent sailer that, if once under weigh, beyond the reach of shot, there was no chance of capturing her. i therefore determined to attack her, so that lady cochrane had only escaped one peril ashore to be exposed to another afloat. having beat to quarters, we opened fire upon the treasure-ship and other hostile vessels in the anchorage, the batteries and gun-boats returning our fire, lady cochrane remaining on deck during the conflict. seeing a gunner hesitate to fire his gun, close to which she was standing, and imagining that his hesitation from her proximity might, if observed, expose him to punishment, she seized the man's arm, and directing the match fired the gun. the effort was, however, too much for her, as she immediately fainted, and was carried below. the treasure-vessel having been crippled, and the gun-boats beaten off, we left off firing and returned to our former anchorage, lady cochrane again coming on deck. as soon as the sails were furled, the men in the tops, and the whole crew on deck, no doubt by preconcerted arrangement, spontaneously burst forth with the inspiring strains of their national anthem, some poet amongst them having extemporized an alteration of the words into a prayer for the blessing of divine providence on me and my devoted wife; the effect of this unexpected mark of attachment from five hundred manly voices being so overwhelming as to affect her ladyship more than had the din of cannon. chapter vi. return to callao--lima abandoned--hesitation of gen. san martin to occupy the city--loss of the san martin--excesses of the spaniards--proclamation of independence--san martin assumes autocratic power under the title of protector--my remonstrance--his reply--mutinous state of the squadron from neglect. we arrived at callao on the nd of july, when learning that lima was no longer tenable from want of provisions, and that an intention existed on the part of the viceroy to abandon it, i forebore to make any hostile demonstration which might interfere with such decision, and withdrew to a distance from the port, awaiting the result, which could not be far distant, as the people had become clamorous, and all hope of assistance from spain was abandoned. having, however, learned, on the th of july, that an attempt was being made by the viceroy to obtain a still further prolongation of the armistice, i again entered the bay with the _san martin_--my former flag-ship, the _o'higgins_, being absent on the coast. on the th the viceroy abandoned the city, retaining, however, the fortresses at callao, the garrison of which was reinforced from the troops which had evacuated lima; a large quantity of warlike stores being also deposited in the forts, thus securing greater efficiency than before. to the astonishment of the peruvians and chilenos, no movement was made by the liberating army to take possession of the capital; and as the spanish troops were withdrawn, whilst no government existed, serious disorders were anticipated, so that the _cabildo_ applied to capt. basil hall, then in command of the british ship of war _conway_, for his assistance to maintain tranquillity and protect public and private property. captain hall immediately despatched a party of marines, who contributed to maintain order. general san martin having been apprised by the viceroy of his intention to abandon the capital, had entered the harbour in the schooner _sacramento_, but nevertheless gave no orders for its occupation. on the th a detachment of cavalry, _without orders_, entered lima, and those on the th were followed by another detachment of infantry. on working up to the port on the th, i was surprised to find general san martin still afloat in his schooner, though the liberating army was now entering the city in a body, and the occupation was complete; general san martin remained on board till the evening of the th, when he privately landed. as the forts at callao were still in the possession of the enemy, i made preparations to attack them, and to destroy the shipping still sheltered under them. aware of my intentions, the garrison, on the th, sank the _san sebastian_, the only frigate left in the harbour, in order to prevent her falling into our hands on the following day, the _o'higgins, lautaro, puyrredon_, and _potrillo_ arrived, so that the squadron was again complete. it was mentioned in the last chapter that i had seized a considerable quantity of wheat at mollendo, on account of a breach of the armistice. this was still on board, and the city being in a state of famine, general san martin directed that the wheat, of which there were upwards of two thousand _fanegas_, should be landed at the chorillos free of duty. as the _san martin_ was deeply laden, i objected to this from the dangerous nature of the anchorage, but more especially, that the only anchor on board was made from the remains of two broken anchors lashed together; this objection was nevertheless overruled, and, as i had anticipated, she went ashore at chorillos, where, from the heavy swell which set in, she became a total wreck. on the th i received an invitation from the _cabildo_ to visit the city, and on landing, found that preparations had been made to give the visit the character of a public entry, carriages being provided, with deputations from the various corporations. finding this to be the case, i declined entering lima in a manner so ostentatious, as general san martin had entered the city privately by night. i was, however, compelled to hold a _levee_ at the palace, where the compliments of the established authorities and principal inhabitants were tendered to me. general san martin declined to attend this complimentary manifestation, remaining at la legua, about halfway between lima and callao, where he had established his head quarters; probably considering such honours out of place towards one whom as captain-general he might regard as a subordinate, and the more so, as no such compliment had been offered to himself. on the following day, general san martin directed a civic guard to be organized in place of the spanish guard which had evacuated the city, the marquis of torre tagle being appointed its commandant. at the same time the general retained the whole of the liberating army, though had even a portion of these followed the retreating spaniards, the greater part would have joined the patriot standard--it being afterwards ascertained that colonel rodil who commanded them, had shot great numbers in the attempt to desert; even the patriot guerilla parties, unaided, had defeated those who were kept together; so that had a division of the liberating army been sent to co-operate with the guerillas, the entire spanish force might have been annihilated, in place of forming the _nucleus_--as they afterwards did--of a force which, after my departure from chili, threatened not only the independence of peru, but even that of the chilian republic itself. being thus unopposed, and the towns which had given in their adhesion to the cause of independence being left defenceless--the retreating spaniards committed great excesses amongst the inhabitants of the interior, who found themselves exposed to more than the rigours of martial law, without the least attempt for their protection; though a promise of this had formed one of the principal inducements for throwing off their allegiance to the viceroy, at whose mercy--or rather want of it--they now found themselves exposed. in place of protecting the peruvians in the interior, a number of highly inflated proclamations were issued, in which it was left to be inferred that the city had been taken by hard fighting, though not a blow had been struck, except by the detachment of colonel arenales and the squadron, whose vigilance of blockade and previous actions had so dispirited the enemy and reduced them to such straits, that abandonment of the capital was inevitable. nor was the large force present even required to maintain lima, the inhabitants having for a long period been subjected to miseries which they had no disposition to re-encounter. but general san martin had other views in retaining the army than protecting those who had confided in his promises; the military force being required for very different purposes to that which had been set forth in his proclamations and in those entrusted to him by the chilian government. on the th i ordered captain crosbie to proceed to callao in the boats, and cut out as many of the enemy's vessels as he could bring away. the service was gallantly performed, for on the following day he brought out two large merchantmen, the _san fernando_ and _milagro_, and the sloop of war _resolucion_, together with several launches; burning moreover two vessels within musket shot of the batteries. on the th, the _cabildo_ sent me an invitation to be present at the public proclamation of the independence of peru. as their letter fully recognises the obligations of the limeños to the services of the squadron,--i shall transcribe it:-- "lima is about to solemnize the most august act which has been performed for three centuries, or since her foundation; this is the proclamation of her independence, and absolute exclusion from the spanish government, as well as from that of any other foreign potentate, and this _cabildo_--wishing the ceremony to be conducted with all possible decorum and solemnity, _considers it necessary that your excellency, who has so gloriously co-operated in bringing about this highly desired object_, will deign to assist at the act with your illustrious officers, on saturday, the th instant." imagining that myself and officers had been mainly instrumental in establishing the independence of peru--for i had in vain urged the captain-general to action, as far as the army was concerned, the invitation was accepted, but judge of my surprise at the ceremony, when medals were distributed, ascribing to general san martin and the army the whole credit of having accomplished that which the squadron had achieved! the inscription on the medals was as follows.--"lima secured its independence on the th of july, , under the protection of _general san martin and the liberating army_." the declaration of independence was however complete, according to the promises and intentions of the chilian government. on hoisting the national flag, general san martin pronounced the following words:--"peru is from this moment free and independent, by the general vote of the people, and by the justice of her cause, which god defend." the inhabitants of lima were in a state of great delight at this termination of centuries of spanish misrule, and that their independence of action was fully recognized as had been stipulated by chili. as a mark of gratitude, a deputation from the _cabildo_, on the next day waited on general san martin, offering him, in the name of the inhabitants of the capital, the first presidency of their now independent state. to the astonishment of the deputation they were curtly told that their offer was altogether unnecessary, as he had _already taken the command, and should keep it as long as he thought proper, whilst he would allow no assemblies for the discussion of public matters_. the first act of the freedom and independence so ostentatiously proclaimed on the previous day, being the establishment of a despotic government, in which the people had neither voice nor share; and this by the general of a republic which existed only by the will of the people! in this extraordinary assumption of power i had not been at all consulted, probably because it was known that i would not countenance anything but carrying out intact the intentions of the supreme director of chili as declared in his proclamations. it now became evident to me that the army had been kept inert for the purpose of preserving it entire to further the ambitious views of the general, and that with the whole force now at lima the inhabitants were completely at the mercy of their pretended liberator, but in reality their conqueror. as the existence of this self-constituted authority was no less at variance with the institutions of the chilian republic than with its solemn promises to the limeños, i again shifted my flag on board the _o'higgins_, determined to adhere solely to the interests of chili; but not interfering in any way with general san martin's proceedings till they interfered with me in my capacity as commander in chief of the chilian navy. on the rd of august, general san martin issued a proclamation to the same effect as his declaration to the now extinct _cabildo_; setting forth that although it was abundantly notorious that he aspired only to retirement and tranquillity, nevertheless a moral responsibility required him to unite all government in his own person, and he therefore declared himself "protector of peru," with don juan garcia del rio, don bernardo monteagudo, and don hipolito unanue, as his three ministers of state. being at the time on board the flag-ship, i knew nothing of this proclamation; but as the squadron had not been paid their twelve months' wages, nor the , dollars promised by general san martin, i went on shore on the th of august, to make the demand on behalf of the squadron, the seamen having served their time. being ignorant of the self-imposed title which general san martin had assumed, i frankly asked him to devise some means for defraying these payments. i forbear personally to relate what passed at this interview; but as my secretary was present, and on his return to england published an account thereof, which is in every respect substantially true, i will give it in his words:-- "on the following morning, august th, lord cochrane, uninformed of the change which had taken place in the title of san martin, visited the palace, and began to beg of the general in chief to propose some means for the payment of the foreign seamen, who had served their time and fulfilled their contract. to this, san martin answered, that 'he would never pay the chilian squadron unless it was sold to peru, and then the payment should be considered part of the purchase money!' to this lord cochrane replied, that 'by such a transaction the squadron of chili would be transferred to peru by merely paying what was due to the officers and crews for services done to that state.' san martin knit his brows, and turning to his two ministers, garcia and monteagudo, ordered them to retire, to which his lordship objected, stating that 'as he was not master of the spanish language, he wished them to remain as interpreters, fearful that some expression, not rightly understood, might be considered offensive.' san martin now turned round to the admiral, and said--'are you aware, my lord, that i am protector of peru?'--'no,'--said his lordship, 'i ordered my secretaries to inform you of it,' returned san martin. 'that is now unnecessary, for you have personally informed me,' said his lordship; 'i hope that the friendship which has existed between san martin and myself will continue to exist between the protector of peru and myself.' san martin then--rubbing his hands--said, 'i have only to say, that i am protector of peru!'" "the manner in which this last sentence was expressed, roused the admiral, who, advancing, said--'then it becomes me, as senior officer of chili, and consequently the representative of the nation, to request the fulfilment of all the promises made to chili and the squadron; but first--and principally--the squadron.' san martin returned--'chili! chili! i will never pay a single _real_ to chili! as to the squadron, you may take it where you please, and go where you choose; a couple of schooners are quite enough for me;' '_chili! chili, yo nunca pagare 'un real a chili! y en quanto a la esquadra, puede v llevarla donde quiere, e irse quando guste, con un par de golestas me basta a mi_.'" "on hearing this, garcia left the room, and monteagudo walked to the balcony. san martin paced the room for a short time and turning to his lordship, said,--'forget, my lord, what is past.' the admiral replied--'i will, when i can,' and immediately left the palace." his lordship was now undeceived by the man himself; the repeated reports he had heard of his past conduct crowded on his imagination, and knowing what might be attempted, from what had been already done, his lordship agreed with me, that his life was not safe ashore. he therefore immediately took horse--rode to boca negra, and went on board his frigate[ ]. [footnote : "_twenty years residence in south america_," by w.b. stevenson, secretary to lord cochrane, vice-admiral of chili, &c. &c. .] one thing has been omitted in the preceding narrative. general san martin, following me to the staircase, had the temerity to propose to me to follow his example--viz. to break faith with chilian government to which we had both sworn--to abandon the squadron to his interests--and to accept the higher grade of "first admiral of peru." i need scarcely say that a proposition so dishonourable was declined; when in a tone of irritation he declared that "he would neither give the seamen their arrears of pay, nor the gratuity he had promised." on arriving at the flag-ship, i found the following official communication, requesting me to fire a salute in honour of san martin's self-elevation to the protectorship:-- lima, th aug. . my lord, his excellency the protector of peru commands me to transmit to you the annexed organic decree, announcing his exaltation to the supreme authority; in order that the squadron may be informed of this momentous event, and that the new government may be acknowledged by the naval department under your command, belonging to the republic of chili. i hope, that duly estimating this high act, you will cause it to be celebrated with all the dignity which is compatible with the martial usage of the naval service. (signed) monteagudo. attested by the _rubrica_ of the protector. though this was a request to acknowledge general san martin as invested with the attributes of a sovereign prince, i complied with it in the hope that quiet remonstrance might recal him to a sense of duty to the chilian government, no less than to his own true interests. on the th of august, i addressed to him the following letter:-- callao roads, th aug. . my dear general, i address you for the last time under your late designation, being aware that the liberty i may take as a friend might not be deemed decorous to you under the title of "protector," for i shall not with a gentleman of your understanding take into account, as a motive for abstaining to speak truth, any chance of your resentment. nay, were i certain that such would be the effect of this letter, i would nevertheless perform such an act of friendship, in repayment of the support you gave me at a time when the basest plots and plans were laid for my dismissal from the chilian service, for no other reason than that certain influential persons of shallow understanding and petty expedients hate those who despise mean acts accomplished by low cunning. permit me, my dear general, to give you the experience of eleven years during which i sat in the first senate in the world, and to say what i anticipate on the one hand, and what i fear on the other, nay, what i foresee; for that which is to come, in regard to the acts of governments and nations, may as certainly be predicted from history, as the revolutions of the solar system. you have it in your power to be the napoleon of south america, as you have it in your power to be one of the greatest men now acting on the theatre of the world; but you have also the power to choose your course, and if the first steps are false, the eminence on which you stand will, as though from the brink of a precipice, make your fall the more heavy and the more certain. the rocks on which the south american government have split have hitherto been bad faith, and consequent temporary expedients. no man has yet arisen, save yourself, capable of soaring aloft, and with eagle eye embracing the expanse of the political horizon. but if in your flight, like icarus, you trust to waxen wings, your descent may crush the rising liberties of peru, and involve all south america in anarchy, civil war, and political despotism. the real strength of government is public opinion. what would the world say, were the protector of peru, as his first act, to cancel the bonds of san martin, even though gratitude may be a private and not a public virtue? what would they say, were the protector to refuse to pay the expense of that expedition which placed him in his present elevated situation? what would they say, were it promulgated to the world that he intended not even to remunerate those employed in the navy which contributed to his success. what good can be arrived at by a crooked path that cannot be attained by a straight and open way? who has advised a tortuous policy and the concealment of the real sentiments and intentions of government? has an intriguing spirit dictated the refusal of pay to the chilian navy, whilst the army is doubly paid? is it proposed thus to alienate the minds of the men from their present service, and by such policy to obtain them for the service of peru? if so, the effect will, i predict, be the contrary, for they have looked, and do look, to peru for their remuneration, and, if disappointed, they will feel accordingly. see to what a state the senate had brought the beautiful and fertile province of chili. nay, had not their notorious want of faith deprived them, notwithstanding their mines, their confiscated and public lands, of the means possessed even by the spanish government, and of the credit necessary to procure a dollar in any foreign country, or even in their own? i say, therefore, my dear general, that whoever has advised you to commence your protectorship with devices unworthy of san martin, is either a thoughtless or a wicked man, whom you should for ever banish from your counsels. my dear general, look to the flattering addresses presented by the servile of all countries to the most base in power. think not that it is to the person of san martin that the public are attached. believe not, that without a straight and dignified course you can obtain the admiration or love of mankind. so far yet you have succeeded, and, thank god, it is in your power to succeed yet farther. flatterers are more dangerous than the most venomous serpents, and next to them are men of knowledge, if they have not the integrity or courage to oppose bad measures, when formally discussed, or even when casually spoken of. what political necessity existed for any temporary concealment of the sentiments of government in regard to the fate of the spaniards in peru? were not the army and the people ready to support your measures, and did not the latter call aloud for their expulsion? believe me, my dear general, that after your declaration, even the seizing on spanish property belonging to those who remain, is an act which ought not to be resorted to without crime on their part subsequently committed. in the feelings of my breast no man can deceive me. of the sentiments of others, i judge by my own, and i tell you what they are as an honest man and a friend. i could say much to you, my dear general, on other subjects of little inferior importance, but as the foregoing are the only acts immediately contemplated of which i have acquired a knowledge, and which are, in their consequences, ruinous, i shall, at present, only add, that had kings and princes but one man in their dominions who would, on all occasions, utter the naked truth, multifarious errors would be avoided, and the mischief to mankind would be infinitely less. you will plainly perceive that i have no personal interests in these, or any other points, at variance with yours; but, on the contrary, if i were base and interested, i have now taken a decisive and irrevocable step to ruin my prospects; having no other security for such not being the consequence of my candour save my good opinion of your judgment and your heart. believe me, under all circumstances, your attached friend, cochrane. to this letter, on the th of august, general san martin replied as follows:-- lima, th august, . my lord, the best proof of friendship that can be given by you is the sincere announcement of your opinions as to the course i should follow in my new political character. assuredly you have not erred, when, under the title of protector, you do not anticipate any change in my personal character. happily, the alteration is only in a name, which, in my opinion, was required for the benefit of the country; and if, in the character in which you have known me, you have met with _civility_ and frankness, it would be an injustice to deny me confidence, having always listened to you as an enlightened person, experienced in the world; especially as you do me justice in enabling me to make observations on the spirit of your last communication. i am aware that good faith in one who presides over a nation, is the vital spirit of its prosperity; and as, in this respect, a singular current of success has called me temporarily to the supreme magistracy of this country, i should renounce the advantages acquired and betray my principles, if vanity or servile acquiescence in bad advice were to induce me to deviate from the social interests of peru, and so expose it to the evils which in such case you dread. i know, my lord, that one cannot fly with waxen wings. i perceive the course i ought to pursue, and that, however great the advantages already gained, there are rocks which, _without the aid of prudence and good faith_, must be encountered. by good fortune, i have not forgotten the maxim of religiously adhering to the word of a gentleman, which, as general, has been the pivot on which my anticipations have rested. it now behoves me to explain my engagements towards the chilian squadron, to which, it is very gratifying to declare that peru, in part, owes its liberty; an acknowledgment which would have been made on the medals coined, if, in the hurry of business, _i had been able to give my attention to the subject of the inscription that was presented to me as a model!_ you yourself have heard me eulogise its merits and services. i have offered to the crews of the squadron of chili twelve months' pay, as an acknowledgment of its services, and am employed in providing the means, and also in endeavouring to collect the reward of , dollars which _you_ offered to the seamen who should capture the _esmeralda_, and i am not only disposed to pay these sums, but to recompense valour displayed in the cause of the country. but you know, my lord, that the wages of the crews do not come under these circumstances, and that i--_never having engaged to pay the amount--am not obliged to do so!_ that debt is due from chili, whose government engaged the seamen. although it may be just, in the state of its finances, to indemnify chili in some degree for the expeditionary expenses, that will be, for me, an agreeable consideration; but in no degree will i acknowledge a right to claim arrears of pay! if i could forget the services of the squadron, and the sacrifices of chili, i should manifest ingratitude, which, neither as a public or private virtue will i ever forego; but it is as imprudent to lavish rewards, as to withhold them from the meritorious. i am engaged in finding means to realize measures as regards the squadron, which i intend to propose to the supreme government of chili, and thus conciliate all interests. your affectionate friend, jose de san martin. to lord cochrane, vice-admiral of chili. in this letter, san martin attributes his usurpation to a "singular current of success;" omitting to state that he neither achieved one blow, nor devised one plan which led to it, whilst he had all along offered it every obstruction in his power. he declares that the arrogation of the fall of the spaniards, attributed by the inscription on the medal to the army and himself, was a mistake, brought about by "his not being able, in the hurry of business, to give attention to the model presented to him;" whereas the inscription was his own writing, after days of deliberation and consultation with others, who advised him not to mention the squadron in the inscription. in this letter he repudiates all connection with chili, though he had sworn fidelity to the republic as its captain general. he denies ever having engaged to pay the squadron their wages, though on no other condition had it put to sea from valparaiso, and his own handwriting to this specific promise was accepted as the inducement. though himself an officer of chili, he treats chili as a state with which he had nothing to do, whose debts he declares that he will not pay, as he had previously told me on the th of august; finally, he says that he will propose to chili to pay its own seamen! as to his promises to give the men a twelvemonths' pay in acknowledgment of their services, this was neither intended nor given; whilst, as to the , dollars promised to the captors of the _esmeralda_, which he is "endeavouring to collect," he had long before "collected" many times the amount from the old spaniards--who had offered a similar reward for the capture of any vessels of the chilian squadron--and kept it. fortunately, his own letters prove these matters, which otherwise i should have hesitated to mention, unsupported by testimony so irrefutable. general san martin afterwards denied to the chilian government that he refused, on the th of august, to pay the squadron. here is the same assertion, in his own handwriting, on the th! during the whole of this time the squadron was in a state of literal destitution; even the provisions necessary for its subsistence being withheld from it, though the protector had abundant means of supplying them; but his object was to starve both officers and men into desertion--so as to accelerate the dismemberment of the squadron which i would not give up to his ambitious views. the sound advice contained in my letter general san martin never forgave--and he afterwards fell exactly as i had predicted--there was no merit in the prophecy, for similar causes lead to like effects. adhering to my own duty, i felt that i was free from his command, and determined to follow no other course than to carry out, as far as lay in my power, the pledge of the chilian government to the peruvian people. concealing for the present his resentment, and reflecting that the forts of callao were still in the hands of the spaniards, the protector endeavoured to explain away the disagreeable nature of our interview on the th of august, by asserting, "that he only said, or meant to say, that it might be interesting to chili to _sell some of her vessels of war to peru_, because the latter wanted them for the protection of her coasts;" adding, that "the government of chili would at all times devote their squadron to the furtherance of the cause of peru." he repeated, that the arrears of pay to the squadron should be liquidated, as well as the rewards which had been promised. as none of these were forthcoming, the squadron began to shew symptoms of mutiny at the conduct of the protector. on the th of august i wrote to him, apprising him of the increasing discontent of the seamen, again requesting payment. on this a decree was issued, ordering one-fifth of the customs receipts to be set aside for the joint pay of the army and navy, but as the fortress and port of callao were in the hands of the spaniards, these receipts were most insignificant, and the measure was rightly regarded by the squadron as a subterfuge. to this communication the protector replied, on the th of august--at the same time hinting that i might _reconsider_ my refusal to accept the command of the contemplated peruvian navy. the subjoined is his letter:-- lima, th of august, . my lord, in my official letter addressed to you on the disagreeable business of paying the squadron, which causes us so much uneasiness, i have told you that it is impossible to do as we wish. i have nothing to add, unless my previous declaration, that i shall never view with indifference any thing that interests you. i told you in valparaiso, that "your lot should be equal to mine" and i believe myself to have proved that my intentions have not varied--nor can vary, because every day renders my actions more important. no, my lord, i do not view with indifference anything which concerns you, and i shall be deeply grieved, if you do not wait till i can onvince you of the truth. if, however, in despite of all this, you determine on the course, which, at our interview a few days ago, you proposed to take, it will be for me a difficulty from which i cannot extricate myself, but i hope that--_conforming yourself to my wishes_--you will conclude the work begun, on which our common lot depends. adieu, my lord, i repeat that i am, with sincere esteem, your eternal friend, jose de san martin. the assertion, that he could not satisfy the seamen, was a subterfuge; he had abundance of money, derived from the wholesale spoliation of the spaniards, to which indefensible course i had alluded in my letter of august th. he also hoped that "_conforming to his wishes_," i would accept the appointment of "first admiral;" the consequence of which--together with the decree transferring the chilian officers--without their consent--to the service of peru, would have been to turn over to his government the chilian squadron. chapter vii. tampering with chilian officers--the archbishop of lima--his expulsion--negociation for surrender of the forts--this counteracted--san martin's bombastic proclamations--his refusal to encounter the enemy--the spaniards relieve callao--delusive proclamation--the unblushing falsehood--spaniards carry off the treasure--discontent of the squadron. finding that i was indisposed to acknowledge his self-assumed authority, and still less to contribute to measures which would, in effect, have deprived chili of the navy, which by her patriotic sacrifices had been created, the protector issued a proclamation, again _promising_ the payment of arrears to the seamen, and a pension for life to the officers, _acknowledging them as officers of peru_! no inference can be drawn from this other than a direct intimation to the officers to desert from the chilian service. the following are extracts from the proclamation, which was published in a gazette extraordinary of august th, :-- "the army and squadron of chili united, have, at last, completed the oath which they took, to liberate peru, and have raised it to the rank which justice and the interests of the world demand. their constancy and heroism will hand them down to posterity with gratitude. i should be deficient in my political duty, did i not manifest the appreciation due to their transcendent deeds, promoting the interests of both hemispheres." " . the state of peru acknowledges as a national debt the arrears of the army and squadron, as well as the promises made by me to both." " . all the property of the state, and also twenty per cent, on the revenue, are pledged to the extinction of these debts." " . all the officers of the army and squadron who sailed with the liberating expedition, and now remain in them, _are acknowledged as officers of peru_." " . those comprehended in the preceding articles, and those employed in the said cause, shall receive, during the period of their lives, a pension of half their full pay, awarded on leaving valparaiso, which pension shall be paid even in the case of their settling in a foreign country." " . all shall receive a medal," &c, &c. not a penny of the arrears and the other emoluments promised, was, however, paid to the squadron; nor was any intended to be paid, the object being to get the officers quietly to transfer themselves from the chilian squadron to the service of the protector, on the strength of the promises made: and, in this, he was ably seconded by his instruments, guise and spry, who, in defiance of their desertion, and the sentence of court-martial on the latter, had been retained near his person for the accomplishment of this object. one of the most fearless opponents of the protector was the archbishop of lima, an excellent man, much beloved by the people--who made no secret of his indignation at the usurpation which had taken place, despite all the promises of chili, declared "before god and man"--as well as those of the protector himself, to "leave the peruvians free as regarded their own choice of government." as the honest prelate denounced, in no measured terms, the despotism which had been established in the place of the liberty guaranteed, it was determined to get rid of him. the first step was an order to the archbishop, dated august , , to close all the houses of spiritual exercises. this was politely refused; but, at the same time, the prelate stated, that if any confessor disturbed public order, he would take the requisite measures for his punishment. on the th, the archbishop was told in reply, that "the protector's orders were irrevocable, and he must at once decide on the line of conduct he intended to adopt." on the st of september, the prelate, in an admirable letter, told the protector, that "the principal obligation of a bishop was to defend the deposit of doctrine and faith which had been confided to him, and, if threatened by any great potentate, to remonstrate with respect and submission, to the end that he might not be a participator in crime by a cowardly condescension. god had constituted bishops as the pastors and guards of the flock, and he tells us, that we are not to be cowards in the presence of the greatest potentates on earth, but, if necessary, we must shed our blood, and lay down our lives, in so just a cause; anathematizing us, on the contrary, as dumb dogs who do not bark when the spiritual health of the flock is in danger." the end of this was, that the protector urged on the archbishop to resign, promising him a vessel to convey him to panama; relying on which promise, he sent in his resignation, and was ordered to quit lima in twenty-four hours! as the promise of a conveyance to panama was broken, the archbishop embarked in a merchant vessel for rio de janeiro, addressing to me the following letter previous to his departure. chancay, nov. , . my dear lord, the time is arrived for my return to spain, the protector having granted me the necessary passport. the polite attention which i owe to your excellency, and the peculiar qualifications which adorn and distinguish you, oblige me to manifest to you my sincere regard and esteem. in spain, if god grant that i arrive in safety, i request that you will deign to command me. on leaving this country, _i am convinced that its independence is for ever sealed_. this i will represent to the spanish government, and to the papal see, and will do all in my power to preserve the tranquillity, and to further the views, of the inhabitants of america, who are dear to me. deign, my lord, to receive these sentiments as emanating from the sincerity of my heart, and command your obliged servant and chaplain, bartolomÉ maria de las heras. this forcible expulsion of the archbishop was an act of political folly, as being tantamount to a declaration that he was too good a man to countenance the designs of those who had usurped an unjust dominion over his flock. had the promises of chili been carried out in their integrity, both the archbishop and his clergy would have used all their influence to promote the cause of liberty--not more from interest than inclination. the expression of the archbishop, that "the independence of peru was _for ever_ sealed," was, however, erroneous. tyranny is not composed of enduring materials. the bishop of guamanga, who resided at lima, was also ordered to leave peru within eight days, without reason assigned, and thus the opposition of the church was got rid of, though not without deep feeling on the part of the limeños, who were, however, powerless to help their clergy or themselves. the affairs of the squadron becoming every day worse, and a mutinous spirit being excited from actual destitution, i endeavoured to obtain possession of the castles of callao by negociation, offering to the spanish commandant permission to depart with two-thirds of the property contained in the fort, on condition of the remainder, together with the forts, being given up to the chilian squadron. my object was to supply the crews with the absolute necessaries, of which they stood in need from the evasive conduct of the protector, who continued to withhold, not only pay, but provisions, though the squadron had formed the ladder on which he had ascended to his present elevated position. there were large sums and a vast amount of plate in the possession of the spanish garrison,--the wealthy citizens of lima--fearing their liberators--having deposited both in the forts for security. a third of this would have relieved us from our embarrassments. the vessels were, in fact, in want of stores of every kind, their crews being without animal food, clothing, or spirits, indeed their only means of subsistence was upon money obtained from the spanish fugitives, whom i permitted to ransom themselves by surrendering a third only of the property with which they were escaping. as soon as my offer to the spanish commandant, la mar, became known to the protector--in order to counteract it, and ensure the success of his design to starve out the chilian squadron, and so procure its transfer to himself--he offered la mar unlimited and unconditional protection, both as to persons and property, on purchase of letters of citizenship! the commandant, therefore, rejected my proposal, and the hope of obtaining a sufficient sum for the payment of the seamen, and for refitting the ships, was frustrated. general san martin afterwards accused me to the chilian government of aiming at the possession of the fortress of callao, for the purpose of setting at defiance the government of peru! this was ridiculous; though, had it been my object, it would have been perfectly consistent with my duty to chili, from which state the protector of peru had cast off his allegiance. my object was simply to obtain means to subsist the squadron; though, had i obtained possession of the forts, i would most certainly have dictated to general san martin the fulfilment of his promises; and should as certainly have insisted on his performing his solemn engagement to the peruvians, of giving them the free choice of their own government. he also accused me of wishing to appropriate the sum proposed to be surrendered by the spanish commandant to my own use, though the seamen were in a state of mutiny from actual starvation! instead of contributing to this useful end, as before the protector's interference la mar was not unwilling to do, the spaniards were afterwards permitted to retire unmolested with the whole of their treasure; and to this, the most discreditable act which ever sullied the name of a military commander, we now come. as the whole transaction has been well described by another writer, who was present throughout, i prefer extracting his words, in order to prevent any suspicion of mental bias which i may be supposed to entertain on the subject:-- "the spanish army at janja, in the beginning of september, spread alarm in lima, from advices received of their movements. it appeared that they were determined to attack the capital, and on the th of september the following proclamation was issued at head-quarters by the protector:--" "inhabitants of lima," "it appears that the justice of heaven, tired of tolerating for so long a time the oppressors of peru, now guides them to destruction. three hundred of those troops who have desolated so many towns, burnt so many temples, and destroyed so many thousands of victims, are at san mateo, and two hundred more at san damian. if they advance on this capital, it will be with the design of immolating you to their vengeance (san martin had , troops to oppose them), and to force you to purchase at a high price your decision, and enthusiasm for independence. vain hope! the valiant who have liberated the illustrious lima, those who protect her in the most difficult moments, know how to preserve her against the fury of the spanish army. yes, inhabitants of this capital, my troops will not abandon you; _they and myself are going to triumph over that army which--thirsty of our blood and property, is advancing; or we will perish with honour, for we will never witness your disgrace_. in return for this noble devotion, and that it may receive the favourable success of which it is worthy, all we require of you is, union, tranquillity, and efficacious co-operation. this alone is necessary to ensure the felicity and splendour of peru." "san martin." "on the morning of the th, lord cochrane received on board the _o'higgins_ an official communication, informing him that the enemy was approaching the walls of lima, and repeating the request that his lordship would send to the army every kind of portable arms then on board the squadron, as well as the marines and all volunteers; because the protector was '_determined to bring the enemy to an action, and either conquer or remain buried in the ruins of what was lima_.' this heroic note was, however, accompanied by a private one from monteagudo, containing a request that the boats of the vessels of war might be kept in readiness, and a look out placed on the beach of boca negra." "lord cochrane immediately pressed forward to san martin's camp, where, being recognised by several officers, a murmur of congratulation was heard, and even guise and spry exclaimed, 'we shall have some fighting now the admiral is come.' general las heras, acting as general-in-chief, saluting the admiral, begged of him to endeavour to persuade the protector to bring the enemy to an action. his lordship, on this, rode up to san martin, and taking him by the hand, in the most earnest manner entreated him to attack the enemy without losing a single moment; his entreaties were, however, in vain, the only answer received being--'my resolutions are taken'--'_mis medidas están tomadas_.'" "notwithstanding this apathy, his lordship remonstrated, stating the situation in which he had, not five minutes before, observed the enemy's infantry, and begged of the protector to ascend an eminence at the back of the house, and convince himself how easily a victory might be obtained; but he only received the same cold reply--_mis medidas están tomadas_.'" "the clamour of the officers in the _patio_ of the house roused san martin, who called for his horse and mounted. in a moment all was bustle, and the anticipated glow of victory shone in every countenance. the order to arms was given, and instantly obeyed by the whole army, amounting to about , men, including guerillas, all anxious to begin the fight. the protector beckoned to the admiral and general las heras, who immediately rode up to him, hoping that he was either about to consult them respecting the attack, or to inform them how it was to be conducted." "at this moment a peasant approached san martin on horseback, the general with most unparalleled composure lending an attentive ear to his communications as to where the enemy was the day before! the admiral, exasperated at so unnecessary a waste of time, bade the peasant 'begone,' adding--'the general's time is too important to be employed in listening to your fooleries.' at this interruption, san martin frowned on the admiral, and turning his horse rode up to the door of the house, where he alighted and went in." "lord cochrane then requested a private conference with san martin--which was the last time he ever spoke to him--and assured him that it was not even then too late to attack the enemy, begging and entreating that the opportunity might not be lost, and offering himself to lead the cavalry. but to this he received the reply, 'i alone am responsible for the liberties of peru.'--_'yo solo soy responsable de la libertad del peru_.' on this the protector retired to an inner apartment of the house to enjoy his customary _siesta_, which was disturbed by general las heras, who came to receive orders, and recalled to the attention of the protector that the force was still under arms, when san martin ordered that the troops should receive their rations!" "thus gen. cantarac, with , men, passed to the southward of lima--within half-musket shot of the protecting army of peru, composed of , --entered the castles of callao with a convoy of cattle and provisions, where he refreshed and rested his troops for six days, and then retired on the th, taking with him the _whole of the vast treasure deposited therein by the limeños_, and leisurely retreating on the north side of lima." "after cantarac had led his troops into the batteries of callao, the success was announced by the firing of guns and other demonstrations which harrowed up the souls of the chilian officers. the patriot army thereupon passively occupied their old camp at the legua, between callao and lima." "it would be an act of injustice not to mention that the second in command, general las heras, disgusted with the result, left the service of the protector, and requested his passport to chili, which was granted; his example being followed by several officers of the army, who, deeply wounded by what had taken place, preferred obscurity, and even poverty, to further serving under such circumstances. the british ship of war, _superb_, was in the bay, and several of the officers, expecting to see the decisive blow struck in peru, repaired to san martin's head-quarters, and were astounded at the coolness of a general, who, commanding , men, could abandon a favourable position in which he might at least have intercepted the convoy of cattle, and so at once have compelled the surrender of callao, instead of permitting them to pass without a single shot being fired."[ ] [footnote : "_twenty years residence in south america_," by w.b. stevenson. vol. iii. london, .] the preceding extract, published in london by one who was by my side during the whole affair, is perfectly correct. the limeños were deeply humiliated by the occurrence, nor was their annoyance mitigated by the publication of the following proclamation in the ministerial gazette of the th, in which general san martin informed them that he had beaten the enemy and pursued the fugitives! though, the said enemy had relieved and reinforced the fortress, and then coolly walked off unmolested with plate and money to the amount of many millions of dollars; in fact, the whole wealth of lima, which, as has been said, was deposited by the inhabitants in the fortress for security. limeños, it is now fifteen days since the liberating army left the capital, resolved not to permit that even the shadow of the spanish flag should again darken the illustrious city of lima. the enemy haughtily descended the mountains, filled with the calculations they had formed in their ignorant meditations. they fancied that to appear before our camp was enough to conquer us; but they found _valour armed with prudence_! they acknowledged their inferiority. _they trembled at the idea of the hour of battle, and profited by the hour of darkness_!! and they sought an asylum in callao. my army began its march, and at the end of eight days the enemy has had to fly precipitately--convinced of their impotency to try the fortune of war, or to remain in the position they held. the desertion which they experience ensures us that, before they reach the mountains, there will only exist a handful of men, terrified and confounded with the remembrance of the colossal power which they had a year ago, and which has now disappeared like the fury of the waves of the sea at the dawn of a serene morning. _the liberating army pursues the fugitives. they shall he dissolved or beaten_. at all events, the capital of peru shall never be profaned with the footsteps of the enemies of america--_this truth is peremptory_. the spanish empire is at an end for ever. peruvians! your destiny is irrevocable; consolidate it by the constant exercise of those virtues which you have shown in the epoch of conflicts. _you are independent_, and nothing can prevent your being happy, if you will it to be so, san martin. to these monstrous assertions i only know one parallel, viz:--falstaff's version of his victory over the robbers at gadshill. the protector asserts that "the shadow of the spanish flag should never again darken lima." it nevertheless passed completely round the city within half-musket shot. "the enemy thought that to view our camp was to conquer us." they were only , to , . "they trembled at the hour of battle, _and profited by the hour of darkness_!" the fact being that with droves of cattle and abundance of other provisions, they triumphantly marched into callao _at mid-day_! viz, from eleven a.m. to three p.m. "the liberating army pursues the fugitives." this is the only fact contained in the proclamation. the enemy _was_ pursued by , men, who followed them at a distance for ten miles, when cantarac suddenly facing about, let loose his cavalry at them, and nearly the whole were cut up! the spaniards in fact came to relieve callao, and fully effected their object. were not the preceding proclamation indelibly imprinted in the columns of the ministerial gazette, it would be deemed a malicious fabrication. yet the poor, _independent_ limeños dared not utter a voice against falsehood so palpable. disarmed and betrayed, they were completely at the mercy of the protector, who, if he can be said to have had a motive in not encountering the small force of cantarac, no doubt founded it in keeping his own troops intact for the further oppression of the unhappy limeños--with what effect we shall presently see. this triumphant retreat of the spanish force with its large amount of treasure was a disaster which, after the limeños had risen against the tyranny of san martin and forcibly expelled him from their city, entailed the shedding of torrents of blood in peru, for the spaniards were thus enabled to reorganize a force which would have subjected the country to its ancient oppressors, had not the army of colombia stepped in to resist a common enemy. even chili trembled for her liberties, and, after i had left the pacific, begged me to return and check disasters with which she was incompetent to grapple. had not the protector prevented the spanish commandant, la mar, from accepting my offer of permitting him to retire with two-thirds of the enormous treasure deposited in the fort, chili would, at the lowest computation, have received ten millions of dollars, whilst the spaniards would have retired with twenty millions. surely this would have been better than to permit them--as general san martin did--to retire unmolested with the whole. foiled in this attempt to relieve the necessities of the squadron, whilst the protector's government pertinaciously refused to supply them, it was impossible to keep the men from mutiny; even the officers--won over by guise and spry, who paid midnightly visits to the ships for the purpose--began to desert to the protectoral government. the following letter, addressed to monteagudo, will shew the state of the matter as regarded the squadron:-- most excellent sir, i have written you an official letter to-day, by which you will perceive that the consequences which i have long predicted will have so far come to pass, as to render the removal of the large ships of the squadron indispensable. if by a total neglect of all i tell the protectoral government through you, things happen prejudicial to the service, the protector and yourself will at least do me the justice to feel that i have done my duty; the base, interested, and servile, for the promotion of their selfish views, may clamour, but i regard them not. i would send you the _original_ reports of the provisions and state of the ships issued by the captains, but i must hold these for my public justification, should such be necessary. what is the meaning of all this, monteagudo? are these people so base as to be determined to force the squadron to mutiny? and are there others so blind as not to foresee the consequences? ask sir thomas hardy, and the british captains, or any other officers, what will be the result of such monstrous measures. believe me, with a heavy heart, yours, &c. cochrane. chapter viii. prolonged destitution of squadron--the men mutiny in a body--the seamen's letters--san martin sends away the public treasure--my seizure of it--private property restored--san martin's accusations against me--the squadron paid wages--attempt on the officers' fidelity--i am asked to desert from chili--ordered to quit on refusal--monteagudo's letter--my reply--justification of seizing the treasure--no other course possible. previous to this time i had on board the flag-ship the unexpended portion of the money captured at arica, but as the chilian government, trusting to peru to supply the wants of the squadron, neither sent funds or provisions, i was compelled to spend for our subsistence the uncondemned portion of the prize money belonging to the seamen--a necessity which, no less than their want of pay or reward, irritated them beyond measure, as, in effect, compelling them to fight the battles of the republic not only without pay but at their own expense. in addition to this, i was in possession of the uncondemned portion of other sums taken on the coast, and these also i was obliged to expend, at the same time transmitting accounts thereof to the minister of marine at valparaiso, the appropriation being fully approved by the chilian government. the destitute condition of the squadron, and the consequent dissatisfaction of the crews, will be best shewn by a few extracts from the letters of the officers and the men themselves. on the nd of september, captain delano, the commander of the _lantaro_, wrote to me as follows:-- "the officers as well as the men are dissatisfied, having been a long time on the cruise, and at present without any kind of meat or spirits, and without pay, so that they are not able to provide for themselves any longer, though, _until starved_, they have borne it without a murmur." "the ship's company have now absolutely refused duty on account of short allowance. the last _charqui_ (dried beef) they got was rotten and full of vermin. they are wholly destitute of clothing, and persist in their resolution not to do duty till beef and spirits are supplied, alleging that they have served their time, with nothing but promises so frequently broken that they will no longer be put off." "in your lordship's absence i took the liberty to write to the government and make their complaints known, but the minister of marine did not even give me an answer." "the greater portion have now left the ship and are all gone ashore, so that under existing circumstances, and with the dissatisfaction of the officers and the remainder of the ship's company i do not hold myself responsible for any accident that may happen to the ship until these difficulties are removed, as the cables are bad and not to be trusted to, and we have no anchor sufficient to hold her." "paul delano, _captain_." on captain delano sending his first lieutenant on shore to persuade the men to return to the ship, he was arrested by order of the government and put in prison, the protector's object being to get all the men to desert, thus furthering his views towards the appropriation of the squadron. the _galvarino_ was even in a worse condition, so that i deemed it expedient to address a letter to the ship's company asking them to continue at their duty till i could devise means for their relief; with what result the following letter from captain esmond, commanding the _galvarino_ will shew. _galvarino_, sept. th, . my lord, pursuant to your excellency's order, i have read your letter of the th instant to the ship's company, respecting your communication with his excellency the protector, concerning arrears of pay, prize-money, &c. i am sorry to inform your excellency that they still persist in their demands, _and are determined not to proceed to sea_. i. esmond, _captain_. on the th, the foreign seamen of the flag-ship itself mutinied in a body, on which my flag-captain, crosbie, wrote me the following letter:-- my lord, it is with the utmost regret i have to inform your lordship that being ready for sea early this morning, the foreigners refused heaving up the anchor in consequence of arrears of pay and prize-money, and to my great surprise many of the natives also came aft. i endeavoured by persuasive means to induce them to return quietly and willingly to their duty, which had no effect. knowing well, had i commenced hostile measures to enforce those orders the consequence might be serious, i refrained therefrom, being aware of your lordship's wish to conduct everything as peaceably as possible. the names of the foreigners who refuse going to sea i have the honour to enclose to your lordship, and also to enclose several letters sent me officially from captain cobbett, of the _valdivia_. i.s. crosbie, _captain_. not to multiply these letters from other commanders, i will adduce two written by the whole of the english and north-american seamen themselves. captin crosby, sir, it his the request of us all in the ship's company to inform you that we would wish to acquaint his lordship that we was promised by general san martin to receive a bounty of , dollars and the total amount of the spanish frigate _ismeralda_, it his the sole thought of us all that if san martin had any honure he would not breck his promises wish out to have been fulfilled long a go. ship's company of _o'higgins_. capt. corbet it is the request of us all on bord the chili states ship _valdivia_ to aquaint you that we are disatisfied on account of our pay and prize money, and likewise the promises made to us on leaving valpariso, it is likewise our determination not to weigh the anchor of the _valdivia_ untill we get the whole of our wages and prize money, likewise a number of us is a bove twelvemonths above our time that we shipt for and we should likewise wish our discharge and let them that wish to reenter again may do as they think proppre as we consider this a patriot port. the ship's company at large of the _valdivia_. capt crosby, esq we would wish to acquaint you of wot his bean read to us on board of the different c. states ship under his lordship's command concerning the capture of the _ismeralda_. sir it was thus the importance of the service performed by your lordship to the states by the capture of the spanish frigat _ismeralda_, and the brillant manner in which this noble enterprize was conducted under your command on the memorable night of the fifth of november, has aurgumented the claims which your previous services gave to the consideration of the government and those that is interested in thar cause as well as my present esteem. all those who partook in the risk and glory of this interprise deserves also the estermation of thar companions in the army, and i enjoy the pleasure of being the organ of thar sentiments of admiration wich so important an action as praduced in the officers and army, permit me tharfore to express such thar sentiments to your lordship that may be communicated to the officers and seamen and troops of the sqwardon. regarding the premium for the frigat it is to be regretted that the memorey of so herioic an interprise should be mixed with the painful ideer that blood as been shed in accomplishment, and we hope that your lordship and the gallant officers and seamen may be enabbled to give new days of glorry to the cause of indispendence. ship's company, _o'higgins_. n.b.--warre one single sentiment his not been fulfilled. this letter, though somewhat incomprehensible, was intended as a farewell complimentary address to myself, previous to the desertion of the flag-ship; and, had this taken place, there was no doubt that the ships' companies of the whole squadron would have followed the example, so that the protector would have gained his ends, in spite of my endeavours to keep the men faithful to the flag under which they were engaged to serve. fortunately for chili and myself, an occurrence took place which averted the evil, and was brought about by the very means which the protector had devised to promote his individual views. the occurrence alluded to, was the embarkation of large sums of money by the protector in his yacht _sacramento_, which had cast out her ballast to stow the silver, and in a merchant vessel in the harbour, to the exclusion of the _lantaro_ frigate, then at the anchorage. this money was sent to ancon, on the pretence of placing it in safety from any attack by the spanish forces, but possibly to secure it for the further purposes of the protector. the squadron having thus ocular demonstration that its arrears could be paid, but were not, both officers and men refused longer to continue in a service which had brought them nothing but prolonged suffering. my own views coincided with theirs, and i determined that the squadron should be no longer starved nor defrauded. i therefore sailed to ancon, and personally seized the treasure, before witnesses; respecting all that professed to belong to private individuals, and also the whole of that contained in the protector's schooner, _sacramento_, considering it his private property, though it could not have been other than plunder wrested from the limeños. independently of this yacht-load of silver, there were also on board, seven _surrones_ (sacks) of uncoined gold, brought down on his account by the legate parroisien; so that, after all the moveable wealth of lima was supposed to have been previously deposited for safety in the castles of callao, but carried off by cantarac, the condition of the unhappy limeños may be imagined, from the additional sums of which they were subsequently deprived. i immediately made proclamation, that all private individuals, having the customary documents, might receive their property upon application, and considerable sums were thus given up to dr. unanue, don juan aguero, don manuel silva, don manuel primo, don francisco kamirez, and several others, though connected with the government. besides which, i gave up , dollars to the commissary of the army, who claimed it; so that, having returned all the money for which dockets were produced, there remained , dollars, which was subsequently applied to the payment of one year's arrears to every individual of the squadron; but relying on the justice of the chilian government, i took no part myself, reserving the small surplus that remained for the more pressing exigencies and re-equipment of the squadron. accounts of the whole money seized, were forwarded to the minister of marine at valparaiso, as well as vouchers for its disbursement, and in due course, i received the approbation of the chilian government for what had been done. general san martin entreated, in the most earnest terms, the restoration of the treasure, promising the faithful fulfilment of all his former engagements. letter after letter was sent, begging me to save the credit of the government, and pretending that the money seized was all the government possessed for indispensable daily expenses. to this i replied, that had i been aware that the treasure spared in the _sacramento_ was the property of government, and not that of the protector, i would have seized it also, and retained it till the debts due to the squadron were liquidated. finding all arguments unavailing, and that no attention was paid to his threats, the protector--to save the credit of his government--addressed a proclamation to the squadron, confirming the distribution which was going on by my orders, at the same time writing to me, that i "might employ the money as i thought proper." san martin afterwards accused me to the chilian government of seizing the whole of the treasure, that in his yacht included, which, at a low computation, must have been worth several millions of dollars, which were all left untouched. he also asserted, that i had retained the whole belonging to private individuals, though each _real_ claimed was given up, as was well known to every individual concerned, and he also knew that i did not retain a penny on my own account. nevertheless, he added, that i had kept the whole myself,--that, in consequence, the squadron was in a state of mutiny, and the seamen were abandoning their ships to offer their services to the government of peru! the fact being, that those who went on shore to spend their pay after the fashion of sailors, were prevented from returning on board, a lieutenant of my flag-ship being put in jail for attempting to bring them off again. the first intimation of this outrage was conveyed by the officer himself, in the following letter, from his place of confinement. my lord, whilst obeying your lordship's orders in bringing off the men to the _o'higgins_, captain guise sent his lieutenant to tell me that i could not ship any more men. my answer was, that, till i received contrary orders from you i could not think of desisting. i then went to captain guise to tell him your orders, and he told me, that it was the governor's order that i should not do it; he likewise told me, that several officers had spoken against the government, instancing captain cobbett and others. he then asked me, whether i thought that your lordship's _robbery_! of the money at ancon was right? and, whether i believed that the government meant to keep its promise, and pay us, or not? my answer was, that i thought your lordship had acted perfectly right, and that, in my opinion, the government never intended to pay us; upon which, he ordered me to be seized. my lord, i am now a prisoner in the case-mates, and am told that the governor has written to you on the subject. the men, my lord, will, i have no doubt, come off, as many have promised me to do so, to-morrow morning. hoping that your lordship will enquire into the circumstance, i remain, &c. &c, j. payntor. on receipt of this, i immediately demanded his release, which was complied with. before distributing the money to the squadron, i took the precaution to request that a commissary of the government might be sent on board to take part in the payment of the crews. as this was not complied with, i again urged it, but without effect--the object of not attending to the request being, as was afterwards learned, the expectation that i should place the money in his hands ashore, when it doubtless would have been seized, without payment to officers or men. this was, however, foreseen, the government being informed by me that "the money was on board ready for distribution, whilst the people were on board ready to receive it, there was, therefore no necessity to take it on shore;" it was then distributed by my own officers. annoyed beyond measure at my having taken such steps to restore order in the squadron by doing justice to the officers and men, the protector, on the very day, september th, on which he told me by letter to "make what use i pleased of the money," sought to revenge himself by sending on board the ships of the squadron his two _aides-de-camp_, colonel paroissien and captain spry, with papers for distribution, stating that "the squadron of chili was under the command of the protector of peru, and not under that of the admiral, who was an inferior officer in the service; and that it was consequently the duty of the captains and commanders to obey the orders of the protector and not mine." one of these papers was immediately brought to me by that excellent and highly honourable officer, captain simpson, of the _araucano_ (now an admiral in the chilian service), to whose ship's company it had been delivered. these emissaries offered, in the name of the protector, commissions, and the promise of honours, titles, and estates to all such officers as might accept service under the government of peru. from the _araucano_, the protector's envoys went to the _valdivia_, where similar papers were given to the men, and captain cobbett, nephew of the celebrated william cobbett, was reminded of the preference which an officer, for his own interests, ought to give to the service of a rich state like peru, in place of adhering to chili, which must soon dwindle to comparative insignificance; besides which the authority of the protector over the chilian forces being unquestionable, it was the duty of the officers to obey the orders of the protector as general-in-chief. captain cobbett, who was a faithful and excellent officer, sarcastically inquired of spry whether, if his disobedience to the admiral brought him to a court-martial, the protector's authority would ensure him an acquittal? this closed the argument; for spry being at the time under sentence of court-martial, the question was much too pertinent to be pleasant, especially as he by no means felt confident that cobbett might not seize him as a deserter. unfortunately for the emissaries, my flag-captain, crosbie, was on a visit to captain cobbett, and on learning their errand he pushed off to the flag-ship with the intelligence. observing this movement they immediately followed, judging it more prudent to visit me than to run the risk of being compelled so to do. at one o'clock in the morning their boat came alongside, when paroissien solicited an interview, spry remaining in the boat, having his own reasons for not wishing to attract my attention. paroissien then addressed me with the most high-flown promises, assuring me of the protector's wish, notwithstanding all that had occurred, to confer upon me the highest honours and rewards, amongst others the decoration of the newly-created order of "the sun," and telling me how much better it would be for me to be first admiral of a rich country like peru, than vice-admiral of a poor province like chili. he assured me, as one of the commissioners of confiscated property, that it was the intention of the protector to present me with a most valuable estate, and regretted that the present unlucky difference should form an obstacle to the protector's intentions to confer upon me the command of the peruvian navy. perceiving that he felt nervously uneasy in his attempt at negotiation, i reminded him that the peruvian navy had no existence except in imagination; that i had no doubt whatever of his desire for my prosperity, but that it might be more agreeable to him to join me in a bottle of wine than to reiterate his regrets and lamentations. after taking a glass he went into his boat, and pulled off, glad no doubt to escape so easily, not that it occurred to me to resent the treachery of visiting the ships of the squadron in the dark, to unsettle the minds of the officers and men. this, however, and other efforts proved but too successful, twenty-three officers abandoning the chilian service, together with all the foreign seamen, who went on shore to spend their pay, and who were either forced, or allured by promises of a year's additional pay to remain, so that the squadron was half unmanned. the fortress, notwithstanding the supplies so successfully introduced by general cantarac, having again--by the vigilance of the squadron--been starved into surrender, i received an order immediately to quit callao and proceed to chili, although the peruvian government believed that from the abandonment of the squadron by the officers and foreign seamen, it would not be possible to comply with the order. the following is monteagudo's letter conveying the commands of the protector:-- lima, sept. th, . my lord, your note of yesterday, in which you explain the motives which induced you to decline complying with the positive orders of the protector, _temporarily_ to restore the money which you forcibly took at ancon, has frustrated the hopes which the government entertained of a happy termination to this most disagreeable of all affairs which have occurred during the expedition. to answer your excellency in detail, it will be necessary to enter into an investigation of acts which cannot be fully understood without referring to official communications and documents which prove the interest which has been taken in the necessities of the squadron. (here follows a reiteration of the _promises_ and good intentions of the protector, with which the reader is already well acquainted.) this has been a mortal blow to the state, and worse could not have been received from the hand of an enemy, there only remaining to us a hope in the moderation and patient suffering of the valiant men who have sacrificed all! you will immediately sail from this port to chili, with the whole squadron under your command, and there deliver up the money which you have seized, and which you possess without any pretext to hold it. in communicating this order to your excellency, the government cannot avoid expressing its regret at being reduced to this extremity towards a chief with whom it has been connected by ties of friendship and high consideration since august th, . i have to complain of the style of your excellency's secretary, who, perhaps from his ignorance of the idiom of the spanish language, cannot express himself with decency--his soul not having been formed to conceive correct ideas. monteagudo. the complaining tone of this letter about the "valiant sacrificing all," is worthy of the writer; when i had left untouched many times the amount seized, and the army, according to the admission of the protectoral government, had received two-thirds of its pay, whilst the squadron had even been suffered to starve. on the th i replied to the minister as follows:-- sir, i should have felt uneasy, had the letter you addressed to me contained the commands of the protector to quit the ports of peru without reason assigned, and i should have been distressed had his motives been founded in reason, or on facts; but finding the order based on the groundless imputation that i had declined to do what i had no power to effect, i console myself that the protector will ultimately be satisfied that no blame rests on me. at all events, i have the gratification of a mind unconscious of wrong, and gladdened by the cheering conviction that, however facts may be distorted by sycophancy, men who view things in their proper colours will do me the justice i deserve. you address me as though i required to be convinced of your good intentions. no, sir, it is the seamen who want convincing, for it is they who put no faith in professions so often broken. they are men of few words and decisive acts, and say that "for their labour they have a right to pay and food, and will work no longer than they are paid and fed"--though this may be uncourtly language, unfit for the ear of high authority. they urge, moreover, that they have had no pay whatever, whilst their fellow-labourers, the soldiers, have had two-thirds of their wages; they were starved, or living on stinking _charqui_, whilst the troops were wholly fed on beef and mutton; they had no grog, whilst the troops had money to obtain that favourite beverage, and anything else they desired. such, sir, are the rough grounds on which an english seaman founds his opinions. he expects an equivalent for the fulfilment of his contract, which, on his part, is performed with fidelity; but, if his rights are withheld, he is as boisterous as the element on which he lives. it is of no use, therefore, to convince me, but them. in what communication, sir, have i insisted on the payment of , dollars. i sent you an account of money due, but told you in my letter that it was the mutinous seamen who demanded the disbursements, and that i was doing all in my power, though without effect, to restrain their violence and allay their fears. you tell me in your letter that it was impossible to pay the clamorous crews. how, then, is it _that they are now paid out of the very money then_ lying at your disposal, i having left untouched ten times as much? my warning to you, that they were no longer to be trifled with, was founded on a long acquaintance with their character and disposition; and facts have proved, and may more fully prove, the truth of what i told you. why, sir, is the word "immediate" put into your order to go forth from this port? would it not have been more decorous to have been less peremptory, knowing, as you do, that the delay of payment had unmanned the ships--that the total disregard of all my applications had left the squadron destitute--and that the men were enticed away by persons acting under the peruvian government? this being so, why are matters pushed to this extremity? i thank you for the _approval of my services since the th of august_, , and assure you that no abatement of my zeal for the protector's interest took place till the th of august, when i became acquainted with his excellency's installation, and when, in your presence, he uttered sentiments that struck a thrill through my frame, which no subsequent act, nor protestation of intentions, has been able to mitigate. did he not say--aye, did you not hear him declare, that he would never pay the debt to chili, nor that due to the navy, unless chili would sell the squadron to peru? what would you have thought of me as an officer, sworn to be faithful to the state of chili, had i listened to such language in cold, calculating silence, weighing my decision in the scale of personal interest? no, sir, the promise of san martin, that "my fortune should be equal to his own," will not warp from the path of honour your obedient, humble servant, cochrane. after a lapse of nearly forty years' anxious consideration, i cannot reproach myself with having done any wrong in the seizure of the money of the protectoral government. general san martin and myself had been, in our respective departments, deputed to liberate peru from spain, and to give to the peruvians the same free institutions which chili herself enjoyed. the first part of our object had been fully effected by the achievements and vigilance of the squadron; the second part was frustrated by general san martin arrogating to himself despotic power, which set at naught the wishes and voice of the people. as "my fortune in common with his own" was only to be secured by acquiescence in the wrong he had done to chili by casting off his allegiance to her, and by upholding him in the still greater wrong he was inflicting on peru, i did not choose to sacrifice my self-esteem and professional character by lending myself as an instrument to purposes so unworthy. i did all in my power to warn general san martin of the consequences of ambition so ill-directed, but the warning was neglected, if not despised. chili trusted to him to defray the expenses of the squadron when its objects--as laid down by the supreme director--should be accomplished; but in place of fulfilling the obligation, he permitted the squadron to starve, its crews to go in rags, and the ships to be in perpetual danger for want of the proper equipment which chili could not afford to give them when they sailed from valparaiso. the pretence for this neglect was want of means, though at the same time money to a vast amount was sent away from the capital to ancon. seeing that no intention existed on the part of the protector's government to do justice to the chilian squadron, whilst every effort was made to excite discontent among the officers and men with the purpose of procuring their transfer to peru, i seized the public money, satisfied the men, and saved the navy to the chilian republic, which afterwards warmly thanked me for what i had done. despite the obloquy cast upon me by the protector's government, there was nothing wrong in the course i pursued, if only for the reason that if the chilian squadron was to be preserved, _it was impossible for me to have done otherwise_. years of reflection have only produced the conviction, that, were i again placed in similar circumstances, i should adopt precisely the same course. chapter ix. arrival at guayaquil--address to guayaquilenos--injurious monopolies --ministerial folly--departure from guayaquil--arrival in mexico--anchor at acapulco--mock ambassadors--plot against me--return to guayaquil--venganza taken possession of--agreement with junta--general la mar--orders to withhold supplies--abominable cruelty--courtly splendour--destruction of a division of the army--dissatisfaction of officers--renewed overtures from san martin--their refusal by me--warning to the chilian government. the orders of the protector to proceed to chili were not complied with, st, because having thrown off his allegiance to chili, he had no right to interfere with the squadron; and, ndly, as the spanish frigates remained at large, my mission was incomplete till they were taken or destroyed. before going in quest of them, it was essential to repair, equip, and provision the ships, none of which purposes could be effected in peru, the protector not only having refused supplies, but having also issued orders on the coast to withhold necessaries of all kinds even to wood and water. from want of stores, none of the ships were fit for sea; even the _valdivia_, so admirably found when captured, was now in as bad a condition as the rest, from the necessity which had arisen of distributing her equipment amongst the other ships; and to complete her inefficiency, the protector refused to restore the anchors which had been cut away from her bows at the time of her capture, thus adding to our embarrassment. many of the officers had gone over to the service of peru, and the foreign seamen had been kept on shore in such numbers, that there were not sufficient left to perform the duties of reefing and steering. i therefore resolved on sending part of the squadron to chili, and with the remainder to proceed to guayaquil, in order to repair and refit for a cruise on the coast of mexico in search of the spanish frigates. we reached guayaquil on the th of october, and were extremely well received by the authorities, who saluted the chilian flag, the like compliment being paid to their own. the work of repairing and refitting occupied six weeks, during which period the newly-constituted government rendered us all the assistance in its power, entering into the most friendly intercourse with us. the expenses, which were heavy, were all defrayed out of the uncondemned prize-money remaining on board, this rightfully belonging to the officers and seamen, as never having had their previous claims satisfied by the government, on which account it had been retained. to inspire the seamen with the reasonable expectation that the chilian government would reimburse them for their generosity, i added money of my own, on which they willingly consented to the appropriation of that due to the squadron. before quitting the anchorage, i was honoured with a public address, and thinking the opportunity good for striking a blow at those spanish prejudices which, in spite of independence, still lingered from force of habit, the compliment was returned by the following address:-- guayaquilenos, the reception which the chilian squadron has met with from you not only shews the generosity of your sentiments, but proves that a people capable of asserting their independence in spite of arbitrary power must always possess noble and exalted feelings. believe me, that the state of chili will ever be grateful for your assistance, and more especially the supreme director, by whose exertions the squadron was created, and to whom, in fact, south america owes whatever benefit she may have derived from its services. may you be as free as you are independent, and as independent as you deserve to be free! with the liberty of the press, now protected by your excellent government, which discriminates enlightenment from that fount, guayaquil can never again be enslaved. see what difference a year of independence has produced in public opinion. in those whom you then looked upon as enemies, you have discovered your truest friends, whilst those formerly esteemed as friends have proved enemies. remember your former ideas on commerce and manufactures, and compare them with those which you at present entertain. accustomed to the blind habits of spanish monopoly, you then believed that guayaquil would be robbed, were not her commerce limited to her own merchants. all foreigners were forbidden by restrictive laws from attending even to their own business and interests: now you appreciate a true policy, and your enlightened government is ready to further public opinion in the promotion of your riches, strength, and happiness, as well as to assist these, by disseminating through the press the political opinions of great and wise men--without fear of the inquisition, the faggot, or the stake. it is very gratifying to me to observe the change which has taken place in your ideas of political economy, and to see that you can appreciate and despise the clamour of the few who would still interrupt the public prosperity; though it is difficult to believe how any citizen of guayaquil can be capable of opposing his private interest to the public good, as though his particular profit were superior to that of the community, or as if commerce, agriculture, and manufactures were to be paralysed for his especial behoof. guayaquilenos! let your public press declare the consequences of monopoly, and affix your names to the defence of your enlightened system. let it shew that, if your province contains , inhabitants, and that if of these are privileged merchants according to the old system, , persons out of , must suffer because their cotton, coffee, tobacco, timber, and other productions must come into the hands of the monopolist, as the only purchaser of what they have to sell, and the only seller of what they must necessarily buy! the effect being that he will buy at the lowest possible rate, and sell at the dearest, so that not only are the , injured, but the lands will remain waste, the manufactories without workmen, and the people will be lazy and poor for want of a stimulus, it being a law of nature that no man will labour solely for the gain of another. tell the monopolist that the true method of acquiring general riches, political power, and even his own private advantage, is to sell his country's produce as high, and foreign goods as low as possible--and that public competition can alone accomplish this. let foreign merchants who bring capital, and those who practise any art or handicraft, be permitted to settle freely; and thus a competition will be formed, from which all must reap advantage. then will land and fixed property increase in value; the magazines, instead of being the receptacles of filth and crime, will be full of the richest foreign and domestic productions, and all will be energy and activity, because the reward will be in proportion to the labour. your river will be filled with ships, and the monopolist degraded and shamed. you will bless the day in which omnipotence permitted the veil of obscurity to be rent asunder, under which the despotism of spain, the abominable tyranny of the inquisition, and the want of liberty of the press, so long hid the truth from your sight. let your customs' duties be moderate, in order to promote the greatest possible consumption of foreign and domestic goods; then smuggling will cease, and the returns to the treasury increase. let every man do as he pleases as regards his own property, views, and interests; because every individual will watch over his own with more zeal than senates, ministers, or kings. by your enlarged views set an example to the new world; and thus, as guayaquil is from its situation the _central republic_, it will become the centre of the agriculture, commerce, and riches of the pacific. guayaquilenos! the liberality of your sentiments, and the justice of your acts and opinions, are a bulwark to your independence more secure than that of armies and squadrons. that you may pursue the path which will render you as free and happy as the territory is fertile, and may be rendered productive, is the sincere wish of your obliged friend and servant, cochrane. the english reader may consider a lecture of this nature superfluous to an emancipated people, but the adherence to injurious monoplies, in spite of independence, was one of the most marked features of the south american republics, and one which i never lost an opportunity of combating. even the chilian republic, which was amongst the first to assert its freedom, increased its monopolistic practices, instead of diminishing them. one or two examples will not be here out of place. english malt liquor bore a very high price in chili, from the heavy freight and customs' duties. an ingenious scotchman, named macfarlane, set up a brewery at considerable expense, and malt costing in chili barely a shilling per _fanega_ (about a bushel), soon produced beer of a fine quality, at a low price. the government forthwith imposed a duty on his beer equal to the whole freight from england, customs' dues, and his profit, the consequence being, that the brewery was stopped and the capital employed lost. he had unwittingly interfered with the established duties on beer! some enterprising americans formed a whale fishery on the chilian coast near coquimbo, where the sperm whale abounded, and so successful was the fishery, that the speculation promised a fortune to all concerned. a large plant had been provided, including abundance of casks to contain the oil. the government directed the whole of the casks to be seized for the purpose of watering the squadron, that being easier than to provide them themselves, which being done, pursuant to orders, the americans formed pits lined with clay, in which the oil was put till fresh casks could be procured. on this, the governor of coquimbo forbade the practice, as the wind might waft an unpleasant smell to coquimbo, though the trade wind never blew in that direction. the americans were therefore compelled to abandon the pursuit, and with it several sperm whales which were lying in the bay ready for boiling. an enterprising english engineer, mr. miers, brought out complete machinery for smelting, rolling, and manufacturing copper, purchasing land whereon to erect his factory. as soon as his purpose became known, he was involved in a long and expensive law-suit to prevent the use of the land which he had bought, the result being great pecuniary loss, complete prevention of his operations, and the final removal of such of his machinery as was not utterly spoiled, to brazil. it would be easy to multiply similar instances to a great extent, but these will show that my advice to the guayaquilenos was not unnecessary; and to give counsel of this nature, wherever it could be applied, was my invariable practice, in place of engaging in petty intrigues, or bargaining for personal power or advantages, which, situated as i was, i could have commanded to any extent by a sacrifice of my own principles. efforts of the above nature to enlighten the people, rendered me obnoxious to men in power, as interfering with their cherished monoplies, out of which they contrived to extract individual profit. the necessity for a speedy pursuit of the enemy's frigates, precluded more than a temporary repair of the ships; nothing, indeed, had been done to remedy the leak in the hull of the flag-ship, as, from the rotten state of her masts, we durst not venture to heave her down, so that when we got in a sea-way she made six feet of water a day. we quitted the guayaquil river on the rd of december, coasting along the shore, and examining every bay for the objects of our search. on the th we reached salango, where we again watered the ships, there being only twenty-three tons of water casks on board the flag-ship. on the th we reached cocos island, when we found and took possession of an english pirate, commanded by a man, named blair. on the following day we captured a _felucca_, which turned out to be a deserter from callao. from the men on board we learned that, after my departure, san martin had refused to fulfil the promises by which they had been induced to remain, though he had thus allured nearly the whole of the foreign seamen, who comprised the only skilled portion of the chilian squadron, into the service of peru. the _felucca_ thus manned, and sent as a _guarda costa_ to chorillas, the men took advantage of the absence of their captain on shore, and seized the vessel, which they named the _retaliation_, having put to sea, no doubt with the intention of turning pirates. as they had committed no depredations, and i had no wish to be encumbered with them, they were suffered to escape. on the th we made the coast of mexico, the leak of the flag-ship daily increasing, and on the th we anchored in the bay of fonseca, with five feet of water in the hold, the chain pumps being so worn as to be useless, there being no artificers on board to repair them, the ship was only kept afloat by the greatest possible exertions, in which my personal skill in smiths' work had to be called into requisition. after three days' constant baling at the hatchways, we got two pumps from the _valdivia_; but these proving too short, i ordered holes to be cut through the ships' sides, on a level with the berth deck, and thus managed to keep her clear till the old pumps could be refitted. nearly all our ammunition was spoiled, and, in order to preserve the dry provisions, we were compelled to stow them in the hammock-nettings. having transferred forty men from the other ships to assist at the pumps, we quitted fonseca bay on the th, and on the th of january, , arrived at tehuantepec, a volcano lighting us every night. this was one of the most imposing sights i ever beheld; large streams of molten lava pouring down the sides of the mountain, whilst at intervals, huge masses of solid burning matter were hurled into the air, and rebounding from their fall, ricocheted down the declivity till they found a resting place at its base. on the th we anchored at acapulco, where we met the _araucano_ and _mercedes_, the latter having been sent on to gain intelligence of the spanish frigates. we were civilly received by the governor, though not without misgivings, on his part, that we might attempt to seize some spanish merchantmen at anchor in the harbour; so that we found the fort manned by a strong garrison, and other preparations made to receive us in case of hostile demonstration. we were not a little surprised at this, as nothing could be more friendly than our intentions towards the newly emancipated republic. the mystery was, however, soon cleared up. when at guayaquil, we met with two officers, general wavell and colonel o'reilly, to whom the chilian government had given passports to quit the country, not estimating the value of their services as tantamount to their pay. as no secret was made of the object of the chilian squadron, they had, owing to our delay on the coast, carried their own version of our mission to mexico, and had reported to the mexican government, both personally and by letter, that lord cochrane had possessed himself of the chilian navy,--plundered the vessels belonging to peru,--was now on a piratical cruise,--and was coming to ravage the coast of mexico; hence the preparations which had been made. the two worthies whom i have mentioned had represented to the authorities at guayaquil that they were ambassadors from chili to mexico, deputed to congratulate the mexican government on their achievement of independence. knowing this to be false, i requested them to shew their credentials, which of course they could not do. their passports were then demanded, and evinced by their dates that the pretended ambassadors had quitted chili prior to the intelligence of the establishment of independence in mexico. this disclosure having become known to the lady of the captain-general of guatemala, who happened to be at guayaquil, she forwarded the account to her husband, and he reported it to the mexican authorities, who were thus informed of the true character of their visitors; who, in revenge, trumped up the story of our piratical intentions, to which the governor of acapulco attached sufficient importance to strengthen his forts as narrated. the reserve, however, immediately wore off, and the most cordial relations were entered into; the president of mexico, iturbide, writing me a very polite letter, regretting that he could not visit me personally, but inviting me to repair to his court, assuring me of the most honourable reception. this, of course, i could not accept. on the nd of february, a vessel arrived at acapulco, and reported the spanish frigates to the southward, whither, notwithstanding the unseaworthy state of the ships, i determined to proceed in search of them. during our stay an officer of marines, named erescano--who by cruelty to his prisoners had made himself notorious at valdivia--endeavoured to revenge my disapprobation of his conduct by representing to the men, that, notwithstanding the expenses we had been put to, there was still money on board the flag-ship, and that it ought to be divided amongst them. failing in this, he had laid a plot to get possession of the chest, even at the cost of my assassination. all this was duly reported to me by the commander of the _valdivia_, captain cobbett. as i did not wish to produce a ferment by punishing this diabolical plot as it deserved, i contented myself with thwarting its execution, till we were under weigh, when i ordered captain cobbett to send erescano on shore with a despatch to the governor, detailing the whole plot; the result being, that the traitor was left on shore, the squadron sailing without him. what afterwards became of him i never heard. after despatching the _independencia_ and _araucano_ to california for the purpose of purchasing provisions, with instructions to follow us to guayaquil, we stood down the coast, and when off tehuantepec, encountered a gale of wind, which, owing to the bad state of the frigate, threatened her destruction. to add to our distress, a sea struck the _valdivia_--to which vessel we contemplated escaping--and forced in the timbers on her port side, so that she was only saved from sinking by passing a sail over the leak, till the damage could be repaired. on the th of march we made the coast of esmeraldas, and came to an anchor in the bay of tacames, where we learned that the spanish frigates had some time before left for guayaquil. on receipt of this intelligence we immediately pursued our voyage, and on the th anchored off the forts of guayaquil, where we found the _venganza_. our reception was not of the same cordial nature as on the previous visit--two agents of san martin having arrived, who by promises had gained over the government to the protector's interests, and had excited in their minds a jealousy of me which was as unexpected as ill-founded. some attempts were even made to annoy me; but as, upon their manifestation, i laid the flag-ship alongside the _venganza_, civility was enforced. the _prueba_ and _venganza_, being short of provisions, were compelled by our close pursuit, to put into guayaquil, daily expecting us to follow. previous to our arrival, the peruvian envoy, salasar, had so impressed upon the officers commanding the certainty of their being captured by the chilian squadron, that he had induced them to give up the ships to peru, on the promise that the protectoral government would pay the whole of the officers and crews all the arrears due to them, and that those who chose to remain in south america should be naturalized, with lands and pensions assigned to them; whilst such as were desirous of returning to spain should have their passages defrayed by the peruvian government. many of the spanish officers and most of the crews were adverse to the surrender of the ships, so that a mutiny was the consequence; when, at the instance of salasar, the government of guayaquil was induced to sanction an assertion that the chilian squadron was at anchor in the bay of la manta, and that letters had been received from me announcing my intention to come to guayaquil and seize the ships. this mendacity had the desired effect, and both officers and crews accepted the terms offered; so that san martin's agents had thus tricked the chilian squadron out of its prizes. under the before-mentioned impression the _prueba_ was hastily sent to callao before our arrival, but the _venganza_, being in a condition unfit for sea, remained at guayaquil. on being positively assured of the dishonourable transaction which had taken place, on the morning of the th of march i sent captain crosbie on board the _venganza_ to take possession, of her, for chili and peru jointly, being unwilling to embroil chili in hostilities with guayaquil by seizing her on our own account, as we were indisputably entitled to do, having chased her from port to port, until, destitute of provisions, she was compelled to take refuge in that port. my orders to captain crosbie were to hoist at the peak of the _venganza_, the flag of chili conjointly with that of peru. this act gave great offence to the guayaquil government, which manned its gun-boats, erected breast-works, and brought guns to the river side with the apparent intention of firing upon us; the spanish sailors, who shortly before had sold their ships from the dread of having to fight, being extremely active in these hostile demonstrations. upon this, i ordered the _valdivia_ to drift with the flood tide in the direction of the gun-boats, now filled with spanish officers and seamen. imagining that the frigate was about to attack them--though there was no intention of the kind--these heroes ran the boats ashore, and took to their heels in most admired disorder, not stopping till they had gained the protection of the city. the junta, finding that we did not consider their warlike demonstration worthy of notice, remonstrated at my taking possession of the _venganza_, but without effect, as i was not going to permit the chilian squadron to be thus cheated out of its prize. i therefore proposed such terms as were best calculated to be accepted and ratified by the junta of government, composed of olmedo, kimena, and roco, as follows:-- st.--the frigate _venganza_ shall remain as belonging to the government of guayaquil, and shall hoist her flag, which shall be duly saluted. nd.--guayaquil guarantees to the chilian squadron, on responsibility of , dollars, that the frigate _venganza_ shall not be delivered to, nor negotiated for with any government, till those of chili and peru shall have decided on what they may esteem most just. moreover, the government of guayaquil is bound to destroy her rather than consent that the said vessel shall serve any other state till such decision be made. _ rd_.--any government which may henceforward be established in guayaquil shall be bound to the fulfilment of the articles here made. _ th_.--these articles shall be understood literally, and in good faith, without mental reservations or restrictions. (signed) &c. &c. after the ratification of this agreement, the government of guayaquil addressed to me a letter acknowledging the important services which had been conferred on the states of south america, and assuring me that "guayaquil would always be the first to honour my name, and the last to forget my unparalleled achievements," &c, &c. yet no sooner had i sailed from the port, than the _venganza_ was given up to the agent of peru, but the , dollars have never been paid. at guayaquil, i met general la mar, the late governor of the fortress of callao; and a report having been circulated by the peruvian government that during the recent blockade i had made an offer to supply the fortress with provisions, in order to prevent its falling into the hands of the protector, i requested the general to favour me with a statement whether i did or did not promise to succour his garrison, to which request the general obligingly returned the following answer:-- guayaquil, march th, . most excellent sir, in consequence of the official note which i yesterday received from your excellency through the hands of the government, it is my duty to assert that i have neither said, nor written, nor ever heard that you proposed to supply with provisions the place of callao during the whole of the time that it was under my charge. god preserve your excellency many years. (signed) jose de la mar. on the th we left the guayaquil river, and on the th fell in with captain simpson, of the _araucano_, whose crew had mutinied and carried off the ship. on the th of april we reached guambucho, whither we had gone for the purpose of taking in water. to our surprise the alcalde shewed a written order from san martin, telling him that if any vessel of war belonging to chili touched there he was to forbid their landing, and to deny assistance of every kind, not even permitting them to obtain wood and water. to this order no attention was paid by us, and we took on board whatever was required, remaining further to repair the _valdivia_. on the th we sailed, and on the th anchored at callao, where we found the _prueba_ under peruvian colours, and commanded by the senior chilian captain, who had abandoned the squadron! on our arrival she was immediately hauled in close under the batteries, with guns housed, and ports closed, whilst she was so crammed with troops that three died on the following night from suffocation; these steps being taken to prevent her sharing the fate of the _esmeralda_. to calm their fears, i wrote to the government that there was no intention of taking her, otherwise i would have done so, and at midday too in spite of any such precautions. lima was at this time in an extraordinary condition, there being no less than five different peruvian flags flying in the bay and on the batteries. the protector had passed a decree ordering that all spaniards who might quit the place should surrender half their property to the public treasury, or the whole should be confiscated, and the owners exiled. another decree imposed the penalties of exile and confiscation of property upon all spaniards who should appear in the streets wearing a cloak; also against any who should be found in private conversation! the punishment of death was awarded against all who should be out of their houses after sunset; and confiscation and death were pronounced on all who possessed any kind of weapons except table-knives! a wealthy lady in lima was so annoyed at the rigour of these decrees, that her patriotism overcame her prudence, and having called the protector ill names, she was compelled to give up her property. she was then habited in the garb of the inquisition,--a garment painted with imaginary devils!--and taken to the great square, where an accusatory libel being fastened to her breast, a human bone was forced into her mouth--her tongue being condemned as the offending member--and then secured; in which state, with a halter round her neck, she was paraded through the streets by the common hangman, and afterwards exiled to callao, where after two days she died from mental anguish arising from the treatment she had received. such was the liberty conceded to peru. in the midst of this national degradation, the protector had assumed the style of a sovereign prince. an order of nobility was established, under the title of "the institute of the sun," the insignia being a golden sun suspended from a white ribbon, the chilian officers who had abandoned the squadron coming in for a full share as the reward of their subserviency. a quasi-royal guard was established, consisting of the leading youth of the city, who formed the protector's escort in public; a precaution which, notwithstanding that the exasperated limeños were weaponless, was not altogether unnecessary. the solar nobility were permitted to place their armorial bearings in front of their houses, with the sun blazoned in the centre, which was certainly an addition to, if not an improvement on all previous orders of nobility. in short, the limeños had a republic swarming with marquises, counts, viscounts, and other titles of monarchy, to which consummation all expected the protector to aspire; the more so, as the only unfettered portion of the press was that which saluted him under the title of emperor. (_see appendix, ode of "the dove," sung in celebration, of our protector and emperor of peru!_) the strength of a state so constituted did not keep pace with the brilliancy of its court. on the th of april, general cantarac had fallen upon a division of the liberating army, and cut up or made prisoners of the whole, capturing , muskets, the military chest, containing , dollars, and all their ammunition and baggage. it would have been thought that so serious a disaster occurring amongst a justly-exasperated people would have caused some embarrassment to the government, but the gazette of the th of april almost turned it into matter for congratulation. limeÑos, the division of the south, _without having been beaten_, has been surprised and dispersed. in a long campaign all cannot be prosperity. you know _my_ character, and you know that _i_ have always spoken the truth! i do not mean to search for consolation in conflicts, notwithstanding, i dare to assure you, that the iniquitous and tyrannical empire of the spaniards in peru will cease in the year . i will make an ingenuous confession to you. it was my intention to go in search of repose after so many years of agitation, but i believed your independence was not secured. some trifling danger now presents itself, and so long as there remains the least appearance of it, till you are free you shall not be left by your faithful friend, san martin. his proclamation to the army is still more extraordinary:-- companions of the united army, your brothers in the division of the south have not been beaten--but they have been dispersed. to you it belongs to revenge this insult. you are valiant, and have known long ago the path to glory. sharpen well your bayonets and your swords. the campaign of peru shall finish in this year. your old general assures it. prepare to conquer! san martin. to the inhabitants of the interior, proclamations of a still more bombastic nature were despatched, in which they were assured that a reverse of this kind "weighed nothing in the balance of destiny of peru. providence protects us, and by this action will accelerate the ruin of the enemies of peru. proud of their first victory, _they will spare us part of our march in search of them_. fear not! the army that _drove them from the capital_ is ready to punish them a third time, and to punish them for ever!" the army, however, rightly dreaded another reverse, and what remained of the chilian force was discontented, as no promise to them had been fulfilled. all gold and silver had disappeared, and paper money was issued by the government in its stead. contributions from the already drained inhabitants were increased, and had to be collected at the point of the bayonet. in short, on my arrival, peru presented the extraordinary spectacle of a court whose minions indulged in every species of costly luxury, and a people impoverished to the dregs to administer to their rapacity. those who had condemned my conduct in taking possession of the money at ancon, now admitted that i had adopted the only possible step to preserve the squadron of chili. the officers of the liberating army sent me deplorable accounts of the state of affairs; and the regiment of numantia, which had deserted from the spaniards soon after the capture of the _esmeralda_, sent an officer, captain doronso, with a message, asking me to receive them on board, and convey them to colombia, to which province they belonged. my appearance in the port of callao caused serious, though, as far as i was concerned, unnecessary alarm to the government, to which i transmitted a fresh demand for the sums due to the squadron, further alluding, in no measured language, to the events which had taken place at guayaquil. without replying to this by letter, monteagudo came off to the _o'higgins_, lamenting that i should have resorted to such intemperate expressions, as the protector, before its receipt, had written me a private letter praying for an interview, but on the receipt of my note he became so indignant as to place his health in danger. monteagudo further assured me that in that letter he had made me the offer of a large estate, and the decoration of the "sun" set in diamonds, if i would consent to command the united navies of chili and peru, in a contemplated expedition to capture the philippine islands, by which i should make an immense fortune. my reply was, "tell the protector from me, mr. monteagudo, that if, after the conduct he has pursued he had sent me a private letter, on any such subject, it would certainly have been returned unanswered; and you may also tell him, that it is not my wish to injure him; i neither fear him nor hate him, but i disapprove of his conduct." monteagudo, in spite of his reception, begged of me to reconsider my determination, saying that the marquis of torre tagle had got ready his house for my reception; asking me further to recal the letter i had written the day before, and accept the offers which had been made. i again told him that "i would not accept either honours or rewards from a government constituted in defiance of solemn pledges; nor would i set foot in a country governed not only without law, but contrary to law. neither would i recal my letter, my habits were frugal, and my means sufficient without a fortune from the philippine islands." finding he could make no impression upon me, and not liking the scowl on the countenances of those on board, though he wore his blazing decoration of the first order of the "sun," and was covered with ribbons and embroideries, the minister retired, accompanied by his military escort. consequent upon my refusal to comply with his wishes the protector shortly afterwards, unknown to me, despatched colonel paroissien and garcia del rio to chili with a long series of the most preposterous accusations, in which i was represented as having committed every species of crime, from piracy to petty robbery; calling on the chilian government to visit me with the severest punishment. on the th of may, the schooner _montezuma_, which had been lent to general san martin by the chilian government, entered callao _under peruvian colours_. the insolence of thus appropriating a vessel of my squadron was too great for forbearance, so that i compelled her to come to an anchor, though not before we were obliged to fire upon her. i then turned all the officers ashore, and took possession of her; the protectoral authorities, by way of reprisal, detaining a boat belonging to the flag-ship, and imprisoning the men; but, rightly calculating the consequences of such a step, they were soon set at liberty, and the boat was, on the same night, permitted to return to the ship. on the th of may we quitted callao, and arrived at valparaiso on the th of june, after an absence of a year and nine months, during which the objects of the expedition had been completely accomplished. having satisfied myself, that, from the oppression practised, the protectoral government could not endure longer than the first favourable opportunity for a general revolt which might present itself to the limeños, and judging that the fall of san martin might involve serious consequences to chili, i had addressed the following letter to the supreme director:-- _private and confidential_. callao roads, may , . most excellent sir, you will perceive by my public despatches the points of most interest as regards the proceedings of the squadron, and the result of our pursuit of the enemy's frigates, _prueba_ and _venganza_, both of which i have embargoed, the one at guayaquil and the other here, until your pleasure shall be known, whatever that may be, whether to give up the squadron of chili, or to bring those vessels to you, shall be alike obeyed. san martin has now laid down the external pomp of protector, and, like cincinnatus, has withdrawn to retirement, but not with the same view. this modesty is to captivate the crowd, who are to call on him to convert the ploughshare _into an imperial sceptre!_ i have excellent information to this effect, having found means to obtain it from behind the scenes of this political actor. great hopes are entertained, from the mission to chili, that the squadron will at least be withdrawn, and that when the sun of peru shall rise on the ocean, the star (the national emblem of chili) which has hitherto shone, will be for ever eclipsed! some spots have, however, appeared on the sun's surface. two thousand men have ceased to see its light at pasco; and the numantian regiment, once dazzled by its splendour, are about to grope their way to their native land. as the attached and sincere friend of your excellency, i hope you will take into your serious consideration the propriety of at once fixing the chilian government upon a base not to be shaken by the fall of the present tyranny in peru, of which there are not only indications, but their result is inevitable; unless, indeed, the mischievous counsels of vain and mercenary men can suffice to prop up a fabric of the most barbarous political architecture, serving as a screen from whence to dart their weapons against the heart of liberty. thank god, my hands are free from the stain of labouring in any such work, and, having finished all which you gave me to do, i may now rest till you shall command my further endeavours for the honour and security of my adopted land. the enemy's forces, since the destruction of the division at pasco, under tristan, are superior to those of san martin at lima, and are said to be advancing on the capital. everything being fully explained in my despatches, i need not trouble your excellency with a repetition. trusting that you will judge of my conduct and intentions by my acts--not by the vile scandals of those who have deserted their flag, and set your proclamations at defiance, i have the honor, &c, cochrane. chapter x. return to valparaiso--thanks of the government--reasons for satisfaction--illegitimate trade--turned to good account--denunciation of officers deserted--investigation of accounts--san martin's charges against me--my refutation--government refuses its publication--cruelty to spanish prisoners--retirement to quintero--political fruits of our success--destitute condition of squadron--infamous attempt to promote dissatisfaction therein--object of this course--steps taken to defeat it--disavowed by the minister--sympathy of officers--attempt to get rid of gen. freire--its eventual result--letter of the captains. on my arrival at valparaiso, i found that san martin's agents, paroissien and garcia del rio, had produced his accusations against me to the government at santiago, though without effect, as i had taken care to keep it apprised of everything which had transpired, exercising the most scrupulous care in furnishing accounts of monies and stores taken from the spaniards, but especially as regarded the public money of the peruvian government appropriated at ancon. the return of the squadron was announced by me to the government in the following letter:-- the anxious desires of his excellency the supreme director are now fulfilled, and the sacrifices of the chilian people are rewarded. the naval power of spain in the pacific has succumbed and is extinguished, the following vessels having surrendered to the unceasing efforts of the squadron of this free state:-- _prueba_, guns; _esmeralda_, ; _venganza_, ; _resolution_, ; _sebastiana_, ; _pesuela_, ; _potrillo_, ; _prosperina_ ; _arausasu_; seventeen gun-boats; the armed ships _aguila_ and _begonia_; the block ships at callao; and many merchantmen. it is highly gratifying to me, after labouring under such difficulties as were never before witnessed on board ships of war, to announce the arrival of the chilian squadron in valparaiso--its cradle; where, owing to its unceasing services in the cause of liberty and independence of chili, peru, colombia, and mexico, it forms an object of admiration and gratitude to the inhabitants of the new world. (signed) cochrane. by the inhabitants of valparaiso our return was hailed with every manifestation of delight, almost every house in the place being decorated with the patriot flag, whilst other demonstrations of national joy showed the importance which the chilian people attached to our services, in spite of the obstacles which they well knew had been opposed to them. on the th of june, the following letters of thanks were forwarded to me:-- ministry of marine, santiago de chili, june th, . most excellent sir, the arrival of your excellency at valparaiso with the squadron under your command, has given the greatest pleasure to his excellency the supreme director. in those feelings of gratitude which the glory acquired by your excellency during the late campaign has excited, you will find the proof of that high consideration which your heroic services so justly deserve. among those who have a distinguished claim are the chiefs and officers, who, faithful to their duty, have remained on board the vessels of war of this state, a list of whom your excellency has honoured me by enclosing. these gentlemen will most assuredly receive the recompense so justly due to their praiseworthy constancy. be pleased to accept the assurance of my highest esteem. joaquim de echeverria. his excellency the vice-admiral and commander-in-chief of the squadron, the right honourable lord cochrane. from the preceding letter it will be observed that my old opponent, zenteno, was no longer at the head of the department of marine, but was appointed governor of valparaiso, where he exercised the office of port-admiral, a position in which, with all his former enmity, he contrived, notwithstanding the complete satisfaction of the government with my services, to give me great annoyance. in addition to the above acknowledgment of our services, a decree was issued commanding a medal to be struck in commemoration thereof. ministry of marine, santiago de chili, th june, . most excellent sir, his excellency the supreme director being desirous of making a public demonstration of the high services that the squadron has rendered to the nation, has resolved that a medal be struck for the officers and crews of the squadron, with an inscription expressive of the national gratitude towards the worthy supporters of its maritime power. i have the honour to communicate this to your excellency by supreme command, and to offer you my highest respects. joaquim de echeverria. his excellency the rt. hon. lord cochrane, vice-admiral and commander-in-chief, &c. &c. it is here observable, that whereas san martin, on the occupation of lima, had caused a medal to be struck, arrogating the success of the expedition entirely to the army, which had done little or nothing towards it--leaving out all mention of the services of the squadron; the chilian government gave the credit, as was deserved, to the squadron--omitting all mention of the army, which remained under the standard of the protector. nothing can be more conclusive as to the opinions of the chilian government on the subject. chili had indeed reason to be grateful, no less for the management than the achievements of the squadron. i had now been in command something more than two years and a half, during which we either took, destroyed, or forced to surrender, every spanish ship of war in the pacific; the whole of the west coast was cleared of pirates, which before abounded; we had reduced unaided the most important fortresses of the enemy, either by storm or blockade; the commerce both of chili and neutral powers had been protected; and the cause of independence placed on a basis so firm, that nothing but folly or corruption could shake it. for these most important results, chili had been at no cost whatever beyond the original ineffective equipment of the ships. with the exception of three or four cargoes of provisions sent to callao, i had, by my own exertions, for the whole period, provided for the maintenance and subsistence of the squadron, its repairs, equipment, stores, provisions, and pay, as far as the men had been paid; not a dollar having been expended for these purposes by the chilian government, which trusted--but in vain--to peru. to have been ungrateful--as far as the public expression of gratitude went, for other reward there was none--would have been a national crime. as one of my modes of providing for the necessities of the squadron has not been mentioned, it must be here given. under the spanish régime, no foreign vessel could trade at their ports in the pacific. but, for the sake of revenue as well as to obtain supplies, it had become the practice of the viceroy to sell licences, enabling british merchants to employ british vessels in the spanish colonial trade. these had to load in some port in spain, and were there furnished with legalized spanish papers. under the altered state of things in chili, in order to secure such vessels from capture by the chilian ships of war, as having spanish property on board, the device of simulated papers was resorted to, representing the cargoes as british property, coming from the port of gibraltar; one set of papers being used ashore, and the other afloat, or as occasion required. several british vessels had been detained by the chilian squadron, whereof the spanish papers were found in the peruvian custom-houses when taken possession of; they were accordingly liable to be libelled as spanish property. in order, however, to land their cargoes in safety, the commanders and supercargoes of such british vessels voluntarily offered terms which should confer upon their trade a legitimate character, viz. to pay a certain impost as an equivalent for customs' duties. i accepted these terms as furnishing me with means to supply the necessities and defray the expenses of the squadron, the wants of which were with great difficulty supplied, as the protectoral government refused to aid in any way, notwithstanding that it owed its very existence to our efforts. the duties thus collected,--for the most part in contraband of war,--were duly accounted for by me to the government of chili, whilst such compromise was received as a boon by the british merchants, and highly approved of by the british naval authorities, sir thomas hardy especially. yet general san martin, and others interested in a line of policy which in its prosecution was inimical to the true interests of chili, afterwards charged these proceedings upon me as "acts of piracy." that the chilian government was, however, well satisfied with all the steps taken for provisioning and maintaining the squadron, as well as with the seizure and disposal of the public money at ancon, is evident from the following acknowledgment:-- most excellent sir, i have informed the supreme director of the note which you addressed to me on the th of october, accompanying the accounts of the monies supplied to the payment of the officers and seamen of the squadron, and to the other objects of the naval service; as well as the accounts of money and bars of silver returned at ancon to their respective owners. his excellency approves of all that you have done in these matters and orders me in reply to convey his approbation, which i have the honour now to do. accept the assurance of my high consideration, (signed) joaquim de echeverria, ministry of marine, santiago de chili. to lord cochrane, vice-adm. & comm.-in-chief. nov. , . on the same date, the following was received relative to the officers who had deserted from the squadron, for the purpose of entering the service of the protector:-- santiago de chili, nov. , . most excellent sir, his excellency the supreme director has received with the greatest dissatisfaction a list of the naval officers who have deserted from the squadron. these will not fail to be noted in order to be tried by a court-martial, in case they should again tread the soil of chili. it is fortunate that your excellency has altered the private signals, lest capt. esmonde should divulge those which were in use. (signed) joaquim de echeverria. vice-adm. lord cochrane. immediately after my arrival, an intimation was forwarded to me by the supreme director of his wish to confer with me privately on the subject of my letter of may nd, in which had been pointed out the danger arising in peru, from the tyranny exercised by the protectoral government. santiago, june th, . my distinguished friend lord cochrane, i do not wish to delay a moment in expressing my satisfaction at your arrival, of which you have informed me in your letter of the nd inst. as in that letter you acquaint me that you will speedily be in this capital, with a view to communicate matters which would be better conveyed in a verbal conference, shall anxiously await the day to express to you all the consideration with which i am your sincere friend, bernardo o'higgins. having as yet received no official acknowledgment of the accounts of the squadron, beyond the previously mentioned general expression of entire satisfaction on the part of the government, i applied to the minister of marine for a more minute investigation into their contents, as from the charges made against me by san martin, i was desirous that the most rigid inquiry should be instituted forthwith, and indeed expressed my surprise--from the time which had elapsed since they were forwarded--that this had not been done. on the th of june, the minister replied as follows:-- most excellent sir, the accounts of monies applied by your excellency in the necessary requirements of the vessels of war under your command, which you conveyed to me in your two notes of the th of may last, have been passed to the office of the accountant-general, for the purpose indicated by your excellency. joaquim de echeverria. knowing the dilatory habits of the departments of state, i did not deem this satisfactory, and being engaged in preparing a refutation of san martin's charges, i again urged on the minister to investigate the accounts without further delay, when, on the th of june, he acknowledged--in a letter too long for insertion--the specific items; at the same time declaring his "high consideration for the manner in which i had made the flag of chili respected in the pacific." this was satisfactory, but it is perhaps necessary to assign a reason why so much importance is attached to a mere matter of routine, especially after the government had declared its satisfaction with all my proceedings. the reason is this--that for all the services so warmly acknowledged, the government of chili restrained from conferring either upon myself or the squadron the slightest pecuniary recompense, even the prize-money due to the officers and seamen, part of which the ministry had appropriated. on pressing these claims year after year subsequent to my departure from chili, i was informed _sixteen years afterwards!_ that my accounts required explanation! the reason for this unworthy proceeding being, that, as the claim could not be disputed, it might thus be evaded. my refutation of san martin's accusations was drawn up in the most minute manner, replying to every charge _seriatim_, and bringing to light a multitude of nefarious practices on the part of his government, which had been previously kept back. lest i might appear in the invidious light of an accuser, i was strongly dissuaded from its publication, as being unnecessary, the chilian government paying no attention whatever to his charges, but being afraid of embroiling themselves with peru, the weakness of which they failed rightly to estimate. having, however, my own character to defend, i did not think proper to comply, and therefore forwarded my refutation to the government, the minister of marine acknowledging its receipt, with an intimation that it had been deposited in the archives of the republic. as, from the minister of marine's reply, the document was evidently intended to remain there without further notice, i addressed the following letter to the supreme director:-- most excellent sir, as the game attempted to be played by the government of peru for the annihilation of the marine of chili is now being put in practice in another form, conjointly with further attacks on my character, i have to request permission from the supreme authority to publish my correspondence with san martin and his agents on these subjects; together with a copy of his accusation against me, with my reply thereto, in order that the public may no longer be deceived, and falsehood pass for truth. i have the honour, &c. cochrane. to this the following reply was returned:-- santiago, oct. , . most excellent sir, your excellency is too well acquainted with political affairs not to understand the reasons which oppose the publication of the disagreeable occurrences which have taken place with the protector at the termination of the peruvian campaign. were they made public, it would be opening a vast field of censure to the enemies of our cause, and also weakening the credit of the independent governments, by shewing dissensions amongst themselves. already have we felt the inconveniences of the injurious impressions _made on the british cabinet_ by the dissensions between your excellency and gen. san martin; for they had no sooner been informed thereof, than the diplomatic negociations which had been established with our envoy at that court were paralysed; and had he not laboured to counteract the rumours, which had been exaggerated by distance, there is no doubt but that his influence in advocating the cause of south america would have most prejudicially failed. his excellency the supreme director feels confident that these reflections will have in your mind all the weight they merit; but if you still insist on the publication of your reply to gen. san martin, you may nevertheless avail yourself of the liberty of the press which prevails in chili. (signed) joaquim de echeverria. it was "_the injurious impressions made on the british cabinet,_" which made me chiefly desirous of replying to the protector's charges; but being thus adjured not to sacrifice the interests of south america, and being, moreover, strenuously requested to let the matter drop, as being of no consequence to me in chili, i reluctantly yielded, contenting myself with sending a copy of my reply to the peruvian government. further to assure me of the disbelief of the chilian government in the charges made, an additional vote of thanks was given me by the senate, and inserted in the gazette. on my return to valparaiso, i found a lamentable instance of the cruelty practised by the military tyrants of peru, it has been mentioned that the old spaniards were ostensibly permitted to quit lima on surrender of half their property--a regulation of which many availed themselves rather than submit to the caprices of the protectoral government. in place of the security which they thus purchased for the remainder of their property, they were seized and stripped on their way to callao of the whole that remained, thrust on board the prison ship, and finally sent, in a state of complete destitution of the necessaries of life, to be added to the spanish prisoners in chili. the _milagro_ had arrived in valparaiso full of these miserable people, many of whom were shortly before amongst the most respectable inhabitants of lima; and, to add to the bitterness of their treatment, they were accompanied to chili by the agents of the protector, paroissien and garcia del rio, with his charges against me, no doubt for the further purpose of again tampering with the officers of the squadron. i did all in my power to interfere on the part of the unhappy prisoners, but in vain; they were at length transferred to the hospital of san juan de dios, where they were confined with the common felons, and would have been starved but for the english inhabitants of valparaiso, who raised a subscription on their behalf, and appointed one of their body to see their daily food distributed. they were afterwards transferred to santiago. the cruelty practised towards these prisoners in peru, is of itself a reason why their tyrants did not venture to encounter the spanish general cantarac. cruel people are invariably cowards. on my arrival at santiago, i found the supreme director on the point of resigning his high office from the opposition he had to encounter by adhering to a ministry which in one way or other was constantly bringing his government into discredit, and from being supposed to favour the designs of general san martin, though to this i attached no credit, believing that his high sense of principle led him to take upon himself the obnoxious acts of his ministers, who were partisans of the protector. the dissatisfaction increasing, the supreme director at length tendered his resignation to the convention, who, being unprepared for this step, insisted on reinstating him in the supreme executive authority. being indisposed to mingle in the conflicting state of parties which distracted chili after my return, and being in need of relaxation after the two years and a-half of harassing anxiety which i had encountered, i requested permission of the government to retire to my estate at quintero, intending also to visit the estate which had been conferred upon me at rio clara as an acknowledgment of services rendered at valdivia; my object being to bring it into a state of cultivation, which might give an impetus to the low condition of agriculture in chili. at this juncture, the _rising star_, the steamer which was spoken of as having been left behind in england, arrived in valparaiso, too late, however, to take any part in the operations which were now brought to a close by the surrender of the spanish navy. this delay had been caused by want of funds to complete her equipment, which could not even now have been accomplished, had not large means been furnished to the chilian agent in london, by my brother, the hon. major cochrane, who, to this day, has not been reimbursed a shilling of the outlay advanced on the faith of the accredited chilian envoy! though the _rising star_ was now of little use as regarded naval operations, she was the first steamer which had entered the pacific, and might, had she not been repudiated by the government, have formed the nucleus of a force which would have prevented an infinity of disasters which shortly after my departure from chili befel the cause of independence, as will presently be seen. the political fruits of our successes in chili and peru now began to manifest themselves in the recognition of the south american republics by the united states, so that chili had assumed the rank of a recognised member of the family of nations. i took with me as a guest to quintero, my former prisoner, colonel fausto del hoyo, the commandant at valdivia on our reduction of that fortress. previous to my departure for peru, i had obtained from the government a promise for his generous treatment, but no sooner had the squadron sailed, than he was thrust into prison, without fire, light, or books, and in this miserable condition he had remained till our return. as he received the promise of generous treatment from me, i insisted on and obtained his liberation, and he was now on parole. by paying him every attention, i hoped to inculcate that national greatness does not include cruelty to prisoners of war. no sooner had i arrived at quintero, than i zealously entered on my improvements, having now received from england a variety of agricultural implements, such as ploughs, harrows, spades, &c, all of which were new to chili; also european agricultural seeds, such as carrots, turnips, &c, which, previous to their introduction by me were unknown in the country. but i was not long permitted to enjoy the "_otium_" marked out for myself. letter after letter came from the squadron, complaining that, like the spanish prisoners, they too were in a state of destitution, without pay, clothes, or provisions. starting again for valparaiso, i found their complaints to be more than realized, upon which i addressed to the minister of marine the following letter:-- most excellent sir, three months having passed since the squadron anchored in this port, and the same period since my representations on its condition were made to the supreme government, relative to the nakedness and destitute condition of the crews; who still continue in the same state as that in which they passed the winter, without beds or clothes, the sentinel at my cabin door being in rags, no portion of which formed his original uniform. as it is impossible that such a state of things can continue, without exciting dangerous discontent and mutiny, i beg that you will order such clothing as may be found in valparaiso to be supplied through the commissary of the squadron, in order that it may immediately be distributed to the naked crews. (signed) cochrane. the determination with which i had entered upon the relief of the seamen, was so offensive to those who, in popular estimation, were deserving of blame, that a report was circulated of my having surreptitiously shipped on board the english frigate _doris_, then lying in the harbour of valparaiso, ounces of coined gold, and also a quantity of gold and silver bars to the like amount! the object no doubt being to induce a belief in the popular mind, that money had been applicable for the use of the squadron, but that it had been dishonestly appropriated by myself. as i had returned to quintero, this rumour did not reach me till it had become widely disseminated amongst the chilian people. the first intimation i had of it, was contained in the following letter from captain cobbett, of the _valdivia_:-- my dear lord, when i informed you, on my arrival at quintero, that something unpleasant would take place, i was not altogether ignorant of a report which has now become prevalent. it was said on the day of your departure, that your lordship had placed a large sum of money on board one of the british men of war in the harbour, , ounces in gold in a package directed to lady cochrane, and an equal amount in gold and silver bars to wait further orders from your lordship. every exertion was made by one interested in injuring your lordship, to convince me of the fact, my reply being, that i had too long been accustomed to rely in your lordship's integrity to believe any such report without proof. yesterday the same person came again to my house to inform me that the matter was cleared beyond doubt, for that the master of the _doris_ frigate had told him that the two boxes of gold and silver were on board, directed as above-mentioned. this report has created great sensation here, and the greatest pains are being taken to spread it far and wide. on making inquiry on board the _doris_, captain wilkinson and myself found that no packages of the kind were on board, and on telling the parties engaged in spreading the report the result of our inquiry, they seemed much chopfallen, but would not retract their charge, which i am certain they intend to carry to the supreme director, the consequence of which would be, that were the report true or false, the government would blame your lordship, and accuse us of being your abettors; whilst, as the want of pay and prize-money renders the officers irritable, they are ready for anything and everything which might promise to relieve their necessities. i have told your lordship all i know, and have conceived the rumour to be of so much importance, as to send one of my own horses with the little doctor to inform you immediately of what is going on, as such reports ought not to be treated lightly. i beg to subscribe myself, with the greatest respect, your lordship's grateful servant, henry cobbett. another letter, from captain wilkinson, was to the same effect:-- my dear lord, a report is in circulation that your lordship has put on board the british frigate _doris_ nine thousand ounces in gold. i feel it my duty to acquaint you of this, as no person can have your lordship's reputation more at heart than myself. i have been told this by two or three persons after your lordship left for quintero, and in the evening by moyell, who must have known it to be false, and i declared it so to him. i trust your lordship will be able to trace the shameless offender. i am, my lord, &c. &c. w. wilkinson. as soon as these letters were received, i lost no time in repairing to valparaiso, not doubting that zenteno and the peruvian agents were again at work to disorganize the squadron, and in case of the overthrow of the supreme director, which was still impending, to place it in the hands of san martin. the object of the party was to cause dissension amongst the seamen, by making them believe that, amidst their poverty and sufferings, i had been taking care of myself, and hence they hoped to destroy that confidence in me which officers and men had all along exhibited, notwithstanding their privations. as they had never before been so wretchedly destitute, this circumstance was considered favourable to the impression, that having secured all i could for myself, i was about to abandon them. though there was not a word of truth in the report which had been thus sedulously disseminated, it was too serious to be trifled with; accordingly, on the receipt of captain cobbett's letter, i hastened to valparaiso, and to the chagrin of zenteno, again hoisted my flag on board the _o'higgins_. my first step was to demand from the government the appointment of a commission to go on board the _doris_, and there ascertain whether i had placed any packages on board that frigate for transmission to england or elsewhere. the reply was, that no such commission was requisite, as no one gave credit to the assertion that i had done so, or suppose me capable of acting in the way which had been falsely reported! the re-hoisting my flag was a step which had not been anticipated, and as it was unbidden, a remonstrance was addressed to me upon having taken such a step unauthorised by the government. my reply was, that i had taken the step upon my own responsibility, and that as such an infamous accusation had been promulgated against me, for the purpose of promoting mutiny amongst the men, i intended to keep my flag flying till they were paid. at the same time i addressed the following letter to the minister of marine:-- most excellent sir, aroused from the tranquillity in which i had vainly hoped to spend at least the short period of my leave of absence by imputations against my character, propagated with a view to excite dissatisfaction and mutiny in the squadron, by taking advantage of the irritation occasioned by the necessities of the officers, and the destitute and naked condition of the men, which i have so often implored you to remedy; i have reluctantly proceeded to this port to refute the calumny and prevent the evil anticipated, for which purpose i have re-hoisted my flag, to haul it down when the discontent shall cease, by the people being clothed and paid, or when i shall be ordered to haul it down for ever. i enclose a copy of a letter which i have sent to the governor of valparaiso. (signed) cochrane. it is unnecessary to give the letter to zenteno, as being to the same effect with the preceding, with some additional guesses at the infamous author of the report, these proving sufficient for his discreet silence on the subject. the following reply from the minister of marine was immediately forwarded to me:-- santiago, oct. , . most excellent sir, his excellency the supreme director is impressed with deep disgust at the calumny to which you allude in your note, a copy of which i have forwarded to the governor of valparaiso. your excellency may rest satisfied that the authors thereof will not remain unpunished if discovered. accept the assurance of my high consideration. the minister of marine, joaquim de echeverria. to the vice-admiral com.-in-chief of the squadron. as a matter of course the libeller was neither discovered nor punished, otherwise the governor of valparaiso, and the agents of san martin would have been placed in an unpleasant position. but they had nothing to fear, as, from the daily increasing perplexities of the chilian government, it was in no condition to defend itself, much less to assert the majesty of the law. from the promptitude displayed in meeting a charge as utterly groundless as it was infamous, and from the conviction of the squadron that i was incapable of acting in the manner imputed to me, the calumny produced the opposite effect to that which was intended, viz. by inspiring in the minds of the officers and men the most intense disgust towards its originators. on my re-hoisting my flag, i was received with every demonstration of enthusiasm and affection, the officers unanimously uniting in the following address;-- may it please youe excellency, we, the undersigned officers of the chilian squadron, have heard with surprise and indignation the vile and scandalous reports tending to bring your excellency's high character in question, and to destroy that confidence and admiration with which it has always inspired us. we have seen with pleasure the measures your excellency has adopted to suppress so malicious and absurd a conspiracy, and trust that no means will be spared to bring its authors to public shame. at a time like the present, when the best interests of the squadron and our dearest rights as individuals are at stake, we feel especially indignant at an attempt to destroy that union and confidence which at present exists, and which we are assured ever will exist, while we have the honour to serve under your excellency's command. with these sentiments we subscribe ourselves, your excellency's most obedient humble servant, (signed) j.p. grenfell, lieut.-com. _mercedes_, and all the officers of the squadron. the excellent officer whose name is prominently attached to this address, is now admiral grenfell, consul-general in england of the brazilian empire. he was my flag-lieutenant at the capture of the _esmeralda_, under the batteries of callao, and it is no more than justice to mention, that his distinguished gallantry in that affair in an eminent degree contributed to the success of the enterprise. but i was not the only person of whom the envoys of san martin and their creatures in the chilian government desired to get rid. general santa cruz was openly appointed to supersede general freire as governor of conception and chief of the army of the south; the keen discrimination of freire having estimated san martin and his proceedings in peru as they deserved, and hence he had become obnoxious to those whose design it was to lay chili at the feet of the protector. on santa cruz proceeding to conception to take up the command, the troops unanimously refused to obey his authority, or to permit general freire to leave them. the people of conception, who had suffered more from their patriotism than any other in chili, were equally resolute, not only from attachment to freire, but because they knew that if the ministry gained their ends, conception would be destroyed as a port; it being their object to shut up every port but valparaiso, in order that by the corrupt practices prevalent there, they might monopolize the whole advantage to be personally gained from the commerce of the country. the supreme director was, as usual, made the scapegoat for the unsuccessful attempt of his ministers to depose general freire, and the consequence was that in three months after the attempt was made, general o'higgins was deposed from his authority, and general freire elevated to the supreme directorate! as i had been falsely accused of stealing money which ought to have been divided amongst the seamen, i was determined that no ground for future accusation of the kind should arise in consequence of their not being paid; and with this view, pertinaciously insisted on the payment of the arrears due to the squadron. these efforts were seconded by the commanding officers of ships, who, in a temperate address to the government, set forth the nature of their claims. from this address, the following extracts are given, as forming an excellent epitome of the whole events of the war:-- "ever since the capture of the _isabel_, the dominion of the pacific has been maintained by the chilian navy, and such have been the exertions of our commander and ourselves that with chileno crews unaccustomed to navigation, and a few foreign seamen whom we alone could control, not only have the shores of this state been effectually protected from injury and insult, but the maritime forces of the enemy have been closely blockaded in the face of a superior force. by means of the navy the important province, fortifications, and port of valdivia have been added to the republic. by the same means the spanish power in peru was brought into contempt, and the way opened for the invasion of that country. the enemy's ships of war have all fallen into our hands or by our means have been compelled to surrender. their merchant vessels have been seized under their very batteries, whilst the chilian transports and trading vessels have been in such perfect security that not even the smallest has been compelled to haul down its flag. amongst these achievements, the capture of the _esmeralda_ has reflected lustre on the chilian marine equal to anything recorded in the chronicles of ancient states, greatly adding to chilian importance in the eyes of europe; whilst, from the vigilance of the naval blockade, the fortifications of callao were finally compelled to surrender." "this happy event, so long hoped for, was by all considered to complete our labours in peru, and to entitle us if not to a remuneration from that state, _as in the case of those officers who abandoned the chilian service_! yet, at least, to a share of the valuable property taken by our means, as awarded under similar circumstances by other states, which, by experience, are aware of the benefit of stimulating individuals by such rewards for great enterprises undertaken for the public good. but, alas! so far from either of these modes of remuneration being adopted, _even the pay so often promised was withheld, and food itself was denied, so that we were reduced to a state of the greatest privation and suffering; so great, indeed, that the crew of the lautaro abandoned their ship for want of food, and the seamen of the squadron, natives as well as foreigners, were in a state of open mutiny, threatening the safety of all the vessels of the state_." "we do not claim merit for not relieving ourselves from this painful situation by an act of a doubtful nature, viz. by an acquiescence in the intentions of the general commanding-in-chief the expeditionary forces; _who, having declared us officers of peru,_ offered, through his _aides-de camps_, colonel paroissien and captain spry, honours and estates to those who would further his views. _nor do we envy those who received those estates and honours_; but having rejected these inducements to swerve from our allegiance, we may fairly claim the approbation of government for providing the squadron of chili with provisions and stores at callao, _out of monies in our hands justly due for the capture of the esmeralda, when such supplies had been refused by general san martin_. we may also claim similar approbation for having repaired the squadron at guayaquil, and for equipping and provisioning it for the pursuit of the enemy's frigates, _prueba_ and _venganza_, which we drove from the shores of mexico in a state of destitution to the shores of peru; and if they were not actually brought to chili, it was because they were seized by our late general and commander-in-chief, and appropriated in the same manner as he had previously intended with respect to the chilian squadron itself. we may add, that every endeavour short of actual hostilities with the said general, was made on our part to obtain the restitution of those valuable frigates to the government of chili. in no other instance through the whole course of our proceedings, has any dispute arisen but what has terminated favourably to the interests of chili, and the honour of her flag. private friendships have been preserved with the naval officers of foreign powers; no point has been conceded that could be maintained consistently with the maritime laws of civilized nations, by which our conduct has been scrupulously guided; and such has been the caution observed, that no act of violence contrary to the laws of nations, nor any improper exercise of power, can be laid to our charge. the chilian flag has waved in triumph, and with universal respect, from the southern extremity of the republic to the shores of california; population and the value of property have by our exertions increased threefold; whilst commerce and its consequent revenue have been augmented in a far greater proportion; which commerce, so productive to the state, might, without the protecting aid of its navy, be annihilated by a few of those miserable privateers which the terror of its name alone deters from approaching." "the period has now arrived at which it is essential for the well-being of the service in general, and especially for our private affairs, that our arrears, so long due, should be liquidated; and far as it is from our desire to press our claims on the government, yet we cannot abstain from so doing, in justice to the state, as well as to ourselves; because want of regularity in the internal affairs of a naval service is productive of relaxation of discipline, as just complaints cannot be redressed, nor complainants chastised--discontent spreading like a contagious disease, and paralysing the system." "permit us, therefore, to call to the notice of the government that since our return to valparaiso _with our naked crews, even clothes have been withheld for four months_, during which no payment has been made, the destitute seamen being _without blankets, ponchos, or any covering to protect them from the cold of winter_, the more severely felt from the hot climates in which they have for nearly three years been employed." "the two months' pay offered the other day could not now effect its purpose, as the whole--and more is due to the pulperia keepers, to whose benefit, and not that of the seamen, it must have immediately accrued. judge, then, of the irritation produced by such privations, and the impossibility of relieving them by such inadequate payment; also whether it is possible to maintain order and discipline amongst men worse circumstanced than the convicts of algiers! under such circumstances, it is no exaggeration to affirm that confidence will be for ever gone, and the squadron entirely ruined, if measures of preservation are not immediately resorted to." "with respect to the offer of _one month's pay to ourselves!_ after our faithful and persevering services, undergoing privations such as were never endured in the navy of any other state, we are afraid to trust ourselves to make any observations; but it is quite impossible that it could have been accepted under any circumstances, as it would have placed us in no better situation than if, on our arrival here four months ago, we had actually paid the government three months' salary for the satisfaction of having served it, during a period of two years, with unremitting exertions and fidelity." "in conclusion, we respectfully hope, that the supreme government will be pleased to take what we have stated into its serious consideration, and more especially that it will be pleased to comply with its existing engagements to us, with the same alacrity and fidelity with which we have acted towards the government; the duties of each being reciprocal, and equally binding on both parties." signed by all the captains. the preceding statement of the captains is a faithful statement of the case as regarded the injustice done to the squadron, which had throughout supported itself, even to the repairs and equipment of the ships. as to the ruin which the captains predict, it was no doubt intended by the envoys of san martin and their creatures in the chilian ministry, as the effect would have been to have driven the men to desertion, when the ships would have been turned over to peru, and manned with fresh crews. fortunately for chili, this consummation was prevented by an occurrence as strange as unexpected by her short-sighted rulers, though long before predicted by myself. chapter xi. negociations with bolivar--exile of monteagudo--complaints of the limenos--extravagance of the government--exculpation of san martin--effects of popular dissension--disagreement of bolivar and san martin--vote of peruvian congress--extraordinary neglect of the chilian squadron--san martin's arrival at valparaiso-- i demand his trial--countenance of the supreme director-- squadron at length paid wages--revolt of conception--general freire apprises me of it--freire asks for my support--his letter not replied to--san martin's influence. mention has been made in a previous chapter of the all but total destruction of a division of the liberating army by general canterac, and of the bombastic proclamations issued on that occasion by san martin, to the effect that they were "only dispersed, not beaten," &c. the protector was however ill at ease, and entered into a correspondence with bolivar, with a view to procure the assistance of columbian troops against the spaniards, who, following up their success, were making demonstrations of attacking the patriot forces in lima. to this request was added another soliciting an interview with bolivar at guayaquil. a similar despatch was sent to santiago, asking, in the most urgent terms, for aid from the chilian government. the whole affair--as narrated at the time, for personally i had nothing to do with it--was somewhat curious. san martin's designs on guayaquil having got wind, bolivar marched the columbian troops across the cordillera, successfully invaded quito, and was hastening towards guayaquil, with a view of being beforehand with san martin, of whose intentions upon that province he was aware. after the above-mentioned defeat of the peruvian army by canterac, san martin had been compelled to withdraw his forces from truxillo, on which sucre, the next in command to bolivar, advanced to guayaquil and took possession of it. at this time, as was afterwards well known, the limeños were privately soliciting bolivar to give them his assistance in liberating peru, _both from the protector_ and the spaniards! ignorant of this, the protector, having delegated the supreme authority to the marquis of torre tagle, and appointed general alvarado commander-in-chief in his absence, departed for guayaquil, for the purpose of the proposed interview. no sooner had san martin turned his back, than a public meeting of the limeños took place in the plaza, and insisted on the reconstitution of the _cabildo_, which assembly had been put down by the protector immediately after the declaration of independence. the members having complied, it was decided that "the minister monteagudo should be deposed, tried, and subjected to the severity of the law," a note being despatched to this effect to the supreme delegate, torre tagle. the council of state met, and informed monteagudo of what had taken place, when he was induced to resign; the supreme delegate politely informing the _cabildo_ that the ex-minister should be made to answer to the council of state for the acts of his administration. this note not satisfying the municipality, the _cabildo_ requested that monteagudo should at once be placed in arrest till called upon for his defence, which was immediately complied with; but the step was disapproved by the limeños, who feared that some crafty subterfuge might again place him in authority. the _cabildo_, therefore, in order to satisfy the people and get rid of the ex-minister, requested of the government that he might be put on board ship, and exiled for ever from peru. this was also acceded to; and, on the anniversary of his arrival in lima, monteagudo was sent under escort to callao, and forthwith taken to sea. torre tagle was unable to cope with the returning spirit of the limeños, nor did he attempt it, as the army was as much disgusted as were the inhabitants, and would not have raised a hand against them. the liberty of the press returned, and the first use of it was the following picture of the exiled minister, taken from the lima newspapers; this would not have been inserted here, except to shew the class of men with whom i had so long to contend. "every honourable citizen found in don bernardo monteagudo, (this is the name of the man of whom we speak,) an enemy who at any price would have sacrificed him. how many victims has he not immolated in his one year's ministry! more than eight hundred honourable families have been reduced by him to extreme indigence, and the whole city to misery! amongst the patriots of lima, nothing was thought of but where they might find an asylum in a foreign land. without agriculture, commerce, industry, personal security, property, and laws, what is society here but a scene of the most afflicting torments?" "the religion of our forefathers suffered an equal persecution in its ministers and its temples; these were deprived of their riches, not for the service of our country, but for the reward of _espionage_, and to deceive us with useless trickeries. the satellites of this bandit were equally despotic with himself, and committed under his protection the most horrid crimes. this is not a proper place in which to insert the baseness with which he abused the delicacy and weakness of females. fathers of families * * * *. every man was intimidated. every feeling man wept, because all were the victims of the caprice of this insolent upstart, who made an ostentation of atheism and ferocity." "it is impossible to recapitulate his actions. volumes would be necessary to shew the world the arbitrary crimes of this atrocious individual. it would appear that for the commission of so many offences he must have had some cause that impelled him, for they could not possibly be the effect of ignorance. it was impossible to believe that by insulting and ruining every one, plundering our property, despising the ingenuity and talents of the peruvians, and endeavouring to introduce anarchy, he could be longer tolerated in this capital. was the reduction of peru to the most degrading slavery, the means to make us or even himself happy?" &c. &c. &c the reader can--from what has been narrated in these pages,--form pretty correct opinions upon the majority of the enormities which drove monteagudo into exile. of his private character i have always foreborn to speak, as considering it a thing apart from official acts--but as the limeños themselves have forcibly alluded to it, i can say that in no respect can their allegations be called in question. the opinion of the roused limeños, that for monteagudo's plunders, insults, and cruelties, there "must have been an impelling cause," is correct, though it is rather surprising that they should not have more justly estimated that cause. the vast amount of silver and gold which i spared in the _sacramento_ at ancon, as being the property of the protector, shews the gulf which swallowed up his plunder of the inhabitants. the costly extravagance of the government--amidst which the degraded minister's ostentation was even more conspicuous than that of the protector himself--could have had no other source but plunder, for of legitimate revenue there was scarcely enough to carry on the expenses of the government--certainly none for luxurious ostentation; which, nevertheless, emulated that of the roman empire in its worst period--but without the "_panem et circenses_." the "impelling cause" was the protector himself. ambitious beyond all bounds, but with a capacity singularly incommensurate with his ambition, he believed that money could accomplish everything. monteagudo supplied this literally by plunder and cruelty, whilst san martin recklessly flung it away in ostentation and bribes. in return for the means of prodigality, the minister was permitted to carry on the government just as he chose, the protector meanwhile indulging in the "_otium cum dignitate_" at his country palace near la legua--his physical powers prostrated by opium and brandy, to which he was a slave, whilst his mental faculties day by day became more torpid from the same debilitating influence. this was well known to me, and alluded to in my letter to him of august th, , in which i adjured him to banish his advisers and act as became his position. i now mention these things, not to cast a slur on san martin, but for the opposite purpose of averting undue reproach, though my bitter enemy. the enormities committed in his name were for the most part not his, but monteagudo's; for, to paraphrase the saying of a french wit, "san martin reigned, but his minister governed." duplicity and cunning were san martin's great instruments when he was not too indolent to wield them; and while he was wrapped in ease, his minister superadded to these qualities all the cruelty and ferocity which sometimes converts a ruler into a monster, as the limeños very appropriately designate him. san martin was not innately cruel, though, as in the execution of the carreras, he did not hesitate to sacrifice men of far greater patriotism and ability than himself, regarding them as rivals; but he would not, as monteagudo did, have endeavoured to tempt me ashore to the house of torre tagle, for the purpose of assassinating me; nor, failing in this, would he as monteagudo also did, have liberated a convict for the express purpose of murdering me on board my own ship. at this distance of time these things may be mentioned, as there can be no delicacy in thus alluding to monteagudo, who, having lived the life of a tyrant, died the death of a dog; for having sometime afterwards imprudently returned to the peruvian capital, he was set upon and killed in the streets by the enraged limeños. this bad commencement of the peruvian government subsequently entailed on the country years of misery and civil war, from intestine feuds and party strife--the natural results of the early abuse which unhappily inaugurated its liberation. no such features have been exhibited in chili, where the maritime force under my command at once and for ever annihilated the power of spain, leaving to the mother country neither adherents nor defenders, so that all men agreed to consolidate the liberty which had been achieved. the same good results followed my expulsion of the portuguese fleets and army from brazil, where, whatever may have been the contentions of the parties into which the country was divided, the empire has ever since been preserved from those revolutions which invariably characterise states based at the outset upon virulent contentions. in peru, the liberty which had been promised was trodden under foot by the myrmidons of san martin, so that a portion of the people, and that the most influential, would gladly have exchanged the degradation of their country for a return to spanish rule, and this was afterwards very nearly achieved. another portion, dreading the spaniards, invited bolivar to free them from the despotism to which, in the name of liberty, they had been subjected. a third party sighed for independence, as they originally hoped it would have been established. the community became thus divided in object, and, as a consequence, in strength; being in constant danger of the oppressor, and in even more danger from its own intestine dissensions; which have continued to this day, not in peru only, but in the majority of the south american states, which, having commenced their career in the midst of private feud and public dissension, have never been able to shake off either the one or the other monuments of their own incipient weakness. the intelligence of monteagudo's forced exile was received at valparaiso on the st of september; and if this excited the surprise of the chilians, still greater must have been their astonishment when, on the th of october, general san martin himself arrived at valparaiso, a fugitive from his short-lived splendour, amidst the desolation of despotism. the story of this event is brief, but instructive. having met bolivar, as previously agreed upon, the liberator, in place of entering upon any mutual arrangement, bitterly taunted san martin with the folly and cruelty of his conduct towards the limeños; to such an extent, indeed, that the latter, fearing designs upon his person, precipitately left guayaquil, and returned to callao shortly after the expulsion of monteagudo. finding what had taken place, he remained on board his vessel, issuing vain threats against all who had been concerned in exiling his minister, and insisting on his immediate recal and reinstatement. a congress had however, by this time been appointed, with xavier de luna pizarro as its head, so the remonstrances of the protector were unheeded. after some time spent in useless recrimination, he made a virtue of necessity, and sent in his abdication of the protectorate, returning, as has been said, to chili. one of the first acts of the peruvian congress, after his abdication, was to address to me the following vote of thanks, not only marking my services in the liberation of their country, but denouncing san martin as a military despot:-- _resolution of thanks to lord cochrane by the sovereign congress of peru._ the sovereign constituent congress of peru, in consideration of the services rendered to peruvian liberty by lord cochrane, by whose talent, worth, and bravery, the pacific ocean has been liberated from the insults of enemies, and the standard of liberty has been planted on the shores of the south, has resolved,-- that the supreme junta, on behalf of the nation, shall offer to lord cochrane, admiral of the chilian squadron, its most expressive sentiments of gratitude for his hazardous exploits on behalf of peru, hitherto under the tyranny of military despotism, but now the arbiter of its own fate. this resolution being communicated to the supreme junta, they will do that which is necessary for its fulfilment, by ordering it to be printed, published, and circulated. given in the hall of congress, at lima, september th, . xavier de luna pizarro, president. jose sanchez carrion, deputy and secretary. francisco xavier mariatique, deputy and secretary. in fulfilment of the preceding resolution, we direct the same to be executed. jose de la mar, felipe anto. alvarado, el conde de vista florida. by order of his excellency, francisco valdivieso. san martin had, however, played his cards so cunningly, that, in order to be well rid of him, the peruvian congress had been induced to give him a pension of , dollars per annum, whilst nothing but thanks were awarded to me, both for liberating their country and for freeing them from military despotism! notwithstanding that the new peruvian government was in possession of our prizes, the _prueba_ and _venganza_, the latter only to be given up by paying , dollars to the chilian squadron, which at its own cost had run it down in guayaquil--these sums, no less than the value of the other frigate, being, in common honesty, due from peru to the chilian squadron to this day. to have thanked me so warmly as the exclusive instrument of their independence and deliverance from military tyranny--yet to have rewarded the tyrant and not myself in any form beyond the acknowledgment of my services, is a circumstance to which the peruvian government of the present day cannot look back with satisfaction; the less so as chili has, after the lapse of thirty years, partially atoned for the ingratitude of a former government in availing itself of my aid, without a shilling in the way of recompense, though i had supported its squadron by my own exertions, with comparatively no expense to the government, during the whole period that i held the command. to add to this palpable injustice, the peruvian congress distributed , dollars amongst twenty general and field officers of the army; but the officers of the squadron, whose prowess had freed the pacific of the enemy, and by the admission of the congress itself peru also--were not only excluded from the peruvian bounty, but were denied the prize-money which they had won and generously given up to the temporary exigencies of chili. such a monstrous perversion of justice and even common honesty, never before reflected discredit on a state. but more of this hereafter. it having been circulated in lima that san martin had secreted a quantity of gold in the _puyrredon_, steps were taken to verify the rumour, on which, at midnight on the th of september, he ordered the captain to get under weigh, though the vessel was not half manned, and had scarcely any water on board. he then went to ancon, and despatched a messenger to lima, on whose return, he ordered the captain instantly to weigh anchor and proceed to valparaiso, where on his arrival, it was given out that an attack of rheumatism compelled him to have resource to the baths of cauquenes. on the arrival of the ex-protector, two _aides-de-camp_ were sent by zenteno to compliment him, and his flag was regularly saluted, the governor of valparaiso's carriage being sent to convey him to the government house. yet shortly before, this very governor of valparaiso had rightly branded those who abandoned the chilian flag for that of peru, as "deserters;" but now he received the man who had not only first set the example, but had also induced others to desert--with the honours of a sovereign prince! the patriots were eager that i should arrest general san martin, and there were those in power who would not have complained had i done so, but i preferred to leave the government to its own course. on the following day, general san martin was forwarded in one of the director's carriages to santiago with an escort, the pretence for this mark of honour being fears for his personal safety, in which, there might be something of truth, for the chilian people rightly estimated his past conduct. without troubling myself about such matters, i immediately forwarded to the supreme director the annexed demand, that he should be tried for his desertion and subsequent conduct:-- most excellent sir, don jose de san martin, late commander-in-chief of the expeditionary forces from chili for the liberation of peru, having this day arrived at valparaiso, and being now within the jurisdiction of the laws of chili, i lose no time in acquainting you that, if it be the pleasure of government to institute an inquiry into the conduct of the said don jose de san martin, i am ready to prove his forcible usurpation of the supreme authority of peru, in violation of the solemn pledge given by his excellency the supreme director of chili; his attempts to seduce the navy of chili; his receiving and rewarding deserters from the chilian service; his unjustifiably placing the frigates, _prueba_ and _venqanza_, under the flag of peru; with other demonstrations and acts of hostility towards the republic of chili. given under my hand this th day of october, , on board the chilian ship _o'higgins_, in the harbour of valparaiso. (signed) cochrane. in place of my demand being complied with, san martin was honoured by having the palace appointed as his residence, whilst every mark of public attention was paid him by the ministry, the object being no other than to insult me, both as regarded the countenance given to him in the face of my demand for his trial, and the infamous accusations which he had made against me, but which he did not dare to sustain. the passive acquiescence of the supreme director in the treachery of his advisers caused an amount of popular discontent which ended in his exile also; both chilenos and spaniards revolting at the idea of san martin being thus publicly honoured. to see the supreme director parade himself as the friend and ally of such a man, was more than the patriot spirit could bear, and the voice of dissatisfaction was loud in every direction. by the partisans of san martin this was attributed to the squadron; and at his instigation, as was generally believed, troops were sent to valparaiso for the purpose of overawing it. i was cautioned to be on my guard against personal seizure or assault, as had been attempted in peru, but did not place sufficient reliance on the courage of my opponents to adopt any steps evincing doubt of the chilian people, who were well disposed to me. on the st of november there occurred an earthquake, which completely destroyed the town of valparaiso, so that scarcely a house remained habitable; the people rushing to the hills or to the ships in the harbour. on the first shocks, knowing that terrible disasters would ensue, i went on shore to restore what order could be maintained amongst the terrified people, and met with the supreme director, who had narrowly escaped with his life when hurrying out of his house. it being impossible to render the unhappy townspeople any service, i paid his excellency every possible attention, even though i had reason to believe that his visit was unfriendly to me, he being falsely persuaded that my incessant demands for the payment of the squadron was an act of hostility to himself, instead of a measure of justice to the officers and men. finding me determined, after what had occurred, to procure the payment of the squadron, the now tottering government gave in, and thus far decided on doing justice; but even in this--as i had reason to believe--the counsels of san martin induced them to adopt a plan of making the payments ashore, and paying the men and petty officers first--after which, they were to be allowed a furlough of four months. as this plan was palpably meant to unman the squadron, and thus place the officers and myself at the mercy of the intriguers, i would not suffer it to be carried into effect, the men were therefore paid on board their respective ships. a new system of annoyance was hereupon practised towards me by zenteno, who had again assumed the office of minister of marine. from the neglect to repair the ships--which were left in the same wretched condition as when they returned from peru and mexico--the _independencia_ was alone seaworthy; and was sent to sea by zenteno without even the formality of transmitting the requisite orders through me. but a crisis was now at hand. the insult offered to general freire, by sending santa cruz to supersede him, will be fresh in the reader's recollection. soon after this the provincial convention of conception met, and passed a vote of censure upon the council of government at santiago, for re-electing general o'higgins as supreme director after his resignation--an act which it considered illegal, as no such power was vested in the ministry--and it became known that general freire was about to march with the troops under his command to enforce these views. on the th, general freire had advanced his troops as far as talca, and a division of the army at santiago was ordered to be in readiness to meet him. the marines belonging to the squadron, under the command of major hind, were also ordered to reinforce the director's troops. i was at this time at my country residence at quintero, but learning what was going on, i immediately went to valparaiso and resumed the command of the squadron, to which i found that orders had been issued at variance with the arrangements which had been entered into in regard to the prize-money due to the officers and men--the _galvarino_, which was pledged to be sold for that purpose, being under orders for sea, to convey san martin to some place of safety, for, not anticipating the disorganisation which he found in chili, he was afraid of falling into the hands of general freire, from whom he would doubtless have experienced the full amount of justice which his conduct deserved. the squadron in my absence had, however, taken the matter into its own hands, by placing the _lautaro_, with her guns loaded, in a position to sink the _galvarino_ if she attempted to move. the forts on shore had also loaded their guns for retaliation, though of these the squadron would have made short work. no sooner had i restored order, by resuming the command, than i received from general freire the subjoined letter, which no longer left me in doubt of his intentions:-- conception, dec. th, . my lord, the province under my command being tired of suffering the effects of a corrupted administration, which has reduced the republic to a state of greater degradation than that under which it was labouring when it made the first struggle to obtain its liberty; and when, by means of an illegitimately-created convention, without the will of the people, they have traced the plans of enslaving them, by constituting them as the patrimony of an ambitious despot, whilst, in order to ensure him the command, they have trodden under foot the imprescriptible right of the citizens, exiling them in the most arbitrary manner from their native country. nothing now remains for us but heroically to resolve that we will place the fruit of eleven years of painful sacrifices in the way of saving it; to which effect i have deposited in the hands of its legal representatives who are united in this city the authority that i have hitherto exercised; but notwithstanding my want of merit, and sincere renouncement, the constituent power has deigned to place upon my weak shoulders this enormous weight, by again depositing the civil and military command in my person, which the adjoining resolution i have the honour of remitting will explain to your lordship. god preserve your lordship many years. (signed) ramon freire. in short, a revolution to depose the supreme director had commenced, and general freire, supported by the inhabitants of conception and coquimbo, was in arms to effect it. with this revolution i was determined to have nothing to do, because, as a foreigner, it was not desirable for me to become a party to any faction, though it was evident that the authority of general o'higgins would shortly be at an end. regarding general freire's letter as an indirect request to me to aid him in deposing general o'higgins, i did not even reply to it. on the th of september he made the following direct overture to me to join in the revolution:-- conception, nov. th, . my best and most distinguished friend, the time has arrived when circumstances and the country require the protection of those who generously and judiciously know how to maintain its sacred rights. let us withdraw the curtain from the scene which trifles with the interests of the republic, leading it to inevitable ruin. its deplorable state is public and notorious. there is not a man who is unacquainted with it, and who does not bewail the prospective loss of its independence, with a thraldom also in view more grievous than the spanish yoke. the self-assumed powers of the government, the restrictions on commerce, and, above all, the constitution recently promulgated, place the ambitious views of the chief magistrate and the corruption of his ministers in a clear light. every act proves that the intentions of the supreme director have undergone a change. fortune, which has hitherto favoured him, has given a new turn to his ambition, as if the proposal of a crown could no longer be resisted--all the measures pursued throughout the state leading to that end. it is grievous to see laurels thus stained in the grasp of one who so gloriously obtained them. it is, however, needless to trespass on you with further reflections on these occurrences, as your judgment cannot fail to be formed both on the facts and their consequences. let us therefore touch on other subjects. permit me, without offence to your delicacy, to make some reflections on subjects equally public and notorious. you enjoyed honours, rank, and fortune, amidst a people the most distinguished in europe. you generously abandoned ease and comfort in order to aid in the attainment of our liberty, and you have been the chief instrument which has enabled us to achieve it. the whole world is acquainted with your gallant efforts to abolish tyranny and give liberty to south america. the people of this republic are full of the most lively gratitude, and are grieved that it is not in their power to give you an effectual proof of their deep attachment. this province, holding valour and merit in estimation, idolizes you, whilst it holds in abhorrence and detestation the tyrant "liberator of peru!" who has stained our soil with tears of blood shed for his pretended services. chacabuco would have terminated the war throughout the republic, had it not been deemed necessary to foster its continuance for the interests of this individual. this province (conception) having been completely sacrificed, has arrived at the point of exasperation. its inhabitants are unanimously determined on a change and a reform of government, and declare that in arauco they will breathe the air of liberty, and that they will perish in the field of battle to obtain it. this is the decision universally adopted without exception. this is the determination of the gallant troops which i have the honour to command, and of their valiant officers, and is moreover sanctioned by the holy orders of the clergy. compromised by these declarations, what am i to reply to them? must i profess my sympathy and accordance of opinion with them, and admit to you, that, though yesterday a private citizen, with a heart burning to be freed from fetters, _i must to-day gird on the sword_. may heaven favour my lot in the absence of personal merit! to my country i owe my life and the position i hold--from having contributed to its welfare--can i then neglect the duty that i owe to it? no, my dear friend, far be that course from me. freire has sworn to live or perish for the liberty of his native country, and he now repeats that solemn oath, grieved at the cause which compels him to renew it, but trusting in the hope that god will avert the effusion of blood in the accomplishment of the object. i know that you are deeply interested in securing the liberty of chili, for which you have so gloriously contended. i know you will deeply feel the privation of hope--for neither in your generous heart, nor in mine, can such events be received with indifference. let us then pursue a course in uniformity with the glory of chili, and the opinion of the world. let us listen to the voice of the country, which calls us to avert evils when repose might have been anticipated. i count, together with the whole province, on your co-operation to avert mischief and advance the good of the country. act as you judge best, but for the promotion of that object, the moment has arrived for action. answer me with promptitude and frankness. let us have the satisfaction of applying effective remedies to the evils which afflict the country, zealously and disinterestedly for the good of the republic, and without personal views. _i hold the residence of san martin in any part of chili as suspicious and dangerous. let him be off to make some other quarter happy, where he can sell his protection to the ill-fated inhabitants._ i hope my intentions meet your approbation, and will be seconded by the officers of the squadron. i trust you will receive this as the sincerest proof that i can give of the high consideration with-which i am your most faithful and unchangeable friend, ramon freire. to vice-adm. lord cochrane, commanding the squadron of chili. i did not reply with promptitude, for i felt that it was no part of my mission to mingle in civil warfare. this letter, however, corroborated my opinion as to the fact of san martin's influence over the supreme director, and the recent coolness in his conduct towards me. if general freire's information was correct, there was evidently a desire to restore san martin to the empire of peru! when possession could be got of the squadron, and he in return had deluded general o'higgins into the plot by promise of support. whether this was so in reality is problematical, but there is general freire's letter, for the first time published, and the chilian people can thence draw their own conclusions. fortunately an occurrence took place, which relieved me from the dilemma in which i was placed, as will be narrated in the succeeding chapter. chapter xii. the squadron taken from me--i accept invitation from brazil--letter to the supreme directo--- san martin quits chili--his prudence--opinion of his aide-de-camp--ministerial neglect--permission to quit chili--letter to general freire--for the first time made public--letter to the captains and officers--to the chilian people--to the foreign merchants--to the president of peru--san martin actuated by revenge--this shewn from his letters. the event alluded to in the last chapter was the arrival of an express from the brazilian _charge d'affaires_ at buenos ayres, with a request from the imperial court at rio de janeiro, to the effect that, as by my exertions the spaniards had now been driven from the pacific, i would accept the command of the brazilian navy, for the purpose of expelling the portuguese, who still maintained their hold upon the greater portion of that side of the south american continent. as acquiescence in this offer would relieve me from the embarrassing situation in which i was placed in chili, i began seriously to consider the expediency of accepting it. at this juncture freire commenced his march towards the capital, at the same time sending captain casey to valparaiso with an armed merchantman, to ascertain the effect of his last letter to me. without coming to an anchor, captain casey sent a boat on board the _o'higgins_ to ascertain my sentiments, but meeting with a refusal to acquiesce in the revolution, he again sailed. the ministers, however, judging me by themselves, and suspecting that i was about to become a party to general freire's designs, began to withdraw the ships from my command, on the pretence of repairs or converting them into store-ships, several being thus taken from the squadron. i was also ordered to place the _o'higgins_ and _valdivia_ under the charge of the commandant of marine, to be repaired, and to make a store-ship of the _lautaro_, and being thus deprived of the slightest authority over them, i was now considered as a sort of state prisoner; but in pursuing this course, the little schooner _montezuma_, which i had rescued from peru, had been overlooked, and on board of her i hoisted my flag. the _galvarino_ was now sent to sea without my permission, and without an englishman in her. the _lautaro_, the pretended store-ship, was also being got ready for sea, when i addressed the following note to captain worcester, who commanded her:-- memo, having received directions from the supreme government to cause the _lautaro_ to be placed as a store-ship, under the command of the governor, and observing that the said order is in process of violation by the preparations making for sea; you are hereby required and directed to hoist my flag, and obey all such orders as you shall receive from me on the service of the state. given under my hand this th day of january, , on board the _montezuma_. cochrane. tired of this heartless ingratitude, and disgusted with the suspicion that i was about to join general freire with the squadron--an idea which could only have arisen from the expectation that i should thus resent the injuries inflicted on me--i resolved to accept the invitation from his majesty the emperor of brazil, leaving all which the chilian government owed me to the honour of a juster and more enlightened administration. accordingly i addressed to the supreme director the following letter:-- valparaiso, jan. , . most excellent sir, the difficulties which i have experienced in accomplishing the naval enterprizes successfully achieved during the period of my command as admiral of chili, have not been effected without responsibility such as i would scarcely again undertake, not because i would hesitate to make any personal sacrifice in a cause of so much interest, but because even these favourable results have led to the total alienation of the sympathies of meritorious officers, --whose co-operation was indispensable,--in consequence of the conduct of the government. that which has made most impression on their minds has been, not the privations they have suffered, nor the withholding of their pay and other dues, but the absence of any public acknowledgment by the government of the honours and distinctions promised for their fidelity and constancy to chili; especially at a time when no temptation was withheld that could induce them to abandon the cause of chili for the service of the protector of peru; even since that time, though there was no want of means or knowledge of facts on the part of the chilian government, it has submitted itself to the influence of the agents of an individual whose power having ceased in peru, has been again resumed in chili. the effect of this on me is so keenly sensible that i cannot trust myself in words to express my personal feelings. desiring, as i do, to extenuate rather than accuse, nothing shall enter into a narrative of these circumstances which is not capable of undeniable proof. whatever i have recommended or asked for the good of the naval service has been scouted or denied, though acquiescence would have placed chili in the first rank of maritime states in this quarter of the globe. my requisitions and suggestions were founded on the practice of the first naval service in the world--that of england; they have, however, met with no consideration, as though their object had been directed to my own personal benefit. until now i have never eaten the bread of idleness. i cannot reconcile to my mind a state of inactivity which might even now impose upon the chilian republic an annual pension for past services; especially as an admiral of peru is actually in command of a portion of the chilian squadron, whilst other vessels are sent to sea without the orders under which they act being communicated to me, and are despatched by the supreme government through the instrumentality of the governor of valparaiso (zenteno.) i mention these circumstances incidentally as having confirmed me in the resolution to withdraw myself from chili for a time; asking nothing for myself during my absence; whilst as regards the sums owing to me, i forbear to press for their payment till the government shall be more freed from its difficulties. i have complied with all that my public duty demanded, and if i have not been able to accomplish more, the deficiency has arisen from circumstances beyond my control--at any rate, having the world still before me, i hope to prove that it is not owing to me. i have received proposals from mexico, from brazil, and from an european state, but have not as yet accepted any of these offers. nevertheless, the active habits of my life do not permit me to refuse my services to those labouring under oppression, as chili was before the annihilation of the spanish naval force in the pacific. in this i am prepared to justify whatever course i may pursue. in thus taking leave of chili, i do so with sentiments of deep regret that i have not been suffered to be more useful to the cause of liberty, and that i am compelled to separate myself from individuals with whom i hoped to have lived for a long period, "without violating such sentiments of honour as, were they broken, would render me odious to myself and despicable in their eyes." until this day i have abstained from pressing upon your excellency's attention my reply to the infamous accusations presented against me by the agents of san martin--knowing that your excellency had more urgent objects to attend to. nevertheless, i now beg your excellency's consideration of this matter, in order that--as has been the case in peru--these falsehoods may be rendered manifest--as well as the despicable character of that man who falsely arrogated to himself the attributes of a general and a legislator, though destitute of courage or legislative knowledge--the substitution for which was duplicity and cunning. (signed) cochrane. foiled in getting one of the ships of the squadron, wherein to escape from the impending storm, san martin remained in santiago till the beginning of january, , when finding matters in chili becoming dangerous to his safety, he crossed the cordillera to mendoza, and from thence went to europe to avoid reprobation in retirement. throughout this narrative i have been careful that san martin's proceedings should be shown from his own acts and letters, there not being in this volume one which has not been published in the gazettes of chili and peru, or of which the originals are not now in my possession. of the latter, i could communicate san martin's letters to me by dozens, and had i so far trespassed on the patience of the reader, his acts would have appeared in a yet more invidious light. what have been given are strictly relative to public transactions, and belong to the people of chili as part of their national history, which, rather than any defence of my own conduct--which was never brought in question by the chilian government--is my chief reason for now making them public. there may be, however, some who think that i have mistaken general san martin's _prudence_ in not approaching lima when every advantage was before him--for a worse quality, which until my letter to the supreme director o'higgins, just quoted, i had never publicly attributed to him, though, in the estimation of every officer of the army and squadron, richly deserving it. it will be in the recollection of the reader, that instead of marching on lima, he wasted nearly two months at haura, and that from the pestilential character of the climate, a fearful amount of sickness amongst the troops was the consequence. i will here give a letter to me from his _aide-de-camp_ paroissien, who was subsequently employed by san martin to promulgate his infamous accusations against me, when he had no longer any hope of securing my co-operation; premising that in my ardour to get the army at once to lima, and unsuspicious at that time of san martin's secret designs, i had laid paroissien a wager that by a given day we should be in the peruvian capital; the _aide-de-camp_ being a better judge of his chief than i was, accepted the wager, and as a matter of course, won it. haura, april, my dear lord, with what pleasure would i lose twenty bets like that which i have unfortunately won of you, if you could but tell me that i should be _the loser_. nay more, i will lay you the same wager now, that in another three weeks we shall not get to the little room over the great entrance of the palaccio. i have received this afternoon a fine fat turtle; and egad, if i thought i _should lose_, i would fatten him up all the more--but, alas! i fear we shall have to calipee and calipash it in haura; however, the bustle that has lately prevailed seems to indicate some movement; and those of us who are well, are ready to march at an hour's notice--but of course you are infinitely better acquainted with these things than i am. still, i think that _were we more active and enterprising, a great deal might he done, particularly with our cavalry--whose swords for want of use are getting rusty. if we do not make a push now, god knows when we shall do so._ * * * * * the general appears desirous of striking a blow against baldez. it may be right---and i dare say it is; _but i should rather we had a touch against the capital_. thank god we are about to do something. yours very truly, paroissien. the reader will have gathered from the narrative, that san martin struck no blow anywhere, even hesitating to enter lima when no blow was required to be struck. his _aide-de-camp's_ view of the matter can hardly be mistaken. it is not a little remarkable, that in a letter addressed to the supreme director, before sailing on the liberating expedition to peru, i should have, from the first, correctly estimated san martin's character in persisting not to make any military movement without an unnecessary force to ensure his personal safety, though our recent victory at valdivia with a force of men only, could not have given him any very great idea of the difficulties to be encountered. as this letter was omitted in its place, i will here transcribe it. may , . most excellent sir, finding that all the measures proposed in the expedition to peru are made public--that all that is decided on to-day is contradicted to-morrow--that no system is followed, either in regard to naval or state matters, which can promote your interest--that mischievous delays of all kinds are opposed to the success of an enterprise, which your excellency is desirous of promoting --that the expedition of , men (abundantly sufficient), was not to be delayed on any pretence, but that it has been delayed in order to increase it to , --and that even now it is kept back, in order to ascertain the position and force of the enemy at callao, of which we know just as much now as we should when the _montezuma_ may return, some forty days hence, after an investigation to no purpose--in short, finding that everything stipulated and agreed upon has been deviated from. i am desirous to give up the command of the squadron to whoever may enjoy the confidence of your excellency; which act will, i hope, add to your tranquillity, by relieving you from my opinions in regard to what ought to be done, but has not been done--and to that which could be effected, but has not even been attempted. i have abstained from sending the _montezuma_ on a meaningless voyage of forty days to callao, till i receive your excellency's definitive commands--considering that the despatch of that vessel is not only useless, but a pretext for delay, and is calculated to frustrate all that your excellency has in contemplation. would that you could yourself note the palpable treachery which prevents anything of importance being collected for the expedition--i say palpable treason--as not a single article necessary has yet been procured. can your excellency believe, that only one vessel is in the hands of the contractor; and even she is not prepared for sea? will you believe that the only provisions that the contractor's agent has in hand is twenty-one days' rations of bread, and six days' of salt meat, whilst to my query whether he had any _charqui_ ready, his reply was, "there is plenty in the country." will your excellence believe that there are only water casks ready for , troops and the crews of the squadron? your excellency may be assured that only your interest and that of the state could induce me to utter these opinions; but, in order to convince you that i have no wish to abandon the service, if my continuance in it can be of any use--my only wish being to avoid becoming the butt of disasters after their occurrence--i now offer to give up the command of the squadron, and to accept in lieu thereof, the command of the four armed prizes taken by the _o'higgins_ in the last cruise, and with , troops selected by myself, to accomplish all that is expected from the , troops and the squadron; the former being a manageable force, capable of defeating all the defensive measures of the enemy--whilst the latter, solely under military command, will not only be unmanageable for desultory operations, but, from its unhandiness, will paralyse naval movements. lastly, i must repeat to your excellency that the inviolable secresy of determinations and the rapidity of operations under present circumstances, are the only security for the prosperity of the chilian government and the hoped-for liberty of peru. if those are to be set at nought, i hereby again place at your excellency's disposal the commission with which i have been honoured, in order that you may be convinced of my having no other object than to serve your excellency in every way compatible with honour. i have the honour, &c. cochrane. to his excellency the supreme director, &c. &c. to return to my, now in reality, approaching departure from chili. the request to be permitted to retire for a time from the service, was promptly complied with, and no doubt gladly so, from the belief of the government that i might otherwise ally myself with general freire, though, that i had no such intention, the annexed reply to his communications--made shortly after i had left chili, and when he had succeeded in overthrowing the government of general o'higgins--will shew. bahia, june , . my respected friend, it would give me great pleasure to learn that the change which has been effected in the government of chili proves alike conducive to your happiness and to the interests of the state. for my own part--like yourself--i suffered so long and so much, that i could not bear the neglect and double dealing of those in power any longer, but adopted other means of freeing myself from an unpleasant situation. not being under those imperious obligations which, as a native chileno, rendered it incumbent on you to rescue your country from the mischiefs with which it was assailed by the scandalous measures of some of those who were unhappily in the confidence of the late supreme director, i could not accept your offers. my heart was with you in the measures you adopted for their removal; and my hand was only restrained by a conviction that my interference, as a foreigner, in the internal affairs of the state, would not only have been improper in itself, but would have tended to shake that confidence in my undeviating rectitude which it was my ambition that the people of chili should ever justly entertain. indeed, before i was favoured with your communications, i had resolved to leave the country, at least for a time, and return to england, but accident so ordered it that at the very moment i was preparing to execute this intention, i received an offer from the emperor of brazil to command his navy, and conditionally accepted it. brazil has one great advantage over other south american states, it is free from all question as to the authority of its chief, who has nothing to fear from the rivalry to which those elevated to power are so frequently subject. i pray god that this may not be your case. the command of the army will enable you to accomplish great things without jealousy, but the possession of the supreme power of the state will hardly fail to excite the envy of the selfish and ambitious to a degree that may operate to the destruction of your expectations of doing good, and to the injury of the cause in which you have embarked. permit me to add my opinion, that whoever may possess the supreme authority in chili--_until after the present generation, educated as it has been under the spanish colonial yoke, shall have passed away_, will have to contend with so much error, and so many prejudices, as to be disappointed in his utmost endeavours to pursue steadily the course best calculated to promote the freedom and happiness of the people. i admire the middle and lower classes of chili, but i have ever found the senate, the ministers, and the convention, actuated by the narrowest policy, which led them to adopt the worst measures. it is my earnest wish that you may find better men to co-operate with you; if so, you may be fortunate, and may succeed in what you have most at heart--the promotion of your country's good. believe me that i am--with gratitude for the disinterested and generous manner in which you have always acted towards me-- your unshaken and faithful friend, cochrane. to his excellency don ramon freire, supreme director of chili, &c. this letter has never before seen the light, and i here make it public, in order to show that the government of general o'higgins had nothing to fear, even from its ingratitude to me; my only desire being to escape from it, even at the cost of leaving behind the whole amount due to my services, none of which was conceded. previous to my departure, i addressed the following letter to the squadron:-- to the captains and officers generally of the chilian navy, gentlemen, as i am now about to take my leave of you, at least for a time, i cannot refrain from expressing my satisfaction at the cheerful manner in which the service has been carried on, the unanimity which has prevailed, and the zeal which, on all trying occasions, you have shown. these have compensated me for the difficulties with which i have had to contend, and which i am confident have been such as never before presented themselves in any service. your patience and perseverance under privations of all kinds were such as chili had no right to expect, and such as no other country would have demanded, even from its own native subjects. in all maritime states the strictest attention is paid to the necessities of officers and men--regularity of pay and adequate reward for services are deemed necessary as excitements to perseverance, and the achievement of effective and heroic exploits--but your exertions and achievements have been made independently of any such inducements. gentlemen, by our united exertions, the naval power of the enemy of these seas, though superior to our own, has been annihilated, and the commerce of the pacific is everywhere carried on in security under the protection of the independent flag of chili. to me it is highly gratifying to reflect, that these services have not been sullied by any act of illegality or impropriety on your part; and that, while you have asserted the rights of chili, and maintained and confirmed her independence, you have so conducted yourselves, as uniformly to preserve the strictest harmony and good fellowship with the officers of the ships of war of all neutral states. the services you have rendered to chili will, however, be better appreciated at a future period, when the passions which now actuate individuals shall have ceased to influence those in power, and when your honourable motives shall no longer be felt as a reproach by those whose selfishness has withheld the reward of your fidelity, and whose jealousy has denied you even the official expression of public approbation. gentlemen, the best approbation is that of your own hearts--of that, none can deprive you. however, if it be any satisfaction to you to receive my assurance that your conduct has, on all occasions, merited my warmest applause, i can say with perfect truth that i have great pleasure in rendering you that assurance, and in conveying to you my heartfelt thanks for your uniform cordial and efficient co-operation in the cause in which we have been engaged. towards the brave seamen under my command i entertain similar sentiments, which you will oblige me by communicating to them in terms most gratifying to their feelings. in taking my leave of you and them, i have only to add, that if i have not been able to evince my gratitude so fully as i ought, it has not been owing to any deficiency of zeal, but to circumstances over which i had no control. i remain, gentlemen, your grateful and faithful friend and servant, cochrane. jan. th, . on my acceptance of the brazilian command becoming known, several highly meritorious officers begged to accompany me--giving up, like myself, all present hope of adequate payment for their services. knowing that in brazil--as had been the case in chili--it would be necessary to organize a navy, i gladly complied with the requisition; so that neither then, nor afterwards, did they receive from chili any recompense for their unparalleled bravery and perseverance in the cause of independence. to the people of chili--amongst whom, disgusted with the treatment i had received at home, i had once hoped to spend the remainder of my days in the bosom of my family--i issued the following address:-- chilenos--my fellow countrymen! the common enemy of america has fallen in chili. your tricoloured flag waves on the pacific, secured by your sacrifices. some internal commotions agitate chili. it is not my business to investigate their causes, to accelerate or retard their effects; i can only wish that the result may be favourable to the national interest. chilenos. you have expelled from your country the enemies of your independence, do not sully the glorious act by encouraging discord and promoting anarchy--that greatest of all evils. consult the dignity to which your heroism has raised you, and if you must take any step to secure your national liberty--judge for yourselves--act with prudence--and be guided by reason and justice. it is now four years since the sacred cause of your independence called me to chili. i assisted you to gain it. i have seen it accomplished. it only remains to preserve it. i leave you for a time, in order not to involve myself in matters foreign to my duties, and for other reasons, concerning which i now remain silent, that i may not encourage party spirit. chilenos. you know that independence is purchased at the point of the bayonet. know also, that liberty is founded on good faith, and on the laws of honour, and that those who infringe upon these, are your only enemies, amongst whom you will never find cochrane. quintero, jan. th, . on the same day i issued another address to the english and other merchants at valparaiso who at the outset had given me every confidence and assistance, but--notwithstanding the protection imparted by the squadron to their legitimate commerce, the minds of some had become alienated because i would not permit illegitimate trading at which the corrupt ministers not only connived, but for their own individual profit, encouraged,--by granting licences to supply the enemy, even to contraband of war. in the subjoined, allusion is made to this matter-- to the merchants of valparaiso. gentlemen, i cannot quit this country without expressing to you the heartfelt satisfaction which i experience on account of the extension which has been given to your commerce, by laying open to all the trade of these vast provinces, to which spain formerly asserted an exclusive right. the squadron which maintained the monopoly has disappeared from the face of the ocean, and the flag of independent south america waves everywhere triumphant, protecting that intercourse between nations which is the source of riches, power, and happiness. if, for the furtherance of this great object, some restraints were imposed, they were no other than those sanctioned by the practice of all civilized states: and though they may have affected the immediate interests of a few who were desirous to avail themselves of accidental circumstances presented during the contest, it is a gratification to know that such interests were only postponed for the general good. should there, however, be any who conceive themselves aggrieved by my conduct. i have to request them to make known their complaints, in order that i may have an opportunity of particular reply. i trust that you will do me the justice to believe that i have not determined to withdraw myself from these seas, whilst anything remained within my means to accomplish for your benefit and security. i have the honour to be, gentlemen, your faithful humble servant, cochrane. quintero, chili, jan. , . though i remained in chili a fortnight after the date of this letter, not a complaint of any kind was forwarded from the merchants; indeed, considering the protection which the squadron had afforded to their existing commerce, and the facilities which it had given for extending it, i had no reason to suppose that any complaint would be made. the above addresses were printed by a lithographic press in my house at quintero, this being the first introduced into the pacific states. i had sent for this press from england, together with other social improvements, and a number of agricultural implements, hoping thereby, though at my own expense, to give an impetus to industry in chili. all this was, however, frustrated, and the mortification was not a little enhanced by the circumstance that, whilst turning printer for the nonce, there lay opposite my house at quintero one of our best prizes, the _aguila_, a wreck, tenanted only by shell-fish--she having gone ashore whilst waiting the decision of the chilian government, previous to being sold for the benefit of her captors! as the chilian government refused to permit my refutation of san martin's charges against me in a way as public as they had been promulgated, i addressed the following note to the peruvian congress, together with a copy of the refutation:-- to his excellency the president of the congress of peru. sir, i have the honour to transmit through you to the sovereign congress a copy of a letter addressed by me to don jose de san martin, translations of which i have forwarded to europe and to north america, to be issued to the world through the press. mankind will then cease to accuse the peruvians of ingratitude, and will do longer wonder that an imperial crown was withheld from the protector as the reward of labours in the cause of liberty, but will applaud your resolution to select from amongst yourselves the most enlightened of your citizens--men capable of securing the independence and promoting the prosperity of the state on principles of national freedom under the rule of law. be pleased to solicit in my name that the sovereign congress may deign to deposit in their archives that letter and the charges against me thereto annexed, which were preferred by don jose de san martin to the chilian government relative to my conduct in peru, in order that a record may remain whereby to judge of facts when the actors shall have passed from this scene. then the even hand of time shall poise the scale of justice, apportioning to all the due measure of approbation or reproach. that the acts of the sovereign congress and of the executive government of peru may be such as shall call forth the admiration and secure the affections of its people, is the prayer of your excellency's obedient humble servant, cochrane. valparaiso, dec. , . one word more with regard to these accusations of san martin. it was not till all his offers to me to abandon my allegiance to chili, and to join him in his defection had proved unavailing, that he sought to revenge himself by such charges, well knowing that zenteno and his party in the chilian ministry would second any chance of injuring me in public estimation from their unabating personal enmity to me, arising from my constant opposition to their selfish measures for private advantage. into these matters i have no inclination to enter, though possessing abundant materials for disclosing a career of state dishonesty without parallel in the history of governments. up to the time of my last refusal of san martin's offers, made through monteagudo, everything was "couleur de rose"--with all kinds of declarations that "my lot should be equal to his own"--though, thank god, my lot has been of a far different nature. it was within a week of my last refusal that his charges against me were trumped up. i will select one more from his numerous letters now in my possession, to show that nothing but revenge at being disappointed in my co-operation to ensure his personal aggrandisement, could have influenced him to perpetrate such an act of meanness. lima, aug., . my esteemed friend, your appreciated letter, received yesterday, has convinced me that the frankness of your sentiments is only equalled by the regard you entertain for the public cause--especially as to matters under my charge. i cannot view the counsel and opinions you offer, otherwise than as proof of the zeal you entertain for my interests. aware of the estimation in which you hold glorious acts, i cannot do otherwise than sympathize with you, as you desire that i shall augment those i have acquired. without entertaining a doubt that i shall contribute effectually in the field still open to us--_more particularly to you_, i wish that the enterprises in which you evince so much zeal, _did not require so great temerity to carry them out, and such enthusiasm to bring them to a successful result._ believe me, my lord, that nothing will make me swerve from the determination that the _lot of lord cochrane shall be that of gen. san martin._ i hope that in your correspondence with sir thos. hardy, all difficulties will be smoothed in a manner satisfactory to both. i understand that he is desirous to accord to _our_ flag all that justice demands and the policy of england will permit. on these points i confide in your prudence. never doubt, my lord, of the sincere friendship with which i am your affectionate jose de san martin. it is so utterly incredible that a man entertaining such opinions of me should believe in the charges he afterwards made against me, _with regard to acts occurring long previous to this period_, even to accusing me of "endangering the safety of the squadron from the first moment of our quitting valparaiso," that i will not weary the reader's patience in commenting further upon them. chapter xiii. freire marches on valparaiso--elected supreme director--he begs of me to return--my reply--subsequent letter to general freire. on the th of january, , i hauled down my flag, hoisted in the _montezuma_ schooner--the only vessel which the suspicious jealousy of the chilian ministers had left me--and sailed for rio de janiero in the chartered brig, colonel allen, though my brother's steamer, the _rising star_--or rather the chilian government's steamer, upon which he had a lien for money advanced for its completion and equipment--was lying idle at valparaiso. could i have taken this vessel with me to brazil, on the refusal of chili to repay the sums which my brother had advanced on the guarantee of its london envoy alvarez--the brazilian government would have eagerly availed itself of an advantage to which the chilian ministry was insensible: though recently by the exertions of admiral simpson, and the more enlightened views of the present government, chili is now beginning to appreciate the advantage of a steam marine, which, at the period of her liberation, she so perversely rejected by refusing to honour the comparatively trifling pecuniary engagements of her minister in london. the probable reason why the chilian government refused to acknowledge these obligations was--that the war being now ended by the annihilation of the spanish naval power in the pacific through the instrumentality of sailing ships alone, there was no necessity for a steam ship of war--the narrow-minded policy of the ministers who have figured in these pages never conceiving that to maintain maritime preponderance is scarcely less difficult than to achieve it. hence, to get rid of the paltry sum of £ , due--and still due--to my brother for his advances on the ship, she was rejected; the consequence was, that after my departure, the independence of chili was again placed in jeopardy, whilst peru was only saved from a spanish reconquest by the intervention of the colombian liberator, bolivar. shortly after my departure, the partisans of general freire, and the enemies of general o'higgins, having entered into a combination--the former marched on valparaiso, where the people ardently espoused his cause; so that abandoned by his evil genius, san martin, and equally so by others who had caused his downfall, the supreme director found himself a prisoner in the hands of the very man who had most conduced to his overthrow, viz., zenteno, in whose charge he was placed on pretence of being made accountable for the expenditure of those who now held him in durance! the end of this was, a five months' examination of o'higgins, which resulted in his being permitted to leave the country; general freire having, meanwhile, been elected to the supreme directorate, in the midst of internal dissensions in chili, and disasters in peru, where the spaniards, under cantarac--emboldened by the pusillanimity of the protector in permitting them to relieve callao unmolested, and elated with their decisive victory over a division of his army, as narrated in a previous chapter--had availed themselves of the treasure carried away from callao in reorganising their forces, which now threatened lima, and would no doubt have recovered peru, had not bolivar, foreseeing the result, sent a division of his army, under general sucre, to the assistance of the beleaguered city. in the midst of these embarrassments, the new government of chili despatched the following letter to rio de janeiro, for the purpose of inducing me to return, and reorganise the navy, the officers and men of which had, as i learned, shortly subsequent to my departure been turned adrift, without any reward whatever for their extraordinary privations and exertions in the cause of independence. ministry of foreign affairs. santiago de chili, april , . most excellent sir, the representatives of the people of chili, legally assembled, having elected don ramon freire as supreme director of the state, this event has happily terminated the internal movements which agitated the country. the new government, on entering on its delicate functions, has been impressed with the want of your excellency to give preponderance to this maritime state, by the imposing aptitude of your excellency's measures and extraordinary renown, so highly prized by the chilenos, and dreaded by their enemies. the loss of the allied army in moquegua, where it has been beaten by general cantarac, has occasioned such an effect on the result of the war, that possibly the capital of peru may fall into the hands of the enemy in consequence of the ascendancy thus acquired. in consequence of this event, chili must give a new impulse to her maritime affairs, especially as an expedition is about to sail from cadiz, composed of two ships of the line, to restore the spanish authority in peru. your excellency, on leaving chili, promised not to abandon the cause of independence; and chili--which has ever admired in your excellency one of its most illustrious protectors--must not therefore be deprived of your services in a time of danger, and your great work thus be left incomplete. these considerations his excellency desires me to lay before you in the name of the nation, and in his own name, to request that you will return to this state, at least during the period of danger. his excellency trusts in your generosity and zeal for the cause of humanity, that you will return as speedily as circumstances require, without taking into account fatigue or sacrifices in supporting the cause which you have advocated since its commencement. be pleased to accept the expression of my high consideration. (signed) mariano de egana. it is almost unnecessary to state that my engagements with brazil, and the fact that when the invitation to resume the command of the chilian navy was received, i was blockading the portuguese fleet in bahia--rendered it impossible to comply with the request. that a state whose ministers had, by the greatest injustice, compelled me to quit it--should, in so short a period, have thus earnestly entreated me to return and free it from impending disaster, is not more a proof of the peril in which the government was placed, than of its thorough satisfaction with my conduct as its admiral, and of its anxiety for my renewed assistance. in reply to the request, i addressed the following letter to the minister:-- most excellent sir, i have just been honoured with your letter of april th, announcing the elevation of mareschal don ramon freire to the high dignity of director of the state of chili, by acclamation of the people--a choice at which i cordially rejoice, as it has placed in power a patriot and a friend. my sentiments with respect to his excellency have long been well known to the late supreme director, as well as to his ministers, and i would to god that they had availed themselves of gen. freire's able and disinterested services in the expedition to peru--in which case the affairs of south america would have now worn a different aspect; but the buenos ayrean faction, being actuated by ambitious motives and more sordid views, interfered, and rendered abortive those plans which, under gen. freire's management, would have brought the war to a speedy and successful termination. on my quitting chili, there was no looking to the past without regret, nor to the future without despair, for i had learned by experience what were the views and motives which guided the councils of the state. believe me, that nothing but a thorough conviction that it was impracticable to render the good people of chili any further service under existing circumstances, or to live in tranquillity under such a system, could have induced me to remove myself from a country which i had vainly hoped would have afforded me that tranquil asylum which, after the anxieties i had suffered, i felt needful to my repose. my inclinations, too, were decidedly in favor of a residence in chili, from a feeling of the congeniality which subsisted between my own habits and the manners and customs of the people, those few only excepted who were corrupted by contiguity with the court, or debased in their minds and practices by that species of spanish colonial education which inculcates duplicity as the chief qualification of statesmen in all their dealings, both with individuals and the public. i now speak more particularly of the persons late in power-- excepting, however, the late supreme director--who i believe to have been the dupe of their deceit; and i do assure you that nothing would afford me greater pleasure, for the sake of the ingenuous chilian people, than to find that with a change of ministers, a change of measures has also taken place, and that the errors of your predecessors, and their consequent fate, shall operate as an effectual caution against a course so destructive. point out to me one engagement that has been honourably fulfilled--one military enterprise of which the professed object has not been perverted--or one solemn pledge that has not been forfeited; but my opinions on this want of faith, at various periods of the contest, when everything was fresh in my recollection, are recorded in my correspondence with the minister of marine, and more particularly in my private letters to his excellency, the late supreme director, whom i unavailingly warned of all that has happened. my letter also to san martin, in answer to his accusations--a copy of which was officially transmitted to your predecessor in office--contains a brief abstract of the errors and follies committed in peru; as my public letters and those documents are, of course, in your possession, i shall abstain from trespassing on your attention with a repetition of facts with which you are acquainted. look to my representations on the necessities of the navy, and see how they were relieved! look to my memorial, proposing to establish a nursery for seamen by encouraging the coasting trade, and compare its principles with the code of rodriguez, which annihilated both. you will see in this, as in all other cases, that whatever i recommended in regard to the promotion of the good of the marine, was set at naught, or opposed by measures directly the reverse. look to the orders which i received, and see whether i had more liberty of action than a schoolboy in the execution of his task. look back into the records of the minister of marine's office, and you will find that, while the squadron was nearly reduced to a state of starvation, provisions were actually shipped at valparaiso, _apparently for the navy, but were consigned to don luiz de cruz, and disposed of in such a way as to reflect eternal reproach and disgrace_. you may probably find also, the copy of an order, the original of which is in my possession, (not rubricated by the supreme director) _to permit a vessel laden with corn to enter the blockaded port of callao at the period of its greatest distress_, and which did enter in my absence, and was sold for an enormous amount; whilst funds could not be found to send even troops on an eight days' voyage from chili to secure upper peru, when the greater part of the country was actually in our possession, and when the minds of the people, afterwards alienated by the base conduct of san martin, were universally in our favour. sir, that which i suffered from anxiety of mind whilst in the chilian service, i will never again endure for any consideration. to organise new crews--to navigate ships destitute of sails, cordage, provisions, and stores--to secure them in port without anchors and cables, except so far as i could supply these essentials by accidental means, were difficulties sufficiently harassing; but to live amongst officers and men--discontented and mutinous on account of arrears of pay and other numerous privations--to be compelled to incur the responsibility of seizing by force from peru, funds for their payment, in order to prevent worse consequences to chili--and then to be exposed to the reproach of one party for such seizure, and the suspicions of another that the sums were not duly applied, though the pay-books and vouchers for every material item were delivered to the accountant-general--are all circumstances so disagreeable and so disgusting that until i have certain proof that the present ministers are disposed to act in another manner, i cannot possibly consent to renew my services, where, under such circumstances, they would be wholly unavailing to the true interests of the people. intrigue and faction might again place me in the predicament in which i found myself previous to my departure from valparaiso, viz., a cypher and a public burthen; for the ships of war might again be placed in the hands of a governor zenteno, for the purpose of exposing me to popular odium, as a person receiving a large salary from the state, for which--without a vessel under my command--no adequate services could be rendered. that this was the intention of the late ministers in withdrawing the ships from my command, on the false pretence of repairing them, there can be no doubt; for whilst every honorary reward was withheld from me, they refused to accept the remission which i offered of , dollars from my annual pay-- treating me at the same time with every neglect and indignity. such proceedings, i am aware, are far distant from the contemplation of the excellent person who now presides over the affairs of chili, as in my conscience i believe that they were no less distant from the mind and heart of the late supreme director, who, being placed in that elevated situation, was unfortunately exposed to the errors that arise from listening to the reports of interested individuals who ever surround the powerful, making a gain by concealing the truth and propagating falsehood. it is a fact--as is well known to all my friends--that i had determined to quit chili, previous to my receiving any proposition from the government of brazil. by that government i have been hitherto treated with the utmost confidence and candour, and the orders they have given me are in everything the reverse of those narrow and restricted instructions with which i was hampered by the senate, the ministers of chili, and san martin, under whose orders they had placed me. the government of brazil, having in view the termination of the war, gave orders to that effect, without any of those miserable restrictions which are calculated to retard, if not finally to defeat, their object. the consequence is, that the war in brazil is already successfully terminated--though we have had to contend with a much superior force--by the evacuation of bahia-- the flight of the portuguese fleet--the capture of great part of their transports and troops--and the surrender of maranham--all in fewer months than the chilian government have employed years without having even yet accomplished their object, nay, with no other result than that of removing the independence of peru, and their own peace and security to a greater distance. i must now call your attention, although i have already addressed a letter on the subject to the minister of finance, to a breach of faith on the part of the late government of chili in respect to the contract between senor alvarez, their envoy in england, and my brother, the honourable william erskine cochrane, for the completion, outfit, and navigation to chili of the steamer _rising star_, by which my brother has been involved in expenses to a very great amount. whether the inconvenience he is sustaining from the perfidy of the late ministers is in the course of removal by the good faith of their successors i have yet to learn, but if not, i must respectfully state to you on behalf of my brother that i demand payment of the amount due to him under the contract above-mentioned. i also respectfully suggest, that it is your duty to examine the accounts of mr. price, and cause him to pay over the bonus of , dollars which was granted by the government on account of the _rising star_, which bonus mr. price prematurely obtained in advance nearly three years ago, although it did not become due till the arrival of the ship. this sum, which is part of the remuneration due to my brother on account of the said ship, mr. price, or the house of which he is a member, refuses to deliver up, under the pretence that its detention is necessary to their own security, in the event of the chilian government requiring it to be restored. this is a most extraordinary way of justifying the detention of another's property, and i trust, sir, that you will immediately take the necessary steps to cause both that sum, and all other sums due to my brother for the _rising star_--the particulars of which you may receive from mr. barnard--to be paid without further delay. to that end, and in order to prevent the risk and serious expense attending the remittance of money to so great a distance, i beg to suggest that the best mode of payment will be by an order on your agents in london. i am much less solicitous on the subject of the debt due to myself, but after repeatedly requesting the accountant-general, correa de saa, during the last six months of my residence in chili, to investigate and determine on my accounts, without his proceeding therein in any effectual way, i was astonished to receive from him a communication calling upon me to appoint an agent to explain certain particulars, which i had considered as explicitly set forth in the documents delivered. this delay and these obstacles, i cannot consider in any other light than _as mere pretexts to avoid the payment of the balance due to me for my services_, and for the expenditure of monies that were my own, inasmuch as i might, with perfect justice--instead of employing them for the maintenance of the chilian navy--have applied them to the liquidation of the debt due to myself, and have left the service, as the government did, to shift for itself. besides, sir, let me call to your recollection that not a _real_ of these monies came out of the pocket of any chileno, but that the whole were captured or collected by me from sources never before rendered available to supply the necessities of a destitute squadron. i call upon you, sir, as the minister of marine, to see justice done on the above subjects, and if in my accounts or demands you find anything false or fraudulent, let it be printed in the _gazette_, and give me the privilege of reply. i trust you will excuse my entering into the present detail, and do me the justice to feel that no part of it is irrelevant to the subject of your letter. indeed, if i were not desirous of troubling you as briefly as possible, i could assign numerous other reasons for desiring to have demonstration of a change of ministerial conduct in the management of affairs in chili, before again exposing myself to difficulties of so painful a nature, and re-occupying a situation which i have found to be harassing, thankless, and unprofitable. when the _puertos non habilitados_ (unlicensed ports) shall be thrown open to the national commerce--when those obstacles shall be removed which now render the transport by sea more expensive than carriage by land--when the coasting trade, that nursery for native seamen, shall be encouraged instead of prohibited, it will be time enough to think of re-establishing the marine, for, with regard to foreign seamen, such is the disgust they entertain for a service in which they have been so neglected and deceived, that i am confident that the ships of chili will never again be effectively supplied with men of that description. indeed, there was not an individual amongst the foreign seamen under my command during the latter period of my services in chili whose fidelity was not shaken to such a degree as to be undeserving of confidence on any occasion of danger or emergency. could the late ministers even expect the natives to serve them faithfully without pay and without food?-- but his excellency the present director can solve this question in a similar case with regard to the army. it will be well if the foreign seamen have sufficient forbearance to refrain from revenging--by acts of hostility to the state--the deception and breach of promise which they experienced from san martin, and that destitute condition to which they were reduced, especially during the last six months of my stay at valparaiso, by similar frauds on the part of rodriguez, who, i believe, as minister of finance, has been actuated by the hope of compelling the men to abandon their country without remuneration for their services, when they appeared to him and to other short-sighted individuals to be no longer useful. the chilian expedition to the intermedios, and the mean methods by which it was proposed to obtain chiloe without my intervention, excited in my mind at the time no other feeling than pity and contempt, mixed with regret that the sacrifices of so good a people should be rendered unavailing by the imbecility of their rulers. the failure of both these wretched attempts i predicted. from the men now in power i hope better things, and it will gratify me extremely to observe that you succeed in establishing just laws--a free constitution--and a representative body to direct civil affairs. in fine, that you succeed in all you undertake for the public good; and when i see you entered on the right path, my most zealous cooperation--if required--shall not be withheld. i cannot conclude without expressing my high sense of the honour which his excellency the present director conferred upon me, by desiring my continuance in the command of the navy. to him i return my heartfelt thanks, and to you also for the polite manner in which you communicated his obliging wishes. (signed) cochrane. to his excellency don mariano egana, minister of foreign affairs, &c. i will quote one more letter, subsequently addressed by me to the supreme director, general freire, in whose administration i felt a sincere interest, knowing him to be a truly honest man, having only at heart the good of his country; but from his rough training in the camp, without the administrative ability to contend with the intrigues by which he was surrounded. rio de janeiro, dec. , . my respected and esteemed friend, it would afford me great satisfaction to learn that everything you contemplated for the advancement and happiness of your country, has succeeded to the extent of your wishes and endeavours, but here we live at so great a distance, and the communication by letter is so scanty, that we have no certain knowledge with respect to your proceedings. i dare not venture to offer you my congratulations, being well aware that the re-union of the congress would present difficulties which might possibly be insuperable, fearing also that you may have been subjected to much uneasiness by the diversity of views entertained by the members, and their deficiency in those habits, and that general information in affairs of government, so necessary in the deliberations of a legislative assembly. here we have had our cortes, but their meeting has produced nothing beneficial to the state. there existed indeed amongst them so great a discordance of opinion, and the temper of those who found their crude notions opposed was so violent, that the emperor--finding it impracticable to act with them--determined to dissolve them, which he did on the th of last month, and issued his commands for the meeting of a new cortes, but i much doubt whether the people in the various provinces can find others competent to the task. everything here is quiet, and i have no doubt will remain so in the neighbourhood of the capital, but i have some fear as to the disposition of the northern provinces. i shall regret much should anything occur which will disturb the public tranquillity, now that all the provinces are entirely free and independent of european authority. with regard to myself, the friendship you have always expressed and entertained towards me, justifies my belief that you will be gratified to learn that everything has succeeded here to the full extent of my expectations, the foreign war being entirely brought to a close within the short space of six months; during which period about seventy vessels have fallen into our hands, including several ships of war, amongst which is a beautiful new frigate of the largest dimensions. we have gone on here in the happy manner that i fondly anticipated we should have done in peru, and which would have been the case if the expedition which was intended to be sent to the puertos intermedios three years ago under your command, had not been prevented by the intrigues of san martin, who was jealous of anything being done in which he was not personally engaged, though he had neither the courage nor talent to avail himself of circumstances when appointed to the command of the peruvian expedition. i have heard that my reply to san martin's accusations has been published in peru, but as it is chiefly a personal defence, it cannot be very interesting to the public, to whom i feel a great inclination to address a letter on the causes of the miscarriage of their _military enterprises_, and the origin and progress of those intrigues which led to the mismanagement of public affairs, and disappointed the hopes and expectations of the worthy people of chili, who conducted themselves so long with patient submission to rulers who governed without law, and often without justice. in my letter to you of the st of june last, i mentioned at some length my reasons for leaving chili, but as that letter may possibly have miscarried, i think it well to repeat here--which i do with great truth--that it would have given me great pleasure to have been at liberty to co-operate with you; but having, long previous to your communications, determined from the ill-treatment i received to quit the country, i considered that it was better in every point of view to conform to that resolution, without mixing myself in its internal affairs, it being my province, as a foreigner, to leave all parties uncontrolled, and in the free exercise of their civil rights. in adhering to this resolution, i sacrificed both my inclination to have acted with you in overthrowing the ministers, and my own personal interests--abandoning nearly all that i had individually hoped to attain; but i had predetermined to do this, rather than endure any longer the base intrigues of those men, and their packed convention; whose injustice became the more conspicuous after their receiving the stars and distinctions bestowed by san martin, with the promise of estates and further bounties. indeed, the reception which even the late supreme director influenced by these persons gave to san martin after his apostacy to chili, his cowardice, ambition, and tyranny in peru, formed a sufficient contrast with the conduct pursued towards me, to convince me that my presence in chili was no longer desired by the government, and could not, under existing circumstances, be useful to the people. i hear that o'higgins has proceeded to peru. personally i wish him well, and hope that the lesson he has received will enlighten him, and enable him in future to distinguish between sincere friends and insidious enemies. i fear, however, that his asylum in peru will not meet his expectations, because his passive acquiescence in the barbarities inflicted by san martin on the spaniards to whom he had tendered protection cannot be forgotten; and the peruvian people are not ignorant that the miseries which they have suffered might have been averted by a little firmness on the part of o'higgins. i have no reason to believe that the old intrigue on the part of puyrredon and san martin, is again revived by the latter, and that a french frigate which lately sailed hence for buenos ayres, has a commission on that subject. whether these intrigues extend from mendoza over the cordilleras, or not, i have no means to ascertain, but i know that the french _charge d'affaires_ here has been endeavouring underhand to induce this government to give up the fortifications of monte video to the state of buenos ayres, which can only be with the view of extending the influence of france in that quarter. i fear that i have already trespassed too long on the time of your excellency, otherwise i might take the liberty to throw out some suggestions which it appears to me ought to be useful, though you may probably have anticipated them. the principal one is the benefit which might be derived from having some accredited agent here; and from the reciprocal and formal acknowledgment of the independence of the respective states. treatises of commerce and, if possible, alliance and mutual protection against any hostile attempts on the independence of south america should be entered into. this country possesses a squadron of considerable force, in addition to which six new frigates and eight large steam gallies have been ordered to be built in north america, england, and the northern ports of the empire. i shall be gratified if you will do me the favour to honour me with the continuance of your friendly correspondence, and believe me to be, your respectful and attached friend, (signed) cochrane and marenhaõ. his excellency don ramon freire, supreme director of chili. p.s. i did not intend to have trespassed on you with anything of a private nature, having written at length to the accountant-general on the subject of my brother's claim for the steamer "_rising star_," and my own claims for monies disbursed _for the maintenance of the chilian squadron, whilst in pursuit of the prueba and venganza_; but, on consideration, i think it well to request you to do me the favour to cause justice to be done. chapter xiv. injustice to the squadron--inconsistency of this--estate taken from me--my losses by litigation--endeavours to enforce my claims--petty excuses for evading them--i am charged with expenses of the army--and with costs for making legal captures--my conduct approved at the time--ministerial approbation--paltry compensation at length given--ministerial corruption--proved by san martin--cause of official animosity to me----conclusion. my services to chili and peru have been so fully narrated in these pages, that recapitulation is unnecessary. i will, therefore, briefly notice their reward. i was compelled to quit chili by the political dissensions previously related--without any of the emoluments due to my position as commander-in-chief of the navy, or any share of the sums belonging to myself, officers, and seamen; which sums, on the faith of repayment had, at my solicitation, been appropriated to the repairs and maintenance of the squadron generally, but more especially at guayaquil and acapulco, when in pursuit of the _prueba_ and _venganza_. neither was any compensation made for the value of stores captured and collected by the squadron, whereby its efficiency was chiefly maintained during the whole period of the peruvian blockade. the revolutionary movements already detailed, also compelled me to quit the pacific without any compensation from peru, either to myself or the officers who remained faithful to chili--though my absence ought not to have operated as a bar to such compensation as the sovereign congress awarded to the generals and field officers of the army, who, though restrained by general san martin from effecting anything of importance towards the liberation of the country, nevertheless received , dollars as a reward, whilst nothing was bestowed on myself or the squadron, except thanks for "hazardous exploits on behalf of peru, hitherto," as the congress expressed it, "under the _tyranny of military despotism_, but now the arbiter of its own fate." to the "military despot" himself, a pension of , dollars was granted, no doubt, as has been said, in order to be rid of him; but it was i who gave the death-blow to his usurped power, by seizing the treasure at ancon to pay the squadron, and by my constant refusal of his insidious overtures to aid him in further treading under foot the liberties of peru. it is scarcely possible that the government of peru, even at this day, can contrast with any degree of satisfaction, the empty thanks which were alone given to one--to use the words of the sovereign congress in its laudatory vote to myself--"by whose talent, worth, and bravery, the pacific ocean has been liberated from the insults of enemies, and the standard of liberty has been planted on the shores of the south"--and its lavish reward to the enemy of that liberty, and even to those officers who deserted from chili to aid the specious views of the protector, of which rewards all who remained faithful to their duty were wholly deprived. still more inconsistent has been the neglect of succeeding peruvian governments in not fulfilling existing obligations. the supreme director of chili, recognising--as must also the peruvians--the justice of their paying, at least, the value of the _esmeralda_, the capture of which inflicted the death-blow on spanish power, sent me a bill on the peruvian government for , dollars, which was dishonoured, and never since paid by any succeeding government. even the , dollars stipulated by the authorities at guayaquil as the penalty of giving up the _venganza_ was never liquidated, though the frigate was delivered to peru contrary to written stipulations previously adduced--and was thus added to the peruvian navy without cost to the state, but in reality at the expense of the chilian squadron, which ran it down into guayaquil. how the successive governments of peru can have reconciled this appropriation to the injury of one whom their first independent government so warmly eulogised, it is difficult to conceive. to return, however, to my relations with chili. shortly after my departure for brazil, the government forcibly and indefensibly resumed the estate at rio clara, which had been awarded to me and my family in perpetuity, as a remuneration for the capture of valdivia, and my bailiff, mr. edwards, who had been left upon it for its management and direction, was summarily ejected. situated as this estate was, upon the borders of the indian frontier, it was, indeed, a trifling remuneration for overthrowing the last remnant of spanish power in the continental territory of chili. to have resumed it then, without pretext of any kind, was an act reflecting infinite discredit upon those who perpetrated that act, whether from revengeful feelings or baser motives. the sum of , dollars, the speedy payment of which was promised to me by the supreme director after our return from valdivia, was never paid, though the conquest of that fortress proved the immediate cause of success in negociating a loan in england, which, before that event, had been found impracticable. by a remarkable coincidence, the first instalment of the loan arrived at valparaiso at the period of my departure; but the english merchants to whose care it was consigned, refused to permit the money to be landed, in consequence of the disorganization in which the corrupt conduct of the ministry had involved the state. no compensation for the severe wounds received during the capture of the _esmeralda_ was either offered or received--though for these all states make separate provision. even the grand cross of the legion of merit, conferred for the capture of the _esmeralda_, was suspended; whilst, in its place, i was exposed to the greatest imaginable insults, even to the withdrawal of every ship of war from under my command. unhappily, this ingratitude for services rendered was the least misfortune which my devotedness to chili brought upon me. on my return to england, in , after the termination of my services in brazil, i found myself involved in litigation on account of the seizure of neutral vessels by authority of the then unacknowledged government of chili. these litigations cost me, directly, upwards of £. , , and indirectly, more than double that amount; for, in order to meet the expenses, i was compelled to dispose of property at a great sacrifice, amongst which the loss arising from the sale of my residence and grounds in the regent's park alone was upwards of £. , --whilst that on other property also sacrificed was as much more; thus, in place of receiving anything for my efforts in the cause of chilian and peruvian independence, i was a loser of upwards of £. , , this being more than double the whole amount i had received as pay whilst in command of the chilian squadron: in other words, not only did i obtain no compensation for my services in chili--but was, in addition, compelled to sacrifice all i afterwards earned in brazil to satisfy claims arising from seizures made under the authority of the chilian government! no consideration whatever for these losses has been shewn by those whom i so zealously and faithfully served in their hour of need; not even by peru, in behalf of which country nearly all these litigations arose, though the services of the squadron cost nothing to that country or chili, beyond the expense to the latter of its original ineffective equipment, the provisioning and maintenance of the ships having been provided for at the cost of the enemy, even to the payment of the crews with their own prize-money, none of which was ever refunded! for sixteen years i made unceasing efforts to induce the succeeding governments of chili to liquidate my claims, but without effect. at the expiration of that period, i was no less surprised than annoyed by receiving from the accountant-general a demand for explanation of my accounts, though, whilst i remained in chili, i had urged incessantly their official investigation, for, notwithstanding that the government had pronounced its approbation upon all i had done, i foresaw that quibbles might arise as the pretext for continued injustice. that the accounts were not adjusted previous to my departure from chili, was no fault of mine, as i was, in self-defence, compelled to quit the country, unless i chose to take part with the late supreme director, in supporting a ministry which, unknown to him, were guilty of the most avaricious and injurious acts--or aid gen. freire in overthrowing one to whom i was attached, as having always believed him to be a sincere and honourable man. to call upon me, therefore, in the year , for an explanation of complicated accounts delivered to the chilian government and unquestioned in - , was an unworthy course, the more so as most of the explanations required were of a paltry description, even to the expenditure of a single dollar in the purser's accounts--as though amidst operations of such magnitude as had successfully resulted in the accomplishment of every object proposed, my time could be occupied in minor details, yet even to these i was compelled to attend, the government not furnishing me with a competent person to register the expenditure of the squadron. the explanations thus demanded, after a lapse of nearly twenty years, were one hundred in number--no great amount in a series of accounts extending over more than three years' prosecution of an arduous service, during which i had to find the means of supporting the squadron, the expenditure of which was now, for the first time, called into question. the paltry character of many of the matters in dispute will be best judged of from the following items:-- no. . vouchers demanded for ten dollars' worth of mutton. to . certificates for cases of gin lost in the san martin. . deficiency of nine dollars in the pay-books of the lautaro. . do. of three dollars in the pay-books of the independencia. . error of three dollars in the valuation of goods captured at arica. . forty dollars for repairing pumps at a time when the ships could hardly be kept afloat. . imputed error of _one dollar!_ in the purchase of gals. of gin, &c. &c. in addition to many such petty items, i was accused of giving bounty to seamen unauthorised--though the seamen had captured the very monies with which they were rewarded--and was expected to refund some which had been stolen. my having supplied rudders and rigging to the vessels cut out from before the batteries at callao, was called into question, though the ships could not be sent from the port without re-equipment, the spaniards having dismantled them before their capture. i was expected, after the lapse of sixteen years, to produce the pursers' books of the division of stores captured, the books having been sent in due course to the minister of marine's office; yet the government had not furnished the squadron with the necessary articles for the safety of the ships, whether under sail or at anchor, whilst the stores which were taken from the enemy and applied to the use of the expedition, were so much clear gain to the state. a still more unjust act of the chilian government was that of calling upon me for vouchers for the expenditure of , dollars, captured by col. miller, in upper peru, and expended by him in paying and provisioning his troops, of which transactions i was not at all cognizant: the sums, however, were no doubt faithfully applied by col. miller to the exigencies of the service in which he was engaged; he merely apprising me that he had captured or otherwise collected , dollars, with which he had given his men two months' pay, and an additional month's gratuity for their gallantry, a transaction no less essential than honourable, but one which the narrow views of the ministry failed to appreciate. no vouchers were, however, remitted to me whilst i remained on the coast, as the following letter from col. miller will shew:-- ica, aug. , . my lord, inclosed is a memorandum of money received and disbursed to the division under my command. so soon as time will permit, another more detailed and circumstantial account shall be forwarded for your lordship's approval. i have written to major soler, who is in lima, to furnish your lordship with the necessary particulars relative to the capture of the cash. i have the honour, &c. wm. miller, col. comm. southern division. i never afterwards saw col. miller nor his division in peru; but the whole that was expended by him in emancipating the country, was charged to me, and thus i was made responsible for the price of his victories, though they did not cost either government a dollar. but the most flagrant act of injustice was the deduction from my claims of costs and damages for the detention of neutral vessels seized under the orders of blockade issued by the chilian government. the circumstances were as follows:-- the spanish government had chartered the _edward ellice_ and other ships to transport troops from spain to peru, but internal divisions in the parent state prevented their despatch. the masters of these vessels thereupon claimed demurrage, which it was not convenient for the spanish government to pay--but in lieu thereof licences were granted to carry spanish goods to peru. these ships, being thus loaded, proceeded to gibraltar, where the house of gibbs & co. provided them with british papers, in addition to the spanish manifests supplied at cadiz--this fact alone shewing that they considered the speculation illegitimate. furnished with these double sets of papers, they came to peru for the purpose of trading; but as i had advice of this proceeding--and afterwards found the spanish duplicates in the peruvian custom houses--i seized the vessels on account of the fraudulent papers, they having also on board contraband of war, and was about to send them to valparaiso for adjudication, when their commanders offered to surrender to me all the anchors, cables, and other illegal cargo, if i would forego this determination, which i did, and applied these articles to the use of the chilian squadron, which at that time had not a trustworthy anchor in any of the ships. the course pursued was satisfactory to the masters and supercargoes, and subsequently, on explanation, to sir thomas hardy, whilst it was highly approved by the chilian government. after my return to england, actions were brought against me for even the contraband which had been voluntarily surrendered by the masters; but as i was fortunately enabled to produce the spanish duplicates, they were abandoned, otherwise i should have been involved in utter ruin, for releasing british vessels subject to condemnation, and at the same time _gratuitously providing_ for the chilian ships of war, the essential articles of which they were entirely destitute. in order to conciliate the english merchants at valparaiso, the admiralty court acquitted various vessels seized under the orders of the government, charging the costs and damages to my account! and that in the face of its own right to blockade and seizure as expressed to the british commodore, sir thomas hardy, who, though he insisted on the protection of british ships, disavowed their taking advantage of his protection to supply the enemy with contraband of war, as had been done. sir thomas hardy's view was this, that if the blockading power was not in a position to render the blockade efficient over the whole coast, it was not recognisable anywhere by the law of nations; but, whilst expressing this erroneous view of blockade, he added, "nor can i resist the right which the government of chili has to establish and maintain blockade on the same footing as other belligerents." but even in the extreme views of sir thomas hardy, we were competent to establish and maintain a blockade in its widest extent, and the best proof of the fact is, that the blockade was established. even zenteno, the minister of marine, pointed out to sir thomas hardy, the ability of the squadron to maintain the blockade which he recognised. "our naval forces, perhaps diminished in apparent magnitude by distance, was not believed sufficient to maintain the blockade in all its extent, yet it has had the glory of setting at liberty, and of placing in the hands of the american independents, all the ports and coasts of peru, excepting only the port of callao. moreover, from the very centre even of that port, and from under the fire of the batteries, the spanish ship of war, _esmeralda_, has been cut out by our naval forces, and our strength thereby augmented, whilst that of the enemy is reduced to nothing." (signed) "jose ignacio zenteno." so that, in face of this declaration by the chilian minister himself, as to the naval supremacy of the squadron on the coast of peru, and its consequent right of seizure, the admiralty court, for its own sinister purposes, chose to decide that i was liable for seizures of neutral vessels made by my captains, without my knowledge--condemning me in costs and damages for their acts; the result being that i was mulcted in this, and every other charge it saw fit to make in my absence. the injustice of this was the more striking, as san martin was appointed commander-in-chief of the squadron as well as the army, so that, even supposing the decisions of the admiralty court to be right, the onus lay upon him, not me. yet he was rewarded, and i was compelled to pay for acts executed under his authority. in the year , _twenty-three years after_ the liberation of peru, and the annihilation of the spanish power in the pacific, the chilian government deducted all charges thus unjustly placed to my account, and awarded me the balance of , dollars (£. ) for all the services rendered to the country. i have before mentioned that, from the consequence of litigation proceeding from obedience to the orders of the chilian government, i was subjected to a loss in england of nearly £. , ; so that in place of my reaping any reward whatever for my services to chili and peru, the liberation of the latter and the completion of independence of the former cost me £. , out of my own pocket! i would ask the chilian people and government whether they do not now see the injurious treatment pursued towards me--arising from the base impositions then practised upon them, though these have been partly compensated by the present enlightened government, which, as its recent decision has shewn, is composed of men of a far higher stamp than those with whom i was placed in contact, and, as i have every reason to believe, would redeem the stigma left on the national character by their corrupt predecessors of - , on fully comprehending the treatment to which i was subjected. that explanation is here truthfully laid before them, enabling them to judge for themselves. i will only add that not a single statement has been made in this narrative which is not based on original documents, the more important of which have been incorporated, the whole being about to be photographed and sent out to chili, so that, comparing them with their official originals, their authenticity shall be beyond question. i have said that the ministry which paralysed my operations, and by their ill-disguised mercenary practices overthrew the supreme director, o'higgins, was corrupt, though i have thought it beneath the dignity of historical narrative, more particularly to expose their dishonest practices, of which i was well apprised. i feel, however, that in making such a charge, some proof thereof is incumbent on me, i will therefore in conclusion simply adduce a solitary instance of those practices, so damning, that, unless supported by irrefutable testimony, i might well be deemed a malicious libeller for making accusations otherwise utterly incredible. it has been proved by the narrative--as indeed it has never been disputed--that the vigilance of the blockade before callao starved the spanish garrison out of lima, and ultimately out of the fortress of callao, this being the main object of the blockade. whilst i was thus, as the only means within my power, endeavouring to starve out the spaniards, _the chilian ministers were sending corn to be sold, at a thousand per cent, profit, to the blockaded garrison!_ to such an extent was this carried, that even gen. san martin, aware of the villainy of his pretended supporters in the chilian ministry, and dreading the result, put me on my guard by writing to me the following letter:-- haura, feb. , . my esteemed friend, i am expecting information from you with great anxiety, and sincerely hope that it may be as favourable as that which i received in ancon when i was in similar uncertainty. the _miantinomo_ is on her way from valparaiso, _by permission of the government, to introduce a cargo of corn into callao! it is most essential at all risks to avert this mischief, for it would be perfect ruin to admit such a cargo under existing circumstances!_ i have officially given you information on this subject. the day before yesterday the _andromache_ arrived at huacho; capt. sherriff tells me that in a few days he shall return to callao. lady cochrane is at huaita, making shift in the best way she can. god give you happiness, my friend. always count on the sincere esteem of your affectionate jose de san martin. this testimony from one whose creatures the more influential of the chilian ministers were, is indisputable, but in the present case their rapacity alarmed even their patron. san martin is however wrong in attributing the traitorous attempt to the government collectively--the supreme director, o'higgins, not being capable of such practices as were carried on under his authority--of which this is only one solitary instance. the real perpetrators of these enormities are fresh in the recollection of many chilenos still living. yet these were the men who, under the mask of patriotism, originated the most unworthy charges against me, without giving me the slightest credit for having carried on the naval war without national assistance either in money or stores. the present generation of chilenos are proud of their country, and--as their present excellent president, when awarding me an admiral's pay for the remainder of my life has stated--desire to reward those illustrious foreigners who assisted them in their struggles for independence--but they have great reason to regret the conduct of those ministers who imperilled that independence, and jeopardised the liberties of chili for private gain. it is scarcely necessary to add that not a grain of corn in the _miantinomo_, or other vessels similarly despatched, with the exception of one which arrived during my absence, found its way to the starving garrison of callao. yet on their arrival i was implored to permit its landing, and on replying that no such treachery to the people of chili should be carried on before my face, i was coolly asked to stand off during the night from the blockade, _that i might not see what was going on!_ such was ministerial honesty in the first days of chilian independence. the cause of official animosity to me is now apparent. had i participated in these nefarious practices, or had i accepted the rank, decorations, and estates offered to me by san martin as the price of my defection from chili, i should now be rich, however despicable to myself--in place of having long and severely suffered in consequence of my rigorous adherence to the national interests--with the proud consciousness of never having done an act which i desire to conceal. appendix. _recent address of the president of chili to the senate and chamber of deputies, recognising lord dundonald's services, and according to him full pay as admiral for the remainder of his life._ _fellow citizens of the senate and chamber of deputies,_ towards the end of , when chili celebrated the first maritime triumph obtained by our squadron in talcahuano, the gallant seaman thomas lord cochrane, now earl of dundonald, and an admiral in the british service, appeared upon our seas, decided to assist the noble cause of our independence. the important services of this chief in the british navy are well known during the european war which ended in . he was a post captain, not in active service, when the squadron of his country was reduced to the peace establishment, and he accepted the invitation which was made to him in london by the chilian agent, to enter the service of this country, and came to take the command of our naval forces, bringing in the prestige of his name, his great skill and intelligence, his active and daring spirit,--a powerful contingent to that struggle of such vital importance for our independence, the dominion of the pacific. in how far the well-founded hopes in the cooperation of lord cochrane were realised by the able direction which he knew how to give to our maritime forces, are facts which have been judged by the world at large and history. still alive in our memory is the taking of valdivia, the feats at callao, the bloody and splendid triumph of the _esmeralda_, the taking of the spanish frigates _prueba_ and _venganza_ on the coast of the ecuador, and the complete annihilation of the power of spain in these seas executed by our squadron under the command of lord cochrane; and this chief upon leaving the service of chili in january , and when he delivered over to government, when there were no longer any enemies to contend with, the triumphant insignia of his rank, he might with justice and truth have said, "i return this into your hands when chili has ensured the dominion of the pacific." chili at the same time that she resists unjust and exaggerated pretensions, has always been proud of her desire to reward, in a dignified and honourable manner, the services of illustrious foreigners who have assisted us in the glorious struggle for our independence. this noble and spontaneous sentiment of national gratitude was what dictated the law of th october, , incorporating, during his life with the full pay of his rank, general d. jose san martin, even when he might reside in foreign parts; and it is the same sentiment which induces me to propose to you at present, and with consent of the council of state, the following project of law:-- sole article.--vice-admiral thomas lord cochrane, now earl of dundonald, is to be considered during the term of his life as in active service of the squadron of the republic, with the full pay of his rank, even although he may reside without the territory of chili. santiago, july , . manuel montt. jose francisco gana. * * * * * _lord dundonald's reply to the preceding._ _to his excellency the president in council and congress of chili._ your excellency magnanimously presented to congress a brief but lucid enumeration of my services to the state, which being taken into consideration by the enlightened representatives of a judicious and gallant people, "full pay during my life," and an honorary medal, were voted to me, accompanied by the truly gratifying announcement that such estimable gifts were "en testimonio de gratitud nacional por grandes servicios que prestò a la republica durante la guerra de independencia." these honours i most thankfully accept, as highly gratifying proofs that, after the lapse of more than thirty years, my zealous, official, extra-official, and successful exertions, to ensure to chili complete independence, internal peace, and the dominion of the pacific, are held in grateful remembrance by the government and people of that highly respected nation. nevertheless i must be permitted to observe that the grant of full pay, only prospectively, to one who is upwards of eighty years of age, is little more than nominal, as my life, in all human probability, is approaching its close. i had hoped that, as vast benefits have uninterruptedly accrued to the state, ever since the completion of the services so honourably recognised, the grant would have dated from that period, in the same manner that has recently been accorded to me by the government of brazil, which has decreed the restitution of arrears of pay from the period that my actual command ceased, and also its continuance during my life. if my services to chili be acknowledged to have been great, might i not expect an equal boon from a country which owes the blessings of peace and subsequent tranquillity, and consequent prosperity, to the speedy termination of war? i plead not for myself, most excellent sir, for at my advanced age, i have few wants, but for the sake of my children and for the honour of my family. i need only point to the additional examples of spain and portugal, where all general officers and admirals of first rank, employed in the struggle for the emancipation and independence of those countries, were rewarded by the subsequent continuance of their pay during their lives; an engagement ever punctually discharged. i have no doubt that had the recollection of my advanced age been present to the mind of your excellency when you proposed the project of law in my behalf, and had you remembered that a merely prospective grant would be of little personal benefit to me or to my numerous family, your excellency would have been happy to have recommended, and the congress to have conceded, that it should likewise be retrospective, especially as chili had not (as is the case in my native country) to rear and maintain numerous officers for one found suited to command. in order to convince your excellency that i do not desire _full_ pay to be granted to me during the long period elapsed since my services were rendered (though from the privations i have suffered and the losses i have sustained, such delay in truth might be deemed an additional title), i therefore beg most respectfully to suggest to the consideration of your excellency, to that of the council and national congress, as well as to the just feeling of the honourable people of chili, that _one half_ of the pay which i received in actual service, be accorded to me retrospectively, in the same manner that a similar boon was granted by the brazilian nation. this i should accept with deep gratitude, in compensation for the wounds i received this day thirty-six years, in the capture of the _esmeralda_, for other perilous extra-official services rendered, and the heavy responsibilities incurred, all of which terminated in results most important to the national cause. be assured, most excellent sir, that it is only my advanced age that prevents me from attempting to re-visit your now peaceful and prosperous country, personally to acknowledge your excellency's courtesy, and the kind feeling evinced towards me by the council of state, by the representatives, and people of chili. it would be with delight that i should see steam vessels now introduced into the national marine, the great railroad from valparaiso to quillotta and santiago, now in progress, and witness the various important improvements accomplished, and advancement in national prosperity effected in the course of the last third of a century. such happy results testify highly to the merits of the government and to the character of the chilian people. cochrane--dundonald. london, nov. , . _letter from the supreme director of chili, approving all i had done in peru. this letter was written in english, in which tongue his excellency was by no means unversed, having, in early life, had the advantage of a few years spent at richmond; a circumstance which, in after years, gave to his mind an english tone, elevating him far above the then narrow-minded men by whom, unfortunately for chili, he was surrounded and thwarted._ most secret and confidential. santiago, nov. , . my dear friend lord cochrane, capt. morgell, the bearer of this, has delivered to me the despatches sent by you in the _ceransasee_, together with your interesting notes, nos. to , dated th to th of september last; as also the documents to which they are referred. i have read them, with great attention, but have always felt just indignation against the ungrateful course pursued towards chili, which can only be tempered by the pleasure which i feel in reading the dignity, good judgment, and knowledge with which you knew how to sustain your rights, and those of this republic. it was my wish that this reply should not be in writing, but personally, and with embraces of approbation for all that you have said and practised under the difficult circumstances detailed in your private and official letters; but as the great distance in which you are from this deprives me of this pleasure, and as you expect to add new glories to chili in the seizure of the _prueba_ and _venganza_, and to bring them to port bernardo under your orders, i will hastily answer the principal points of your communications. the party and the words you mention, do not leave any doubt of the small hopes which chili is to have for its sacrifices; yet there is nothing to fear from such intentions when discovered. whilst the squadron under your orders commands the pacific, this republic is very well covered, and it is in our hands to be the masters of the moral, political, commercial, and even of the physical force of this part of america. * * * * * although the battery placed at ancon _after_ the enemy went away in tranquillity, and the threat (_from san martin_,) about not paying one _real_, unless chili should sell the squadron to peru, made it excusable not to send any mission there; yet i have named my minister of finance, in whom i have the greatest confidence, to go to lima to fix the basis of relations, and to ask compensation for the active debt of chili against peru. my minister has orders to return as soon as possible, let the end of his mission be what it will, and by that time you may have returned to chili, and then we will accord the ulterior. it is very painful that the garrison of callao would not capitulate under your flag! then you and chili would have been implored for grants,--then all should have been paid without excuse,--and then you would not have found yourself under the necessity of taking the property retained, to pay and save the squadron. i _would have done the same if i had been there, therefore i say again all has my approbation_, and i give to you, as to the meritorious officers under your orders, my cordial thanks for their fidelity and heroism, in favour of chili, where, in a more glorious and decorous way, the fortune of all will be made in the course of progress which events are preparing for this happy country; whilst it is not known what is to be had in peru, because, as you observe, the war is only beginning, which will be followed by poverty, discontent, and above all, anarchy. they will soon feel the want of you and of the squadron, and those ungrateful officers who separated themselves from you to enter the peruvian navy will also feel their deceit and punishment. they have been scratched out of the list of the chilian navy, and i only wait your arrival or an official detail relating to the expedition, to assign lands and premiums to those who have not abandoned you, and in particular to the honourable captains crosbie, wilkinson, delano, cobbet, and simpson, whom you recommend. although we live in poverty, and the exchequer continues in affliction, yet we have sufficient resignation and courage to make convenient sacrifices. all my efforts shall be employed in making the _rising star_ one of the vessels of our squadron, and then we shall be invincible, and by keeping good relations with sir thomas hardy, and by his means with england, we shall establish fundamental principles to our glories. i am satisfied of the conferences and deliberations you had with this gentleman, and i approve the whole, although the valparaiso merchants might scream. i like the precautions you have taken in sending correspondence directly to me, and not to the ministry. but you must understand that even before i had read your private and official letters, much of their contents was known to the public, no doubt by the private communications of some officers, or by what was verbally communicated in valparaiso by the officers of the _aransasu_. on my part, i also recommend you all necessary secrecy on the contents of this letter, so that our reserve may not be frustrated, and our best measures disappointed. i shall claim from the lima government satisfaction for putting in prison the first lieutenant of the _o'higgins_, and also for imprisoning him of the same class belonging to the _valdivia_, as also for the threat of the ungrateful guida, as narrated in your favour of the th of september last. i assure you that i will never permit the least insult against the flag of this republic. i felt the greatest pleasure in the answer you gave to monteagudo and guida in your note of the th and th. as you have left callao there is nothing officially to communicate upon your conduct there. you have not submitted to lima neither directly nor indirectly, and from the moment the independence of that country was declared under the protectoral government of san martin ceased the provisional control that he had upon the squadron. the province of conception is almost free of enemies, and i hope chiloe will be so very soon, to accomplish our greatness. there is a nursery for a good navy, and when you can visit that archipelago you will discover advantages and richness, relieved from the care of indolent and despotic spain. believe me, my dear lord, your eternal friend, o'higgins. etext prepared by john bickers and dagny through the brazilian wilderness by theodore roosevelt etext prepared by dagny, dagnypg@yahoo.com and john bickers, jbickers@ihug.co.nz through the brazilian wilderness by theodore roosevelt preface this is an account of a zoo-geographic reconnaissance through the brazilian hinterland. the official and proper title of the expedition is that given it by the brazilian government: expedicao scientifica roosevelt- rondon. when i started from the united states, it was to make an expedition, primarily concerned with mammalogy and ornithology, for the american museum of natural history of new york. this was undertaken under the auspices of messrs. osborn and chapman, acting on behalf of the museum. in the body of this work i describe how the scope of the expedition was enlarged, and how it was given a geographic as well as a zoological character, in consequence of the kind proposal of the brazilian secretary of state for foreign affairs, general lauro muller. in its altered and enlarged form the expedition was rendered possible only by the generous assistance of the brazilian government. throughout the body of the work will be found reference after reference to my colleagues and companions of the expedition, whose services to science i have endeavored to set forth, and for whom i shall always feel the most cordial friendship and regard. theodore roosevelt. sagamore hill, september , through the brazilian wilderness i. the start one day in , when my presidential term was coming to a close, father zahm, a priest whom i knew, came in to call on me. father zahm and i had been cronies for some time, because we were both of us fond of dante and of history and of science--i had always commended to theologians his book, "evolution and dogma." he was an ohio boy, and his early schooling had been obtained in old-time american fashion in a little log school; where, by the way, one of the other boys was januarius aloysius macgahan, afterward the famous war correspondent and friend of skobeloff. father zahm told me that macgahan even at that time added an utter fearlessness to chivalric tenderness for the weak, and was the defender of any small boy who was oppressed by a larger one. later father zahm was at notre dame university, in indiana, with maurice egan, whom, when i was president, i appointed minister to denmark. on the occasion in question father zahm had just returned from a trip across the andes and down the amazon, and came in to propose that after i left the presidency he and i should go up the paraguay into the interior of south america. at the time i wished to go to africa, and so the subject was dropped; but from time to time afterward we talked it over. five years later, in the spring of , i accepted invitations conveyed through the governments of argentina and brazil to address certain learned bodies in these countries. then it occurred to me that, instead of making the conventional tourist trip purely by sea round south america, after i had finished my lectures i would come north through the middle of the continent into the valley of the amazon; and i decided to write father zahm and tell him my intentions. before doing so, however, i desired to see the authorities of the american museum of natural history, in new york city, to find out whether they cared to have me take a couple of naturalists with me into brazil and make a collecting trip for the museum. accordingly, i wrote to frank chapman, the curator of ornithology of the museum, and accepted his invitation to lunch at the museum one day early in june. at the lunch, in addition to various naturalists, to my astonishment i also found father zahm; and as soon as i saw him i told him i was now intending to make the south american trip. it appeared that he had made up his mind that he would take it himself, and had actually come on to see mr. chapman to find out if the latter could recommend a naturalist to go with him; and he at once said he would accompany me. chapman was pleased when he found out that we intended to go up the paraguay and across into the valley of the amazon, because much of the ground over which we were to pass had not been covered by collectors. he saw henry fairfield osborn, the president of the museum, who wrote me that the museum would be pleased to send under me a couple of naturalists, whom, with my approval, chapman would choose. the men whom chapman recommended were messrs. george k. cherrie and leo e. miller. i gladly accepted both. the former was to attend chiefly to the ornithology and the latter to the mammalogy of the expedition; but each was to help out the other. no two better men for such a trip could have been found. both were veterans of the tropical american forests. miller was a young man, born in indiana, an enthusiastic with good literary as well as scientific training. he was at the time in the guiana forests, and joined us at barbados. cherrie was an older man, born in iowa, but now a farmer in vermont. he had a wife and six children. mrs. cherrie had accompanied him during two or three years of their early married life in his collecting trips along the orinoco. their second child was born when they were in camp a couple of hundred miles from any white man or woman. one night a few weeks later they were obliged to leave a camping-place, where they had intended to spend the night, because the baby was fretful, and its cries attracted a jaguar, which prowled nearer and nearer in the twilight until they thought it safest once more to put out into the open river and seek a new resting-place. cherrie had spent about twenty-two years collecting in the american tropics. like most of the field-naturalists i have met, he was an unusually efficient and fearless man; and willy-nilly he had been forced at times to vary his career by taking part in insurrections. twice he had been behind the bars in consequence, on one occasion spending three months in a prison of a certain south american state, expecting each day to be taken out and shot. in another state he had, as an interlude to his ornithological pursuits, followed the career of a gun-runner, acting as such off and on for two and a half years. the particular revolutionary chief whose fortunes he was following finally came into power, and cherrie immortalized his name by naming a new species of ant-thrush after him--a delightful touch, in its practical combination of those not normally kindred pursuits, ornithology and gun-running. in anthony fiala, a former arctic explorer, we found an excellent man for assembling equipment and taking charge of its handling and shipment. in addition to his four years in the arctic regions, fiala had served in the new york squadron in porto rico during the spanish war, and through his service in the squadron had been brought into contact with his little tennessee wife. she came down with her four children to say good-by to him when the steamer left. my secretary, mr. frank harper, went with us. jacob sigg, who had served three years in the united states army, and was both a hospital nurse and a cook, as well as having a natural taste for adventure, went as the personal attendant of father zahm. in southern brazil my son kermit joined me. he had been bridge building, and a couple of months previously, while on top of a long steel span, something went wrong with the derrick, he and the steel span coming down together on the rocky bed beneath. he escaped with two broken ribs, two teeth knocked out, and a knee partially dislocated, but was practically all right again when he started with us. in its composition ours was a typical american expedition. kermit and i were of the old revolutionary stock, and in our veins ran about every strain of blood that there was on this side of the water during colonial times. cherrie's father was born in ireland, and his mother in scotland; they came here when very young, and his father served throughout the civil war in an iowa cavalry regiment. his wife was of old revolutionary stock. father zahm's father was an alsacian immigrant, and his mother was partly of irish and partly of old american stock, a descendant of a niece of general braddock. miller's father came from germany, and his mother from france. fiala's father and mother were both from bohemia, being czechs, and his father had served four years in the civil war in the union army--his tennessee wife was of old revolutionary stock. harper was born in england, and sigg in switzerland. we were as varied in religious creed as in ethnic origin. father zahm and miller were catholics, kermit and harper episcopalians, cherrie a presbyterian, fiala a baptist, sigg a lutheran, while i belonged to the dutch reformed church. for arms the naturalists took -bore shotguns, one of cherrie's having a rifle barrel underneath. the firearms for the rest of the party were supplied by kermit and myself, including my springfield rifle, kermit's two winchesters, a and - , the fox -gauge shotgun, and another -gauge gun, and a couple of revolvers, a colt and a smith & wesson. we took from new york a couple of canvas canoes, tents, mosquito-bars, plenty of cheesecloth, including nets for the hats, and both light cots and hammocks. we took ropes and pulleys which proved invaluable on our canoe trip. each equipped himself with the clothing he fancied. mine consisted of khaki, such as i wore in africa, with a couple of united states army flannel shirts and a couple of silk shirts, one pair of hob-nailed shoes with leggings, and one pair of laced leather boots coming nearly to the knee. both the naturalists told me that it was well to have either the boots or leggings as a protection against snake-bites, and i also had gauntlets because of the mosquitoes and sand-flies. we intended where possible to live on what we could get from time to time in the country, but we took some united states army emergency rations, and also ninety cans, each containing a day's provisions for five men, made up by fiala. the trip i proposed to take can be understood only if there is a slight knowledge of south american topography. the great mountain chain of the andes extends down the entire length of the western coast, so close to the pacific ocean that no rivers of any importance enter it. the rivers of south america drain into the atlantic. southernmost south america, including over half of the territory of the argentine republic, consists chiefly of a cool, open plains country. northward of this country, and eastward of the andes, lies the great bulk of the south american continent, which is included in the tropical and the subtropical regions. most of this territory is brazilian. aside from certain relatively small stretches drained by coast rivers, this immense region of tropical and subtropical america east of the andes is drained by the three great river systems of the plate, the amazon, and the orinoco. at their headwaters the amazon and the orinoco systems are actually connected by a sluggish natural canal. the headwaters of the northern affluents of the paraguay and the southern affluents of the amazon are sundered by a stretch of high land, which toward the east broadens out into the central plateau of brazil. geologically this is a very ancient region, having appeared above the waters before the dawning of the age of reptiles, or, indeed, of any true land vertebrates on the globe. this plateau is a region partly of healthy, rather dry and sandy, open prairie, partly of forest. the great and low-lying basin of the paraguay, which borders it on the south, is one of the largest, and the still greater basin of the amazon, which borders it on the north, is the very largest of all the river basins of the earth. in these basins, but especially in the basin of the amazon, and thence in most places northward to the caribbean sea, lie the most extensive stretches of tropical forest to be found anywhere. the forests of tropical west africa, and of portions of the farther-indian region, are the only ones that can be compared with them. much difficulty has been experienced in exploring these forests, because under the torrential rains and steaming heat the rank growth of vegetation becomes almost impenetrable, and the streams difficult of navigation; while white men suffer much from the terrible insect scourges and the deadly diseases which modern science has discovered to be due very largely to insect bites. the fauna and flora, however, are of great interest. the american museum was particularly anxious to obtain collections from the divide between the headwaters of the paraguay and the amazon, and from the southern affluents of the amazon. our purpose was to ascend the paraguay as nearly as possible to the head of navigation, thence cross to the sources of one of the affluents of the amazon, and if possible descend it in canoes built on the spot. the paraguay is regularly navigated as high as boats can go. the starting- point for our trip was to be asuncion, in the state of paraguay. my exact plan of operations was necessarily a little indefinite, but on reaching rio de janeiro the minister of foreign affairs, mr. lauro muller, who had been kind enough to take great personal interest in my trip, informed me that he had arranged that on the headwaters of the paraguay, at the town of caceres, i would be met by a brazilian army colonel, himself chiefly indian by blood, colonel rondon. colonel rondon has been for a quarter of a century the foremost explorer of the brazilian hinterland. he was at the time in manaos, but his lieutenants were in caceres and had been notified that we were coming. more important still, mr. lauro muller--who is not only an efficient public servant but a man of wide cultivation, with a quality about him that reminded me of john hay--offered to help me make my trip of much more consequence than i had originally intended. he has taken a keen interest in the exploration and development of the interior of brazil, and he believed that my expedition could be used as a means toward spreading abroad a more general knowledge of the country. he told me that he would co-operate with me in every way if i cared to undertake the leadership of a serious expedition into the unexplored portion of western matto grosso, and to attempt the descent of a river which flowed nobody knew whither, but which the best-informed men believed would prove to be a very big river, utterly unknown to geographers. i eagerly and gladly accepted, for i felt that with such help the trip could be made of much scientific value, and that a substantial addition could be made to the geographical knowledge of one of the least-known parts of south america. accordingly, it was arranged that colonel rondon and some assistants and scientists should meet me at or below corumba, and that we should attempt the descent of the river, of which they had already come across the headwaters. i had to travel through brazil, uruguay, the argentine, and chile for six weeks to fulfil my speaking engagements. fiala, cherrie, miller, and sigg left me at rio, continuing to buenos aires in the boat in which we had all come down from new york. from buenos aires they went up the paraguay to corumba, where they awaited me. the two naturalists went first, to do all the collecting that was possible; fiala and sigg travelled more leisurely, with the heavy baggage. before i followed them i witnessed an incident worthy of note from the standpoint of a naturalist, and of possible importance to us because of the trip we were about to take. south america, even more than australia and africa, and almost as much as india, is a country of poisonous snakes. as in india, although not to the same degree, these snakes are responsible for a very serious mortality among human beings. one of the most interesting evidences of the modern advance in brazil is the establishment near sao paulo of an institution especially for the study of these poisonous snakes, so as to secure antidotes to the poison and to develop enemies to the snakes themselves. we wished to take into the interior with us some bottles of the anti-venom serum, for on such an expedition there is always a certain danger from snakes. on one of his trips cherrie had lost a native follower by snake-bite. the man was bitten while out alone in the forest, and, although he reached camp, the poison was already working in him, so that he could give no intelligible account of what had occurred, and he died in a short time. poisonous snakes are of several different families, but the most poisonous ones, those which are dangerous to man, belong to the two great families of the colubrine snakes and the vipers. most of the colubrine snakes are entirely harmless, and are the common snakes that we meet everywhere. but some of them, the cobras for instance, develop into what are on the whole perhaps the most formidable of all snakes. the only poisonous colubrine snakes in the new world are the ring- snakes, the coral-snakes of the genus elaps, which are found from the extreme southern united states southward to the argentine. these coral-snakes are not vicious and have small teeth which cannot penetrate even ordinary clothing. they are only dangerous if actually trodden on by some one with bare feet or if seized in the hand. there are harmless snakes very like them in color which are sometimes kept as pets; but it behooves every man who keeps such a pet or who handles such a snake to be very sure as to the genus to which it belongs. the great bulk of the poisonous snakes of america, including all the really dangerous ones, belong to a division of the widely spread family of vipers which is known as the pit-vipers. in south america these include two distinct subfamilies or genera--whether they are called families, subfamilies, or genera would depend, i suppose, largely upon the varying personal views of the individual describer on the subject of herpetological nomenclature. one genus includes the rattlesnakes, of which the big brazilian species is as dangerous as those of the southern united states. but the large majority of the species and individuals of dangerous snakes in tropical america are included in the genus lachecis. these are active, vicious, aggressive snakes without rattles. they are exceedingly poisonous. some of them grow to a very large size, being indeed among the largest poisonous snakes in the world--their only rivals in this respect being the diamond rattlesnake of florida, one of the african mambas, and the indian hamadryad, or snake-eating cobra. the fer-de-lance, so dreaded in martinique, and the equally dangerous bushmaster of guiana are included in this genus. a dozen species are known in brazil, the biggest one being identical with the guiana bushmaster, and the most common one, the jararaca, being identical, or practically identical with the fer-de-lance. the snakes of this genus, like the rattlesnakes and the old world vipers and puff-adders, possess long poison-fangs which strike through clothes or any other human garment except stout leather. moreover, they are very aggressive, more so than any other snakes in the world, except possibly some of the cobras. as, in addition, they are numerous, they are a source of really frightful danger to scantily clad men who work in the fields and forests, or who for any reason are abroad at night. the poison of venomous serpents is not in the least uniform in its quality. on the contrary, the natural forces--to use a term which is vague, but which is as exact as our present-day knowledge permits-- that have developed in so many different families of snakes these poisoned fangs have worked in two or three totally different fashions. unlike the vipers, the colubrine poisonous snakes have small fangs, and their poison, though on the whole even more deadly, has entirely different effects, and owes its deadliness to entirely different qualities. even within the same family there are wide differences. in the jararaca an extraordinary quantity of yellow venom is spurted from the long poison-fangs. this poison is secreted in large glands which, among vipers, give the head its peculiar ace-of-spades shape. the rattlesnake yields a much smaller quantity of white venom, but, quantity for quantity, this white venom is more deadly. it is the great quantity of venom injected by the long fangs of the jararaca, the bushmaster, and their fellows that renders their bite so generally fatal. moreover, even between these two allied genera of pit-vipers, the differences in the action of the poison are sufficiently marked to be easily recognizable, and to render the most effective anti-venomous serum for each slightly different from the other. however, they are near enough alike to make this difference, in practice, of comparatively small consequence. in practice the same serum can be used to neutralize the effect of either, and, as will be seen later on, the snake that is immune to one kind of venom is also immune to the other. but the effect of the venom of the poisonous colubrine snakes is totally different from, although to the full as deadly as, the effect of the poison of the rattlesnake or jararaca. the serum that is an antidote as regards the colubrines. the animal that is immune to the bite of one may not be immune to the bite of the other. the bite of a cobra or other colubrine poisonous snake is more painful in its immediate effects than is the bite of one of the big vipers. the victim suffers more. there is a greater effect on the nerve-centres, but less swelling of the wound itself, and, whereas the blood of the rattlesnake's victim coagulates, the blood of the victim of an elapine snake--that is, of one of the only poisonous american colubrines-- becomes watery and incapable of coagulation. snakes are highly specialized in every way, including their prey. some live exclusively on warm-blooded animals, on mammals, or birds. some live exclusively on batrachians, others only on lizards, a few only on insects. a very few species live exclusively on other snakes. these include one very formidable venomous snake, the indian hamadryad, or giant cobra, and several non-poisonous snakes. in africa i killed a small cobra which contained within it a snake but a few inches shorter than itself; but, as far as i could find out, snakes were not the habitual diet of the african cobras. the poisonous snakes use their venom to kill their victims, and also to kill any possible foe which they think menaces them. some of them are good-tempered, and only fight if injured or seriously alarmed. others are excessively irritable, and on rare occasions will even attack of their own accord when entirely unprovoked and unthreatened. on reaching sao paulo on our southward journey from rio to montevideo, we drove out to the "instituto serumtherapico," designed for the study of the effects of the venom of poisonous brazilian snakes. its director is doctor vital brazil, who has performed a most extraordinary work and whose experiments and investigations are not only of the utmost value to brazil but will ultimately be recognized as of the utmost value for humanity at large. i know of no institution of similar kind anywhere. it has a fine modern building, with all the best appliances, in which experiments are carried on with all kinds of serpents, living and dead, with the object of discovering all the properties of their several kinds of venom, and of developing various anti-venom serums which nullify the effects of the different venoms. every effort is made to teach the people at large by practical demonstration in the open field the lessons thus learned in the laboratory. one notable result has been the diminution in the mortality from snake-bites in the province of sao paulo. in connection with his institute, and right by the laboratory, the doctor has a large serpentarium, in which quantities of the common poisonous and non-poisonous snakes are kept, and some of the rarer ones. he has devoted considerable time to the effort to find out if there are any natural enemies of the poisonous snakes of his country, and he has discovered that the most formidable enemy of the many dangerous brazilian snakes is a non-poisonous, entirely harmless, rather uncommon brazilian snake, the mussurama. of all the interesting things the doctor showed us, by far the most interesting was the opportunity of witnessing for ourselves the action of the mussurama toward a dangerous snake. the doctor first showed us specimens of the various important snakes, poisonous and non-poisonous, in alcohol. then he showed us preparations of the different kinds of venom and of the different anti-venom serums, presenting us with some of the latter for our use on the journey. he has been able to produce two distinct kinds of anti-venom serum, one to neutralize the virulent poison of the rattlesnake's bite, the other to neutralize the poison of the different snakes of the lachecis genus. these poisons are somewhat different and moreover there appear to be some differences between the poisons of the different species of lachecis; in some cases the poison is nearly colorless, and in others, as in that of the jararaca, whose poison i saw, it is yellow. but the vital difference is that between all these poisons of the pit- vipers and the poisons of the colubrine snakes, such as the cobra and the coral-snake. as yet the doctor has not been able to develop an anti-venom serum which will neutralize the poison of these colubrine snakes. practically this is a matter of little consequence in brazil, for the brazilian coral-snakes are dangerous only when mishandled by some one whose bare skin is exposed to the bite. the numerous accidents and fatalities continually occurring in brazil are almost always to be laid to the account of the several species of lachecis and the single species of rattlesnake. finally, the doctor took us into his lecture-room to show us how he conducted his experiments. the various snakes were in boxes, on one side of the room, under the care of a skilful and impassive assistant, who handled them with the cool and fearless caution of the doctor himself. the poisonous ones were taken out by means of a long-handled steel hook. all that is necessary to do is to insert this under the snake and lift him off the ground. he is not only unable to escape, but he is unable to strike, for he cannot strike unless coiled so as to give himself support and leverage. the table on which the snakes are laid is fairly large and smooth, differing in no way from an ordinary table. there were a number of us in the room, including two or three photographers. the doctor first put on the table a non-poisonous but very vicious and truculent colubrine snake. it struck right and left at us. then the doctor picked it up, opened its mouth, and showed that it had no fangs, and handed it to me. i also opened its mouth and examined its teeth, and then put it down, whereupon, its temper having been much ruffled, it struck violently at me two or three times. in its action and temper this snake was quite as vicious as the most irritable poisonous snakes. yet it is entirely harmless. one of the innumerable mysteries of nature which are at present absolutely insoluble is why some snakes should be so vicious and others absolutely placid and good-tempered. after removing the vicious harmless snake, the doctor warned us to get away from the table, and his attendant put on it, in succession, a very big lachecis--of the kind called bushmaster--and a big rattlesnake. each coiled menacingly, a formidable brute ready to attack anything that approached. then the attendant adroitly dropped his iron crook on the neck of each in succession, seized it right behind the head, and held it toward the doctor. the snake's mouth was in each case wide open, and the great fangs erect and very evident. it would not have been possible to have held an african ring-necked cobra in such fashion, because the ring-neck would have ejected its venom through the fangs into the eyes of the onlookers. there was no danger in this case, and the doctor inserted a shallow glass saucer into the mouth of the snake behind the fangs, permitted it to eject its poison, and then himself squeezed out the remaining poison from the poison- bags through the fangs. from the big lachecis came a large quantity of yellow venom, a liquid which speedily crystallized into a number of minute crystals. the rattlesnake yielded a much less quantity of white venom, which the doctor assured us was far more active than the yellow lachecis venom. then each snake was returned to its box unharmed. after this the doctor took out of a box and presented to me a fine, handsome, nearly black snake, an individual of the species called the mussurama. this is in my eyes perhaps the most interesting serpent in the world. it is a big snake, four or five feet long, sometimes even longer, nearly black, lighter below, with a friendly, placid temper. it lives exclusively on other snakes, and is completely immune to the poison of the lachecis and rattlesnake groups, which contain all the really dangerous snakes of america. doctor brazil told me that he had conducted many experiments with this interesting snake. it is not very common, and prefers wet places in which to live. it lays eggs, and the female remains coiled above the eggs, the object being apparently not to warm them, but to prevent too great evaporation. it will not eat when moulting, nor in cold weather. otherwise it will eat a small snake every five or six days, or a big one every fortnight. there is the widest difference, both among poisonous and non-poisonous snakes, not alone in nervousness and irascibility but also in ability to accustom themselves to out-of-the-way surroundings. many species of non-poisonous snakes which are entirely harmless, to man or to any other animal except their small prey, are nevertheless very vicious and truculent, striking right and left and biting freely on the smallest provocation--this is the case with the species of which the doctor had previously placed a specimen on the table. moreover, many snakes, some entirely harmless and some vicious ones, are so nervous and uneasy that it is with the greatest difficulty they can be induced to eat in captivity, and the slightest disturbance or interference will prevent their eating. there are other snakes, however, of which the mussurama is perhaps the best example, which are very good captives, and at the same time very fearless, showing a complete indifference not only to being observed but to being handled when they are feeding. there is in the united states a beautiful and attractive snake, the king-snake, with much the same habits as the mussurama. it is friendly toward mankind, and not poisonous, so that it can be handled freely. it feeds on other serpents, and will kill a rattlesnake as big as itself, being immune to the rattlesnake venom. mr. ditmars, of the bronx zoo, has made many interesting experiments with these king- snakes. i have had them in my own possession. they are good-natured and can generally be handled with impunity, but i have known them to bite, whereas doctor brazil informed me that it was almost impossible to make the mussurama bite a man. the king-snake will feed greedily on other snakes in the presence of man--i knew of one case where it partly swallowed another snake while both were in a small boy's pocket. it is immune to viper poison but it is not immune to colubrine poison. a couple of years ago i was informed of a case where one of these king-snakes was put into an enclosure with an indian snake- eating cobra or hamadryad of about the same size. it killed the cobra but made no effort to swallow it, and very soon showed the effects of the cobra poison. i believe it afterward died, but unfortunately i have mislaid my notes and cannot now remember the details of the incident. doctor brazil informed me that the mussurama, like the king-snake, was not immune to the colubrine poison. a mussurama in his possession, which had with impunity killed and eaten several rattlesnakes and representatives of the lachecis genus, also killed and ate a venomous coral-snake, but shortly afterward itself died from the effects of the poison. it is one of the many puzzles of nature that these american serpents which kill poisonous serpents should only have grown immune to the poison of the most dangerous american poisonous serpents, the pit-vipers, and should not have become immune to the poison of the coral-snakes which are commonly distributed throughout their range. yet, judging by the one instance mentioned by doctor brazil, they attack and master these coral-snakes, although the conflict in the end results in their death. it would be interesting to find out whether this attack was exceptional, that is, whether the mussurama has or has not as a species learned to avoid the coral-snake. if it was not exceptional, then not only is the instance highly curious in itself, but it would also go far to explain the failure of the mussurama to become plentiful. for the benefit of those who are not acquainted with the subject, i may mention that the poison of a poisonous snake is not dangerous to its own species unless injected in very large doses, about ten times what would normally be injected by a bite; but that it is deadly to all other snakes, poisonous or non-poisonous, save as regards the very few species which themselves eat poisonous snakes. the indian hamadryad, or giant cobra, is exclusively a snake-eater. it evidently draws a sharp distinction between poisonous and non-poisonous snakes, for mr. ditmars has recorded that two individuals in the bronx zoo which are habitually fed on harmless snakes, and attack them eagerly, refused to attack a copperhead which was thrown into their cage, being evidently afraid of this pit-viper. it would be interesting to find out if the hamadryad is afraid to prey on all pit-vipers, and also whether it will prey on its small relative, the true cobra--for it may well be that, even if not immune to the viper poison, it is immune to the poison of its close ally, the smaller cobra. all these and many other questions would be speedily settled by doctor brazil if he were given the opportunity to test them. it must be remembered, moreover, that not only have his researches been of absorbing value from the standpoint of pure science but that they also have a real utilitarian worth. he is now collecting and breeding the mussurama. the favorite prey of the mussurama is the most common and therefore the most dangerous poisonous snake of brazil, the jararaca, which is known in martinique as the fer-de-lance. in martinique and elsewhere this snake is such an object of terror as to be at times a genuine scourge. surely it would be worth while for the authorities of martinique to import specimens of the mussurama to that island. the mortality from snake-bite in british india is very great. surely it would be well worth while for the able indian government to copy brazil and create such an institute as that over which doctor vital brazil is the curator. at first sight it seems extraordinary that poisonous serpents, so dreaded by and so irresistible to most animals, should be so utterly helpless before the few creatures that prey on them. but the explanation is easy. any highly specialized creature, the higher its specialization, is apt to be proportionately helpless when once its peculiar specialized traits are effectively nullified by an opponent. this is eminently the case with the most dangerous poisonous snakes. in them a highly peculiar specialization has been carried to the highest point. they rely for attack and defence purely on their poison-fangs. all other means and methods of attack and defence have atrophied. they neither crush nor tear with their teeth nor constrict with their bodies. the poison-fangs are slender and delicate, and, save for the poison, the wound inflicted is of a trivial character. in consequence they are helpless in the presence of any animal which the poison does not affect. there are several mammals immune to snake- bite, including various species of hedgehog, pig, and mongoose--the other mammals which kill them do so by pouncing on them unawares or by avoiding their stroke through sheer quickness of movement; and probably this is the case with most snake-eating birds. the mongoose is very quick, but in some cases at least--i have mentioned one in the "african game trails"--it permits itself to be bitten by poisonous snakes, treating the bite with utter indifference. there should be extensive experiments made to determine if there are species of mongoose immune to both cobra and viper poison. hedgehogs, as determined by actual experiments, pay no heed at all to viper poison even when bitten on such tender places as the tongue and lips and eat the snake as if it were a radish. even among animals which are not immune to the poison different species are very differently affected by the different kinds of snake poisons. not only are some species more resistant than others to all poisons, but there is a wide variation in the amount of immunity each displays to any given venom. one species will be quickly killed by the poison from one species of snake, and be fairly resistant to the poison of another; whereas in another species the conditions may be directly reversed. the mussurama which doctor brazil handed me was a fine specimen, perhaps four and a half feet long. i lifted the smooth, lithe bulk in my hands, and then let it twist its coils so that it rested at ease in my arms; it glided to and fro, on its own length, with the sinuous grace of its kind, and showed not the slightest trace of either nervousness or bad temper. meanwhile the doctor bade his attendant put on the table a big jararaca, or fer-de-lance, which was accordingly done. the jararaca was about three feet and a half, or perhaps nearly four feet long--that is, it was about nine inches shorter than the mussurama. the latter, which i continued to hold in my arms, behaved with friendly and impassive indifference, moving easily to and fro through my hands, and once or twice hiding its head between the sleeve and the body of my coat. the doctor was not quite sure how the mussurama would behave, for it had recently eaten a small snake, and unless hungry it pays no attention whatever to venomous snakes, even when they attack and bite it. however, it fortunately proved still to have a good appetite. the jararaca was alert and vicious. it partly coiled itself on the table, threatening the bystanders. i put the big black serpent down on the table four or five feet from the enemy and headed in its direction. as soon as i let go with my hands it glided toward where the threatening, formidable-looking lance-head lay stretched in a half coil. the mussurama displayed not the slightest sign of excitement. apparently it trusted little to its eyes, for it began to run its head along the body of the jararaca, darting out its flickering tongue to feel just where it was, as it nosed its way up toward the head of its antagonist. so placid were its actions that i did not at first suppose that it meant to attack, for there was not the slightest exhibition of anger or excitement. it was the jararaca that began the fight. it showed no fear whatever of its foe, but its irritable temper was aroused by the proximity and actions of the other, and like a flash it drew back its head and struck, burying its fangs in the forward part of the mussurama's body. immediately the latter struck in return, and the counter-attack was so instantaneous that it was difficult to see just what had happened. there was tremendous writhing and struggling on the part of the jararaca; and then, leaning over the knot into which the two serpents were twisted, i saw that the mussurama had seized the jararaca by the lower jaw, putting its own head completely into the wide-gaping mouth of the poisonous snake. the long fangs were just above the top of the mussurama's head; and it appeared, as well as i could see, that they were once again driven into the mussurama; but without the slightest effect. then the fangs were curved back in the jaw, a fact which i particularly noted, and all effort at the offensive was abandoned by the poisonous snake. meanwhile the mussurama was chewing hard, and gradually shifted its grip, little by little, until it got the top of the head of the jararaca in its mouth, the lower jaw of the jararaca being spread out to one side. the venomous serpent was helpless; the fearsome master of the wild life of the forest, the deadly foe of humankind, was itself held in the grip of death. its cold, baleful serpent's eyes shone, as evil as ever. but it was dying. in vain it writhed and struggled. nothing availed it. once or twice the mussurama took a turn round the middle of the body of its opponent, but it did not seem to press hard, and apparently used its coils chiefly in order to get a better grip so as to crush the head of its antagonist, or to hold the latter in place. this crushing was done by its teeth; and the repeated bites were made with such effort that the muscles stood out on the mussurama's neck. then it took two coils round the neck of the jararaca and proceeded deliberately to try to break the backbone of its opponent by twisting the head round. with this purpose it twisted its own head and neck round so that the lighter-colored surface was uppermost; and indeed at one time it looked as if it had made almost a complete single spiral revolution of its own body. it never for a moment relaxed its grip except to shift slightly the jaws. in a few minutes the jararaca was dead, its head crushed in, although the body continued to move convulsively. when satisfied that its opponent was dead, the mussurama began to try to get the head in its mouth. this was a process of some difficulty on account of the angle at which the lower jaw of the jararaca stuck out. but finally the head was taken completely inside and then swallowed. after this, the mussurama proceeded deliberately, but with unbroken speed, to devour its opponent by the simple process of crawling outside it, the body and tail of the jararaca writhing and struggling until the last. during the early portion of the meal, the mussurama put a stop to this writhing and struggling by resting its own body on that of its prey; but toward the last the part of the body that remained outside was left free to wriggle as it wished. not only was the mussurama totally indifferent to our presence, but it was totally indifferent to being handled while the meal was going on. several times i replaced the combatants in the middle of the table when they had writhed to the edge, and finally, when the photographers found that they could not get good pictures, i held the mussurama up against a white background with the partially swallowed snake in its mouth; and the feast went on uninterruptedly. i never saw cooler or more utterly unconcerned conduct; and the ease and certainty with which the terrible poisonous snake was mastered gave me the heartiest respect and liking for the easy-going, good-natured, and exceedingly efficient serpent which i had been holding in my arms. our trip was not intended as a hunting-trip but as a scientific expedition. before starting on the trip itself, while travelling in the argentine, i received certain pieces of first-hand information concerning the natural history of the jaguar, and of the cougar, or puma, which are worth recording. the facts about the jaguar are not new in the sense of casting new light on its character, although they are interesting; but the facts about the behavior of the puma in one district of patagonia are of great interest, because they give an entirely new side of its life-history. there was travelling with me at the time doctor francisco p. moreno, of buenos aires. doctor moreno is at the present day a member of the national board of education of the argentine, a man who has worked in every way for the benefit of his country, perhaps especially for the benefit of the children, so that when he was first introduced to me it was as the "jacob riis of the argentine"--for they know my deep and affectionate intimacy with jacob riis. he is also an eminent man of science, who has done admirable work as a geologist and a geographer. at one period, in connection with his duties as a boundary commissioner on the survey between chile and the argentine, he worked for years in patagonia. it was he who made the extraordinary discovery in a patagonian cave of the still fresh fragments of skin and other remains of the mylodon, the aberrant horse known as the onohipidium, the huge south american tiger, and the macrauchenia, all of them extinct animals. this discovery showed that some of the strange representatives of the giant south american pleistocene fauna had lasted down to within a comparatively few thousand years, down to the time when man, substantially as the spaniards found him, flourished on the continent. incidentally the discovery tended to show that this fauna had lasted much later in south america than was the case with the corresponding faunas in other parts of the world; and therefore it tended to disprove the claims advanced by doctor ameghino for the extreme age, geologically, of this fauna, and for the extreme antiquity of man on the american continent. one day doctor moreno handed me a copy of the outlook containing my account of a cougar-hunt in arizona, saying that he noticed that i had very little faith in cougars attacking men, although i had explicitly stated that such attacks sometimes occurred. i told him, yes, that i had found that the cougar was practically harmless to man, the undoubtedly authentic instances of attacks on men being so exceptional that they could in practice be wholly disregarded. thereupon doctor moreno showed me a scar on his face, and told me that he had himself been attacked and badly mauled by a puma which was undoubtedly trying to prey on him; that is, which had started on a career as a man-eater. this was to me most interesting. i had often met men who knew other men who had seen other men who said that they had been attacked by pumas, but this was the first time that i had ever come across a man who had himself been attacked. doctor moreno, as i have said, is not only an eminent citizen, but an eminent scientific man, and his account of what occurred is unquestionably a scientifically accurate statement of the facts. i give it exactly as the doctor told it; paraphrasing a letter he sent me, and including one or two answers to questions i put to him. the doctor, by the way, stated to me that he had known mr. hudson, the author of the "naturalist on the plata," and that the latter knew nothing whatever of pumas from personal experience and had accepted as facts utterly wild fables. undoubtedly, said the doctor, the puma in south america, like the puma in north america, is, as a general rule, a cowardly animal which not only never attacks man, but rarely makes any efficient defence when attacked. the indian and white hunters have no fear of it in most parts of the country, and its harmlessness to man is proverbial. but there is one particular spot in southern patagonia where cougars, to the doctor's own personal knowledge, have for years been dangerous foes of man. this curious local change in habits, by the way, is nothing unprecedented as regards wild animals. in portions of its range, as i am informed by mr. lord smith, the asiatic tiger can hardly be forced to fight man, and never preys on him, while throughout most of its range it is a most dangerous beast, and often turns man-eater. so there are waters in which sharks are habitual man- eaters, and others where they never touch men; and there are rivers and lakes where crocodiles or caymans are very dangerous, and others where they are practically harmless--i have myself seen this in africa. in march, , doctor moreno with a party of men working on the boundary commission, and with a number of patagonian horse-indians, was encamped for some weeks beside lake viedma, which had not before been visited by white men for a century, and which was rarely visited even by indians. one morning, just before sunrise, he left his camp by the south shore of the lake, to make a topographical sketch of the lake. he was unarmed, but carried a prismatic compass in a leather case with a strap. it was cold, and he wrapped his poncho of guanaco- hide round his neck and head. he had walked a few hundred yards, when a puma, a female, sprang on him from behind and knocked him down. as she sprang on him she tried to seize his head with one paw, striking him on the shoulder with the other. she lacerated his mouth and also his back, but tumbled over with him, and in the scuffle they separated before she could bite him. he sprang to his feet, and, as he said, was forced to think quickly. she had recovered herself, and sat on her haunches like a cat, looking at him, and then crouched to spring again; whereupon he whipped off his poncho, and as she sprang at him he opened it, and at the same moment hit her head with the prismatic compass in its case which he held by the strap. she struck the poncho and was evidently puzzled by it, for, turning, she slunk off to one side, under a bush, and then proceeded to try to get round behind him. he faced her, keeping his eyes upon her, and backed off. she followed him for three or four hundred yards. at least twice she came up to attack him, but each time he opened his poncho and yelled, and at the last moment she shrank back. she continually, however, tried, by taking advantage of cover, to sneak up to one side, or behind, to attack him. finally, when he got near camp, she abandoned the pursuit and went into a small patch of bushes. he raised the alarm; an indian rode up and set fire to the bushes from the windward side. when the cougar broke from the bushes, the indian rode after her, and threw his bolas, which twisted around her hind legs; and while she was struggling to free herself, he brained her with his second bolas. the doctor's injuries were rather painful, but not serious. twenty-one years later, in april, , he was camped on the same lake, but on the north shore, at the foot of a basaltic cliff. he was in company with four soldiers, with whom he had travelled from the strait of magellan. in the night he was aroused by the shriek of a man and the barking of his dogs. as the men sprang up from where they were lying asleep they saw a large puma run off out of the firelight into the darkness. it had sprung on a soldier named marcelino huquen while he was asleep, and had tried to carry him off. fortunately, the man was so wrapped up in his blanket, as the night was cold, that he was not injured. the puma was never found or killed. about the same time a surveyor of doctor moreno's party, a swede named arneberg, was attacked in similar fashion. the doctor was not with him at the time. mr. arneberg was asleep in the forest near lake san martin. the cougar both bit and clawed him, and tore his mouth, breaking out three teeth. the man was rescued; but this puma also escaped. the doctor stated that in this particular locality the indians, who elsewhere paid no heed whatever to the puma, never let their women go out after wood for fuel unless two or three were together. this was because on several occasions women who had gone out alone were killed by pumas. evidently in this one locality the habit of at least occasional man-eating has become chronic with a species which elsewhere is the most cowardly, and to man the least dangerous, of all the big cats. these observations of doctor moreno have a peculiar value, because, as far as i know, they are the first trustworthy accounts of a cougar's having attacked man save under circumstances so exceptional as to make the attack signify little more than the similar exceptional instances of attack by various other species of wild animals that are not normally dangerous to man. the jaguar, however, has long been known not only to be a dangerous foe when itself attacked, but also now and then to become a man-eater. therefore the instances of such attacks furnished me are of merely corroborative value. in the excellent zoological gardens at buenos aires the curator, doctor onelli, a naturalist of note, showed us a big male jaguar which had been trapped in the chaco, where it had already begun a career as a man-eater, having killed three persons. they were killed, and two of them were eaten; the animal was trapped, in consequence of the alarm excited by the death of his third victim. this jaguar was very savage; whereas a young jaguar, which was in a cage with a young tiger, was playful and friendly, as was also the case with the young tiger. on my trip to visit la plata museum i was accompanied by captain vicente montes, of the argentine navy, an accomplished officer of scientific attainments. he had at one time been engaged on a survey of the boundary between the argentine and parana and brazil. they had a quantity of dried beef in camp. on several occasions a jaguar came into camp after this dried beef. finally they succeeded in protecting it so that he could not reach it. the result, however, was disastrous. on the next occasion that he visited camp, at midnight, he seized a man. everybody was asleep at the time, and the jaguar came in so noiselessly as to elude the vigilance of the dogs. as he seized the man, the latter gave one yell, but the next moment was killed, the jaguar driving his fangs through the man's skull into the brain. there was a scene of uproar and confusion, and the jaguar was forced to drop his prey and flee into the woods. next morning they followed him with the dogs, and finally killed him. he was a large male, in first-class condition. the only features of note about these two incidents was that in each case the man-eater was a powerful animal in the prime of life; whereas it frequently happens that the jaguars that turn man- eaters are old animals, and have become too inactive or too feeble to catch their ordinary prey. during the two months before starting from asuncion, in paraguay, for our journey into the interior, i was kept so busy that i had scant time to think of natural history. but in a strange land a man who cares for wild birds and wild beasts always sees and hears something that is new to him and interests him. in the dense tropical woods near rio janeiro i heard in late october--springtime, near the southern tropic--the songs of many birds that i could not identify. but the most beautiful music was from a shy woodland thrush, sombre-colored, which lived near the ground in the thick timber, but sang high among the branches. at a great distance we could hear the ringing, musical, bell-like note, long-drawn and of piercing sweetness, which occurs at intervals in the song; at first i thought this was the song, but when it was possible to approach the singer i found that these far-sounding notes were scattered through a continuous song of great melody. i never listened to one that impressed me more. in different places in argentina i heard and saw the argentine mocking-bird, which is not very unlike our own, and is also a delightful and remarkable singer. but i never heard the wonderful white-banded mocking-bird, which is said by hudson, who knew well the birds of both south america and europe, to be the song-king of them all. most of the birds i thus noticed while hurriedly passing through the country were, of course, the conspicuous ones. the spurred lapwings, big, tame, boldly marked plover, were everywhere; they were very noisy and active and both inquisitive and daring, and they have a very curious dance custom. no man need look for them. they will look for him, and when they find him they will fairly yell the discovery to the universe. in the marshes of the lower parana i saw flocks of scarlet- headed blackbirds on the tops of the reeds; the females are as strikingly colored as the males, and their jet-black bodies and brilliant red heads make it impossible for them to escape observation among their natural surroundings. on the plains to the west i saw flocks of the beautiful rose-breasted starlings; unlike the red-headed blackbirds, which seemed fairly to court attention, these starlings sought to escape observation by crouching on the ground so that their red breasts were hidden. there were yellow-shouldered blackbirds in wet places, and cow-buntings abounded. but the most conspicuous birds i saw were members of the family of tyrant flycatchers, of which our own king-bird is the most familiar example. this family is very numerously represented in argentina, both in species and individuals. some of the species are so striking, both in color and habits, and in one case also in shape, as to attract the attention of even the unobservant. the least conspicuous, and nevertheless very conspicuous, among those that i saw was the bientevido, which is brown above, yellow beneath, with a boldly marked black and white head, and a yellow crest. it is very noisy, is common in the neighborhood of houses, and builds a big domed nest. it is really a big, heavy kingbird, fiercer and more powerful than any northern kingbird. i saw them assail not only the big but the small hawks with fearlessness, driving them in headlong flight. they not only capture insects, but pounce on mice, small frogs, lizards, and little snakes, rob birds' nests of the fledgling young, and catch tadpoles and even small fish. two of the tyrants which i observed are like two with which i grew fairly familiar in texas. the scissor-tail is common throughout the open country, and the long tail feathers, which seem at times to hamper its flight, attract attention whether the bird is in flight or perched on a tree. it has a habit of occasionally soaring into the air and descending in loops and spirals. the scarlet tyrant i saw in the orchards and gardens. the male is a fascinating little bird, coal- black above, while his crested head and the body beneath are brilliant scarlet. he utters his rapid, low-voiced musical trill in the air, rising with fluttering wings to a height of a hundred feet, hovering while he sings, and then falling back to earth. the color of the bird and the character of his performance attract the attention of every observer, bird, beast, or man, within reach of vision. the red-backed tyrant is utterly unlike any of his kind in the united states, and until i looked him up in sclater and hudson's ornithology i never dreamed that he belonged to this family. he--for only the male is so brightly colored--is coal-black with a dull-red back. i saw these birds on december near barilloche, out on the bare patagonian plains. they behaved like pipits or longspurs, running actively over the ground in the same manner and showing the same restlessness and the same kind of flight. but whereas pipits are inconspicuous, the red-backs at once attracted attention by the contrast between their bold coloring and the grayish or yellowish tones of the ground along which they ran. the silver-bill tyrant, however, is much more conspicuous; i saw it in the same neighborhood as the red-back and also in many other places. the male is jet-black, with white bill and wings. he runs about on the ground like a pipit, but also frequently perches on some bush to go through a strange flight-song performance. he perches motionless, bolt upright, and even then his black coloring advertises him for a quarter of a mile round about. but every few minutes he springs up into the air to the height of twenty or thirty feet, the white wings flashing in contrast to the black body, screams and gyrates, and then instantly returns to his former post and resumes his erect pose of waiting. it is hard to imagine a more conspicuous bird than the silver-bill; but the next and last tyrant flycatcher of which i shall speak possesses on the whole the most advertising coloration of any small bird i have ever seen in the open country, and moreover this advertising coloration exists in both sexes and throughout the year. it is a brilliant white, all over, except the long wing-quills and the ends of the tail-feathers, which are black. the first one i saw, at a very long distance, i thought must be an albino. it perches on the top of a bush or tree watching for its prey, and it shines in the sun like a silver mirror. every hawk, cat, or man must see it; no one can help seeing it. these common argentine birds, most of them of the open country, and all of them with a strikingly advertising coloration, are interesting because of their beauty and their habits. they are also interesting because they offer such illuminating examples of the truth that many of the most common and successful birds not merely lack a concealing coloration, but possess a coloration which is in the highest degree revealing. the coloration and the habits of most of these birds are such that every hawk or other foe that can see at all must have its attention attracted to them. evidently in their cases neither the coloration nor any habit of concealment based on the coloration is a survival factor, and this although they live in a land teeming with bird-eating hawks. among the higher vertebrates there are many known factors which have influence, some in one set of cases, some in another set of cases, in the development and preservation of species. courage, intelligence, adaptability, prowess, bodily vigor, speed, alertness, ability to hide, ability to build structures which will protect the young while they are helpless, fecundity--all, and many more like them, have their several places; and behind all these visible causes there are at work other and often more potent causes of which as yet science can say nothing. some species owe much to a given attribute which may be wholly lacking in influence on other species; and every one of the attributes above enumerated is a survival factor in some species, while in others it has no survival value whatever, and in yet others, although of benefit, it is not of sufficient benefit to offset the benefit conferred on foes or rivals by totally different attributes. intelligence, for instance, is of course a survival factor; but to-day there exist multitudes of animals with very little intelligence which have persisted through immense periods of geologic time either unchanged or else without any change in the direction of increased intelligence; and during their species-life they have witnessed the death of countless other species of far greater intelligence but in other ways less adapted to succeed in the environmental complex. the same statement can be made of all the many, many other known factors in development, from fecundity to concealing coloration; and behind them lie forces as to which we veil our ignorance by the use of high-sounding nomenclature--as when we use such a convenient but far from satisfactory term as orthogenesis. ii. up the paraguay on the afternoon of december we left the attractive and picturesque city of asuncion to ascend the paraguay. with generous courtesy the paraguayan government had put at my disposal the gunboat-yacht of the president himself, a most comfortable river steamer, and so the opening days of our trip were pleasant in every way. the food was good, our quarters were clean, we slept well, below or on deck, usually without our mosquito-nettings, and in daytime the deck was pleasant under the awnings. it was hot, of course, but we were dressed suitably in our exploring and hunting clothes and did not mind the heat. the river was low, for there had been dry weather for some weeks --judging from the vague and contradictory information i received there is much elasticity to the terms wet season and dry season at this part of the paraguay. under the brilliant sky we steamed steadily up the mighty river; the sunset was glorious as we leaned on the port railing; and after nightfall the moon, nearly full and hanging high in the heavens, turned the water to shimmering radiance. on the mud-flats and sandbars, and among the green rushes of the bays and inlets, were stately water-fowl; crimson flamingoes and rosy spoonbills, dark- colored ibis and white storks with black wings. darters, with snakelike necks and pointed bills, perched in the trees on the brink of the river. snowy egrets flapped across the marshes. caymans were common, and differed from the crocodiles we had seen in africa in two points: they were not alarmed by the report of a rifle when fired at, and they lay with the head raised instead of stretched along the sand. for three days, as we steamed northward toward the tropic of capricorn, and then passed it, we were within the republic of paraguay. on our right, to the east, there was a fairly well-settled country, where bananas and oranges were cultivated and other crops of hot countries raised. on the banks we passed an occasional small town, or saw a ranch-house close to the river's brink, or stopped for wood at some little settlement. across the river to the west lay the level, swampy, fertile wastes known as the chaco, still given over either to the wild indians or to cattle-ranching on a gigantic scale. the broad river ran in curves between mud-banks where terraces marked successive periods of flood. a belt of forest stood on each bank, but it was only a couple of hundred yards wide. back of it was the open country; on the chaco side this was a vast plain of grass, dotted with tall, graceful palms. in places the belt of forest vanished and the palm- dotted prairie came to the river's edge. the chaco is an ideal cattle country, and not really unhealthy. it will be covered with ranches at a not distant day. but mosquitoes and many other winged insect pests swarm over it. cherrie and miller had spent a week there collecting mammals and birds prior to my arrival at asuncion. they were veterans of the tropics, hardened to the insect plagues of guiana and the orinoco. but they reported that never had they been so tortured as in the chaco. the sand-flies crawled through the meshes in the mosquito- nets, and forbade them to sleep; if in their sleep a knee touched the net the mosquitoes fell on it so that it looked as if riddled by birdshot; and the nights were a torment, although they had done well in their work, collecting some two hundred and fifty specimens of birds and mammals. nevertheless for some as yet inscrutable reason the river served as a barrier to certain insects which are menaces to the cattlemen. with me on the gunboat was an old western friend, tex rickard, of the panhandle and alaska and various places in between. he now has a large tract of land and some thirty-five thousand head of cattle in the chaco, opposite concepcion, at which city he was to stop. he told me that horses did not do well in the chaco but that cattle throve, and that while ticks swarmed on the east bank of the great river, they would not live on the west bank. again and again he had crossed herds of cattle which were covered with the loathsome bloodsuckers; and in a couple of months every tick would be dead. the worst animal foes of man, indeed the only dangerous foes, are insects; and this is especially true in the tropics. fortunately, exactly as certain differences too minute for us as yet to explain render some insects deadly to man or domestic animals, while closely allied forms are harmless, so, for other reasons, which also we are not as yet able to fathom, these insects are for the most part strictly limited by geographical and other considerations. the war against what sir harry johnston calls the really material devil, the devil of evil wild nature in the tropics, has been waged with marked success only during the last two decades. the men, in the united states, in england, france, germany, italy--the men like doctor cruz in rio janeiro and doctor vital brazil in sao paulo--who work experimentally within and without the laboratory in their warfare against the disease and death bearing insects and microbes, are the true leaders in the fight to make the tropics the home of civilized man. late on the evening of the second day of our trip, just before midnight, we reached concepcion. on this day, when we stopped for wood or to get provisions--at picturesque places, where the women from rough mud and thatched cabins were washing clothes in the river, or where ragged horsemen stood gazing at us from the bank, or where dark, well-dressed ranchmen stood in front of red-roofed houses--we caught many fish. they belonged to one of the most formidable genera of fish in the world, the piranha or cannibal fish, the fish that eats men when it can get the chance. farther north there are species of small piranha that go in schools. at this point on the paraguay the piranha do not seem to go in regular schools, but they swarm in all the waters and attain a length of eighteen inches or over. they are the most ferocious fish in the world. even the most formidable fish, the sharks or the barracudas, usually attack things smaller than themselves. but the piranhas habitually attack things much larger than themselves. they will snap a finger off a hand incautiously trailed in the water; they mutilate swimmers--in every river town in paraguay there are men who have been thus mutilated; they will rend and devour alive any wounded man or beast; for blood in the water excites them to madness. they will tear wounded wild fowl to pieces; and bite off the tails of big fish as they grow exhausted when fighting after being hooked. miller, before i reached asuncion, had been badly bitten by one. those that we caught sometimes bit through the hooks, or the double strands of copper wire that served as leaders, and got away. those that we hauled on deck lived for many minutes. most predatory fish are long and slim, like the alligator-gar and pickerel. but the piranha is a short, deep-bodied fish, with a blunt face and a heavily undershot or projecting lower jaw which gapes widely. the razor-edged teeth are wedge-shaped like a shark's, and the jaw muscles possess great power. the rabid, furious snaps drive the teeth through flesh and bone. the head with its short muzzle, staring malignant eyes, and gaping, cruelly armed jaws, is the embodiment of evil ferocity; and the actions of the fish exactly match its looks. i never witnessed an exhibition of such impotent, savage fury as was shown by the piranhas as they flapped on deck. when fresh from the water and thrown on the boards they uttered an extraordinary squealing sound. as they flapped about they bit with vicious eagerness at whatever presented itself. one of them flapped into a cloth and seized it with a bulldog grip. another grasped one of its fellows; another snapped at a piece of wood, and left the teeth-marks deep therein. they are the pests of the waters, and it is necessary to be exceedingly cautious about either swimming or wading where they are found. if cattle are driven into, or of their own accord enter, the water, they are commonly not molested; but if by chance some unusually big or ferocious specimen of these fearsome fishes does bite an animal--taking off part of an ear, or perhaps of a teat from the udder of a cow--the blood brings up every member of the ravenous throng which is anywhere near, and unless the attacked animal can immediately make its escape from the water it is devoured alive. here on the paraguay the natives hold them in much respect, whereas the caymans are not feared at all. the only redeeming feature about them is that they are themselves fairly good to eat, although with too many bones. at daybreak of the third day, finding we were still moored off concepcion, we were rowed ashore and strolled off through the streets of the quaint, picturesque old town; a town which, like asuncion, was founded by the conquistadores three-quarters of a century before our own english and dutch forefathers landed in what is now the united states. the jesuits then took practically complete possession of what is now paraguay, controlling and christianizing the indians, and raising their flourishing missions to a pitch of prosperity they never elsewhere achieved. they were expelled by the civil authorities (backed by the other representatives of ecclesiastical authority) some fifty years before spanish south america became independent. but they had already made the language of the indians, guarany, a culture- tongue, reducing it to writing, and printing religious books in it. guarany is one of the most wide-spread of the indian tongues, being originally found in various closely allied forms not only in paraguay but in uruguay and over the major part of brazil. it remains here and there, as a lingua general at least, and doubtless in cases as an original tongue, among the wild tribes. in most of brazil, as around para and around sao paulo, it has left its traces in place-names, but has been completely superseded as a language by portuguese. in paraguay it still exists side by side with spanish as the common language of the lower people and as a familiar tongue among the upper classes. the blood of the people is mixed, their language dual; the lower classes are chiefly of indian blood but with a white admixture; while the upper classes are predominantly white, with a strong infusion of indian. there is no other case quite parallel to this in the annals of european colonization, although the goanese in india have a native tongue and a portuguese creed, while in several of the spanish-american states the indian blood is dominant and the majority of the population speak an indian tongue, perhaps itself, as with the quichuas, once a culture-tongue of the archaic type. whether in paraguay one tongue will ultimately drive out the other, and, if so, which will be the victor, it is yet too early to prophesy. the english missionaries and the bible society have recently published parts of the scriptures in guarany and in asuncion a daily paper is published with the text in parallel columns, spanish and guarany--just as in oklahoma there is a similar paper published in english and in the tongue which the extraordinary cherokee chief sequoia, a veritable cadmus, made a literary language. the guarany-speaking paraguayan is a christian, and as much an inheritor of our common culture as most of the peasant populations of europe. he has no kinship with the wild indian, who hates and fears him. the indian of the chaco, a pure savage, a bow-bearing savage, will never come east of the paraguay, and the paraguayan is only beginning to venture into the western interior, away from the banks of the river--under the lead of pioneer settlers like rickard, whom, by the way, the wild indians thoroughly trust, and for whom they work eagerly and faithfully. there is a great development ahead for paraguay, as soon as they can definitely shake off the revolutionary habit and establish an orderly permanence of government. the people are a fine people; the strains of blood--white and indian--are good. we walked up the streets of concepcion, and interestedly looked at everything of interest: at the one-story houses, their windows covered with gratings of fretted ironwork, and their occasional open doors giving us glimpses into cool inner courtyards, with trees and flowers; at the two-wheel carts, drawn by mules or oxen; at an occasional rider, with spurs on his bare feet, and his big toes thrust into the small stirrup-rings; at the little stores, and the warehouses for matte and hides. then we came to a pleasant little inn, kept by a frenchman and his wife, of old spanish style, with its patio, or inner court, but as neat as an inn in normandy or brittany. we were sitting at coffee, around a little table, when in came the colonel of the garrison--for concepcion is the second city in paraguay. he told me that they had prepared a reception for me! i was in my rough hunting- clothes, but there was nothing to do but to accompany my kind hosts and trust to their good nature to pardon my shortcomings in the matter of dress. the colonel drove me about in a smart open carriage, with two good horses and a liveried driver. it was a much more fashionable turnout than would be seen in any of our cities save the largest, and even in them probably not in the service of a public official. in all the south american countries there is more pomp and ceremony in connection with public functions than with us, and at these functions the liveried servants, often with knee-breeches and powdered hair, are like those seen at similar european functions; there is not the democratic simplicity which better suits our own habits of life and ways of thought. but the south americans often surpass us, not merely in pomp and ceremony but in what is of real importance, courtesy; in civility and courtesy we can well afford to take lessons from them. we first visited the barracks, saw the troops in the setting-up exercises, and inspected the arms, the artillery, the equipment. there was a german lieutenant with the paraguayan officers; one of several german officers who are now engaged in helping the paraguayans with their army. the equipments and arms were in good condition; the enlisted men evidently offered fine material; and the officers were doing hard work. it is worth while for anti-militarists to ponder the fact that in every south american country where a really efficient army is developed, the increase in military efficiency goes hand in hand with a decrease in lawlessness and disorder, and a growing reluctance to settle internal disagreements by violence. they are introducing universal military service in paraguay; the officers, many of whom have studied abroad, are growing to feel an increased esprit de corps, an increased pride in the army, and therefore a desire to see the army made the servant of the nation as a whole and not the tool of any faction or individual. if these feelings grow strong enough they will be powerful factors in giving paraguay what she most needs, freedom from revolutionary disturbance and therefore the chance to achieve the material prosperity without which as a basis there can be no advance in other and even more important matters. then i was driven to the city hall, accompanied by the intendente, or mayor, a german long settled in the country and one of the leading men of the city. there was a breakfast. when i had to speak i impressed into my service as interpreter a young paraguayan who was a graduate of the university of pennsylvania. he was able to render into spanish my ideas--on such subjects as orderly liberty and the far-reaching mischief done by the revolutionary habit--with clearness and vigor, because he thoroughly understood not only how i felt but also the american way of looking at such things. my hosts were hospitality itself, and i enjoyed the unexpected greeting. we steamed on up the river. now and then we passed another boat--a steamer, or, to my surprise, perhaps a barkentine or schooner. the paraguay is a highway of traffic. once we passed a big beef-canning factory. ranches stood on either bank a few leagues apart, and we stopped at wood-yards on the west bank. indians worked around them. at one such yard the indians were evidently part of the regular force. their squaws were with them, cooking at queer open-air ovens. one small child had as pets a parrot and a young coati--a kind of long- nosed raccoon. loading wood, the indians stood in a line, tossing the logs from one to the other. these indians wore clothes. on this day we got into the tropics. even in the heat of the day the deck was pleasant under the awnings; the sun rose and set in crimson splendor; and the nights, with the moon at the full, were wonderful. at night orion blazed overhead; and the southern cross hung in the star-brilliant heavens behind us. but after the moon rose the constellations paled; and clear in her light the tree-clad banks stood on either hand as we steamed steadily against the swirling current of the great river. at noon on the twelfth we were at the brazilian boundary. on this day we here and there came on low, conical hills close to the river. in places the palm groves broke through the belts of deciduous trees and stretched for a mile or so right along the river's bank. at times we passed cattle on the banks or sand-bars, followed by their herders; or a handsome ranch-house, under a cluster of shady trees, some bearing a wealth of red and some a wealth of yellow blossoms; or we saw a horse- corral among the trees close to the brink, with the horses in it and a barefooted man in shirt and trousers leaning against the fence; or a herd of cattle among the palms; or a big tannery or factory or a little native hamlet came in sight. we stopped at one tannery. the owner was a spaniard, the manager an "oriental," as he called himself, a uruguayan, of german parentage. the peons, or workers, who lived in a long line of wooden cabins back of the main building, were mostly paraguayans, with a few brazilians, and a dozen german and argentine foremen. there were also some wild indians, who were camped in the usual squalid fashion of indians who are hangers-on round the white man but have not yet adopted his ways. most of the men were at work cutting wood for the tannery. the women and children were in camp. some individuals of both sexes were naked to the waist. one little girl had a young ostrich as a pet. water-fowl were plentiful. we saw large flocks of wild muscovy ducks. our tame birds come from this wild species and its absurd misnaming dates back to the period when the turkey and guinea-pig were misnamed in similar fashion--our european forefathers taking a large and hazy view of geography, and including turkey, guinea, india, and muscovy as places which, in their capacity of being outlandish, could be comprehensively used as including america. the muscovy ducks were very good eating. darters and cormorants swarmed. they waddled on the sand- bars in big flocks and crowded the trees by the water's edge. beautiful snow-white egrets also lit in the trees, often well back from the river. a full-foliaged tree of vivid green, its round surface crowded with these birds, as if it had suddenly blossomed with huge white flowers, is a sight worth seeing. here and there on the sand- bars we saw huge jabiru storks, and once a flock of white wood-ibis among the trees on the bank. on the brazilian boundary we met a shallow river steamer carrying colonel candido mariano da silva rondon and several other brazilian members of the expedition. colonel rondon immediately showed that he was all, and more than all, that could be desired. it was evident that he knew his business thoroughly, and it was equally evident that he would be a pleasant companion. he was a classmate of mr. lauro muller at the brazilian military academy. he is of almost pure indian blood, and is a positivist--the positivists are a really strong body in brazil, as they are in france and indeed in chile. the colonel's seven children have all been formally made members of the positivist church in rio janeiro. brazil possesses the same complete liberty in matters religious, spiritual, and intellectual as we, for our great good fortune, do in the united states, and my brazilian companions included catholics and equally sincere men who described themselves as "libres penseurs." colonel rondon has spent the last twenty-four years in exploring the western highlands of brazil, pioneering the way for telegraph-lines and railroads. during that time he has travelled some fourteen thousand miles, on territory most of which had not previously been traversed by civilized man, and has built three thousand miles of telegraph. he has an exceptional knowledge of the indian tribes and has always zealously endeavored to serve them and indeed to serve the cause of humanity wherever and whenever he was able. thanks mainly to his efforts, four of the wild tribes of the region he has explored have begun to tread the road of civilization. they have taken the first steps toward becoming christians. it may seem strange that among the first-fruits of the efforts of a positivist should be the conversion of those he seeks to benefit to christianity. but in south america christianity is at least as much a status as a theology. it represents the indispensable first step upward from savagery. in the wilder and poorer districts men are divided into the two great classes of "christians" and "indians." when an indian becomes a christian he is accepted into and becomes wholly absorbed or partly assimilated by the crude and simple neighboring civilization, and then he moves up or down like any one else among his fellows. among colonel rondon's companions were captain amilcar de magalhaes, lieutenant joao lyra, lieutenant joaquin de mello filho, and doctor euzebio de oliveira, a geologist. the steamers halted; colonel rondon and several of his officers, spick and span in their white uniforms, came aboard; and in the afternoon i visited him on his steamer to talk over our plans. when these had been fully discussed and agreed on we took tea. i happened to mention that one of our naturalists, miller, had been bitten by a piranha, and the man-eating fish at once became the subject of conversation. curiously enough, one of the brazilian taxidermists had also just been severely bitten by a piranha. my new companions had story after story to tell of them. only three weeks previously a twelve-year-old boy who had gone in swimming near corumba was attacked, and literally devoured alive by them. colonel rondon during his exploring trips had met with more than one unpleasant experience in connection with them. he had lost one of his toes by the bite of a piranha. he was about to bathe and had chosen a shallow pool at the edge of the river, which he carefully inspected until he was satisfied that none of the man-eating fish were in it; yet as soon as he put his foot into the water one of them attacked him and bit off a toe. on another occasion while wading across a narrow stream one of his party was attacked; the fish bit him on the thighs and buttocks, and when he put down his hands tore them also; he was near the bank and by a rush reached it and swung himself out of the water by means of an overhanging limb of a tree; but he was terribly injured, and it took him six months before his wounds healed and he recovered. an extraordinary incident occurred on another trip. the party were without food and very hungry. on reaching a stream they dynamited it, and waded in to seize the stunned fish as they floated on the surface. one man, lieutenant pyrineus, having his hands full, tried to hold one fish by putting its head into his mouth; it was a piranha and seemingly stunned, but in a moment it recovered and bit a big section out of his tongue. such a hemorrhage followed that his life was saved with the utmost difficulty. on another occasion a member of the party was off by himself on a mule. the mule came into camp alone. following his track back they came to a ford, where in the water they found the skeleton of the dead man, his clothes uninjured but every particle of flesh stripped from his bones. whether he had drowned, and the fishes had then eaten his body, or whether they had killed him it was impossible to say. they had not hurt the clothes, getting in under them, which made it seem likely that there had been no struggle. these man-eating fish are a veritable scourge in the waters they frequent. but it must not be understood by this that the piranhas--or, for the matter of that, the new-world caymans and crocodiles--ever become such dreaded foes of man as for instance the man-eating crocodiles of africa. accidents occur, and there are certain places where swimming and bathing are dangerous; but in most places the people swim freely, although they are usually careful to find spots they believe safe or else to keep together and make a splashing in the water. during his trips colonel rondon had met with various experiences with wild creatures. the paraguayan caymans are not ordinarily dangerous to man; but they do sometimes become man-eaters and should be destroyed whenever the opportunity offers. the huge caymans and crocodiles of the amazon are far more dangerous, and the colonel knew of repeated instances where men, women and children had become their victims. once while dynamiting a stream for fish for his starving party he partially stunned a giant anaconda, which he killed as it crept slowly off. he said that it was of a size that no other anaconda he had ever seen even approached, and that in his opinion such a brute if hungry would readily attack a full-grown man. twice smaller anacondas had attacked his dogs; one was carried under water--for the anaconda is a water- loving serpent--but he rescued it. one of his men was bitten by a jararaca; he killed the venomous snake, but was not discovered and brought back to camp until it was too late to save his life. the puma colonel rondon had found to be as cowardly as i have always found it, but the jaguar was a formidable beast, which occasionally turned man- eater, and often charged savagely when brought to bay. he had known a hunter to be killed by a jaguar he was following in thick grass cover. all such enemies, however, he regarded as utterly trivial compared to the real dangers of the wilderness--the torment and menace of attacks by the swarming insects, by mosquitoes and the even more intolerable tiny gnats, by the ticks, and by the vicious poisonous ants which occasionally cause villages and even whole districts to be deserted by human beings. these insects, and the fevers they cause, and dysentery and starvation and wearing hardship and accidents in rapids are what the pioneer explorers have to fear. the conversation was to me most interesting. the colonel spoke french about to the extent i did; but of course he and the others preferred portuguese; and then kermit was the interpreter. in the evening, soon after moonrise, we stopped for wood at the little brazilian town of porto martinho. there are about twelve hundred inhabitants. some of the buildings were of stone; a large private house with a castellated tower was of stone; there were shops, and a post-office, stores, a restaurant and billiard-hall, and warehouses for matte, of which much is grown in the region roundabout. most of the houses were low, with overhanging, sloping caves; and there were gardens with high walls, inside of which trees rose, many of them fragrant. we wandered through the wide, dusty streets, and along the narrow sidewalks. it was a hot, still evening; the smell of the tropics was on the heavy december air. through the open doors and windows we caught dim glimpses of the half-clad inmates of the poorer houses; women and young girls sat outside their thresholds in the moonlight. all whom we met were most friendly: the captain of the little brazilian garrison; the intendente, a local trader; another trader and ranchman, a uruguayan, who had just received his newspaper containing my speech in montevideo, and who, as i gathered from what i understood of his rather voluble spanish, was much impressed by my views on democracy, honesty, liberty, and order (rather well-worn topics); and a catalan who spoke french, and who was accompanied by his pretty daughter, a dear little girl of eight or ten, who said with much pride that she spoke three languages--brazilian, spanish, and catalan! her father expressed strongly his desire for a church and for a school in the little city. when at last the wood was aboard we resumed our journey. the river was like glass. in the white moonlight the palms on the edge of the banks stood mirrored in the still water. we sat forward and as we rounded the curves the long silver reaches of the great stream stretched ahead of us, and the ghostly outlines of hills rose in the distance. here and there prairie fires burned, and the red glow warred with the moon's radiance. next morning was overcast. occasionally we passed a wood-yard, or factory, or cabin, now on the eastern, the brazilian, now on the western, the paraguayan, bank. the paraguay was known to men of european birth, bore soldiers and priests and merchants as they sailed and rowed up and down the current of its stream, and beheld little towns and forts rise on its banks, long before the mississippi had become the white man's highway. now, along its upper course, the settlements are much like those on the mississippi at the end of the first quarter of the last century; and in the not distant future it will witness a burst of growth and prosperity much like that which the mississippi saw when the old men of today were very young. in the early forenoon we stopped at a little paraguayan hamlet, nestling in the green growth under a group of low hills by the river- brink. on one of these hills stood a picturesque old stone fort, known as fort bourbon in the spanish, the colonial, days. now the paraguayan flag floats over it, and it is garrisoned by a handful of paraguayan soldiers. here father zahm baptized two children, the youngest of a large family of fair-skinned, light-haired small people, whose father was a paraguayan and the mother an "oriental," or uruguayan. no priest had visited the village for three years, and the children were respectively one and two years of age. the sponsors included the local commandante and a married couple from austria. in answer to what was supposed to be the perfunctory question whether they were catholics, the parents returned the unexpected answer that they were not. further questioning elicited the fact that the father called himself a "free- thinking catholic," and the mother said she was a "protestant catholic," her mother having been a protestant, the daughter of an immigrant from normandy. however, it appeared that the older children had been baptized by the bishop of asuncion, so father zahm at the earnest request of the parents proceeded with the ceremony. they were good people; and, although they wished liberty to think exactly as they individually pleased, they also wished to be connected and to have their children connected with some church, by preference the church of the majority of their people. a very short experience of communities where there is no church ought to convince the most heterodox of the absolute need of a church. i earnestly wish that there could be such an increase in the personnel and equipment of the catholic church in south america as to permit the establishment of one good and earnest priest in every village or little community in the far interior. nor is there any inconsistency between this wish and the further wish that there could be a marked extension and development of the native protestant churches, such as i saw established here and there in brazil, uruguay, and argentina, and of the y. m. c. associations. the bulk of these good people who profess religion will continue to be catholics, but the spiritual needs of a more or less considerable minority will best be met by the establishment of protestant churches, or in places even of a positivist church or ethical culture society. not only is the establishment of such churches a good thing for the body politic as a whole, but a good thing for the catholic church itself; for their presence is a constant spur to activity and clean and honorable conduct, and a constant reflection on sloth and moral laxity. the government in each of these commonwealths is doing everything possible to further the cause of education, and the tendency is to treat education as peculiarly a function of government and to make it, where the government acts, non- sectarian, obligatory, and free--a cardinal doctrine of our own great democracy, to which we are committed by every principle of sound americanism. there must be absolute religious liberty, for tyranny and intolerance are as abhorrent in matters intellectual and spiritual as in matters political and material; and more and more we must all realize that conduct is of infinitely greater importance than dogma. but no democracy can afford to overlook the vital importance of the ethical and spiritual, the truly religious, element in life; and in practice the average good man grows clearly to understand this, and to express the need in concrete form by saying that no community can make much headway if it does not contain both a church and a school. we took breakfast--the eleven-o'clock brazilian breakfast--on colonel rondon's boat. caymans were becoming more plentiful. the ugly brutes lay on the sand-flats and mud-banks like logs, always with the head raised, sometimes with the jaws open. they are often dangerous to domestic animals, and are always destructive to fish, and it is good to shoot them. i killed half a dozen, and missed nearly as many more-- a throbbing boat does not improve one's aim. we passed forests of palms that extended for leagues, and vast marshy meadows, where storks, herons, and ibis were gathered, with flocks of cormorants and darters on the sand-bars, and stilts, skimmers, and clouds of beautiful swaying terns in the foreground. about noon we passed the highest point which the old spanish conquistadores and explorers, irala and ayolas, had reached in the course of their marvellous journeys in the first half of the sixteenth century--at a time when there was not a settlement in what is now the united states, and when hardly a single english sea captain had ventured so much as to cross the atlantic. by the following day the country on the east bank had become a vast marshy plain dotted here and there by tree-clad patches of higher land. the morning was rainy; a contrast to the fine weather we had hitherto encountered. we passed wood-yards and cattle-ranches. at one of the latter the owner, an argentine of irish parentage, who still spoke english with the accent of the land of his parents' nativity, remarked that this was the first time the american flag had been seen on the upper paraguay; for our gunboat carried it at the masthead. early in the afternoon, having reached the part where both banks of the river were brazilian territory, we came to the old colonial portuguese fort of coimbra. it stands where two steep hills rise, one on either side of the river, and it guards the water-gorge between them. it was captured by the paraguayans in the war of nearly half a century ago. some modern guns have been mounted, and there is a garrison of brazilian troops. the white fort is perched on the hillside, where it clings and rises, terrace above terrace, with bastion and parapet and crenellated wall. at the foot of the hill, on the riverine plain, stretches the old-time village with its roofs of palm. in the village dwell several hundred souls, almost entirely the officers and soldiers and their families. there is one long street. the one-story, daub-and-wattle houses have low eaves and steep sloping roofs of palm-leaves or of split palm-trunks. under one or two old but small trees there are rude benches; and for a part of the length of the street there is a rough stone sidewalk. a little graveyard, some of the tombs very old, stands at one end. as we passed down the street the wives and the swarming children of the garrison were at the doors and windows; there were women and girls with skins as fair as any in the northland, and others that were predominantly negro. most were of intervening shades. all this was paralleled among the men; and the fusion of the colors was going on steadily. around the village black vultures were gathered. not long before reaching it we passed some rounded green trees, their tops covered with the showy wood-ibis; at the same time we saw behind them, farther inland, other trees crowded with the more delicate forms of the shining white egrets. the river now widened so that in places it looked like a long lake; it wound in every direction through the endless marshy plain, whose surface was broken here and there by low mountains. the splendor of the sunset i never saw surpassed. we were steaming east toward clouds of storm. the river ran, a broad highway of molten gold, into the flaming sky; the far-off mountains loomed purple across the marshes; belts of rich green, the river banks stood out on either side against the rose-hues of the rippling water; in front, as we forged steadily onward, hung the tropic night, dim and vast. on december we reached corumba. for three or four miles before it is reached the west bank, on which it stands, becomes high rocky ground, falling away into cliffs. the country roundabout was evidently well peopled. we saw gauchos, cattle-herders--the equivalent of our own cowboys--riding along the bank. women were washing clothes, and their naked children bathing, on the shore; we were told that caymans and piranhas rarely ventured near a place where so much was going on, and that accidents generally occurred in ponds or lonely stretches of the river. several steamers came out to meet us, and accompanied us for a dozen miles, with bands playing and the passengers cheering, just as if we were nearing some town on the hudson. corumba is on a steep hillside, with wide, roughly paved streets, some of them lined with beautiful trees that bear scarlet flowers, and with well-built houses, most of them of one story, some of two or three stories. we were greeted with a reception by the municipal council, and were given a state dinner. the hotel, kept by an italian, was as comfortable as possible--stone floors, high ceilings, big windows and doors, a cool, open courtyard, and a shower-bath. of course corumba is still a frontier town. the vehicles ox-carts and mule-carts; there are no carriages; and oxen as well as mules are used for riding. the water comes from a big central well; around it the water-carts gather, and their contents are then peddled around at the different houses. the families showed the mixture of races characteristic of brazil; one mother, after the children had been photographed in their ordinary costume, begged that we return and take them in their sunday clothes, which was accordingly done. in a year the railway from rio will reach corumba; and then this city, and the country roundabout, will see much development. at this point we rejoined the rest of the party, and very glad we were to see them. cherrie and miller had already collected some eight hundred specimens of mammals and birds. iii. a jaguar-hunt on the taquary the morning after our arrival at corumba i asked colonel rondon to inspect our outfit; for his experience of what is necessary in tropical travelling has been gained through a quarter of a century of arduous exploration in the wilderness. it was fiala who had assembled our food-tents, cooking-utensils, and supplies of all kinds, and he and sigg, during their stay in corumba, had been putting everything in shape for our start. colonel rondon at the end of his inspection said he had nothing whatever to suggest; that it was extraordinary that fiala, without personal knowledge of the tropics, could have gathered the things most necessary, with the minimum of bulk and maximum of usefulness. miller had made a special study of the piranhas, which swarmed at one of the camps he and cherrie had made in the chaco. so numerous were they that the members of the party had to be exceedingly careful in dipping up water. miller did not find that they were cannibals toward their own kind; they were "cannibals" only in the sense of eating the flesh of men. when dead piranhas, and even when mortally injured piranhas, with the blood flowing, were thrown among the ravenous living, they were left unmolested. moreover, it was miller's experience, the direct contrary of which we had been told, that splashing and a commotion in the water attracted the piranhas, whereas they rarely attacked anything that was motionless unless it was bloody. dead birds and mammals, thrown whole and unskinned into the water were permitted to float off unmolested, whereas the skinned carcass of a good-sized monkey was at once seized, pulled under the water, and completely devoured by the blood-crazy fish. a man who had dropped something of value waded in after it to above the knees, but went very slowly and quietly, avoiding every possibility of disturbance, and not venturing to put his hands into the water. but nobody could bathe, and even the slightest disturbance in the water, such as that made by scrubbing the hands vigorously with soap, immediately attracted the attention of the savage little creatures, who darted to the place, evidently hoping to find some animal in difficulties. once, while miller and some indians were attempting to launch a boat, and were making a great commotion in the water, a piranha attacked a naked indian who belonged to the party and mutilated him as he struggled and splashed, waist-deep in the stream. men not making a splashing and struggling are rarely attacked; but if one is attacked by any chance, the blood in the water maddens the piranhas, and they assail the man with frightful ferocity. at corumba the weather was hot. in the patio of the comfortable little hotel we heard the cicadas; but i did not hear the extraordinary screaming whistle of the locomotive cicada, which i had heard in the gardens of the house in which i stayed at asuncion. this was as remarkable a sound as any animal sound to which i have listened, except only the batrachian-like wailing of the tree hyrax in east africa; and like the east african mammal this south american insect has a voice, or rather utters a sound which, so far as it resembles any other animal sound, at the beginning remotely suggests batrachian affinities. the locomotive-whistle part of the utterance, however, resembles nothing so much as a small steam siren; when first heard it seems impossible that it can be produced by an insect. on december colonel rondon and several members of our party started on a shallow river steamer for the ranch of senhor de barros, "las palmeiras," on the rio taquary. we went down the paraguay for a few miles, and then up the taquary. it was a beautiful trip. the shallow river--we were aground several times--wound through a vast, marshy plain, with occasional spots of higher land on which trees grew. there were many water-birds. darters swarmed. but the conspicuous and attractive bird was the stately jabiru stork. flocks of these storks whitened the marshes and lined the river banks. they were not shy, for such big birds; before flying they had to run a few paces and then launch themselves on the air. once, at noon, a couple soared round overhead in wide rings, rising higher and higher. on another occasion, late in the day, a flock passed by, gleaming white with black points in the long afternoon lights, and with them were spoonbills, showing rosy amid their snowy companions. caymans, always called jacares, swarmed; and we killed scores of the noxious creatures. they were singularly indifferent to our approach and to the sound of the shots. sometimes they ran into the water erect on their legs, looking like miniatures of the monsters of the prime. one showed by its behavior how little an ordinary shot pains or affects these dull-nerved, cold- blooded creatures. as it lay on a sand-bank, it was hit with a long bullet. it slid into the water but found itself in the midst of a school of fish. it at once forgot everything except its greedy appetite, and began catching the fish. it seized fish after fish, holding its head above water as soon as its jaws had closed on a fish; and a second bullet killed it. some of the crocodiles when shot performed most extraordinary antics. our weapons, by the way, were good, except miller's shotgun. the outfit furnished by the american museum was excellent--except in guns and cartridges; this gun was so bad that miller had to use fiala's gun or else my fox -bore. in the late afternoon we secured a more interesting creature than the jacares. kermit had charge of two hounds which we owed to the courtesy of one of our argentine friends. they were biggish, nondescript animals, obviously good fighters, and they speedily developed the utmost affection for all the members of the expedition, but especially for kermit, who took care of them. one we named "shenzi," the name given the wild bush natives by the swahili, the semi-civilized african porters. he was good-natured, rough, and stupid--hence his name. the other was called by a native name, "trigueiro." the chance now came to try them. we were steaming between long stretches of coarse grass, about three feet high, when we spied from the deck a black object, very conspicuous against the vivid green. it was a giant ant-eater, or tamandua bandeira, one of the most extraordinary creatures of the latter-day world. it is about the size of a rather small black bear. it has a very long, narrow, toothless snout, with a tongue it can project a couple of feet; it is covered with coarse, black hair, save for a couple of white stripes; it has a long, bushy tail and very powerful claws on its fore feet. it walks on the sides of its fore feet with these claws curved in under the foot. the claws are used in digging out ant-hills; but the beast has courage, and in a grapple is a rather unpleasant enemy, in spite of its toothless mouth, for it can strike a formidable blow with these claws. it sometimes hugs a foe, gripping him tight; but its ordinary method of defending itself is to strike with its long, stout, curved claws, which, driven by its muscular forearm, can rip open man or beast. several of our companions had had dogs killed by these ant-eaters; and we came across one man with a very ugly scar down his back, where he had been hit by one, which charged him when he came up to kill it at close quarters. as soon as we saw the giant tamandua we pushed off in a rowboat, and landed only a couple of hundred yards distant from our clumsy quarry. the tamandua throughout most of its habitat rarely leaves the forest, and it is a helpless animal in the open plain. the two dogs ran ahead, followed by colonel rondon and kermit, with me behind carrying the rifle. in a minute or two the hounds overtook the cantering, shuffling creature, and promptly began a fight with it; the combatants were so mixed up that i had to wait another minute or so before i could fire without risk of hitting a dog. we carried our prize back to the bank and hoisted it aboard the steamer. the sun was just about to set, behind dim mountains, many miles distant across the marsh. soon afterward we reached one of the outstations of the huge ranch we were about to visit, and hauled up alongside the bank for the night. there was a landing-place, and sheds and corrals. several of the peons or gauchos had come to meet us. after dark they kindled fires, and sat beside them singing songs in a strange minor key and strumming guitars. the red firelight flickered over their wild figures as they squatted away from the blaze, where the light and the shadow met. it was still and hot. there were mosquitoes, of course, and other insects of all kinds swarmed round every light; but the steamboat was comfortable, and we passed a pleasant night. at sunrise we were off for the "fazenda," the ranch of m. de barros. the baggage went in an ox-cart--which had to make two trips, so that all of my belongings reached the ranch a day later than i did. we rode small, tough ranch horses. the distance was some twenty miles. the whole country was marsh, varied by stretches of higher ground; and, although these stretches rose only three or four feet above the marsh, they were covered with thick jungle, largely palmetto scrub, or else with open palm forest. for three or four miles we splashed through the marsh, now and then crossing boggy pools where the little horses labored hard not to mire down. our dusky guide was clad in a shirt, trousers, and fringed leather apron, and wore spurs on his bare feet; he had a rope for a bridle, and two or three toes of each foot were thrust into little iron stirrups. the pools in the marsh were drying. they were filled with fish, most of them dead or dying; and the birds had gathered to the banquet. the most notable dinner guests were the great jabiru storks; the stately creatures dotted the marsh. but ibis and herons abounded; the former uttered queer, querulous cries when they discovered our presence. the spurred lapwings were as noisy as they always are. the ibis and plover did not pay any heed to the fish; but the black carrion vultures feasted on them in the mud; and in the pools that were not dry small alligators, the jacare-tinga, were feasting also. in many places the stench from the dead fish was unpleasant. then for miles we rode through a beautiful open forest of tall, slender caranda palms, with other trees scattered among them. green parakeets with black heads chattered as they flew; noisy green and red parrots climbed among the palms; and huge macaws, some entirely blue, others almost entirely red, screamed loudly as they perched in the trees or took wing at our approach. if one was wounded its cries kept its companions circling around overhead. the naturalists found the bird fauna totally different from that which they had been collecting in the hill country near corumba, seventy or eighty miles distant; and birds swarmed, both species and individuals. south america has the most extensive and most varied avifauna of all the continents. on the other hand, its mammalian fauna, although very interesting, is rather poor in number of species and individuals and in the size of the beasts. it possesses more mammals that are unique and distinctive in type than does any other continent save australia; and they are of higher and much more varied types than in australia. but there is nothing approaching the majesty, beauty, and swarming mass of the great mammalian life of africa and, in a less degree, of tropical asia; indeed, it does not even approach the similar mammalian life of north america and northern eurasia, poor though this is compared with the seething vitality of tropical life in the old world. during a geologically recent period, a period extending into that which saw man spread over the world in substantially the physical and cultural stage of many existing savages, south america possessed a varied and striking fauna of enormous beasts--sabre-tooth tigers, huge lions, mastodons, horses of many kinds, camel-like pachyderms, giant ground- sloths, mylodons the size of the rhinoceros, and many, many other strange and wonderful creatures. from some cause, concerning the nature of which we cannot at present even hazard a guess, this vast and giant fauna vanished completely, the tremendous catastrophe (the duration of which is unknown) not being consummated until within a few thousand or a few score thousand years. when the white man reached south america he found the same weak and impoverished mammalian fauna that exists practically unchanged to-day. elsewhere civilized man has been even more destructive than his very destructive uncivilized brothers of the magnificent mammalian life of the wilderness; for ages he has been rooting out the higher forms of beast life in europe, asia, and north africa; and in our own day he has repeated the feat, on a very large scale, in the rest of africa and in north america. but in south america, although he is in places responsible for the wanton slaughter of the most interesting and the largest, or the most beautiful, birds, his advent has meant a positive enrichment of the wild mammalian fauna. none of the native grass-eating mammals, the graminivores, approach in size and beauty the herds of wild or half- wild cattle and horses, or so add to the interest of the landscape. there is every reason why the good people of south america should waken, as we of north america, very late in the day, are beginning to waken, and as the peoples of northern europe--not southern europe-- have already partially wakened, to the duty of preserving from impoverishment and extinction the wild life which is an asset of such interest and value in our several lands; but the case against civilized man in this matter is gruesomely heavy anyhow, when the plain truth is told, and it is harmed by exaggeration. after five or six hours' travelling through this country of marsh and of palm forest we reached the ranch for which we were heading. in the neighborhood stood giant fig-trees, singly or in groups, with dense, dark green foliage. ponds, overgrown with water-plants, lay about; wet meadow, and drier pastureland, open or dotted with palms and varied with tree jungle, stretched for many miles on every hand. there are some thirty thousand head of cattle on the ranch, besides herds of horses and droves of swine, and a few flocks of sheep and goats. the home buildings of the ranch stood in a quadrangle, surrounded by a fence or low stockade. one end of the quadrangle was formed by the ranch-house itself, one story high, with whitewashed walls and red- tiled roof. inside, the rooms were bare, with clean, whitewashed walls and palm-trunk rafters. there were solid wooden shutters on the unglazed windows. we slept in hammocks or on cots, and we feasted royally on delicious native brazilian dishes. on another side of the quadrangle stood another long, low white building with a red-tiled roof; this held the kitchen and the living-rooms of the upper-grade peons, the headmen, the cook, and jaguar-hunters, with their families: dark-skinned men, their wives showing varied strains of white, indian, and negro blood. the children tumbled merrily in the dust, and were fondly tended by their mothers. opposite the kitchen stood a row of buildings, some whitewashed daub and wattle, with tin roofs, others of erect palm-logs with palm-leaf thatch. these were the saddle-room, storehouse, chicken-house, and stable. the chicken-house was allotted to kermit and miller for the preparation of the specimens; and there they worked industriously. with a big skin, like that of the giant ant-eater, they had to squat on the ground; while the ducklings and wee chickens scuffled not only round the skin but all over it, grabbing the shreds and scraps of meat and catching flies. the fourth end of the quadrangle was formed by a corral and a big wooden scaffolding on which hung hides and strips of drying meat. extraordinary to relate, there were no mosquitoes at the ranch; why i cannot say, as they ought to swarm in these vast "pantanals," or swamps. therefore, in spite of the heat, it was very pleasant. near by stood other buildings: sheds, and thatched huts of palm-logs in which the ordinary peons lived, and big corrals. in the quadrangle were flamboyant trees, with their masses of brilliant red flowers and delicately cut, vivid-green foliage. noisy oven-birds haunted these trees. in a high palm in the garden a family of green parakeets had taken up their abode and were preparing to build nests. they chattered incessantly both when they flew and when they sat or crawled among the branches. ibis and plover, crying and wailing, passed immediately overhead. jacanas frequented the ponds near by; the peons, with a familiarity which to us seems sacrilegious, but to them was entirely inoffensive and matter of course, called them "the jesus christ birds," because they walked on the water. there was a wealth of strange bird life in the neighborhood. there were large papyrus- marshes, the papyrus not being a fifth, perhaps not a tenth, as high as in africa. in these swamps were many blackbirds. some uttered notes that reminded me of our own redwings. others, with crimson heads and necks and thighs, fairly blazed; often a dozen sat together on a swaying papyrus-stem which their weight bent over. there were all kinds of extraordinary bird's-nests in the trees. there is still need for the work of the collector in south america. but i believe that already, so far as birds are concerned, there is infinitely more need for the work of the careful observer, who to the power of appreciation and observation adds the power of vivid, truthful, and interesting narration--which means, as scientists no less than historians should note, that training in the writing of good english is indispensable to any learned man who expects to make his learning count for what it ought to count in the effect on his fellow men. the outdoor naturalist, the faunal naturalist, who devotes himself primarily to a study of the habits and of the life-histories of birds, beasts, fish, and reptiles, and who can portray truthfully and vividly what he has seen, could do work of more usefulness than any mere collector, in this upper paraguay country. the work of the collector is indispensable; but it is only a small part of the work that ought to be done; and after collecting has reached a certain point the work of the field observer with the gift for recording what he has seen becomes of far more importance. the long days spent riding through the swamp, the "pantanal," were pleasant and interesting. several times we saw the tamandua bandeira, the giant ant-bear. kermit shot one, because the naturalists eagerly wished for a second specimen; afterward we were relieved of all necessity to molest the strange, out-of-date creatures. it was a surprise to us to find them habitually frequenting the open marsh. they were always on muddy ground, and in the papyrus-swamp we found them in several inches of water. the stomach is thick-walled, like a gizzard; the stomachs of those we shot contained adult and larval ants, chiefly termites, together with plenty of black mould and fragments of leaves, both green and dry. doubtless the earth and the vegetable matter had merely been taken incidentally, adhering to the viscid tongue when it was thrust into the ant masses. out in the open marsh the tamandua could neither avoid observation, nor fight effectively, nor make good its escape by flight. it was curious to see one lumbering off at a rocking canter, the big bushy tail held aloft. one, while fighting the dogs, suddenly threw itself on its back, evidently hoping to grasp a dog with its paws; and it now and then reared, in order to strike at its assailants. in one patch of thick jungle we saw a black howler monkey sitting motionless in a tree top. we also saw the swamp-deer, about the size of our blacktail. it is a real swamp animal, for we found it often in the papyrus-swamps, and out in the open marsh, knee-deep in the water, among the aquatic plants. the tough little horses bore us well through the marsh. often in crossing bayous and ponds the water rose almost to their backs; but they splashed and waded and if necessary swam through. the dogs were a wild-looking set. some were of distinctly wolfish appearance. these, we were assured, were descended in part from the big red wolf of the neighborhood, a tall, lank animal, with much smaller teeth than a big northern wolf. the domestic dog is undoubtedly descended from at least a dozen different species of wild dogs, wolves, and jackals, some of them probably belonging to what we style different genera. the degree of fecundity or lack of fecundity between different species varies in extraordinary and inexplicable fashion in different families of mammals. in the horse family, for instance, the species are not fertile inter se; whereas among the oxen, species seemingly at least as widely separated as the horse, ass, and zebra species such as the domestic ox, bison, yak, and gaur breed freely together and their offspring are fertile; the lion and tiger also breed together, and produce offspring which will breed with either parent stock; and tame dogs in different quarters of the world, although all of them fertile inter se, are in many cases obviously blood kin to the neighboring wild, wolf-like or jackal-like creatures which are specifically, and possibly even generically, distinct from one another. the big red wolf of the south american plains is not closely related to the northern wolves; and it was to me unexpected to find it interbreeding with ordinary domestic dogs. in the evenings after dinner we sat in the bare ranch dining-room, or out under the trees in the hot darkness, and talked of many things: natural history with the naturalists, and all kinds of other subjects both with them and with our brazilian friends. colonel rondon is not simply "an officer and a gentleman" in the sense that is honorably true of the best army officers in every good military service. he is also a peculiarly hardy and competent explorer, a good field naturalist and scientific man, a student and a philosopher. with him the conversation ranged from jaguar-hunting and the perils of exploration in the "matto grosso," the great wilderness, to indian anthropology, to the dangers of a purely materialistic industrial civilization, and to positivist morality. the colonel's positivism was in very fact to him a religion of humanity, a creed which bade him be just and kindly and useful to his fellow men, to live his life bravely, and no less bravely to face death, without reference to what he believed, or did not believe, or to what the unknown hereafter might hold for him. the native hunters who accompanied us were swarthy men of mixed blood. they were barefooted and scantily clad, and each carried a long, clumsy spear and a keen machete, in the use of which he was an expert. now and then, in thick jungle, we had to cut out a path, and it was interesting to see one of them, although cumbered by his unwieldy spear, handling his half-broken little horse with complete ease while he hacked at limbs and branches. of the two ordinarily with us one was much the younger; and whenever we came to an unusually doubtful- looking ford or piece of boggy ground the elder man always sent the younger one on and sat on the bank until he saw what befell the experimenter. in that rather preposterous book of our youth, the "swiss family robinson," mention is made of a tame monkey called nips, which was used to test all edible-looking things as to the healthfulness of which the adventurers felt doubtful; and because of the obvious resemblance of function we christened this younger hunter nips. our guides were not only hunters but cattle-herders. the coarse dead grass is burned to make room for the green young grass on which the cattle thrive. every now and then one of the men, as he rode ahead of us, without leaving the saddle, would drop a lighted match into a tussock of tall dead blades; and even as we who were behind rode by tongues of hot flame would be shooting up and a local prairie fire would have started. kermit took nips off with him for a solitary hunt one day. he shot two of the big marsh-deer, a buck and a doe, and preserved them as museum specimens. they were in the papyrus growth, but their stomachs contained only the fine marsh-grass which grows in the water and on the land along the edges of the swamps; the papyrus was used only for cover, not for food. the buck had two big scent-glands beside the nostrils; in the doe these were rudimentary. on this day kermit also came across a herd of the big, fierce white-lipped peccary; at the sound of their grunting nips promptly spurred his horse and took to his heels, explaining that the peccaries would charge them, hamstring the horses, and kill the riders. kermit went into the jungle after the truculent little wild hogs on foot and followed them for an hour, but never was able to catch sight of them. in the afternoon of this same day one of the jaguar-hunters--merely ranch hands, who knew something of the chase of the jaguar--who had been searching for tracks, rode in with the information that he had found fresh sign at a spot in the swamp about nine miles distant. next morning we rose at two, and had started on our jaguar-hunt at three. colonel rondon, kermit, and i, with the two trailers or jaguar- hunters, made up the party, each on a weedy, undersized marsh pony, accustomed to traversing the vast stretches of morass; and we were accompanied by a brown boy, with saddle-bags holding our lunch, who rode a long-horned trotting steer which he managed by a string through its nostril and lip. the two trailers carried each a long, clumsy spear. we had a rather poor pack. besides our own two dogs, neither of which was used to jaguar-hunting, there were the ranch dogs, which were well-nigh worthless, and then two jaguar hounds borrowed for the occasion from a ranch six or eight leagues distant. these were the only hounds on which we could place any trust, and they were led in leashes by the two trailers. one was a white bitch, the other, the best one we had, was a gelded black dog. they were lean, half-starved creatures with prick ears and a look of furtive wildness. as our shabby little horses shuffled away from the ranch-house the stars were brilliant and the southern cross hung well up in the heavens, tilted to the right. the landscape was spectral in the light of the waning moon. at the first shallow ford, as horses and dogs splashed across, an alligator, the jacare-tinga, some five feet long, floated unconcernedly among the splashing hoofs and paws; evidently at night it did not fear us. hour after hour we slogged along. then the night grew ghostly with the first dim gray of the dawn. the sky had become overcast. the sun rose red and angry through broken clouds; his disk flamed behind the tall, slender columns of the palms, and lit the waste fields of papyrus. the black monkeys howled mournfully. the birds awoke. macaws, parrots, parakeets screamed at us and chattered at us as we rode by. ibis called with wailing voices, and the plovers shrieked as they wheeled in the air. we waded across bayous and ponds, where white lilies floated on the water and thronging lilac-flowers splashed the green marsh with color. at last, on the edge of a patch of jungle, in wet ground, we came on fresh jaguar tracks. both the jaguar hounds challenged the sign. they were unleashed and galloped along the trail, while the other dogs noisily accompanied them. the hunt led right through the marsh. evidently the jaguar had not the least distaste for water. probably it had been hunting for capybaras or tapirs, and it had gone straight through ponds and long, winding, narrow ditches or bayous, where it must now and then have had to swim for a stroke or two. it had also wandered through the island-like stretches of tree-covered land, the trees at this point being mostly palms and tarumans; the taruman is almost as big as a live-oak, with glossy foliage and a fruit like an olive. the pace quickened, the motley pack burst into yelling and howling; and then a sudden quickening of the note showed that the game had either climbed a tree or turned to bay in a thicket. the former proved to be the case. the dogs had entered a patch of tall tree jungle, and as we cantered up through the marsh we saw the jaguar high among the forked limbs of a taruman tree. it was a beautiful picture-- the spotted coat of the big, lithe, formidable cat fairly shone as it snarled defiance at the pack below. i did not trust the pack; the dogs were not stanch, and if the jaguar came down and started i feared we might lose it. so i fired at once, from a distance of seventy yards. i was using my favorite rifle, the little springfield with which i have killed most kinds of african game, from the lion and elephant down; the bullets were the sharp, pointed kind, with the end of naked lead. at the shot the jaguar fell like a sack of sand through the branches, and although it staggered to its feet it went but a score of yards before it sank down, and when i came up it was dead under the palms, with three or four of the bolder dogs riving at it. the jaguar is the king of south american game, ranking on an equality with the noblest beasts of the chase of north america, and behind only the huge and fierce creatures which stand at the head of the big game of africa and asia. this one was an adult female. it was heavier and more powerful than a full-grown male cougar, or african panther or leopard. it was a big, powerfully built creature, giving the same effect of strength that a tiger or lion does, and that the lithe leopards and pumas do not. its flesh, by the way, proved good eating, when we had it for supper, although it was not cooked in the way it ought to have been. i tried it because i had found cougars such good eating; i have always regretted that in africa i did not try lion's flesh, which i am sure must be excellent. next day came kermit's turn. we had the miscellaneous pack with us, all much enjoying themselves; but, although they could help in a jaguar-hunt to the extent of giving tongue and following the chase for half a mile, cowing the quarry by their clamor, they were not sufficiently stanch to be of use if there was any difficulty in the hunt. the only two dogs we could trust were the two borrowed jaguar hounds. this was the black dog's day. about ten in the morning we came to a long, deep, winding bayou. on the opposite bank stood a capybara, looking like a blunt-nosed pig, its wet hide shining black. i killed it, and it slid into the water. then i found that the bayou extended for a mile or two in each direction, and the two hunter-guides said they did not wish to swim across for fear of the piranhas. just at this moment we came across fresh jaguar tracks. it was hot, we had been travelling for five hours, and the dogs were much exhausted. the black hound in particular was nearly done up, for he had been led in a leash by one of the horsemen. he lay flat on the ground, panting, unable to catch the scent. kermit threw water over him, and when he was thoroughly drenched and freshened, thrust his nose into the jaguar's footprints. the game old hound at once and eagerly responded. as he snuffed the scent he challenged loudly, while still lying down. then he staggered to his feet and started on the trail, going stronger with every leap. evidently the big cat was not far distant. soon we found where it had swum across the bayou. piranhas or no piranhas, we now intended to get across; and we tried to force our horses in at what seemed a likely spot. the matted growth of water-plants, with their leathery, slippery stems, formed an unpleasant barrier, as the water was swimming-deep for the horses. the latter were very unwilling to attempt the passage. kermit finally forced his horse through the tangled mass, swimming, plunging, and struggling. he left a lane of clear water, through which we swam after him. the dogs splashed and swam behind us. on the other bank they struck the fresh trail and followed it at a run. it led into a long belt of timber, chiefly composed of low-growing nacury palms, with long, drooping, many- fronded branches. in silhouette they suggest coarse bamboos; the nuts hang in big clusters and look like bunches of small, unripe bananas. among the lower palms were scattered some big ordinary trees. we cantered along outside the timber belt, listening to the dogs within; and in a moment a burst of yelling clamor from the pack told that the jaguar was afoot. these few minutes are the really exciting moments in the chase, with hounds, of any big cat that will tree. the furious baying of the pack, the shouts and cheers of encouragement from the galloping horsemen, the wilderness surroundings, the knowledge of what the quarry is--all combine to make the moment one of fierce and thrilling excitement. besides, in this case there was the possibility the jaguar might come to bay on the ground, in which event there would be a slight element of risk, as it might need straight shooting to stop a charge. however, about as soon as the long-drawn howling and eager yelping showed that the jaguar had been overtaken, we saw him, a huge male, up in the branches of a great fig-tree. a bullet behind the shoulder, from kermit's winchester, brought him dead to the ground. he was heavier than the very big male horse-killing cougar i shot in colorado, whose skull hart merriam reported as the biggest he had ever seen; he was very nearly double the weight of any of the male african leopards we shot; he was nearly or quite the weight of the smallest of the adult african lionesses we shot while in africa. he had the big bones, the stout frame, and the heavy muscular build of a small lion; he was not lithe and slender and long like a cougar or leopard; the tail, as with all jaguars, was short, while the girth of the body was great; his coat was beautiful, with a satiny gloss, and the dark-brown spots on the gold of his back, head, and sides were hardly as conspicuous as the black of the equally well-marked spots against his white belly. this was a well-known jaguar. he had occasionally indulged in cattle- killing; on one occasion during the floods he had taken up his abode near the ranch-house and had killed a couple of cows and a young steer. the hunters had followed him, but he had made his escape, and for the time being had abandoned the neighborhood. in these marshes each jaguar had a wide irregular range and travelled a good deal, perhaps only passing a day or two in a given locality, perhaps spending a week where game was plentiful. jaguars love the water. they drink greedily and swim freely. in this country they rambled through the night across the marshes and prowled along the edges of the ponds and bayous, catching the capybaras and the caymans; for these small pond caymans, the jacare-tinga, form part of their habitual food, and a big jaguar when hungry will attack and kill large caymans and crocodiles if he can get them a few yards from the water. on these marshes the jaguars also followed the peccary herds; it is said that they always strike the hindmost of a band of the fierce little wild pigs. elsewhere they often prey on the tapir. if in timber, however, the jaguar must kill it at once, for the squat, thick-skinned, wedge- shaped tapir has no respect for timber, as colonel rondon phrased it, and rushes with such blind, headlong speed through and among branches and trunks that if not immediately killed it brushes the jaguar off, the claws leaving long raking scars in the tough hide. cattle are often killed. the jaguar will not meddle with a big bull; and is cautious about attacking a herd accompanied by a bull; but it will at times, where wild game is scarce, kill every other domestic animal. it is a thirsty brute, and if it kills far from water will often drag its victim a long distance toward a pond or stream; colonel rondon had once come across a horse which a jaguar had thus killed and dragged for over a mile. jaguars also stalk and kill the deer; in this neighborhood they seemed to be less habitual deer-hunters than the cougars; whether this is generally the case i cannot say. they have been known to pounce on and devour good-sized anacondas. in this particular neighborhood the ordinary jaguars molested the cattle and horses hardly at all except now and then to kill calves. it was only occasionally that under special circumstances some old male took to cattle-killing. there were plenty of capybaras and deer, and evidently the big spotted cats preferred the easier prey when it was available; exactly as in east africa we found the lions living almost exclusively on zebra and antelope, and not molesting the buffalo and domestic cattle, which in other parts of africa furnish their habitual prey. in some other neighborhoods, not far distant, our hosts informed us that the jaguars lived almost exclusively on horses and cattle. they also told us that the cougars had the same habits as the jaguars except that they did not prey on such big animals. the cougars on this ranch never molested the foals, a fact which astonished me, as in the rockies they are the worst enemies of foals. it was interesting to find that my hosts, and the mixed-blood hunters and ranch workers, combined special knowledge of many of the habits of these big cats with a curious ignorance of other matters concerning them and a readiness to believe fables about them. this was precisely what i had found to be the case with the old-time north american hunters in discussing the puma, bear, and wolf, and with the english and boer hunters of africa when they spoke of the lion and rhinoceros. until the habit of scientific accuracy in observation and record is achieved and until specimens are preserved and carefully compared, entirely truthful men, at home in the wilderness, will whole-heartedly accept, and repeat as matters of gospel faith, theories which split the grizzly and black bears of each locality in the united states, and the lions and black rhinos of south africa, or the jaguars and pumas of any portion of south america, into several different species, all with widely different habits. they will, moreover, describe these imaginary habits with such sincerity and minuteness that they deceive most listeners; and the result sometimes is that an otherwise good naturalist will perpetuate these fables, as hudson did when he wrote of the puma. hudson was a capital observer and writer when he dealt with the ordinary birds and mammals of the well-settled districts near buenos aires and at the mouth of the rio negro; but he knew nothing of the wilderness. this is no reflection on him; his books are great favorites of mine, and are to a large degree models of what such books should be; i only wish that there were hundreds of such writers and observers who would give us similar books for all parts of america. but it is a mistake to accept him as an authority on that concerning which he was ignorant. an interesting incident occurred on the day we killed our first jaguar. we took our lunch beside a small but deep and obviously permanent pond. i went to the edge to dip up some water, and something growled or bellowed at me only a few feet away. it was a jacare-tinga or small cayman about five feet long. i paid no heed to it at the moment. but shortly afterward when our horses went down to drink it threatened them and frightened them; and then colonel rondon and kermit called me to watch it. it lay on the surface of the water only a few feet distant from us and threatened us; we threw cakes of mud at it, whereupon it clashed its jaws and made short rushes at us, and when we threw sticks it seized them and crunched them. we could not drive it away. why it should have shown such truculence and heedlessness i cannot imagine, unless perhaps it was a female, with eggs near by. in another little pond a jacare-tinga showed no less anger when another of my companions approached. it bellowed, opened its jaws, and lashed its tail. yet these pond jacares never actually molested even our dogs in the ponds, far less us on our horses. this same day others of our party had an interesting experience with the creatures in another pond. one of them was commander da cunha (of the brazilian navy), a capital sportsman and delightful companion. they found a deepish pond a hundred yards or so long and thirty or forty across. it was tenanted by the small caymans and by capybaras-- the largest known rodent, a huge aquatic guinea-pig, the size of a small sheep. it also swarmed with piranhas, the ravenous fish of which i have so often spoken. undoubtedly the caymans were subsisting largely on these piranhas. but the tables were readily turned if any caymans were injured. when a capybara was shot and sank in the water, the piranhas at once attacked it, and had eaten half the carcass ten minutes later. but much more extraordinary was the fact that when a cayman about five feet long was wounded the piranhas attacked and tore it, and actually drove it out on the bank to face its human foes. the fish first attacked the wound; then, as the blood maddened them, they attacked all the soft parts, their terrible teeth cutting out chunks of tough hide and flesh. evidently they did not molest either cayman or capybara while it was unwounded; but blood excited them to frenzy. their habits are in some ways inexplicable. we saw men frequently bathing unmolested; but there are places where this is never safe, and in any place if a school of the fish appear swimmers are in danger; and a wounded man or beast is in deadly peril if piranhas are in the neighborhood. ordinarily it appears that an unwounded man is attacked only by accident. such accidents are rare; but they happen with sufficient frequency to justify much caution in entering water where piranhas abound. we frequently came across ponds tenanted by numbers of capybaras. the huge, pig-like rodents are said to be shy elsewhere. here they were tame. the water was their home and refuge. they usually went ashore to feed on the grass, and made well-beaten trails in the marsh immediately around the water; but they must have travelled these at night, for we never saw them more than a few feet away from the water in the daytime. even at midday we often came on them standing beside a bayou or pond. the dogs would rush wildly at such a standing beast, which would wait until they were only a few yards off and then dash into and under the water. the dogs would also run full tilt into the water, and it was then really funny to see their surprise and disappointment at the sudden and complete disappearance of their quarry. often a capybara would stand or sit on its haunches in the water, with only its blunt, short-eared head above the surface, quite heedless of our presence. but if alarmed it would dive, for capybaras swim with equal facility on or below the surface; and if they wish to hide they rise gently among the rushes or water-lily leaves with only their nostrils exposed. in these waters the capybaras and small caymans paid no attention to one another, swimming and resting in close proximity. they both had the same enemy, the jaguar. the capybara is a game animal only in the sense that a hare or rabbit is. the flesh is good to eat, and its amphibious habits and queer nature and surroundings make it interesting. in some of the ponds the water had about gone, and the capybaras had become for the time being beasts of the marsh and the mud; although they could always find little slimy pools, under a mass of water-lilies, in which to lie and hide. our whole stay on this ranch was delightful. on the long rides we always saw something of interest, and often it was something entirely new to us. early one morning we came across two armadillos--the big, nine-banded armadillo. we were riding with the pack through a dry, sandy pasture country, dotted with clumps of palms, round the trunks of which grew a dense jungle of thorns and spanish bayonets. the armadillos were feeding in an open space between two of these jungle clumps, which were about a hundred yards apart. one was on all fours; the other was in a squatting position, with its fore legs off the ground. their long ears were very prominent. the dogs raced at them. i had always supposed that armadillos merely shuffled along, and curled up for protection when menaced; and i was almost as surprised as if i had seen a turtle gallop when these two armadillos bounded off at a run, going as fast as rabbits. one headed back for the nearest patch of jungle, which it reached. the other ran at full speed--and ran really fast, too--until it nearly reached the other patch, a hundred yards distant, the dogs in full cry immediately behind it. then it suddenly changed its mind, wheeled in its tracks, and came back like a bullet right through the pack. dog after dog tried to seize it or stop it and turned to pursue it; but its wedge-shaped snout and armored body, joined to the speed at which it was galloping, enabled it to drive straight ahead through its pursuers, not one of which could halt it or grasp it, and it reached in safety its thorny haven of refuge. it had run at speed about a hundred and fifty yards. i was much impressed by this unexpected exhibition; evidently this species of armadillo only curls up as a last resort, and ordinarily trusts to its speed, and to the protection its build and its armor give it while running, in order to reach its burrow or other place of safety. twice, while laying railway tracks near sao paulo, kermit had accidentally dug up armadillos with a steam-shovel. there were big ant-hills, some of them of huge dimensions, scattered through the country. sometimes they were built against the stems of trees. we did not here come across any of the poisonous or biting ants which, when sufficiently numerous, render certain districts uninhabitable. they are ordinarily not very numerous. those of them that march in large bodies kill nestling birds, and at once destroy any big animal unable to get out of their way. it has been suggested that nestlings in their nests are in some way immune from the attack of these ants. the experiments of our naturalists tended to show that this was not the case. they plundered any nest they came across and could get at. once we saw a small herd of peccaries, one a sow followed by three little pigs--they are said to have only two young, but we saw three, although of course it is possible one belonged to another sow. the herd galloped into a mass of thorny cover the hounds could not penetrate; and when they were in safety we heard them utter, from the depths of the jungle, a curious moaning sound. on one ride we passed a clump of palms which were fairly ablaze with bird color. there were magnificent hyacinth macaws; green parrots with red splashes; toucans with varied plumage, black, white, red, yellow; green jacmars; flaming orioles and both blue and dark-red tanagers. it was an extraordinary collection. all were noisy. perhaps there was a snake that had drawn them by its presence; but we could find no snake. the assembly dispersed as we rode up; the huge blue macaws departed in pairs, uttering their hoarse "ar-rah-h, ar-rah-h." it has been said that parrots in the wilderness are only noisy on the wing. they are certainly noisy on the wing; and those that we saw were quiet while they were feeding; but ordinarily when they were perched among the branches, and especially when, as in the case of the little parakeets near the house, they were gathering materials for nest-building, they were just as noisy as while flying. the water-birds were always a delight. we shot merely the two or three specimens the naturalists needed for the museum. i killed a wood-ibis on the wing with the handy little springfield, and then lost all the credit i had thus gained by a series of inexcusable misses, at long range, before i finally killed a jabiru. kermit shot a jabiru with the luger automatic. the great, splendid birds, standing about as tall as a man, show fight when wounded, and advance against their assailants, clattering their formidable bills. one day we found the nest of a jabiru in a mighty fig-tree, on the edge of a patch of jungle. it was a big platform of sticks, placed on a horizontal branch. there were four half-grown young standing on it. we passed it in the morning, when both parents were also perched alongside; the sky was then overcast, and it was not possible to photograph it with the small camera. in the early afternoon when we again passed it the sun was out, and we tried to get photographs. only one parent bird was present at this time. it showed no fear. i noticed that, as it stood on a branch near the nest, its bill was slightly open. it was very hot, and i suppose it had opened its bill just as a hen opens her bill in hot weather. as we rode away the old bird and the four young birds were standing motionless, and with gliding flight the other old bird was returning to the nest. it is hard to give an adequate idea of the wealth of bird life in these marshes. a naturalist could with the utmost advantage spend six months on such a branch as that we visited. he would have to do some collecting, but only a little. exhaustive observation in the field is what is now most needed. most of this wonderful and harmless bird life should be protected by law; and the mammals should receive reasonable protection. the books now most needed are those dealing with the life-histories of wild creatures. near the ranch-house, walking familiarly among the cattle, we saw the big, deep-billed ani blackbirds. they feed on the insects disturbed by the hoofs of the cattle, and often cling to them and pick off the ticks. it was the end of the nesting season, and we did not find their curious communal nests, in which half a dozen females lay their eggs indiscriminately. the common ibises in the ponds near by--which usually went in pairs, instead of in flocks like the wood ibis--were very tame, and so were the night herons and all the small herons. in flying, the ibises and storks stretch the neck straight in front of them. the jabiru--a splendid bird on the wing--also stretches his neck out in front, but there appears to be a slight downward curve at the base of the neck, which may be due merely to the craw. the big slender herons, on the contrary, bend the long neck back in a beautiful curve, so that the head is nearly between the shoulders. one day i saw what i at first thought was a small yellow-bellied kingfisher hovering over a pond, and finally plunging down to the surface of the water after a school of tiny young fish; but it proved to be a bien-te-vì king-bird. curved-bill wood-hewers, birds the size and somewhat the coloration of veeries, but with long, slender sickle-bills, were common in the little garden back of the house; their habits were those of creepers, and they scrambled with agility up, along, and under the trunks and branches, and along the posts and rails of the fence, thrusting the bill into crevices for insects. the oven-birds, which had the carriage and somewhat the look of wood-thrushes, i am sure would prove delightful friends on a close acquaintance; they are very individual, not only in the extraordinary domed mud nests they build, but in all their ways, in their bright alertness; their interest in and curiosity about whatever goes on, their rather jerky quickness of movement, and their loud and varied calls. with a little encouragement they become tame and familiar. the parakeets were too noisy, but otherwise were most attractive little birds, as they flew to and fro and scrambled about in the top of the palm behind the house. there was one showy kind of king-bird or tyrant flycatcher, lustrous black with a white head. one afternoon several score cattle were driven into a big square corral near the house, in order to brand the calves and a number of unbranded yearlings and two-year-olds. a special element of excitement was added by the presence of a dozen big bulls which were to be turned into draught-oxen. the agility, nerve, and prowess of the ranch workmen, the herders or gauchos, were noteworthy. the dark-skinned men were obviously mainly of indian and negro descent, although some of them also showed a strong strain of white blood. they wore the usual shirt, trousers, and fringed leather apron, with jim-crow hats. their bare feet must have been literally as tough as horn; for when one of them roped a big bull he would brace himself, bending back until he was almost sitting down and digging his heels into the ground, and the galloping beast would be stopped short and whirled completely round when the rope tautened. the maddened bulls, and an occasional steer or cow, charged again and again with furious wrath; but two or three ropes would settle on the doomed beast, and down it would go; and when it was released and rose and charged once more, with greater fury than ever, the men, shouting with laughter, would leap up the sides of the heavy stockade. we stayed at the ranch until a couple of days before christmas. hitherto the weather had been lovely. the night before we left there was a torrential tropic downpour. it was not unexpected, for we had been told that the rainy season was overdue. the following forenoon the baggage started, in a couple of two-wheeled ox-carts, for the landing where the steamboat awaited us. each cart was drawn by eight oxen. the huge wheels were over seven feet high. early in the afternoon we followed on horseback, and overtook the carts as darkness fell, just before we reached the landing on the river's bank. the last few miles, after the final reaches of higher, tree-clad ground had been passed, were across a level plain of low ground on which the water stood, sometimes only up to the ankles of a man on foot, sometimes as high as his waist. directly in front of us, many leagues distant, rose the bold mountains that lie west of corumba. behind them the sun was setting and kindled the overcast heavens with lurid splendor. then the last rose tints faded from the sky; the horses plodded wearily through the water; on every side stretched the marsh, vast, lonely, desolate in the gray of the half-light. we overtook the ox-carts. the cattle strained in the yokes; the drivers wading alongside cracked their whips and uttered strange cries; the carts rocked and swayed as the huge wheels churned through the mud and water. as the last light faded we reached the small patches of dry land at the landing, where the flat-bottomed side-wheel steamboat was moored to the bank. the tired horses and oxen were turned loose to graze. water stood in the corrals, but the open shed was on dry ground. under it the half-clad, wild-looking ox-drivers and horse- herders slung their hammocks; and close by they lit a fire and roasted, or scorched, slabs and legs of mutton, spitted on sticks and propped above the smouldering flame. next morning, with real regret, we waved good-by to our dusky attendants, as they stood on the bank, grouped around a little fire, beside the big, empty ox-carts. a dozen miles down-stream a rowboat fitted for a sprit-sail put off from the bank. the owner, a countryman from a small ranch, asked for a tow to corumba, which we gave. he had with him in the boat his comely brown wife--who was smoking a very large cigar--their two children, a young man, and a couple of trunks and various other belongings. on christmas eve we reached corumba, and rejoined the other members of the expedition. iv. the headwaters of the paraguay at corumba our entire party, and all their belongings, came aboard our good little river boat, the nyoac. christmas day saw us making our way steadily up-stream against the strong current, and between the green and beautiful banks of the upper paraguay. the shallow little steamer was jammed with men, dogs, rifles, partially cured skins, boxes of provisions, ammunition, tools, and photographic supplies, bags containing tents, cots, bedding, and clothes, saddles, hammocks, and the other necessaries for a trip through the "great wilderness," the "matto grosso" of western brazil. it was a brilliantly clear day, and, although of course in that latitude and at that season the heat was intense later on, it was cool and pleasant in the early morning. we sat on the forward deck, admiring the trees on the brink of the sheer river banks, the lush, rank grass of the marshes, and the many water-birds. the two pilots, one black and one white, stood at the wheel. colonel rondon read thomas a kempis. kermit, cherrie, and miller squatted outside the railing on the deck over one paddle-wheel and put the final touches on the jaguar skins. fiala satisfied himself that the boxes and bags were in place. it was probable that hardship lay in the future; but the day was our own, and the day was pleasant. in the evening the after-deck, open all around, where we dined, was decorated with green boughs and rushes, and we drank the health of the president of the united states and of the president of brazil. now and then we passed little ranches on the river's edge. this is a fertile land, pleasant to live in, and any settler who is willing to work can earn his living. there are mines; there is water-power; there is abundance of rich soil. the country will soon be opened by rail. it offers a fine field for immigration and for agricultural, mining, and business development; and it has a great future. cherrie and miller had secured a little owl a month before in the chaco, and it was travelling with them in a basket. it was a dear little bird, very tame and affectionate. it liked to be handled and petted; and when miller, its especial protector, came into the cabin, it would make queer little noises as a signal that it wished to be taken up and perched on his hand. cherrie and miller had trapped many mammals. among them was a tayra weasel, whitish above and black below, as big and blood-thirsty as a fisher-martin; and a tiny opossum no bigger than a mouse. they had taken four species of opossum, but they had not found the curious water-opossum which they had obtained on the rivers flowing into the caribbean sea. this opossum, which is black and white, swims in the streams like a muskrat or otter, catching fish and living in burrows which open under water. miller and cherrie were puzzled to know why the young throve, leading such an existence of constant immersion; one of them once found a female swimming and diving freely with four quite well-grown young in her pouch. we saw on the banks screamers--big, crested waders of archaic type, with spurred wings, rather short bills, and no especial affinities with other modern birds. in one meadow by a pond we saw three marsh- deer, a buck and two does. they stared at us, with their thickly haired tails raised on end. these tails are black underneath, instead of white as in our whitetail deer. one of the vagaries of the ultraconcealing-colorationists has been to uphold the (incidentally quite preposterous) theory that the tail of our deer is colored white beneath so as to harmonize with the sky and thereby mislead the cougar or wolf at the critical moment when it makes its spring; but this marsh-deer shows a black instead of a white flag, and yet has just as much need of protection from its enemies, the jaguar and the cougar. in south america concealing coloration plays no more part in the lives of the adult deer, the tamandua, the tapir, the peccary, the jaguar, and the puma than it plays in africa in the lives of such animals as the zebra, the sable antelope, the wildebeeste, the lion, and the hunting hyena. next day we spent ascending the sao lourenco. it was narrower than the paraguay, naturally, and the swirling brown current was, if anything, more rapid. the strange tropical trees, standing densely on the banks, were matted together by long bush ropes--lianas, or vines, some very slender and very long. sometimes we saw brilliant red or blue flowers, or masses of scarlet berries on a queer palm-like tree, or an array of great white blossoms on a much larger tree. in a lagoon bordered by the taquara bamboo a school of big otters were playing; when they came to the surface, they opened their mouths like seals, and made a loud hissing noise. the crested screamers, dark gray and as large as turkeys, perched on the very topmost branches of the tallest trees. hyacinth macaws screamed harshly as they flew across the river. among the trees was the guan, another peculiar bird as big as a big grouse, and with certain habits of the wood-grouse, but not akin to any northern game-bird. the windpipe of the male is very long, extending down to the end of the breast-bone, and the bird utters queer guttural screams. a dead cayman floated down-stream, with a black vulture devouring it. capybaras stood or squatted on the banks; sometimes they stared stupidly at us; sometimes they plunged into the river at our approach. at long intervals we passed little clearings. in each stood a house of palm-logs, with a steeply pitched roof of palm thatch; and near by were patches of corn and mandioc. the dusky owner, and perhaps his family, came out on the bank to watch us as we passed. it was a hot day--the thermometer on the deck in the shade stood at nearly degrees fahrenheit. biting flies came aboard even when we were in midstream. next day we were ascending the cuyaba river. it had begun raining in the night, and the heavy downpour continued throughout the forenoon. in the morning we halted at a big cattle-ranch to get fresh milk and beef. there were various houses, sheds, and corrals near the river's edge, and fifty or sixty milch cows were gathered in one corral. spurred plover, or lapwings, strolled familiarly among the hens. parakeets and red-headed tanagers lit in the trees over our heads. a kind of primitive houseboat was moored at the bank. a woman was cooking breakfast over a little stove at one end. the crew were ashore. the boat was one of those which are really stores, and which travel up and down these rivers, laden with what the natives most need, and stopping wherever there is a ranch. they are the only stores which many of the country-dwellers see from year's end to year's end. they float down-stream, and up-stream are poled by their crew, or now and then get a tow from a steamer. this one had a house with a tin roof; others bear houses with thatched roofs, or with roofs made of hides. the river wound through vast marshes broken by belts of woodland. always the two naturalists had something of interest to tell of their past experience, suggested by some bird or beast we came across. black and golden orioles, slightly crested, of two different species were found along the river; they nest in colonies, and often we passed such colonies, the long pendulous nests hanging from the boughs of trees directly over the water. cherrie told us of finding such a colony built round a big wasp-nest, several feet in diameter. these wasps are venomous and irritable, and few foes would dare venture near bird's- nests that were under such formidable shelter; but the birds themselves were entirely unafraid, and obviously were not in any danger of disagreement with their dangerous protectors. we saw a dark ibis flying across the bow of the boat, uttering his deep, two- syllabled note. miller told how on the orinoco these ibises plunder the nests of the big river-turtles. they are very skilful in finding where the female turtle has laid her eggs, scratch them out of the sand, break the shells, and suck the contents. it was astonishing to find so few mosquitoes on these marshes. they did not in any way compare as pests with the mosquitoes on the lower mississippi, the new jersey coast, the red river of the north, or the kootenay. back in the forest near corumba the naturalists had found them very bad indeed. cherrie had spent two or three days on a mountain-top which was bare of forest; he had thought there would be few mosquitoes, but the long grass harbored them (they often swarm in long grass and bush, even where there is no water), and at night they were such a torment that as soon as the sun set he had to go to bed under his mosquito-netting. yet on the vast marshes they were not seriously troublesome in most places. i was informed that they were not in any way a bother on the grassy uplands, the high country north of cuyaba, which from thence stretches eastward to the coastal region. it is at any rate certain that this inland region of brazil, including the state of matto grosso, which we were traversing, is a healthy region, excellently adapted to settlement; railroads will speedily penetrate it, and then it will witness an astonishing development. on the morning of the th we reached the home buildings of the great sao joao fazenda, the ranch of senhor joao da costa marques. our host himself, and his son, dom joao the younger, who was state secretary of agriculture, and the latter's charming wife, and the president of matto grosso, and several other ladies and gentlemen, had come down the river to greet us, from the city of cuyaba, several hundred miles farther up-stream. as usual, we were treated with whole-hearted and generous hospitality. some miles below the ranch-house the party met us, on a stern-wheel steamboat and a launch, both decked with many flags. the handsome white ranch-house stood only a few rods back from the river's brink, in a grassy opening dotted with those noble trees, the royal palms. other trees, buildings of all kinds, flower-gardens, vegetable-gardens, fields, corrals, and enclosures with high white walls stood near the house. a detachment of soldiers or state police, with a band, were in front of the house, and two flagpoles, one with the brazilian flag already hoisted. the american flag was run up on the other as i stepped ashore, while the band played the national anthems of the two countries. the house held much comfort; and the comfort was all the more appreciated because even indoors the thermometer stood at degrees f. in the late afternoon heavy rain fell, and cooled the air. we were riding at the time. around the house the birds were tame: the parrots and parakeets crowded and chattered in the tree tops; jacanas played in the wet ground just back of the garden; ibises and screamers called loudly in the swamps a little distance off. until we came actually in sight of this great ranch-house we had been passing through a hot, fertile, pleasant wilderness, where the few small palm-roofed houses, each in its little patch of sugar-cane, corn, and mandioc, stood very many miles apart. one of these little houses stood on an old indian mound, exactly like the mounds which form the only hillocks along the lower mississippi, and which are also of indian origin. these occasional indian mounds, made ages ago, are the highest bits of ground in the immense swamps of the upper paraguay region. there are still indian tribes in this neighborhood. we passed an indian fishing village on the edge of the river, with huts, scaffoldings for drying the fish, hammocks, and rude tables. they cultivated patches of bananas and sugar-cane. out in a shallow place in the river was a scaffolding on which the indians stood to spear fish. the indians were friendly, peaceable souls, for the most part dressed like the poorer classes among the brazilians. next morning there was to have been a great rodeo or round-up, and we determined to have a hunt first, as there were still several kinds of beasts of the chase, notably tapirs and peccaries, of which the naturalists desired specimens. dom joao, our host, and his son accompanied us. theirs is a noteworthy family. born in matto grosso, in the tropics, our host had the look of a northerner and, although a grandfather, he possessed an abounding vigor and energy such as very few men of any climate or surroundings do possess. all of his sons are doing well. the son who was with us was a stalwart, powerful man, a pleasant companion, an able public servant, a finished horseman, and a skilled hunter. he carried a sharp spear, not a rifle, for in matto grosso it is the custom in hunting the jaguar for riflemen and spearmen to go in at him together when he turns at bay, the spearman holding him off if the first shot fails to stop him, so that another shot can be put in. altogether, our host and his son reminded one of the best type of american ranchmen and planters, of those planters and ranchmen who are adepts in bold and manly field sports, who are capital men of business, and who also often supply to the state skilled and faithful public servants. the hospitality the father and son extended to us was patriarchal: neither, for instance, would sit at table with their guests at the beginning of the formal meals; instead they exercised a close personal supervision over the feast. our charming hostess, however, sat at the head of the table. at six in the morning we started, all of us on fine horses. the day was lowering and overcast. a dozen dogs were with us, but only one or two were worth anything. three or four ordinary countrymen, the ranch hands, or vaqueiros, accompanied us; they were mainly of indian blood, and would have been called peons, or caboclos, in other parts of brazil, but here were always spoken to and of as "camaradas." they were, of course, chosen from among the men who were hunters, and each carried his long, rather heavy and clumsy jaguar-spear. in front rode our vigorous host and his strapping son, the latter also carrying a jaguar-spear. the bridles and saddles of the big ranchmen and of the gentlefolk generally were handsome and were elaborately ornamented with silver. the stirrups, for instance, were not only of silver, but contained so much extra metal in ornamented bars and rings that they would have been awkward for less-practised riders. indeed, as it was, they were adapted only for the tips of boots with long, pointed toes, and were impossible for our feet; our hosts' stirrups were long, narrow silver slippers. the camaradas, on the other hand, had jim-crow saddles and bridles, and rusty little iron stirrups into which they thrust their naked toes. but all, gentry and commonalty alike, rode equally well and with the same skill and fearlessness. to see our hosts gallop at headlong speed over any kind of country toward the sound of the dogs with their quarry at bay, or to see them handle their horses in a morass, was a pleasure. it was equally a pleasure to see a camarada carrying his heavy spear, leading a hound in a leash, and using his machete to cut his way through the tangled vine-ropes of a jungle, all at the same time and all without the slightest reference to the plunges, and the odd and exceedingly jerky behavior, of his wild, half-broken horse--for on such a ranch most of the horses are apt to come in the categories of half-broken or else of broken-down. one dusky tatterdemalion wore a pair of boots from which he had removed the soles, his bare, spur-clad feet projecting from beneath the uppers. he was on a little devil of a stallion, which he rode blindfold for a couple of miles, and there was a regular circus when he removed the bandage; but evidently it never occurred to him that the animal was hardly a comfortable riding-horse for a man going out hunting and encumbered with a spear, a machete, and other belongings. the eight hours that we were out we spent chiefly in splashing across the marshes, with excursions now and then into vine-tangled belts and clumps of timber. some of the bayous we had to cross were uncomfortably boggy. we had to lead the horses through one, wading ahead of them; and even so two of them mired down, and their saddles had to be taken off before they could be gotten out. among the marsh plants were fields and strips of the great caete rush. these caete flags towered above the other and lesser marsh plants. they were higher than the heads of the horsemen. their two or three huge banana- like leaves stood straight up on end. the large brilliant flowers-- orange, red, and yellow--were joined into a singularly shaped and solid string or cluster. humming-birds buzzed round these flowers; one species, the sickle-billed hummer, has its bill especially adapted for use in these queerly shaped blossoms and gets its food only from them, never appearing around any other plant. the birds were tame, even those striking and beautiful birds which under man's persecution are so apt to become scarce and shy. the huge jabiru storks, stalking through the water with stately dignity, sometimes refused to fly until we were only a hundred yards off; one of them flew over our heads at a distance of thirty or forty yards. the screamers, crying curu-curu, and the ibises, wailing dolefully, came even closer. the wonderful hyacinth macaws, in twos and threes, accompanied us at times for several hundred yards, hovering over our heads and uttering their rasping screams. in one wood we came on the black howler monkey. the place smelt almost like a menagerie. not watching with sufficient care i brushed against a sapling on which the venomous fire-ants swarmed. they burnt the skin like red-hot cinders, and left little sores. more than once in the drier parts of the marsh we met small caymans making their way from one pool to another. my horse stepped over one before i saw it. the dead carcasses of others showed that on their wanderings they had encountered jaguars or human foes. we had been out about three hours when one of the dogs gave tongue in a large belt of woodland and jungle to the left of our line of march through the marsh. the other dogs ran to the sound, and after a while the long barking told that the thing, whatever it was, was at bay or else in some refuge. we made our way toward the place on foot. the dogs were baying excitedly at the mouth of a huge hollow log, and very short examination showed us that there were two peccaries within, doubtless a boar and sow. however, just at this moment the peccaries bolted from an unsuspected opening at the other end of the log, dove into the tangle, and instantly disappeared with the hounds in full cry after them. it was twenty minutes later before we again heard the pack baying. with much difficulty, and by the incessant swinging of the machetes, we opened a trail through the network of vines and branches. this time there was only one peccary, the boar. he was at bay in a half-hollow stump. the dogs were about his head, raving with excitement, and it was not possible to use the rifle; so i borrowed the spear of dom joao the younger, and killed the fierce little boar therewith. this was an animal akin to our collared peccary, smaller and less fierce than its white-jawed kinsfolk. it is a valiant and truculent little beast, nevertheless, and if given the chance will bite a piece the size of a teacup out of either man or dog. it is found singly or in small parties, feeds on roots, fruits, grass, and delights to make its home in hollow logs. if taken young it makes an affectionate and entertaining pet. when the two were in the hollow log we heard them utter a kind of moaning, or menacing, grunt, long drawn. an hour or two afterward we unexpectedly struck the fresh tracks of two jaguars and at once loosed the dogs, who tore off yelling, on the line of the scent. unfortunately, just at this moment the clouds burst and a deluge of rain drove in our faces. so heavy was the downpour that the dogs lost the trail and we lost the dogs. we found them again only owing to one of our caboclos; an indian with a queer mongolian face, and no brain at all that i could discover, apart from his special dealings with wild creatures, cattle, and horses. he rode in a huddle of rags; but nothing escaped his eyes, and he rode anything anywhere. the downpour continued so heavily that we knew the rodeo had been abandoned, and we turned our faces for the long, dripping, splashing ride homeward. through the gusts of driving rain we could hardly see the way. once the rain lightened, and half a mile away the sunshine gleamed through a rift in the leaden cloud-mass. suddenly in this rift of shimmering brightness there appeared a flock of beautiful white egrets. with strong, graceful wing-beats the birds urged their flight, their plumage flashing in the sun. they then crossed the rift and were swallowed in the gray gloom of the day. on the marsh the dogs several times roused capybaras. where there were no ponds of sufficient size the capybaras sought refuge in flight through the tangled marsh. they ran well. kermit and fiala went after one on foot, full-speed, for a mile and a half, with two hounds which then bayed it--literally bayed it, for the capybara fought with the courage of a gigantic woodchuck. if the pack overtook a capybara, they of course speedily finished it; but a single dog of our not very valorous outfit was not able to overmatch its shrill-squeaking opponent. near the ranch-house, about forty feet up in a big tree, was a jabiru's nest containing young jabirus. the young birds exercised themselves by walking solemnly round the edge of the nest and opening and shutting their wings. their heads and necks were down-covered, instead of being naked like those of their parents. fiala wished to take a moving-picture of them while thus engaged, and so, after arranging his machine, he asked harper to rouse the young birds by throwing a stick up to the nest. he did so, whereupon one young jabiru hastily opened its wings in the desired fashion, at the same time seizing the stick in its bill! it dropped it at once, with an air of comic disappointment, when it found that the stick was not edible. there were many strange birds round about. toucans were not uncommon. i have never seen any other bird take such grotesque and comic attitudes as the toucan. this day i saw one standing in the top of a tree with the big bill pointing straight into the air and the tail also cocked perpendicularly. the toucan is a born comedian. on the river and in the ponds we saw the finfoot, a bird with feet like a grebe and bill and tail like those of a darter, but, like so many south american birds, with no close affiliations among other species. the exceedingly rich bird fauna of south america contains many species which seem to be survivals from a very remote geologic past, whose kinsfolk have perished under the changed conditions of recent ages; and in the case of many, like the hoatzin and screamer, their like is not known elsewhere. herons of many species swarmed in this neighborhood. the handsomest was the richly colored tiger bittern. two other species were so unlike ordinary herons that i did not recognize them as herons at all until cherrie told me what they were. one had a dark body, a white-speckled or ocellated neck, and a bill almost like that of an ibis. the other looked white, but was really mauve-colored, with black on the head. when perched on a tree it stood like an ibis; and instead of the measured wing-beats characteristic of a heron's flight, it flew with a quick, vigorous flapping of the wings. there were queer mammals, too, as well as birds. in the fields miller trapped mice of a kind entirely new. next morning the sky was leaden, and a drenching rain fell as we began our descent of the river. the rainy season had fairly begun. for our good fortune we were still where we had the cabins aboard the boat, and the ranch-house, in which to dry our clothes and soggy shoes; but in the intensely humid atmosphere, hot and steaming, they stayed wet a long time, and were still moist when we put them on again. before we left the house where we had been treated with such courteous hospitality--the finest ranch-house in matto grosso, on a huge ranch where there are some sixty thousand head of horned cattle--the son of our host, dom joao the younger, the jaguar-hunter, presented me with two magnificent volumes on the palms of brazil, the work of doctor barboso rodriguez, one-time director of the botanical gardens at rio janeiro. the two folios were in a box of native cedar. no gift more appropriate, none that i would in the future value more as a reminder of my stay in matto grosso, could have been given me. all that afternoon the rain continued. it was still pouring in torrents when we left the cuyaba for the sao lourenco and steamed up the latter a few miles before anchoring; dom joao the younger had accompanied us in his launch. the little river steamer was of very open build, as is necessary in such a hot climate; and to keep things dry necessitated also keeping the atmosphere stifling. the german taxidermist who was with colonel rondon's party, reinisch, a very good fellow from vienna, sat on a stool, alternately drenched with rain and sweltering with heat, and muttered to himself: "ach, schweinerei!" two small caymans, of the common species, with prominent eyes, were at the bank where we moored, and betrayed an astonishing and stupid tameness. neither the size of the boat nor the commotion caused by the paddles in any way affected them. they lay inshore, not twenty feet from us, half out of water; they paid not the slightest heed to our presence, and only reluctantly left when repeatedly poked at, and after having been repeatedly hit with clods of mud and sticks; and even then one first crawled up on shore, to find out if thereby he could not rid himself of the annoyance we caused him. next morning it was still raining, but we set off on a hunt, anyway, going afoot. a couple of brown camaradas led the way, and colonel rondon, dom joao, kermit, and i followed. the incessant downpour speedily wet us to the skin. we made our way slowly through the forest, the machetes playing right and left, up and down, at every step, for the trees were tangled in a network of vines and creepers. some of the vines were as thick as a man's leg. mosquitoes hummed about us, the venomous fire-ants stung us, the sharp spines of a small palm tore our hands--afterward some of the wounds festered. hour after hour we thus walked on through the brazilian forest. we saw monkeys, the common yellowish kind, a species of cebus; a couple were shot for the museum and the others raced off among the upper branches of the trees. then we came on a party of coatis, which look like reddish, long-snouted, long-tailed, lanky raccoons. they were in the top of a big tree. one, when shot at and missed, bounced down to the ground, and ran off through the bushes; kermit ran after it and secured it. he came back, to find us peering hopelessly up into the tree top, trying to place where the other coatis were. kermit solved the difficulty by going up along some huge twisted lianas for forty or fifty feet and exploring the upper branches; whereupon down came three other coatis through the branches, one being caught by the dogs and the other two escaping. coatis fight savagely with both teeth and claws. miller told us that he once saw one of them kill a dog. they feed on all small mammals, birds, and reptiles, and even on some large ones; they kill iguanas; cherrie saw a rattling chase through the trees, a coati following an iguana at full speed. we heard the rush of a couple of tapirs, as they broke away in the jungle in front of the dogs and headed, according to their custom, for the river; but we never saw them. one of the party shot a bush deer--a very pretty, graceful creature, smaller than our whitetail deer, but kin to it and doubtless the southernmost representative of the whitetail group. the whitetail deer--using the word to designate a group of deer which can neither be called a subgenus with many species, nor a widely spread species diverging into many varieties--is the only north american species which has spread down into and has outlying representatives in south america. it has been contended that the species has spread from south america northward. i do not think so; and the specimen thus obtained furnished a probable refutation of the theory. it was a buck, and had just shed its small antlers. the antlers are, therefore, shed at the same time as in the north, and it appears that they are grown at the same time as in the north. yet this variety now dwells in the tropics south of the equator, where the spring, and the breeding season for most birds, comes at the time of the northern fall in september, october, and november. that the deer is an intrusive immigrant, and that it has not yet been in south america long enough to change its mating season in accordance with the climate, as the birds--geologically doubtless very old residents--have changed their breeding season, is rendered probable by the fact that it conforms so exactly in the time of its antler growth to the universal rule which obtains in the great arctogeal realm, where deer of many species abound and where the fossil forms show that they have long existed. the marsh-deer, which has diverged much further from the northern type than this bush deer (its horns show a likeness to those of a blacktail), often keeps its antlers until june or july, although it begins to grow them again in august; however, too much stress must not be laid on this fact, inasmuch as the wapiti and the cow caribou both keep their antlers until spring. the specialization of the marsh- deer, by the way, is further shown in its hoofs, which, thanks to its semi-aquatic mode of life, have grown long, like those of such african swamp antelopes as the lechwe and situtunga. miller, when we presented the monkeys to him, told us that the females both of these monkeys and of the howlers themselves took care of the young, the males not assisting them, and moreover that when the young one was a male he had always found the mother keeping by herself, away from the old males. on the other hand, among the marmosets he found the fathers taking as much care of the young as the mothers; if the mother had twins, the father would usually carry one, and sometimes both, around with him. after we had been out four hours our camaradas got lost; three several times they travelled round in a complete circle; and we had to set them right with the compass. about noon the rain, which had been falling almost without interruption for forty-eight hours, let up, and in an hour or two the sun came out. we went back to the river, and found our rowboat. in it the hounds--a motley and rather worthless lot--and the rest of the party were ferried across to the opposite bank, while colonel rondon and i stayed in the boat, on the chance that a tapir might be roused and take to the river. however, no tapir was found; kermit killed a collared peccary, and i shot a capybara representing a color-phase the naturalists wished. next morning, january , , we were up at five and had a good new year's day breakfast of hardtack, ham, sardines, and coffee before setting out on an all day's hunt on foot. i much feared that the pack was almost or quite worthless for jaguars, but there were two or three of the great spotted cats in the neighborhood and it seemed worth while to make a try for them anyhow. after an hour or two we found the fresh tracks of two, and after them we went. our party consisted of colonel rondon, lieutenant rogaciano--an excellent man, himself a native of matto grosso, of old matto grosso stock--two others of the party from the sao joao ranch, kermit, and myself, together with four dark-skinned camaradas, cowhands from the same ranch. we soon found that the dogs would not by themselves follow the jaguar trail; nor would the camaradas, although they carried spears. kermit was the one of our party who possessed the requisite speed, endurance, and eyesight, and accordingly he led. two of the dogs would follow the track half a dozen yards ahead of him, but no farther; and two of the camaradas could just about keep up with him. for an hour we went through thick jungle, where the machetes were constantly at work. then the trail struck off straight across the marshes, for jaguars swim and wade as freely as marsh-deer. it was a hard walk. the sun was out. we were drenched with sweat. we were torn by the spines of the innumerable clusters of small palms with thorns like needles. we were bitten by the hosts of fire-ants, and by the mosquitoes, which we scarcely noticed where the fire-ants were found, exactly as all dread of the latter vanished when we were menaced by the big red wasps, of which a dozen stings will disable a man, and if he is weak or in bad health will seriously menace his life. in the marsh we were continually wading, now up to our knees, now up to our hips. twice we came to long bayous so deep that we had to swim them, holding our rifles above water in our right hands. the floating masses of marsh grass, and the slimy stems of the water-plants, doubled our work as we swam, cumbered by our clothing and boots and holding our rifles aloft. one result of the swim, by the way, was that my watch, a veteran of cuba and africa, came to an indignant halt. then on we went, hampered by the weight of our drenched clothes while our soggy boots squelched as we walked. there was no breeze. in the undimmed sky the sun stood almost overhead. the heat beat on us in waves. by noon i could only go forward at a slow walk, and two of the party were worse off than i was. kermit, with the dogs and two camaradas close behind him, disappeared across the marshes at a trot. at last, when he was out of sight, and it was obviously useless to follow him, the rest of us turned back toward the boat. the two exhausted members of the party gave out, and we left them under a tree. colonel rondon and lieutenant rogaciano were not much tired; i was somewhat tired, but was perfectly able to go for several hours more if i did not try to go too fast; and we three walked on to the river, reaching it about half past four, after eleven hours' stiff walking with nothing to eat. we were soon on the boat. a relief party went back for the two men under the tree, and soon after it reached them kermit also turned up with his hounds and his camaradas trailing wearily behind him. he had followed the jaguar trail until the dogs were so tired that even after he had bathed them, and then held their noses in the fresh footprints, they would pay no heed to the scent. a hunter of scientific tastes, a hunter-naturalist, or even an outdoors naturalist, or faunal naturalist interested in big mammals, with a pack of hounds such as those with which paul rainey hunted lion and leopard in africa, or such a pack as the packs of johnny goff and jake borah with which i hunted cougar, lynx, and bear in the rockies, or such packs as those of the mississippi and louisiana planters with whom i have hunted bear, wild-cat, and deer in the cane-brakes of the lower mississippi, would not only enjoy fine hunting in these vast marshes of the upper paraguay, but would also do work of real scientific value as regards all the big cats. only a limited number of the naturalists who have worked in the tropics have had any experience with the big beasts whose life- histories possess such peculiar interest. of all the biologists who have seriously studied the south american fauna on the ground, bates probably rendered most service; but he hardly seems even to have seen the animals with which the hunter is fairly familiar. his interests, and those of the other biologists of his kind, lay in other directions. in consequence, in treating of the life-histories of the very interesting big game, we have been largely forced to rely either on native report, in which acutely accurate observation is invariably mixed with wild fable, or else on the chance remarks of travellers or mere sportsmen, who had not the training to make them understand even what it was desirable to observe. nowadays there is a growing proportion of big-game hunters, of sportsmen, who are of the schilling, selous, and shiras type. these men do work of capital value for science. the mere big-game butcher is tending to disappear as a type. on the other hand, the big-game hunter who is a good observer, a good field naturalist, occupies at present a more important position than ever before, and it is now recognized that he can do work which the closest naturalist cannot do. the big-game hunter of this type and the outdoors, faunal naturalist, the student of the life-histories of big mammals, have open to them in south america a wonderful field in which to work. the fire-ants, of which i have above spoken, are generally found on a species of small tree or sapling, with a greenish trunk. they bend the whole body as they bite, the tail and head being thrust downward. a few seconds after the bite the poison causes considerable pain; later it may make a tiny festering sore. there is certainly the most extraordinary diversity in the traits by which nature achieves the perpetuation of species. among the warrior and predaceous insects the prowess is in some cases of such type as to render the possessor practically immune from danger. in other cases the condition of its exercise may normally be the sacrifice of the life of the possessor. there are wasps that prey on formidable fighting spiders, which yet instinctively so handle themselves that the prey practically never succeeds in either defending itself or retaliating, being captured and paralyzed with unerring efficiency and with entire security to the wasp. the wasp's safety is absolute. on the other hand, these fighting ants, including the soldiers even among the termites, are frantically eager for a success which generally means their annihilation; the condition of their efficiency is absolute indifference to their own security. probably the majority of the ants that actually lay hold on a foe suffer death in consequence; certainly they not merely run the risk of but eagerly invite death. the following day we descended the sao lourenco to its junction with the paraguay, and once more began the ascent of the latter. at one cattle-ranch where we stopped, the troupials, or big black and yellow orioles, had built a large colony of their nests on a dead tree near the primitive little ranch-house. the birds were breeding; the old ones were feeding the young. in this neighborhood the naturalists found many birds that were new to them, including a tiny woodpecker no bigger than a ruby-crowned kinglet. they had collected two night monkeys--nocturnal monkeys, not as agile as the ordinary monkey; these two were found at dawn, having stayed out too late. the early morning was always lovely on these rivers, and at that hour many birds and beasts were to be seen. one morning we saw a fine marsh buck, holding his head aloft as he stared at us, his red coat vivid against the green marsh. another of these marsh-deer swam the river ahead of us; i shot at it as it landed, and ought to have got it, but did not. as always with these marsh-deer--and as with so many other deer--i was struck by the revealing or advertising quality of its red coloration; there was nothing in its normal surroundings with which this coloration harmonized; so far as it had any effect whatever it was always a revealing and not a concealing effect. when the animal fled the black of the erect tail was an additional revealing mark, although not of such startlingly advertising quality as the flag of the whitetail. the whitetail, in one of its forms, and with the ordinary whitetail custom of displaying the white flag as it runs, is found in the immediate neighborhood of the swamp-deer. it has the same foes. evidently it is of no survival consequence whether the running deer displays a white or a black flag. any competent observer of big game must be struck by the fact that in the great majority of the species the coloration is not concealing, and that in many it has a highly revealing quality. moreover, if the spotted or striped young represent the ancestral coloration, and if, as seems probable, the spots and stripes have, on the whole, some slight concealing value, it is evident that in the life history of most of these large mammals, both among those that prey and those that are preyed on, concealing coloration has not been a survival factor; throughout the ages during which they have survived they have gradually lost whatever of concealing coloration they may once have had--if any--and have developed a coloration which under present conditions has no concealing and perhaps even has a revealing quality, and which in all probability never would have had a concealing value in any "environmental complex" in which the species as a whole lived during its ancestral development. indeed, it seems astonishing, when one observes these big beasts--and big waders and other water-birds--in their native surroundings, to find how utterly non-harmful their often strikingly revealing coloration is. evidently the various other survival factors, such as habit, and in many cases cover, etc., are of such overmastering importance that the coloration is generally of no consequence whatever, one way or the other, and is only very rarely a factor of any serious weight. the junction of the sao lourenco and the paraguay is a day's journey above corumba. from corumba there is a regular service by shallow steamers to cuyaba, at the head of one fork, and to sao luis de caceres, at the head of the other. the steamers are not powerful and the voyage to each little city takes a week. there are other forks that are navigable. above cuyaba and caceres launches go up-stream for several days' journey, except during the dryest parts of the season. north of this marshy plain lies the highland, the plan alto, where the nights are cool and the climate healthy. but i wish emphatically to record my view that these marshy plains, although hot, are also healthy; and, moreover, the mosquitoes, in most places, are not in sufficient numbers to be a serious pest, although of course there must be nets for protection against them at night. the country is excellently suited for settlement, and offers a remarkable field for cattle-growing. moreover, it is a paradise for water-birds and for many other kinds of birds, and for many mammals. it is literally an ideal place in which a field naturalist could spend six months or a year. it is readily accessible, it offers an almost virgin field for work, and the life would be healthy as well as delightfully attractive. the man should have a steam-launch. in it he could with comfort cover all parts of the country from south of corumbra to north of cuyaba and caceres. there would have to be a good deal of collecting (although nothing in the nature of butchery should be tolerated), for the region has only been superficially worked, especially as regards mammals. but if the man were only a collector he would leave undone the part of the work best worth doing. the region offers extraordinary opportunities for the study of the life-histories of birds which, because of their size, their beauty, or their habits, are of exceptional interest. all kinds of problems would be worked out. for example, on the morning of the rd, as we were ascending the paraguay, we again and again saw in the trees on the bank big nests of sticks, into and out of which parakeets were flying by the dozen. some of them had straws or twigs in their bills. in some of the big globular nests we could make out several holes of exit or entrance. apparently these parakeets were building or remodelling communal nests; but whether they had themselves built these nests, or had taken old nests and added to or modified them, we could not tell. there was so much of interest all along the banks that we were continually longing to stop and spend days where we were. mixed flocks of scores of cormorants and darters covered certain trees, both at sunset and after sunrise. although there was no deep forest, merely belts or fringes of trees along the river, or in patches back of it, we frequently saw monkeys in this riverine tree-fringe--active common monkeys and black howlers of more leisurely gait. we saw caymans and capybaras sitting socially near one another on the sandbanks. at night we heard the calling of large flights of tree-ducks. these were now the most common of all the ducks, although there were many muscovy ducks also. the evenings were pleasant and not hot, as we sat on the forward deck; there was a waxing moon. the screamers were among the most noticeable birds. they were noisy; they perched on the very tops of the trees, not down among the branches; and they were not shy. they should be carefully protected by law, for they readily become tame, and then come familiarly round the houses. from the steamer we now and then saw beautiful orchids in the trees on the river bank. one afternoon we stopped at the home buildings or headquarters of one of the great outlying ranches of the brazil land and cattle company, the farquahar syndicate, under the management of murdo mackenzie--than whom we have in the united states no better citizen or more competent cattleman. on this ranch there are some seventy thousand head of stock. we were warmly greeted by mclean, the head of the ranch, and his assistant ramsey, an old texan friend. among the other assistants, all equally cordial, were several belgians and frenchmen. the hands were paraguayans and brazilians, and a few indians--a hard-bit set, each of whom always goes armed and knows how to use his arms, for there are constant collisions with cattle thieves from across the bolivian border, and the ranch has to protect itself. these cowhands, vaqueiros, were of the type with which we were now familiar: dark- skinned, lean, hard-faced men, in slouch-hats, worn shirts and trousers, and fringed leather aprons, with heavy spurs on their bare feet. they are wonderful riders and ropers, and fear neither man nor beast. i noticed one indian vaqueiro standing in exactly the attitude of a shilluk of the white nile, with the sole of one foot against the other leg, above the knee. this is a region with extraordinary possibilities of cattle-raising. at this ranch there was a tannery; a slaughter-house; a cannery; a church; buildings of various kinds and all degrees of comfort for the thirty or forty families who made the place their headquarters; and the handsome, white, two-story big house, standing among lemon-trees and flamboyants on the river-brink. there were all kinds of pets around the house. the most fascinating was a wee, spotted fawn which loved being petted. half a dozen curassows of different species strolled through the rooms; there were also parrots of several different species, and immediately outside the house four or five herons, with unclipped wings, which would let us come within a few feet and then fly gracefully off, shortly afterward returning to the same spot. they included big and little white egrets and also the mauve and pearl-colored heron, with a partially black head and many- colored bill, which flies with quick, repeated wing-flappings, instead of the usual slow heron wing-beats. in the warehouse were scores of skins of jaguar, puma, ocelot, and jaguarundi, and one skin of the big, small-toothed red wolf. these were all brought in by the cowhands and by friendly indians, a price being put on each, as they destroyed the stock. the jaguars occasionally killed horses and full-grown cows, but not bulls. the pumas killed the calves. the others killed an occasional very young calf, but ordinarily only sheep, little pigs, and chickens. there was one black jaguar-skin; melanism is much more common among jaguars than pumas, although once miller saw a black puma that had been killed by indians. the patterns of the jaguar-skins, and even more of the ocelot-skins, showed wide variation, no two being alike. the pumas were for the most part bright red, but some were reddish gray, there being much the same dichromatism that i found among their colorado kinsfolk. the jaguarundis were dark brownish gray. all these animals, the spotted jaguars and ocelots, the monochrome black jaguars, red pumas, and dark-gray jaguarundis, were killed in the same locality, with the same environment. a glance at the skins and a moment's serious thought would have been enough to show any sincere thinker that in these cats the coloration pattern, whether concealing or revealing, is of no consequence one way or the other as a survival factor. the spotted patterns conferred no benefit as compared with the nearly or quite monochrome blacks, reds, and dark grays. the bodily condition of the various beasts was equally good, showing that their success in life, that is, their ability to catch their prey, was unaffected by their several color schemes. except white, there is no color so conspicuously advertising as black; yet the black jaguar had been a fine, well-fed, powerful beast. the spotted patterns in the forests, and perhaps even in the marshes which the jaguars so frequently traversed, are probably a shade less conspicuous than the monochrome red and gray, but the puma and jaguarundi are just as hard to see, and evidently find it just as easy to catch prey, as the jaguar and ocelot. the little fawn which we saw was spotted; the grown deer had lost the spots; if the spots do really help to conceal the wearer, it is evident that the deer has found the original concealing coloration of so little value that it has actually been lost in the course of the development of the species. when these big cats and the deer are considered, together with the dogs, tapirs, peccaries, capybaras, and big ant-eaters which live in the same environment, and when we also consider the difference between the young and the adult deer and tapirs (both of which when adult have substituted a complete or partial monochrome for the ancestral spots and streaks), it is evident that in the present life and in the ancestral development of the big mammals of south america coloration is not and has not been a survival factor; any pattern and any color may accompany the persistence and development of the qualities and attributes which are survival factors. indeed, it seems hard to believe that in their ordinary environments such color schemes as the bright red of the marsh-deer, the black of the black jaguar, and the black with white stripes of the great tamandua, are not positive detriments to the wearers. yet such is evidently not the case. evidently the other factors in species- survival are of such overwhelming importance that the coloration becomes negligible from this standpoint, whether it be concealing or revealing. the cats mould themselves to the ground as they crouch or crawl. they take advantage of the tiniest scrap of cover. they move with extraordinary stealth and patience. the other animals which try to sneak off in such manner as to escape observation approach more or less closely to the ideal which the cats most nearly realize. wariness, sharp senses, the habit of being rigidly motionless when there is the least suspicion of danger, and ability to take advantage of cover, all count. on the bare, open, treeless plain, whether marsh, meadow, or upland, anything above the level of the grass is seen at once. a marsh-deer out in the open makes no effort to avoid observation; its concern is purely to see its foes in time to leave a dangerous neighborhood. the deer of the neighboring forest skulk and hide and lie still in dense cover to avoid being seen. the white- lipped peccaries make no effort to escape observation by being either noiseless or motionless; they trust for defence to their gregariousness and truculence. the collared peccary also trusts to its truculence, but seeks refuge in a hole where it can face any opponent with its formidable biting apparatus. as for the giant tamandua, in spite of its fighting prowess i am wholly unable to understand how such a slow and clumsy beast has been able through the ages to exist and thrive surrounded by jaguars and pumas. speaking generally, the animals that seek to escape observation trust primarily to smell to discover their foes or their prey, and see whatever moves and do not see whatever is motionless. by the morning of january we had left the marsh region. there were low hills here and there, and the land was covered with dense forest. from time to time we passed little clearings with palm-thatched houses. we were approaching caceres, where the easiest part of our trip would end. we had lived in much comfort on the little steamer. the food was plentiful and the cooking good. at night we slept on deck in cots or hammocks. the mosquitoes were rarely troublesome, although in the daytime we were sometimes bothered by numbers of biting horse- flies. the bird life was wonderful. one of the characteristic sights we were always seeing was that of a number of heads and necks of cormorants and snake-birds, without any bodies, projecting above water, and disappearing as the steamer approached. skimmers and thick- billed tern were plentiful here right in the heart of the continent. in addition to the spurred lapwing, characteristic and most interesting resident of most of south america, we found tiny red- legged plover which also breed and are at home in the tropics. the contrasts in habits between closely allied species are wonderful. among the plovers and bay snipe there are species that live all the year round in almost the same places, in tropical and subtropical lands; and other related forms which wander over the whole earth, and spend nearly all their time, now in the arctic and cold temperate regions of the far north, now in the cold temperate regions of the south. these latter wide-wandering birds of the seashore and the river bank pass most of their lives in regions of almost perpetual sunlight. they spend the breeding season, the northern summer, in the land of the midnight sun, during the long arctic day. they then fly for endless distances down across the north temperate zone, across the equator, through the lands where the days and nights are always of equal length, into another hemisphere, and spend another summer of long days and long twilights in the far south, where the antarctic winds cool them, while their nesting home, at the other end of the world, is shrouded beneath the iron desolation of the polar night. in the late afternoon of the th we reached the quaint old-fashioned little town of sao luis de caceres, on the outermost fringe of the settled region of the state of matto grosso, the last town we should see before reaching the villages of the amazon. as we approached we passed half-clad black washerwomen on the river's edge. the men, with the local band, were gathered at the steeply sloping foot of the main street, where the steamer came to her moorings. groups of women and girls, white and brown, watched us from the low bluff; their skirts and bodices were red, blue, green, of all colors. sigg had gone ahead with much of the baggage; he met us in an improvised motor-boat, consisting of a dugout to the side of which he had clamped our evinrude motor; he was giving several of the local citizens of prominence a ride, to their huge enjoyment. the streets of the little town were unpaved, with narrow brick sidewalks. the one-story houses were white or blue, with roofs of red tiles and window-shutters of latticed woodwork, come down from colonial days and tracing back through christian and moorish portugal to a remote arab ancestry. pretty faces, some dark, some light, looked out from these windows; their mothers' mothers, for generations past, must thus have looked out of similar windows in the vanished colonial days. but now even here in caceres the spirit of the new brazil is moving; a fine new government school has been started, and we met its principal, an earnest man doing excellent work, one of the many teachers who, during the last few years, have been brought to matto grosso from sao paulo, a centre of the new educational movement which will do so much for brazil. father zahm went to spend the night with some french franciscan friars, capital fellows. i spent the night at the comfortable house of lieutenant lyra; a hot-weather house with thick walls, big doors, and an open patio bordered by a gallery. lieutenant lyra was to accompany us; he was an old companion of colonel rondon's explorations. we visited one or two of the stores to make some final purchases, and in the evening strolled through the dusky streets and under the trees of the plaza; the women and girls sat in groups in the doorways or at the windows, and here and there a stringed instrument tinkled in the darkness. from caceres onward we were entering the scene of colonel rondon's explorations. for some eighteen years he was occupied in exploring and in opening telegraph lines through the eastern or north middle part of the great forest state, the wilderness state of the "matto grosso"-- the "great wilderness," or, as australians would call it, "the bush." then, in , he began to penetrate the unknown region lying to the north and west. he was the head of the exploring expeditions sent out by the brazilian government to traverse for the first time this unknown land; to map for the first time the courses of the rivers which from the same divide run into the upper portions of the tapajos and the madeira, two of the mighty affluents of the amazon, and to build telegraph-lines across to the madeira, where a line of brazilian settlements, connected by steamboat lines and a railroad, again occurs. three times he penetrated into this absolutely unknown, indian-haunted wilderness, being absent for a year or two at a time and suffering every imaginable hardship, before he made his way through to the madeira and completed the telegraph-line across. the officers and men of the brazilian army and the civilian scientists who followed him shared the toil and the credit of the task. some of his men died of beriberi; some were killed or wounded by the indians; he himself almost died of fever; again and again his whole party was reduced almost to the last extremity by starvation, disease, hardship, and the over-exhaustion due to wearing fatigues. in dealing with the wild, naked savages he showed a combination of fearlessness, wariness, good judgment, and resolute patience and kindliness. the result was that they ultimately became his firm friends, guarded the telegraph- lines, and helped the few soldiers left at the isolated, widely separated little posts. he and his assistants explored, and mapped for the first time, the juruena and the gy-parana, two important affluents of the tapajos and the madeira respectively. the tapajos and the madeira, like the orinoco and rio negro, have been highways of travel for a couple of centuries. the madeira (as later the tapajos) was the chief means of ingress, a century and a half ago, to the little portuguese settlements of this far interior region of brazil; one of these little towns, named matto grosso, being the original capital of the province. it has long been abandoned by the government, and practically so by its inhabitants, the ruins of palace, fortress, and church now rising amid the rank tropical luxuriance of the wild forest. the mouths of the main affluents of these highway rivers were as a rule well known. but in many cases nothing but the mouth was known. the river itself was not known, and it was placed on the map by guesswork. colonel rondon found, for example, that the course of the gy-parana was put down on the map two degrees out of its proper place. he, with his party, was the first to find out its sources, the first to traverse its upper course, the first to map its length. he and his assistants performed a similar service for the juruena, discovering the sources, discovering and descending some of the branches, and for the first time making a trustworthy map of the main river itself, until its junction with the tapajos. near the watershed between the juruena and the gy-parana he established his farthest station to the westward, named jose bonofacio, after one of the chief republican patriots of brazil. a couple of days' march northwestward from this station, he in came across a part of the stream of a river running northward between the gy-parana and the juruena; he could only guess where it debouched, believing it to be into the madeira, although it was possible that it entered the gy-parana or tapajos. the region through which it flows was unknown, no civilized man having ever penetrated it; and as all conjecture as to what the river was, as to its length, and as to its place of entering into some highway river, was mere guess-work, he had entered it on his sketch maps as the rio da duvida, the river of doubt. among the officers of the brazilian army and the scientific civilians who have accompanied him there have been not only expert cartographers, photographers, and telegraphists, but astronomers, geologists, botanists, and zoologists. their reports, published in excellent shape by the brazilian government, make an invaluable series of volumes, reflecting the highest credit on the explorers, and on the government itself. colonel rondon's own accounts of his explorations, of the indian tribes he has visited, and of the beautiful and wonderful things he has seen, possess a peculiar interest. v. up the river of tapirs after leaving caceres we went up the sepotuba, which in the local indian dialect means river of tapirs. this river is only navigable for boats of size when the water is high. it is a swift, fairly clear stream, rushing down from the plan alto, the high uplands, through the tropical lowland forest. on the right hand, or western bank, and here and there on the left bank, the forest is broken by natural pastures and meadows, and at one of these places, known as porto campo, sixty or seventy miles above the mouth, there is a good-sized cattle-ranch. here we halted, because the launch, and the two pranchas--native trading-boats with houses on their decks--which it towed, could not carry our entire party and outfit. accordingly most of the baggage and some of the party were sent ahead to where we were to meet our pack- train, at tapirapoan. meanwhile the rest of us made our first camp under tents at porto campo, to wait the return of the boats. the tents were placed in a line, with the tent of colonel rondon and the tent in which kermit and i slept, in the middle, beside one another. in front of these two, on tall poles, stood the brazilian and american flags; and at sunrise and sunset the flags were hoisted and hauled down while the trumpet sounded and all of us stood at attention. camp was pitched beside the ranch buildings. in the trees near the tents grew wonderful violet orchids. many birds were around us; i saw some of them, and cherrie and miller many, many more. they ranged from party-colored macaws, green parrots, and big gregarious cuckoos down to a brilliant green-and-chestnut kingfisher, five and a quarter inches long, and a tiny orange-and- green manakin, smaller than any bird i have ever seen except a hummer. we also saw a bird that really was protectively colored; a kind of whippoorwill which even the sharp-eyed naturalists could only make out because it moved its head. we saw orange-bellied squirrels with showy orange tails. lizards were common. we killed our first poisonous snake (the second we had seen), an evil lance-headed jararaca that was swimming the river. we also saw a black-and-orange harmless snake, nearly eight feet long, which we were told was akin to the mussurama; and various other snakes. one day while paddling in a canoe on the river, hoping that the dogs might drive a tapir to us, they drove into the water a couple of small bush deer instead. there was no point in shooting them; we caught them with ropes thrown over their heads; for the naturalists needed them as specimens, and all of us needed the meat. one of the men was stung by a single big red maribundi wasp. for twenty-four hours he was in great pain and incapacitated for work. in a lagoon two of the dogs had the tips of their tails bitten off by piranhas as they swam, and the ranch hands told us that in this lagoon one of their hounds had been torn to pieces and completely devoured by the ravenous fish. it was a further illustration of the uncertainty of temper and behavior of these ferocious little monsters. in other lagoons they had again and again left us and our dogs unmolested. they vary locally in aggressiveness just as sharks and crocodiles in different seas and rivers vary. on the morning of january th we started out for a tapir-hunt. tapirs are hunted with canoes, as they dwell in thick jungle and take to the water when hounds follow them. in this region there were extensive papyrus-swamps and big lagoons, back from the river, and often the tapirs fled to these for refuge, throwing off the hounds. in these places it was exceedingly difficult to get them; our best chance was to keep to the river in canoes, and paddle toward the spot in the direction of which the hounds, by the noise, seemed to be heading. we started in four canoes. three of them were indian dugouts, very low in the water. the fourth was our canadian canoe, a beauty; light, safe, roomy, made of thin slats of wood and cement-covered canvas. colonel rondon, fiala with his camera, and i went in this canoe, together with two paddlers. the paddlers were natives of the poorer class. they were good men. the bowsman was of nearly pure white blood; the steersman was of nearly pure negro blood, and was evidently the stronger character and better man of the two. the other canoes carried a couple of fazendeiros, ranchmen, who had come up from caceres with their dogs. these dugouts were manned by indian and half-caste paddlers, and the fazendeiros, who were of nearly pure white blood, also at times paddled vigorously. all were dressed in substantially similar clothes, the difference being that those of the camaradas, the poorer men or laborers, were in tatters. in the canoes no man wore anything save a shirt, trousers, and hat, the feet being bare. on horseback they wore long leather leggings which were really simply high, rather flexible boots with the soles off; their spurs were on their tough bare feet. there was every gradation between and among the nearly pure whites, negroes, and indians. on the whole, there was the most white blood in the upper ranks, and most indian and negro blood among the camaradas; but there were exceptions in both classes, and there was no discrimination on account of color. all alike were courteous and friendly. the hounds were at first carried in two of the dugouts, and then let loose on the banks. we went up-stream for a couple of hours against the swift current, the paddlers making good headway with their pointed paddles--the broad blade of each paddle was tipped with a long point, so that it could be thrust into the mud to keep the low dugout against the bank. the tropical forest came down almost like a wall, the tall trees laced together with vines, and the spaces between their trunks filled with a low, dense jungle. in most places it could only be penetrated by a man with a machete. with few exceptions the trees were unknown to me, and their native names told me nothing. on most of them the foliage was thick; among the exceptions were the cecropias, growing by preference on new-formed alluvial soil bare of other trees, whose rather scanty leaf bunches were, as i was informed, the favorite food of sloths. we saw one or two squirrels among the trees, and a family of monkeys. there were few sand-banks in the river, and no water-fowl save an occasional cormorant. but as we pushed along near the shore, where the branches overhung and dipped in the swirling water, we continually roused little flocks of bats. they were hanging from the boughs right over the river, and when our approach roused them they zigzagged rapidly in front of us for a few rods, and then again dove in among the branches. at last we landed at a point of ground where there was little jungle, and where the forest was composed of palms and was fairly open. it was a lovely bit of forest. the colonel strolled off in one direction, returning an hour later with a squirrel for the naturalists. meanwhile fiala and i went through the palm wood to a papyrus-swamp. many trails led through the woods, and especially along the borders of the swamp; and, although their principal makers had evidently been cattle, yet there were in them footprints of both tapir and deer. the tapir makes a footprint much like that of a small rhinoceros, being one of the odd-toed ungulates. we could hear the dogs now and then, evidently scattered and running on various trails. they were a worthless lot of cur-hounds. they would chase tapir or deer or anything else that ran away from them as long as the trail was easy to follow; but they were not stanch, even after animals that fled, and they would have nothing whatever to do with animals that were formidable. while standing by the marsh we heard something coming along one of the game paths. in a moment a buck of the bigger species of bush deer appeared, a very pretty and graceful creature. it stopped and darted back as soon as it saw us, giving us no chance for a shot; but in another moment we caught glimpses of it running by at full speed, back among the palms. i covered an opening between two tree-trunks. by good luck the buck appeared in the right place, giving me just time to hold well ahead of him and fire. at the report he went down in a heap, the "umbrella-pointed" bullet going in at one shoulder, and ranging forward, breaking the neck. the leaden portion of the bullet, in the proper mushroom or umbrella shape, stopped under the neck skin on the farther side. it is a very effective bullet. miller particularly wished specimens of these various species of bush deer, because their mutual relationships have not yet been satisfactorily worked out. this was an old buck. the antlers were single spikes, five or six inches long; they were old and white and would soon have been shed. in the stomach were the remains of both leaves and grasses, but especially the former; the buck was both a browser and grazer. there were also seeds, but no berries or nuts such as i have sometimes found in deer's stomachs. this species, which is abundant in this neighborhood, is solitary in its habits, not going in herds. at this time the rut was past, the bucks no longer sought the does, the fawns had not been born, and the yearlings had left their mothers; so that each animal usually went by itself. when chased they were very apt to take to the water. this instinct of taking to the water, by the way, is quite explicable as regards both deer and tapir, for it affords them refuge against their present day natural foes, but it is a little puzzling to see the jaguar readily climbing trees to escape dogs; for ages have passed since there were in its habitat any natural foes from which it needed to seek safety in trees. but it is possible that the habit has been kept alive by its seeking refuge in them on occasion from the big peccaries, which are among the beasts on which it ordinarily preys. we hung the buck in a tree. the colonel returned, and not long afterward one of the paddlers who had been watching the river called out to us that there was a tapir in the water, a good distance up- stream, and that two of the other boats were after it. we jumped into the canoe and the two paddlers dug their blades in the water as they drove her against the strong current, edging over for the opposite bank. the tapir was coming down-stream at a great rate, only its queer head above water, while the dugouts were closing rapidly on it, the paddlers uttering loud cries. as the tapir turned slightly to one side or the other the long, slightly upturned snout and the strongly pronounced arch of the crest along the head and upper neck gave it a marked and unusual aspect. i could not shoot, for it was directly in line with one of the pursuing dugouts. suddenly it dived, the snout being slightly curved downward as it did so. there was no trace of it; we gazed eagerly in all directions; the dugout in front came alongside our canoe and the paddlers rested, their paddles ready. then we made out the tapir clambering up the bank. it had dived at right angles to the course it was following and swum under water to the very edge of the shore, rising under the overhanging tree-branches at a point where a drinking-trail for game led down a break in the bank. the branches partially hid it, and it was in deep shadow, so that it did not offer a very good shot. my bullet went into its body too far back, and the tapir disappeared in the forest at a gallop as if unhurt, although the bullet really secured it, by making it unwilling to trust to its speed and leave the neighborhood of the water. three or four of the hounds were by this time swimming the river, leaving the others yelling on the opposite side; and as soon as the swimmers reached the shore they were put on the tapir's trail and galloped after it, giving tongue. in a couple of minutes we saw the tapir take to the water far up-stream, and after it we went as fast as the paddles could urge us through the water. we were not in time to head it, but fortunately some of the dogs had come down to the river's edge at the very point where the tapir was about to land, and turned it back. two or three of the dogs were swimming. we were more than half the breadth of the river away from the tapir, and somewhat down-stream, when it dived. it made an astonishingly long swim beneath the water this time, almost as if it had been a hippopotamus, for it passed completely under our canoe and rose between us and the hither bank. i shot it, the bullet going into its brain, while it was thirty or forty yards from shore. it sank at once. there was now nothing to do but wait until the body floated. i feared that the strong current would roll it down-stream over the river bed, but my companions assured me that this was not so, and that the body would remain where it was until it rose, which would be in an hour or two. they were right, except as to the time. for over a couple of hours we paddled, or anchored ourselves by clutching branches close to the spot, or else drifted down a mile and paddled up again near the shore, to see if the body had caught anywhere. then we crossed the river and had lunch at the lovely natural picnic-ground where the buck was hung up. we had very nearly given up the tapir when it suddenly floated only a few rods from where it had sunk. with no little difficulty the big, round black body was hoisted into the canoe, and we all turned our prows down-stream. the skies had been lowering for some time, and now--too late to interfere with the hunt or cause us any annoyance--a heavy downpour of rain came on and beat upon us. little we cared, as the canoe raced forward, with the tapir and the buck lying in the bottom, and a dry, comfortable camp ahead of us. when we reached camp, and father zahm saw the tapir, he reminded me of something i had completely forgotten. when, some six years previously, he had spoken to me in the white house about taking this south american trip, i had answered that i could not, as i intended to go to africa, but added that i hoped some day to go to south america and that if i did so i should try to shoot both a jaguar and a tapir, as they were the characteristic big-game animals of the country. "well," said father zahm, "now you've shot them both!" the storm continued heavy until after sunset. then the rain stopped and the full moon broke through the cloud-rack. father zahm and i walked up and down in the moonlight, talking of many things, from dante, and our own plans for the future, to the deeds and the wanderings of the old-time spanish conquistadores in their search for the gilded king, and of the portuguese adventurers who then divided with them the mastery of the oceans and of the unknown continents beyond. this was an attractive and interesting camp in more ways than one. the vaqueiros with their wives and families were housed on the two sides of the field in which our tents were pitched. on one side was a big, whitewashed, tile-roofed house in which the foreman dwelt--an olive- skinned, slightly built, wiry man, with an olive-skinned wife and eight as pretty, fair-haired children as one could wish to see. he usually went barefoot, and his manners were not merely good but distinguished. corrals and outbuildings were near this big house. on the opposite side of the field stood the row of steep-roofed, palm- thatched huts in which the ordinary cowhands lived with their dusky helpmeets and children. each night from these palm-thatched quarters we heard the faint sounds of a music that went far back of civilization to a savage ancestry near by in point of time and otherwise immeasurably remote; for through the still, hot air, under the brilliant moonlight, we heard the monotonous throbbing of a tomtom drum, and the twanging of some old stringed instrument. the small black turkey-buzzards, here always called crows, were as tame as chickens near the big house, walking on the ground or perched in the trees beside the corral, waiting for the offal of the slaughtered cattle. two palm-trees near our tent were crowded with the long, hanging nests of one of the cacique orioles. we lived well, with plenty of tapir beef, which was good, and venison of the bush deer, which was excellent; and as much ordinary beef as we wished, and fresh milk, too--a rarity in this country. there were very few mosquitoes, and everything was as comfortable as possible. the tapir i killed was a big one. i did not wish to kill another, unless, of course, it became advisable to do so for food; whereas i did wish to get some specimens of the big, white-lipped peccary, the "queixa" (pronounced "cashada") of the brazilians, which would make our collection of the big mammals of the brazilian forests almost complete. the remaining members of the party killed two or three more tapirs. one was a bull, full grown but very much smaller than the animal i had killed. the hunters said that this was a distinct kind. the skull and skin were sent back with the other specimens to the american museum, where after due examination and comparison its specific identify will be established. tapirs are solitary beasts. two are rarely found together, except in the case of a cow and its spotted and streaked calf. they live in dense cover, usually lying down in the daytime and at night coming out to feed, and going to the river or to some lagoon to bathe and swim. from this camp sigg took lieutenant lyra back to caceres to get something that had been overlooked. they went in a rowboat to which the motor had been attached, and at night on the way back almost ran over a tapir that was swimming. but in unfrequented places tapirs both feed and bathe during the day. the stomach of the one i shot contained big palm-nuts; they had been swallowed without enough mastication to break the kernel, the outer pulp being what the tapir prized. tapirs gallop well, and their tough hide and wedge shape enable them to go at speed through very dense cover. they try to stamp on, and even to bite, a foe, but are only clumsy fighters. the tapir is a very archaic type of ungulate, not unlike the non- specialized beasts of the oligocene. from some such ancestral type the highly specialized one-toed modern horse has evolved, while during the uncounted ages that saw the horse thus develop the tapir has continued substantially unchanged. originally the tapirs dwelt in the northern hemisphere, but there they gradually died out, the more specialized horse, and even for long ages the rhinoceros, persisting after they had vanished; and nowadays the surviving tapirs are found in malaysia and south america, far from their original home. the relations of the horse and tapir in the paleontological history of south america are very curious. both were, geologically speaking, comparatively recent immigrants, and if they came at different dates it is almost certain that the horse came later. the horse for an age or two, certainly for many hundreds of thousands of years, throve greatly and developed not only several different species but even different genera. it was much the most highly specialized of the two, and in the other continental regions where both were found the horse outlasted the tapir. but in south america the tapir outlasted the horse. from unknown causes the various genera and species of horses died out, while the tapir has persisted. the highly specialized, highly developed beasts, which represented such a full evolutionary development, died out, while their less specialized remote kinsfolk, which had not developed, clung to life and throve; and this although the direct reverse was occurring in north america and in the old world. it is one of the innumerable and at present insoluble problems in the history of life on our planet. i spent a couple of days of hard work in getting the big white-lipped peccaries--white-lipped being rather a misnomer, as the entire under jaw and lower cheek are white. they were said to be found on the other side of, and some distance back from, the river. colonel rondon had sent out one of our attendants, an old follower of his, a full-blood parecis indian, to look for tracks. this was an excellent man, who dressed and behaved just like the other good men we had, and was called antonio parecis. he found the tracks of a herd of thirty or forty cashadas, and the following morning we started after them. on the first day we killed nothing. we were rather too large a party, for one or two of the visiting fazendeiros came along with their dogs. i doubt whether these men very much wished to overtake our game, for the big peccary is a murderous foe of dogs (and is sometimes dangerous to men). one of their number frankly refused to come or to let his dogs come, explaining that the fierce wild swine were "very badly brought up" (a literal translation of his words) and that respectable dogs and men ought not to go near them. the other fazendeiros merely feared for their dogs; a groundless fear, i believe, as i do not think that the dogs could by any exertion have been dragged into dangerous proximity with such foes. the ranch foreman, benedetto, came with us, and two or three other camaradas, including antonio, the parecis indian. the horses were swum across the river, each being led beside a dugout. then we crossed with the dogs; our horses were saddled, and we started. it was a picturesque cavalcade. the native hunters, of every shade from white to dark copper, all wore leather leggings that left the soles of their feet bare, and on their bare heels wore spurs with wheels four inches across. they went in single file, for no other mode of travel was possible; and the two or three leading men kept their machetes out, and had to cut every yard of our way while we were in the forest. the hunters rode little stallions, and their hounds were gelded. most of the time we were in forest or swampy jungle. part of the time we crossed or skirted marshy plains. in one of them a herd of half- wild cattle was feeding. herons, storks, ducks, and ibises were in these marshes, and we saw one flock of lovely roseate spoonbills. in one grove the fig-trees were killing the palms, just as in africa they kill the sandalwood-trees. in the gloom of this grove there were no flowers, no bushes; the air was heavy; the ground was brown with mouldering leaves. almost every palm was serving as a prop for a fig- tree. the fig-trees were in every stage of growth. the youngest ones merely ran up the palms as vines. in the next stage the vine had thickened and was sending out shoots, wrapping the palm stem in a deadly hold. some of the shoots were thrown round the stem like the tentacles of an immense cuttlefish. others looked like claws, that were hooked into every crevice, and round every projection. in the stage beyond this the palm had been killed, and its dead carcass appeared between the big, winding vine-trunks; and later the palm had disappeared and the vines had united into a great fig-tree. water stood in black pools at the foot of the murdered trees, and of the trees that had murdered them. there was something sinister and evil in the dark stillness of the grove; it seemed as if sentient beings had writhed themselves round and were strangling other sentient beings. we passed through wonderfully beautiful woods of tall palms, the ouaouaca palm--wawasa palm, as it should be spelled in english. the trunks rose tall and strong and slender, and the fronds were branches twenty or thirty feet long, with the many long, narrow green blades starting from the midrib at right angles in pairs. round the ponds stood stately burity palms, rising like huge columns, with great branches that looked like fans, as the long, stiff blades radiated from the end of the midrib. one tree was gorgeous with the brilliant hues of a flock of party-colored macaws. green parrots flew shrieking overhead. now and then we were bitten and stung by the venomous fire-ants, and ticks crawled upon us. once we were assailed by more serious foes, in the shape of a nest of maribundi wasps, not the biggest kind, but about the size of our hornets. we were at the time passing through dense jungle, under tall trees, in a spot where the down timber, holes, tangled creepers, and thorns made the going difficult. the leading men were not assailed, although they were now and then cutting the trail. colonel rondon and i were in the middle of the column, and the swarm attacked us; both of us were badly stung on the face, neck, and hands, the colonel even more severely than i was. he wheeled and rode to the rear and i to the front; our horses were stung too; and we went at a rate that a moment previously i would have deemed impossible over such ground. at the close of the day, when we were almost back at the river, the dogs killed a jaguar kitten. there was no trace of the mother. some accident must have befallen her, and the kitten was trying to shift for herself. she was very emaciated. in her stomach were the remains of a pigeon and some tendons from the skeleton or dried carcass of some big animal. the loathsome berni flies, which deposit eggs in living beings--cattle, dogs, monkeys, rodents, men--had been at it. there were seven huge, white grubs making big abscess-like swellings over its eyes. these flies deposit their grubs in men. in , on colonel rondon's hardest trip, every man of the party had from one to five grubs deposited in him, the fly acting with great speed, and driving its ovipositor through clothing. the grubs cause torture; but a couple of cross cuts with a lancet permit the loathsome creatures to be squeezed out. in these forests the multitude of insects that bite, sting, devour, and prey upon other creatures, often with accompaniments of atrocious suffering, passes belief. the very pathetic myth of "beneficent nature" could not deceive even the least wise being if he once saw for himself the iron cruelty of life in the tropics. of course "nature"-- in common parlance a wholly inaccurate term, by the way, especially when used as if to express a single entity--is entirely ruthless, no less so as regards types than as regards individuals, and entirely indifferent to good or evil, and works out her ends or no ends with utter disregard of pain and woe. the following morning at sunrise we started again. this time only colonel rondon and i went with benedetto and antonio the indian. we brought along four dogs which it was fondly hoped might chase the cashadas. two of them disappeared on the track of a tapir and we saw them no more; one of the others promptly fled when we came across the tracks of our game, and would not even venture after them in our company; the remaining one did not actually run away and occasionally gave tongue, but could not be persuaded to advance unless there was a man ahead of him. however, colonel rondon, benedetto, and antonio formed a trio of hunters who could do fairly well without dogs. after four hours of riding, benedetto, who was in the lead, suddenly stopped and pointed downward. we were riding along a grassy intervale between masses of forest, and he had found the fresh track of a herd of big peccaries crossing from left to right. there were apparently thirty or forty in the herd. the small peccaries go singly or in small parties, and when chased take refuge in holes or hollow logs, where they show valiant fight; but the big peccaries go in herds of considerable size, and are so truculent that they are reluctant to run, and prefer either to move slowly off chattering their tusks and grunting, or else actually to charge. where much persecuted the survivors gradually grow more willing to run, but their instinct is not to run but to trust to their truculence and their mass-action for safety. they inflict a fearful bite and frequently kill dogs. they often charge the hunters and i have heard of men being badly wounded by them, while almost every man who hunts them often is occasionally forced to scramble up a tree to avoid a charge. but i have never heard of a man being killed by them. they sometimes surround the tree in which the man has taken refuge and keep him up it. cherrie, on one occasion in costa rica, was thus kept up a tree for several hours by a great herd of three or four hundred of these peccaries; and this although he killed several of them. ordinarily, however, after making their charge they do not turn, but pass on out of sight. their great foe is the jaguar, but unless he exercises much caution they will turn the tables on him. cherrie, also in costa rica, came on the body of a jaguar which had evidently been killed by a herd of peccaries some twenty-four hours previously. the ground was trampled up by their hoofs, and the carcass was rent and slit into pieces. benedetto, as soon as we discovered the tracks, slipped off his horse, changed his leggings for sandals, threw his rifle over his arm, and took the trail of the herd, followed by the only dog which would accompany him. the peccaries had gone into a broad belt of forest, with a marsh on the farther side. at first antonio led the colonel and me, all of us on horseback, at a canter round this belt to the marsh side, thinking the peccaries had gone almost through it. but we could hear nothing. the dog only occasionally barked, and then not loudly. finally we heard a shot. benedetto had found the herd, which showed no fear of him; he had backed out and fired a signal shot. we all three went into the forest on foot toward where the shot had been fired. it was dense jungle and stiflingly hot. we could not see clearly for more than a few feet, or move easily without free use of the machetes. soon we heard the ominous groaning of the herd, in front of us, and almost on each side. then benedetto joined us, and the dog appeared in the rear. we moved slowly forward, toward the sound of the fierce moaning grunts which were varied at times by a castanet chattering of the tusks. then we dimly made out the dark forms of the peccaries moving very slowly to the left. my companions each chose a tree to climb at need and pointed out one for me. i fired at the half-seen form of a hog, through the vines, leaves, and branches; the colonel fired; i fired three more shots at other hogs; and the indian also fired. the peccaries did not charge; walking and trotting, with bristles erect, groaning and clacking their tusks, they disappeared into the jungle. we could not see one of them clearly; and not one was left dead. but a few paces on we came across one of my wounded ones, standing at bay by a palm trunk; and i killed it forthwith. the dog would not even trail the wounded ones; but here antonio came to the front. with eyes almost as quick and sure as those of a wild beast he had watched after every shot, and was able to tell the results in each case. he said that in addition to the one i had just killed i had wounded two others so seriously that he did not think they would go far, and that colonel rondon and he himself had each badly wounded one; and, moreover, he showed the trails each wounded animal had taken. the event justified him. in a few minutes we found my second one dead. then we found antonio's. then we found my third one alive and at bay, and i killed it with another bullet. finally we found the colonel's. i told him i should ask the authorities of the american museum to mount his and one or two of mine in a group, to commemorate our hunting together. if we had not used crippling rifles the peccaries might have gotten away, for in the dark jungle, with the masses of intervening leaves and branches, it was impossible to be sure of placing each bullet properly in the half-seen moving beast. we found where the herd had wallowed in the mud. the stomachs of the peccaries we killed contained wild figs, palm nuts, and bundles of root fibres. the dead beasts were covered with ticks. they were at least twice the weight of the smaller peccaries. on the ride home we saw a buck of the small species of bush deer, not half the size of the kind i had already shot. it was only a patch of red in the bush, a good distance off, but i was lucky enough to hit it. in spite of its small size it was a full-grown male, of a species we had not yet obtained. the antlers had recently been shed, and the new antler growth had just begun. a great jabiru stork let us ride by him a hundred and fifty yards off without thinking it worth while to take flight. this day we saw many of the beautiful violet orchids; and in the swamps were multitudes of flowers, red, yellow, lilac, of which i did not know the names. i alluded above to the queer custom these people in the interior of brazil have of gelding their hunting-dogs. this absurd habit is doubtless the chief reason why there are so few hounds worth their salt in the more serious kinds of hunting, where the quarry is the jaguar or big peccary. thus far we had seen but one dog as good as the ordinary cougar hound or bear hound in such packs as those with which i had hunted in the rockies and in the cane-brakes of the lower mississippi. it can hardly be otherwise when every dog that shows himself worth anything is promptly put out of the category of breeders--the theory apparently being that the dog will then last longer. all the breeding is from worthless dogs, and no dog of proved worth leaves descendants. the country along this river is a fine natural cattle country, and some day it will surely see a great development. it was opened to development by colonel rondon only five or six years ago. already an occasional cattle ranch is to be found along the banks. when railroads are built into these interior portions of matto grosso the whole region will grow and thrive amazingly--and so will the railroads. the growth will not be merely material. an immense amount will be done in education; using the word education in its broadest and most accurate sense, as applying to both mind and spirit, to both the child and the man. colonel rondon is not merely an explorer. he has been and is now a leader in the movement for the vital betterment of his people, the people of matto grosso. the poorer people of the back country everywhere suffer because of the harsh and improper laws of debt. in practice these laws have resulted in establishing a system of peonage, such as has grown up here and there in our own nation. a radical change is needed in this matter; and the colonel is fighting for the change. in school matters the colonel has precisely the ideas of our wisest and most advanced men and women in the united states. cherrie-- who is not only an exceedingly efficient naturalist and explorer in the tropics, but is also a thoroughly good citizen at home--is the chairman of the school board of the town of newfane, in vermont. he and the colonel, and kermit and i, talked over school matters at length, and were in hearty accord as to the vital educational needs of both brazil and the united states: the need of combining industrial with purely mental training, and the need of having the wide-spread popular education, which is and must be supported and paid for by the government, made a purely governmental and absolutely nonsectarian function, administered by the state alone, without interference with, nor furtherance of, the beliefs of any reputable church. the colonel is also head of the indian service of brazil, being what corresponds roughly with our commissioner of indian affairs. here also he is taking the exact view that is taken in the united states by the staunchest and wisest friends of the indians. the indians must be treated with intelligent and sympathetic understanding, no less than with justice and firmness; and until they become citizens, absorbed into the general body politic, they must be the wards of the nation, and not of any private association, lay or clerical, no matter how well-meaning. the sepotuba river was scientifically explored and mapped for the first time by colonel rondon in , as head of the brazilian telegraphic commission. this was during the second year of his exploration and opening of the unknown northwestern wilderness of matto grosso. most of this wilderness had never previously been trodden by the foot of a civilized man. not only were careful maps made and much other scientific work accomplished, but posts were established and telegraph-lines constructed. when colonel rondon began the work he was a major. he was given two promotions, to lieutenant- colonel and colonel, while absent in the wilderness. his longest and most important exploring trip, and the one fraught with most danger and hardship, was begun by him in , on may rd, the anniversary of the discovery of brazil. he left tapirapoan on that day, and he reached the madeira river on christmas, december , of the same year, having descended the gy-parana. the mouth of this river had long been known, but its upper course for half its length was absolutely unknown when rondon descended it. among those who took part under him in this piece of exploration were the present captain amilcar and lieutenant lyra; and two better or more efficient men for such wilderness work it would be impossible to find. they acted as his two chief assistants on our trip. in the party exhausted all their food, including even the salt, by august. for the last four months they lived exclusively on the game they killed, on fruits, and on wild honey. their equipage was what the men could carry on their backs. by the time the party reached the madeira they were worn out by fatigue, exposure, and semi- starvation, and their enfeebled bodies were racked by fever. the work of exploration accomplished by colonel rondon and his associates during these years was as remarkable as, and in its results even more important than, any similar work undertaken elsewhere on the globe at or about the same time. its value was recognized in brazil. it received no recognition by the geographical societies of europe or the united states. the work done by the original explorers of such a wilderness necessitates the undergoing of untold hardship and danger. their successors, even their immediate successors, have a relatively easy time. soon the road becomes so well beaten that it can be traversed without hardship by any man who does not venture from it--although if he goes off into the wilderness for even a day, hunting or collecting, he will have a slight taste of what his predecessors endured. the wilderness explored by colonel rondon is not yet wholly subdued, and still holds menace to human life. at caceres he received notice of the death of one of his gallant subordinates, captain cardozo. he died from beriberi, far out in the wilderness along our proposed line of march. colonel rondon also received news that a boat ascending the gy- parana, to carry provisions to meet those of our party who were to descend that stream, had been upset, the provisions lost, and three men drowned. the risk and hardship are such that the ordinary men, the camaradas, do not like to go into the wilderness. the men who go with the telegraphic commission on the rougher and wilder work are paid seven times as much as they earn in civilization. on this trip of ours colonel rondon met with much difficulty in securing some one who could cook. he asked the cook on the little steamer nyoac to go with us; but the cook with unaffected horror responded: "senhor, i have never done anything to deserve punishment!" five days after leaving us, the launch, with one of the native trading-boats lashed alongside, returned. on the th we broke camp, loaded ourselves and all our belongings on the launch and the house- boat, and started up-stream for tapirapoan. all told there were about thirty men, with five dogs and tents, bedding and provisions; fresh beef, growing rapidly less fresh; skins--all and everything jammed together. it rained most of the first day and part of the first night. after that the weather was generally overcast and pleasant for travelling; but sometimes rain and torrid sunshine alternated. the cooking--and it was good cooking--was done at a funny little open-air fireplace, with two or three cooking-pots placed at the stern of the house-boat. the fireplace was a platform of earth, taken from anthills, and heaped and spread on the boards of the boat. around it the dusky cook worked with philosophic solemnity in rain and shine. our attendants, friendly souls with skins of every shade and hue, slept most of the time, curled up among boxes, bundles, and slabs of beef. an enormous land turtle was tethered toward the bow of the house-boat. when the men slept too near it, it made futile efforts to scramble over them; and in return now and then one of them gravely used it for a seat. slowly the throbbing engine drove the launch and its unwieldy side- partner against the swift current. the river had risen. we made about a mile and a half an hour. ahead of us the brown water street stretched in curves between endless walls of dense tropical forest. it was like passing through a gigantic greenhouse. wawasa and burity palms, cecropias, huge figs, feathery bamboos, strange yellow-stemmed trees, low trees with enormous leaves, tall trees with foliage as delicate as lace, trees with buttressed trunks, trees with boles rising smooth and straight to lofty heights, all woven together by a tangle of vines, crowded down to the edge of the river. their drooping branches hung down to the water, forming a screen through which it was impossible to see the bank, and exceedingly difficult to penetrate to the bank. rarely one of them showed flowers--large white blossoms, or small red or yellow blossoms. more often the lilac flowers of the begonia-vine made large patches of color. innumerable epiphytes covered the limbs, and even grew on the roughened trunks. we saw little bird life--a darter now and then, and kingfishers flitting from perch to perch. at long intervals we passed a ranch. at one the large, red-tiled, whitewashed house stood on a grassy slope behind mango- trees. the wooden shutters were thrown back from the unglazed windows, and the big rooms were utterly bare--not a book, not an ornament. a palm, loaded with scores of the pendulous nests of the troupials, stood near the door. behind were orange-trees and coffee-plants, and near by fields of bananas, rice, and tobacco. the sallow foreman was courteous and hospitable. his dark-skinned women-folk kept in the furtive background. like most of the ranches, it was owned by a company with headquarters at caceres. the trip was pleasant and interesting, although there was not much to do on the boat. it was too crowded to move around save with a definite purpose. we enjoyed the scenery; we talked--in english, portuguese, bad french, and broken german. some of us wrote. fiala made sketches of improved tents, hammocks, and other field equipment, suggested by what he had already seen. some of us read books. colonel rondon, neat, trim, alert, and soldierly, studied a standard work on applied geographical astronomy. father zahm read a novel by fogazzaro. kermit read camoens and a couple of brazilian novels, "o guarani" and "innocencia." my own reading varied from "quentin durward" and gibbon to the "chanson de roland." miller took out his little pet owl moses, from the basket in which moses dwelt, and gave him food and water. moses crooned and chuckled gratefully when he was stroked and tickled. late the first evening we moored to the bank by a little fazenda of the poorer type. the houses were of palm-leaves. even the walls were made of the huge fronds or leafy branches of the wawasa palm, stuck upright in the ground and the blades plaited together. some of us went ashore. some stayed on the boats. there were no mosquitoes, the weather was not oppressively hot, and we slept well. by five o'clock next morning we had each drunk a cup of delicious brazilian coffee, and the boats were under way. all day we steamed slowly up-stream. we passed two or three fazendas. at one, where we halted to get milk, the trees were overgrown with pretty little yellow orchids. at dark we moored at a spot where there were no branches to prevent our placing the boats directly alongside the bank. there were hardly any mosquitoes. most of the party took their hammocks ashore, and the camp was pitched amid singularly beautiful surroundings. the trees were wawasa palms, some with the fronds cresting very tall trunks, some with the fronds--seemingly longer--rising almost from the ground. the fronds were of great length; some could not have been less than fifty feet long. bushes and tall grass, dew-drenched and glittering with the green of emeralds, grew in the open spaces between. we left at sunrise the following morning. one of the sailors had strayed inland. he got turned round and could not find the river; and we started before discovering his absence. we stopped at once, and with much difficulty he forced his way through the vine-laced and thorn-guarded jungle toward the sound of the launch's engines and of the bugle which was blown. in this dense jungle, when the sun is behind clouds, a man without a compass who strays a hundred yards from the river may readily become hopelessly lost. as we ascended the river the wawasa palms became constantly more numerous. at this point, for many miles, they gave their own character to the forest on the river banks. everywhere their long, curving fronds rose among the other trees, and in places their lofty trunks made them hold their heads higher than the other trees. but they were never as tall as the giants among the ordinary trees. on one towering palm we noticed a mass of beautiful violet orchids growing from the side of the trunk, half-way to the top. on another big tree, not a palm, which stood in a little opening, there hung well over a hundred troupials' nests. besides two or three small ranches we this day passed a large ranch. the various houses and sheds, all palm-thatched, stood by the river in a big space of cleared ground, dotted with wawasa palms. a native house-boat was moored by the bank. women and children looked from the unglazed windows of the houses; men stood in front of them. the biggest house was enclosed by a stockade of palm- logs, thrust end-on into the ground. cows and oxen grazed round about; and carts with solid wheels, each wheel made of a single disk of wood, were tilted on their poles. we made our noonday halt on an island where very tall trees grew, bearing fruits that were pleasant to the taste. other trees on the island were covered with rich red and yellow blossoms; and masses of delicate blue flowers and of star-shaped white flowers grew underfoot. hither and thither across the surface of the river flew swallows, with so much white in their plumage that as they flashed in the sun they seemed to have snow-white bodies, borne by dark wings. the current of the river grew swifter; there were stretches of broken water that were almost rapids; the laboring engine strained and sobbed as with increasing difficulty it urged forward the launch and her clumsy consort. at nightfall we moored beside the bank, where the forest was open enough to permit a comfortable camp. that night the ants ate large holes in miller's mosquito-netting, and almost devoured his socks and shoe-laces. at sunrise we again started. there were occasional stretches of swift, broken water, almost rapids, in the river; everywhere the current was swift, and our progress was slow. the prancha was towed at the end of a hawser, and her crew poled. even thus we only just made the riffle in more than one case. two or three times cormorants and snake-birds, perched on snags in the river or on trees alongside it, permitted the boat to come within a few yards. in one piece of high forest we saw a party of toucans, conspicuous even among the tree tops because of their huge bills and the leisurely expertness with which they crawled, climbed, and hopped among the branches. we went by several fazendas. shortly before noon--january --we reached tapirapoan, the headquarters of the telegraphic commission. it was an attractive place, on the river-front, and it was gayly bedecked with flags, not only those of brazil and the united states, but of all the other american republics, in our honor. there was a large, green square, with trees standing in the middle of it. on one side of this square were the buildings of the telegraphic commission, on the other those of a big ranch, of which this is the headquarters. in addition, there were stables, sheds, outhouses, and corrals; and there were cultivated fields near by. milch cows, beef-cattle, oxen, and mules wandered almost at will. there were two or three wagons and carts, and a traction automobile, used in the construction of the telegraph-line, but not available in the rainy season, at the time of our trip. here we were to begin our trip overland, on pack-mules and pack-oxen, scores of which had been gathered to meet us. several days were needed to apportion the loads and arrange for the several divisions in which it was necessary that so large a party should attempt the long wilderness march, through a country where there was not much food for man or beast, and where it was always possible to run into a district in which fatal cattle or horse diseases were prevalent. fiala, with his usual efficiency, took charge of handling the outfit of the american portion of the expedition, with sigg as an active and useful assistant. harper, who like the others worked with whole-hearted zeal and cheerfulness, also helped him, except when he was engaged in helping the naturalists. the two latter, cherrie and miller, had so far done the hardest and the best work of the expedition. they had collected about a thousand birds and two hundred and fifty mammals. it was not probable that they would do as well during the remainder of our trip, for we intended thenceforth to halt as little, and march as steadily, as the country, the weather, and the condition of our means of transportation permitted. i kept continually wishing that they had more time in which to study the absorbingly interesting life-histories of the beautiful and wonderful beasts and birds we were all the time seeing. every first-rate museum must still employ competent collectors; but i think that a museum could now confer most lasting benefit, and could do work of most permanent good, by sending out into the immense wildernesses, where wild nature is at her best, trained observers with the gift of recording what they have observed. such men should be collectors, for collecting is still necessary; but they should also, and indeed primarily, be able themselves to see, and to set vividly before the eyes of others, the full life-histories of the creatures that dwell in the waste spaces of the world. at this point both cherrie and miller collected a number of mammals and birds which they had not previously obtained; whether any were new to science could only be determined after the specimens reached the american museum. while making the round of his small mammal traps one morning, miller encountered an army of the formidable foraging ants. the species was a large black one, moving with a well-extended front. these ants, sometimes called army-ants, like the driver-ants of africa, move in big bodies and destroy or make prey of every living thing that is unable or unwilling to get out of their path in time. they run fast, and everything runs away from their advance. insects form their chief prey; and the most dangerous and aggressive lower- life creatures make astonishingly little resistance to them. miller's attention was first attracted to this army of ants by noticing a big centipede, nine or ten inches long, trying to flee before them. a number of ants were biting it, and it writhed at each bite, but did not try to use its long curved jaws against its assailants. on other occasions he saw big scorpions and big hairy spiders trying to escape in the same way, and showing the same helpless inability to injure their ravenous foes, or to defend themselves. the ants climb trees to a great height, much higher than most birds' nests, and at once kill and tear to pieces any fledglings in the nests they reach. but they are not as common as some writers seem to imagine; days may elapse before their armies are encountered, and doubtless most nests are never visited or threatened by them. in some instances it seems likely that the birds save themselves and their young in other ways. some nests are inaccessible. from others it is probable that the parents remove the young. miller once, in guiana, had been watching for some days a nest of ant-wrens which contained young. going thither one morning, he found the tree, and the nest itself, swarming with foraging ants. he at first thought that the fledglings had been devoured, but he soon saw the parents, only about thirty yards off, with food in their beaks. they were engaged in entering a dense part of the jungle, coming out again without food in their beaks, and soon reappearing once more with food. miller never found their new nests, but their actions left him certain that they were feeding their young, which they must have themselves removed from the old nest. these ant- wrens hover in front of and over the columns of foraging ants, feeding not only on the other insects aroused by the ants, but on the ants themselves. this fact has been doubted; but miller has shot them with the ants in their bills and in their stomachs. dragon-flies, in numbers, often hover over the columns, darting down at them; miller could not be certain he had seen them actually seizing the ants, but this was his belief. i have myself seen these ants plunder a nest of the dangerous and highly aggressive wasps, while the wasps buzzed about in great excitement, but seemed unable effectively to retaliate. i have also seen them clear a sapling tenanted by their kinsmen, the poisonous red ants, or fire-ants; the fire-ants fought and i have no doubt injured or killed some of their swarming and active black foes; but the latter quickly did away with them. i have only come across black foraging ants; but there are red species. they attack human beings precisely as they attack all animals, and precipitate flight is the only resort. around our camp here butterflies of gorgeous coloring swarmed, and there were many fungi as delicately shaped and tinted as flowers. the scents in the woods were wonderful. there were many whippoorwills, or rather brazilian birds related to them; they uttered at intervals through the night a succession of notes suggesting both those of our whippoorwill and those of our big chuck-will's-widow of the gulf states, but not identical with either. there were other birds which were nearly akin to familiar birds of the united states: a dull- colored catbird, a dull-colored robin, and a sparrow belonging to the same genus as our common song-sparrow and sweetheart sparrow; miller had heard this sparrow singing by day and night, fourteen thousand feet up on the andes, and its song suggested the songs of both of our sparrows. there were doves and woodpeckers of various species. other birds bore no resemblance to any of ours. one honey-creeper was a perfect little gem, with plumage that was black, purple, and turquoise, and brilliant scarlet feet. two of the birds which cherrie and miller procured were of extraordinary nesting habits. one, a nunlet, in shape resembles a short-tailed bluebird. it is plumbeous, with a fulvous belly and white tail coverts. it is a stupid little bird, and does not like to fly away even when shot at. it catches its prey and ordinarily acts like a rather dull flycatcher, perching on some dead tree, swooping on insects and then returning to its perch, and never going on the ground to feed or run about. but it nests in burrows which it digs itself, one bird usually digging, while the other bird perches in a bush near by. sometimes these burrows are in the side of a sand-bank, the sand being so loose that it is a marvel that it does not cave in. sometimes the burrows are in the level plain, running down about three feet, and then rising at an angle. the nest consists of a few leaves and grasses, and the eggs are white. the other bird, called a nun or waxbill, is about the size of a thrush, grayish in color, with a waxy red bill. it also burrows in the level soil, the burrow being five feet long; and over the mouth of the burrow it heaps a pile of sticks and leaves. at this camp the heat was great--from to fahrenheit--and the air very heavy, being saturated with moisture; and there were many rain-storms. but there were no mosquitoes, and we were very comfortable. thanks to the neighborhood of the ranch, we fared sumptuously, with plenty of beef, chickens, and fresh milk. two of the brazilian dishes were delicious: canja, a thick soup of chicken and rice, the best soup a hungry man ever tasted; and beef chopped in rather small pieces and served with a well-flavored but simple gravy. the mule allotted me as a riding-beast was a powerful animal, with easy gaits. the brazilian government had waiting for me a very handsome silver-mounted saddle and bridle; i was much pleased with both. however, my exceedingly rough and shabby clothing made an incongruous contrast. at tapirapoan we broke up our baggage--as well as our party. we sent forward the canadian canoe--which, with the motor-engine and some kerosene, went in a cart drawn by six oxen--and a hundred sealed tin cases of provisions, each containing rations for a day for six men. they had been put up in new york under the special direction of fiala, for use when we got where we wished to take good and varied food in small compass. all the skins, skulls, and alcoholic specimens, and all the baggage not absolutely necessary, were sent back down the paraguay and to new york, in charge of harper. the separate baggage-trains, under the charge of captain amilcar, were organized to go in one detachment. the main body of the expedition, consisting of the american members, and of colonel rondon, lieutenant lyra, and doctor cajazeira, with their baggage and provisions, formed another detachment. vi. through the highland wilderness of western brazil we were now in the land of the bloodsucking bats, the vampire bats that suck the blood of living creatures, clinging to or hovering against the shoulder of a horse or cow, or the hand or foot of a sleeping man, and making a wound from which the blood continues to flow long after the bat's thirst has been satiated. at tapirapoan there were milch cattle; and one of the calves turned up one morning weak from loss of blood, which was still trickling from a wound, forward of the shoulder, made by a bat. but the bats do little damage in this neighborhood compared to what they do in some other places, where not only the mules and cattle but the chickens have to be housed behind bat-proof protection at night or their lives may pay the penalty. the chief and habitual offenders are various species of rather small bats; but it is said that other kinds of brazilian bats seem to have become, at least sporadically and locally, affected by the evil example and occasionally vary their customary diet by draughts of living blood. one of the brazilian members of our party, hoehne, the botanist, was a zoologist also. he informed me that he had known even the big fruit-eating bats to take to bloodsucking. they did not, according to his observations, themselves make the original wound; but after it had been made by one of the true vampires they would lap the flowing blood and enlarge the wound. south america makes up for its lack, relatively to africa and india, of large man-eating carnivores by the extraordinary ferocity or bloodthirstiness of certain small creatures of which the kinsfolk elsewhere are harmless. it is only here that fish no bigger than trout kill swimmers, and bats the size of the ordinary "flittermice" of the northern hemisphere drain the life-blood of big beasts and of man himself. there was not much large mammalian life in the neighborhood. kermit hunted industriously and brought in an occasional armadillo, coati, or agouti for the naturalists. miller trapped rats and a queer opossum new to the collection. cherrie got many birds. cherrie and miller skinned their specimens in a little open hut or shed. moses, the small pet owl, sat on a cross-bar overhead, an interested spectator, and chuckled whenever he was petted. two wrens, who bred just outside the hut, were much excited by the presence of moses, and paid him visits of noisy unfriendliness. the little white-throated sparrows came familiarly about the palm cabins and whitewashed houses and trilled on the rooftrees. it was a simple song, with just a hint of our northern white-throat's sweet and plaintive melody, and of the opening bars of our song-sparrow's pleasant, homely lay. it brought back dear memories of glorious april mornings on long island, when through the singing of robin and song-sparrow comes the piercing cadence of the meadowlark; and of the far northland woods in june, fragrant with the breath of pine and balsam-fir, where sweetheart sparrows sing from wet spruce thickets and rapid brooks rush under the drenched and swaying alder- boughs. from tapirapoan our course lay northward up to and across the plan alto, the highland wilderness of brazil. from the edges of this highland country, which is geologically very ancient, the affluents of the amazon to the north, and of the plate to the south, flow, with immense and devious loops and windings. two days before we ourselves started with our mule-train, a train of pack-oxen left, loaded with provisions, tools, and other things, which we would not need until, after a month or six weeks, we began our descent into the valley of the amazon. there were about seventy oxen. most of them were well broken, but there were about a score which were either not broken at all or else very badly broken. these were loaded with much difficulty, and bucked like wild broncos. again and again they scattered their loads over the corral and over the first part of the road. the pack-men, however--copper-colored, black, and dusky- white--were not only masters of their art, but possessed tempers that could not be ruffled; when they showed severity it was because severity was needed, and not because they were angry. they finally got all their longhorned beasts loaded and started on the trail with them. on january we ourselves started, with the mule-train. of course, as always in such a journey, there was some confusion before the men and the animals of the train settled down to the routine performance of duty. in addition to the pack-animals we all had riding-mules. the first day we journeyed about twelve miles, then crossing the sepotuba and camping beside it, below a series of falls, or rather rapids. the country was level. it was a great natural pasture, covered with a very open forest of low, twisted trees, bearing a superficial likeness to the cross-timbers of texas and oklahoma. it is as well fitted for stock-raising as oklahoma; and there is also much fine agricultural land, while the river will ultimately yield electric power. it is a fine country for settlement. the heat is great at noon; but the nights are not uncomfortable. we were supposed to be in the middle of the rainy season, but hitherto most of the days had been fine, varied with showers. the astonishing thing was the absence of mosquitoes. insect pests that work by day can be stood, and especially by settlers, because they are far less serious foes in the clearings than in the woods. the mosquitoes and other night foes offer the really serious and unpleasant problem, because they break one's rest. hitherto, during our travels up the paraguay and its tributaries, in this level, marshy tropical region of western brazil, we had practically not been bothered by mosquitoes at all, in our home camps. out in the woods they were at times a serious nuisance, and cherrie and miller had been subjected to real torment by them during some of their special expeditions; but there were practically none on the ranches and in our camps in the open fields by the river, even when marshes were close by. i was puzzled--and delighted--by their absence. settlers need not be deterred from coming to this region by the fear of insect foes. this does not mean that there are not such foes. outside of the clearings, and of the beaten tracks of travel, they teem. there are ticks, poisonous ants, wasps--of which some species are really serious menaces--biting flies and gnats. i merely mean that, unlike so many other tropical regions, this particular region is, from the standpoint of the settler and the ordinary traveller, relatively free from insect pests, and a pleasant place of residence. the original explorer, and to an only less degree the hardworking field naturalist or big-game hunter, have to face these pests, just as they have to face countless risks, hardships, and difficulties. this is inherent in their several professions or avocations. many regions in the united states where life is now absolutely comfortable and easygoing offered most formidable problems to the first explorers a century or two ago. we must not fall into the foolish error of thinking that the first explorers need not suffer terrible hardships, merely because the ordinary travellers, and even the settlers who come after them, do not have to endure such danger, privation, and wearing fatigue--although the first among the genuine settlers also have to undergo exceedingly trying experiences. the early explorers and adventurers make fairly well-beaten trails; but it is incumbent on them neither to boast of their own experiences nor to misjudge the efforts of the pioneers because, thanks to these very efforts, their own lines fall in pleasant places. the ordinary traveller, who never goes off the beaten route and who on this beaten route is carried by others, without himself doing anything or risking anything, does not need to show much more initiative and intelligence than an express package. he does nothing; others do all the work, show all the forethought, take all the risk--and are entitled to all the credit. he and his valise are carried in practically the same fashion; and for each the achievement stands about on the same plane. if this kind of traveller is a writer, he can of course do admirable work, work of the highest value; but the value comes because he is a writer and observer, not because of any particular credit that attaches to him as a traveller. we all recognize this truth as far as highly civilized regions are concerned: when bryce writes of the american commonwealth, or lowell of european legislative assemblies, our admiration is for the insight and thought of the observer, and we are not concerned with his travels. when a man travels across arizona in a pullman car, we do not think of him as having performed a feat bearing even the most remote resemblance to the feats of the first explorers of those waterless wastes; whatever admiration we feel in connection with his trip is reserved for the traffic-superintendent, engineer, fireman, and brakeman. but as regards the less-known continents, such as south america, we sometimes fail to remember these obvious truths. there yet remains plenty of exploring work to be done in south america, as hard, as dangerous, and almost as important as any that has already been done; work such as has recently been done, or is now being done, by men and women such as haseman, farrabee, and miss snethlage. the collecting naturalists who go into the wilds and do first-class work encounter every kind of risk and undergo every kind of hardship and exertion. explorers and naturalists of the right type have open to them in south america a field of extraordinary attraction and difficulty. but to excavate ruins that have already long been known, to visit out-of-the-way towns that date from colonial days, to traverse old, even if uncomfortable, routes of travel, or to ascend or descend highway rivers like the amazon, the paraguay, and the lower orinoco--all of these exploits are well worth performing, but they in no sense represent exploration or adventure, and they do not entitle the performer, no matter how well he writes and no matter how much of real value he contributes to human knowledge, to compare himself in anyway with the real wilderness wanderer, or to criticise the latter. such a performance entails no hardship or difficulty worth heeding. its value depends purely on observation, not on action. the man does little; he merely records what he sees. he is only the man of the beaten routes. the true wilderness wanderer, on the contrary, must be a man of action as well as of observation. he must have the heart and the body to do and to endure, no less than the eye to see and the brain to note and record. let me make it clear that i am not depreciating the excellent work of so many of the men who have not gone off the beaten trails. i merely wish to make it plain that this excellent work must not be put in the class with that of the wilderness explorer. it is excellent work, nevertheless, and has its place, just as the work of the true explorer has its place. both stand in sharpest contrast with the actions of those alleged explorers, among whom mr. savage landor stands in unpleasant prominence. from the sepotuba rapids our course at the outset lay westward. the first day's march away from the river lay through dense tropical forest. away from the broad, beaten route every step of a man's progress represented slashing a trail with the machete through the tangle of bushes, low trees, thorny scrub, and interlaced creepers. there were palms of new kinds, very tall, slender, straight, and graceful, with rather short and few fronds. the wild plantains, or pacovas, thronged the spaces among the trunks of the tall trees; their boles were short, and their broad, erect leaves gigantic; they bore brilliant red-and-orange flowers. there were trees whose trunks bellied into huge swellings. there were towering trees with buttressed trunks, whose leaves made a fretwork against the sky far overhead. gorgeous red-and-green trogons, with long tails, perched motionless on the lower branches and uttered a loud, thrice-repeated whistle. we heard the calling of the false bellbird, which is gray instead of white like the true bellbirds; it keeps among the very topmost branches. heavy rain fell shortly after we reached our camping-place. next morning at sunrise we climbed a steep slope to the edge of the parecis plateau, at a level of about two thousand feet above the sea. we were on the plan alto, the high central plain of brazil, the healthy land of dry air, of cool nights, of clear, running brooks. the sun was directly behind us when we topped the rise. reining in, we looked back over the vast paraguayan marshes, shimmering in the long morning lights. then, turning again, we rode forward, casting shadows far before us. it was twenty miles to the next water, and in hot weather the journey across this waterless, shadeless, sandy stretch of country is hard on the mules and oxen. but on this day the sky speedily grew overcast and a cool wind blew in our faces as we travelled at a quick, running walk over the immense rolling plain. the ground was sandy; it was covered with grass and with a sparse growth of stunted, twisted trees, never more than a few feet high. there were rheas--ostriches--and small pampas-deer on this plain; the coloration of the rheas made it difficult to see them at a distance, whereas the bright red coats of the little deer, and their uplifted flags as they ran, advertised them afar off. we also saw the footprints of cougars and of the small-toothed, big, red wolf. cougars are the most inveterate enemies of these small south american deer, both those of the open grassy plain and those of the forest. it is not nearly as easy to get lost on these open plains as in the dense forest; and where there is a long, reasonably straight road or river to come back to, a man even without a compass is safe. but in these thick south american forests, especially on cloudy days, a compass is an absolute necessity. we were struck by the fact that the native hunters and ranchmen on such days continually lost themselves and, if permitted, travelled for miles through the forest either in circles or in exactly the wrong direction. they had no such sense of direction as the forest-dwelling 'ndorobo hunters in africa had, or as the true forest-dwelling indians of south america are said to have. on certainly half a dozen occasions our guides went completely astray, and we had to take command, to disregard their assertions, and to lead the way aright by sole reliance on our compasses. on this cool day we travelled well. the air was wonderful; the vast open spaces gave a sense of abounding vigor and freedom. early in the afternoon we reached a station made by colonel rondon in the course of his first explorations. there were several houses with whitewashed walls, stone floors, and tiled or thatched roofs. they stood in a wide, gently sloping valley. through it ran a rapid brook of cool water, in which we enjoyed delightful baths. the heavy, intensely humid atmosphere of the low, marshy plains had gone; the air was clear and fresh; the sky was brilliant; far and wide we looked over a landscape that seemed limitless; the breeze that blew in our faces might have come from our own northern plains. the midday sun was very hot; but it was hard to realize that we were in the torrid zone. there were no mosquitoes, so that we never put up our nets when we went to bed; but wrapped ourselves in our blankets and slept soundly through the cool, pleasant nights. surely in the future this region will be the home of a healthy highly civilized population. it is good for cattle-raising, and the valleys are fitted for agriculture. from june to september the nights are often really cold. any sound northern race could live here; and in such a land, with such a climate, there would be much joy of living. on these plains the telegraphic commission uses motor-trucks; and these now to relieve the mules and oxen; for some of them, especially among the oxen, already showed the effects of the strain. travelling in a wild country with a pack-train is not easy on the pack-animals. it was strange to see these big motor-vans out in the wilderness where there was not a settler, not a civilized man except the employees of the telegraphic commission. they were handled by lieutenant lauriado, who, with lieutenant mello, had taken special charge of our transport service; both were exceptionally good and competent men. the following day we again rode on across the plan alto. in the early afternoon, in the midst of a downpour of rain, we crossed the divide between the basins of the paraguay and the amazon. that evening we camped on a brook whose waters ultimately ran into the tapajos. the rain fell throughout the afternoon, now lightly, now heavily, and the mule-train did not get up until dark. but enough tents and flies were pitched to shelter all of us. fires were lit, and--after a fourteen hours' fast we feasted royally on beans and rice and pork and beef, seated around ox-skins spread upon the ground. the sky cleared; the stars blazed down through the cool night; and wrapped in our blankets we slept soundly, warm and comfortable. next morning the trail had turned, and our course led northward and at times east of north. we traversed the same high, rolling plains of coarse grass and stunted trees. kermit, riding a big, iron-mouthed, bull-headed white mule, rode off to one side on a hunt, and rejoined the line of march carrying two bucks of the little pampas-deer, or field deer, behind his saddle. these deer are very pretty and graceful, with a tail like that of the colombian blacktail. standing motionless facing one, in the sparse scrub, they are hard to make out; if seen sideways the reddish of their coats, contrasted with the greens and grays of the landscape, betrays them; and when they bound off the upraised white tail is very conspicuous. they carefully avoid the woods in which their cousins the little bush deer are found, and go singly or in couples. their odor can be made out at quite a distance, but it is not rank. they still carried their antlers. their venison was delicious. we came across many queer insects. one red grasshopper when it flew seemed as big as a small sparrow; and we passed in some places such multitudes of active little green grasshoppers that they frightened the mules. at our camping-place we saw an extraordinary colony of spiders. it was among some dwarf trees, standing a few yards apart from one another by the water. when we reached the camping-place, early in the afternoon--the pack-train did not get in until nearly sunset, just ahead of the rain--no spiders were out. they were under the leaves of the trees. their webs were tenantless, and indeed for the most part were broken down. but at dusk they came out from their hiding-places, two or three hundred of them in all, and at once began to repair the old and spin new webs. each spun its own circular web, and sat in the middle; and each web was connected on several sides with other webs, while those nearest the trees were hung to them by spun ropes, so to speak. the result was a kind of sheet of web consisting of scores of wheels, in each of which the owner and proprietor sat; and there were half a dozen such sheets, each extending between two trees. the webs could hardly be seen; and the effect was of scores of big, formidable-looking spiders poised in midair, equidistant from one another, between each pair of trees. when darkness and rain fell they were still out, fixing their webs, and pouncing on the occasional insects that blundered into the webs. i have no question that they are nocturnal; they certainly hide in the daytime, and it seems impossible that they can come out only for a few minutes at dusk. in the evenings, after supper or dinner--it is hard to tell by what title the exceedingly movable evening meal should be called--the members of the party sometimes told stories of incidents in their past lives. most of them were men of varied experiences. rondon and lyra told of the hardship and suffering of the first trips through the wilderness across which we were going with such comfort. on this very plateau they had once lived for weeks on the fruits of the various fruit-bearing trees. naturally they became emaciated and feeble. in the forests of the amazonian basin they did better because they often shot birds and plundered the hives of the wild honey-bees. in cutting the trail for the telegraph-line through the juruena basin they lost every single one of the hundred and sixty mules with which they had started. those men pay dear who build the first foundations of empire! fiala told of the long polar nights and of white bears that came round the snow huts of the explorers, greedy to eat them, and themselves destined to be eaten by them. of all the party cherrie's experiences had covered the widest range. this was partly owing to the fact that the latter-day naturalist of the most vigorous type who goes into the untrodden wastes of the world must see and do many strange things; and still more owing to the character of the man himself. the things he had seen and done and undergone often enabled him to cast the light of his own past experience on unexpected subjects. once we were talking about the proper weapons for cavalry, and some one mentioned the theory that the lance is especially formidable because of the moral effect it produces on the enemy. cherrie nodded emphatically; and a little cross-examination elicited the fact that he was speaking from lively personal recollection of his own feelings when charged by lancers. it was while he was fighting with the venezuelan insurgents in an unsuccessful uprising against the tyranny of castro. he was on foot, with five venezuelans, all cool men and good shots. in an open plain they were charged by twenty of castro's lancers, who galloped out from behind cover two or three hundred yards off. it was a war in which neither side gave quarter and in which the wounded and the prisoners were butchered--just as president madero was butchered in mexico. cherrie knew that it meant death for him and his companions if the charge came home; and the sight of the horsemen running in at full speed, with their long lances in rest and the blades glittering, left an indelible impression on his mind. but he and his companions shot deliberately and accurately; ten of the lancers were killed, the nearest falling within fifty yards; and the others rode off in headlong haste. a cool man with a rifle, if he has mastered his weapon, need fear no foe. at this camp the auto-vans again joined us. they were to go direct to the first telegraph station, at the great falls of the utiarity, on the rio papagaio. of course they travelled faster than the mule-train. father zahm, attended by sigg, started for the falls in them. cherrie and miller also went in them, because they had found that it was very difficult to collect birds, and especially mammals, when we were moving every day, packing up early each morning and the mule-train arriving late in the afternoon or not until nightfall. moreover, there was much rain, which made it difficult to work except under the tents. accordingly, the two naturalists desired to get to a place where they could spend several days and collect steadily, thereby doing more effective work. the rest of us continued with the mule-train, as was necessary. it was always a picturesque sight when camp was broken, and again at nightfall when the laden mules came stringing in and their burdens were thrown down, while the tents were pitched and the fires lit. we breakfasted before leaving camp, the aluminum cups and plates being placed on ox-hides, round which we sat, on the ground or on camp- stools. we fared well, on rice, beans, and crackers, with canned corned beef, and salmon or any game that had been shot, and coffee, tea, and matte. i then usually sat down somewhere to write, and when the mules were nearly ready i popped my writing-materials into my duffel-bag/war-sack, as we would have called it in the old days on the plains. i found that the mules usually arrived so late in the afternoon or evening that i could not depend upon being able to write at that time. of course, if we made a very early start i could not write at all. at night there were no mosquitoes. in the daytime gnats and sand-flies and horse-flies sometimes bothered us a little, but not much. small stingless bees lit on us in numbers and crawled over the skin, making a slight tickling; but we did not mind them until they became very numerous. there was a good deal of rain, but not enough to cause any serious annoyance. colonel rondon and lieutenant lyra held many discussions as to whither the rio da duvida flowed, and where its mouth might be. its provisional name--"river of doubt"--was given it precisely because of this ignorance concerning it; an ignorance which it was one of the purposes of our trip to dispel. it might go into the gy-parana, in which case its course must be very short; it might flow into the madeira low down, in which case its course would be very long; or, which was unlikely, it might flow into the tapajos. there was another river, of which colonel rondon had come across the head-waters, whose course was equally doubtful, although in its case there was rather more probability of its flowing into the juruena, by which name the tapajos is known for its upper half. to this unknown river colonel rondon had given the name ananas, because when he came across it he found a deserted indian field with pineapples, which the hungry explorers ate greedily. among the things the colonel and i hoped to accomplish on the trip was to do a little work in clearing up one or the other of these two doubtful geographical points, and thereby to push a little forward the knowledge of this region. originally, as described in the first chapter, my trip was undertaken primarily in the interest of the american museum of natural history of new york, to add to our knowledge of the birds and mammals of the far interior of the western brazilian wilderness; and the labels of our baggage and scientific equipment, printed by the museum, were entitled "colonel roosevelt's south american expedition for the american museum of natural history." but, as i have already mentioned, at rio the brazilian government, through the secretary of foreign affairs, doctor lauro muller, suggested that i should combine the expedition with one by colonel rondon, which they contemplated making, and thereby make both expeditions of broader scientific interest. i accepted the proposal with much pleasure; and we found, when we joined colonel rondon and his associates, that their baggage and equipment had been labelled by the brazilian government "expedicao scientifica roosevelt- rondon." this thenceforth became the proper and official title of the expedition. cherrie and miller did the chief zoological work. the geological work was done by a brazilian member of the expedition, euzebio oliveira. the astronomical work necessary for obtaining the exact geographical location of the rivers and points of note was to be done by lieutenant lyra, under the supervision of colonel rondon; and at the telegraph stations this astronomical work would be checked by wire communications with one of colonel rondon's assistants at cuyaba, lieutenant caetano, thereby securing a minutely accurate comparison of time. the sketch-maps and surveying and cartographical work generally were to be made under the supervision of colonel rondon by lyra, with assistance from fiala and kermit. captain amilcar handled the worst problem--transportation; the medical member was doctor cajazeira. at night around the camp-fire my brazilian companions often spoke of the first explorers of this vast wilderness of western brazil--men whose very names are now hardly known, but who did each his part in opening the country which will some day see such growth and development. among the most notable of them was a portuguese, ricardo franco, who spent forty years at the work, during the last quarter of the eighteenth and the opening years of the nineteenth centuries. he ascended for long distances the xingu and the tapajos, and went up the madeira and guapore, crossing to the head-waters of the paraguay and partially exploring there also. he worked among and with the indians, much as mungo park worked with the natives of west africa, having none of the aids, instruments, and comforts with which even the hardiest of modern explorers are provided. he was one of the men who established the beginnings of the province of matto grosso. for many years the sole method of communication between this remote interior province and civilization was by the long, difficult, and perilous route which led up the amazon and madeira; and its then capital, the town of matto grosso, the seat of the captain-general, with its palace, cathedral, and fortress, was accordingly placed far to the west, near the guapore. when less circuitous lines of communication were established farther eastward the old capital was abandoned, and the tropic wilderness surged over the lonely little town. the tomb of the old colonial explorer still stands in the ruined cathedral, where the forest has once more come to its own. but civilization is again advancing to reclaim the lost town and to revive the memory of the wilderness wanderer who helped to found it. colonel rondon has named a river after franco; a range of mountains has also been named after him; and the colonel, acting for the brazilian government, has established a telegraph station in what was once the palace of the captain-general. our northward trail led along the high ground a league or two to the east of the northward-flowing rio sacre. each night we camped on one of the small tributary brooks that fed it. fiala, kermit, and i occupied one tent. in the daytime the "pium" flies, vicious little sand-flies, became bad enough to make us finally use gloves and head- nets. there were many heavy rains, which made the travelling hard for the mules. the soil was more often clay than sand, and it was slippery when wet. the weather was overcast, and there was usually no oppressive heat even at noon. at intervals along the trail we came on the staring skull and bleached skeleton of a mule or ox. day after day we rode forward across endless flats of grass and of low open scrubby forest, the trees standing far apart and in most places being but little higher than the head of a horseman. some of them carried blossoms, white, orange, yellow, pink; and there were many flowers, the most beautiful being the morning-glories. among the trees were bastard rubber-trees, and dwarf palmetto; if the latter grew more than a few feet high their tops were torn and dishevelled by the wind. there was very little bird or mammal life; there were few long vistas, for in most places it was not possible to see far among the gray, gnarled trunks of the wind-beaten little trees. yet the desolate landscape had a certain charm of its own, although not a charm that would be felt by any man who does not take pleasure in mere space, and freedom and wildness, and in plains standing empty to the sun, the wind, and the rain. the country bore some resemblance to the country west of redjaf on the white nile, the home of the giant eland; only here there was no big game, no chance of seeing the towering form of the giraffe, the black bulk of elephant or buffalo, the herds of straw-colored hartebeests, or the ghostly shimmer of the sun glinting on the coats of roan and eland as they vanished silently in the gray sea of withered scrub. one feature in common with the african landscape was the abundance of ant-hills, some as high as a man. they were red in the clay country, gray where it was sandy; and the dirt houses were also in trees, while their raised tunnels traversed trees and ground alike. at some of the camping-places we had to be on our watch against the swarms of leaf- carrying ants. these are so called in the books--the brazilians call them "carregadores," or porters--because they are always carrying bits of leaves and blades of grass to their underground homes. they are inveterate burden-bearers, and they industriously cut into pieces and carry off any garment they can get at; and we had to guard our shoes and clothes from them, just as we had often had to guard all our belongings against the termites. these ants did not bite us; but we encountered huge black ants, an inch and a quarter long, which were very vicious, and their bite was not only painful but quite poisonous. praying-mantes were common, and one evening at supper one had a comical encounter with a young dog, a jovial near-puppy, of colonel rondon's, named cartucho. he had been christened the jolly-cum-pup, from a character in one of frank stockton's stories, which i suppose are now remembered only by elderly people, and by them only if they are natives of the united states. cartucho was lying with his head on the ox-hide that served as table, waiting with poorly dissembled impatience for his share of the banquet. the mantis flew down on the ox-hide and proceeded to crawl over it, taking little flights from one corner to another; and whenever it thought itself menaced it assumed an attitude of seeming devotion and real defiance. soon it lit in front of cartucho's nose. cartucho cocked his big ears forward, stretched his neck, and cautiously sniffed at the new arrival, not with any hostile design, but merely to find out whether it would prove to be a playmate. the mantis promptly assumed an attitude of prayer. this struck cartucho as both novel and interesting, and he thrust his sniffing black nose still nearer. the mantis dexterously thrust forward first one and then the other armed fore leg, touching the intrusive nose, which was instantly jerked back and again slowly and inquiringly brought forward. then the mantis suddenly flew in cartucho's face, whereupon cartucho, with a smothered yelp of dismay, almost turned a back somersault; and the triumphant mantis flew back to the middle of the ox-hide, among the plates, where it reared erect and defied the laughing and applauding company. on the morning of the th we were rather late in starting, because the rain had continued through the night into the morning, drenching everything. after nightfall there had been some mosquitoes, and the piums were a pest during daylight; where one bites it leaves a tiny black spot on the skin which lasts for several weeks. in the slippery mud one of the pack-mules fell and injured itself so that it had to be abandoned. soon after starting we came on the telegraph-line, which runs from cuyaba. this was the first time we had seen it. two parecis indians joined us, leading a pack-bullock. they were dressed in hat, shirt, trousers, and sandals, precisely like the ordinary brazilian caboclos, as the poor backwoods peasants, usually with little white blood in them, are colloquially and half-derisively styled--caboclo being originally a guarany word meaning "naked savage." these two indians were in the employ of the telegraphic commission, and had been patrolling the telegraph-line. the bullock carried their personal belongings and the tools with which they could repair a break. the commission pays the ordinary indian worker cents a day; a very good worker gets $ , and the chief $ . . no man gets anything unless he works. colonel rondon, by just, kindly, and understanding treatment of these indians, who previously had often been exploited and maltreated by rubber-gatherers, has made them the loyal friends of the government. he has gathered them at the telegraph stations, where they cultivate fields of mandioc, beans, potatoes, maize, and other vegetables, and where he is introducing them to stock-raising; and the entire work of guarding and patrolling the line is theirs. after six hours' march we came to the crossing of the rio sacre at the beautiful waterfall appropriately called the salto bello. this is the end of the automobile road. here there is a small parecis village. the men of the village work the ferry by which everything is taken across the deep and rapid river. the ferry-boat is made of planking placed on three dugout canoes, and runs on a trolley. before crossing we enjoyed a good swim in the swift, clear, cool water. the indian village, where we camped, is placed on a jutting tongue of land round which the river sweeps just before it leaps from the over-hanging precipice. the falls themselves are very lovely. just above them is a wooded island, but the river joins again before it races forward for the final plunge. there is a sheer drop of forty or fifty yards, with a breadth two or three times as great; and the volume of water is large. on the left or hither bank a cliff extends for several hundred yards below the falls. green vines have flung themselves down over its face, and they are met by other vines thrusting upward from the mass of vegetation at its foot, glistening in the perpetual mist from the cataract, and clothing even the rock surfaces in vivid green. the river, after throwing itself over the rock wall, rushes off in long curves at the bottom of a thickly wooded ravine, the white water churning among the black boulders. there is a perpetual rainbow at the foot of the falls. the masses of green water that are hurling themselves over the brink dissolve into shifting, foaming columns of snowy lace. on the edge of the cliff below the falls colonel rondon had placed benches, giving a curious touch of rather conventional tourist- civilization to this cataract far out in the lonely wilderness. it is well worth visiting for its beauty. it is also of extreme interest because of the promise it holds for the future. lieutenant lyra informed me that they had calculated that this fall would furnish thirty-six thousand horse-power. eight miles off we were to see another fall of much greater height and power. there are many rivers in this region which would furnish almost unlimited motive force to populous manufacturing communities. the country round about is healthy. it is an upland region of good climate; we were visiting it in the rainy season, the season when the nights are far less cool than in the dry season, and yet we found it delightful. there is much fertile soil in the neighborhood of the streams, and the teeming lowlands of the amazon and the paraguay could readily--and with immense advantage to both sides--be made tributary to an industrial civilization seated on these highlands. a telegraph-line has been built to and across them. a rail-road should follow. such a line could be easily built, for there are no serious natural obstacles. in advance of its construction a trolley-line could be run from cuyaba to the falls, using the power furnished by the latter. once this is done the land will offer extraordinary opportunities to settlers of the right kind: to home-makers and to enterprising business men of foresight, coolness, and sagacity who are willing to work with the settlers, the immigrants, the home-makers, for an advantage which shall be mutual. the parecis indians, whom we met here, were exceedingly interesting. they were to all appearance an unusually cheerful, good-humored, pleasant-natured people. their teeth were bad; otherwise they appeared strong and vigorous, and there were plenty of children. the colonel was received as a valued friend and as a leader who was to be followed and obeyed. he is raising them by degrees--the only way by which to make the rise permanent. in this village he has got them to substitute for the flimsy indian cabins houses of the type usual among the poorer field laborers and back-country dwellers in brazil. these houses have roofs of palm thatch, steeply pitched. they are usually open at the sides, consisting merely of a framework of timbers, with a wall at the back; but some have the ordinary four walls, of erect palm-logs. the hammocks are slung in the houses, and the cooking is also done in them, with pots placed on small open fires, or occasionally in a kind of clay oven. the big gourds for water, and the wicker baskets, are placed on the ground, or hung on the poles. the men had adopted, and were wearing, shirts and trousers, but the women had made little change in their clothing. a few wore print dresses, but obviously only for ornament. most of them, especially the girls and young married women, wore nothing but a loin-cloth in addition to bead necklaces and bracelets. the nursing mothers--and almost all the mothers were nursing--sometimes carried the child slung against their side of hip, seated in a cloth belt, or sling, which went over the opposite shoulder of the mother. the women seemed to be well treated, although polygamy is practised. the children were loved by every one; they were petted by both men and women, and they behaved well to one another, the boys not seeming to bully the girls or the smaller boys. most of the children were naked, but the girls early wore the loin-cloth; and some, both of the little boys and the little girls, wore colored print garments, to the evident pride of themselves and their parents. in each house there were several families, and life went on with no privacy but with good humor, consideration, and fundamentally good manners. the man or woman who had nothing to do lay in a hammock or squatted on the ground leaning against a post or wall. the children played together, or lay in little hammocks, or tagged round after their mothers; and when called they came trustfully up to us to be petted or given some small trinket; they were friendly little souls, and accustomed to good treatment. one woman was weaving a cloth, another was making a hammock; others made ready melons and other vegetables and cooked them over tiny fires. the men, who had come in from work at the ferry or along the telegraph-lines, did some work themselves, or played with the children; one cut a small boy's hair, and then had his own hair cut by a friend. but the absorbing amusement of the men was an extraordinary game of ball. in our family we have always relished oliver herford's nonsense rhymes, including the account of willie's displeasure with his goat: "i do not like my billy goat, i wish that he was dead; because he kicked me, so he did, he kicked me with his head." well, these parecis indians enthusiastically play football with their heads. the game is not only native to them, but i have never heard or read of its being played by any other tribe or people. they use a light hollow rubber ball, of their own manufacture. it is circular and about eight inches in diameter. the players are divided into two sides, and stationed much as in association football, and the ball is placed on the ground to be put in play as in football. then a player runs forward, throws himself flat on the ground, and butts the ball toward the opposite side. this first butt, when the ball is on the ground, never lifts it much and it rolls and bounds toward the opponents. one or two of the latter run toward it; one throws himself flat on his face and butts the ball back. usually this butt lifts it, and it flies back in a curve well up in the air; and an opposite player, rushing toward it, catches it on his head with such a swing of his brawny neck, and such precision and address that the ball bounds back through the air as a football soars after a drop-kick. if the ball flies off to one side or the other it is brought back, and again put in play. often it will be sent to and fro a dozen times, from head to head, until finally it rises with such a sweep that it passes far over the heads of the opposite players and descends behind them. then shrill, rolling cries of good-humored triumph arise from the victors; and the game instantly begins again with fresh zest. there are, of course, no such rules as in a specialized ball-game of civilization; and i saw no disputes. there may be eight or ten, or many more, players on each side. the ball is never touched with the hands or feet, or with anything except the top of the head. it is hard to decide whether to wonder most at the dexterity and strength with which it is hit or butted with the head, as it comes down through the air, or at the reckless speed and skill with which the players throw themselves headlong on the ground to return the ball if it comes low down. why they do not grind off their noses i cannot imagine. some of the players hardly ever failed to catch and return the ball if it came in their neighborhood, and with such a vigorous toss of the head that it often flew in a great curve for a really astonishing distance. that night a pack-ox got into the tent in which kermit and i were sleeping, entering first at one end and then at the other. it is extraordinary that he did not waken us; but we slept undisturbed while the ox deliberately ate our shirts, socks, and underclothes! it chewed them into rags. one of my socks escaped, and my undershirt, although chewed full of holes, was still good for some weeks' wear; but the other things were in fragments. in the morning colonel rondon arranged for us to have breakfast over on the benches under the trees by the waterfall, whose roar, lulled to a thunderous murmur, had been in our ears before we slept and when we waked. there could have been no more picturesque place for the breakfast of such a party as ours. all travellers who really care to see what is most beautiful and most characteristic of the far interior of south america should in their journey visit this region, and see the two great waterfalls. they are even now easy of access; and as soon as the traffic warrants it they will be made still more so; then, from sao luis caceres, they will be speedily reached by light steamboat up the sepotuba and by a day or two's automobile ride, with a couple of days on horse-back in between. the colonel held a very serious council with the parecis indians over an incident which caused him grave concern. one of the commission's employees, a negro, had killed a wild nhambiquara indian; but it appeared that he had really been urged on and aided by the parecis, as the members of the tribe to which the dead indian belonged were much given to carrying off the parecis women and in other ways making themselves bad neighbors. the colonel tried hard to get at the truth of the matter; he went to the biggest indian house, where he sat in a hammock--an indian child cuddling solemnly up to him, by the way-- while the indians sat in other hammocks, and stood round about; but it was impossible to get an absolutely frank statement. it appeared, however, that the nhambiquaras had made a descent on the parecis village in the momentary absence of the men of the village; but the latter, notified by the screaming of the women, had returned in time to rescue them. the negro was with them and, having a good rifle, he killed one of the aggressors. the parecis were, of course, in the right, but the colonel could not afford to have his men take sides in a tribal quarrel. it was only a two hours' march across to the papagaio at the falls of utiarity, so named by their discoverer, colonel rondon, after the sacred falcon of the parecis. on the way we passed our indian friends, themselves bound thither; both the men and the women bore burdens--the burdens of some of the women, poor things, were heavy--and even the small naked children carried the live hens. at utiarity there is a big parecis settlement and a telegraph station kept by one of the employees of the commission. his pretty brown wife is acting as schoolmistress to a group of little parecis girls. the parecis chief has been made a major and wears a uniform accordingly. the commission has erected good buildings for its own employees and has superintended the erection of good houses for the indians. most of the latter still prefer the simplicity of the loin-cloth, in their ordinary lives, but they proudly wore their civilized clothes in our honor. when in the late afternoon the men began to play a regular match game of head- ball, with a scorer or umpire to keep count, they soon discarded most of their clothes, coming down to nothing but trousers or a loin-cloth. two or three of them had their faces stained with red ochre. among the women and children looking on were a couple of little girls who paraded about on stilts. the great waterfall was half a mile below us. lovely though we had found salto bello, these falls were far superior in beauty and majesty. they are twice as high and twice as broad; and the lay of the land is such that the various landscapes in which the waterfall is a feature are more striking. a few hundred yards above the falls the river turns at an angle and widens. the broad, rapid shallows are crested with whitecaps. beyond this wide expanse of flecked and hurrying water rise the mist columns of the cataract; and as these columns are swayed and broken by the wind the forest appears through and between them. from below the view is one of singular grandeur. the fall is over a shelving ledge of rock which goes in a nearly straight line across the river's course. but at the left there is a salient in the cliff-line, and here accordingly a great cataract of foaming water comes down almost as a separate body, in advance of the line of the main fall. i doubt whether, excepting, of course, niagara, there is a waterfall in north america which outranks this if both volume and beauty are considered. above the fall the river flows through a wide valley with gently sloping sides. below, it slips along, a torrent of white-green water, at the bottom of a deep gorge; and the sides of the gorge are clothed with a towering growth of tropical forest. next morning the cacique of these indians, in his major's uniform, came to breakfast, and bore himself with entire propriety. it was raining heavily--it rained most of the time--and a few minutes previously i had noticed the cacique's two wives, with three or four other young women, going out to the mandioc fields. it was a picturesque group. the women were all mothers, and each carried a nursing child. they wore loin-cloths or short skirts. each carried on her back a wickerwork basket supported by a head-strap which went around her forehead. each carried a belt slung diagonally across her body, over her right shoulder; in this the child was carried, against and perhaps astride of her left hip. they were comely women, who did not look jaded or cowed; and they laughed cheerfully and nodded to us as they passed through the rain, on their way to the fields. but the contrast between them and the chief in his soldier's uniform seated at breakfast was rather too striking; and incidentally it etched in bold lines the folly of those who idealize the life of even exceptionally good and pleasant-natured savages. although it was the rainy season, the trip up to this point had not been difficult, and from may to october, when the climate is dry and at its best, there would be practically no hardship at all for travellers and visitors. this is a healthy plateau. but, of course, the men who do the first pioneering, even in country like this, encounter dangers and run risks; and they make payment with their bodies. at more than one halting-place we had come across the forlorn grave of some soldier or laborer of the commission. the grave-mound lay within a rude stockade; and an uninscribed wooden cross, gray and weather-beaten, marked the last resting-place of the unknown and forgotten man beneath, the man who had paid with his humble life the cost of pushing the frontier of civilization into the wild savagery of the wilderness. farther west the conditions become less healthy. at this station colonel rondon received news of sickness and of some deaths among the employees of the commission in the country to the westward, which we were soon to enter. beriberi and malignant malarial fever were the diseases which claimed the major number of the victims. surely these are "the men who do the work for which they draw the wage." kermit had with him the same copy of kipling's poems which he had carried through africa. at these falls there was one sunset of angry splendor; and we contrasted this going down of the sun, through broken rain-clouds and over leagues of wet tropical forest, with the desert sunsets we had seen in arizona and sonora, and along the guaso nyiro north and west of mount kenia, when the barren mountains were changed into flaming "ramparts of slaughter and peril" standing above "the wine-dark flats below." it rained during most of the day after our arrival at utiarity. whenever there was any let-up the men promptly came forth from their houses and played head-ball with the utmost vigor; and we would listen to their shrill undulating cries of applause and triumph until we also grew interested and strolled over to look on. they are more infatuated with the game than an american boy is with baseball or football. it is an extraordinary thing that this strange and exciting game should be played by, and only by, one little tribe of indians in what is almost the very centre of south america. if any traveller or ethnologist knows of a tribe elsewhere that plays a similar game, i wish he would let me know. to play it demands great activity, vigor, skill, and endurance. looking at the strong, supple bodies of the players, and at the number of children roundabout, it seemed as if the tribe must be in vigorous health; yet the parecis have decreased in numbers, for measles and smallpox have been fatal to them. by the evening the rain was coming down more heavily than ever. it was not possible to keep the moisture out of our belongings; everything became mouldy except what became rusty. it rained all that night; and day-light saw the downpour continuing with no prospect of cessation. the pack-mules could not have gone on with the march; they were already rather done up by their previous ten days' labor through rain and mud, and it seemed advisable to wait until the weather became better before attempting to go forward. moreover, there had been no chance to take the desired astronomical observations. there was very little grass for the mules; but there was abundance of a small-leaved plant eight or ten inches high--unfortunately, not very nourishing--on which they fed greedily. in such weather and over such muddy trails oxen travel better than mules. in spite of the weather cherrie and miller, whom, together with father zahm and sigg, we had found awaiting us, made good collections of birds and mammals. among the latter were opossums and mice that were new to them. the birds included various forms so unlike our home birds that the enumeration of their names would mean nothing. one of the most interesting was a large black-and-white woodpecker, the white predominating in the plumage. several of these woodpeckers were usually found together. they were showy, noisy, and restless, and perched on twigs, in ordinary bird fashion, at least as often as they clung to the trunks in orthodox woodpecker style. the prettiest bird was a tiny manakin, coal-black, with a red-and-orange head. on february the rain let up, although the sky remained overcast and there were occasional showers. i walked off with my rifle for a couple of leagues; at that distance, from a slight hillock, the mist columns of the falls were conspicuous in the landscape. the only mammal i saw on the walk was a rather hairy armadillo, with a flexible tail, which i picked up and brought back to miller--it showed none of the speed of the nine-banded armadillos we met on our jaguar-hunt. judging by its actions, as it trotted about before it saw me, it must be diurnal in habits. it was new to the collection. i spent much of the afternoon by the waterfall. under the overcast sky the great cataract lost the deep green and fleecy-white of the sunlit falling waters. instead it showed opaline hues and tints of topaz and amethyst. at all times, and under all lights, it was majestic and beautiful. colonel rondon had given the indians various presents, those for the women including calico prints, and, what they especially prized, bottles of scented oil, from paris, for their hair. the men held a dance in the late afternoon. for this occasion most, but not all, of them cast aside their civilized clothing, and appeared as doubtless they would all have appeared had none but themselves been present. they were absolutely naked except for a beaded string round the waist. most of them were spotted and dashed with red paint, and on one leg wore anklets which rattled. a number carried pipes through which they blew a kind of deep stifled whistle in time to the dancing. one of them had his pipe leading into a huge gourd, which gave out a hollow, moaning boom. many wore two red or green or yellow macaw feathers in their hair, and one had a macaw feather stuck transversely through the septum of his nose. they circled slowly round and round, chanting and stamping their feet, while the anklet rattles clattered and the pipes droned. they advanced to the wall of one of the houses, again and again chanting and bowing before it; i was told this was a demand for drink. they entered one house and danced in a ring around the cooking- fire in the middle of the earth floor; i was told that they were then reciting the deeds of mighty hunters and describing how they brought in the game. they drank freely from gourds and pannikins of a fermented drink made from mandioc which were brought out to them. during the first part of the dance the women remained in the houses, and all the doors and windows were shut and blankets hung to prevent the possibility of seeing out. but during the second part all the women and girls came out and looked on. they were themselves to have danced when the men had finished, but were overcome with shyness at the thought of dancing with so many strangers looking on. the children played about with unconcern throughout the ceremony, one of them throwing high in the air, and again catching in his hands, a loaded feather, a kind of shuttlecock. in the evening the growing moon shone through the cloud-rack. anything approaching fair weather always put our men in good spirits; and the muleteers squatted in a circle, by a fire near a pile of packs, and listened to a long monotonously and rather mournfully chanted song about a dance and a love-affair. we ourselves worked busily with our photographs and our writing. there was so much humidity in the air that everything grew damp and stayed damp, and mould gathered quickly. at this season it is a country in which writing, taking photographs, and preparing specimens are all works of difficulty, at least so far as concerns preserving and sending home the results of the labor; and a man's clothing is never really dry. from here father zahm returned to tapirapoan, accompanied by sigg. vii. with a mule train across nhambiquara land from this point we were to enter a still wilder region, the land of the naked nhambiquaras. on february the weather cleared and we started with the mule-train and two ox-carts. fiala and lieutenant lauriado stayed at utiarity to take canoes and go down the papagaio, which had not been descended by any scientific party, and perhaps by no one. they were then to descend the juruena and tapajos, thereby performing a necessary part of the work of the expedition. our remaining party consisted of colonel rondon, lieutenant lyra, the doctor, oliveira, cherrie, miller, kermit, and myself. on the juruena we expected to meet the pack ox-train with captain amilcar and lieutenant mello; the other brazilian members of the party had returned. we had now begun the difficult part of the expedition. the pium flies were becoming a pest. there was much fever and beriberi in the country we were entering. the feed for the animals was poor; the rains had made the trails slippery and difficult; and many, both of the mules and the oxen, were already weak, and some had to be abandoned. we left the canoe, the motor, and the gasolene; we had hoped to try them on the amazonian rivers, but we were obliged to cut down everything that was not absolutely indispensable. before leaving we prepared for shipment back to the museum some of the bigger skins, and also some of the weapons and utensils of the indians, which kermit had collected. these included woven fillets, and fillets made of macaw feathers, for use in the dances; woven belts; a gourd in which the sacred drink is offered to the god enoerey; wickerwork baskets; flutes or pipes; anklet rattles; hammocks; a belt of the kind used by the women in carrying the babies, with the weaving-frame. all these were parecis articles. he also secured from the nhambiquaras wickerwork baskets of a different type and bows and arrows. the bows were seven feet long and the arrows five feet. there were blunt-headed arrows for birds, arrows with long, sharp wooden blades for tapir, deer, and other mammals; and the poisoned war- arrows, with sharp barbs, poison-coated and bound on by fine thongs, and with a long, hollow wooden guard to slip over the entire point and protect it until the time came to use it. when people talk glibly of "idle" savages they ignore the immense labor entailed by many of their industries, and the really extraordinary amount of work they accomplish by the skilful use of their primitive and ineffective tools. it was not until early in the afternoon that we started into the "sertao,"[*] as brazilians call the wilderness. we drove with us a herd of oxen for food. after going about fifteen miles we camped beside the swampy headwaters of a little brook. it was at the spot where nearly seven years previously rondon and lyra had camped on the trip when they discovered utiarity falls and penetrated to the juruena. when they reached this place they had been thirty-six hours without food. they killed a bush deer--a small deer--and ate literally every particle. the dogs devoured the entire skin. for much of the time on this trip they lived on wild fruit, and the two dogs that remained alive would wait eagerly under the trees and eat the fruit that was shaken down. [*] pronounced "sairtown," as nearly as, with our preposterous methods of spelling and pronunciation, i can render it. in the late afternoon the piums were rather bad at this camp, but we had gloves and head-nets, and were not bothered; and although there were some mosquitoes we slept well under our mosquito-nets. the frogs in the swamp uttered a peculiar, loud shout. miller told of a little tree-frog in colombia which swelled itself out with air until it looked like the frog in aesop's fables, and then brayed like a mule; and cherrie told of a huge frog in guiana that uttered a short, loud roar. next day the weather was still fair. our march lay through country like that which we had been traversing for ten days. skeletons of mules and oxen were more frequent; and once or twice by the wayside we passed the graves of officers or men who had died on the road. barbed wire encircled the desolate little mounds. we camped on the west bank of the burity river. here there is a balsa, or ferry, run by two parecis indians, as employees of the telegraphic commission, under the colonel. each had a thatched house, and each had two wives--all these indians are pagans. all were dressed much like the poorer peasants of the brazilian back country, and all were pleasant and well-behaved. the women ran the ferry about as well as the men. they had no cultivated fields, and for weeks they had been living only on game and honey; and they hailed with joy our advent and the quantities of beans and rice which, together with some beef, the colonel left with them. they feasted most of the night. their houses contained their hammocks, baskets, and other belongings, and they owned some poultry. in one house was a tiny parakeet, very much at home, and familiar, but by no means friendly, with strangers. there are wild nhambiquaras in the neighborhood, and recently several of these had menaced the two ferrymen with an attack, even shooting arrows at them. the ferrymen had driven them off by firing their rifles in the air; and they expected and received the colonel's praise for their self-restraint; for the colonel is doing all he can to persuade the indians to stop their blood feuds. the rifles were short and light winchester carbines, of the kind so universally used by the rubber-gatherers and other adventurous wanderers in the forest wilderness of brazil. there were a number of rubber-trees in the neighborhood, by the way. we enjoyed a good bath in the burity, although it was impossible to make headway by swimming against the racing current. there were few mosquitoes. on the other hand, various kinds of piums were a little too abundant; they vary from things like small gnats to things like black flies. the small stingless bees have no fear and can hardly be frightened away when they light on the hands or face; but they never bite, and merely cause a slight tickling as they crawl over the skin. there were some big bees, however, which, although they crawled about harmlessly after lighting if they were undisturbed, yet stung fiercely if they were molested. the insects were not ordinarily a serious bother, but there were occasional hours when they were too numerous for comfort, and now and then i had to do my writing in a head-net and gauntlets. the night we reached the burity it rained heavily, and next day the rain continued. in the morning the mules were ferried over, while the oxen were swum across. half a dozen of our men--whites, indians, and negroes, all stark naked and uttering wild cries, drove the oxen into the river and then, with powerful overhand strokes, swam behind and alongside them as they crossed, half breasting the swift current. it was a fine sight to see the big, long-horned, staring beasts swimming strongly, while the sinewy naked men urged them forward, utterly at ease in the rushing water. we made only a short day's journey, for, owing to the lack of grass, the mules had to be driven off nearly three miles from our line of march, in order to get them feed. we camped at the headwaters of a little brook called huatsui, which is parecis for "monkey." accompanying us on this march was a soldier bound for one of the remoter posts. with him trudged his wife. they made the whole journey on foot. there were two children. one was so young that it had to be carried alternately by the father and mother. the other, a small boy of eight, and much the best of the party, was already a competent wilderness worker. he bore his share of the belongings on the march, and when camp was reached sometimes himself put up the family shelter. they were mainly of negro blood. struck by the woman's uncomplaining endurance of fatigue, we offered to take her and the baby in the automobile, while it accompanied us. but, alas! this proved to be one of those melancholy cases where the effort to relieve hardship well endured results only in showing that those who endure the adversity cannot stand even a slight prosperity. the woman proved a querulous traveller in the auto, complaining that she was not made as comfortable as apparently she had expected; and after one day the husband declared he was not willing to have her go unless he went too; and the family resumed their walk. in this neighborhood there were multitudes of the big, gregarious, crepuscular or nocturnal spiders which i have before mentioned. on arriving in camp, at about four in the afternoon, i ran into a number of remains of their webs, and saw a very few of the spiders themselves sitting in the webs midway between trees. i then strolled a couple of miles up the road ahead of us under the line of telegraph-poles. it was still bright sunlight and no spiders were out; in fact, i did not suspect their presence along the line of telegraph-poles, although i ought to have done so, for i continually ran into long strings of tough fine web, which got across my face or hands or rifle barrel. i returned just at sunset and the spiders were out in force. i saw dozens of colonies, each of scores or hundreds of individuals. many were among the small trees alongside the broad, cleared trail. but most were dependent from the wire itself. their webs had all been made or repaired since i had passed. each was sitting in the middle of his own wheel, and all the wheels were joined to one another; and the whole pendent fabric hung by fine ropes from the wire above, and was in some cases steadied by guy-ropes, thrown thirty feet off to little trees alongside. i watched them until nightfall, and evidently, to them, after their day's rest, their day's work had just begun. next morning--owing to a desire to find out what the facts were as regards the ox-carts, which were in difficulties--cherrie, miller, kermit, and i walked back to the burity river, where colonel rondon had spent the night. it was a misty, overcast morning, and the spiders in the webs that hung from the telegraph-wire were just going to their day homes. these were in and under the big white china insulators on the telegraph-poles. hundreds of spiders were already climbing up into these. when, two or three hours later, we returned, the sun was out, and not a spider was to be seen. here we had to cut down our baggage and rearrange the loads for the mule-train. cherrie and miller had a most workmanlike equipment, including a very light tent and two light flies. one fly they gave for the kitchen use, one fly was allotted to kermit and me, and they kept only the tent for themselves. colonel rondon and lyra went in one tent, the doctor and oliveira in another. each of us got rid of everything above the sheer necessities. this was necessary because of the condition of the baggage-animals. the oxen were so weak that the effort to bring on the carts had to be abandoned. nine of the pack- mules had already been left on the road during the three days' march from utiarity. in the first expeditions into this country all the baggage animals had died; and even in our case the loss was becoming very heavy. this state of affairs is due to the scarcity of forage and the type of country. good grass is scanty, and the endless leagues of sparse, scrubby forest render it exceedingly difficult to find the animals when they wander. they must be turned absolutely loose to roam about and pick up their scanty subsistence, and must be given as long a time as possible to feed and rest; even under these conditions most of them grow weak when, as in our case, it is impossible to carry corn. they cannot be found again until after daylight, and then hours must be spent in gathering them; and this means that the march must be made chiefly during the heat of the day, the most trying time. often some of the animals would not be brought in until so late that it was well on in the forenoon, perhaps midday, before the bulk of the pack- train started; and they reached the camping-place as often after night fall as before it. under such conditions many of the mules and oxen grew constantly weaker and ultimately gave out; and it was imperative to load them as lightly as possible, and discard all luxuries, especially heavy or bulky luxuries. travelling through a wild country where there is little food for man or beast is beset with difficulties almost inconceivable to the man who does not himself know this kind of wilderness, and especially to the man who only knows the ease of civilization. a scientific party of some size, with the equipment necessary in order to do scientific work, can only go at all if the men who actually handle the problems of food and transportation do their work thoroughly. our march continued through the same type of high, nearly level upland, covered with scanty, scrubby forest. it is the kind of country known to the brazilians as chapadao--pronounced almost as if it were a french word and spelled shapadon. our camp on the fourth night was in a beautiful spot, an open grassy space, beside a clear, cool, rushing little river. we ourselves reached this, and waded our beasts across the deep, narrow stream in the late afternoon; and we then enjoyed a bath and swim. the loose bullocks arrived at sunset, and with shrill cries the mounted herdsmen urged them into and across the swift water. the mule-train arrived long after night fall, and it was not deemed wise to try to cross the laden animals. accordingly the loads were taken off and brought over on the heads of the men; it was fine to see the sinewy, naked figures bearing their burdens through the broken moonlit water to the hither bank. the night was cool and pleasant. we kindled a fire and sat beside the blaze. then, healthily hungry, we gathered around the ox-hides to a delicious dinner of soup, beef, beans, rice, and coffee. next day we made a short march, crossed a brook, and camped by another clear, deep, rapid little river, swollen by the rains. all these rivers that we were crossing run actually into the juruena, and therefore form part of the headwaters of the tapajos; for the tapajos is a mighty river, and the basin which holds its headwaters covers an immense extent of country. this country and the adjacent regions, forming the high interior of western brazil, will surely some day support a large industrial population; of which the advent would be hastened, although not necessarily in permanently better fashion, if colonel rondon's anticipations about the development of mining, especially gold mining, are realized. in any event the region will be a healthy home for a considerable agricultural and pastoral population. above all, the many swift streams with their numerous waterfalls, some of great height and volume, offer the chance for the upgrowth of a number of big manufacturing communities, knit by rail- roads to one another and to the atlantic coast and the valleys of the paraguay, madeira, and amazon, and feeding and being fed by the dwellers in the rich, hot, alluvial lowlands that surround this elevated territory. the work of colonel rondon and his associates of the telegraphic commission has been to open this great and virgin land to the knowledge of the world and to the service of their nation. in doing so they have incidentally founded the brazilian school of exploration. before their day almost all the scientific and regular exploration of brazil was done by foreigners. but, of course, there was much exploration and settlement by nameless brazilians, who were merely endeavoring to make new homes or advance their private fortunes: in recent years by rubber-gatherers, for instance, and a century ago by those bold and restless adventurers, partly of portuguese and partly of indian blood, the paolistas, from one of whom colonel rondon is himself descended on his father's side. the camp by this river was in some old and grown-up fields, once the seat of a rather extensive maize and mandioc cultivation by the nhambiquaras. on this day cherrie got a number of birds new to the collection, and two or three of them probably new to science. we had found the birds for the most part in worn plumage, for the breeding season, the southern spring and northern fall, was over. but some birds were still breeding. in the tropics the breeding season is more irregular than in the north. some birds breed at very different times from that chosen by the majority of their fellows; some can hardly be said to have any regular season; cherrie had found one species of honey-creeper breeding in every month of the year. just before sunset and just after sunrise big, noisy, blue-and-yellow macaws flew over this camp. they were plentiful enough to form a loose flock, but each pair kept to itself, the two individuals always close together and always separated from the rest. although not an abundant, it was an interesting, fauna which the two naturalists found in this upland country, where hitherto no collections of birds and mammals had been made. miller trapped several species of opossums, mice and rats which were new to him. cherrie got many birds which he did not recognize. at this camp, among totally strange forms, he found an old and familiar acquaintance. before breakfast he brought in several birds; a dark colored flycatcher, with white forehead and rump and two very long tail-feathers; a black and slate-blue tanager; a black ant-thrush with a concealed white spot on its back, at the base of the neck, and its dull-colored mate; and other birds which he believed to be new to science, but whose relationships with any of our birds are so remote that it is hard to describe them save in technical language. finally, among these unfamiliar forms was a veery, and the sight of the rufous- olive back and faintly spotted throat of this singer of our northern junes made us almost homesick. next day was brilliantly clear. the mules could not be brought in until quite late in the morning, and we had to march twenty miles under the burning tropical sun, right in the hottest part of the day. from a rise of ground we looked back over the vast, sunlit landscape, the endless rolling stretches of low forest. midway on our journey we crossed a brook. the dogs minded the heat much. they continually ran off to one side, lay down in a shady place, waited until we were several hundred yards ahead, and then raced after us, overtook us, and repeated the performance. the pack-train came in about sunset; but we ourselves reached the juruena in the middle of the afternoon. the juruena is the name by which the tapajos goes along its upper course. where we crossed, it was a deep, rapid stream, flowing in a heavily wooded valley with rather steep sides. we were ferried across on the usual balsa, a platform on three dugouts, running by the force of the current on a wire trolley. there was a clearing on each side with a few palms, and on the farther bank were the buildings of the telegraph station. this is a wild country, and the station was guarded by a few soldiers under the command of lieutenant marino, a native of rio grande do sul, a blond man who looked like an englishman--an agreeable companion, and a good and resolute officer, as all must be who do their work in this wilderness. the juruena was first followed at the end of the eighteenth century by the portuguese explorer franco, and not again until over a hundred years had elapsed, when the telegraphic commission not only descended, but for the first time accurately placed and mapped its course. there were several houses on the rise of the farther bank, all with thatched roofs, some of them with walls of upright tree-trunks, some of them daub and wattle. into one of the latter, with two rooms, we took our belongings. the sand-flies were bothersome at night, coming through the interstices in the ordinary mosquito-nets. the first night they did this i got no sleep until morning, when it was cool enough for me to roll myself in my blanket and put on a head-net. afterward we used fine nets of a kind of cheese-cloth. they were hot, but they kept out all, or almost all, of the sand-flies and other small tormentors. here we overtook the rearmost division of captain amilcar's bullock- train. our own route had diverged, in order to pass the great falls. captain amilcar had come direct, overtaking the pack-oxen, which had left tapirapoan before we did, laden with material for the duvida trip. he had brought the oxen through in fine shape, losing only three beasts with their loads, and had himself left the juruena the morning of the day we reached there. his weakest animals left that evening, to make the march by moonlight; and as it was desirable to give them thirty-six hours' start, we halted for a day on the banks of the river. it was not a wasted day. in addition to bathing and washing our clothes, the naturalists made some valuable additions to the collection--including a boldly marked black, blue, and white jay--and our photographs were developed and our writing brought abreast of the date. travelling through a tropical wilderness in the rainy season, when the amount of baggage that can be taken is strictly limited, entails not only a good deal of work, but also the exercise of considerable ingenuity if the writing and photographing, and especially the preservation, of the specimens are to be done in satisfactory shape. at the telegraph office we received news that the voyage of lauriado and fiala down the papagaio had opened with a misadventure. in some bad rapids, not many miles below the falls, two of the canoes had been upset, half of their provisions and all of fiala's baggage lost, and fiala himself nearly drowned. the papagaio is known both at the source and the mouth; to descend it did not represent a plunge into the unknown, as in the case of the duvida or the ananas; but the actual water work, over the part that was unexplored, offered the same possibilities of mischance and disaster. it is a hazardous thing to descend a swift, unknown river rushing through an uninhabited wilderness. to descend or ascend the ordinary great highway rivers of south america, such as the amazon, paraguay, tapajos, and, in its lower course, the orinoco, is now so safe and easy, whether by steam- boat or big, native cargo-boat, that people are apt to forget the very serious difficulties offered by the streams, often themselves great rivers, which run into or form the upper courses of these same water highways. few things are easier than the former feat, and few more difficult than the latter; and experience in ordinary travelling on the lower courses of the rivers is of no benefit whatever in enabling a man to form a judgement as to what can be done, and how to do it, on the upper courses. failure to remember this fact is one of the obstacles in the way of securing a proper appreciation of the needs and the results, of south american exploration. at the juruena we met a party of nhambiquaras, very friendly and sociable, and very glad to see colonel rondon. they were originally exceedingly hostile and suspicious, but the colonel's unwearied thoughtfulness and good temper, joined with his indomitable resolution, enabled him to avoid war and to secure their friendship and even their aid. he never killed one. many of them are known to him personally. he is on remarkably good terms with them, and they are very fond of him--although this does not prevent them from now and then yielding to temptation, even at his expense, and stealing a dog or something else which strikes them as offering an irresistible attraction. they cannot be employed at steady work; but they do occasional odd jobs, and are excellent at hunting up strayed mules or oxen; and a few of the men have begun to wear clothes, purely for ornament. their confidence and bold friendliness showed how well they had been treated. probably half of our visitors were men; several were small boys; one was a woman with a baby; the others were young married women and girls. nowhere in africa did we come across wilder or more absolutely primitive savages, although these indians were pleasanter and better- featured than any of the african tribes at the same stage of culture. both sexes were well-made and rather good-looking, with fairly good teeth, although some of them seemed to have skin diseases. they were a laughing, easy-tempered crew, and the women were as well-fed as the men, and were obviously well-treated, from the savage standpoint; there was no male brutality like that which forms such a revolting feature in the life of the australian black fellows and, although to a somewhat less degree, in the life of so many negro and indian tribes. they were practically absolutely naked. in many savage tribes the men go absolutely naked, but the women wear a breech-clout or loincloth. in certain tribes we saw near lake victoria nyanza, and on the upper white nile, both men and women were practically naked. among these nhambiquaras the women were more completely naked than the men, although the difference was not essential. the men wore a string around the waist. most of them wore nothing else, but a few had loosely hanging from this string in front a scanty tuft of dried grass, or a small piece of cloth, which, however, was of purely symbolic use so far as either protection or modesty was concerned. the women did not wear a stitch of any kind anywhere on their bodies. they did not have on so much as a string, or a bead, or even an ornament in their hair. they were all, men and women, boys and well-grown young girls, as entirely at ease and unconscious as so many friendly animals. all of them--men, women, and children, laughing and talking-- crowded around us, whether we were on horseback or on foot. they flocked into the house, and when i sat down to write surrounded me so closely that i had to push them gently away. the women and girls often stood holding one another's hands, or with their arms over one another's shoulders or around one another's waists, offering an attractive picture. the men had holes pierced through the septum of the nose and through the upper lip, and wore a straw through each hole. the women were not marked or mutilated. it seems like a contradiction in terms, but it is nevertheless a fact that the behavior of these completely naked women and men was entirely modest. there was never an indecent look or a consciously indecent gesture. they had no blankets or hammocks, and when night came simply lay down in the sand. colonel rondon stated that they never wore a covering by night or by day, and if it was cool slept one on each side of a small fire. their huts were merely slight shelters against the rain. the moon was nearly full, and after nightfall a few of the indians suddenly held an improvised dance for us in front of our house. there were four men, a small boy, and two young women or grown girls. two of the men had been doing some work for the commission, and were dressed, one completely and one partially, in ordinary clothes. two of the men and the boy were practically naked, and the two young women were absolutely so. all of them danced in a circle, without a touch of embarrassment or impropriety. the two girls kept hold of each other's hands throughout, dancing among the men as modestly as possible, and with the occasional interchange of a laugh or jest, in as good taste and temper as in any dance in civilization. the dance consisted in slowly going round in a circle, first one way then the other, rhythmically beating time with the feet to the music of the song they were chanting. the chants--there were three of them, all told--were measured and rather slowly uttered melodies, varied with an occasional half-subdued shrill cry. the women continually uttered a kind of long- drawn wailing or droning; i am not enough of a musician to say whether it was an overtone or the sustaining of the burden of the ballad. the young boy sang better than any of the others. it was a strange and interesting sight to see these utterly wild, friendly savages circling in their slow dance, and chanting their immemorial melodies, in the brilliant tropical moonlight, with the river rushing by in the background, through the lonely heart of the wilderness. the indians stayed with us, feasting, dancing, and singing until the early hours of the morning. they then suddenly and silently disappeared in the darkness, and did not return. in the morning we discovered that they had gone off with one of colonel rondon's dogs. probably the temptation had proved irresistible to one of their number, and the others had been afraid to interfere, and also afraid to stay in or return to our neighborhood. we had not time to go after them; but rondon remarked that as soon as he again came to the neighborhood he would take some soldiers, hunt up the indians, and reclaim the dog. it has been his mixture of firmness, good nature, and good judgment that has enabled him to control these bold, warlike savages, and even to reduce the warfare between them and the parecis. in spite of their good nature and laughter, their fearlessness and familiarity showed how necessary it was not to let them get the upper hand. they are always required to leave all their arms a mile or two away before they come into the encampment. they are much wilder and more savage, and at a much lower cultural level, than the parecis. in the afternoon of the day following our arrival there was a heavy rain-storm which drove into the unglazed windows, and here and there came through the roof and walls of our daub-and-wattle house. the heat was intense and there was much moisture in this valley. during the downpour i looked out at the dreary little houses, showing through the driving rain, while the sheets of muddy water slid past their door- sills; and i felt a sincere respect for the lieutenant and his soldiers who were holding this desolate outpost of civilization. it is an unhealthy spot; there has been much malarial fever and beriberi--an obscure and deadly disease. next morning we resumed our march. it soon began to rain and we were drenched when, some fifteen miles on, we reached the river where we were to camp. after the great heat we felt quite cold in our wet clothes, and gladly crowded round a fire which was kindled under a thatched shed, beside the cabin of the ferryman. this ferry-boat was so small that it could only take one mule, or at most two, at a time. the mules and a span of six oxen dragging an ox-cart, which we had overtaken, were ferried slowly to the farther side that afternoon, as there was no feed on the hither bank, where we ourselves camped. the ferryman was a soldier in the employ of the telegraphic commission. his good-looking, pleasant-mannered wife, evidently of both indian and negro blood, was with him, and was doing all she could do as a housekeeper, in the comfortless little cabin, with its primitive bareness of furniture and fittings. here we saw captain amilcar, who had come back to hurry up his rear- guard. we stood ankle-deep in mud and water, by the swollen river, while the rain beat on us, and enjoyed a few minutes' talk with the cool, competent officer who was doing a difficult job with such workman-like efficiency. he had no poncho, and was wet through, but was much too busy in getting his laden oxen forward to think of personal discomfort. he had had a good deal of trouble with his mules, but his oxen were still in fair shape. after leaving the juruena the ground became somewhat more hilly, and the scrubby forest was less open, but otherwise there was no change in the monotonous, and yet to me rather attractive, landscape. the ant- hills, and the ant-houses in the trees--arboreal ant-hills, so to speak were as conspicuous as ever. the architects of some were red ants, of others black ants; and others, which were on the whole the largest, had been built by the white ants, the termites. the latter were not infrequently taller than a horseman's head. that evening round the camp-fire colonel rondon happened to mention how the brother of one of the soldiers with us--a parecis indian--had been killed by a jararaca snake. cherrie told of a narrow escape he had from one while collecting in guiana. at night he used to set traps in camp for small mammals. one night he heard one of these traps go off under his hammock. he reached down for it, and as he fumbled for the chain he felt a snake strike at him, just missing him in the darkness, but actually brushing his hand. he lit a light and saw that a big jararaca had been caught in the trap; and he preserved it as a specimen. snakes frequently came into his camp after nightfall. he killed one rattlesnake which had swallowed the skinned bodies of four mice he had prepared as specimens; which shows that rattlesnakes do not always feed only on living prey. another rattlesnake which he killed in central america had just swallowed an opossum which proved to be of a species new to science. miller told how once on the orinoco he saw on the bank a small anaconda, some ten feet long, killing one of the iguanas, big, active, truculent, carnivorous lizards, equally at home on the land and in the water. evidently the iguanas were digging out holes in the bank in which to lay their eggs; for there were several such holes, and iguanas working at them. the snake had crushed its prey to a pulp; and not more than a couple of feet away another iguana was still busily, and with entire unconcern, engaged in making its burrow. at miller's approach the anaconda left the dead iguana and rushed into the water, and the live iguana promptly followed it. miller also told of the stone gods and altars and temples he had seen in the great colombian forests, monuments of strange civilizations which flourished and died out ages ago, and of which all memory has vanished. he and cherrie told of giant rivers and waterfalls, and of forests never penetrated, and mountains never ascended by civilized man; and of bloody revolutions that devastated the settled regions. listening to them i felt that they could write "tales of two naturalists" that would be worth reading. they were short of literature, by the way--a party such as ours always needs books--and as kermit's reading-matter consisted chiefly of camoens and other portuguese, or else brazilian, writers, i strove to supply the deficiency with spare volumes of gibbon. at the end of our march we were usually far ahead of the mule-train, and the rain was also usually falling. accordingly we would sit about under trees, or under a shed or lean-to, if there was one, each solemnly reading a volume of gibbon--and no better reading can be found. in my own case, as i had been having rather a steady course of gibbon, i varied him now and then with a volume of arsene lupin lent me by kermit. there were many swollen rivers to cross at this point of our journey. some we waded at fords. some we crossed by rude bridges. the larger ones, such as the juina, we crossed by ferry, and when the approaches were swampy, and the river broad and swift, many hours might be consumed in getting the mule-train, the loose bullocks, and the ox- cart over. we had few accidents, although we once lost a ferry-load of provisions, which was quite a misfortune in a country where they could not be replaced. the pasturage was poor, and it was impossible to make long marches with our weakened animals. at one camp three nhambiquaras paid us a visit at breakfast time. they left their weapons behind them before they appeared, and shouted loudly while they were still hid by the forest, and it was only after repeated answering calls of welcome that they approached. always in the wilderness friends proclaim their presence; a silent advance marks a foe. our visitors were men, and stark naked, as usual. one seemed sick; he was thin, and his back was scarred with marks of the grub of the loathsome berni fly. indeed, all of them showed scars, chiefly from insect wounds. but the other two were in good condition, and, although they ate greedily of the food offered them, they had with them a big mandioc cake, some honey, and a little fish. one of them wore a high helmet of puma-skin, with the tail hanging down his back-- handsome head-gear, which he gladly bartered for several strings of bright coral-red beads. around the upper arms of two of them were bands bound so tightly as to cut into and deform the muscles--a singular custom, seemingly not only purposeless but mischievous, which is common among this tribe and many others. the nhambiquaras are a numerous tribe, covering a large region. but they have no general organization. each group of families acts for itself. half a dozen years previously they had been very hostile, and colonel rondon had to guard his camp and exercise every precaution to guarantee his safety, while at the same time successfully endeavoring to avoid the necessity of himself shedding blood. now they are, for the most part, friendly. but there are groups or individuals that are not. several soldiers have been killed at these little lonely stations; and while in some cases the attack may have been due to the soldiers having meddled with nhambiquara women, in other cases the killing was entirely wanton and unprovoked. sooner or later these criminals or outlaws will have to be brought to justice; it will not do to let their crimes go unpunished. twice soldiers have deserted and fled to the nhambiquaras. the runaways were well received, were given wives, and adopted into the tribe. the country when opened will be a healthy abode for white settlers. but pioneering in the wilderness is grim work for both man and beast. continually, as we journeyed onward, under the pitiless glare of the sun or through blinding torrents of rain, we passed desolate little graves by the roadside. they marked the last resting places of men who had died by fever, or dysentery, or nhambiquara arrows. we raised our hats as our mules plodded slowly by through the sand. on each grave was a frail wooden cross, and this and the paling round about were already stained by the weather as gray as the tree trunks of the stunted forest that stretched endlessly on every side. the skeletons of mules and oxen were frequent along the road. now and then we came across a mule or ox which had been abandoned by captain amilcar's party, ahead of us. the animal had been left with the hope that when night came it would follow along the trail to water. sometimes it did so. sometimes we found it dead, or standing motionless waiting for death. from time to time we had to leave behind one of our own mules. it was not always easy to recognize what pasturage the mules would accept as good. one afternoon we pitched camp by a tiny rivulet, in the midst of the scrubby upland forest; a camp, by the way, where the piums, the small, biting flies, were a torment during the hours of daylight, while after dark their places were more than taken by the diminutive gnats which the brazilians expressively term "polvora," or powder, and which get through the smallest meshes of a mosquito-net. the feed was so scanty, and the cover so dense, at this spot that i thought we would have great difficulty in gathering the mules next morning. but we did not. a few hours later, in the afternoon, we camped by a beautiful open meadow; on one side ran a rapid brook, with a waterfall eight feet high, under which we bathed and swam. here the feed looked so good that we all expressed pleasure. but the mules did not like it, and after nightfall they hiked back on the trail, and it was a long and arduous work to gather them next morning. i have touched above on the insect pests. men unused to the south american wilderness speak with awe of the danger therein from jaguars, crocodiles, and poisonous snakes. in reality, the danger from these sources is trivial, much less than the danger of being run down by an automobile at home. but at times the torment of insect plagues can hardly be exaggerated. there are many different species of mosquitoes, some of them bearers of disease. there are many different kinds of small, biting flies and gnats, loosely grouped together under various titles. the ones more especially called piums by my companions were somewhat like our northern black flies. they gorged themselves with blood. at the moment their bites did not hurt, but they left an itching scar. head-nets and gloves are a protection, but are not very comfortable in stifling hot weather. it is impossible to sleep without mosquito-biers. when settlers of the right type come into a new land they speedily learn to take the measures necessary to minimize the annoyance caused by all these pests. those that are winged have plenty of kinsfolk in so much of the northern continent as has not yet been subdued by man. but the most noxious of the south american ants have, thank heaven, no representatives in north america. at the camp of the piums a column of the carnivorous foraging ants made its appearance before nightfall, and for a time we feared it might put us out of our tents, for it went straight through camp, between the kitchen-tent and our own sleeping tents. however, the column turned neither to the right nor the left, streaming uninterruptedly past for several hours, and doing no damage except to the legs of any incautious man who walked near it. on the afternoon of february we reached campos novos. this place was utterly unlike the country we had been traversing. it was a large basin, several miles across, traversed by several brooks. the brooks ran in deep swampy valleys, occupied by a matted growth of tall tropical forest. between them the ground rose in bold hills, bare of forest and covered with grass, on which our jaded animals fed eagerly. on one of these rounded hills a number of buildings were ranged in a quadrangle, for the pasturage at this spot is so good that it is permanently occupied. there were milch cows, and we got delicious fresh milk; and there were goats, pigs, turkeys, and chickens. most of the buildings were made of upright poles with roofs of palm thatch. one or two were of native brick, plastered with mud, and before these there was an enclosure with a few ragged palms, and some pineapple plants. here we halted. our attendants made two kitchens: one was out in the open air, one was under a shelter of ox-hide. the view over the surrounding grassy hills, riven by deep wooded valleys, was lovely. the air was cool and fresh. we were not bothered by insects, although mosquitoes swarmed in every belt of timber. yet there has been much fever at this beautiful and seemingly healthy place. doubtless when settlement is sufficiently advanced a remedy will be developed. the geology of this neighborhood was interesting--oliveira found fossil tree-trunks which he believed to be of cretaceous age. here we found amilcar and mello, who had waited for us with the rear- guard of their pack-train, and we enjoyed our meeting with the two fine fellows, than whom no military service of any nation could produce more efficient men for this kind of difficult and responsible work. next morning they mustered their soldiers, muleteers, and pack- ox men and marched off. reinisch the taxidermist was with them. we followed in the late afternoon, camping after a few miles. we left the oxcart at campos novos; from thence on the trail was only for pack- animals. in this neighborhood the two naturalists found many birds which we had not hitherto met. the most conspicuous was a huge oriole, the size of a small crow, with a naked face, a black-and-red bill, and gaudily variegated plumage of green, yellow, and chestnut. very interesting was the false bellbird, a gray bird with loud, metallic notes. there was also a tiny soft-tailed woodpecker, no larger than a kinglet; a queer humming-bird with a slightly flexible bill; and many species of ant-thrush, tanager, manakin, and tody. among these unfamiliar forms was a vireo looking much like our solitary vireo. at one camp cherrie collected a dozen perching birds; miller a beautiful little rail; and kermit, with the small luger belt-rifle, a handsome curassow, nearly as big as a turkey--out of which, after it had been skinned, the cook made a delicious canja, the thick brazilian soup of fowl and rice than which there is nothing better of its kind. all these birds were new to the collection--no naturalists had previously worked this region--so that the afternoon's work represented nine species new to the collection, six new genera, and a most excellent soup. two days after leaving campos novos we reached vilhena, where there is a telegraph station. we camped once at a small river named by colonel rondon the "twelfth of october," because he reached it on the day columbus discovered america--i had never before known what day it was!--and once at the foot of a hill which he had named after lyra, his companion in the exploration. the two days' march--really one full day and part of two others--was through beautiful country, and we enjoyed it thoroughly, although there were occasional driving rain- storms, when the rain came in almost level sheets and drenched every one and everything. the country was like that around campos novos, and offered a striking contrast to the level, barren, sandy wastes of the chapadao, which is a healthy region, where great industrial centres can arise, but not suited for extensive agriculture as are the lowland flats. for these forty-eight hours the trail climbed into and out of steep valleys and broad basins and up and down hills. in the deep valleys were magnificent woods, in which giant rubber-trees towered, while the huge leaves of the low-growing pacova, or wild banana, were conspicuous in the undergrowth. great azure butterflies flitted through the open, sunny glades, and the bellbirds, sitting motionless, uttered their ringing calls from the dark stillness of the columned groves. the hillsides were grassy pastures or else covered with low, open forest. a huge frog, brown above, with a light streak down each side, was found hiding under some sticks in a damp place in one of the improvised kitchens; and another frog, with disks on his toes, was caught on one of the tents. a coral-snake puzzled us. some coral- snakes are harmless; others are poisonous, although not aggressive. the best authorities give an infallible recipe for distinguishing them by the pattern of the colors, but this particular specimen, although it corresponded exactly in color pattern with the description of the poisonous snakes, nevertheless had no poison-fangs that even after the most minute examination we could discover. miller and one of the dogs caught a sariema, a big, long-legged, bustard-like bird, in rather a curious way. we were on the march, plodding along through as heavy a tropic downpour as it was our ill fortune to encounter. the sariema, evidently as drenched and uncomfortable as we were, was hiding under a bush to avoid the pelting rain. the dog discovered it, and after the bird valiantly repelled him, miller was able to seize it. its stomach contained about half a pint of grass-hoppers and beetles and young leaves. at vilhena there was a tame sariema, much more familiar and at home than any of the poultry. it was without the least fear of man or dog. the sariema (like the screamer and the curassow) ought to be introduced into our barnyards and on our lawns, at any rate in the southern states; it is a good-looking, friendly, and attractive bird. another bird we met is in some places far more intimate, and domesticates itself. this is the pretty little honey-creeper. in colombia miller found the honey-creepers habitually coming inside the houses and hotels at meal-times, hopping about the table, and climbing into the sugar-bowl. along this part of our march there was much of what at a hasty glance seemed to be volcanic rock; but oliveira showed me that it was a kind of conglomerate, with bubbles or hollows in it, made of sand and iron- bearing earth. he said it was a superficial quaternary deposit formed by erosion from the cretaceous rocks, and that there were here no tertiary deposits. he described the geological structure of the lands through which we had passed as follows: the pantanals were of pleistocene age. along the upper sepotuba, in the region of the rapids, there were sandstones, shales, and clays of permian age. the rolling country east of this contained eruptive rocks--a porphyritic disbase, with zeolite, quartz, and agate of triassic age. with the chapadao of the parecis plateau we came to a land of sand and clay, dotted with lumps of sandstone and pieces of petrified wood; this, according to oliveira, is of mesozoic age, possibly cretaceous and similar to the south african formation. there are geologists who consider it as of permian age. at vilhena we were on a watershed which drained into the gy-parana, which itself runs into the madeira nearly midway between its sources and its mouth. a little farther along and northward we again came to streams running ultimately into the tapajos; and between them, and close to them, were streamlets which drained into the duvida and ananas, whose courses and outlets were unknown. this point is part of the divide between the basins of the madeira and tapajos. a singular topographical feature of the plan alto, the great interior sandy plateau of brazil, is that at its westernmost end the southward flowing streams, instead of running into the paraguay as they do farther east, form the headwaters of the guapore, which may, perhaps, be called the upper main stream of the madeira. these westernmost streams from the southern edge of the plateau, therefore, begin by flowing south; then for a long stretch they flow southwest; then north, and finally northeast into the amazon. according to some exceptionally good geological observers, this is probably due to the fact that in a remote geologic past the ocean sent in an arm from the south, between the plan alto and what is now the andean chain. these rivers then emptied into the andean sea. the gradual upheaval of the soil has resulted in substituting dry land for this arm of the ocean and in reversing the course of what is now the madeira, just as, according to these geologists, in somewhat familiar fashion the amazon has been reversed, it having once been, at least for the upper two thirds of its course, an affluent of the andean sea. from vilhena we travelled in a generally northward direction. for a few leagues we went across the chapadao, the sands or clays of the nearly level upland plateau, grassy or covered with thin, stunted forest, the same type of country that had been predominant ever since we ascended the parecis table-land on the morning of the third day after leaving the sepotuba. then, at about the point where the trail dipped into a basin containing the head-springs of the ananas, we left this type of country and began to march through thick forest, not very high. there was little feed for the animals on the chapadao. there was less in the forest. moreover, the continual heavy rains made the travelling difficult and laborious for them, and they weakened. however, a couple of marches before we reached tres burity, where there is a big ranch with hundreds of cattle, we were met by ten fresh pack-oxen, and our serious difficulties were over. there were piums in plenty by day, but neither mosquitoes nor sand-flies by night; and for us the trip was very pleasant, save for moments of anxiety about the mules. the loose bullocks furnished us abundance of fresh beef, although, as was inevitable under the circumstances, of a decidedly tough quality. one of the biggest of the bullocks was attacked one night by a vampire bat, and next morning his withers were literally bathed in blood. with the chapadao we said good-by to the curious, gregarious, and crepuscular or nocturnal spiders which we found so abundant along the line of the telegraph wire. they have offered one of the small problems with which the commission has had to deal. they are not common in the dry season. they swarm during the rains; and, when their tough webs are wet, those that lead from the wire to the ground sometimes effectually short circuit the wire. they have on various occasions caused a good deal of trouble in this manner. the third night out from vilhena we emerged for a moment from the endless close-growing forest in which our poor animals got such scanty pickings, and came to a beautiful open country, where grassy slopes, dotted with occasional trees, came down on either side of a little brook which was one of the headwaters of the duvida. it was a pleasure to see the mules greedily bury their muzzles in the pasturage. our tents were pitched in the open, near a shady tree, which sent out its low branches on every side. at this camp cherrie shot a lark, very characteristic of the open upland country, and miller found two bats in the rotten wood of a dead log. he heard them squeaking and dug them out; he could not tell by what method they had gotten in. here kermit, while a couple of miles from our tents, came across an encampment of nhambiquaras. there were twenty or thirty of them--men, women, and a few children. kermit, after the manner of honest folk in the wilderness, advanced ostentatiously in the open, calling out to give warning of his coming. like surroundings may cause like manners. the early saxons in england deemed it legal to kill any man who came through the woods without shouting or blowing a horn; and in nhambiquara land at the present time it is against etiquette, and may be very unhealthy, to come through the woods toward strangers without loudly announcing one's presence. the nhambiquaras received kermit with the utmost cordiality, and gave him pineapple-wine to drink. they were stark naked as usual; they had no hammocks or blankets, and their huts were flimsy shelters of palm-branches. yet they were in fine condition. half a dozen of the men and a couple of boys accompanied kermit back to our camp, paying not slightest heed to the rain which was falling. they were bold and friendly, good-natured--at least superficially--and very inquisitive. in feasting, the long reeds thrust through holes in their lips did not seem to bother them, and they laughed at the suggestion of removing them; evidently to have done so would have been rather bad manners--like using a knife as an aid in eating ice-cream. they held two or three dances, and we were again struck by the rhythm and weird, haunting melody of their chanting. after supper they danced beside the camp-fire; and finally, to their delight, most of the members of our own party, americans and brazilians, enthusiastically joined the dance, while the colonel and i furnished an appreciative and applauding audience. next morning, when we were awakened by the chattering and screaming of the numerous macaws, parrots, and parakeets, we found that nearly all the indians, men and women, were gathered outside the tent. as far as clothing was concerned, they were in the condition of adam and eve before the fall. one of the women carried a little squirrel monkey. she put it up the big tree some distance from the tents; and when she called, it came scampering to her across the grass, ran up her, and clung to her neck. they would have liked to pilfer; but as they had no clothes it was difficult for them to conceal anything. one of the women was observed to take a fork; but as she did not possess a rag of clothing of any kind all she did do was to try to bury the fork in the sand and then sit on it; and it was reclaimed without difficulty. one or two of the children wore necklaces and bracelets made of the polished wood of the tucum palm, and of the molars of small rodents. next day's march led us across a hilly country of good pastureland. the valleys were densely wooded, palms of several kinds being conspicuous among the other trees; and the brooks at the bottoms we crossed at fords or by the usual rude pole bridges. on the open pastures were occasional trees, usually slender bacaba palms, with heads which the winds had dishevelled until they looked like mops. it was evidently a fine natural cattle country, and we soon began to see scores, perhaps hundreds, of the cattle belonging to the government ranch at tres burity, which we reached in the early afternoon. it is beautifully situated: the view roundabout is lovely, and certainly the land will prove healthy when settlements have been definitely established. here we revelled in abundance of good fresh milk and eggs; and for dinner we had chicken canja and fat beef roasted on big wooden spits; and we even had watermelons. the latter were from seeds brought down by the american engineers who built the madeira marmore railroad--a work which stands honorably distinguished among the many great and useful works done in the development of the tropics of recent years. amilcar's pack-oxen, which were nearly worn out, had been left in these fertile pastures. most of the fresh oxen which he took in their places were unbroken, and there was a perfect circus before they were packed and marched off; in every direction, said the gleeful narrators, there were bucking oxen and loads strewed on the ground. this cattle ranch is managed by the colonel's uncle, his mother's brother, a hale old man of seventy, white-haired but as active and vigorous as ever; with a fine, kindly, intelligent face. his name is miguel evangalista. he is a native of matto grosso, of practically pure indian blood, and was dressed in the ordinary costume of the caboclo--hat, shirt, trousers, and no shoes or stockings. within the last year he had killed three jaguars, which had been living on the mules; as long as they could get mules they did not at this station molest the cattle. it was with this uncle's father, colonel rondon's own grandfather, that colonel rondon as an orphan spent the first seven years of his life. his father died before he was born, and his mother when he was only a year old. he lived on his grandfather's cattle-ranch, some fifty miles from cuyaba. then he went to live in cuyaba with a kinsman on his father's side, from whom he took the name of rondon; his own father's name was dasilva. he studied in the cuyaba government school, and at sixteen was inscribed as one of the instructors. then he went to rio, served for a year in the army as an enlisted man in the ranks, and succeeded finally in getting into the military school. after five years as pupil he served three years as professor of mathematics in this school; and then, as a lieutenant of engineers in the brazilian army, he came back to his home in matto grosso and began his life-work of exploring the wilderness. next day we journeyed to the telegraph station at bonofacio, through alternate spells of glaring sunshine and heavy rain. on the way we stopped at an aldea-village of nhambiquaras. we first met a couple of men going to hunt, with bows and arrows longer than themselves. a rather comely young woman, carrying on her back a wickerwork basket, or creel, supported by a forehead band, and accompanied by a small child, was with them. at the village there were a number of men, women, and children. although as completely naked as the others we had met, the members of this band were more ornamented with beads, and wore earrings made from the inside of mussel-shells or very big snail- shells. they were more hairy than the ones we had so far met. the women, but not the men, completely remove the hair from their bodies-- and look more, instead of less, indecent in consequence. the chief, whose body was painted red with the juice of a fruit, had what could fairly be styled a mustache and imperial; and one old man looked somewhat like a hairy ainu, or perhaps even more like an australian black fellow. my companion told me that this probably represented an infusion of negro blood, and possibly of mulatto blood, from runaway slaves of the old days, when some of the matto grosso mines were worked by slave labor. they also thought it possible that this infiltration of african negroes might be responsible for the curious shape of the bigger huts, which were utterly unlike their flimsy, ordinary shelters, and bore no resemblance in shape to those of the other indian tribes of this region; whereas they were not unlike the ordinary beehive huts of the agricultural african negroes. there were in this village several huts or shelters open at the sides, and two of the big huts. these were of closely woven thatch, circular in outline, with a rounded dome, and two doors a couple of feet high opposite each other, and no other opening. there were fifteen or twenty people to each hut. inside were their implements and utensils, such as wicker baskets (some of them filled with pineapples), gourds, fire-sticks, wooden knives, wooden mortars, and a board for grating mandioc, made of a thick slab of wood inset with sharp points of a harder wood. from the brazilians one or two of them had obtained blankets, and one a hammock; and they had also obtained knives, which they sorely needed, for they are not even in the stone age. one woman shielded herself from the rain by holding a green palm-branch down her back. another had on her head what we at first thought to be a monkey-skin head- dress. but it was a little, live, black monkey. it stayed habitually with its head above her forehead, and its arms and legs spread so that it lay moulded to the shape of her head; but both woman and monkey showed some reluctance about having their photographs taken. bonofacio consisted of several thatched one-room cabins, connected by a stockade which was extended to form an enclosure behind them. a number of tame parrots and parakeets, of several different species, scrambled over the roofs and entered the houses. in the open pastures near by were the curious, extensive burrows of a gopher rat, which ate the roots of grass, not emerging to eat the grass but pulling it into the burrows by the roots. these burrows bore a close likeness to those of our pocket gophers. miller found the animals difficult to trap. finally, by the aid of colonel rondon, several indians, and two or three of our men, he dug one out. from the central shaft several surface galleries radiated, running for many rods about a foot below the surface, with, at intervals of half a dozen yards, mounds where the loose earth had been expelled. the central shaft ran straight down for about eight feet, and then laterally for about fifteen feet, to a kind of chamber. the animal dug hard to escape, but when taken and put on the surface of the ground it moved slowly and awkwardly. it showed vicious courage. in looks it closely resembled our pocket gophers, but it had no pockets. this was one of the most interesting small mammals that we secured. after breakfast at bonofacio a number of nhambiquaras--men, women, and children--strolled in. the men gave us an exhibition of not very good archery; when the bow was bent, it was at first held so that the arrow pointed straight upwards and was then lowered so that the arrow was aimed at the target. several of the women had been taken from other tribes, after their husbands or fathers had been killed; for the nhambiquaras are light-hearted robbers and murderers. two or three miserable dogs accompanied them, half-starved and mangy, but each decorated with a collar of beads. the headmen had three or four wives apiece, and the women were the burden-bearers, but apparently were not badly treated. most of them were dirty, although well-fed looking, and their features were of a low type; but some, especially among the children, were quite attractive. from bonofacio we went about seven miles, across a rolling prairie dotted with trees and clumps of shrub. there, on february , we joined amilcar, who was camped by a brook which flowed into the duvida. we were only some six miles from our place of embarkation on the duvida, and we divided our party and our belongings. amilcar, miller, mello, and oliveira were to march three days to the gy-parana, and then descend it, and continue down the madeira to manaos. rondon, lyra, the doctor, cherrie, kermit, and i, with sixteen paddlers, in seven canoes, were to descend the duvida, and find out whether it led into the gy-parana, our purpose was to return and descend the ananas, whose outlet was also unknown. having this in view, we left a fortnight's provisions for our party of six at bonofacio. we took with us provisions for about fifty days; not full rations, for we hoped in part to live on the country--on fish, game, nuts, and palm-tops. our personal baggage was already well cut down: cherrie, kermit, and i took the naturalist's fly to sleep under, and a very light little tent extra for any one who might fall sick. rondon, lyra, and the doctor took one of their own tents. the things that we carried were necessities--food, medicines, bedding, instruments for determining the altitude and longitude and latitude--except a few books, each in small compass: lyra's were in german, consisting of two tiny volumes of goethe and schiller; kermit's were in portuguese; mine, all in english, included the last two volumes of gibbon, the plays of sophocles, more's "utopia," marcus aurelius, and epictetus, the two latter lent me by a friend, major shipton of the regulars, our military attaché at buenos aires. if our canoe voyage was prosperous we would gradually lighten the loads by eating the provisions. if we met with accidents, such as losing canoes and men in the rapids, or losing men in encounters with indians, or if we encountered overmuch fever and dysentery, the loads would lighten themselves. we were all armed. we took no cartridges for sport. cherrie had some to be used sparingly for collecting specimens. the others were to be used--unless in the unlikely event of having to repel an attack--only to procure food. the food and the arms we carried represented all reasonable precautions against suffering and starvation; but, of course, if the course of the river proved very long and difficult, if we lost our boats over falls or in rapids, or had to make too many and too long portages, or were brought to a halt by impassable swamps, then we would have to reckon with starvation as a possibility. anything might happen. we were about to go into the unknown, and no one could say what it held. note: the first four days, before we struck the upper rapids, and during which we made nearly seventy kilometres, are of course not included when i speak of our making our way down the rapids. i hope that this year the ananas, or pineapple, will also be put on the map. one of colonel rondon's subordinates is to attempt the descent of the river. we passed the headwaters of the pineapple on the high plateau, very possibly we passed its mouth, although it is also possible that it empties into the canama or tapajos. but it will not be "put on the map" until some one descends and finds out where, as a matter of fact, it really does go. it would be well if a geographical society of standing would investigate the formal and official charges made by colonel rondon, an officer and gentleman of the highest repute, against mr. savage landor. colonel rondon, in an official report to the brazilian government, has written a scathing review of mr. landor. he states that mr. savage landor did not perform, and did not even attempt to perform, the work he had contracted to do in exploration for the brazilian government. mr. landor had asserted and promised that he would go through unknown country along the line of eleven degrees latitude south, and, as colonel rondon states, it was because of this proposal of his that the brazilian government gave him material financial assistance in advance. however, colonel rondon sets forth that mr. landor did not keep his word or make any serious effort to fulfil his moral obligation to do as he had said he would do. in a letter to me under date of may , --a letter which has been published in full in france--colonel rondon goes at length into the question of what territory mr. landor had traversed. colonel rondon states that--excepting on one occasion, when mr. landor, wandering off a beaten trail, immediately got lost and shortly returned to his starting-point without making any discoveries--he kept to old, well- travelled routes. one sentence of the colonel's letter to me runs as follows: "i can guarantee to you that in brazil mr. landor did not cross a hand's breadth of land that had not been explored, the greater part of it many centuries ago." as regards mr. landor's sole and brief experience in leaving a beaten route, colonel rondon states that at sao manoel mr. landor engaged from senhor jose sotero barreto (the revenue officer of matto grosso, at sao manoel) a guide to lead him across a well-travelled trail which connects the tapajos with the madeira via the canama. the guide, however, got lost, and after a few days they all returned to the point of departure instead of going through to the canama. senhor barreto, a gentleman of high standing, related this last incident to fiala when fiala descended the tapajos (and, by the way, fiala's trip down the papagaio, juruena, and tapajos was infinitely more important than all the work mr. landor did in south america put together). lieutenants pyrineus and mello, mentioned in the body of this work, informed me that they accompanied mr. landor on most of his overland trip before he embarked on the arinos, and that he simply followed the highroad or else the telegraph-line, and furthermore, colonel rondon states that the indians whom mr. landor encountered and photographed were those educated at the missions. colonel rondon's official report to the brazilian government and his letter to me are of interest to all geographers and other scientific men who have any concern with the alleged discoveries of mr. landor. they contain very grave charges, with which it is not necessary for me to deal. suffice it to say that mr. landor's accounts of his alleged exploration cannot be considered as entitled to the slightest serious consideration until he has satisfactorily and in detail answered colonel rondon; and this he has thus far signally failed to do. fortunately, there are numerous examples of exactly the opposite type of work. from the days of humboldt and spix and martius to the present time, german explorers have borne a conspicuous part in the exploration of south america. as representatives of the men and women who have done such capital work, who have fronted every hazard and hardship and labored in the scientific spirit, and who have added greatly to our fund of geographic, biologic, and ethnographic knowledge, i may mention miss snethlage and herr karl von den steinen. viii. the river of doubt on february , , shortly after midday, we started down the river of doubt into the unknown. we were quite uncertain whether after a week we should find ourselves in the gy-parana, or after six weeks in the madeira, or after three months we knew not where. that was why the river was rightly christened the duvida. we had been camped close to the river, where the trail that follows the telegraph line crosses it by a rough bridge. as our laden dugouts swung into the stream, amilcar and miller and all the others of the gy-parana party were on the banks and the bridge to wave farewell and wish us good-by and good luck. it was the height of the rainy season, and the swollen torrent was swift and brown. our camp was at about degrees minute latitude south and degrees minutes longitude west of greenwich. our general course was to be northward toward the equator, by waterway through the vast forest. we had seven canoes, all of them dugouts. one was small, one was cranky, and two were old, waterlogged, and leaky. the other three were good. the two old canoes were lashed together, and the cranky one was lashed to one of the others. kermit with two paddlers went in the smallest of the good canoes; colonel rondon and lyra with three other paddlers in the next largest; and the doctor, cherrie, and i in the largest with three paddlers. the remaining eight camaradas--there were sixteen in all--were equally divided between our two pairs of lashed canoes. although our personal baggage was cut down to the limit necessary for health and efficiency, yet on such a trip as ours, where scientific work has to be done and where food for twenty-two men for an unknown period of time has to be carried, it is impossible not to take a good deal of stuff; and the seven dugouts were too heavily laden. the paddlers were a strapping set. they were expert rivermen and men of the forest, skilled veterans in wilderness work. they were lithe as panthers and brawny as bears. they swam like waterdogs. they were equally at home with pole and paddle, with axe and machete; and one was a good cook and others were good men around camp. they looked like pirates in the pictures of howard pyle or maxfield parrish; one or two of them were pirates, and one worse than a pirate; but most of them were hard-working, willing, and cheerful. they were white,--or, rather, the olive of southern europe,--black, copper-colored, and of all intermediate shades. in my canoe luiz the steersman, the headman, was a matto grosso negro; julio the bowsman was from bahia and of pure portuguese blood; and the third man, antonio, was a parecis indian. the actual surveying of the river was done by colonel rondon and lyra, with kermit as their assistant. kermit went first in his little canoe with the sighting-rod, on which two disks, one red and one white, were placed a metre apart. he selected a place which commanded as long vistas as possible up-stream and down, and which therefore might be at the angle of a bend; landed; cut away the branches which obstructed the view; and set up the sighting-pole--incidentally encountering maribundi wasps and swarms of biting and stinging ants. lyra, from his station up-stream, with his telemetre established the distance, while colonel rondon with the compass took the direction, and made the records. then they moved on to the point kermit had left, and kermit established a new point within their sight. the first half-day's work was slow. the general course of the stream was a trifle east of north, but at short intervals it bent and curved literally toward every point of the compass. kermit landed nearly a hundred times, and we made but nine and a third kilometres. my canoe ran ahead of the surveying canoes. the height of the water made the going easy, for most of the snags and fallen trees were well beneath the surface. now and then, however, the swift water hurried us toward ripples that marked ugly spikes of sunken timber, or toward uprooted trees that stretched almost across the stream. then the muscles stood out on the backs and arms of the paddlers as stroke on stroke they urged us away from and past the obstacle. if the leaning or fallen trees were the thorny, slender-stemmed boritana palms, which love the wet, they were often, although plunged beneath the river, in full and vigorous growth, their stems curving upward, and their frond- crowned tops shaken by the rushing water. it was interesting work, for no civilized man, no white man, had ever gone down or up this river or seen the country through which we were passing. the lofty and matted forest rose like a green wall on either hand. the trees were stately and beautiful. the looped and twisted vines hung from them like great ropes. masses of epiphytes grew both on the dead trees and the living; some had huge leaves like elephants' ears. now and then fragrant scents were blown to us from flowers on the banks. there were not many birds, and for the most part the forest was silent; rarely we heard strange calls from the depths of the woods, or saw a cormorant or ibis. my canoe ran only a couple of hours. then we halted to wait for the others. after a couple of hours more, as the surveyors had not turned up, we landed and made camp at a spot where the bank rose sharply for a hundred yards to a level stretch of ground. our canoes were moored to trees. the axemen cleared a space for the tents; they were pitched, the baggage was brought up, and fires were kindled. the woods were almost soundless. through them ran old tapir trails, but there was no fresh sign. before nightfall the surveyors arrived. there were a few piums and gnats, and a few mosquitoes after dark, but not enough to make us uncomfortable. the small stingless bees, of slightly aromatic odor, swarmed while daylight lasted and crawled over our faces and hands; they were such tame, harmless little things that when they tickled too much i always tried to brush them away without hurting them. but they became a great nuisance after a while. it had been raining at intervals, and the weather was overcast; but after the sun went down the sky cleared. the stars were brilliant overhead, and the new moon hung in the west. it was a pleasant night, the air almost cool, and we slept soundly. next morning the two surveying canoes left immediately after breakfast. an hour later the two pairs of lashed canoes pushed off. i kept our canoe to let cherrie collect, for in the early hours we could hear a number of birds in the woods near by. the most interesting birds he shot were a cotinga, brilliant turquoise-blue with a magenta- purple throat, and a big woodpecker, black above and cinnamon below with an entirely red head and neck. it was almost noon before we started. we saw a few more birds; there were fresh tapir and paca tracks at one point where we landed; once we heard howler monkeys from the depth of the forest, and once we saw a big otter in midstream. as we drifted and paddled down the swirling brown current, through the vivid rain-drenched green of the tropic forest, the trees leaned over the river from both banks. when those that had fallen in the river at some narrow point were very tall, or where it happened that two fell opposite each other, they formed barriers which the men in the leading canoes cleared with their axes. there were many palms, both the burity with its stiff fronds like enormous fans, and a handsome species of bacaba, with very long, gracefully curving fronds. in places the palms stood close together, towering and slender, their stems a stately colonnade, their fronds an arched fretwork against the sky. butterflies of many hues fluttered over the river. the day was overcast, with showers of rain. when the sun broke through rifts in the clouds, his shafts turned the forest to gold. in mid-afternoon we came to the mouth of a big and swift affluent entering from the right. it was undoubtedly the bandeira, which we had crossed well toward its head, some ten days before, on our road to bonofacio. the nhambiquaras had then told colonel rondon that it flowed into the duvida. after its junction, with the added volume of water, the river widened without losing its depth. it was so high that it had overflowed and stood among the trees on the lower levels. only the higher stretches were dry. on the sheer banks where we landed we had to push the canoes for yards or rods through the branches of the submerged trees, hacking and hewing. there were occasional bays and ox-bows from which the current had shifted. in these the coarse marsh grass grew tall. this evening we made camp on a flat of dry ground, densely wooded, of course, directly on the edge of the river and five feet above it. it was fine to see the speed and sinewy ease with which the choppers cleared an open space for the tents. next morning, when we bathed before sunrise, we dived into deep water right from the shore, and from the moored canoes. this second day we made sixteen and a half kilometres along the course of the river, and nine kilometres in a straight line almost due north. the following day, march , there was much rain--sometimes showers, sometimes vertical sheets of water. our course was somewhat west of north and we made twenty and a half kilometres. we passed signs of indian habitation. there were abandoned palm-leaf shelters on both banks. on the left bank we came to two or three old indian fields, grown up with coarse fern and studded with the burned skeletons of trees. at the mouth of a brook which entered from the right some sticks stood in the water, marking the site of an old fish-trap. at one point we found the tough vine hand-rail of an indian bridge running right across the river, a couple of feet above it. evidently the bridge had been built at low water. three stout poles had been driven into the stream-bed in a line at right angles to the current. the bridge had consisted of poles fastened to these supports, leading between them and from the support at each end to the banks. the rope of tough vines had been stretched as a hand-rail, necessary with such precarious footing. the rise of the river had swept away the bridge, but the props and the rope hand-rail remained. in the afternoon, from the boat, cherrie shot a large dark-gray monkey with a prehensile tail. it was very good eating. we camped on a dry level space, but a few feet above, and close beside, the river--so that our swimming-bath was handy. the trees were cleared and camp was made with orderly hurry. one of the men almost stepped on a poisonous coral-snake, which would have been a serious thing, as his feet were bare. but i had on stout shoes, and the fangs of these serpents--unlike those of the pit-vipers--are too short to penetrate good leather. i promptly put my foot on him, and he bit my shoe with harmless venom. it has been said that the brilliant hues of the coral-snake when in its native haunts really confer on it a concealing coloration. in the dark and tangled woods, and to an only less extent in the ordinary varied landscape, anything motionless, especially if partially hidden, easily eludes the eye. but against the dark-brown mould of the forest floor on which we found this coral- snake its bright and varied coloration was distinctly revealing; infinitely more so than the duller mottling of the jararaca and other dangerous snakes of the genus lachecis. in the same place, however, we found a striking example of genuine protective or mimetic coloration and shape. a rather large insect larva--at least we judged it to be a larval form, but we were none of us entomologists--bore a resemblance to a partially curled dry leaf which was fairly startling. the tail exactly resembled the stem or continuation of the midrib of the dead leaf. the flattened body was curled up at the sides, and veined and colored precisely like the leaf. the head, colored like the leaf, projected in front. we were still in the brazilian highlands. the forest did not teem with life. it was generally rather silent; we did not hear such a chorus of birds and mammals as we had occasionally heard even on our overland journey, when more than once we had been awakened at dawn by the howling, screaming, yelping, and chattering of monkeys, toucans, macaws, parrots, and parakeets. there were, however, from time to time, queer sounds from the forest, and after nightfall different kinds of frogs and insects uttered strange cries and calls. in volume and frequency these seemed to increase until midnight. then they died away and before dawn everything was silent. at this camp the carregadores ants completely devoured the doctor's undershirt, and ate holes in his mosquito-net; and they also ate the strap of lyra's gun-case. the little stingless bees, of many kinds, swarmed in such multitudes, and were so persevering, that we had to wear our head-nets when we wrote or skinned specimens. the following day was almost without rain. it was delightful to drift and paddle slowly down the beautiful tropical river. until mid- afternoon the current was not very fast, and the broad, deep, placid stream bent and curved in every direction, although the general course was northwest. the country was flat, and more of the land was under than above water. continually we found ourselves travelling between stretches of marshy forest where for miles the water stood or ran among the trees. once we passed a hillock. we saw brilliantly colored parakeets and trogons. at last the slow current quickened. faster it went, and faster, until it began to run like a mill-race, and we heard the roar of rapids ahead. we pulled to the right bank, moored the canoes, and while most of the men pitched camp two or three of them accompanied us to examine the rapids. we had made twenty kilometres. we soon found that the rapids were a serious obstacle. there were many curls, and one or two regular falls, perhaps six feet high. it would have been impossible to run them, and they stretched for nearly a mile. the carry, however, which led through woods and over rocks in a nearly straight line, was somewhat shorter. it was not an easy portage over which to carry heavy loads and drag heavy dugout canoes. at the point where the descent was steepest there were great naked flats of friable sandstone and conglomerate. over parts of these, where there was a surface of fine sand, there was a growth of coarse grass. other parts were bare and had been worn by the weather into fantastic shapes--one projection looked like an old-fashioned beaver hat upside down. in this place, where the naked flats of rock showed the projection of the ledge through which the river had cut its course, the torrent rushed down a deep, sheer-sided, and extremely narrow channel. at one point it was less than two yards across, and for quite a distance not more than five or six yards. yet only a mile or two above the rapids the deep, placid river was at least a hundred yards wide. it seemed extraordinary, almost impossible, that so broad a river could in so short a space of time contract its dimensions to the width of the strangled channel through which it now poured its entire volume. this has for long been a station where the nhambiquaras at intervals built their ephemeral villages and tilled the soil with the rude and destructive cultivation of savages. there were several abandoned old fields, where the dense growth of rank fern hid the tangle of burnt and fallen logs. nor had the nhambiquaras been long absent. in one trail we found what gypsies would have called a "pateran," a couple of branches arranged crosswise, eight leaves to a branch; it had some special significance, belonging to that class of signals, each with some peculiar and often complicated meaning, which are commonly used by many wild peoples. the indians had thrown a simple bridge, consisting of four long poles, without a hand-rail, across one of the narrowest parts of the rock gorge through which the river foamed in its rapid descent. this sub-tribe of indians was called the navaite; we named the rapids after them, navaite rapids. by observation lyra found them to be (in close approximation to) latitude degrees minutes south and longitude degrees minutes west from greenwich. we spent march and and the morning of the th in portaging around the rapids. the first night we camped in the forest beside the spot where we had halted. next morning we moved the baggage to the foot of the rapids, where we intended to launch the canoes, and pitched our tents on the open sandstone flat. it rained heavily. the little bees were in such swarms as to be a nuisance. many small stinging bees were with them, which stung badly. we were bitten by huge horse-flies, the size of bumblebees. more serious annoyance was caused by the pium and boroshuda flies during the hours of daylight, and by the polvora, the sand-flies, after dark. there were a few mosquitoes. the boroshudas were the worst pests; they brought the blood at once, and left marks that lasted for weeks. i did my writing in head-net and gauntlets. fortunately we had with us several bottles of "fly dope"--so named on the label--put up, with the rest of our medicine, by doctor alexander lambert; he had tested it in the north woods and found it excellent. i had never before been forced to use such an ointment, and had been reluctant to take it with me; but now i was glad enough to have it, and we all of us found it exceedingly useful. i would never again go into mosquito or sand-fly country without it. the effect of an application wears off after half an hour or so, and under many conditions, as when one is perspiring freely, it is of no use; but there are times when minute mosquitoes and gnats get through head-nets and under mosquito-bars, and when the ointments occasionally renewed may permit one to get sleep or rest which would otherwise be impossible of attainment. the termites got into our tent on the sand- flat, ate holes in cherrie's mosquito-net and poncho, and were starting to work at our duffel-bags, when we discovered them. packing the loads across was simple. dragging the heavy dugouts was labor. the biggest of the two water-logged ones was the heaviest. lyra and kermit did the job. all the men were employed at it except the cook, and one man who was down with fever. a road was chopped through the forest and a couple of hundred stout six-foot poles, or small logs, were cut as rollers and placed about two yards apart. with block and tackle the seven dugouts were hoisted out of the river up the steep banks, and up the rise of ground until the level was reached. then the men harnessed themselves two by two on the drag-rope, while one of their number pried behind with a lever, and the canoe, bumping and sliding, was twitched through the woods. over the sandstone flats there were some ugly ledges, but on the whole the course was down-hill and relatively easy. looking at the way the work was done, at the good-will, the endurance, and the bull-like strength of the camaradas, and at the intelligence and the unwearied efforts of their commanders, one could but wonder at the ignorance of those who do not realize the energy and the power that are so often possessed by, and that may be so readily developed in, the men of the tropics. another subject of perpetual wonder is the attitude of certain men who stay at home, and still more the attitude of certain men who travel under easy conditions, and who belittle the achievements of the real explorers of, the real adventures in, the great wilderness. the impostors and romancers among explorers or would-be explorers and wilderness wanderers have been unusually prominent in connection with south america (although the conspicuous ones are not south americans, by the way); and these are fit subjects for condemnation and derision. but the work of the genuine explorer and wilderness wanderer is fraught with fatigue, hardship, and danger. many of the men of little knowledge talk glibly of portaging as if it were simple and easy. a portage over rough and unknown ground is always a work of difficulty and of some risk to the canoe; and in the untrodden, or even in the unfrequented, wilderness risk to the canoe is a serious matter. this particular portage at navaite rapids was far from being unusually difficult; yet it not only cost two and a half days of severe and incessant labor, but it cost something in damage to the canoes. one in particular, the one in which i had been journeying, was split in a manner which caused us serious uneasiness as to how long, even after being patched, it would last. where the canoes were launched, the bank was sheer, and one of the water-logged canoes filled and went to the bottom; and there was more work in raising it. we were still wholly unable to tell where we were going or what lay ahead of us. round the camp-fire, after supper, we held endless discussions and hazarded all kinds of guesses on both subjects. the river might bend sharply to the west and enter the gy-parana high up or low down, or go north to the madeira, or bend eastward and enter the tapajos, or fall into the canuma and finally through one of its mouths enter the amazon direct. lyra inclined to the first, and colonel rondon to the second, of these propositions. we did not know whether we had one hundred or eight hundred kilometres to go, whether the stream would be fairly smooth or whether we would encounter waterfalls, or rapids, or even some big marsh or lake. we could not tell whether or not we would meet hostile indians, although no one of us ever went ten yards from camp without his rifle. we had no idea how much time the trip would take. we had entered a land of unknown possibilities. we started down-stream again early in the afternoon of march . our hands and faces were swollen from the bites and stings of the insect pests at the sand-flat camp, and it was a pleasure once more to be in the middle of the river, where they did not come, in any numbers, while we were in motion. the current was swift, but the river was so deep that there were no serious obstructions. twice we went down over slight riffles, which in the dry season were doubtless rapids; and once we struck a spot where many whirlpools marked the presence underneath of boulders which would have been above water had not the river been so swollen by the rains. the distance we covered in a day going down-stream would have taken us a week if we had been going up. the course wound hither and thither, sometimes in sigmoid curves; but the general direction was east of north. as usual, it was very beautiful; and we never could tell what might appear around any curve. in the forest that rose on either hand were tall rubber-trees. the surveying canoes, as usual, went first, while i shepherded the two pairs of lashed cargo canoes. i kept them always between me and the surveying canoes--ahead of me until i passed the surveying canoes, then behind me until, after an hour or so, i had chosen a place to camp. there was so much overflowed ground that it took us some little time this afternoon before we found a flat place high enough to be dry. just before reaching camp cherrie shot a jacu, a handsome bird somewhat akin to, but much smaller than, a turkey; after cherrie had taken its skin, its body made an excellent canja. we saw parties of monkeys; and the false bellbirds uttered their ringing whistles in the dense timber around our tents. the giant ants, an inch and a quarter long, were rather too plentiful around this camp; one stung kermit; it was almost like the sting of a small scorpion, and pained severely for a couple of hours. this half-day we made twelve kilometres. on the following day we made nineteen kilometres, the river twisting in every direction, but in its general course running a little west of north. once we stopped at a bee-tree, to get honey. the tree was a towering giant, of the kind called milk-tree, because a thick milky juice runs freely from any cut. our camaradas eagerly drank the white fluid that flowed from the wounds made by their axes. i tried it. the taste was not unpleasant, but it left a sticky feeling in the mouth. the helmsman of my boat, luiz, a powerful negro, chopped into the tree, balancing himself with springy ease on a slight scaffolding. the honey was in a hollow, and had been made by medium-sized stingless bees. at the mouth of the hollow they had built a curious entrance of their own, in the shape of a spout of wax about a foot long. at the opening the walls of the spout showed the wax formation, but elsewhere it had become in color and texture indistinguishable from the bark of the tree. the honey was delicious, sweet and yet with a tart flavor. the comb differed much from that of our honey-bees. the honey-cells were very large, and the brood-cells, which were small, were in a single instead of a double row. by this tree i came across an example of genuine concealing coloration. a huge tree-toad, the size of a bullfrog, was seated upright--not squatted flat--on a big rotten limb. it was absolutely motionless; the yellow brown of its back, and its dark sides, exactly harmonized in color with the light and dark patches on the log; the color was as concealing, here in its natural surroundings, as is the color of our common wood-frog among the dead leaves of our woods. when i stirred it up it jumped to a small twig, catching hold with the disks of its finger-tips, and balancing itself with unexpected ease for so big a creature, and then hopped to the ground and again stood motionless. evidently it trusted for safety to escaping observation. we saw some monkeys and fresh tapir sign, and kermit shot a jacu for the pot. at about three o'clock i was in the lead, when the current began to run more quickly. we passed over one or two decided ripples, and then heard the roar of rapids ahead, while the stream began to race. we drove the canoe into the bank, and then went down a tapir trail, which led alongside the river, to reconnoiter. a quarter of a mile's walk showed us that there were big rapids, down which the canoes could not go; and we returned to the landing. all the canoes had gathered there, and rondon, lyra, and kermit started down-stream to explore. they returned in an hour, with the information that the rapids continued for a long distance, with falls and steep pitches of broken water, and that the portage would take several days. we made camp just above the rapids. ants swarmed, and some of them bit savagely. our men, in clearing away the forest for our tents, left several very tall and slender accashy palms; the bole of this palm is as straight as an arrow and is crowned with delicate, gracefully curved fronds. we had come along the course of the river almost exactly a hundred kilometres; it had twisted so that we were only about fifty-five kilometres north of our starting-point. the rock was porphyritic. the th, th, and th we spent in carrying the loads and dragging and floating the dugouts past the series of rapids at whose head we had stopped. the first day we shifted camp a kilometre and a half to the foot of this series of rapids. this was a charming and picturesque camp. it was at the edge of the river, where there was a little, shallow bay with a beach of firm sand. in the water, at the middle point of the beach, stood a group of three burity palms, their great trunks rising like columns. round the clearing in which our tents stood were several very big trees; two of them were rubber-trees. kermit went down-stream five or six kilometres, and returned, having shot a jacu and found that at the point which he had reached there was another rapids, almost a fall, which would necessitate our again dragging the canoes over a portage. antonio, the parecis, shot a big monkey; of this i was glad because portaging is hard work, and the men appreciated the meat. so far cherrie had collected sixty birds on the duvida, all of them new to the collection, and some probably new to science. we saw the fresh sign of paca, agouti, and the small peccary, and kermit with the dogs roused a tapir, which crossed the river right through the rapids; but no one got a shot at it. except at one or perhaps two points a very big dugout, lightly loaded, could probably run all these rapids. but even in such a canoe it would be silly to make the attempt on an exploring expedition, where the loss of a canoe or of its contents means disaster; and moreover such a canoe could not be taken, for it would be impossible to drag it over the portages on the occasions when the portages became inevitable. our canoes would not have lived half a minute in the wild water. on the second day the canoes and loads were brought down to the foot of the first rapids. lyra cleared the path and laid the logs for rollers, while kermit dragged the dugouts up the bank from the water with block and tackle, with strain of rope and muscle. then they joined forces, as over the uneven ground it needed the united strength of all their men to get the heavy dugouts along. meanwhile the colonel with one attendant measured the distance, and then went on a long hunt, but saw no game. i strolled down beside the river for a couple of miles, but also saw nothing. in the dense tropical forest of the amazonian basin hunting is very difficult, especially for men who are trying to pass through the country as rapidly as possible. on such a trip as ours getting game is largely a matter of chance. on the following day lyra and kermit brought down the canoes and loads, with hard labor, to the little beach by the three palms where our tents were pitched. many pacovas grew round about. the men used their immense leaves, some of which were twelve feet long and two and a half feet broad, to roof the flimsy shelters under which they hung their hammocks. i went into the woods, but in the tangle of vegetation it would have been a mere hazard had i seen any big animal. generally the woods were silent and empty. now and then little troops of birds of many kinds passed--wood-hewers, ant-thrushes, tanagers, flycatchers; as in the spring and fall similar troops of warblers, chickadees, and nuthatches pass through our northern woods. on the rocks and on the great trees by the river grew beautiful white and lilac orchids, the sobralia, of sweet and delicate fragrance. for the moment my own books seemed a trifle heavy, and perhaps i would have found the day tedious if kermit had not lent me the oxford book of french verse. eustache deschamp, joachim du bellay, ronsard, the delightful la fontaine, the delightful but appalling villon, victor hugo's "guitare," madame desbordes-valmore's lines on the little girl and her pillow, as dear little verses about a child as ever were written--these and many others comforted me much, as i read them in head-net and gauntlets, sitting on a log by an unknown river in the amazonian forest. on the th we again embarked and made a kilometre and a half, spending most of the time in getting past two more rapids. near the first of these we saw a small cayman, a jacare-tinga. at each set of rapids the canoes were unloaded and the loads borne past on the shoulders of the camaradas; three of the canoes were paddled down by a couple of naked paddlers apiece; and the two sets of double canoes were let down by ropes, one of one couple being swamped but rescued and brought safely to shore on each occasion. one of the men was upset while working in the swift water, and his face was cut against the stones. lyra and kermit did the actual work with the camaradas. kermit, dressed substantially like the camaradas themselves, worked in the water, and, as the overhanging branches were thronged with crowds of biting and stinging ants, he was marked and blistered over his whole body. indeed, we all suffered more or less from these ants; while the swarms of biting flies grew constantly more numerous. the termites ate holes in my helmet and also in the cover of my cot. every one else had a hammock. at this camp we had come down the river about kilometres, according to the surveying records, and in height had descended nearly metres, as shown by the aneroid--although the figure in this case is only an approximation, as an aneroid cannot be depended on for absolute accuracy of results. next morning we found that during the night we had met with a serious misfortune. we had halted at the foot of the rapids. the canoes were moored to trees on the bank, at the tail of the broken water. the two old canoes, although one of them was our biggest cargo-carrier, were water-logged and heavy, and one of them was leaking. in the night the river rose. the leaky canoe, which at best was too low in the water, must have gradually filled from the wash of the waves. it sank, dragging down the other; they began to roll, bursting their moorings; and in the morning they had disappeared. a canoe was launched to look for them; but, rolling over the boulders on the rocky bottom, they had at once been riven asunder, and the big fragments that were soon found, floating in eddies, or along the shore, showed that it was useless to look farther. we called these rapids broken canoe rapids. it was not pleasant to have to stop for some days; thanks to the rapids, we had made slow progress, and with our necessarily limited supply of food, and no knowledge whatever of what was ahead of us, it was important to make good time. but there was no alternative. we had to build either one big canoe or two small ones. it was raining heavily as the men started to explore in different directions for good canoe trees. three--which ultimately proved not very good for the purpose--were found close to camp; splendid-looking trees, one of them five feet in diameter three feet from the ground. the axemen immediately attacked this one under the superintendence of colonel rondon. lyra and kermit started in opposite directions to hunt. lyra killed a jacu for us, and kermit killed two monkeys for the men. toward night fall it cleared. the moon was nearly full, and the foaming river gleamed like silver. our men were "regional volunteers," that is, they had enlisted in the service of the telegraphic commission especially to do this wilderness work, and were highly paid, as was fitting, in view of the toil, hardship, and hazard to life and health. two of them had been with colonel rondon during his eight months' exploration in , at which time his men were regulars, from his own battalion of engineers. his four aides during the closing months of this trip were lieutenants lyra, amarante, alencarliense, and pyrineus. the naturalist miranda ribeiro also accompanied him. this was the year when, marching on foot through an absolutely unknown wilderness, the colonel and his party finally reached the gy-parana, which on the maps was then (and on most maps is now) placed in an utterly wrong course, and over a degree out of its real position. when they reached the affluents of the gy-parana a third of the members of the party were so weak with fever that they could hardly crawl. they had no baggage. their clothes were in tatters, and some of the men were almost naked. for months they had had no food except what little game they shot, and especially the wild fruits and nuts; if it had not been for the great abundance of the brazil-nuts they would all have died. at the first big stream they encountered they built a canoe, and alencarliense took command of it and descended to map the course of the river. with him went ribeiro, the doctor tanageira, who could no longer walk on account of the ulceration of one foot, three men whom the fever had rendered unable longer to walk, and six men who were as yet well enough to handle the canoe. by the time the remainder of the party came to the next navigable river eleven more fever-stricken men had nearly reached the end of their tether. here they ran across a poor devil who had for four months been lost in the forest and was dying of slow starvation. he had eaten nothing but brazil-nuts and the grubs of insects. he could no longer walk, but could sit erect and totter feebly for a few feet. another canoe was built, and in it pyrineus started down-stream with the eleven fever patients and the starving wanderer. colonel rondon kept up the morale of his men by still carrying out the forms of military discipline. the ragged bugler had his bugle. lieutenant pyrineus had lost every particle of his clothing except a hat and a pair of drawers. the half-naked lieutenant drew up his eleven fever patients in line; the bugle sounded; every one came to attention; and the haggard colonel read out the orders of the day. then the dugout with its load of sick men started down-stream, and rondon, lyra, amarante, and the twelve remaining men resumed their weary march. when a fortnight later they finally struck a camp of rubber-gatherers three of the men were literally and entirely naked. meanwhile amilcar had ascended the jacyparana a month or two previously with provisions to meet them; for at that time the maps incorrectly treated this river as larger, instead of smaller, than the gy-parana, which they were in fact descending; and colonel rondon had supposed that they were going down the former stream. amilcar returned after himself suffering much hardship and danger. the different parties finally met at the mouth of the gy-parana, where it enters the madeira. the lost man whom they had found seemed on the road to recovery, and they left him at a ranch, on the madeira, where he could be cared for; yet after they had left him they heard that he had died. on the th the men were still hard at work hollowing out the hard wood of the big tree, with axe and adze, while watch and ward were kept over them to see that the idlers did not shirk at the expense of the industrious. kermit and lyra again hunted; the former shot a curassow, which was welcome, as we were endeavoring in all ways to economize our food supply. we were using the tops of palms also. i spent the day hunting in the woods, for the most part by the river, but saw nothing. in the season of the rains game is away from the river and fish are scarce and turtles absent. yet it was pleasant to be in the great silent forest. here and there grew immense trees, and on some of them mighty buttresses sprang from the base. the lianas and vines were of every size and shape. some were twisted and some were not. some came down straight and slender from branches a hundred feet above. others curved like long serpents around the trunks. others were like knotted cables. in the shadow there was little noise. the wind rarely moved the hot, humid air. there were few flowers or birds. insects were altogether too abundant, and even when travelling slowly it was impossible always to avoid them--not to speak of our constant companions the bees, mosquitoes, and especially the boroshudas or bloodsucking flies. now while bursting through a tangle i disturbed a nest of wasps, whose resentment was active; now i heedlessly stepped among the outliers of a small party of the carnivorous foraging ants; now, grasping a branch as i stumbled, i shook down a shower of fire- ants; and among all these my attention was particularly arrested by the bite of one of the giant ants, which stung like a hornet, so that i felt it for three hours. the camarades generally went barefoot or only wore sandals; and their ankles and feet were swollen and inflamed from the bites of the boroshudas and ants, some being actually incapacitated from work. all of us suffered more or less, our faces and hands swelling slightly from the boroshuda bites; and in spite of our clothes we were bitten all over our bodies, chiefly by ants and the small forest ticks. because of the rain and the heat our clothes were usually wet when we took them off at night, and just as wet when we put them on again in the morning. all day on the th the men worked at the canoe, making good progress. in rolling and shifting the huge, heavy tree-trunk every one had to assist now and then. the work continued until ten in the evening, as the weather was clear. after nightfall some of the men held candles and the others plied axe or adze, standing within or beside the great, half-hollowed logs, while the flicker of the lights showed the tropic forest rising in the darkness round about. the night air was hot and still and heavy with moisture. the men were stripped to the waist. olive and copper and ebony, their skins glistened as if oiled, and rippled with the ceaseless play of the thews beneath. on the morning of the th the work was resumed in a torrential tropic downpour. the canoe was finished, dragged down to the water, and launched soon after midday, and another hour or so saw us under way. the descent was marked, and the swollen river raced along. several times we passed great whirlpools, sometimes shifting, sometimes steady. half a dozen times we ran over rapids, and, although they were not high enough to have been obstacles to loaded canadian canoes, two of them were serious to us. our heavily laden, clumsy dugouts were sunk to within three or four inches of the surface of the river, and, although they were buoyed on each side with bundles of burity-palm branch-stems, they shipped a great deal of water in the rapids. the two biggest rapids we only just made, and after each we had hastily to push ashore in order to bail. in one set of big ripples or waves my canoe was nearly swamped. in a wilderness, where what is ahead is absolutely unknown, alike in terms of time, space, and method--for we had no idea where we would come out, how we would get out, or when we would get out--it is of vital consequence not to lose one's outfit, especially the provisions; and yet it is of only less consequence to go as rapidly as possible lest all the provisions be exhausted and the final stages of the expedition be accomplished by men weakened from semi-starvation, and therefore ripe for disaster. on this occasion, of the two hazards, we felt it necessary to risk running the rapids; for our progress had been so very slow that unless we made up the time, it was probable that we would be short of food before we got where we could expect to procure any more except what little the country in the time of the rains and floods, might yield. we ran until after five, so that the work of pitching camp was finished in the dark. we had made nearly sixteen kilometres in a direction slightly east of north. this evening the air was fresh and cool. the following morning, the th of march, we started in good season. for six kilometres we drifted and paddled down the swift river without incident. at times we saw lofty brazil-nut trees rising above the rest of the forest on the banks; and back from the river these trees grow to enormous proportions, towering like giants. there were great rubber-trees also, their leaves always in sets of threes. then the ground on either hand rose into boulder-strewn, forest-clad hills and the roar of broken water announced that once more our course was checked by dangerous rapids. round a bend we came on them; a wide descent of white water, with an island in the middle, at the upper edge. here grave misfortune befell us, and graver misfortune was narrowly escaped. kermit, as usual, was leading in his canoe. it was the smallest and least seaworthy of all. he had in it little except a week's supply of our boxed provisions and a few tools; fortunately none of the food for the camaradas. his dog trigueiro was with him. besides himself, the crew consisted of two men: joao, the helmsman, or pilot, as he is called in brazil, and simplicio, the bowsman. both were negroes and exceptionally good men in every way. kermit halted his canoe on the left bank, above the rapids, and waited for the colonel's canoe. then the colonel and lyra walked down the bank to see what was ahead. kermit took his canoe across to the island to see whether the descent could be better accomplished on the other side. having made his investigation, he ordered the men to return to the bank he had left, and the dugout was headed up-stream accordingly. before they had gone a dozen yards, the paddlers digging their paddles with all their strength into the swift current, one of the shifting whirlpools of which i have spoken came down-stream, whirled them around, and swept them so close to the rapids that no human power could avoid going over them. as they were drifting into them broadside on, kermit yelled to the steersman to turn her head, so as to take them in the only way that offered any chance whatever of safety. the water came aboard, wave after wave, as they raced down. they reached the bottom with the canoe upright, but so full as barely to float, and the paddlers urged her toward the shore. they had nearly reached the bank when another whirlpool or whirling eddy tore them away and hurried them back to midstream, where the dugout filled and turned over. joao, seizing the rope, started to swim ashore; the rope was pulled from his hand, but he reached the bank. poor simplicio must have been pulled under at once and his life beaten out on the boulders beneath the racing torrent. he never rose again, nor did we ever recover his body. kermit clutched his rifle, his favorite winchester with which he had done most of his hunting both in africa and america, and climbed on the bottom of the upset boat. in a minute he was swept into the second series of rapids, and whirled away from the rolling boat, losing his rifle. the water beat his helmet down over his head and face and drove him beneath the surface; and when he rose at last he was almost drowned, his breath and strength almost spent. he was in swift but quiet water, and swam toward an overhanging branch. his jacket hindered him, but he knew he was too nearly gone to be able to get it off, and, thinking with the curious calm one feels when death is but a moment away, he realized that the utmost his failing strength could do was to reach the branch. he reached, and clutched it, and then almost lacked strength to haul himself out on the land. good trigueiro had faithfully swum alongside him through the rapids, and now himself scrambled ashore. it was a very narrow escape. kermit was a great comfort and help to me on the trip; but the fear of some fatal accident befalling him was always a nightmare to me. he was to be married as soon as the trip was over; and it did not seem to me that i could bear to bring bad tidings to his betrothed and to his mother. simplicio was unmarried. later we sent to his mother all the money that would have been his had he lived. the following morning we put on one side of the post erected to mark our camping-spot the following inscription, in portuguese: "in these rapids died poor simplicio." on an expedition such as ours death is one of the accidents that may at any time occur, and narrow escapes from death are too common to be felt as they would be felt elsewhere. one mourns sincerely, but mourning cannot interfere with labor. we immediately proceeded with the work of the portage. from the head to the tail of this series of rapids the distance was about six hundred yards. a path was cut along the bank, over which the loads were brought. the empty canoes ran the rapids without mishap, each with two skilled paddlers. one of the canoes almost ran into a swimming tapir at the head of the rapids; it went down the rapids, and then climbed out of the river. kermit accompanied by joao, went three or four miles down the river, looking for the body of simplicio and for the sunk canoe. he found neither. but he found a box of provisions and a paddle, and salvaged both by swimming into midstream after them. he also found that a couple of kilometres below there was another stretch of rapids, and following them on the left-hand bank to the foot he found that they were worse than the ones we had just passed, and impassable for canoes on this left-hand side. we camped at the foot of the rapids we had just passed. there were many small birds here, but it was extremely difficult to see or shoot them in the lofty tree tops, and to find them in the tangle beneath if they were shot. however, cherrie got four species new to the collection. one was a tiny hummer, one of the species known as woodstars, with dainty but not brilliant plumage; its kind is never found except in the deep, dark woods, not coming out into the sunshine. its crop was filled with ants; when shot it was feeding at a cluster of long red flowers. he also got a very handsome trogon and an exquisite little tanager, as brilliant as a cluster of jewels; its throat was lilac, its breast turquoise, its crown and forehead topaz, while above it was glossy purple-black, the lower part of the back ruby-red. this tanager was a female; i can hardly imagine that the male is more brilliantly colored. the fourth bird was a queer hawk of the genus ibycter, black, with a white belly, naked red cheeks and throat and red legs and feet. its crop was filled with the seeds of fruits and a few insect remains; an extraordinary diet for a hawk. the morning of the th was dark and gloomy. through sheets of blinding rain we left our camp of misfortune for another camp where misfortune also awaited us. less than half an hour took our dugouts to the head of the rapids below. as kermit had already explored the left- hand side, colonel rondon and lyra went down the right-hand side and found a channel which led round the worst part, so that they deemed it possible to let down the canoes by ropes from the bank. the distance to the foot of the rapids was about a kilometre. while the loads were being brought down the left bank, luiz and antonio correa, our two best watermen, started to take a canoe down the right side, and colonel rondon walked ahead to see anything he could about the river. he was accompanied by one of our three dogs, lobo. after walking about a kilometre he heard ahead a kind of howling noise, which he thought was made by spider-monkeys. he walked in the direction of the sound and lobo ran ahead. in a minute he heard lobo yell with pain, and then, still yelping, come toward him, while the creature that was howling also approached, evidently in pursuit. in a moment a second yell from lobo, followed by silence, announced that he was dead; and the sound of the howling when near convinced rondon that the dog had been killed by an indian, doubtless with two arrows. probably the indian was howling to lure the spider-monkeys toward him. rondon fired his rifle in the air, to warn off the indian or indians, who in all probability had never seen a civilized man, and certainly could not imagine that one was in the neighborhood. he then returned to the foot of the rapids, where the portage was still going on, and, in company with lyra, kermit, and antonio parecis, the indian, walked back to where lobo's body lay. sure enough he found him, slain by two arrows. one arrow-head was in him, and near by was a strange stick used in the very primitive method of fishing of all these indians. antonio recognized its purpose. the indians, who were apparently two or three in number, had fled. some beads and trinkets were left on the spot to show that we were not angry and were friendly. meanwhile cherrie stayed at the head and i at the foot of the portage as guards. luiz and antonio correa brought down one canoe safely. the next was the new canoe, which was very large and heavy, being made of wood that would not float. in the rapids the rope broke, and the canoe was lost, luiz being nearly drowned. it was a very bad thing to lose the canoe, but it was even worse to lose the rope and pulleys. this meant that it would be physically impossible to hoist big canoes up even small hills or rocky hillocks, such as had been so frequent beside the many rapids we had encountered. it was not wise to spend the four days necessary to build new canoes where we were, in danger of attack from the indians. moreover, new rapids might be very near, in which case the new canoes would hamper us. yet the four remaining canoes would not carry all the loads and all the men, no matter how we cut the loads down; and we intended to cut everything down at once. we had been gone eighteen days. we had used over a third of our food. we had gone only kilometres, and it was probable that we had at least five times, perhaps six or seven times, this distance still to go. we had taken a fortnight to descend rapids amounting in the aggregate to less than seventy yards of fall; a very few yards of fall makes a dangerous rapid when the river is swollen and swift and there are obstructions. we had only one aneroid to determine our altitude, and therefore could make merely a loose approximation to it, but we probably had between two and three times this descent in the aggregate of rapids ahead of us. so far the country had offered little in the way of food except palm-tops. we had lost four canoes and one man. we were in the country of wild indians, who shot well with their bows. it behooved us to go warily, but also to make all speed possible, if we were to avoid serious trouble. the best plan seemed to be to march thirteen men down along the bank, while the remaining canoes, lashed two and two, floated down beside them. if after two or three days we found no bad rapids, and there seemed a reasonable chance of going some distance at decent speed, we could then build the new canoes--preferably two small ones, this time, instead of one big one. we left all the baggage we could. we were already down as far as comfort would permit; but we now struck off much of the comfort. cherrie, kermit, and i had been sleeping under a very light fly; and there was another small light tent for one person, kept for possible emergencies. the last was given to me for my cot, and all five of the others swung their hammocks under the big fly. this meant that we left two big and heavy tents behind. a box of surveying instruments was also abandoned. each of us got his personal belongings down to one box or duffel-bag--although there was only a small diminution thus made; because we had so little that the only way to make a serious diminution was to restrict ourselves to the clothes on our backs. the biting flies and ants were to us a source of discomfort and at times of what could fairly be called torment. but to the camaradas, most of whom went barefoot or only wore sandals--and they never did or would wear shoes--the effect was more serious. they wrapped their legs and feet in pieces of canvas or hide; and the feet of three of them became so swollen that they were crippled and could not walk any distance. the doctor, whose courage and cheerfulness never flagged, took excellent care of them. thanks to him, there had been among them hitherto but one or two slight cases of fever. he administered to each man daily a half-gram--nearly eight grains--of quinine, and every third or fourth day a double dose. the following morning colonel rondon, lyra, kermit, cherrie, and nine of the camaradas started in single file down the bank, while the doctor and i went in the two double canoes, with six camaradas, three of them the invalids with swollen feet. we halted continually, as we went about three times as fast as the walkers; and we traced the course of the river. after forty minutes' actual going in the boats we came to some rapids; the unloaded canoes ran them without difficulty, while the loads were portaged. in an hour and a half we were again under way, but in ten minutes came to other rapids, where the river ran among islands, and there were several big curls. the clumsy, heavily laden dugouts, lashed in couples, were unwieldy and hard to handle. the rapids came just round a sharp bend, and we got caught in the upper part of the swift water and had to run the first set of rapids in consequence. we in the leading pair of dugouts were within an ace of coming to grief on some big boulders against which we were swept by a cross current at the turn. all of us paddling hard-- scraping and bumping--we got through by the skin of our teeth, and managed to make the bank and moor our dugouts. it was a narrow escape from grave disaster. the second pair of lashed dugouts profited by our experience, and made the run--with risk, but with less risk--and moored beside us. then all the loads were taken out, and the empty canoes were run down through the least dangerous channels among the islands. this was a long portage, and we camped at the foot of the rapids, having made nearly seven kilometres. here a little river, a rapid stream of volume equal to the duvida at the point where we first embarked, joined from the west. colonel rondon and kermit came to it first, and the former named it rio kermit. there was in it a waterfall about six or eight feet high, just above the junction. here we found plenty of fish. lyra caught two pacu, good-sized, deep-bodied fish. they were delicious eating. antonio the parecis said that these fish never came up heavy rapids in which there were falls they had to jump. we could only hope that he was correct, as in that case the rapids we would encounter in the future would rarely be so serious as to necessitate our dragging the heavy dugouts overland. passing the rapids we had hitherto encountered had meant severe labor and some danger. but the event showed that he was mistaken. the worst rapids were ahead of us. while our course as a whole had been almost due north, and sometimes east of north, yet where there were rapids the river had generally, although not always, turned westward. this seemed to indicate that to the east of us there was a low northward projection of the central plateau across which we had travelled on mule-back. this is the kind of projection that appears on the maps of this region as a sierra. probably it sent low spurs to the west, and the farthest points of these spurs now and then caused rapids in our course (for the rapids generally came where there were hills) and for the moment deflected the river westward from its general downhill trend to the north. there was no longer any question that the duvida was a big river, a river of real importance. it was not a minor affluent of some other affluent. but we were still wholly in the dark as to where it came out. it was still possible, although exceedingly improbable, that it entered the gy-parana, as another river of substantially the same size, near its mouth. it was much more likely, but not probable, that it entered the tapajos. it was probable, although far from certain, that it entered the madeira low down, near its point of junction with the amazon. in this event it was likely, although again far from certain, that its mouth would prove to be the aripuanan. the aripuanan does not appear on the maps as a river of any size; on a good standard map of south america which i had with me its name does not appear at all, although a dotted indication of a small river or creek at about the right place probably represents it. nevertheless, from the report of one of his lieutenants who had examined its mouth, and from the stories of the rubber-gatherers, or seringueiros, colonel rondon had come to the conclusion that this was the largest affluent of the madeira, with such a body of water that it must have a big drainage basin. he thought that the duvida was probably one of its head streams--although every existing map represented the lay of the land to be such as to render impossible the existence of such a river system and drainage basin. the rubber-gatherers reported that they had gone many days' journey up the river, to a point where there was a series of heavy rapids with above them the junction point of two large rivers, one entering from the west. beyond this they had difficulties because of the hostility of the indians; and where the junction point was no one could say. on the chance colonel rondon had directed one of his subordinate officers, lieutenant pyrineus, to try to meet us, with boats and provisions, by ascending the aripuanan to the point of entry of its first big affluent. this was the course followed when amilcar had been directed to try to meet the explorers who in came down the gy-parana. at that time the effort was a failure, and the two parties never met; but we might have better luck, and in any event the chance was worth taking. on the morning following our camping by the mouth of the rio kermit, colonel rondon took a good deal of pains in getting a big post set up at the entry of the smaller river into the duvida. then he summoned me, and all the others, to attend the ceremony of its erection. we found the camaradas drawn up in line, and the colonel preparing to read aloud "the orders of the day." to the post was nailed a board with "rio kermit" on it; and the colonel read the orders reciting that by the direction of the brazilian government, and inasmuch as the unknown river was evidently a great river, he formally christened it the rio roosevelt. this was a complete surprise to me. both lauro miller and colonel rondon had spoken to me on the subject, and i had urged, and kermit had urged, as strongly as possible, that the name be kept as rio da duvida. we felt that the "river of doubt" was an unusually good name; and it is always well to keep a name of this character. but my kind friends insisted otherwise, and it would have been churlish of me to object longer. i was much touched by their action, and by the ceremony itself. at the conclusion of the reading colonel rondon led in cheers for the united states and then for me and for kermit; and the camaradas cheered with a will. i proposed three cheers for brazil and then for colonel rondon, and lyra, and the doctor, and then for all the camaradas. then lyra said that everybody had been cheered except cherrie; and so we all gave three cheers for cherrie, and the meeting broke up in high good humor. immediately afterward the walkers set off on their march downstream, looking for good canoe trees. in a quarter of an hour we followed with the canoes. as often as we overtook them we halted until they had again gone a good distance ahead. they soon found fresh indian sign, and actually heard the indians; but the latter fled in panic. they came on a little indian fishing village, just abandoned. the three low, oblong huts, of palm leaves, had each an entrance for a man on all fours, but no other opening. they were dark inside, doubtless as a protection against the swarms of biting flies. on a pole in this village an axe, a knife, and some strings of red beads were left, with the hope that the indians would return, find the gifts, and realize that we were friendly. we saw further indian sign on both sides of the river. after about two hours and a half we came on a little river entering from the east. it was broad but shallow, and at the point of entrance rushed down, green and white, over a sharply inclined sheet of rock. it was a lovely sight and we halted to admire it. then on we went, until, when we had covered about eight kilometres, we came on a stretch of rapids. the canoes ran them with about a third of the loads, the other loads being carried on the men's shoulders. at the foot of the rapids we camped, as there were several good canoe trees near, and we had decided to build two rather small canoes. after dark the stars came out; but in the deep forest the glory of the stars in the night of the sky, the serene radiance of the moon, the splendor of sunrise and sunset, are never seen as they are seen on the vast open plains. the following day, the th, the men began work on the canoes. the ill-fated big canoe had been made of wood so hard that it was difficult to work, and so heavy that the chips sank like lead in the water. but these trees were araputangas, with wood which was easier to work, and which floated. great buttresses, or flanges, jutted out from their trunks at the base, and they bore big hard nuts or fruits which stood erect at the ends of the branches. the first tree felled proved rotten, and moreover it was chopped so that it smashed a number of lesser trees into the kitchen, overthrowing everything, but not inflicting serious damage. hardworking, willing, and tough though the camaradas were, they naturally did not have the skill of northern lumberjacks. we hoped to finish the two canoes in three days. a space was cleared in the forest for our tents. among the taller trees grew huge-leafed pacovas, or wild bananas. we bathed and swam in the river, although in it we caught piranhas. carregadores ants swarmed all around our camp. as many of the nearest of their holes as we could we stopped with fire; but at night some of them got into our tents and ate things we could ill spare. in the early morning a column of foraging ants appeared, and we drove them back, also with fire. when the sky was not overcast the sun was very hot, and we spread out everything to dry. there were many wonderful butterflies round about, but only a few birds. yet in the early morning and late afternoon there was some attractive bird music in the woods. the two best performers were our old friend the false bellbird, with its series of ringing whistles, and a shy, attractive ant-thrush. the latter walked much on the ground, with dainty movements, curtseying and raising its tail; and in accent and sequence, although not in tone or time, its song resembled that of our white-throated sparrow. it was three weeks since we had started down the river of doubt. we had come along its winding course about kilometres, with a descent of somewhere in the neighborhood of metres. it had been slow progress. we could not tell what physical obstacles were ahead of us, nor whether the indians would be actively hostile. but a river normally describes in its course a parabola, the steep descent being in the upper part; and we hoped that in the future we should not have to encounter so many and such difficult rapids as we had already encountered, and that therefore we would make better time--a hope destined to failure. ix. down an unknown river into the equatorial forest the mightiest river in the world is the amazon. it runs from west to east, from the sunset to the sunrise, from the andes to the atlantic. the main stream flows almost along the equator, while the basin which contains its affluents extends many degrees north and south of the equator. the gigantic equatorial river basin is filled with an immense forest, the largest in the world, with which no other forest can be compared save those of western africa and malaysia. we were within the southern boundary of this great equatorial forest, on a river which was not merely unknown but unguessed at, no geographer having ever suspected its existence. this river flowed northward toward the equator, but whither it would go, whether it would turn one way or another, the length of its course, where it would come out, the character of the stream itself, and the character of the dwellers along its banks--all these things were yet to be discovered. one morning while the canoes were being built kermit and i walked a few kilometres down the river and surveyed the next rapids below. the vast still forest was almost empty of life. we found old indian signs. there were very few birds, and these in the tops of the tall trees. we saw a recent tapir track; and under a cajazeira tree by the bank there were the tracks of capybaras which had been eating the fallen fruit. this fruit is delicious and would make a valuable addition to our orchards. the tree although tropical is hardy, thrives when domesticated, and propagates rapidly from shoots. the department of agriculture should try whether it would not grow in southern california and florida. this was the tree from which the doctor's family name was taken. his parental grandfather, although of portuguese blood, was an intensely patriotic brazilian. he was a very young man when the independence of brazil was declared, and did not wish to keep the portuguese family name; so he changed it to that of the fine brazilian tree in question. such change of family names is common in brazil. doctor vital brazil, the student of poisonous serpents, was given his name by his father, whose own family name was entirely different; and his brother's name was again different. there were tremendous downpours of rain, lasting for a couple of hours and accompanied by thunder and lightning. but on the whole it seemed as if the rains were less heavy and continuous than they had been. we all of us had to help in building the canoes now and then. kermit, accompanied by antonio the parecis and joao, crossed the river and walked back to the little river that had entered from the east, so as to bring back a report of it to colonel rondon. lyra took observations, by the sun and by the stars. we were in about latitude degrees minutes south, and due north of where we had started. the river had wound so that we had gone two miles for every one we made northward. our progress had been very slow; and until we got out of the region of incessant rapids, with their attendant labor and hazard, it was not likely that we should go much faster. on the morning of march we started in our six canoes. we made ten kilometres. twenty minutes after starting we came to the first rapids. here every one walked except the three best paddlers, who took the canoes down in succession--an hour's job. soon after this we struck a bees' nest in the top of a tree overhanging the river; our steersman climbed out and robbed it, but, alas! lost the honey on the way back. we came to a small steep fall which we did not dare run in our over- laden, clumsy, and cranky dugouts. fortunately, we were able to follow a deep canal which led off for a kilometre, returning just below the falls, fifty yards from where it had started. then, having been in the boats and in motion only one hour and a half, we came to a long stretch of rapids which it took us six hours to descend, and we camped at the foot. everything was taken out of the canoes, and they were run down in succession. at one difficult and perilous place they were let down by ropes; and even thus we almost lost one. we went down the right bank. on the opposite bank was an indian village, evidently inhabited only during the dry season. the marks on the stumps of trees showed that these indians had axes and knives; and there were old fields in which maize, beans, and cotton had been grown. the forest dripped and steamed. rubber-trees were plentiful. at one point the tops of a group of tall trees were covered with yellow- white blossoms. others bore red blossoms. many of the big trees, of different kinds, were buttressed at the base with great thin walls of wood. others, including both palms and ordinary trees, showed an even stranger peculiarity. the trunk, near the base, but sometimes six or eight feet from the ground, was split into a dozen or twenty branches or small trunks which sloped outward in tent-like shape, each becoming a root. the larger trees of this type looked as if their trunks were seated on the tops of the pole frames of indian tepees. at one point in the stream, to our great surprise, we saw a flying fish. it skimmed the water like a swallow for over twenty yards. although we made only ten kilometres we worked hard all day. the last canoes were brought down and moored to the bank at nightfall. our tents were pitched in the darkness. next day we made thirteen kilometres. we ran, all told, a little over an hour and three-quarters. seven hours were spent in getting past a series of rapids at which the portage, over rocky and difficult ground, was a kilometre long. the canoes were run down empty--a hazardous run, in which one of them upset. yet while we were actually on the river, paddling and floating downstream along the reaches of swift, smooth water, it was very lovely. when we started in the morning the day was overcast and the air was heavy with vapor. ahead of us the shrouded river stretched between dim walls of forest, half seen in the mist. then the sun burned up the fog, and loomed through it in a red splendor that changed first to gold and then to molten white. in the dazzling light, under the brilliant blue of the sky, every detail of the magnificent forest was vivid to the eye: the great trees, the network of bush ropes, the caverns of greenery, where thick-leaved vines covered all things else. wherever there was a hidden boulder the surface of the current was broken by waves. in one place, in midstream, a pyramidal rock thrust itself six feet above the surface of the river. on the banks we found fresh indian sign. at home in vermont cherrie is a farmer, with a farm of six hundred acres, most of it woodland. as we sat at the foot of the rapids, watching for the last dugouts with their naked paddlers to swing into sight round the bend through the white water, we talked of the northern spring that was just beginning. he sells cream, eggs, poultry, potatoes, honey, occasionally pork and veal; but at this season it was the time for the maple sugar crop. he has a sugar orchard, where he taps twelve hundred trees and hopes soon to tap as many more in addition. said cherrie: "it's a busy time now for fred rice"--fred rice is the hired man, and in sugar time the cherrie boys help him with enthusiasm, and, moreover, are paid with exact justice for the work they do. there is much wild life about the farm, although it is near brattleboro. one night in early spring a bear left his tracks near the sugar house; and now and then in summer cherrie has had to sleep in the garden to keep the deer away from the beans, cabbages, and beets. there was not much bird life in the forest, but cherrie kept getting species new to the collection. at this camp he shot an interesting little ant-thrush. it was the size of a warbler, jet-black, with white under-surfaces of the wings and tail, white on the tail-feathers, and a large spot of white on the back, normally almost concealed, the feathers on the back being long and fluffy. when he shot the bird, a male, it was showing off before a dull-colored little bird, doubtless the female; and the chief feature of the display was this white spot on the back. the white feathers were raised and displayed so that the spot flashed like the "chrysanthemum" on a prongbuck whose curiosity has been aroused. in the gloom of the forest the bird was hard to see, but the flashing of this patch of white feathers revealed it at once, attracting immediate attention. it was an excellent example of a coloration mark which served a purely advertising purpose; apparently it was part of a courtship display. the bird was about thirty feet up in the branches. in the morning, just before leaving this camp, a tapir swam across stream a little way above us; but unfortunately we could not get a shot at it. an ample supply of tapir beef would have meant much to us. we had started with fifty days' rations; but this by no means meant full rations, in the sense of giving every man all he wanted to eat. we had two meals a day, and were on rather short commons--both our mess and the camaradas'--except when we got plenty of palm-tops. for our mess we had the boxes chosen by fiala, each containing a day's rations for six men, our number. but we made each box last a day and a half, or at times two days, and in addition we gave some of the food to the camaradas. it was only on the rare occasions when we had killed some monkeys or curassows, or caught some fish, that everybody had enough. we would have welcomed that tapir. so far the game, fish, and fruit had been too scarce to be an element of weight in our food supply. in an exploring trip like ours, through a difficult and utterly unknown country, especially if densely forested, there is little time to halt, and game cannot be counted on. it is only in lands like our own west thirty years ago, like south africa in the middle of the last century, like east africa to-day that game can be made the chief food supply. on this trip our only substantial food supply from the country hitherto had been that furnished by the palmtops. two men were detailed every day to cut down palms for food. a kilometre and a half after leaving this camp we came on a stretch of big rapids. the river here twists in loops, and we had heard the roaring of these rapids the previous afternoon. then we passed out of earshot of them; but antonio correa, our best waterman, insisted all along that the roaring meant rapids worse than any we had encountered for some days. "i was brought up in the water, and i know it like a fish, and all its sounds," said he. he was right. we had to carry the loads nearly a kilometre that afternoon, and the canoes were pulled out on the bank so that they might be in readiness to be dragged overland next day. rondon, lyra, kermit, and antonio correa explored both sides of the river. on the opposite or left bank they found the mouth of a considerable river, bigger than the rio kermit, flowing in from the west and making its entrance in the middle of the rapids. this river we christened the taunay, in honor of a distinguished brazilian, an explorer, a soldier, a senator, who was also a writer of note. kermit had with him two of his novels, and i had read one of his books dealing with a disastrous retreat during the paraguayan war. next morning, the th, the canoes were brought down. a path was chopped for them and rollers laid; and half-way down the rapids lyra and kermit, who were overseeing the work as well as doing their share of the pushing and hauling, got them into a canal of smooth water, which saved much severe labor. as our food supply lowered we were constantly more desirous of economizing the strength of the men. one day more would complete a month since we had embarked on the duvida as we had started in february, the lunar and calendar months coincided. we had used up over half our provisions. we had come only a trifle over kilometres, thanks to the character and number of the rapids. we believed we had three or four times the distance yet to go before coming to a part of the river where we might hope to meet assistance, either from rubber-gatherers, or from pyrineus, if he were really coming up the river which we were going down. if the rapids continued to be as they had been it could not be much more than three weeks before we were in straits for food, aside from the ever-present danger of accident in the rapids; and if our progress were no faster than it had been--and we were straining to do our best--we would in such event still have several hundreds of kilometres of unknown river before us. we could not even hazard a guess at what was in front. the river was now a really big river, and it seemed impossible that it could flow either into the gy-parana or the tapajos. it was possible that it went into the canuma, a big affluent of the madeira low down, and next to the tapajos. it was more probable that it was the headwaters of the aripuanan, a river which, as i have said, was not even named on the excellent english map of brazil i carried. nothing but the mouth had been known to any geographer; but the lower course had long been known to rubber-gatherers, and recently a commission from the government of amazonas had partway ascended one branch of it--not as far as the rubber-gatherers had gone, and, as it turned out, not the branch we came down. two of our men were down with fever. another man, julio, a fellow of powerful frame, was utterly worthless, being an inborn, lazy shirk with the heart of a ferocious cur in the body of a bullock. the others were good men, some of them very good indeed. they were under the immediate supervision of pedrinho craveiro, who was first-class in every way. this camp was very lovely. it was on the edge of a bay, into which the river broadened immediately below the rapids. there was a beach of white sand, where we bathed and washed our clothes. all around us, and across the bay, and on both sides of the long water-street made by the river, rose the splendid forest. there were flocks of parakeets colored green, blue, and red. big toucans called overhead, lustrous green-black in color, with white throats, red gorgets, red-and-yellow tail coverts, and huge black-and-yellow bills. here the soil was fertile; it will be a fine site for a coffee-plantation when this region is open to settlement. surely such a rich and fertile land cannot be permitted to remain idle, to lie as a tenantless wilderness, while there are such teeming swarms of human beings in the overcrowded, over-peopled countries of the old world. the very rapids and waterfalls which now make the navigation of the river so difficult and dangerous would drive electric trolleys up and down its whole length and far out on either side, and run mills and factories, and lighten the labor on farms. with the incoming of settlement and with the steady growth of knowledge how to fight and control tropical diseases, fear of danger to health would vanish. a land like this is a hard land for the first explorers, and perhaps for their immediate followers, but not for the people who come after them. in mid-afternoon we were once more in the canoes; but we had paddled with the current only a few minutes, we had gone only a kilometre, when the roar of rapids in front again forced us to haul up to the bank. as usual, rondon, lyra, and kermit, with antonio correa, explored both sides while camp was being pitched. the rapids were longer and of steeper descent than the last, but on the opposite or western side there was a passage down which we thought we could get the empty dugouts at the cost of dragging them only a few yards at one spot. the loads were to be carried down the hither bank, for a kilometre, to the smooth water. the river foamed between great rounded masses of rock, and at one point there was a sheer fall of six or eight feet. we found and ate wild pineapples. wild beans were in flower. at dinner we had a toucan and a couple of parrots, which were very good. all next day was spent by lyra in superintending our three best watermen as they took the canoes down the west side of the rapids, to the foot, at the spot to which the camp had meantime been shifted. in the forest some of the huge sipas, or rope vines, which were as big as cables, bore clusters of fragrant flowers. the men found several honey-trees, and fruits of various kinds, and small cocoanuts; they chopped down an ample number of palms, for the palm-cabbage; and, most important of all, they gathered a quantity of big brazil-nuts, which when roasted tasted like the best of chestnuts and are nutritious; and they caught a number of big piranhas, which were good eating. so we all had a feast, and everybody had enough to eat and was happy. by these rapids, at the fall, cherrie found some strange carvings on a bare mass of rock. they were evidently made by men a long time ago. as far as is known, the indians thereabouts make no such figures now. they were in two groups, one on the surface of the rock facing the land, the other on that facing the water. the latter were nearly obliterated. the former were in good preservation, the figures sharply cut into the rock. they consisted, upon the upper flat part of the rock, of four multiple circles with a dot in the middle (o), very accurately made and about a foot and a half in diameter; and below them, on the side of the rock, four multiple m's or inverted w's (m). what these curious symbols represented, or who made them, we could not, of course, form the slightest idea. it may be that in a very remote past some indian tribes of comparatively advanced culture had penetrated to this lovely river, just as we had now come to it. before white men came to south america there had already existed therein various semi-civilizations, some rude, others fairly advanced, which rose, flourished, and persisted through immemorial ages, and then vanished. the vicissitudes in the history of humanity during its stay on this southern continent have been as strange, varied, and inexplicable as paleontology shows to have been the case, on the same continent, in the history of the higher forms of animal life during the age of mammals. colonel rondon stated that such figures as these are not found anywhere else in matto grosso where he has been, and therefore it was all the more strange to find them in this one place on the unknown river, never before visited by white men, which we were descending. next morning we went about three kilometers before coming to some steep hills, beautiful to look upon, clad as they were in dense, tall, tropical forest, but ominous of new rapids. sure enough, at their foot we had to haul up and prepare for a long portage. the canoes we ran down empty. even so, we were within an ace of losing two, the lashed couple in which i ordinarily journeyed. in a sharp bend of the rapids, between two big curls, they were swept among the boulders and under the matted branches which stretched out from the bank. they filled, and the racing current pinned them where they were, one partly on the other. all of us had to help get them clear. their fastenings were chopped asunder with axes. kermit and half a dozen of the men, stripped to the skin, made their way to a small rock island in the little falls just above the canoes, and let down a rope which we tied to the outermost canoe. the rest of us, up to our armpits and barely able to keep our footing as we slipped and stumbled among the boulders in the swift current, lifted and shoved while kermit and his men pulled the rope and fastened the slack to a half-submerged tree. each canoe in succession was hauled up the little rock island, baled, and then taken down in safety by two paddlers. it was nearly four o'clock before we were again ready to start, having been delayed by a rain- storm so heavy that we could not see across the river. ten minutes' run took us to the head of another series of rapids; the exploring party returned with the news that we had an all day's job ahead of us; and we made camp in the rain, which did not matter much, as we were already drenched through. it was impossible, with the wet wood, to make a fire sufficiently hot to dry all our soggy things, for the rain was still falling. a tapir was seen from our boat, but, as at the moment we were being whisked round in a complete circle by a whirlpool, i did not myself see it in time to shoot. next morning we went down a kilometre, and then landed on the other side of the river. the canoes were run down, and the loads carried to the other side of a little river coming in from the west, which colonel rondon christened cherrie river. across this we went on a bridge consisting of a huge tree felled by macario, one of our best men. here we camped, while rondon, lyra, kermit, and antonio correa explored what was ahead. they were absent until mid-afternoon. then they returned with the news that we were among ranges of low mountains, utterly different in formation from the high plateau region to which the first rapids, those we had come to on the nd of march, belonged. through the first range of these mountains the river ran in a gorge, some three kilometres long, immediately ahead of us. the ground was so rough and steep that it would be impossible to drag the canoes over it and difficult enough to carry the loads; and the rapids were so bad, containing several falls, one of at least ten metres in height, that it was doubtful how many of the canoes we could get down them. kermit, who was the only man with much experience of rope work, was the only man who believed we could get the canoes down at all; and it was, of course, possible that we should have to build new ones at the foot to supply the place of any that were lost or left behind. in view of the length and character of the portage, and of all the unpleasant possibilities that were ahead, and of the need of keeping every pound of food, it was necessary to reduce weight in every possible way and to throw away everything except the barest necessities. we thought we had reduced our baggage before; but now we cut to the bone. we kept the fly for all six of us to sleep under. kermit's shoes had gone, thanks to the amount of work in the water which he had been doing; and he took the pair i had been wearing, while i put on my spare pair. in addition to the clothes i wore, i kept one set of pajamas, a spare pair of drawers, a spare pair of socks, half a dozen handkerchiefs, my wash-kit, my pocket medicine-case, and a little bag containing my spare spectacles, gun-grease, some adhesive plaster, some needles and thread, the "fly-dope," and my purse and letter of credit, to be used at manaos. all of these went into the bag containing my cot, blanket, and mosquito-net. i also carried a cartridge-bag containing my cartridges, head-net, and gauntlets. kermit cut down even closer; and the others about as close. the last three days of march we spent in getting to the foot of the rapids in this gorge. lyra and kermit, with four of the best watermen, handled the empty canoes. the work was not only difficult and laborious in the extreme, but hazardous; for the walls of the gorge were so sheer that at the worst places they had to cling to narrow shelves on the face of the rock, while letting the canoes down with ropes. meanwhile rondon surveyed and cut a trail for the burden- bearers, and superintended the portage of the loads. the rocky sides of the gorge were too steep for laden men to attempt to traverse them. accordingly the trail had to go over the top of the mountain, both the ascent and the descent of the rock-strewn, forest-clad slopes being very steep. it was hard work to carry loads over such a trail. from the top of the mountain, through an opening in the trees on the edge of a cliff, there was a beautiful view of the country ahead. all around and in front of us there were ranges of low mountains about the height of the lower ridges of the alleghenies. their sides were steep and they were covered with the matted growth of the tropical forest. our next camping-place, at the foot of the gorge, was almost beneath us, and from thence the river ran in a straight line, flecked with white water, for about a kilometre. then it disappeared behind and between mountain ridges, which we supposed meant further rapids. it was a view well worth seeing; but, beautiful although the country ahead of us was, its character was such as to promise further hardships, difficulty, and exhausting labor, and especially further delay; and delay was a serious matter to men whose food supply was beginning to run short, whose equipment was reduced to the minimum, who for a month, with the utmost toil, had made very slow progress, and who had no idea of either the distance or the difficulties of the route in front of them. there was not much life in the woods, big or little. small birds were rare, although cherrie's unwearied efforts were rewarded from time to time by a species new to the collection. there were tracks of tapir, deer, and agouti; and if we had taken two or three days to devote to nothing else than hunting them we might perchance have killed something; but the chance was much too uncertain, the work we were doing was too hard and wearing, and the need of pressing forward altogether too great to permit us to spend any time in such manner. the hunting had to come in incidentally. this type of well nigh impenetrable forest is the one in which it is most difficult to get even what little game exists therein. a couple of curassows and a big monkey were killed by the colonel and kermit. on the day the monkey was brought in lyra, kermit, and their four associates had spent from sunrise to sunset in severe and at moments dangerous toil among the rocks and in the swift water, and the fresh meat was appreciated. the head, feet, tail, skin, and entrails were boiled for the gaunt and ravenous dogs. the flesh gave each of us a few mouthfuls; and how good those mouthfuls tasted! cherrie, in addition to being out after birds in every spare moment, helped in all emergencies. he was a veteran in the work of the tropic wilderness. we talked together often, and of many things, for our views of life, and of a man's duty to his wife and children, to other men, and to women, and to the state in peace and war, were in all essentials the same. his father had served all through the civil war, entering an iowa cavalry regiment as a private and coming out as a captain; his breast-bone was shattered by a blow from a musket-butt, in hand-to-hand fighting at shiloh. during this portage the weather favored us. we were coming toward the close of the rainy season. on the last day of the month, when we moved camp to the foot of the gorge, there was a thunder-storm; but on the whole we were not bothered by rain until the last night, when it rained heavily, driving under the fly so as to wet my cot and bedding. however, i slept comfortably enough, rolled in the damp blanket. without the blanket i should have been uncomfortable; a blanket is a necessity for health. on the third day lyra and kermit, with their daring and hard-working watermen, after wearing labor, succeeded in getting five canoes through the worst of the rapids to the chief fall. the sixth, which was frail and weak, had its bottom beaten out on the jagged rocks of the broken water. on this night, although i thought i had put my clothes out of reach, both the termites and the carregadores ants got at them, ate holes in one boot, ate one leg of my drawers, and riddled my handkerchief; and i now had nothing to replace anything that was destroyed. next day lyra, kermit, and their camaradas brought the five canoes that were left down to camp. they had in four days accomplished a work of incredible labor and of the utmost importance; for at the first glance it had seemed an absolute impossibility to avoid abandoning the canoes when we found that the river sank into a cataract broken torrent at the bottom of a canyon-like gorge between steep mountains. on april we once more started, wondering how soon we should strike other rapids in the mountains ahead, and whether in any reasonable time we should, as the aneroid indicated, be so low down that we should necessarily be in a plain where we could make a journey of at least a few days without rapids. we had been exactly a month going through an uninterrupted succession of rapids. during that month we had come only about kilometres, and had descended nearly metres--the figures are approximate but fairly accurate. we had lost four of the canoes with which we started, and one other, which we had built, and the life of one man; and the life of a dog which by its death had in all probability saved the life of colonel rondon. in a straight line northward, toward our supposed destination, we had not made more than a mile and a quarter a day; at the cost of bitter toil for most of the party, of much risk for some of the party, and of some risk and some hardship for all the party. most of the camaradas were downhearted, naturally enough, and occasionally asked one of us if we really believed that we should ever get out alive; and we had to cheer them up as best we could. there was no change in our work for the time being. we made but three kilometres that day. most of the party walked all the time; but the dugouts carried the luggage until we struck the head of the series of rapids which were to take up the next two or three days. the river rushed through a wild gorge, a chasm or canyon, between two mountains. its sides were very steep, mere rock walls, although in most places so covered with the luxuriant growth of the trees and bushes that clung in the crevices, and with green moss, that the naked rock was hardly seen. rondon, lyra, and kermit, who were in front, found a small level spot, with a beach of sand, and sent back word to camp there, while they spent several hours in exploring the country ahead. the canoes were run down empty, and the loads carried painfully along the face of the cliffs; so bad was the trail that i found it rather hard to follow, although carrying nothing but my rifle and cartridge bag. the explorers returned with the information that the mountains stretched ahead of us, and that there were rapids as far as they had gone. we could only hope that the aneroid was not hopelessly out of kilter, and that we should, therefore, fairly soon find ourselves in comparatively level country. the severe toil, on a rather limited food supply, was telling on the strength as well as on the spirits of the men; lyra and kermit, in addition to their other work, performed as much actual physical labor as any of them. next day, the rd of april, we began the descent of these sinister rapids of the chasm. colonel rondon had gone to the summit of the mountain in order to find a better trail for the burden-bearers, but it was hopeless, and they had to go along the face of the cliffs. such an exploring expedition as that in which we were engaged of necessity involves hard and dangerous labor, and perils of many kinds. to follow down-stream an unknown river, broken by innumerable cataracts and rapids, rushing through mountains of which the existence has never been even guessed, bears no resemblance whatever to following even a fairly dangerous river which has been thoroughly explored and has become in some sort a highway, so that experienced pilots can be secured as guides, while the portages have been pioneered and trails chopped out, and every dangerous feature of the rapids is known beforehand. in this case no one could foretell that the river would cleave its way through steep mountain chains, cutting narrow clefts in which the cliff walls rose almost sheer on either hand. when a rushing river thus "canyons," as we used to say out west, and the mountains are very steep, it becomes almost impossible to bring the canoes down the river itself and utterly impossible to portage them along the cliff sides, while even to bring the loads over the mountain is a task of extraordinary labor and difficulty. moreover, no one can tell how many times the task will have to be repeated, or when it will end, or whether the food will hold out; every hour of work in the rapids is fraught with the possibility of the gravest disaster, and yet it is imperatively necessary to attempt it; and all this is done in an uninhabited wilderness, or else a wilderness tenanted only by unfriendly savages, where failure to get through means death by disease and starvation. wholesale disasters to south american exploring parties have been frequent. the first recent effort to descend one of the unknown rivers to the amazon from the brazilian highlands resulted in such a disaster. it was undertaken in by a party about as large as ours under a brazilian engineer officer, colonel telles peres. in descending some rapids they lost everything-- canoes, food, medicine, implements--everything. fever smote them, and then starvation. all of them died except one officer and two men, who were rescued months later. recently, in guiana, a wilderness veteran, andre, lost two-thirds of his party by starvation. genuine wilderness exploration is as dangerous as warfare. the conquest of wild nature demands the utmost vigor, hardihood, and daring, and takes from the conquerors a heavy toll of life and health. lyra, kermit, and cherrie, with four of the men, worked the canoes half-way down the canyon. again and again it was touch and go whether they could get by a given point. at one spot the channel of the furious torrent was only fifteen yards across. one canoe was lost, so that of the seven with which we had started only two were left. cherrie labored with the other men at times, and also stood as guard over them, for, while actually working, of course no one could carry a rifle. kermit's experience in bridge building was invaluable in enabling him to do the rope work by which alone it was possible to get the canoes down the canyon. he and lyra had now been in the water for days. their clothes were never dry. their shoes were rotten. the bruises on their feet and legs had become sores. on their bodies some of the insect bites had become festering wounds, as indeed was the case with all of us. poisonous ants, biting flies, ticks, wasps, bees were a perpetual torment. however, no one had yet been bitten by a venomous serpent, a scorpion, or a centipede, although we had killed all of the three within camp limits. under such conditions whatever is evil in men's natures comes to the front. on this day a strange and terrible tragedy occurred. one of the camaradas, a man of pure european blood, was the man named julio, of whom i have already spoken. he was a very powerful fellow and had been importunately eager to come on the expedition; and he had the reputation of being a good worker. but, like so many men of higher standing, he had had no idea of what such an expedition really meant, and under the strain of toil, hardship, and danger his nature showed its true depths of selfishness, cowardice, and ferocity. he shirked all work. he shammed sickness. nothing could make him do his share; and yet unlike his self-respecting fellows he was always shamelessly begging for favors. kermit was the only one of our party who smoked; and he was continually giving a little tobacco to some of the camaradas, who worked especially well under him. the good men did not ask for it; but julio, who shirked every labor, was always, and always in vain, demanding it. colonel rondon, lyra, and kermit each tried to get work out of him, and in order to do anything with him had to threaten to leave him in the wilderness. he threw all his tasks on his comrades; and, moreover, he stole their food as well as ours. on such an expedition the theft of food comes next to murder as a crime, and should by rights be punished as such. we could not trust him to cut down palms or gather nuts, because he would stay out and eat what ought to have gone into the common store. finally, the men on several occasions themselves detected him stealing their food. alone of the whole party, and thanks to the stolen food, he had kept in full flesh and bodily vigor. one of our best men was a huge negro named paixao paishon--a corporal and acting sergeant in the engineer corps. he had, by the way, literally torn his trousers to pieces, so that he wore only the tatters of a pair of old drawers until i gave him my spare trousers when we lightened loads. he was a stern disciplinarian. one evening he detected julio stealing food and smashed him in the mouth. julio came crying to us, his face working with fear and malignant hatred; but after investigation he was told that he had gotten off uncommonly lightly. the men had three or four carbines, which were sometimes carried by those who were not their owners. on this morning, at the outset of the portage, pedrinho discovered julio stealing some of the men's dried meat. shortly afterward paishon rebuked him for, as usual, lagging behind. by this time we had reached the place where the canoes were tied to the bank and then taken down one at a time. we were sitting down, waiting for the last loads to be brought along the trail. pedrinho was still in the camp we had left. paishon had just brought in a load, left it on the ground with his carbine beside it, and returned on the trail for another load. julio came in, put down his load, picked up the carbine, and walked back on the trail, muttering to himself but showing no excitement. we thought nothing of it, for he was always muttering; and occasionally one of the men saw a monkey or big bird and tried to shoot it, so it was never surprising to see a man with a carbine. in a minute we heard a shot; and in a short time three or four of the men came up the trail to tell us that paishon was dead, having been shot by julio, who had fled into the woods. colonel rondon and lyra were ahead; i sent a messenger for them, directed cherrie and kermit to stay where they were and guard the canoes and provisions, and started down the trail with the doctor--an absolutely cool and plucky man, with a revolver but no rifle--and a couple of the camaradas. we soon passed the dead body of poor paishon. he lay in a huddle, in a pool of his own blood, where he had fallen, shot through the heart. i feared that julio had run amuck, and intended merely to take more lives before he died, and that he would begin with pedrinho, who was alone and unarmed in the camp we had left. accordingly i pushed on, followed by my companions, looking sharply right and left; but when we came to the camp the doctor quietly walked by me, remarking, "my eyes are better than yours, colonel; if he is in sight i'll point him out to you, as you have the rifle." however, he was not there, and the others soon joined us with the welcome news that they had found the carbine. the murderer had stood to one side of the path and killed his victim, when a dozen paces off, with deliberate and malignant purpose. then evidently his murderous hatred had at once given way to his innate cowardice; and, perhaps hearing some one coming along the path, he fled in panic terror into the wilderness. a tree had knocked the carbine from his hand. his footsteps showed that after going some rods he had started to return, doubtless for the carbine, but had fled again, probably because the body had then been discovered. it was questionable whether or not he would live to reach the indian villages, which were probably his goal. he was not a man to feel remorse--never a common feeling; but surely that murderer was in a living hell, as, with fever and famine leering at him from the shadows, he made his way through the empty desolation of the wilderness. franca, the cook, quoted out of the melancholy proverbial philosophy of the people the proverb: "no man knows the heart of any one"; and then expressed with deep conviction a weird ghostly belief i had never encountered before: "paishon is following julio now, and will follow him until he dies; paishon fell forward on his hands and knees, and when a murdered man falls like that his ghost will follow the slayer as long as the slayer lives." we did not attempt to pursue the murderer. we could not legally put him to death, although he was a soldier who in cold blood had just deliberately killed a fellow soldier. if we had been near civilization we would have done our best to bring him in and turn him over to justice. but we were in the wilderness, and how many weeks' journey were ahead of us we could not tell. our food was running low, sickness was beginning to appear among the men, and both their courage and their strength were gradually ebbing. our first duty was to save the lives and the health of the men of the expedition who had honestly been performing, and had still to perform, so much perilous labor. if we brought the murderer in he would have to be guarded night and day on an expedition where there were always loaded firearms about, and where there would continually be opportunity and temptation for him to make an effort to seize food and a weapon and escape, perhaps murdering some other good man. he could not be shackled while climbing along the cliff slopes; he could not be shackled in the canoes, where there was always chance of upset and drowning; and standing guard would be an additional and severe penalty on the weary, honest men already exhausted by overwork. the expedition was in peril, and it was wise to take every chance possible that would help secure success. whether the murderer lived or died in the wilderness was of no moment compared with the duty of doing everything to secure the safety of the rest of the party. for the two days following we were always on the watch against his return, for he could have readily killed some one else by rolling rocks down on any of the men working on the cliff sides or in the bottom of the gorge. but we did not see him until the morning of the third day. we had passed the last of the rapids of the chasm, and the four boats were going down-stream when he appeared behind some trees on the bank and called out that he wished to surrender and be taken aboard; for the murderer was an arrant craven at heart, a strange mixture of ferocity and cowardice. colonel rondon's boat was far in advance; he did not stop nor answer. i kept on in similar fashion with the rear boats, for i had no intention of taking the murderer aboard, to the jeopardy of the other members of the party, unless colonel rondon told me that it would have to be done in pursuance of his duty as an officer of the army and a servant of the government of brazil. at the first halt colonel rondon came up to me and told me that this was his view of his duty, but that he had not stopped because he wished first to consult me as the chief of the expedition. i answered that for the reasons enumerated above i did not believe that in justice to the good men of the expedition we should jeopardize their safety by taking the murderer along, and that if the responsibility were mine i should refuse to take him; but that he, colonel rondon, was the superior officer of both the murderer and of all the other enlisted men and army officers on the expedition, and in return was responsible for his actions to his own governmental superiors and to the laws of brazil; and that in view of this responsibility he must act as his sense of duty bade him. accordingly, at the next camp he sent back two men, expert woodsmen, to find the murderer and bring him in. they failed to find him. note: the above account of all the circumstances connected with the murder was read to and approved as correct by all six members of the expedition. i have anticipated my narrative because i do not wish to recur to the horror more than is necessary. i now return to my story. after we found that julio had fled, we returned to the scene of the tragedy. the murdered man lay with a handkerchief thrown over his face. we buried him beside the place where he fell. with axes and knives the camaradas dug a shallow grave while we stood by with bared heads. then reverently and carefully we lifted the poor body which but half an hour before had been so full of vigorous life. colonel rondon and i bore the head and shoulders. we laid him in the grave, and heaped a mound over him, and put a rude cross at his head. we fired a volley for a brave and loyal soldier who had died doing his duty. then we left him forever, under the great trees beside the lonely river. that day we got only half-way down the rapids. there was no good place to camp. but at the foot of one steep cliff there was a narrow, boulder-covered slope where it was possible to sling hammocks and cook; and a slanting spot was found for my cot, which had sagged until by this time it looked like a broken-backed centipede. it rained a little during the night, but not enough to wet us much. next day lyra, kermit, and cherrie finished their job, and brought the four remaining canoes to camp, one leaking badly from the battering on the rocks. we then went down-stream a few hundred yards, and camped on the opposite side; it was not a good camping-place, but it was better than the one we left. the men were growing constantly weaker under the endless strain of exhausting labor. kermit was having an attack of fever, and lyra and cherrie had touches of dysentery, but all three continued to work. while in the water trying to help with an upset canoe i had by my own clumsiness bruised my leg against a boulder; and the resulting inflammation was somewhat bothersome. i now had a sharp attack of fever, but thanks to the excellent care of the doctor, was over it in about forty-eight hours; but kermit's fever grew worse and he too was unable to work for a day or two. we could walk over the portages, however. a good doctor is an absolute necessity on an exploring expedition in such a country as that we were in, under penalty of a frightful mortality among the members; and the necessary risks and hazards are so great, the chances of disaster so large, that there is no warrant for increasing them by the failure to take all feasible precautions. the next day we made another long portage round some rapids, and camped at night still in the hot, wet, sunless atmosphere of the gorge. the following day, april , we portaged past another set of rapids, which proved to be the last of the rapids of the chasm. for some kilometres we kept passing hills, and feared lest at any moment we might again find ourselves fronting another mountain gorge; with, in such case, further days of grinding and perilous labor ahead of us, while our men were disheartened, weak, and sick. most of them had already begun to have fever. their condition was inevitable after over a month's uninterrupted work of the hardest kind in getting through the long series of rapids we had just passed; and a long further delay, accompanied by wearing labor, would have almost certainly meant that the weakest among our party would have begun to die. there were already two of the camaradas who were too weak to help the others, their condition being such as to cause us serious concern. however, the hills gradually sank into a level plain, and the river carried us through it at a rate that enabled us during the remainder of the day to reel off thirty-six kilometres, a record that for the first time held out promise. twice tapirs swam the river while we passed, but not near my canoe. however, the previous evening, cherrie had killed two monkeys and kermit one, and we all had a few mouthfuls of fresh meat; we had already had a good soup made out of a turtle kermit had caught. we had to portage by one short set of rapids, the unloaded canoes being brought down without difficulty. at last, at four in the afternoon, we came to the mouth of a big river running in from the right. we thought it was probably the ananas, but, of course, could not be certain. it was less in volume than the one we had descended, but nearly as broad; its breadth at this point being ninety-five yards as against one hundred and twenty for the larger river. there were rapids ahead, immediately after the junction, which took place in latitude degrees minutes south. we had come kilometres all told, and were nearly north of where we had started. we camped on the point of land between the two rivers. it was extraordinary to realize that here about the eleventh degree we were on such a big river, utterly unknown to the cartographers and not indicated by even a hint on any map. we named this big tributary rio cardozo, after a gallant officer of the commission who had died of beriberi just as our expedition began. we spent a day at this spot, determining our exact position by the sun, and afterward by the stars, and sending on two men to explore the rapids in advance. they returned with the news that there were big cataracts in them, and that they would form an obstacle to our progress. they had also caught a huge iluroid fish, which furnished an excellent meal for everybody in camp. this evening at sunset the view across the broad river, from our camp where the two rivers joined, was very lovely; and for the first time we had an open space in front of and above us, so that after nightfall the stars, and the great waxing moon, were glorious over-head, and against the rocks in midstream the broken water gleamed like tossing silver. the huge catfish which the men had caught was over three feet and a half long, with the usual enormous head, out of all proportions to the body, and the enormous mouth, out of all proportion to the head. such fish, although their teeth are small, swallow very large prey. this one contained the nearly digested remains of a monkey. probably the monkey had been seized while drinking from the end of a branch; and once engulfed in that yawning cavern there was no escape. we americans were astounded at the idea of a catfish making prey of a monkey; but our brazilian friends told us that in the lower madeira and the part of the amazon near its mouth there is a still more gigantic catfish which in similar fashion occasionally makes prey of man. this is a grayish-white fish over nine feet long, with the usual disproportionately large head and gaping mouth, with a circle of small teeth; for the engulfing mouth itself is the danger, not the teeth. it is called the piraiba--pronounced in four syllables. while stationed at the small city of itacoatiara, on the amazon, at the mouth of the madeira, the doctor had seen one of these monsters which had been killed by the two men it had attacked. they were fishing in a canoe when it rose from the bottom--for it is a ground fish--and raising itself half out of the water lunged over the edge of the canoe at them, with open mouth. they killed it with their falcons, as machetes are called in brazil. it was taken round the city in triumph in an oxcart; the doctor saw it, and said it was three metres long. he said that swimmers feared it even more than the big cayman, because they could see the latter, whereas the former lay hid at the bottom of the water. colonel rondon said that in many villages where he had been on the lower madeira the people had built stockaded enclosures in the water in which they bathed, not venturing to swim in the open water for fear of the piraiba and the big cayman. next day, april , we made five kilometres only, as there was a succession of rapids. we had to carry the loads past two of them, but ran the canoes without difficulty, for on the west side were long canals of swift water through the forest. the river had been higher, but was still very high, and the current raced round the many islands that at this point divided the channel. at four we made camp at the head of another stretch of rapids, over which the canadian canoes would have danced without shipping a teaspoonful of water, but which our dugouts could only run empty. cherrie killed three monkeys and lyra caught two big piranhas, so that we were again all of us well provided with dinner and breakfast. when a number of men, doing hard work, are most of the time on half-rations, they grow to take a lively interest in any reasonably full meal that does arrive. on the th we repeated the proceedings: a short quick run; a few hundred metres' portage, occupying, however, at least a couple of hours; again a few minutes' run; again other rapids. we again made less than five kilometres; in the two days we had been descending nearly a metre for every kilometre we made in advance; and it hardly seemed as if this state of things could last, for the aneroid showed that we were getting very low down. how i longed for a big maine birch-bark, such as that in which i once went down the mattawamkeag at high water! it would have slipped down these rapids as a girl trips through a country dance. but our loaded dugouts would have shoved their noses under every curl. the country was lovely. the wide river, now in one channel, now in several channels, wound among hills; the shower-freshened forest glistened in the sunlight; the many kinds of beautiful palm-fronds and the huge pacova-leaves stamped the peculiar look of the tropics on the whole landscape--it was like passing by water through a gigantic botanical garden. in the afternoon we got an elderly toucan, a piranha, and a reasonably edible side-necked river- turtle; so we had fresh meat again. we slept as usual in earshot of rapids. we had been out six weeks, and almost all the time we had been engaged in wearily working our own way down and past rapid after rapid. rapids are by far the most dangerous enemies of explorers and travellers who journey along these rivers. next day was a repetition of the same work. all the morning was spent in getting the loads to the foot of the rapids at the head of which we were encamped, down which the canoes were run empty. then for thirty or forty minutes we ran down the swift, twisting river, the two lashed canoes almost coming to grief at one spot where a swirl of the current threw them against some trees on a small submerged island. then we came to another set of rapids, carried the baggage down past them, and made camp long after dark in the rain--a good exercise in patience for those of us who were still suffering somewhat from fever. no one was in really buoyant health. for some weeks we had been sharing part of the contents of our boxes with the camaradas; but our food was not very satisfying to them. they needed quantity and the mainstay of each of their meals was a mass of palmitas; but on this day they had no time to cut down palms. we finally decided to run these rapids with the empty canoes, and they came down in safety. on such a trip it is highly undesirable to take any save necessary risks, for the consequences of disaster are too serious; and yet if no risks are taken the progress is so slow that disaster comes anyhow; and it is necessary perpetually to vary the terms of the perpetual working compromise between rashness and over-caution. this night we had a very good fish to eat, a big silvery fellow called a pescada, of a kind we had not caught before. one day trigueiro failed to embark with the rest of us, and we had to camp where we were next day to find him. easter sunday we spent in the fashion with which we were altogether too familiar. we only ran in a clear course for ten minutes all told, and spent eight hours in portaging the loads past rapids down which the canoes were run; the balsa was almost swamped. this day we caught twenty-eight big fish, mostly piranhas, and everybody had all he could eat for dinner, and for breakfast the following morning. the forenoon of the following day was a repetition of this wearisome work; but late in the afternoon the river began to run in long quiet reaches. we made fifteen kilometres, and for the first time in several weeks camped where we did not hear the rapids. the silence was soothing and restful. the following day, april , we made a good run of some thirty-two kilometres. we passed a little river which entered on our left. we ran two or three light rapids, and portaged the loads by another. the river ran in long and usually tranquil stretches. in the morning when we started the view was lovely. there was a mist, and for a couple of miles the great river, broad and quiet, ran between the high walls of tropical forest, the tops of the giant trees showing dim through the haze. different members of the party caught many fish, and shot a monkey and a couple of jacare-tinga birds kin to a turkey, but the size of a fowl--so we again had a camp of plenty. the dry season was approaching, but there were still heavy, drenching rains. on this day the men found some new nuts of which they liked the taste; but the nuts proved unwholesome and half of the men were very sick and unable to work the following day. in the balsa only two were left fit to do anything, and kermit plied a paddle all day long. accordingly, it was a rather sorry crew that embarked the following morning, april . but it turned out a red-letter day. the day before, we had come across cuttings, a year old, which were probably but not certainly made by pioneer rubbermen. but on this day--during which we made twenty-five kilometres--after running two hours and a half we found on the left bank a board on a post, with the initials j. a., to show the farthest up point which a rubberman had reached and claimed as his own. an hour farther down we came on a newly built house in a little planted clearing; and we cheered heartily. no one was at home, but the house, of palm thatch, was clean and cool. a couple of dogs were on watch, and the belongings showed that a man, a woman, and a child lived there, and had only just left. another hour brought us to a similar house where dwelt an old black man, who showed the innate courtesy of the brazilian peasant. we came on these rubbermen and their houses in about latitude degrees minutes. in mid-afternoon we stopped at another clean, cool, picturesque house of palm thatch. the inhabitants all fled at our approach, fearing an indian raid; for they were absolutely unprepared to have any one come from the unknown regions up-stream. they returned and were most hospitable and communicative; and we spent the night there. said antonio correa to kermit: "it seems like a dream to be in a house again, and hear the voices of men and women, instead of being among those mountains and rapids." the river was known to them as the castanho, and was the main affluent or rather the left or western branch, of the aripuanan; the castanho is a name used by the rubber- gatherers only; it is unknown to the geographers. we were, according to our informants, about fifteen days' journey from the confluence of the two rivers; but there were many rubbermen along the banks, some of whom had become permanent settlers. we had come over three hundred kilometres, in forty-eight days, over absolutely unknown ground; we had seen no human being, although we had twice heard indians. six weeks had been spent in steadily slogging our way down through the interminable series of rapids. it was astonishing before, when we were on a river of about the size of the upper rhine or elbe, to realize that no geographer had any idea of its existence. but, after all, no civilized man of any grade had ever been on it. here, however, was a river with people dwelling along the banks, some of whom had lived in the neighborhood for eight or ten years; and yet on no standard map was there a hint of the river's existence. we were putting on the map a river, running through between five and six degrees of latitude--of between seven and eight if, as should properly be done, the lower aripuanan is included as part of it--of which no geographer, in any map published in europe, or the united states, or brazil had even admitted the possibility of the existence; for the place actually occupied by it was filled, on the maps, by other--imaginary--streams, or by mountain ranges. before we started, the amazonas boundary commission had come up the lower aripuanan and then the eastern branch, or upper aripuanan, to degrees minutes, following the course which for a couple of decades had been followed by the rubbermen, but not going as high. an employee, either of this commission or of one of the big rubbermen, had been up the castanho, which is easy of ascent in its lower course, to about the same latitude, not going nearly as high as the rubbermen had gone; this we found out while we ourselves were descending the lower castanho. the lower main stream, and the lower portion of its main affluent, the castanho, had been commercial highways for rubbermen and settlers for nearly two decades, and, as we speedily found, were as easy to traverse as the upper stream, which we had just come down, was difficult to traverse; but the governmental and scientific authorities, native and foreign, remained in complete ignorance; and the rubbermen themselves had not the slightest idea of the headwaters, which were in country never hitherto traversed by civilized men. evidently the castanho was, in length at least, substantially equal, and probably superior, to the upper aripuanan; it now seemed even more likely that the ananas was the headwaters of the main stream than of the cardozo. for the first time this great river, the greatest affluent of the madiera, was to be put on the map; and the understanding of its real position and real relationship, and the clearing up of the complex problem of the sources of all these lower right-hand affluents of the madiera, was rendered possible by the seven weeks of hard and dangerous labor we had spent in going down an absolutely unknown river, through an absolutely unknown wilderness. at this stage of the growth of world geography i esteemed it a great piece of good fortune to be able to take part in such a feat--a feat which represented the capping of the pyramid which during the previous seven years had been built by the labor of the brazilian telegraphic commission. we had passed the period when there was a chance of peril, of disaster, to the whole expedition. there might be risk ahead to individuals, and some difficulties and annoyances for all of us; but there was no longer the least likelihood of any disaster to the expedition as a whole. we now no longer had to face continual anxiety, the need of constant economy with food, the duty of labor with no end in sight, and bitter uncertainty as to the future. it was time to get out. the wearing work, under very unhealthy conditions, was beginning to tell on every one. half of the camaradas had been down with fever and were much weakened; only a few of them retained their original physical and moral strength. cherrie and kermit had recovered; but both kermit and lyra still had bad sores on their legs, from the bruises received in the water work. i was in worse shape. the after effects of the fever still hung on; and the leg which had been hurt while working in the rapids with the sunken canoe had taken a turn for the bad and developed an abscess. the good doctor, to whose unwearied care and kindness i owe much, had cut it open and inserted a drainage tube; an added charm being given the operation, and the subsequent dressings, by the enthusiasm with which the piums and boroshudas took part therein. i could hardly hobble, and was pretty well laid up. but "there aren't no 'stop, conductor,' while a battery's changing ground." no man has any business to go on such a trip as ours unless he will refuse to jeopardize the welfare of his associates by any delay caused by a weakness or ailment of his. it is his duty to go forward, if necessary on all fours, until he drops. fortunately, i was put to no such test. i remained in good shape until we had passed the last of the rapids of the chasms. when my serious trouble came we had only canoe-riding ahead of us. it is not ideal for a sick man to spend the hottest hours of the day stretched on the boxes in the bottom of a small open dugout, under the well-nigh intolerable heat of the torrid sun of the mid-tropics, varied by blinding, drenching downpours of rain; but i could not be sufficiently grateful for the chance. kermit and cherrie took care of me as if they had been trained nurses; and colonel rondon and lyra were no less thoughtful. the north was calling strongly to the three men of the north--rocky dell farm to cherrie, sagamore hill to me; and to kermit the call was stronger still. after nightfall we could now see the dipper well above the horizon--upside down, with the two pointers pointing to a north star below the world's rim; but the dipper, with all its stars. in our home country spring had now come, the wonderful northern spring of long glorious days, of brooding twilights, of cool delightful nights. robin and bluebird, meadow-lark and song sparrow, were singing in the mornings at home; the maple-buds were red; windflowers and bloodroot were blooming while the last patches of snow still lingered; the rapture of the hermithrush in vermont, the serene golden melody of the woodthrush on long island, would be heard before we were there to listen. each man to his home, and to his true love! each was longing for the homely things that were so dear to him, for the home people who were dearer still, and for the one who was dearest of all. x. to the amazon and home; zoological and geographical results of the expedition our adventures and our troubles were alike over. we now experienced the incalculable contrast between descending a known and travelled river, and one that is utterly unknown. after four days we hired a rubberman to go with us as guide. we knew exactly what channels were passable when we came to the rapids, when the canoes had to unload, and where the carry-trails were. it was all child's play compared to what we had gone through. we made long days' journeys, for at night we stopped at some palm-thatched house, inhabited or abandoned, and therefore the men were spared the labor of making camp; and we bought ample food for them, so there was no further need of fishing and chopping down palms for the palmtops. the heat of the sun was blazing; but it looked as if we had come back into the rainy season, for there were many heavy rains, usually in the afternoon, but sometimes in the morning or at night. the mosquitoes were sometimes rather troublesome at night. in the daytime the piums swarmed, and often bothered us even when we were in midstream. for four days there were no rapids we could not run without unloading. then, on the th, we got a canoe from senhor barboso. he was a most kind and hospitable man, who also gave us a duck and a chicken and some mandioc and six pounds of rice, and would take no payment; he lived in a roomy house with his dusky, cigar-smoking wife and his many children. the new canoe was light and roomy, and we were able to rig up a low shelter under which i could lie; i was still sick. at noon we passed the mouth of a big river, the rio branco, coming in from the left; this was about in latitude degrees minutes. soon afterward we came to the first serious rapids, the panela. we carried the boats past, ran down the empty canoes, and camped at the foot in a roomy house. the doctor bought a handsome trumpeter bird, very friendly and confiding, which was thenceforth my canoe companion. we had already passed many inhabited--and a still larger number of uninhabited--houses. the dwellers were rubbermen, but generally they were permanent settlers also, homemakers, with their wives and children. some, both of the men and women, were apparently of pure negro blood, or of pure indian or south european blood; but in the great majority all three strains were mixed in varying degrees. they were most friendly, courteous, and hospitable. often they refused payment for what they could afford, out of their little, to give us. when they did charge, the prices were very high, as was but just, for they live back of the beyond, and everything costs them fabulously, save what they raise themselves. the cool, bare houses of poles and palm thatch contained little except hammocks and a few simple cooking utensils; and often a clock or sewing machine, or winchester rifle, from our own country. they often had flowers planted, including fragrant roses. their only live stock, except the dogs, were a few chickens and ducks. they planted patches of mandioc, maize, sugarcane, rice, beans, squashes, pineapples, bananas, lemons, oranges, melons, peppers; and various purely native fruits and vegetables, such as the kniabo--a vegetable-fruit growing on the branches of a high bush-- which is cooked with meat. they get some game from the forest, and more fish from the river. there is no representative of the government among them--indeed, even now their very existence is barely known to the governmental authorities; and the church has ignored them as completely as the state. when they wish to get married they have to spend several months getting down to and back from manaos or some smaller city; and usually the first christening and the marriage ceremony are held at the same time. they have merely squatter's right to the land, and are always in danger of being ousted by unscrupulous big men who come in late, but with a title technically straight. the land laws should be shaped so as to give each of these pioneer settlers the land he actually takes up and cultivates, and upon which he makes his home. the small homemaker, who owns the land which he tills with his own hands, is the greatest element of strength in any country. these are real pioneer settlers. they are the true wilderness-winners. no continent is ever really conquered, or thoroughly explored, by a few leaders, or exceptional men, although such men can render great service. the real conquest, the thorough exploration and settlement, is made by a nameless multitude of small men of whom the most important are, of course, the home-makers. each treads most of the time in the footsteps of his predecessors, but for some few miles, at some time or other, he breaks new ground; and his house is built where no house has ever stood before. such a man, the real pioneer, must have no strong desire for social life and no need, probably no knowledge, of any luxury, or of any comfort save of the most elementary kind. the pioneer who is always longing for the comfort and luxury of civilization, and especially of great cities, is no real pioneer at all. these settlers whom we met were contented to live in the wilderness. they had found the climate healthy and the soil fruitful; a visit to a city was a very rare event, nor was there any overwhelming desire for it. in short, these men, and those like them everywhere on the frontier between civilization and savagery in brazil, are now playing the part played by our backwoodsmen when over a century and a quarter ago they began the conquest of the great basin of the mississippi; the part played by the boer farmers for over a century in south africa, and by the canadians when less than half a century ago they began to take possession of their northwest. every now and then some one says that the "last frontier" is now to be found in canada or africa, and that it has almost vanished. on a far larger scale this frontier is to be found in brazil--a country as big as europe or the united states--and decades will pass before it vanishes. the first settlers came to brazil a century before the first settlers came to the united states and canada. for three hundred years progress was very slow--portuguese colonial government at that time was almost as bad as spanish. for the last half-century and over there has been a steady increase in the rapidity of the rate of development; and this increase bids fair to be constantly more rapid in the future. the paolistas, hunting for lands, slaves, and mines, were the first native brazilians who, a hundred years ago, played a great part in opening to settlement vast stretches of wilderness. the rubber hunters have played a similar part during the last few decades. rubber dazzled them, as gold and diamonds have dazzled other men and driven them forth to wander through the wide waste spaces of the world. searching for rubber they made highways of rivers the very existence of which was unknown to the governmental authorities, or to any map-makers. whether they succeeded or failed, they everywhere left behind them settlers, who toiled, married, and brought up children. settlement began; the conquest of the wilderness entered on its first stage. on the th we stopped at the first store, where we bought, of course at a high price, sugar and tobacco for the camaradas. in this land of plenty the camaradas over-ate, and sickness was as rife among them as ever. in cherrie's boat he himself and the steersman were the only men who paddled strongly and continuously. the storekeeper's stock of goods was very low, only what he still had left from that brought in nearly a year before; for the big boats, or batelaos-batelons--had not yet worked as far up-stream. we expected to meet them somewhere below the next rapids, the inferno. the trader or rubberman brings up his year's supply of goods in a batelao, starting in february and reaching the upper course of the river early in may, when the rainy season is over. the parties of rubber-explorers are then equipped and provisioned; and the settlers purchase certain necessities, and certain things that strike them as luxuries. this year the brazil-nut crop on the river had failed, a serious thing for all explorers and wilderness wanderers. on the th we made the longest run we had made, fifty-two kilometres. lyra took observations where we camped; we were in latitude degrees minutes. at this camping-place the great, beautiful river was a little over three hundred metres wide. we were in an empty house. the marks showed that in the high water, a couple of months back, the river had risen until the lower part of the house was flooded. the difference between the level of the river during the floods and in the dry season is extraordinary. on the st we made another good run, getting down to the inferno rapids, which are in latitude degrees minutes south. until we reached the cardozo we had run almost due north; since then we had been running a little west of north. before we reached these rapids we stopped at a large, pleasant thatch house, and got a fairly big and roomy as well as light boat, leaving both our two smaller dugouts behind. above the rapids a small river, the madeirainha, entered from the left. the rapids had a fall of over ten metres, and the water was very wild and rough. met with for the first time, it would doubtless have taken several days to explore a passage and, with danger and labor, get the boats down. but we were no longer exploring, pioneering, over unknown country. it is easy to go where other men have prepared the way. we had a guide; we took our baggage down by a carry three-quarters of a kilometre long; and the canoes were run through known channels the following morning. at the foot of the rapids was a big house and store; and camped at the head were a number of rubber-workers, waiting for the big boats of the head rubbermen to work their way up from below. they were a reckless set of brown daredevils. these men lead hard lives of labor and peril; they continually face death themselves, and they think little of it in connection with others. it is small wonder that they sometimes have difficulties with the tribes of utterly wild indians with whom they are brought in contact, although there is a strong indian strain in their own blood. the following morning, after the empty canoes had been run down, we started, and made a rather short afternoon's journey. we had to take the baggage by one rapids. we camped in an empty house, in the rain. next day we ran nearly fifty kilometres, the river making a long sweep to the west. we met half a dozen batelaos making their way up-stream, each with a crew of six or eight men; and two of them with women and children in addition. the crew were using very long poles, with crooks, or rather the stubs of cut branches which served as crooks, at the upper end. with these they hooked into the branches and dragged themselves up along the bank, in addition to poling where the depth permitted it. the river was as big as the paraguay at corumba; but, in striking contrast to the paraguay, there were few water-birds. we ran some rather stiff rapids, the infernino, without unloading, in the morning. in the evening we landed for the night at a large, open, shed-like house, where there were two or three pigs, the first live stock we had seen other than poultry and ducks. it was a dirty place, but we got some eggs. the following day, the th, we ran down some fifty kilometres to the carupanan rapids, which by observation lyra found to be in latitude degrees minutes. we met several batelaos, and the houses on the bank showed that the settlers were somewhat better off than was the case farther up. at the rapids was a big store, the property of senhor caripe, the wealthiest rubberman who works on this river; many of the men we met were in his employ. he has himself risen from the ranks. he was most kind and hospitable, and gave us another boat to replace the last of our shovel-nosed dugouts. the large, open house was cool, clean, and comfortable. with these began a series of half a dozen sets of rapids, all coming within the next dozen kilometres, and all offering very real obstacles. at one we saw the graves of four men who had perished therein; and many more had died whose bodies were never recovered; the toll of human life had been heavy. had we been still on an unknown river, pioneering our own way, it would doubtless have taken us at least a fortnight of labor and peril to pass. but it actually took only a day and a half. all the channels were known, all the trails cut. senhor caripe, a first-class waterman, cool, fearless, and brawny as a bull, came with us as guide. half a dozen times the loads were taken out and carried down. at one cataract the canoes were themselves dragged overland; elsewhere they were run down empty, shipping a good deal of water. at the foot of the cataract, where we dragged the canoes overland, we camped for the night. here kermit shot a big cayman. our camp was alongside the graves of three men who at this point had perished in the swift water. senhor caripe told us many strange adventures of rubber-workers he had met or employed. one of his men, working on the gy-parana, got lost and after twenty-eight days found himself on the madeirainha, which he thus discovered. he was in excellent health, for he had means to start a fire, and he found abundance of brazil-nuts and big land-tortoises. senhor caripe said that the rubbermen now did not go above the ninth degree, or thereabouts, on the upper aripuanan proper, having found the rubber poor on the reaches above. a year previously five rubbermen, mundurucu indians, were working on the corumba at about that level. it is a difficult stream to ascend or descend. they made excursions into the forest for days at a time after caoutchouc. on one such trip, after fifteen days they, to their surprise, came out on the aripuanan. they returned and told their "patron" of their discovery; and by his orders took their caoutchouc overland to the aripuanan, built a canoe, and ran down with their caoutchouc to manaos. they had now returned and were working on the upper aripuanan. the mundurucus and brazilians are always on the best terms, and the former are even more inveterate enemies of the wild indians than are the latter. by mid-forenoon on april we had passed the last dangerous rapids. the paddles were plied with hearty good will, cherrie and kermit, as usual, working like the camaradas, and the canoes went dancing down the broad, rapid river. the equatorial forest crowded on either hand to the water's edge; and, although the river was falling, it was still so high that in many places little islands were completely submerged, and the current raced among the trunks of the green trees. at one o'clock we came to the mouth of the castanho proper, and in sight of the tent of lieutenant pyrineus, with the flags of the united states and brazil flying before it; and, with rifles firing from the canoes and the shore, we moored at the landing of the neat, soldierly, well kept camp. the upper aripuanan, a river of substantially the same volume as the castanho, but broader at this point, and probably of less length, here joined the castanho from the east, and the two together formed what the rubbermen called the lower aripuanan. the mouth of this was indicated, and sometimes named, on the maps, but only as a small and unimportant stream. we had been two months in the canoes; from the th of february to the th of april. we had gone over kilometres. the river from its source, near the thirteenth degree, to where it became navigable and we entered it, had a course of some kilometres--probably more, perhaps kilometres. therefore we had now put on the map a river nearly , kilometres in length of which the existence was not merely unknown but impossible if the standard maps were correct. but this was not all. it seemed that this river of , kilometres in length was really the true upper course of the aripuanan proper, in which case the total length was nearly , kilometres. pyrineus had been waiting for us over a month, at the junction of what the rubbermen called the castanho and of what they called the upper aripuanan. (he had no idea as to which stream we would appear upon, or whether we would appear upon either.) on march he had measured the volume of the two, and found that the castanho, although the narrower, was the deeper and swifter, and that in volume it surpassed the other by cubic metres a second. since then the castanho had fallen; our measurements showed it to be slightly smaller than the other; the volume of the river after the junction was about , cubic metres a second. this was in degrees minutes. we were glad indeed to see pyrineus and be at his attractive camp. we were only four hours above the little river hamlet of sao joao, a port of call for rubber-steamers, from which the larger ones go to manaos in two days. these steamers mostly belong to senhor caripe. from pyrineus we learned that lauriado and fiala had reached manaos on march . on the swift water in the gorge of the papagaio fiala's boat had been upset and all his belongings lost, while he himself had narrowly escaped with his life. i was glad indeed that the fine and gallant fellow had escaped. the canadian canoe had done very well. we were no less rejoiced to learn that amilcar, the head of the party that went down the gy-parana, was also all right, although his canoe too had been upset in the rapids, and his instruments and all his notes lost. he had reached manaos on april . fiala had gone home. miller was collecting near manaos. he had been doing capital work. the piranhas were bad here, and no one could bathe. cherrie, while standing in the water close to the shore, was attacked and bitten; but with one bound he was on the bank before any damage could be done. we spent a last night under canvas, at pyrineus' encampment. it rained heavily. next morning we all gathered at the monument which colonel rondon had erected, and he read the orders of the day. these recited just what had been accomplished: set forth the fact that we had now by actual exploration and investigation discovered that the river whose upper portion had been called the duvida on the maps of the telegraphic commission and the unknown major part of which we had just traversed, and the river known to a few rubbermen, but to no one else, as the castanho, and the lower part of the river known to the rubbermen as the aripuanan (which did not appear on the maps save as its mouth was sometimes indicated, with no hint of its size) were all parts of one and the same river; and that by order of the brazilian government this river, the largest affluent of the madeira, with its source near the th degree and its mouth a little south of the th degree, hitherto utterly unknown to cartographers and in large part utterly unknown to any save the local tribes of indians, had been named the rio roosevelt. we left rondon, lyra, and pyrineus to take observations, and the rest of us embarked for the last time on the canoes, and, borne swiftly on the rapid current, we passed over one set of not very important rapids and ran down to senhor caripe's little hamlet of sao joao, which we reached about one o'clock on april , just before a heavy afternoon rain set in. we had run nearly eight hundred kilometres during the sixty days we had spent in the canoes. here we found and boarded pyrineus's river steamer, which seemed in our eyes extremely comfortable. in the senhor's pleasant house we were greeted by the senhora, and they were both more than thoughtful and generous in their hospitality. ahead of us lay merely thirty-six hours by steamer to manaos. such a trip as that we had taken tries men as if by fire. cherrie had more than stood every test; and in him kermit and i had come to recognize a friend with whom our friendship would never falter or grow less. early the following afternoon our whole party, together with senhor caripe, started on the steamer. it took us a little over twelve hours' swift steaming to run down to the mouth of the river on the upper course of which our progress had been so slow and painful; from source to mouth, according to our itinerary and to lyra's calculations, the course of the stream down which we had thus come was about , kilometres in length--about miles, perhaps nearly , miles-- from its source near the th degree in the highlands to its mouth in the madeira, near the th degree. next morning we were on the broad sluggish current of the lower madeira, a beautiful tropical river. there were heavy rainstorms, as usual, although this is supposed to be the very end of the rainy season. in the afternoon we finally entered the wonderful amazon itself, the mighty river which contains one tenth of all the running water of the globe. it was miles across, where we entered it; and indeed we could not tell whether the farther bank, which we saw, was that of the mainland or an island. we went up it until about midnight, then steamed up the rio negro for a short distance, and at one in the morning of april reached manaos. manaos is a remarkable city. it is only three degrees south of the equator. sixty years ago it was a nameless little collection of hovels, tenanted by a few indians and a few of the poorest class of brazilian peasants. now it is a big, handsome modern city, with opera house, tramways, good hotels, fine squares and public buildings, and attractive private houses. the brilliant coloring and odd architecture give the place a very foreign and attractive flavor in northern eyes. its rapid growth to prosperity was due to the rubber trade. this is now far less remunerative than formerly. it will undoubtedly in some degree recover; and in any event the development of the immensely rich and fertile amazonian valley is sure to go on, and it will be immensely quickened when closer connections are made with the brazilian highland country lying south of it. here we found miller, and glad indeed we were to see him. he had made good collections of mammals and birds on the gy-parana, the madeira, and in the neighborhood of manaos; his entire collection of mammals was really noteworthy. among them was the only sloth any of us had seen on the trip. the most interesting of the birds he had seen was the hoatzin. this is a most curious bird of very archaic type. its flight is feeble, and the naked young have spurs on their wings, by the help of which they crawl actively among the branches before their feathers grow. they swim no less easily, at the same early age. miller got one or two nests, and preserved specimens of the surroundings of the nests; and he made exhaustive records of the habits of the birds. near megasso a jaguar had killed one of the bullocks that were being driven along for food. the big cat had not seized the ox with its claws by the head, but had torn open its throat and neck. every one was most courteous at manaos, especially the governor of the state and the mayor of the city. mr. robiliard, the british consular representative, and also the representative of the booth line of steamers, was particularly kind. he secured for us passages on one of the cargo boats of the line to para, and thence on one of the regular cargo-and-passenger steamers to barbados and new york. the booth people were most courteous to us. i said good-by to the camaradas with real friendship and regret. the parting gift i gave to each was in gold sovereigns; and i was rather touched to learn later that they had agreed among themselves each to keep one sovereign as a medal of honor and token that the owner had been on the trip. they were a fine set, brave, patient, obedient, and enduring. now they had forgotten their hard times; they were fat from eating, at leisure, all they wished; they were to see rio janeiro, always an object of ambition with men of their stamp; and they were very proud of their membership in the expedition. later, at belen, i said good-by to colonel rondon, doctor cajazeira, and lieutenant lyra. together with my admiration for their hardihood, courage, and resolution, i had grown to feel a strong and affectionate friendship for them. i had become very fond of them; and i was glad to feel that i had been their companion in the performance of a feat which possessed a certain lasting importance. on may we left manaos for belen-para, as until recently it was called. the trip was interesting. we steamed down through tempest and sunshine; and the towering forest was dwarfed by the giant river it fringed. sunrise and sunset turned the sky to an unearthly flame of many colors above the vast water. it all seemed the embodiment of loneliness and wild majesty. yet everywhere man was conquering the loneliness and wresting the majesty to his own uses. we passed many thriving, growing towns; at one we stopped to take on cargo. everywhere there was growth and development. the change since the days when bates and wallace came to this then poor and utterly primitive region is marvellous. one of its accompaniments has been a large european, chiefly south european, immigration. the blood is everywhere mixed; there is no color line, as in most english-speaking countries, and the negro and indian strains are very strong; but the dominant blood, the blood already dominant in quantity, and that is steadily increasing its dominance, is the olive-white. only rarely did the river show its full width. generally we were in channels or among islands. the surface of the water was dotted with little islands of floating vegetation. miller said that much of this came from the lagoons such as those where he had been hunting, beside the solimoens--lagoons filled with the huge and splendid victoria lily, and with masses of water hyacinths. miller, who was very fond of animals and always took much care of them, had a small collection which he was bringing back for the bronx zoo. an agouti was so bad- tempered that he had to be kept solitary; but three monkeys, big, middle-sized, and little, and a young peccary formed a happy family. the largest monkey cried, shedding real tears, when taken in the arms and pitied. the middle-sized monkey was stupid and kindly, and all the rest of the company imposed on it; the little monkey invariably rode on its back, and the peccary used it as a head pillow when it felt sleepy. belen, the capital of the state of para, was an admirable illustration of the genuine and almost startling progress which brazil has been making of recent years. it is a beautiful city, nearly under the equator. but it is not merely beautiful. the docks, the dredging operations, the warehouses, the stores and shops, all tell of energy and success in commercial life. it is as clean, healthy, and well policed a city as any of the size in the north temperate zone. the public buildings are handsome, the private dwellings attractive; there are a fine opera-house, an excellent tramway system, and a good museum and botanical gardens. there are cavalry stables, where lights burn all night long to protect the horses from the vampire bats. the parks, the rows of palms and mango-trees, the open-air restaurants, the gay life under the lights at night, all give the city its own special quality and charm. belen and manaos are very striking examples of what can be done in the mid-tropics. the governor of para and his charming wife were more than kind. cherrie and miller spent the day at the really capital zoological gardens, with the curator, miss snethlage. miss snethlage, a german lady, is a first rate field and closet naturalist, and an explorer of note, who has gone on foot from the xingu to the tapajos. most wisely she has confined the belen zoo to the animals of the lower amazon valley, and in consequence i know of no better local zoological gardens. she has an invaluable collection of birds and mammals of the region; and it was a privilege to meet her and talk with her. we also met professor farrabee, of the university of pennsylvania, the ethnologist. he had just finished a very difficult and important trip, from manaos by the rio branco to the highlands of guiana, across them on foot, and down to the seacoast of british guiana. he is an admirable representative of the men who are now opening south america to scientific knowledge. on may we bade good-by to our kind brazilian friends and sailed northward for barbados and new york. zoologically the trip had been a thorough success. cherrie and miller had collected over twenty-five hundred birds, about five hundred mammals, and a few reptiles, batrachians, and fishes. many of them were new to science; for much of the region traversed had never previously been worked by any scientific collector. of course, the most important work we did was the geographic work, the exploration of the unknown river, undertaken at the suggestion of the brazilian government, and in conjunction with its representatives. no piece of work of this kind is ever achieved save as it is based on long continued previous work. as i have before said, what we did was to put the cap on the pyramid that had been built by colonel rondon and his associates of the telegraphic commission during the six previous years. it was their scientific exploration of the chapadao, their mapping the basin of the juruena, and their descent of the gy- parana that rendered it possible for us to solve the mystery of the river of doubt. the work of the commission, much the greatest work of the kind ever done in south america, is one of the many, many achievements which the republican government of brazil has to its credit. brazil has been blessed beyond the average of her spanish-american sisters because she won her way to republicanism by evolution rather than revolution. they plunged into the extremely difficult experiment of democratic, of popular, self-government, after enduring the atrophy of every quality of self-control, self-reliance, and initiative throughout three withering centuries of existence under the worst and most foolish form of colonial government, both from the civil and the religious standpoint, that has ever existed. the marvel is not that some of them failed, but that some of them have eventually succeeded in such striking fashion. brazil, on the contrary, when she achieved independence, first exercised it under the form of an authoritative empire, then under the form of a liberal empire. when the republic came, the people were reasonably ripe for it. the great progress of brazil--and it has been an astonishing progress--has been made under the republic. i could give innumerable examples and illustrations of this. the change that has converted rio janeiro from a picturesque pest-hole into a singularly beautiful, healthy, clean, and efficient modern great city is one of these. another is the work of the telegraphic commission. we put upon the map a river some fifteen hundred kilometres in length, of which the upper course was not merely utterly unknown to, but unguessed at by, anybody; while the lower course, although known for years to a few rubbermen, was utterly unknown to cartographers. it is the chief affluent of the madeira, which is itself the chief affluent of the amazon. the source of this river is between the th and th parallels of latitude south and the th and th degrees of longitude west from greenwich. we embarked on it at about latitude degrees minute south, and about longitude degrees minutes west. after that its entire course lay between the th and st degrees of longitude, approaching the latter most closely about latitude degrees minutes. the first rapids we encountered were in latitude degrees minutes, and in uninterrupted succession they continued for about a degree, without a day's complete journey between any two of them. at degrees minutes the rio kermit entered from the left, at degrees minutes the rio marciano avila from the right, at degrees minutes the taunay from the left, at degrees minutes the cardozo from the right. in degrees minutes we encountered the first rubbermen. the rio branco entered from the left at degrees minutes. our camp at degrees minutes was nearly on the boundary between matto grosso and amazonas. the confluence with the aripuanan, which joined from the right, took place at degrees minutes. the entrance into the madeira was at about degrees minutes (this point we did not determine by observation, as it is already on the maps). the stream we had followed down was from the river's highest sources; we had followed its longest course. appendix a. the work of the field zoologist and field geographer in south america portions of south america are now entering on a career of great social and industrial development. much remains to be known, so far as the outside world is concerned, of the social and industrial condition in the long-settled interior regions. more remains to be done, in the way of pioneer exploring and of scientific work, in the great stretches of virgin wilderness. the only two other continents where such work, of like volume and value, remains to be done are africa and asia; and neither africa nor asia offers a more inviting field for the best kind of field worker in geographical exploration and in zoological, geological, and paleontological investigation. the explorer is merely the most adventurous kind of field geographer; and there are two or three points worth keeping in mind in dealing with the south american work of the field geographer and field zoologist. roughly, the travellers who now visit (like those who for the past century have visited) south america come in three categories-- although, of course, these categories are not divided by hard-and-fast lines. first, there are the travellers who skirt the continent in comfortable steamers, going from one great seaport to another, and occasionally taking a short railway journey to some big interior city not too far from the coast. this is a trip well worth taking by all intelligent men and women who can afford it; and it is being taken by such men and women with increasing frequency. it entails no more difficulty than a similar trip to the mediterranean--than such a trip which to a learned and broad-minded observer offers the same chance for acquiring knowledge and, if he is himself gifted with wisdom, the same chance of imparting his knowledge to others that is offered by a trip of similar length through the larger cities of europe or the united states. probably the best instance of the excellent use to which such an observer can put his experience is afforded by the volume of mr. bryce. of course, such a trip represents travelling of essentially the same kind as travelling by railroad from atlanta to calgary or from madrid to moscow. next there are the travellers who visit the long-settled districts and colonial cities of the interior, travelling over land or river highways which have been traversed for centuries but which are still primitive as regards the inns and the modes of conveyance. such travelling is difficult in the sense that travelling in parts of spain or southern italy or the balkan states is difficult. men and women who have a taste for travel in out-of-way places and who, therefore, do not mind slight discomforts and inconveniences have the chance themselves to enjoy, and to make others profit by, travels of this kind in south america. in economic, social, and political matters the studies and observations of these travellers are essential in order to supplement, and sometimes to correct, those of travellers of the first category; for it is not safe to generalize overmuch about any country merely from a visit to its capital or its chief seaport. these travellers of the second category can give us most interesting and valuable information about quaint little belated cities; about backward country folk, kindly or the reverse, who show a mixture of the ideas of savagery with the ideas of an ancient peasantry; and about rough old highways of travel which in comfort do not differ much from those of mediaeval europe. the travellers who go up or down the highway rivers that have been travelled for from one to four hundred years--rivers like the paraguay and parana, the amazon, the tapajos, the madeira, the lower orinoco--come in this category. they can add little to our geographical knowledge; but if they are competent zoologists or archaeologists, especially if they live or sojourn long in a locality, their work may be invaluable from the scientific standpoint. the work of the archaeologists among the immeasurably ancient ruins of the low-land forests and the andean plateaux is of this kind. what agassiz did for the fishes of the amazon and what hudson did for the birds of the argentine are other instances of the work that can thus be done. burton's writings on the interior of brazil offer an excellent instance of the value of a sojourn or trip of this type, even without any especial scientific object. of course travellers of this kind need to remember that their experiences in themselves do not qualify them to speak as wilderness explorers. exactly as a good archaeologist may not be competent to speak of current social or political problems, so a man who has done capital work as a tourist observer in little-visited cities and along remote highways must beware of regarding himself as being thereby rendered fit for genuine wilderness work or competent to pass judgment on the men who do such work. to cross the andes on mule-back along the regular routes is a feat comparable to the feats of the energetic tourists who by thousands traverse the mule trails in out-of-the-way nooks of switzerland. an ordinary trip on the highway portions of the amazon, paraguay, or orinoco in itself no more qualifies a man to speak of or to take part in exploring unknown south american rivers than a trip on the lower saint lawrence qualifies a man to regard himself as an expert in a canoe voyage across labrador or the barren grounds west of hudson bay. a hundred years ago, even seventy or eighty years ago, before the age of steamboats and railroads, it was more difficult than at present to define the limits between this class and the next; and, moreover, in defining these limits i emphatically disclaim any intention of thereby attempting to establish a single standard of value for books of travel. darwin's "voyage of the beagle" is to me the best book of the kind ever written; it is one of those classics which decline to go into artificial categories, and which stand by themselves; and yet darwin, with his usual modesty, spoke of it as in effect a yachting voyage. humboldt's work had a profound effect on the thought of the civilized world; his trip was one of adventure and danger; and yet it can hardly be called exploration proper. he visited places which had been settled and inhabited for centuries and traversed places which had been travelled by civilized men for years before he followed in their footsteps. but these places were in spanish colonies, and access to them had been forbidden by the mischievous and intolerant tyranny-- ecclesiastical, political, and economic--which then rendered spain the most backward of european nations; and humboldt was the first scientific man of intellectual independence who had permission to visit them. to this day many of his scientific observations are of real value. bates came to the amazon just before the era of amazonian steamboats. he never went off the native routes of ordinary travel. but he was a devoted and able naturalist. he lived an exceedingly isolated, primitive, and laborious life for eleven years. now, half a century after it was written, his "naturalist on the amazon" is as interesting and valuable as it ever was, and no book since written has in any way supplanted it. travel of the third category includes the work of the true wilderness explorers who add to our sum of geographical knowledge and of the scientific men who, following their several bents, also work in the untrodden wilds. colonel rondon and his associates have done much in the geographical exploration of unknown country, and cherrie and miller have penetrated and lived for months and years in the wastes, on their own resources, as incidents to their mammalogical and ornithological work. professor farrabee, the anthropologist, is a capital example of the man who does this hard and valuable type of work. an immense amount of this true wilderness work, geographical and zoological, remains to be done in south america. it can be accomplished with reasonable thoroughness only by the efforts of very many different workers, each in his own special field. it is desirable that here and there a part of the work should be done in outline by such a geographic and zoological reconnaissance as ours; we would, for example, be very grateful for such work in portions of the interior of the guianas, on the headwaters of the xingu, and here and there along the eastern base of the andes. but as a rule the work must be specialized; and in its final shape it must be specialized everywhere. the first geographical explorers of the untrodden wilderness, the first wanderers who penetrate the wastes where they are confronted with starvation, disease, and danger and death in every from, cannot take with them the elaborate equipment necessary in order to do the thorough scientific work demanded by modern scientific requirements. this is true even of exploration done along the courses of unknown rivers; it is more true of the exploration, which must in south america become increasingly necessary, done across country, away from the rivers. the scientific work proper of these early explorers must be of a somewhat preliminary nature; in other words the most difficult and therefore ordinarily the most important pieces of first-hand exploration are precisely those where the scientific work of the accompanying cartographer, geologist, botanist, and zoologist must be furthest removed from finality. the zoologist who works to most advantage in the wilderness must take his time, and therefore he must normally follow in the footsteps of, and not accompany, the first explorers. the man who wishes to do the best scientific work in the wilderness must not try to combine incompatible types of work nor to cover too much ground in too short a time. there is no better example of the kind of zoologist who does first- class field-work in the wilderness than john d. haseman, who spent from to in painstaking and thorough scientific investigation over a large extent of south american territory hitherto only partially known or quite unexplored. haseman's primary object was to study the characteristics and distribution of south american fishes, but as a matter of fact he studied at first hand many other more or less kindred subjects, as may be seen in his remarks on the indians and in his excellent pamphlet on "some factors of geographical distribution in south america." haseman made his long journey with a very slender equipment, his extraordinarily successful field-work being due to his bodily health and vigor and his resourcefulness, self-reliance, and resolution. his writings are rendered valuable by his accuracy and common sense. the need of the former of these two attributes will be appreciated by whoever has studied the really scandalous fictions which have been published as genuine by some modern "explorers" and adventurers in south america; and the need of the latter by whoever has studied some of the wild theories propounded in the name of science concerning the history of life on the south american continent. there is, however, one serious criticism to be made on haseman: the extreme obscurity of his style--an obscurity mixed with occasional bits of scientific pedantry, which makes it difficult to tell whether or not on some points his thought is obscure also. modern scientists, like modern historians and, above all, scientific and historical educators, should ever keep in mind that clearness of speech and writing is essential to clearness of thought and that a simple, clear, and, if possible, vivid style is vital to the production of the best work in either science or history. darwin and huxley are classics, and they would not have been if they had not written good english. the thought is essential, but ability to give it clear expression is only less essential. ability to write well, if the writer has nothing to write about, entitles him to mere derision. but the greatest thought is robbed of an immense proportion of its value if expressed in a mean or obscure manner. mr. haseman has such excellent thought that it is a pity to make it a work of irritating labor to find out just what the thought is. surely, if he will take as much pains with his writing as he has with the far more difficult business of exploring and collecting, he will become able to express his thought clearly and forcefully. at least he can, if he chooses, go over his sentences until he is reasonably sure that they can be parsed. he can take pains to see that his whole thought is expressed, instead of leaving vacancies which must be filled by the puzzled and groping reader. his own views and his quotations from the views of others about the static and dynamic theories of distribution are examples of an important principle so imperfectly expressed as to make us doubtful whether it is perfectly apprehended by the writer. he can avoid the use of those pedantic terms which are really nothing but offensive and, fortunately, ephemeral scientific slang. there has been, for instance, a recent vogue for the extensive misuse, usually tautological misuse, of the word "complexus"--an excellent word if used rarely and for definite purposes. mr. haseman drags it in continually when its use is either pointless and redundant or else serves purely to darken wisdom. he speaks of the "antillean complex" when he means the antilles, of the "organic complex" instead of the characteristic or bodily characteristics of an animal or species, and of the "environmental complex" when he means nothing whatever but the environment. in short, mr. haseman and those whose bad example he in this instance follows use "complexus" in much the same spirit as that displayed by the famous old lady who derived religious--instead of scientific-- consolation from the use of "the blessed word mesopotamia." the reason that it is worth while to enter this protest against mr. haseman's style is because his work is of such real and marked value. the pamphlet on the distribution of south american species shows that to exceptional ability as a field worker he adds a rare power to draw, with both caution and originality, the necessary general conclusions from the results of his own observations and from the recorded studies of other men; and there is nothing more needed at the present moment among our scientific men than the development of a school of men who, while industrious and minute observers and collectors and cautious generalizers, yet do not permit the faculty of wise generalization to be atrophied by excessive devotion to labyrinthine detail. haseman upholds with strong reasoning the theory that since the appearance of all but the lowest forms of life on this globe there have always been three great continental masses, sometimes solid sometimes broken, extending southward from the northern hemisphere, and from time to time connected in the north, but not in the middle regions or the south since the carboniferous epoch. he holds that life has been intermittently distributed southward along these continental masses when there were no breaks in their southward connection, and intermittently exchanged between them when they were connected in the north; and he also upholds the view that from a common ancestral form the same species has been often developed in entirely disconnected localities when in these localities the conditions of environment were the same. the opposite view is that there have been frequent connections between the great land masses, alike in the tropics, in the south temperate zone, and in the antarctic region. the upholders of this theory base it almost exclusively on the distribution of living and fossil forms of life; that is, it is based almost exclusively on biological and not geological considerations. unquestionably, the distribution of many forms of life, past and present, offers problems which with our present paleontological knowledge we are wholly unable to solve. if we consider only the biological facts concerning some one group of animals it is not only easy but inevitable to conclude that its distribution must be accounted for by the existence of some former direct land bridge extending, for instance, between patagonia and australia, or between brazil and south africa, or between the west indies and the mediterranean, or between a part of the andean region and northeastern asia. the trouble is that as more groups of animals are studied from the standpoint of this hypothesis the number of such land bridges demanded to account for the existing facts of animal distribution is constantly and indefinitely extended. a recent book by one of the most learned advocates of this hypothesis calls for at least ten such land bridges between south america and all the other continents, present and past, of the world since a period geologically not very remote. these land bridges, moreover, must, many of them, have been literally bridges; long, narrow tongues of land thrust in every direction across the broad oceans. according to this view the continental land masses have been in a fairly fluid condition of instability. by parity of reasoning, the land bridges could be made a hundred instead of merely ten in number. the facts of distribution are in many cases inexplicable with our present knowledge; yet if the existence of widely separated but closely allied forms is habitually to be explained in accordance with the views of the extremists of this school we could, from the exclusive study of certain groups of animals, conclude that at different periods the united states and almost every other portion of the earth were connected by land and severed from all other regions by water--and, from the study of certain other groups of animals, arrive at directly opposite and incompatible conclusions. the most brilliant and unsafe exponent of this school was ameghino, who possessed and abused two gifts, both essential to the highest type of scientist, and both mischievous unless this scientist possess a rare and accurate habit of thought joined to industry and mastery of detail:--namely, the gift of clear and interesting writing, and the gift of generalization. ameghino rendered marked services to paleontology. but he generalized with complete recklessness from the slenderest data; and even these data he often completely misunderstood or misinterpreted. his favorite thesis included the origin of mammalian life and of man himself in southernmost south america, with, as incidents, the belief that the mammalian-bearing strata of south america were of much greater age than the strata with corresponding remains elsewhere; that in south america various species and genera of men existed in tertiary times, some of them at least as advanced as fairly well advanced modern savages; that there existed various land bridges between south america and other southern continents, including africa; and that the ancestral types of modern mammals and of man himself wandered across one of these bridges to the old world, and that thence their remote descendants, after ages of time, returned to the new. in addition to valuable investigations of fossil-bearing beds in the argentine, he made some excellent general suggestions, such as that the pithecoid apes, like the baboons, do not stand in the line of man's ancestral stem but represent a divergence from it away from humanity and toward a retrogressive bestialization. but of his main theses he proves none, and what evidence we have tells against them. at the museum of la plata i found that the authorities were practically a unit in regarding his remains of tertiary men and proto- men as being either the remains of tertiary american monkeys or of american indians from strata that were long post-tertiary. the extraordinary discovery, due to that eminent scientist and public servant doctor moreno, of the remains of man associated with the remains of the great extinct south american fauna, of the mylodon, of a giant ungulate, of a huge cat like the lion, and of an extraordinary aberrant horse (of a wholly different genus from the modern horse) conclusively shows that in its later stages the south american fauna consisted largely of types that elsewhere had already disappeared and that these types persisted into what was geologically a very recent period only some tens of thousands of years ago, when savage man of practically a modern type had already appeared in south america. the evidence we have, so far as it goes, tends to show that the south american fauna always has been more archaic in type than the arctogeal fauna of the same chronological level. to loose generalizations, and to elaborate misinterpretations of paleontological records, the kind of work done by mr. haseman furnishes an invaluable antiscorbutic. to my mind, he has established a stronger presumption in favor of the theory he champions than has been established in favor of the theories of any of the learned and able scientific men from whose conclusions he dissents. further research, careful, accurate, and long extended, can alone enable us to decide definitely in the matter; and this research, to be effective, must be undertaken by many men, each of whom shall in large measure possess mr. haseman's exceptional power of laborious work both in the field and in the study, his insight and accuracy of observation, and his determination to follow truth with inflexible rectitude wherever it may lead--one of the greatest among the many great qualities which lifted huxley and darwin above their fellows. appendix b. the outfit for travelling in the south american wilderness south america includes so many different kinds of country that it is impossible to devise a scheme of equipment which shall suit all. a hunting-trip in the pantanals, in the swamp country of the upper paraguay, offers a simple problem. an exploring trip through an unknown tropical forest region, even if the work is chiefly done by river, offers a very difficult problem. all that i can pretend to do is to give a few hints as the results of our own experience. for bedding there should be a hammock, mosquito-net, and light blanket. these can be obtained in brazil. for tent a light fly is ample; ours were brought with us from new york. in exploring only the open fly should be taken; but on trips where weight of luggage is no objection, there can be walls to the tent and even a canvas floor- cloth. camp-chairs and a camp table should be brought--any good outfitter in the united states will supply them--and not thrown away until it becomes imperative to cut everything down. on a river trip, first-class pulleys and ropes--preferably steel, and at any rate very strong--should be taken. unless the difficulties of transportation are insuperable, canvas-and-cement canoes, such as can be obtained from various firms in canada and the united states, should by all means be taken. they are incomparably superior to the dugouts. but on different rivers wholly different canoes, of wholly different sizes, will be needed; on some steam or electric launches may be used; it is not possible to lay down a general rule. as regards arms, a good plain -bore shotgun with a - rifle- barrel underneath the others is the best weapon to have constantly in one's hand in the south american forests, where big game is rare and yet may at any time come in one's path. when specially hunting the jaguar, marsh-deer, tapir, or big peccary, an ordinary light repeating rifle--the - , - , or --is preferable. no heavy rifle is necessary for south america. tin boxes or trunks are the best in which to carry one's spare things. a good medicine-chest is indispensable. nowadays doctors know so much of tropical diseases that there is no difficulty in fitting one out. it is better not to make the trip at all than to fail to take an ample supply of quinine pills. cholera pills and cathartic pills come next in importance. in liquid shape there should be serum to inject for the stoppage of amoebic dysentery, and anti-snake-venom serum. fly-dope should be taken in quantities. for clothing kermit and i used what was left over from our african trip. sun helmets are best in the open; slouch-hats are infinitely preferable in the woods. there should be hobnailed shoes--the nails many and small, not few and large; and also moccasins or rubber-soled shoes; and light, flexible leggings. tastes differ in socks; i like mine of thick wool. a khaki-colored shirt should be worn, or, as a better substitute, a khaki jacket with many pockets. very light underclothes are good. if one's knees and legs are unfortunately tender, knickerbockers with long stockings and leggings should be worn; ordinary trousers tend to bind the knee. better still, if one's legs will stand the exposure, are shorts, not coming down to the knee. a kilt would probably be best of all. kermit wore shorts in the brazilian forest, as he had already worn them in africa, in mexico, and in the new brunswick woods. some of the best modern hunters always wear shorts; as for example, that first-class sportsman the duke of alva. mr. fiala, after the experience of his trip down the papagaio, the juruena, and the tapajos, gives his judgment about equipment and provisions as follows: the history of south american exploration has been full of the losses of canoes and cargoes and lives. the native canoe made from the single trunk of a forest giant is the craft that has been used. it is durable and if lost can be readily replaced from the forest by good men with axes and adzes. but, because of its great weight and low free-board, it is unsuitable as a freight carrier and by reason of the limitations of its construction is not of the correct form to successfully run the rapid and bad waters of many of the south american rivers. the north american indian has undoubtedly developed a vastly superior craft in the birch-bark canoe and with it will run rapids that a south american indian with his log canoe would not think of attempting, though, as a general thing, the south american indian is a wonderful waterman, the equal and, in some ways, the superior of his northern contemporary. at the many carries or portages the light birch-bark canoe or its modern representative, the canvas-covered canoe, can be picked up bodily and carried by from two to four men for several miles, if necessary, while the log canoe has to be hauled by ropes and back-breaking labor over rollers that have first to be cut from trees in the forest, or at great risk led along the edge of the rapids with ropes and hooks and poles, the men often up to their shoulders in the rushing waters, guiding the craft to a place of safety. the native canoe is so long and heavy that it is difficult to navigate without some bumps on the rocks. in fact, it is usually dragged over the rocks in the shallow water near shore in preference to taking the risk of a plunge through the rushing volume of deeper water, for reasons stated above. the north american canoe can be turned with greater facility in critical moments in bad water. many a time i heard my steersman exclaim with delight as we took a difficult passage between two rocks with our loaded canadian canoe. in making the same passage the dugout would go sideways toward the rapid until by a supreme effort her three powerful paddlers and steersman would right her just in time. the native canoe would ship great quantities of water in places the canadian canoe came through without taking any water on board. we did bump a few rocks under water, but the canoe was so elastic that no damage was done. our nineteen-foot canvas-covered freight canoe, a type especially built for the purpose on deep, full lines with high free-board, weighed about one hundred and sixty pounds and would carry a ton of cargo with ease--and also take it safely where the same cargo distributed among two or three native thirty or thirty-five foot canoes would be lost. the native canoes weigh from about nine hundred to two thousand five hundred pounds and more. in view of the above facts the explorer-traveller is advised to take with him the north american canoe if he intends serious work. two canoes would be a good arrangement for from five to seven men, with at least one steersman and two paddlers to each canoe. the canoes can be purchased in two sizes and nested for transportation, an arrangement which would save considerable expense in freight bills. at least six paddles should be packed with each boat, in length four and one half, four and three fourths, and five feet. other paddles from six and one half feet to eight and one half feet should be provided for steering oars. the native paddler, after he has used the light canadian paddle, prefers it to the best native make. my own paddlers lost or broke all of their own paddles so as to get the north american ones, which they marked with their initials and used most carefully. to each canoe it would be well to have two copper air tanks, one fore, one aft, a hand-hole in each with a water-tight screw cover on hatch. in these tanks could be kept a small supply of matches, the chronometer or watch which is used for position, and the scientific records and diary. of course, the fact should be kept in mind that these are air tanks, not to be used so as to appreciably diminish their buoyancy. each canoe should also carry a small repair kit attached to one of the thwarts, containing cement, a piece of canvas same as cover of canoe, copper tacks, rivets, and some galvanized nails; a good hatchet and a hammer; a small can of canoe paint, spar varnish, and copper paint for worn places would be a protection against termites and torrential downpours. in concluding the subject of canoes i can state that the traveller in south america will find no difficulty in disposing of his craft at the end of his trip. motors--we had with us a three and one half horse-power motor which could be attached to stern or gunwale of canoe or boat. it was made by the evinrude motor company, who had a magneto placed in the flywheel of the engine so that we never had to resort to the battery to run the motor. though the motor was left out in the rain and sun, often without a cover, by careless native help, it never failed us. we found it particularly valuable in going against the strong current of the sepotuba river where several all-night trips were made up-stream, the motor attached to a heavy boat. for exploration up-stream it would be valuable, particularly as it is easily portable, weighing for the two horse-power motor fifty pounds, for three and one half horse-power one hundred pounds. if a carburetor could be attached so that kerosene could be used it would add to its value many times, for kerosene can be purchased almost anywhere in south america. tents--there is nothing better for material than the light waterproof sea island cotton of american manufacture, made under the trade name of waterproof silk. it keeps out the heaviest rain and is very light. canvas becomes water-soaked, and cravenetted material lets the water through. a waterproof canvas floor is a luxury, and, though it adds to the weight, it may with advantage be taken on ordinary trips. the tent should be eight by eight or eight by nine feet, large enough to swing a comfortable hammock. a waterproof canvas bag, a loose-fitting envelope for the tent should be provided. native help is, as a rule, careless, and the bag would save wear and tear. hammocks--the hammock is the south american bed, and the traveller will find it exceedingly comfortable. after leaving the larger cities and settlements a bed is a rare object. all the houses are provided with extra hammock hooks. the traveller will be entertained hospitably and after dinner will be given two hooks upon which to hang his hammock, for he will be expected to have his hammock and, in insect time, his net, if he has nothing else. as a rule, a native hammock and net can be procured in the field. but it is best to take a comfortable one along, arranged with a fine-meshed net. in regard to the folding cot: it is heavy and its numerous legs form a sort of highway system over which all sorts of insects can crawl up to the sleeper. the ants are special pests and some of them can bite with the enthusiastic vigor of beasts many times their size. the canvas floor in a tent obviates to a degree the insect annoyance. the headwaters of the rivers are usually reached by pack-trains of mules and oxen. the primitive ox-cart also comes in where the trail is not too bad. one hundred and sixty to one hundred and eighty pounds is a good load for the pack-animals, and none of the cases should weigh more than fifty or sixty pounds. each case should be marked with its contents and gross and net weight in kilos. for personal baggage the light fibre sample case used by travelling men in the united states does admirably. the regulation fibre case with its metal binding sold for the purpose is too heavy and has the bad feature of swelling up under the influence of rain and dampness, often necessitating the use of an axe or heavy hammer to remove cover. the ordinary fibre trunk is good for rail and steamer travel, but it is absolutely unpractical for mule-back or canoe. the fibre sample case could be developed into a container particularly fitted for exploration. the fibre should be soaked in hot paraffin and then hot- calendered or hot-pressed. this case could then be covered with waterproof canvas with throat opening like a duffel-bag. the waterproof duffel-bags usually sold are too light in texture and wear through. a heavier grade should be used. the small duffel-bag is very convenient for hammock and clothing, but generally the thing wanted will be at the bottom of the bag! we took with us a number of small cotton bags. as cotton is very absorbent, i had them paraffined. each bag was tagged and all were placed in the large duffel-bag. the light fibre case described above, made just the right size for mule pack, divided by partitions, and covered with a duffel-bag, would prove a great convenience. the light steel boxes made in england for travellers in india and africa would prove of value in south american exploration. they have the advantage of being insect and water proof and the disadvantage of being expensive. it would be well if the traveller measured each case for personal equipment and computed the limit of weight that it could carry and still float. by careful distribution of light and heavy articles in the different containers, he could be sure of his belongings floating if accidentally thrown into the water. it is not always possible to get comfortable native saddles. they are all constructed on heavy lines with thick padding which becomes water- soaked in the rainy season. a united states military saddle, with whitman or mcclellan tree, would be a positive luxury. neither of them is padded, so would be the correct thing for all kinds of weather. the regulation army saddle-blanket is also advised as a protection for the mule's back. the muleteer should wash the saddle-blanket often. for a long mule-back trip through a game country, it would be well to have a carbine boot on the saddle (united states army) and saddle-bags with canteen and cup. in a large pack-train much time and labor are lost every morning collecting the mules which strayed while grazing. it would pay in the long run to feed a little corn at a certain hour every morning in camp, always ringing a bell or blowing a horn at the time. the mules would get accustomed to receiving the feed and would come to camp for it at the signal. all the rope that came to my attention in south america was three- strand hemp, a hard material, good for standing rigging but not good for tackle or for use aboard canoes. a four-ply bolt rope of best manilla, made in new bedford, mass., should be taken. it is the finest and most pliable line in the world, as any old whaler will tell you. get a sailor of the old school to relay the coils before you go into the field so that the rope will be ready for use. five eighths to seven eighths inch diameter is large enough. a few balls of marline come in conveniently as also does heavy linen fish-line. a small-sized duffel-bag should be provided for each of the men as a container for hammock and net, spare clothing, and mess-kit. a very small waterproof pouch or bag should be furnished also for matches, tobacco, etc. the men should be limited to one duffel-bag each. these bags should be numbered consecutively. in fact, every piece in the entire equipment should be thus numbered and a list kept in detail in a book. the explorer should personally see that each of his men has a hammock, net, and poncho; for the native, if left unsupervised, will go into the field with only the clothing he has on. food--though south america is rich in food and food possibilities, she has not solved the problem of living economically on her frontiers. the prices asked for food in the rubber districts we passed through were amazing. five milreis (one dollar and fifty cents) was cheap for a chicken, and eggs at five hundred reis (fifteen cents) apiece were a rarity. sugar was bought at the rate of one to two milreis a kilo--in a country where sugar-cane grows luxuriantly. the main dependence is the mandioc, or farina, as it is called. it is the bread of the country and is served at every meal. the native puts it on his meat and in his soup and mixes it with his rice and beans. when he has nothing else he eats the farina, as it is called, by the handful. it is seldom cooked. the small mandioc tubers when boiled are very good and are used instead of potatoes. native beans are nutritious and form one of the chief foods. in the field the native cook wastes much time. generally provided with an inadequate cooking equipment, hours are spent cooking beans after the day's work, and then, of course, they are often only partially cooked. a kettle or aluminum dutch oven should be taken along, large enough to cook enough beans for both breakfast and dinner. the beans should be cooked all night, a fire kept burning for the purpose. it would only be necessary then to warm the beans for breakfast and dinner, the two south american meals. for meat the rubber hunter and explorer depends upon his rifle and fish-hook. the rivers are full of fish which can readily be caught, and, in brazil, the tapir, capybara, paca, agouti, two or three varieties of deer, and two varieties of wild pig can occasionally be shot; and most of the monkeys are used for food. turtles and turtle eggs can be had in season and a great variety of birds, some of them delicious in flavor and heavy in meat. in the hot, moist climate fresh meat will not keep and even salted meat has been known to spoil. for use on the roosevelt expedition i arranged a ration for five men for one day packed in a tin box; the party which went down the duvida made each ration do for six men for a day and a half, and in addition gave over half the bread or hardtack to the camaradas. by placing the day's allowance of bread in this same box, it was lightened sufficiently to float if dropped into water. there were seven variations in the arrangement of food in these boxes and they were numbered from to , so that a different box could be used every day of the week. in addition to the food, each box contained a cake of soap, a piece of cheese-cloth, two boxes of matches, and a box of table salt. these tin boxes were lacquered to protect from rust and enclosed in wooden cases for transportation. a number in large type was printed on each. no. was cased separately; nos. and , and , and were cased together. for canoe travel the idea was to take these wooden cases off. i did not have an opportunity personally to experience the management of these food cases. we had sent them all ahead by pack- train for the explorers of the duvida river. the exploration of the papagaio was decided upon during the march over the plateau of matto grosso and was accomplished with dependence upon native food only. daily ration for five men sun. mon. tues. wed. thur. fri. sat. rice oatmeal bread tea-biscuits gingersnaps dehydrated potatoes dehydrated onions erbswurst evaporated soups baked beans condensed milk bacon roast beef braised beef corned beef ox tongue curry and chicken boned chicken fruits: evaporated berries figs dates sugar coffee tea salt sweet chocolate each box also contained muslin, one yard matches, boxes soap, one cake above weights of food are net in avoirdupois ounces. each complete ration with its tin container weighed nearly twenty-seven pounds. the five pounds over net weight of daily ration was taken up in tin necessary for protection of food. the weight of component parts of daily ration had to be governed to some extent by the size of the commercial package in which the food could be purchased on short notice. austin, nichols & co., of new york, who supplied the food stores for my polar expedition, worked day and night to complete the packing of the rations on time. the food cases described above were used on colonel roosevelt's descent of the rio da duvida and also by the party who journeyed down the gy-parana and madeira rivers. leo miller, the naturalist, who was a member of the last-named party, arrived in manaos, brazil, while i was there and, in answer to my question, told me that the food served admirably and was good, but that the native cooks had a habit of opening a number of cases at a time to satisfy their personal desire for special delicacies. bacon was the article most sought for. speaking critically, for a strenuous piece of work like the exploration of the duvida, the food was somewhat bulky. a ration arrangement such as i used on my sledge trips north would have contained more nutritious elements in a smaller space. we could have done without many of the luxuries. but the exploration of the duvida had not been contemplated and had no place in the itinerary mapped out in new york. the change of plan and the decision to explore the duvida river came about in rio janeiro, long after our rations had been made out and shipped. "matte" the tea of brazil and paraguay, used in most of the states of south america, should not be forgotten. it is a valuable beverage. with it a native can do a wonderful amount of work on little food. upon the tired traveller it has a very refreshing effect. doctor peckolt, celebrated chemist of rio de janeiro, has compared the analysis of matte with those of green tea, black tea, and coffee and obtained the following result: in , parts of green tea black tea coffee matte natural oil . . . . chlorophyl . . . . resin . . . . tannin . . . . alkaloids: mateina . . . . extractive substances . . . . cellulose and fibres . . . . ashes . . . . manner of preparation: the matte tea is prepared in the same manner as the indian tea, that is to say, by pouring upon it boiling water during ten to fifteen minutes before using. to obtain a good infusion five spoonfuls of matte are sufficient for a litre of water. some experiments have been made lately with the use of matte in the german army, and probably it would be a valuable beverage for the use of our own troops. two plates and a cup, knife, fork, and spoon should be provided for each member of the party. the united states army mess- kit would serve admirably. each man's mess-kit should be numbered to correspond with the number on his duffel-bag. an aluminum (for lightness) cooking outfit, or the dutch oven mentioned, with three or four kettles nested within, a coffee pot or a teapot would suffice. the necessary large spoons and forks for the cook, a small meat grinder, and a half dozen skinning knives could all be included in the fibre case. these outfits are usually sold with the cups, plates, etc., for the table. as before suggested, each member of the party should have his own mess-kit. it should not be carried with the general cooking outfit. by separating the eating equipments thus, one of the problems of hygiene and cleanliness is simplified. rifles--ammunition--a heavy rifle is not advised. the only animals that can be classed as dangerous are the jaguar and white-jawed peccary, and a - or calibre is heavy enough for such game. the -calibre winchester or remington carbine is the arm generally used throughout south america, and calibre is the only ammunition that one can depend upon securing in the field. every man has his own preference for an arm. however, there is no need of carrying a nine or ten pound weapon when a rifle weighing only from six and three fourths to seven and one half pounds will do all that is necessary. i, personally, prefer the small-calibre rifle, as it can be used for birds also. the three-barrelled gun, combining a double shotgun and a rifle, is an excellent weapon, and it is particularly valuable for the collector of natural-history specimens. a new gun has just come on the market which may prove valuable in south america where there is such a variety of game, a four-barrel gun, weighing only eight and one fourth pounds. it has two shotgun barrels, one to calibre rifle and the rib separating the shotgun barrels is bored for a -calibre rifle cartridge. the latter is particularly adapted for the large food birds, which a heavy rifle bullet might tear. twenty-two calibre ammunition is also very light and the long calibre exceedingly powerful. unless in practice it proves too complicated, it would seem to be a good arm for all-round use--sixteen to twenty gauge is large enough for the shotgun barrels. too much emphasis cannot be placed upon the need of being provided with good weapons. after the loss of all our arms in the rapids we secured four poor, rusty rifles which proved of no value. we lost three deer, a tapir, and other game, and finally gave up the use of the rifles, depending upon hook and line. a or calibre high power automatic pistol with six or seven inch barrel would prove a valuable arm to carry always on the person. it could be used for large game and yet would not be too large for food birds. it is to be regretted that there is nothing in the market of this character. we had our rifle ammunition packed by the u. m. c. co. in zinc cases of one hundred rounds each, a metallic strip with pull ring closing the two halves of the box. shot-cartridge, sixteen gauge, were packed the same way, twenty-five to the box. the explorer would do well always to have on his person a compass, a light waterproof bag containing matches, a waterproof box of salt, and a strong, light, linen or silk fish-line with several hooks, a knife, and an automatic at his belt, with several loaded magazines for the latter in his pocket. thus provided, if accidentally lost for several days in the forest (which often happens to the rubber hunters in brazil), he will be provided with the possibility of getting game and making himself shelter and fire at night. fish--for small fish like the pacu and piranha an ordinary bass hook will do. for the latter, because of its sharp teeth, a hook with a long shank and phosphor-bronze leader is the best; the same character of leader is best on the hook to be used for the big fish. a tarpon hook will hold most of the great fish of the rivers. a light rod and reel would be a convenience in catching the pacu. we used to fish for the latter variety in the quiet pools while allowing the canoe to drift, and always saved some of the fish as bait for the big fellows. we fished for the pacu as the native does, kneading a ball of mandioc farina with water and placing it on the hook as bait. i should not be surprised, though, if it were possible, with carefully chosen flies, to catch some of the fish that every once in a while we saw rise to the surface and drag some luckless insect under. clothing--even the experienced traveller when going into a new field will commit the crime of carrying too much luggage. articles which he thought to be camp necessities become camp nuisances which worry his men and kill his mules. the lighter one can travel the better. in the matter of clothing, before the actual wilderness is reached the costume one would wear to business in new york in summer is practical for most of south america, except, of course, the high mountain regions, where a warm wrap is necessary. a white or natural linen suit is a very comfortable garment. a light blue unlined serge is desirable as a change and for wear in rainy weather. strange to relate, the south american seems to have a fondness for stiff collars. even in corumba, the hottest place i have ever been in, the native does not think he is dressed unless he wears one of these stiff abominations around his throat. a light negligee shirt with interchangeable or attached soft collars is vastly preferable. in the frontier regions and along the rivers the pajama seems to be the conventional garment for day as well as night wear. several such suits of light material should be carried--the more ornamented and beautifully colored the greater favor will they find along the way. a light cravenetted mackintosh is necessary for occasional cool evenings and as a protection against the rain. it should have no cemented rubber seams to open up in the warm, moist climate. yachting oxfords and a light pair of leather slippers complete the outfit for steamer travel. for the field, two or three light woollen khaki-colored shirts, made with two breast pockets with buttoned flaps, two pairs of long khaki trousers, two pairs of riding breeches, a khaki coat cut military fashion with four pockets with buttoned flaps, two suits of pajamas, handkerchiefs, socks, etc., would be necessary. the poncho should extend to below the knees and should be provided with a hood large enough to cover the helmet. it should have no cemented seams; the material recently adopted by the united states army for ponchos seems to be the best. for footgear the traveller needs two pairs of stout, high hunting shoes, built on the moccasin form with soles. hob nails should be taken along to insert if the going is over rocky places. it is also advisable to provide a pair of very light leather slipper boots to reach to just under the knee for wear in camp. they protect the legs and ankles from insect stings and bites. the traveller who enters tropical south america should protect his head with a wide-brimmed soft felt hat with ventilated headband, or the best and lightest pith helmet that can be secured, one large enough to shade the face and back of neck. there should be a ventilating space all around the head-band; the wider the space the better. these helmets can be secured in rio and buenos aires. head-nets with face plates of horsehair are the best protection against small insect pests. they are generally made too small and the purchaser should be careful to get one large enough to go over his helmet and come down to the breast. several pairs of loose gloves rather long in the wrist will be needed as protection against the flies, piums and boroshudas which draw blood with every bite and are numerous in many parts of south america. a waterproof sun umbrella, with a jointed handle about six feet long terminating in a point, would be a decided help to the scientist at work in the field. a fine-meshed net fitting around the edge of the umbrella would make it insect proof. when folded it would not be bulky and its weight would be negligible. such an umbrella could also be attached, with a special clamp, to the thwart of a canoe and so prove a protection from both sun and rain. there are little personal conveniences which sometimes grow into necessities. one of these in my own case was a little electric flash- light taken for the purpose of reading the verniers of a theodolite or sextant in star observations. it was used every night and for many purposes. as a matter of necessity, where insects are numerous one turns to the protection of his hammock and net immediately after the evening meal. it was at such times that i found the electric lamp so helpful. reclining in the hammock, i held the stock of the light under my left arm and with diary in my lap wrote up my records for the day. i sometimes read by its soft, steady light. one charge of battery, to my surprise, lasted nearly a month. when forced to pick out a camping spot after dark, an experience which comes to every traveller in the tropics in the rainy season, we found its light very helpful. neither rain nor wind could put it out and the light could be directed wherever needed. the charges should be calculated on the plan of one for every three weeks. the acetylene lamp for camp illumination is an advance over the kerosene lantern. it has been found that for equal weight the carbide will give more light than kerosene or candle. the carbide should be put in small containers, for each time a box is opened some of the contents turns into gas from contact with the moist air. tools--three or four good axes, several bill-hooks, a good hatchet with hammer head and nail-puller should be in the tool kit. in addition, each man should be provided with a belt knife and a machete with sheath. collins makes the best machetes. his axes, too, are excellent. the bill-hook, called foice in brazil, is a most valuable tool for clearing away small trees, vines, and under-growths. it is marvellous how quickly an experienced hand can clear the ground in a forest with one of these instruments. all of these tools should have handles of second-growth american hickory of first quality; and several extra handles should be taken along. the list of tools should be completed with a small outfit of pliers, tweezers, files, etc.--the character, of course, depending upon the mechanical ability of the traveller and the scientific instruments he has with him that might need repairs. survey instruments--the choice of instruments will depend largely upon the character of the work intended. if a compass survey will suffice, there is nothing better than the cavalry sketching board used in the united states army for reconnaissance. with a careful hand it approaches the high degree of perfection attained by the plane-table method. it is particularly adapted for river survey and, after one gets accustomed to its use, it is very simple. if the prismatic compass is preferred, nothing smaller than two and one half inches in diameter should be used. in the smaller sizes the magnet is not powerful enough to move the dial quickly or accurately. several good pocket compasses must be provided. they should all have good-sized needles with the north end well marked and degrees engraved in metal. if the floating dial is preferred it should be of aluminum and nothing smaller than two and one half inches, for the same reason as mentioned above regarding the prismatic compass. expense should not be spared if it is necessary to secure good compasses. avoid paper dials and leather cases which absorb moisture. the compass case should allow taking apart for cleaning and drying. the regular chronometer movement, because of its delicacy, is out of the question for rough land or water travel. we had with us a small- sized half-chronometer movement recently brought out by the waltham company as a yacht chronometer. it gave a surprisingly even rate under the most adverse conditions. i was sorry to lose it in the rapids of the papagaio when our canoes went down. the watches should be waterproof with strong cases, and several should be taken. it would be well to have a dozen cheap but good watches and the same number of compasses for use around camp and for gifts or trade along the line of travel. money is of no value after one leaves the settlements. i was surprised to find that many of the rubber hunters were not provided with compasses, and i listened to an american who told of having been lost in the depths of the great forest where for days he lived on monkey meat secured with his rifle until he found his way to the river. he had no compass and could not get one. i was sorry i had none to give; i had lost mine in the rapids. for the determination of latitude and longitude there is nothing better than a small four or five inch theodolite not over fifteen pounds in weight. it should have a good prism eyepiece with an angle tube attached so it would not be necessary to break one's neck in reading high altitudes. for days we travelled in the direction the sun was going, with altitudes varying from ° to °. because of these high altitudes of the sun the sextant with artificial horizon could not be used unless one depended upon star observations altogether, an uncertain dependence because of the many cloudy nights. barometers--the goldsmith form of direct-reading aneroid is the most accurate portable instrument and, of course, should be compared with a standard mercurial at the last weather-bureau station. thermometers--a swing thermometer, with wet and dry bulbs for determination of the amount of moisture in the air, and the maximum and minimum thermometer of the signal-service or weather-bureau type should be provided, with a case to protect them from injury. a tape measure with metric scale of measurements on one side and feet and inches on the other is most important. two small, light waterproof cases could be constructed and packed with scientific instruments, data, and spare clothing and yet not exceed the weight limit of flotation. in transit by pack-train these two cases would form but one mule load. photographic--from the experience gained in several fields of exploration it seems to me that the voyager should limit himself to one small-sized camera, which he can always have with him, and then carry a duplicate of it, soldered in tin, in the baggage. the duplicate need not be equipped with as expensive a lens and shutter as the camera carried for work; / x / is a good size. nothing larger than / x / is advised. we carried the a special kodak and found it a light, strong, and effective instrument. it seems to me that the ideal form of instrument would be one with a front board large enough to contain an adapter fitted for three lenses. for the / x / : one lens or / focus one lens or focus one lens telephoto or telecentric to focus the camera should be made of metal and fitted with focal-plane shutter and direct view-finder. a sole leather case with shoulder-strap should contain the camera and lenses, with an extra roll of films, all within instant reach, so that a lens could be changed without any loss of time. plates, of course, are the best, but their weight and frailty, with difficulty of handling, rule them out of the question. the roll film is the best, as the film pack sticks together and the stubs pull off in the moist, hot climate. the films should be purchased in rolls of six exposures, each roll in a tin, the cover sealed with surgical tape. twelve of these tubes should be soldered in a tin box. in places where the air is charged with moisture a roll of films should not be left in a camera over twenty-four hours. tank development is best for the field. the tanks provided for developing by the kodak company are best for fixing also. a nest of tanks would be a convenience; one tank should be kept separate for the fixing-bath. as suggested in the kodak circular, for tropical development a large-size tank can be used for holding the freezing mixture of hypo. this same tank would become the fixing tank after development. in the rainy season it is a difficult matter to dry films. development in the field, with washing water at degrees f., is a patience-trying operation. it has occurred to me that a small air-pump with a supply of chloride of calcium in small tubes might solve the problem of preserving films in the tropics. the air-pump and supply of chloride of calcium would not be as heavy or bulky as the tanks and powders needed for development. by means of the air-pump the films could be sealed in tin tubes free from moisture and kept thus until arrival at home or at a city where the air was fairly dry and cold water for washing could be had. while i cordially agree with most of the views expressed by mr. fiala, there are some as to which i disagree; for instance, we came very strongly to the conclusion, in descending the duvida, where bulk was of great consequence, that the films should be in rolls of ten or twelve exposures. i doubt whether the four-barrel gun would be practical; but this is a matter of personal taste. appendix c. my letter of may to general lauro muller the first report on the expedition, made by me immediately after my arrival at manaos, and published in rio janeiro upon its receipt, is as follows: may st, . to his excellency the minister of foreign affairs, rio-de-janeiro. my dear general lauro muller: i wish first to express my profound acknowledgments to you personally and to the other members of the brazilian government whose generous courtesy alone rendered possible the expedicao scientifica roosevelt- rondon. i wish also to express my high admiration and regard for colonel rondon and his associates who have been my colleagues in this work of exploration. in the third place i wish to point out that what we have just done was rendered possible only by the hard and perilous labor of the brazilian telegraphic commission in the unexplored western wilderness of matto grosso during the last seven years. we have had a hard and somewhat dangerous but very successful trip. no less than six weeks were spent in slowly and with peril and exhausting labor forcing our way down through what seemed a literally endless succession of rapids and cataracts. for forty-eight days we saw no human being. in passing these rapids we lost five of the seven canoes with which we started and had to build others. one of our best men lost his life in the rapids. under the strain one of the men went completely bad, shirked all his work, stole his comrades' food and when punished by the sergeant he with cold-blooded deliberation murdered the sergeant and fled into the wilderness. colonel rondon's dog running ahead of him while hunting, was shot by two indians; by his death he in all probability saved the life of his master. we have put on the map a river about kilometres in length running from just south of the th degree to north of the th degree and the biggest affluent of the madeira. until now its upper course has been utterly unknown to every one, and its lower course although known for years to the rubbermen utterly unknown to all cartographers. its source is between the th and th parallels of latitude south, and between longitude degrees and longitude degrees west from greenwich. we embarked on it about at latitude degrees minute south and longitude degrees west. after that its entire course was between the th and st degrees of longitude approaching the latter most closely about in latitude degrees minutes. the first rapids were at navaite in degrees minutes and after that they were continuous and very difficult and dangerous until the rapids named after the murdered sergeant paishon in degrees minutes. at degrees minutes the river received the rio kermit from the left. at degrees minutes the marciano avila entered it from the right. at degrees minutes the taunay entered from the left. at degrees minutes the cardozo entered from the right. at degrees minutes we encountered the first rubberman. the rio branco entered from the left at degrees minutes. we camped at degrees minutes or approximately the boundary line between matto grosso and amazonas. the confluence with the upper aripuanan, which entered from the right, was in degrees minutes. the mouth where it entered the madeira was in about degrees minutes. the stream we have followed down is that which rises farthest away from the mouth and its general course is almost due north. my dear sir, i thank you from my heart for the chance to take part in this great work of exploration. with high regard and respect, believe me very sincerely yours, theodore roosevelt. martin rattler, by r.m. ballantyne. chapter one. the hero and his only relative. martin rattler was a very bad boy. at least his aunt, mrs dorothy grumbit, said so; and certainly she ought to have known, if anybody should, for martin lived with her, and was, as she herself expressed it, "the bane of her existence; the very torment of her life." no doubt of it whatever, according to aunt dorothy grumbit's showing, martin rattler was "a remarkably bad boy." it is a curious fact, however, that, although most of the people in the village of ashford seemed to agree with mrs grumbit in her opinion of martin, there were very few of them who did not smile cheerfully on the child when they met him, and say, "good day, lad!" as heartily as if they thought him the best boy in the place. no one seemed to bear martin rattler ill-will, notwithstanding his alleged badness. men laughed when they said he was a bad boy, as if they did not quite believe their own assertion. the vicar, an old whiteheaded man, with a kind, hearty countenance, said that the child was full of mischief, full of mischief; but he would improve as he grew older, he was quite certain of that. and the vicar was a good judge; for he had five boys of his own, besides three other boys, the sons of a distant relative, who boarded with him; and he had lived forty years in a parish overflowing with boys, and he was particularly fond of boys in general. not so the doctor, a pursy little man with a terrific frown, who hated boys, especially little ones, with a very powerful hatred. the doctor said that martin was a scamp. and yet martin had not the appearance of a scamp. he had fat rosy cheeks, a round rosy mouth, a straight delicately-formed nose, a firm massive chin, and a broad forehead. but the latter was seldom visible, owing to the thickly-clustering fair curls that overhung it. when asleep martin's face was the perfection of gentle innocence. but the instant he opened his dark-brown eyes, a thousand dimples and wrinkles played over his visage, chiefly at the corners of his mouth and round his eyes; as if the spirit of fun and the spirit of mischief had got entire possession of the boy, and were determined to make the most of him. when deeply interested in anything, martin was as grave and serious as a philosopher. aunt dorothy grumbit had a turned-up nose,--a very much turned-up nose; so much so, indeed, that it presented a front view of the nostrils! it was an aggravating nose, too, for the old lady's spectacles refused to rest on any part of it except the extreme point. mrs grumbit invariably placed them on the right part of her nose, and they as invariably slid down the curved slope until they were brought up by the little hillock at the end. there they condescended to repose in peace. mrs grumbit was mild, and gentle, and little, and thin, and old,-- perhaps seventy-five; but no one knew her age for certain, not even herself. she wore an old-fashioned, high-crowned cap, and a gown of bed-curtain chintz, with flowers on it the size of a saucer. it was a curious gown, and very cheap, for mrs grumbit was poor. no one knew the extent of her poverty, any more than they did her age; but she herself knew it, and felt it deeply,--never so deeply, perhaps, as when her orphan nephew martin grew old enough to be put to school, and she had not wherewithal to send him. but love is quick-witted and resolute. a residence of six years in germany had taught her to knit stockings at a rate that cannot be described, neither conceived unless seen. she knitted two dozen pairs. the vicar took one dozen, the doctor took the other. the fact soon became known. shops were not numerous in the village in those days; and the wares they supplied were only second rate. orders came pouring in, mrs grumbit's knitting wires clicked, and her little old hands wagged with incomprehensible rapidity and unflagging regularity,--and martin rattler was sent to school. while occupied with her knitting, she sat in a high-backed chair in a very small deep window, through which the sun streamed nearly the whole day; and out of which there was the most charming imaginable view of the gardens and orchards of the villagers, with a little dancing brook in the midst, and the green fields of the farmers beyond, studded with sheep and cattle and knolls of woodland, and bounded in the far distance by the bright blue sea. it was a lovely scene, such an one as causes the eye to brighten and the heart to melt as we gaze upon it, and think, perchance, of its creator. yes, it was a scene worth looking at; but mrs grumbit never looked at it, for the simple reason that she could not have seen it if she had. half way across her own little parlour was the extent of her natural vision. by the aid of spectacles and a steady concentrated effort, she could see the fire-place at the other end of the room; and the portrait of her deceased husband, who had been a sea-captain; and the white kitten that usually sat on the rug before the fire. to be sure, she saw them very indistinctly. the picture was a hazy blue patch, which was the captain's coat; with a white patch down the middle of it, which was his waistcoat; and a yellow ball on the top of it, which was his head. it was rather an indistinct and generalised view, no doubt; but she _saw_ it, and that was a great comfort. chapter two. in disgrace. fire was the cause of martin's getting into disgrace at school for the first time; and this is how it happened. "go and poke the fire, martin rattler," said the schoolmaster, "and put on a bit of coal, and see that you don't send the sparks flying about the floor." martin sprang with alacrity to obey; for he was standing up with the class at the time, and was glad of the temporary relaxation. he stirred the fire with great care, and put on several pieces of coal very slowly, and rearranged them two or three times; after which he stirred the fire a little more, and examined it carefully to see that it was all right; but he did not seem quite satisfied, and was proceeding to re-adjust the coals when bob croaker, one of the big boys, who was a bullying, ill-tempered fellow, and had a spite against martin, called out-- "please, sir, rattler's playin' at the fire." "come back to your place, sir!" cried the master, sternly. martin returned in haste, and resumed his position in the class. as he did so he observed that his fore-finger was covered with soot. immediately a smile of glee overspread his features; and, while the master was busy with one of the boys, he drew his black finger gently down the forehead and nose of the boy next to him. "what part of the earth was peopled by the descendants of adam?" cried the master, pointing to the dux. "shem!" shrieked a small boy near the foot of the class. "silence!" thundered the master, with a frown that caused the small boy to quake down to the points of his toes. "asia!" answered dux. "next?" "turkey!" "next, next, next? hallo! john ward," cried the master, starting up in anger from his seat, "what do you mean by that, sir?" "what, sir?" said john ward, tremulously, while a suppressed titter ran round the class. "your face, sir! who blacked your face, eh?" "i--i--don't know," said the boy, drawing his sleeve across his face, which had the effect of covering it with sooty streaks. an uncontrollable shout of laughter burst from the whole school, which was instantly followed by a silence so awful and profound that a pin might have been heard to fall. "martin rattler, you did that! i know you did,--i see the marks on your fingers. come here, sir! now tell me; did you do it?" martin rattler never told falsehoods. his old aunt had laboured to impress upon him from infancy that to lie was to commit a sin which is abhorred by god and scorned by man; and her teaching had not been in vain. the child would have suffered any punishment rather than have told a deliberate lie. he looked straight in the master's face and said, "yes, sir, i did it." "very well, go to your seat, and remain in school during the play-hour." with a heavy heart martin obeyed; and soon after the school was dismissed. "i say, rattler," whispered bob croaker as he passed, "i'm going to teach your white kitten to swim just now. won't you come and see it?" the malicious laugh with which the boy accompanied this remark convinced martin that he intended to put his threat in execution. for a moment he thought of rushing out after him to protect his pet kitten; but a glance at the stern brow of the master, as he sat at his desk reading, restrained him; so, crushing down his feelings of mingled fear and anger, he endeavoured to while away the time by watching the boys as they played in the fields before the windows of the school. chapter three. the great fight. "martin!" said the schoolmaster, in a severe tone, looking up from the book with which he was engaged, "don't look out at the window, sir; turn your back to it." "please, sir, i can't help it," replied the boy, trembling with eagerness as he stared across the fields. "turn your back on it, i say!" reiterated the master in a loud tone, at the same time striking the desk violently with his cane. "oh, sir, let me out! there's bob croaker with my kitten. he's going to drown it. i know he is; he said he would; and if he does aunty will die, for she loves it next to me; and i must save it, and--and, if you _don't_ let me out--you'll be a murderer!" at this concluding burst, martin sprang forward and stood before his master with clenched fists and a face blazing with excitement. the schoolmaster's gaze of astonishment gradually gave place to a dark frown strangely mingled with a smile, and, when the boy concluded, he said quietly-- "you may go." no second bidding was needed. the door flew open with a bang; and the gravel of the play-ground, spurned right and left, dashed against the window panes as martin flew across it. the paling that fenced it off from the fields beyond was low, but too high for a jump. never a boy in all the school had crossed that paling at a spring, without laying his hands upon it; but martin did. we do not mean to say that he did anything superhuman; but he rushed at it like a charge of cavalry, sprang from the ground like a deer, kicked away the top bar, tumbled completely over, landed on his head, and rolled down the slope on the other side as fast as he could have run down,--perhaps faster. it would have required sharper eyes than yours or mine to have observed how martin got on his legs again, but he did it in a twinkling, and was half across the field almost before you could wink, and panting on the heels of bob croaker. bob saw him coming and instantly started off at a hard run, followed by the whole school. a few minutes brought them to the banks of the stream, where bob croaker halted, and, turning round, held the white kitten up by the nape of the neck. "o spare it! spare it, bob!--don't do it--please don't, don't do it!" gasped martin, as he strove in vain to run faster. "there you go!" shouted bob, with a coarse laugh, sending the kitten high into the air, whence it fell with a loud splash into the water. it was a dreadful shock to feline nerves, no doubt, but that white kitten was no ordinary animal. its little heart beat bravely when it rose to the surface, and, before its young master came up, it had regained the bank. but, alas! what a change! it went into the stream a fat, round, comfortable ball of eider-down. it came out a scraggy blotch of white paint, with its black eyes glaring like two great glass beads! no sooner did it crawl out of the water than bob croaker seized it, and whirled it round his head, amid suppressed cries of "shame!" intending to throw it in again; but at that instant martin rattler seized bob by the collar of his coat with both hands, and, letting himself drop suddenly, dragged the cruel boy to the ground, while the kitten crept humbly away and hid itself in a thick tuft of grass. a moment sufficed to enable bob croaker, who was nearly twice martin's weight, to free himself from the grasp of his panting antagonist, whom he threw on his back, and doubled his fist, intending to strike martin on the face; but a general rush of the boys prevented this. "shame, shame, fair-play!" cried several; "don't hit him when he's down!" "then let him rise up and come on!" cried bob, fiercely, as he sprang up and released martin. "ay, that's fair. now then, martin, remember the kitten!" "strike men of your own size!" cried several of the bigger boys, as they interposed to prevent martin from rushing into the unequal contest. "so i will," cried bob croaker, glaring round with passion. "come on any of you that likes. i don't care a button for the biggest of you." no one accepted this challenge, for bob was the oldest and the strongest boy in the school, although, as is usually the case with bullies, by no means the bravest. seeing that no one intended to fight with him, and that a crowd of boys strove to hold martin rattler back, while they assured him that he had not the smallest chance in the world, bob turned towards the kitten, which was quietly and busily employed in licking itself dry and said, "now martin, you coward, i'll give it another swim for your impudence." "stop, stop!" cried martin, earnestly. "bob croaker, i would rather do anything than fight. i would give you everything i have to save my kitten; but if you won't spare it unless i fight, i'll do it. if you throw it in before you fight me, you're the greatest coward that ever walked. just give me five minutes to breathe and a drink of water, and i'll fight you as long as i can stand." bob looked at his little foe in surprise. "well, that's fair. i'm you're man; but if you don't lick me i'll drown the kitten, that's all." having said this, he quietly divested himself of his jacket and neckcloth, while several boys assisted martin to do the same, and brought him a draught of water in the crown of one of their caps. in five minutes all was ready, and the two boys stood face to face and foot to foot, with their fists doubled and revolving, and a ring of boys around them. just at this critical moment the kitten, having found the process of licking itself dry more fatiguing than it had expected, gave vent to a faint mew of distress. it was all that was wanting to set martin's indignant heart into a blaze of inexpressible fury. bob croaker's visage instantly received a shower of sharp, stinging blows, that had the double effect of taking that youth by surprise and throwing him down upon the green sward. but martin could not hope to do this a second time. bob now knew the vigour of his assailant, and braced himself warily to the combat, commencing operations by giving martin a tremendous blow on the point of his nose, and another on the chest. these had the effect of tempering martin's rage with a salutary degree of caution, and of eliciting from the spectators sundry cries of warning on the one hand, and admiration on the other, while the young champions revolved warily round each other, and panted vehemently. the battle that was fought that day was one of a thousand. it created as great a sensation in the village school as did the battle of waterloo in england. it was a notable fight; such as had not taken place within the memory of the oldest boy in the village, and from which, in after years, events of juvenile history were dated,--especially pugilistic events, of which, when a good one came off it used to be said that, "such a battle had not taken place since the year of the great fight." bob croaker was a noted fighter, martin rattler was, up to this date, an untried hero. although fond of rough play and boisterous mischief, he had an unconquerable aversion to _earnest_ fighting, and very rarely indeed returned home with a black eye,--much to the satisfaction of aunt dorothy grumbit, who objected to all fighting from principle, and frequently asserted, in gentle tones, that there should be no soldiers or sailors (fighting sailors, she meant) at all, but that people ought all to settle everything the best way they could without fighting, and live peaceably with one another, as the bible told them to do. they would be far happier and better off, she was sure of that; and if everybody was of her way of thinking, there would be neither swords, nor guns, nor pistols, nor squibs, nor anything else at all! dear old lady. it would indeed be a blessing if her principles could be carried out in this warring and jarring world. but as this is rather difficult, what we ought to be careful about is, that we never fight except in a good cause and with a clear conscience. it was well for martin rattler, on that great day, that the formation of the ground favoured him. the spot on which the fight took place was uneven, and covered with little hillocks and hollows, over which bob croaker stumbled, and into which he fell,--being a clumsy boy on his legs--and did himself considerable damage; while martin, who was firmly knit and active as a kitten, scarcely ever fell, or, if he did, sprang up again like an india-rubber ball. fair-play was embedded deep in the centre of martin's heart, so that he scorned to hit his adversary when he was down or in the act of rising; but the thought of the fate that awaited the white kitten if he were conquered, acted like lightning in his veins, and scarcely had bob time to double his fists after a fall, when he was knocked back again into the hollow, out of which he had risen. there were no _rounds_ in this fight; no pausing to recover breath. martin's anger rose with every blow, whether given or received; and although he was knocked down flat four or five times, he rose again, and without a second's delay rushed headlong at his enemy. feeling that he was too little and light to make much impression on bob croaker by means of mere blows, he endeavoured as much as possible to throw his weight against him at each assault; but bob stood his ground well, and after a time seemed even to be recovering strength a little. suddenly he made a rush at martin, and, dealing him a successful blow on the forehead, knocked him down; at the same time he himself tripped over a molehill and fell upon his face. both were on their legs in an instant. martin grew desperate. the white kitten swimming for its life seemed to rise before him, and new energy was infused into his frame. he retreated a step or two, and then darted forward like an arrow from a bow. uttering a loud cry, he sprang completely in the air and plunged--head and fists together, as if he were taking a dive--into bob croaker's bosom! the effect was tremendous. bob went down like a shock of grain before the sickle; and having, in their prolonged movements, approached close to the brink of the stream, both he and martin went with a sounding splash into the deep pool and disappeared. it was but for a moment, however. martin's head emerged first, with eyes and mouth distended to the utmost. instantly, on finding bottom, he turned to deal his opponent another blow; but it was not needed. when bob croaker's head rose to the surface there was no motion in the features, and the eyes were closed. the intended blow was changed into a friendly grasp; and, exerting himself to the utmost, martin dragged his insensible school fellow to the bank, where, in a few minutes, he recovered sufficiently to declare in a sulky tone that he would fight no more! "bob croaker," said martin, holding out his hand, "i'm sorry we've had to fight. i wouldn't have done it, but to save my kitten. you compelled me to do it, you know that. come, let's be friends again." bob made no reply, but slowly and with some difficulty put on his vest and jacket. "i'm sure," continued martin, "there's no reason in bearing me ill-will. i've done nothing unfair, and i'm very sorry we've had to fight. won't you shake hands?" bob was silent. "come, some, bob!" cried several of the bigger boys, "don't be sulky, man; shake hands and be friends. martin has licked you this time, and you'll lick him next time, no doubt, and that's all about it." "arrah, then, ye're out there, intirely. bob croaker'll niver lick martin rattler though he wos to live to the age of the great m'thuselah!" said a deep-toned voice close to the spot where the fight had taken place. all eyes were instantly turned in the direction whence it proceeded, and the boys now became aware, for the first time, that the combat had been witnessed by a sailor, who, with a smile of approval beaming on his good-humoured countenance, sat under the shade of a neighbouring tree smoking a pipe of that excessive shortness and blackness that seems to be peculiarly beloved by irishmen in the humbler ranks of life. the man was very, tall and broad-shouldered, and carried himself with a free-and-easy swagger, as he rose and approached the group of boys. "he'll niver bate ye, martin, avic, as long as there's two timbers of ye houldin' togither." the seaman patted martin on the head as he spoke; and, turning to bob croaker, continued: "ye ought to be proud, ye spalpeen, o' bein' wopped by sich a young hero as this. come here and shake hands with him: d'ye hear? troth an' it's besmearin' ye with too much honour that same. there, that'll do. don't say ye're sorry now, for it's lies ye'd be tellin' if ye did. come along, martin, an i'll convarse with ye as ye go home. ye'll be a man yet, as sure as my name is barney o'flannagan." martin took the white kitten in his arms and thrust its wet little body into his equally wet bosom, where the warmth began soon to exercise a soothing influence on the kitten's depressed spirits, so that, ere long, it began to purr. he then walked with the sailor towards the village, with his face black and blue, and swelled, and covered with blood, while bob croaker and his companions returned to the school. the distance to martin's residence was not great, but it was sufficient to enable the voluble irishman to recount a series of the most wonderful adventures and stories of foreign lands; that set martin's heart on fire with desire to go to sea; a desire which was by no means new to him, and which recurred violently every time he paid a visit to the small sea-port of bilton, which lay about five miles to the southward of his native village. moreover, barney suggested that it was time martin should be doing for himself (he was now ten years old), and said that if he would join his ship, he could get him a berth, for he was much in want of an active lad to help him with the coppers. but martin rattler sighed deeply, and said that, although his heart was set upon going to sea, he did not see how it was to be managed, for his aunt would not let him go. before they separated, however, it was arranged that martin should pay the sailor's ship a visit, when he would hear a good deal more about foreign lands; and that, in the meantime, he should make another attempt to induce aunt dorothy grumbit to give her consent to his going to sea. chapter four. a lesson to all stocking-knitters--martin's prospects begin to open up. in the small sea-port of bilton, before mentioned, there dwelt an old and wealthy merchant and ship-owner, who devoted a small portion of his time to business, and a very large portion of it to what is usually termed "doing good." this old gentleman was short, and stout, and rosy, and bald, and active, and sharp as a needle. in the short time that mr arthur jollyboy devoted to business, he accomplished as much as most men do in the course of a long day. there was not a benevolent society in the town, of which arthur jollyboy, esquire, of the old hulk (as he styled his cottage), was not a member, director, secretary, and treasurer, all in one, and all at once! if it had been possible for man be ubiquitous, mr jollyboy would have been so naturally; or, if not naturally, he would have made himself so by force of will. yet he made no talk about it. his step was quiet, though quick; and his voice was gentle, though rapid; and he was chiefly famous for _talking_ little and _doing_ much. some time after the opening of our tale, mr jollyboy had received information of mrs grumbit's stocking movement. that same afternoon he put on his broad-brimmed white hat and, walking out to the village in which she lived, called upon the vicar, who was a particular and intimate friend of his. having ascertained from the vicar that mrs grumbit would not accept of charity, he said abruptly,--"and why not--is she too proud?" "by no means," replied the vicar. "she says that she would think shame to take money from friends as long as she can work, because every penny that she would thus get would be so much less to go to the helpless poor; of whom, she says, with much truth, there are enough and to spare. and i quite agree with her as regards her principle; but it does not apply fully to her, for she cannot work so as to procure a sufficient livelihood without injury to her health." "is she clever?" inquired mr jollyboy. "why, no, not particularly. in fact, she does not often exert her reasoning faculties, except in the common-place matters of ordinary and every-day routine." "then she's cleverer than most people," said mr jollyboy, shortly. "is she obstinate?" "no, not in the least," returned the vicar with a puzzled smile. "ah, well, good-bye, good-bye; that's all i want to know." mr jollyboy rose, and, hurrying through the village, tapped at the cottage door, and was soon closeted with mrs dorothy grumbit. in the course of half an hour, mr jollyboy drew from mrs grumbit as much about her private affairs as he could, without appearing rude. but he found the old lady very close and sensitive on that point. not so, however, when he got her upon the subject of her nephew. she had enough, and more than enough, to say about him. it is true she began by remarking, sadly, that he was a very bad boy; but, as she continued to talk about him, she somehow or other gave her visitor the impression that he was a very _good_ boy! they had a wonderfully long and confidential talk about martin, during which mr jollyboy struck mrs grumbit nearly dumb with horror by stating positively what he would do for the boy,--he would send him to sea! then, seeing that he had hit the wrongest possible nail on the head, he said that he would make the lad a clerk in his office, where he would be sure to rise to a place of trust; whereat mrs grumbit danced, if we may so speak, into herself for joy. "and now, ma'am, about these stockings. i want two thousand pairs as soon as i can get them!" "sir?" said mrs grumbit. "of course, not for my own use, ma'am; nor for the use of my family, for i have no family; and if i had, that would be an unnecessarily large supply. the fact is, mrs grumbit, i am a merchant and i send very large supplies of home-made articles to foreign lands, and two thousand pairs of socks are a mere driblet. of course i do not expect you to make them all for me, but i wish you to make as many pairs as you can." "i shall be very happy--" began mrs grumbit. "but, mrs grumbit, there is a peculiar formation which i require in my socks that will give you extra trouble, i fear; but i must have it, whatever the additional expense may be. what is your charge for the pair you are now making?" "three shillings," said mrs grumbit. "ah! very good. now, take up the wires if you please, ma'am, and do what i tell you. now, drop that stitch,--good; and take up this one,-- capital; and pull this one across that way,--so; and that one across this way,--exactly. now, what is the result?" the result was a complicated knot; and mrs grumbit, after staring a few seconds at the old gentleman in surprise, said so, and begged to know what use it was of. "oh, never mind, never mind. we merchants have strange fancies, and foreigners have curious tastes now and then. please to make all my socks with a hitch like that in them all round, just above the ankle. it will form an ornamental ring. i'm sorry to put you to the trouble, but of course i pay extra for fancy-work. will six shillings a-pair do for these?" "my dear sir," said mrs grumbit, "it is no additional--" "well, well, never mind," said mr jollyboy. "two thousand pairs, remember, as soon as possible,--close knitted, plain stitch, rather coarse worsted; and don't forget the hitch, mrs grumbit, don't forget the hitch." ah! reader, there are many mrs grumbits in this world, requiring _hitches_ to be made in their stockings! at this moment the door burst open. mrs dorothy grumbit uttered a piercing scream, mr jollyboy dropped his spectacles and sat down on his hat and martin rattler stood before them with the white kitten in his arms. for a few seconds there was a dead silence, while an expression of puzzled disappointment passed over mr jollyboy's ruddy countenance. at last he said-- "is this, madam, the nephew who, you told me a little ago, is not addicted to fighting?" "yes," answered the old lady faintly, and covering her eyes with her hands, "that is martin." "if my aunt told you that, sir, she told you the truth," said martin, setting down the blood-stained white kitten, which forthwith began to stretch its limbs and lick itself dry. "i don't ever fight if i can help it but i couldn't help it to-day." with a great deal of energy, and a revival of much of his former indignation, when he spoke of the kitten's sufferings, martin recounted all the circumstances of the fight; during the recital of which mrs dorothy grumbit took his hand in hers and patted it, gazing the while into his swelled visage, and weeping plentifully, but very silently. when he had finished, mr jollyboy shook hands with him, and said he was a trump, at the same time recommending him to go and wash his face. then he whispered a few words in mrs grumbit's ear, which seemed to give that excellent lady much pleasure; after which he endeavoured to straighten his crushed hat; in which attempt he failed, took his leave, promised to call again very soon, and went back to the old hulk-- chuckling. chapter five. martin, being willing to go to sea, goes to sea against his will. four years rolled away, casting chequered light and shadow over the little village of ashford in their silent passage,--whitening the forelocks of the aged, and strengthening the muscles of the young. death, too, touched a hearth here and there, and carried desolation to a home; for four years cannot wing their flight without enforcing on us the lesson--which we are so often taught and yet take so long to learn-- that this is not our rest,--that here we have no abiding city. did we but ponder this lesson more frequently and earnestly, instead of making us sad, it would nerve our hearts and hands to fight and work more diligently,--to work in the cause of our redeemer,--the only cause that is worth the life-long energy of immortal beings,--the great cause that includes all others; and it would teach us to remember that our little day of opportunity will soon be spent and that the night is at hand in which no man can work. four years rolled away, and during this time martin, having failed to obtain his aunt's consent to his going to sea, continued at school, doing his best to curb the roving spirit that strove within him. martin was not particularly bright at the dead languages; to the rules of grammar he entertained a rooted aversion; and at history he was inclined to yawn, except when it happened to touch upon the names and deeds of such men as vasco di gama and columbus. but in geography he was perfect; and in arithmetic and book-keeping he was quite a proficient, to the delight of mrs dorothy grumbit whose household books he summed up; and to the satisfaction of his fast friend, mr arthur jollyboy, whose ledgers he was--in that old gentleman's secret resolves--destined to keep. martin was now fourteen, broad and strong, and tall for his age. he was the idol of the school,--dashing, daring, reckless, and good-natured. there was almost nothing that he would not attempt and there were very few things that he could not do. he never fought however--from principle; and his strength and size often saved him from the necessity. but he often prevented other boys from fighting, except when he thought there was good reason for it; then he stood by and saw fair-play. there was a strange mixture of philosophical gravity, too, in martin. as he grew older he became more enthusiastic and less boisterous. bob croaker was still at the school, and was, from prudential motives, a fast friend of martin. but he bore him a secret grudge, for he could not forget the great fight. one day bob took martin by the arm, and said, "i say, rattler, come with me to bilton, and have some fun among the shipping." "well, i don't mind if i do," said martin. "i'm just in the mood for a ramble, and i'm not expected home till bed-time." in little more than an hour the two boys were wandering about the dock-yards of the sea-port town, and deeply engaged in examining the complicated rigging of the ships. while thus occupied, the clanking of a windlass and the merry, "yo heave o! and away she goes," of the sailors, attracted their attention. "hallo! there goes the firefly, bound for the south seas," cried bob croaker; "come, let's see her start. i say, martin, isn't your friend, barney o'flannagan, on board?" "yes, he is. he tries to get me to go out every voyage, and i wish i could. come quickly; i want to say good-bye to him before he starts." "why don't you run away, rattler?" inquired bob, as they hurried round the docks to where the vessel was warping out. "because i don't need to. my aunt has given me leave to go if i like; but she says it would break her heart if i do; and i would rather be screwed down to a desk for ever than do that, bob croaker." the vessel, upon the deck of which the two boys now leaped, was a large, heavy-built barque. her sails were hanging loose, and the captain was giving orders to the men, who had their attention divided between their duties on board and their mothers, wives, and sisters, who still lingered to take a last farewell. "now, then, those who don't want to go to sea had better go ashore," roared the captain. there was an immediate rush to the side. "i say, martin," whispered barney, as he hurried past, "jump down below for'ard; you can go out o' the harbour mouth with us and get ashore in one o' the shore-boats alongside. they'll not cast off till we're well out. i want to speak to you--" "man the fore-top-sail halyards," shouted the first mate. "ay ay, sir-r-r," and the men sprang to obey. just then the ship touched on the bar at the mouth of the harbour, and in another moment she was aground. "there, now, she's hard and fast!" roared the captain, as he stormed about the deck in a paroxysm of rage. but man's rage could avail nothing. they had missed the passage by a few feet, and now they had to wait the fall and rise again of the tide ere they could hope to get off. in the confusion that followed, bob croaker suggested that martin and he should take one of the punts, or small boats which hovered round the vessel, and put out to sea, where they might spend the day pleasantly in rowing and fishing. "capital!" exclaimed martin. "let's go at once. yonder's a little fellow who will let us have his punt for a few pence. i know him. hallo, tom!" "ay, ay," squeaked a boy who was so small that he could scarcely lift the oar, light though it was, with which he sculled his punt cleverly along. "shove alongside, like a good fellow; we want your boat for a little to row out a bit." "it's a-blowin' too hard," squeaked the small boy, as he ranged alongside. "i'm afeared you'll be blowed out." "nonsense!" cried bob croaker, grasping the rope which the boy threw to him. "jump on board, younker; we don't want you to help us, and you're too heavy for ballast. slip down the side, martin, and get in while i hold on to the rope. all right? now i'll follow. here, shrimp, hold the rope till i'm in, and then cast off. look alive!" as bob spoke, he handed the rope to the little boy; but, in doing so, let it accidentally slip out of his hand. "catch hold o' the main chains, martin,--quick!" but martin was too late. the current that swept out of the harbour whirled the light punt away from the ship's side, and carried it out seaward. martin instantly sprang to the oar, and turned the boat's head round. he was a stout and expert rower, and would soon have regained the ship; but the wind increased at the moment, and blew in a squall off shore, which carried him further out despite his utmost efforts. seeing that all further attempts were useless, martin stood up and waved his hand to bob croaker, shouting as he did so, "never mind, bob, i'll make for the south point. run round and meet me, and we'll row back together." the south point was a low cape of land which stretched a considerable distance out to sea, about three miles to the southward of bilton harbour. it formed a large bay, across which, in ordinary weather, a small boat might be rowed in safety. martin rattler was well-known at the sea-port as a strong and fearless boy, so that no apprehension was entertained for his safety by those who saw him blown away. bob croaker immediately started for the point on foot a distance of about four miles by land; and the crew of the firefly were so busied with their stranded vessel that they took no notice of the doings of the boys. but the weather now became more and more stormy. thick clouds gathered on the horizon. the wind began to blow with steady violence, and shifted a couple of points to the southward; so that martin found it impossible to keep straight for the point. still he worked perseveringly at his single oar, and sculled rapidly over the sea; but, as he approached the point he soon perceived that no effort of which he was capable could enable him to gain it. but martin's heart was stout. he strove with all the energy of hope, until the point was passed; and then, turning the head of his little boat towards it, he strove with all the energy of despair, until he fell down exhausted. the wind and tide swept him rapidly out to sea; and when his terrified comrade reached the point the little boat was but a speck on the seaward horizon. well was it then for martin rattler that a friendly heart beat for him on board the firefly. bob croaker carried the news to the town; but no one was found daring enough to risk his life out in a boat on that stormy evening. the little punt had been long out of sight ere the news reached them, and the wind had increased to a gale. but barney o'flannagan questioned bob croaker closely, and took particular note of the point of the compass at which martin had disappeared; and when the firefly at length got under weigh, he climbed to the fore-top cross-trees, and stood there scanning the horizon with an anxious eye. it was getting dark, and a feeling of despair began to creep over the seaman's heart as he gazed round the wide expanse of water, on which nothing was to be seen except the white foam that crested the rising billows. "starboard, hard!" he shouted suddenly. "starboard it is!" replied the man at the wheel, with prompt obedience. in another moment barney slid down the back-stay and stood on the deck, while the ship rounded to and narrowly missed striking a small boat that floated keel up on the water. there was no cry from the boat; and it might have been passed as a mere wreck, had not the lynx eye of barney noticed a dark object clinging to it. "lower away a boat, lads," cried the irishman, springing overboard; and the words had scarcely passed his lips when the water closed over his head. the firefly was hove to, a boat was lowered and rowed towards barney, whose strong voice guided his shipmates towards him. in less than a quarter of an hour the bold sailor and his young friend martin rattler were safe on board, and the ship's head was again turned out to sea. it was full half an hour before martin was restored to consciousness in the forecastle, to which his deliverer had conveyed him. "musha, lad, but ye're booked for the blue wather now, an' no mistake!" said barney, looking with an expression of deep sympathy at the poor boy, who sat staring before him quite speechless. "the capting 'll not let ye out o' this ship till ye git to the gould coast, or some sich place. he couldn't turn back av he wanted iver so much; but he doesn't want to, for he needs a smart lad like you, an' he'll keep you now, for sartin." barney sat down by martin's side and stroked his fair curls, as he sought in his own quaint fashion to console him. but in vain. martin grew quite desperate as he thought of the misery into which poor aunt dorothy grumbit would be plunged, on learning that he had been swept out to sea in a little boat, and drowned, as she would naturally suppose. in his frenzy he entreated and implored the captain to send him back in the boat and even threatened to knock out his brains with a handspike if he did not; but the captain smiled and told him that it was his own fault. he had no business to be putting to sea in a small boat in rough weather, and he might be thankful he wasn't drowned. he wouldn't turn back now for fifty pounds twice told. at length martin became convinced that all hope of returning home was gone. he went quietly below, threw himself into one of the sailor's berths, turned his face to the wall, and wept long and bitterly. chapter six. the voyage, a pirate, chase, wreck, and escape. time reconciles a man to almost anything. in the course of time martin rattler became reconciled to his fate, and went about the ordinary duties of a cabin-boy on board the firefly just as if he had been appointed to that office in the ordinary way,--with the consent of the owners and by the advice of his friends. the captain, skinflint by name, and as surly an old fellow as ever walked a quarter-deck, agreed to pay him wages, "if he behaved well." the steward, under whose immediate authority he was placed, turned out to be a hearty, good-natured young fellow, and was very kind to him. but martin's great friend was barney o'flannagan, the cook, with whom he spent many an hour in the night watches, talking over plans, and prospects, and retrospects, and foreign lands. as martin had no clothes except those on his back, which fortunately happened to be new and good, barney gave him a couple of blue-striped shirts, and made him a jacket, pantaloons, and slippers of canvass; and, what was of much greater importance, taught him how to make and mend the same for himself. "ye see, martin, lad," he said, while thus employed one day, many weeks after leaving port, "it's a great thing, intirely, to be able to help yerself. for my part i niver travel without my work-box in my pocket." "your work-box!" said martin, laughing. "jist so. an' it consists of wan sailmaker's needle, a ball o' twine, and a clasp-knife. set me down with these before a roll o' canvass and i'll make ye a'most anything." "you seem to have a turn for everything, barney," said martin. "how came you to be a cook?" "that's more nor i can tell ye, lad. as far as i remimber, i began with murphies, when i was two foot high, in my father's cabin in ould ireland. but that was on my own account intirely, and not as a purfession; and a sorrowful time i had of it too, for i was for iver burnin' my fingers promiskiously, and fallin' into the fire ivery day more or less--" "stand by to hoist top-gallant-sails," shouted the captain. "how's her head?" "south and by east sir," answered the man at the wheel. "keep her away two points. look alive lads. hand me the glass, martin." the ship was close hauled when these abrupt orders were given, battling in the teeth of a stiff breeze, off the coast of south america. about this time, several piratical vessels had succeeded in cutting off a number of merchantmen near the coast of brazil. they had not only taken the valuable parts of their cargoes, but had murdered the crews under circumstances of great cruelty; and ships trading to these regions were, consequently, exceedingly careful to avoid all suspicious craft as much as possible. it was, therefore, with some anxiety that the men watched the captain's face as he examined the strange sail through the telescope. "a spanish schooner," muttered the captain, as he shut up the glass with a bang. "i won't trust her. up with the royals and rig out stun'-sails, mr wilson, (to the mate). let her fall away, keep her head nor'-west, d'you hear?" "ay, ay, sir." "let go the lee braces and square the yards. look sharp, now, lads. if that blackguard gets hold of us ye'll have to walk the plank, every man of ye." in a few minutes the ship's course was completely altered; a cloud of canvass spread out from the yards, and the firefly bounded on her course like a fresh race-horse. but it soon became evident that the heavy barque was no match for the schooner, which crowded sail and bore down at a rate that bade fair to overhaul them in a few hours. the chase continued till evening, when suddenly the look-out at the mast-head shouted, "land, ho!" "where away?" cried the captain. "right ahead," sang out the man. "i'll run her ashore sooner than be taken," muttered the captain, with an angry scowl at the schooner, which was now almost within range on the weather quarter, with the dreaded black flag flying at her peak. in a few minutes breakers were descried ahead. "d'ye see anything like a passage?" shouted the captain. "yes, sir; two points on the weather bow." at this moment a white cloud burst from the schooner's bow, and a shot, evidently from a heavy gun, came ricochetting over the sea. it was well aimed, for it cut right through the barque's main-mast, just below the yard, and brought the main-top-mast, with all the yards, sails, and gearing above it, down upon the deck. the weight of the wreck, also, carried away the fore-top-mast and, in a single instant, the firefly was completely disabled. "lower away the boats," cried the captain; "look alive, now; we'll give them the slip yet. it'll be dark in two minutes." the captain was right. in tropical regions there is little or no twilight. night succeeds day almost instantaneously. before the boats were lowered, and the men embarked, it was becoming quite dark. the schooner observed the movement however, and, as she did not dare to venture through the reef in the dark, her boats were also lowered and the chase was recommenced. the reef was passed in safety, and now a hard struggle took place, for the shore was still far-distant. as it chanced to be cloudy weather the darkness became intense, and progress could only be guessed at by the sound of the oars; but these soon told too plainly that the boats of the schooner were overtaking those of the barque. "pull with a will, lads," cried the captain; "we can't be more than half a mile from shore; give way, my hearties." "surely, captain, we can fight them, we've most of us got pistols and cutlasses," said one of the men in a sulky tone. "fight them!" cried the captain, "they're four times our number, and every man armed to the teeth. if ye don't fancy walking the plank or dancing on nothing at the yardarm, ye'd better pull away and hold your jaw." by this time they could just see the schooner's boats in the dim light, about half-musket range astern. "back you' oars," shouted a stern voice in broken english, "or i blow you out de watter in one oder moment--black-yards!" this order was enforced by a musket shot which whizzed over the boat within an inch of the captain's head. the men ceased rowing and the boats of the pirate ranged close up. "now then, martin," whispered barney o'flannagan, who sat at the bow oar, "i'm goin' to swim ashore; jist you slip arter me as quiet as ye can." "but the sharks!" suggested martin. "bad luck to them," said barney as he slipped over the side, "they're welcome to me. i'll take my chance. they'll find me mortial tough, anyhow. come along, lad, look sharp!" without a moment's hesitation martin slid over the gunwale into the sea, and, just as the pirate boats grappled with those of the barque, he and barney found themselves gliding as silently as otters towards the shore. so quietly had the manoeuvre been accomplished, that the men in their own boat were ignorant of their absence. in a few minutes they were beyond the chance of detection. "keep close to me, lad," whispered the irishman. "if we separate in the darkness we'll niver foregather again. catch hould o' my shoulder if ye get blowed, and splutter as much as ye like. they can't hear us now, and it'll help to frighten the sharks." "all right," replied martin; "i can swim like a cork in such warm water as this. just go a little slower and i'll do famously." thus encouraging each other, and keeping close together, lest they should get separated in the thick darkness of the night, the two friends struck out bravely for the shore. chapter seven. martin and barney get lost in a great forest, where they see strange and terrible things. on gaining the beach, the first thing that barney did, after shaking himself like a huge newfoundland dog, was to ascertain that his pistol and cutlass were safe; for, although the former could be of no use in its present condition, still, as he sagaciously remarked, "it was a good thing to have, for they might chance to git powder wan day or other, and the flint would make fire, anyhow." fortunately the weather was extremely warm; so they were enabled to take off and wring their clothes without much inconvenience, except that in a short time a few adventurous mosquitoes--probably sea-faring ones--came down out of the woods and attacked their bare bodies so vigorously that they were fain to hurry on their clothes again before they were quite dry. the clouds began to clear away soon after they landed, and the brilliant light of the southern constellations revealed to them dimly the appearance of the coast. it was a low sandy beach skirting the sea and extending back for about a quarter of a mile in the form of a grassy plain, dotted here and there with scrubby under-wood. beyond this was a dark line of forest. the light was not sufficient to enable them to ascertain the appearance of the interior. barney and martin now cast about in their minds how they were to spend the night. "ye see," said the irishman, "it's of no use goin' to look for houses, because there's maybe none at all on this coast; an' there's no sayin' but we may fall in with savages--for them parts swarms with them; so we'd better go into the woods an'--" barney was interrupted here by a low howl, which proceeded from the woods referred to, and was most unlike any cry they had ever heard before. "och but i'll think better of it. p'raps it'll be as well _not_ to go into the woods, but to camp where we are." "i think so too," said martin, searching about for small twigs and drift-wood with which to make a fire. "there is no saying what sort of wild beasts may be in the forest, so we had better wait till daylight." a fire was quickly lighted by means of the pistol-flint and a little dry grass, which, when well bruised and put into the pan, caught a spark after one or two attempts, and was soon blown into a flame. but no wood large enough to keep the fire burning for any length of time could be found; so barney said he would go up to the forest and fetch some. "i'll lave my shoes and socks, martin, to dry at the fire. see ye don't let them burn." traversing the meadow with hasty strides, the bold sailor quickly reached the edge of the forest where he began to lop off several dead branches from the trees with his cutlass. while thus engaged, the howl which had formerly startled him was repeated. "av i only knowed what ye was," muttered barney in a serious tone, "it would be some sort o' comfort." a loud cry of a different kind here interrupted his soliloquy, and soon after the first cry was repeated louder than before. clenching his teeth and knitting his brows the perplexed irishman resumed his work with a desperate resolve not to be again interrupted. but he had miscalculated the strength of his nerves. albeit as brave a man as ever stepped, when his enemy was before him, barney was, nevertheless, strongly imbued with superstitious feelings; and the conflict between his physical courage and his mental cowardice produced a species of wild exasperation, which, he often asserted, was very hard to bear. scarcely had he resumed his work when a bat of enormous size brushed past his nose so noiselessly that it seemed more like a phantom than a reality. barney had never seen anything of the sort before, and a cold perspiration broke out upon him, when he fancied it might be a ghost. again the bat swept past close to his eyes. "musha, but i'll kill ye, ghost or no ghost," he ejaculated, gazing all round into the gloomy depths of the woods with his cutlass uplifted. instead of flying again in front of him, as he had expected, the bat flew with a whirring noise past his ear. down came the cutlass with a sudden thwack, cutting deep into the trunk of a small tree, which trembled under the shock and sent a shower of nuts of a large size down upon the sailor's head. startled as he was, he sprang backward with a wild cry; then, half ashamed of his groundless fears, he collected the wood he had cut, threw it hastily on his shoulder and went with a quick step out of the woods. in doing so he put his foot upon the head of a small snake, which wriggled up round his ankle and leg. if there was anything on earth that barney abhorred and dreaded it was a snake. no sooner did he feel its cold form writhing under his foot, than he uttered a tremendous yell of terror, dropped his bundle of sticks, and fled precipitately to the beach, where he did not halt till he found himself knee-deep in the sea. "och, martin, boy," gasped the affrighted sailor, "it's my belafe that all the evil spirits on arth live in yonder wood; indeed i do." "nonsense, barney," said martin, laughing; "there are no such things as ghosts; at any rate, i'm resolved to face them, for if we don't get some sticks the fire will go out and leave us very comfortless. come, i'll go up with you." "put on yer shoes then, avic, for the sarpints are no ghosts, anyhow, and i'm tould they're pisonous sometimes." they soon found the bundle of dry sticks that barney had thrown down, and returning with it to the beach, they speedily kindled a roaring fire, which made them feel quite cheerful. true, they had nothing to eat; but having had a good dinner on board the barque late that afternoon, they were not much in want of food. while they sat thus on the sand of the sea-shore, spreading their hands before the blaze and talking over their strange position, a low rumbling of distant thunder was heard. barney's countenance instantly fell. "what's the matter, barney?" inquired martin, as he observed his companion gaze anxiously up at the sky. "och, it's comin', sure enough." "and what though it does come?" returned martin; "we can creep under one of these thick bushes till the shower is past." "did ye iver see a thunder-storm in the tropics?" inquired barney. "no, never," replied martin. "then if ye don't want to feel and see it both at wance, come with me as quick as iver ye can." barney started up as he spoke, stuck his cutlass and pistol into his belt and set off towards the woods at a sharp run, followed closely by his wondering companion. their haste was by no means unnecessary. great black clouds rushed up towards the zenith from all points of the compass, and, just as they reached the woods, darkness so thick that it might almost be felt overspread the scene. then there was a flash of lightning so vivid that it seemed as if a bright day had been created and extinguished in a moment leaving the darkness ten times more oppressive. it was followed instantaneously by a crash and a prolonged rattle, that sounded as if a universe of solid worlds were rushing into contact overhead and bursting into atoms. the flash was so far useful to the fugitives, that it enabled them to observe a many-stemmed tree with dense and heavy foliage, under which they darted. they were just in time, and had scarcely seated themselves among its branches when the rain came down in a way, not only that martin had never seen, but that he had never conceived of before. it fell, as it were, in broad heavy sheets, and its sound was a loud, continuous roar. the wind soon after burst upon the forest and added to the hideous shriek of elements. the trees bent before it; the rain was whirled and dashed about in water-spouts; and huge limbs were rent from some of the larger trees with a crash like thunder, and swept far away into the forest. the very earth trembled and seemed terrified at the dreadful conflict going on above. it seemed to the two friends as if the end of the world were come; and they could do nothing but cower among the branches of the tree and watch the storm in silence; while they felt, in a way they had never before experienced, how utterly helpless they were, and unable to foresee, or avert, the many dangers by which they were surrounded, and how absolutely dependent they were on god for protection. for several hours the storm continued. then it ceased as suddenly as it had begun, and the bright stars again shone down upon a peaceful scene. when it was over, martin and his comrade descended the tree and endeavoured to find their way back to the beach. but this was no easy matter. the haste with which they had run into the woods, and the confusion of the storm, had made them uncertain in which direction it lay; and the more they tried to get out, the deeper they penetrated into the forest. at length, wearied with fruitless wandering and stumbling about in the dark, they resolved to spend the night where they were. coming to a place which was more open than usual, and where they could see a portion of the starry sky overhead, they sat down on a dry spot under the shelter of a spreading tree, and, leaning their backs against the trunk, very soon fell sound asleep. chapter eight. an enchanting land--an uncomfortable bed and a queer breakfast--many surprises and a few frights, together with a notable discovery. "i've woked in paradise!" such was the exclamation that aroused martin rattler on the morning after his landing on the coast of south america. it was uttered by barney o'flannagan, who lay at full length on his back, his head propped up by a root of the tree, under which they had slept, and his eyes staring right before him with an expression of concentrated amazement. when martin opened his eyes, he too was struck dumb with surprise. and well might they gaze with astonishment; for the last ray of departing daylight on the night before had flickered over the open sea, and now the first gleam of returning sunshine revealed to them the magnificent forests of brazil. yes, well might they gaze and gaze again in boundless admiration; for the tropical sun shone down on a scene of dazzling and luxuriant vegetation, so resplendent that it seemed to them the realisation of a fairy tale. plants and shrubs and flowers were there, of the most curious and brilliant description, and of which they neither knew the uses nor the names. majestic trees were there, with foliage of every shape and size and hue; some with stems twenty feet in circumference; others more slender in form, straight and tall; and some twisted in a bunch together and rising upwards like fluted pillars: a few had buttresses, or natural planks, several feet broad, ranged all round their trunks, as if to support them; while many bent gracefully beneath the load of their clustering fruit and heavy foliage. orange-trees with their ripe fruit shone in the sunbeams like gold. stately palms rose above the surrounding trees and waved their feathery plumes in the air, and bananas with broad enormous leaves rustled in the breeze and cast a cool shadow on the ground. well might they gaze in great surprise; for all these curious and beautiful trees were surrounded by, and entwined in, the embrace of luxuriant and remarkable climbing-plants. the parasitic vanilla with its star-like blossoms crept up their trunks and along their branches, where it hung in graceful festoons, or drooped back again almost to the ground. so rich and numerous were these creepers, that in many cases they killed the strong giants whom they embraced so lovingly. some of them hung from the tree-tops like stays from the masts of a ship, and many of them mingled their brilliant flowers so closely with the leaves, that the climbing-plants and their supporters could not be distinguished from each other, and it seemed as though the trees themselves had become gigantic flowering shrubs. birds, too, were there in myriads,--and such birds! their feathers were green and gold and scarlet and yellow and blue--fresh and bright and brilliant as the sky beneath which they were nurtured. the great toucan, with a beak nearly as big as his body, flew clumsily from stem to stem. the tiny, delicate humming-birds, scarce larger than bees, fluttered from flower to flower and spray to spray, like points of brilliant green. but they were irritable, passionate little creatures, these lovely things, and quarrelled with each other and fought like very wasps! enormous butterflies, with wings of deep metallic blue, shot past or hovered in the air like gleams of light; and green paroquets swooped from tree to tree and chattered joyfully over their morning meal. well might they gaze with wonder, and smile too with extreme merriment, for monkeys stared at them from between the leaves with expressions of undisguised amazement, and bounded away shrieking and chattering in consternation, swinging from branch to branch with incredible speed, and not scrupling to use each other's tails to swing by when occasion offered. some were big and red and ugly,--as ugly as you can possibly imagine, with blue faces and fiercely grinning teeth; others were delicately-formed and sad of countenance, as if they were for ever bewailing the loss of near and dear relations, and could by no means come at consolation; and some were small and pretty, with faces no bigger than a halfpenny. as a general rule, it seemed to barney, the smaller the monkey the longer the tail. yes, well might they gaze and gaze again in surprise and in excessive admiration; and well might barney o'flannagan--under the circumstances, with such sights and sounds around him, and the delightful odours of myrtle trees and orange blossoms and the cape jessamine stealing up his nostrils--deem himself the tenant of another world, and evince his conviction of the fact in that memorable expression--"i've woked in paradise!" but barney began to find "paradise" not quite so comfortable as it ought to be; for when he tried to get up he found his bones pained and stiff from sleeping in damp clothes; and moreover, his face was very much swelled, owing to the myriads of mosquitoes which had supped of it during the night. "arrah, then, _won't_ ye be done!" he cried, angrily, giving his face a slap that killed at least two or three hundred of his tormentors. but thousands more attacked him instantly, and he soon found out,--what every one finds out sooner or later in hot climates,--that _patience_ is one of the best remedies for mosquito bites. he also discovered shortly afterwards that smoke is not a bad remedy, in connection with patience. "what are we to have for breakfast, barney!" inquired martin as he rose and yawned and stretched his limbs. "help yersilf to what ye plase," said barney, with a polite bow, waving his hand round him, as if the forest were his private property and martin rattler his honoured guest. "well, i vote for oranges," said martin, going towards a tree which was laden with ripe fruit. "an' i'll try plums, by way of variety," added his companion. in a few minutes several kinds of fruit and nuts were gathered and spread at the foot of the tree under which they had reposed. then barney proceeded to kindle a fire,--not that he had anything to cook, but he said it looked sociable-like, and the smoke would keep off the flies. the operation, however, was by no means easy. everything had been soaked by the rain of the previous night, and a bit of dry grass could scarcely be found. at length he procured a little; and by rubbing it in the damp gunpowder which he had extracted from his pistol, and drying it in the sun, he formed a sort of tinder that caught fire after much persevering effort. some of the fruits they found to be good,--others bad. the good they ate,--the bad they threw away. after their frugal fare they felt much refreshed, and then began to talk of what they should do. "we can't live here with parrots and monkeys, you know," said martin; "we must try to find a village or town of some sort; or get to the coast and then we shall perhaps meet with a ship." "true, lad," replied barney, knitting his brows and looking extremely sagacious; "the fact is, since neither of us knows nothing about anything, or the way to any place, my advice is to walk straight for'ard till we come to something." "so think i," replied martin; "therefore the sooner we set off the better." having no luggage to pack and no arrangements of any kind to make, the two friends rose from their primitive breakfast-table, and walked away straight before them into the forest. all that day they travelled patiently forward, conversing pleasantly about the various and wonderful trees, and flowers, and animals they met with by the way; but no signs were discovered that indicated the presence of man. towards evening, however, they fell upon a track or foot-path,--which discovery rejoiced them much; and here, before proceeding further, they sat down to eat a little more fruit which, indeed, they had done several times during the day. they walked nearly thirty miles that day without seeing a human being; but they met with many strange and beautiful birds and beasts,--some of which were of so fierce an aspect that they would have been very glad to have had guns to defend themselves with. fortunately, however, all the animals seemed to be much more afraid of them than they were of the animals; so they travelled in safety. several times during the course of the day they saw snakes and serpents, which glided away into the jungle on their approach, and could not be overtaken, although barney made repeated darts at them, intending to attack them with his cutlass; which assaults always proved fruitless. once they were charged by a herd of peccaries,--a species of pig or wild hog,--from which they escaped by jumping actively to one side; but the peccaries turned and rushed at them again, and it was only by springing up the branches of a neighbouring tree that they escaped their fury. these peccaries are the fiercest and most dauntless animals in the forests of brazil. they do of know what fear is,--they will rush in the face of anything; and, unlike all other animals, are quite indifferent to the report of fire-arms. their bodies are covered with long bristles, resembling very much the quills of the porcupine. as the evening drew on, the birds and beasts and the innumerable insects, that had kept up a perpetual noise during the day, retired to rest; and then the nocturnal animals began to creep out of their holes and go about. huge vampire-bats, one of which had given barney such a fright the night before, flew silently past them; and the wild howlings commenced again. they now discovered that one of the most dismal of the howls proceeded from a species of monkey: at which discovery martin laughed very much, and rallied his companion on being so easily frightened; but barney gladly joined in the laugh against himself, for, to say truth, he felt quite relieved and light-hearted at discovering that his ghosts were converted into bats and monkeys! there was one roar, however, which, when they heard it ever and anon, gave them considerable uneasiness. "d'ye think there's lions in them parts?" inquired barney, glancing with an expression of regret at his empty pistol, and laying his hand on the hilt of his cutlass. "i think not," replied martin, in a low tone of voice. "i have read in my school geography that there are tigers of some sort--jaguars, or ounces, i think they are called,--but there are no--" martin's speech was cut short by a terrific roar, which rang through the woods, and the next instant a magnificent jaguar, or south american tiger, bounded on to the track a few yards in advance, and, wheeling round, glared fiercely at the travellers. it seemed, in the uncertain light as if his eyes were two balls of living fire. though not so large as the royal bengal tiger of india, this animal was nevertheless of immense size, and had a very ferocious aspect. his roar was so sudden and awful, and his appearance so unexpected, that the blood was sent thrilling back into the hearts of the travellers, who stood rooted to the spot, absolutely unable to move. this was the first large animal of the cat kind that either of them had seen in all the terrible majesty of its wild condition; and, for the first time, martin and his friend felt that awful sensation of dread that will assail even the bravest heart when a new species of imminent danger is suddenly presented. it is said that no animal can withstand the steady gaze of a human eye; and many travellers in wild countries have proved this to be a fact. on the present occasion our adventurers stared long and steadily at the wild creature before them, from a mingled feeling of surprise and horror. in a few seconds the jaguar showed signs of being disconcerted. it turned its head from side to side slightly, and dropped its eyes, as if to avoid their gaze. then turning slowly and stealthily round, it sprang with a magnificent bound into the jungle, and disappeared. both martin and barney heaved a deep sigh of relief. "what a mercy it did not attack us!" said the former, wiping the cold perspiration from his forehead. "we should have had no chance against such a terrible beast with a cutlass, i fear." "true, boy, true," replied his friend, gravely; "it would have been little better than a penknife in the ribs o' sich a cratur. i niver thought that it was in the power o' man or baste to put me in sich a fright; but the longer we live we learn, boy." barney's disposition to make light of everything was thoroughly subdued by this incident, and he felt none of his usual inclination to regard all that he saw in the brazilian forests with a comical eye. the danger they had escaped was too real and terrible, and their almost unarmed condition too serious, to be lightly esteemed. for the next hour or two he continued to walk by martin's side either in total silence, or in earnest, grave conversation; but by degrees these feelings wore off, and his buoyant spirits gradually returned. the country over which they had passed during the day was of a mingled character. at one time they traversed a portion of dark forest heavy and choked up with the dense and gigantic foliage peculiar to those countries that lie near to the equator; then they emerged from this upon what to their eyes seemed most beautiful scenery,--mingled plain and woodland,--where the excessive brilliancy and beauty of the tropical vegetation was brought to perfection by exposure to the light of the blue sky and the warm rays of the sun. in such lovely spots they travelled more slowly and rested more frequently, enjoying to the full the sight of the gaily-coloured birds and insects that fluttered busily around them, and the delicious perfume of the flowers that decked the ground and clambered up the trees. at other times they came to plains, or _campos_, as they are termed, where there were no trees at all, and few shrubs, and where the grass was burned brown and dry by the sun. over such they hurried as quickly as they could; and fortunately, where they chanced to travel, such places were neither numerous nor extensive, although in some districts of brazil there are campos hundreds of miles in extent. a small stream meandered through the forest and enabled them to refresh themselves frequently; which was very fortunate, for the heat, especially towards noon, became extremely intense, and they could not have existed without water. so great, indeed, was the heat about mid-day, that, by mutual consent, they resolved to seek the cool shade of a spreading tree, and try to sleep if possible. at this time they learned, to their surprise, that all animated nature did likewise, and sought repose at noon. god had implanted in the breast of every bird and insect in that mighty forest an instinct which taught it to rest and find refreshment during the excessive heat of mid-day; so that during the space of two or three hours, not a thing with life was seen, and not a sound was heard. even the troublesome mosquitoes, so active at all other times, day and night were silent now. the change was very great and striking, and difficult for those who have not observed it to comprehend. all the forenoon, screams, and cries, and croaks, and grunts, and whistles, ring out through the woods incessantly; while, if you listen attentively, you hear the low, deep, and never-ending buzz and hum of millions upon millions of insects, that dance in the air and creep on every leaf and blade upon the ground. about noon all this is hushed. the hot rays of the sun beat perpendicularly down upon what seems a vast untenanted solitude, and not a single chirp breaks the death-like stillness of the great forest, with the solitary exception of the metallic note of the uruponga, or bell-bird, which seems to mount guard when all the rest of the world has gone to sleep. as the afternoon approaches they all wake up, refreshed by their siesta, active and lively as fairies, and ready for another spell of work and another deep-toned noisy chorus. the country through which our adventurers travelled, as evening approached, became gradually more hilly, and their march consequently more toilsome. they were just about to give up all thought of proceeding farther that night, when, on reaching the summit of a little hill, they beheld a bright red light shining at a considerable distance in the valley beyond. with light steps and hearts full of hope they descended the hill and hastened towards it. chapter nine. the hermit. it was now quite dark, and the whole country seemed alive with fire-flies. these beautiful little insects sat upon the trees and bushes, spangling them as with living diamonds, and flew about in the air like little wandering stars. barney had seen them before, in the west indies, but martin had only heard of them; and his delight and amazement at their extreme brilliancy were very great. although he was naturally anxious to reach the light in the valley, in the hope that it might prove to proceed from some cottage, he could not refrain from stopping once or twice to catch these lovely creatures; and when he succeeded in doing so, and placed one on the palm of his hand, the light emitted from it was more brilliant than that of a small taper, and much more beautiful, for it was of a bluish colour, and very intense,--more like the light reflected from a jewel than a flame of fire. he could have read a book by means of it quite easily. in half an hour they drew near to the light, which they found proceeded from the window of a small cottage or hut. "whist, martin," whispered barney, as they approached the hut on tiptoe; "there may be savages into it, an' there's no sayin' what sort o' craturs they are in them parts." when about fifty yards distant, they could see through the open window into the room where the light burned; and what they beheld there was well calculated to fill them with surprise. on a rude wooden chair, at a rough unpainted table, a man was seated, with his head resting on his hand, and his eyes fixed intently on a book. owing to the distance, and the few leaves and branches that intervened between them and the hut, they could not observe him very distinctly. but it was evident that he was a large and strong man, a little past the prime of life. the hair of his head and beard was black and bushy, and streaked with silver-grey. his face was massive, and of a dark olive complexion, with an expression of sadness on it strangely mingled with stern gravity. his broad shoulders--and, indeed, his whole person--were enveloped in the coarse folds of a long gown or robe, gathered in at the waist with a broad band of leather. the room in which he sat--or rather the hut, for there was but one room in it--was destitute of all furniture, except that already mentioned, besides one or two roughly-formed stools; but the walls were completely covered with strange-looking implements and trophies of the chase; and in a corner lay a confused pile of books, some of which were, from their appearance, extremely ancient. all this the benighted wanderers observed as they continued to approach cautiously on tiptoe. so cautious did they become as they drew near, and came within the light of the lamp, that barney at length attempted to step over his own shadow for fear of making a noise; and, in doing so, tripped and fell with considerable noise through a hedge of prickly shrubs that encircled the strange man's dwelling. the hermit--for such he appeared to be--betrayed no symptom of surprise or fear at the sudden sound; but rising quietly, though quickly, from his seat took down a musket that hung on the wall, and, stepping to the open door, demanded sternly, in the portuguese language, "who goes there?" "arrah, then, if ye'd help a fellow-cratur to rise, instead o' talkin' gibberish like that, it would be more to your credit!" exclaimed the irishman, as he scrambled to his feet and presented himself, along with martin, at the hermit's door. a peculiar smile lighted up the man's features as he retreated into the hut and invited the strangers to enter. "come in," said he, in good english, although with a slightly foreign accent. "i am most happy to see you. you are english. i know the voice and the language very well. lived among them once, but long time past now--very long. have not seen one of you for many years." with many such speeches, and much expression of good-will, the hospitable hermit invited martin and his companion to sit down at his rude table, on which he quickly spread several plates of ripe and dried fruits, a few cakes, and a jar of excellent honey, with a stone bottle of cool water. when they were busily engaged with these viands, he began to make inquiries as to where his visitors had come from. "we've comed from the sae," replied barney, as he devoted himself to a magnificent pine-apple. "och but yer victuals is mighty good, mister-- what's yer name?--'ticklerly to them that's a'most starvin'." "the fact is," said martin, "our ship has been taken by pirates, and we two swam ashore, and lost ourselves in the woods; and now we have stumbled upon your dwelling, friend, which is a great comfort." "hoigh, an' that's true," sighed barney, as he finished the last slice of the pine-apple. they now explained to their entertainer all the circumstances attending the capture of the firefly, and their subsequent adventures and vicissitudes in the forest; all of which barney detailed in a most graphic manner, and to all of which their new friend listened with grave attention and unbroken silence. when they had concluded he said,--"very good. you have seen much in very short time. perhaps you shall see more by-and-by. for the present you will go to rest, for you must be fatigued. i will _think_ to-night,--to-morrow i will _speak_." "an', if i may make so bould," said barney, glancing with a somewhat rueful expression round the hard earthen floor of the hut, "whereabouts may i take the liberty o' sleepin'?" the hermit replied by going to a corner, whence, from beneath a heap of rubbish, he dragged two hammocks, curiously wrought in a sort of light net-work. these he slung across the hut at one end, from wall to wall, and, throwing a sheet or coverlet into each, he turned with a smile to his visitors,--"behold your beds! i wish you a very good sleep,-- adios!" so saying, this strange individual sat down at the table, and was soon as deeply engaged with his large book as if he had suffered no interruption; while martin and barney, having gazed gravely and abstractedly at him for five minutes, turned and smiled to each other, jumped into their hammocks, and were soon buried in deep slumber. chapter ten. an enemy in the night--the vampire bat--the hermit discourses on strange, and curious, and interesting things. next morning martin rattler awoke with a feeling of lightness in his head, and a sensation of extreme weakness pervading his entire frame. turning his head round to the right he observed that a third hammock was slung across the further end of the hut; which was, no doubt, that in which the hermit had passed the night. but it was empty now. martin did not require to turn his head to the other side to see if barney o'flannagan was there, for that worthy individual made his presence known, for a distance of at least sixty yards all round the outside of the hut, by means of his nose, which he was in the habit of using as a trumpet when asleep. it was as well that martin did not require to look round; for he found, to his surprise, that he had scarcely strength to do so. while he was wondering in a dreamy sort of manner what could be the matter with him, the hermit entered the hut bearing a small deer upon his shoulders. resting his gun in a corner of the room, he advanced to martin's hammock. "my boy," he exclaimed, in surprise, "what is wrong with you?" "i'm sure i don't know," said martin, faintly; "i think there is something wet about my feet." turning up the sheet, he found that martin's feet were covered with blood! for a few seconds the hermit growled forth a number of apparently very pithy sentences in portuguese, in a deep guttural voice, which awakened barney with a start. springing from his hammock with a bound like a tiger, he exclaimed, "och! ye blackguard, would ye murther the boy before me very nose?" and seizing the hermit in his powerful grasp, he would infallibly have hurled him, big though he was, through his own doorway, had not martin cried out, "stop, stop, barney. it's all right; he's done nothing:" on hearing which the irishman loosened his hold, and turned towards his friend. "what's the matter, honey?" said barney, in a soothing tone of voice, as a mother might address her infant son. the hermit whose composure had not been in the slightest degree disturbed, here said--"the poor child has been sucked by a vampire bat." "ochone!" groaned barney, sitting down on the table, and looking at his host with a face of horror. "yes, these are the worst animals in brazil for sucking the blood of men and cattle. i find it quite impossible to keep my mules alive, they are so bad." barney groaned. "they have killed two cows which i tried to keep here, and one young horse--a foal you call him, i think; and now i have no cattle remaining, they are so bad." barney groaned again, and the hermit went on to enumerate the wicked deeds of the vampire-bats, while he applied poultices of certain herbs to martin's toe, in order to check the bleeding, and then bandaged it up; after which he sat down to relate to his visitors, the manner in which the bat carries on its bloody operations. he explained, first of all, that the vampire-bats are so large and ferocious that they often kill horses and cattle by sucking their blood out. of course they cannot do this at one meal, but they attack the poor animals again and again, and the blood continues to flow from the wounds they make long afterwards, so that the creatures attacked soon grow weak and die. they attack men, too,--as martin knew to his cost; and they usually fix upon the toes and other extremities. so gentle are they in their operations, that sleepers frequently do not feel the puncture, which they make, it is supposed, with the sharp hooked nail of their thumb; and the unconscious victim knows nothing of the enemy who has been draining his blood until he awakens, faint and exhausted, in the morning. moreover, the hermit told them that these vampire-bats have very sharp, carnivorous teeth, besides a tongue, which is furnished with the curious organs, by which they suck the lifeblood of their fellow-creatures; that they have a peculiar, leaf-like, overhanging lip; and that he had a stuffed specimen of a bat that measured no less than two feet across the expanded wings, from tip to tip. "och, the blood-thirsty spalpeen!" exclaimed barney, as he rose and crossed the room to examine the bat in question, which was nailed against the wall. "bad luck to them, they've ruined martin intirely." "o no," remarked the hermit with a smile. "it will do the boy much good, the loss of the blood; much good, and he will not be sick at all to-morrow." "i'm glad to hear you say so," said martin, "for it would be a great bore to be obliged to lie here when i've so many things to see. in fact i feel better already, and if you will be so kind as to give me a little breakfast i shall be quite well." while martin was speaking, the obliging hermit--who, by the way, was now habited in a loose short hunting-coat of brown cotton,--spread a plentiful repast upon his table; to which, having assisted martin to get out of his hammock, they all proceeded to do ample justice: for the travellers were very hungry after the fatigue of the previous day; and as for the hermit, he looked like a man whose appetite was always sharp set, and whose food agreed with him. they had cold meat of several kinds, and a hot steak of venison just killed that morning, which the hermit cooked while his guests were engaged with the other viands. there was also excellent coffee, and superb cream, besides cakes made of a species of coarse flour or meal, fruits of various kinds, and very fine honey. "arrah! ye've the hoith o' livin' here!" cried barney, smacking his lips as he held out his plate for another supply of a species of meat which resembled chicken in tenderness and flavour. "what sort o' bird or baste may that be, now, av' i may ask ye, mister--what's yer name?" "my name is carlos," replied the hermit, gravely; "and this is the flesh of the armadillo." "arms-what-o?" inquired barney. "_armadillo_," repeated the hermit. "he is very good to eat but very difficult to catch. he digs down so fast we cannot catch him, and must smoke him out of his hole." "have you many cows?" inquired martin, as he replenished his cup with coffee. "cows?" echoed the hermit, "i have got no cows." "where do you get such capital cream, then?" asked martin in surprise. the hermit smiled. "ah! my friends, that cream has come from a very curious cow. it is from a cow that grows in the ground." "grows!" ejaculated his guests. "yes, he grows. i will show him to you one day." the hermit's broad shoulders shook with a quiet internal laugh. "i will explain a little of that you behold on my table." "the coffee i get from the trees. there are plenty of them here. much money is made in brazil by the export of coffee,--very much. the cakes are made from the mandioca-root which i grow near my house. the root is dried and ground into flour, which, under the general name _farina_, is used all over the country. it is almost the only food used by the indians and negroes." "then there are injins and niggers here, are there?" inquired barney. "yes, a great many. most of the negroes are slaves; some of the indians too; and the people who are descended from the portuguese who came and took the country long ago, they are the masters.--well, the honey i get in holes in the trees. there are different kinds of honey here; some of it is _sour_ honey. and the fruits and roots, the plantains, and bananas, and yams, and cocoa-nuts, and oranges, and plums, all grow in the forest and much more besides, which you will see for yourselves if you stay long here." "it's a quare country, intirely," remarked barney, as he wiped his mouth and heaved a sigh of contentment. then, drawing his hand over his chin, he looked earnestly in the hermit's face, and, with a peculiar twinkle in his eye, said,--"i s'pose ye couldn't favour me with the lind of a raazor, could ye?" "no, my friend; i never use that foolish weapon." "ah, well, as there's only monkeys and jaguars, and sich like to see me, it don't much signify; but my moustaches is gittin' mighty long, for i've been two weeks already without a shave." martin laughed heartily at the grave, anxious expression of his comrade's face. "never mind, barney," he said, "a beard and moustache will improve you vastly. besides, they will be a great protection against mosquitoes; for you are such a hairy monster, that when they grow nothing of your face will be exposed except your eyes and cheek-bones. and now," continued martin, climbing into his hammock again and addressing the hermit, "since you won't allow me to go out a-hunting to-day, i would like very much if you would tell me something more about this strange country." "an' may be," suggested barney, modestly, "ye won't object to tell us something about yersilf--how you came for to live in this quare, solitary kind of a way." the hermit looked gravely from one to the other, and stroked his beard. drawing his rude chair towards the door of the hut he folded his arms, and crossed his legs, and gazed dreamily forth upon the rich landscape. then, glancing again at his guests, he said, slowly; "yes, i will do what you ask,--i will tell you my story." "an', if i might make so bould as to inquire," said barney, with a deprecatory smile, while he drew a short black pipe from his pocket, "have ye got such a thing as 'baccy in them parts?" the hermit rose, and going to a small box which stood in a corner, returned with a quantity of cut tobacco in one hand, and a cigar not far short of a foot long in the other! in a few seconds the cigar was going in full force, like a factory chimney; and the short black pipe glowed like a miniature furnace, while its owner seated himself on a low stool, crossed his arms on his breast, leaned his back against the door-post and smiled,--as only an irishman can smile under such circumstances. the smoke soon formed a thick cloud, which effectually drove the mosquitoes out of the hut, and though which martin, lying in his hammock, gazed out upon the sunlit orange and coffee-trees, and tall palms with their rich festoons of creeping-plants, and sweet-scented flowers, that clambered over and round the hut and peeped in at the open door and windows, while he listened to the hermit who continued for at least ten minutes to murmur slowly, between the puffs of his cigar, "yes, i will do it; i will tell you my story." chapter eleven. the hermit's story. "my ancestors," began the hermit, "were among the first to land upon brazil, after the country was taken possession of in the name of the king of portugal, in the year . in the first year of the century, vincent vanez pincon, a companion of the famed columbus, discovered brazil; and in the next year, pedro alvarez cabral, a portuguese commander, took possession of it in the name of the king of portugal. in , americus vespucius discovered the bay of all saints, and took home a cargo of brazil-wood, monkeys and parrots; but no permanent settlement was effected upon the shores of the new continent and the rich treasures of this great country remained for some years longer buried and unknown to many--for the wild indians who lived here knew not their value. "it was on a dark and stormy night in the year . a group of swarthy and naked savages encircled a small fire on the edge of the forest on the east coast of brazil. the spot where their watch-fire was kindled is now covered by the flourishing city of bahia. at that time it was a wilderness. before them stretched the noble bay which is now termed _bahia de todos santos_,--all saints' bay. "the savages talked earnestly and with excited looks as they stood upon the shore, for the memory of the wondrous ships of the white men that had visited them a few years before was deeply engraven on their minds; and now, in the midst of the howling storm, another ship was seen approaching their land. it was a small vessel, shattered and tempest-tossed, that drove into the bahia de todos santos on that stormy night. long had it battled with the waves of the atlantic, and the brave hearts that manned it had remained stanch to duty and strong in hope, remembering the recent glorious example of columbus. but the storm was fierce and the bark was frail. the top-masts were broken and the sails rent; and worst of all, just as land hove in sight and cheered the drooping spirits of the crew, a tremendous wave dashed upon the ship's stern and carried away the rudder. "as they drove helplessly before the gale towards the shore, the naked savages crowded down upon the beach and gazed in awe and astonishment at the mysterious ship. a few of them had seen the vessels of americus vespucius and cabral. the rumour of the white men and their floating castle had been wafted far and wide along the coast and into the interior of brazil, and with breathless wonder the natives had listened to the strange account. but now the vision was before them in reality. on came the floating castle, the white foam dashing from her bows, and the torn sails and ropes flying from her masts as she surged over the billows and loomed through the driving spray. "it was a grand sight to see that ship dashing straight towards the shore at fearful speed; and those who looked on seemed to be impressed with a vague feeling that she had power to spring upon the strand and continue her swift career through the forest, as she had hitherto cleft her passage through the sea. as she approached, the savages shrank back in fear. suddenly her frame trembled with a mighty shock. a terrible cry was borne to land by the gale, and all her masts went overboard. a huge wave lifted the vessel on its crest and flung her further on the shore, where she remained firmly fixed, while the waves dashed in foam around her and soon began to break her up. ere this happened, however, a rope was thrown ashore and fastened to a rock by the natives. by means of this the crew were saved. but it would have been well for these bold navigators of portugal if they had perished in the stormy sea, for they were spared by the ocean, only to be murdered by the wild savages, on whose shore they had been cast. "all were slain save one,--diego alvarez carreo, the captain of the ship. before grasping the rope by which he reached the shore, he thrust several cartridges into his bosom and caught up a loaded musket. wrapping the lock in several folds of cloth to keep it dry, he slid along the rope and gained the beach in safety. here he was seized by the natives, and would no doubt have been barbarously slain with his unfortunate companions; but, being a very powerful man, he dashed aside the foremost, and, breaking through their ranks, rushed towards the wood. the fleet savages, however, overtook him in an instant, and were about to seize him when a young indian woman interposed between them and their victim. this girl was the chief's daughter, and respect for her rank induced them to hesitate for a moment; but in another instant the portuguese captain was surrounded. in the scuffle that ensued, his musket exploded, but fortunately wounded no one. instantly the horrified savages fled in all directions leaving carreo alone! "the captain was quick-witted. he knew that among hundreds of savages it was madness to attempt either to fight or fly, and the happy effect of the musket explosion induced him to adopt another course of action. he drew himself up proudly to his full height, and beckoned the savages to return. this they did, casting many glances of fear at the dreaded musket. going up to one who, from his bearing and ornaments, seemed to be a chief, carreo laid his musket on the sand, and, stepping over it so that he left it behind him, held out his hand frankly to the chief. the savage looked at him in surprise, and suffered the captain to take his hand and pat it; after which he began to examine the stranger's dress with much curiosity. seeing that their chief was friendly to the white man, the other savages hurried him to the camp-fire, where he soon stripped off his wet clothes and ate the food which they put before him. thus diego carreo was spared. "next day, the indians lined the beach and collected the stores of the wrecked vessel. while thus employed, carreo shot a gull with his musket; which so astonished the natives that they regarded him with fear and respect, amounting almost to veneration. a considerable quantity of powder and shot was saved from the wreck, so that the captain was enabled to keep his ascendency over the ignorant natives; and at length he became a man of great importance in the tribe, and married the daughter of the chief. he went by the name of _caramuru_,--`the man of fire.' this man founded the city of bahia. "the coasts of brazil began soon after this to be settled in various places by the portuguese; who, however, were much annoyed by the spaniards, who claimed a share in the rich prize. the dutch and english also formed settlements; but the portuguese still retained possession of the country, and continued to prosper. meanwhile diego caramuru, `the man of fire,' had a son who in course of time became a prosperous settler; and as his sons grew up he trained them to become cultivators of the soil and traders in the valuable products of the new world. he took a piece of ground, far removed from the spot where his father had been cast ashore, and a short distance in the interior of the country. here the eldest sons of the family dwelt laboured, and died, for many generations. "in the year portugal was invaded by napoleon buonaparte, and the sovereign of that kingdom, john the sixth, fled to brazil, accompanied by his court and a large body of emigrants. the king was warmly received by the brazilians, and immediately set about improving the condition of the country. he threw open its ports to all nations; freed the land from all marks of colonial dependence; established newspapers; made the press free, and did everything to promote education and industry. but although much was done, the good was greatly hindered, especially in the inland districts, by the vice, ignorance, and stupidity of many of the roman catholic priests, who totally neglected their duties,--which, indeed, they were incompetent to perform,--and in many instances, were no better than miscreants in disguise, teaching the people vice instead of virtue. "foremost among the priests who opposed advancement, was a descendant of the `man of fire.' padre caramuru dwelt for some years with an english merchant in the capital of brazil, rio de janeiro. the padre was not an immoral man, but he was a fiery bigot and fiercely opposed everything that tended to advance the education of the people. this he did, firmly believing that education was dangerous to the lower orders. his church taught him, too, that the bible was a dangerous book; and whenever a copy fell into his hands he immediately destroyed it. during the disturbances that took place after the time of king john's departure for portugal, and just before brazil became an independent state under his son, the emperor don pedro the first, padre caramuru lost a beloved and only brother. he was quite a youth, and had joined the army only a few months previously, at the desire of his elder brother the padre, who was so overwhelmed by the blow that he ceased to take an active part in church or political affairs and buried himself in a retired part of his native valley. here he sought relief and comfort in the study of the beauties of nature, by which he was surrounded, but found none. "then he turned his mind to the doctrines of his church, and took pleasure in verifying them from the bible. but, as he proceeded, he found, to his great surprise, that these doctrines were, many of them, not to be found there; nay, further, that some of them were absolutely contradicted by the word of god. "padre caramuru had been in the habit of commanding his people not to listen to the bible when any one offered to read it; but in the bible itself he found these words, `search the scriptures.' he had been in the habit of praying to the virgin mary, and begging her to intercede with god for him; but in the bible he found these words: `there is one mediator between god and man, the man christ jesus.' these things perplexed him much. but while he was thus searching, as it were, for silver, the ignorant padre found gold! he found that he did not require to _work_ for salvation, but to _ask_ for it. he discovered that the atonement had been made once for all by jesus christ the lamb of god; and he read with a thrilling heart these words: `god so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' "long and earnestly did the padre ponder these words and pray over them; and gradually the holy spirit enlightened his mind, and he saw how hateful that system was which could forbid or discourage the reading of the blessed word of god. he soon resolved to forsake the priesthood. but when he had done so, he knew not what to turn his hand to. he had no one like-minded to consult with, and he felt that it was wrong to eat the bread of idleness. being thus uncertain what to do, he resolved in the meantime to carry goods into the interior of the country, and offer them for sale. the land round his dwelling and his own gun would supply him with food; and for the rest, he would spend his time in the study of the bible, and seek for more light and direction from god. "such," continued the hermit, "is a slight sketch of the history of my country and of myself." "yourself?" exclaimed martin. "yes. i am the padre caramuru, or rather i _was_. i am padre no longer, but senhor carlos caramuru, a merchant. yet i know not what to do. when i look round upon my country, and see how they know not the precious word of god, my heart burns in me, and i sometimes think that it is my duty to go forth and preach." "no doubt ye are right," said barney. "i've always bin of opinion that when a man feels very strong in his heart on any partic'lar subject it's a sure sign that the almighty intends him to have something more to do with that subject than other men who don't feel about it at all." the hermit remained silent for a few minutes. "i think you are right, friend," he said; "but i am very ignorant yet. i have no one to explain difficulties to me; and i fear to go about preaching, lest i should preach what is not true. i will study yet for a time, and pray. after that perhaps, i may go forth." "but you have told us nothing yet about the trade of the country," said martin, "or its size, or anything of that sort." "i will soon tell you of that, when i have lighted another cigar. this one does not draw well. have you got a full pipe still, my friend?" "all right, mr carrymooroo," replied barney, knocking out the ashes. "i'll jist load wance more, and then,--fire away." in a few minutes the big cigar and short pipe were in full play, and the hermit continued:-- "this country is very large and very rich, but it is not well worked. the people are lazy, many of them, and have not much enterprise. much is done, no doubt; but very much more _might_ be done. "the empire of brazil occupies nearly one half of the whole continent of south america. it is miles long, and miles broad; which, as you know perhaps, is a little larger than all europe. the surface of the country is beautiful and varied. the hilly regions are very wild, although none of the mountains are very high, and the woods are magnificent; but a great part of the land consists of vast grassy plains, which are called llanos, or campos, or silvas. the campos along the banks of the river amazon are equal to six times the size of france; and there is one great plain which lies between the sierra ibiapaba and the river tocantins which is miles long by miles broad. there are very few lakes in brazil, and only one worth speaking of--the lagoa dos platos--which is miles long. but our rivers are the finest in the whole world, being so long, and wide, and deep, and free from falls, that they afford splendid communication with the interior of the land. but alas! there are few ships on these rivers yet, very few. the rivers in the north part of brazil are so numerous and interlaced that they are much like the veins in the human body; and the great river amazon and a few of its chief tributaries resemble the arteries. "then as to our produce," continued the hermit, "who can tell it all? we export sugar, and coffee, and cotton, and gold, silver, lead, zinc, quicksilver, and amethysts, and we have diamond mines--" "di'mond mines!" echoed barney; "och, but i would like for to see them. sure they would sparkle most beautiful. are they far off, mr carrymooroo?" "yes, very far off. then we export dye-woods, and cabinet-woods, and drugs, and gums, and hides,--a great many hides, for the campos are full of wild cattle, and men hunt them on horseback, and catch them with a long rope called the _lasso_." "how i should like to have a gallop over these great plains," murmured martin. "then we have," continued the hermit, "rice, tapioca, cocoa, maize, wheat, mandioca, beans, bananas, pepper, cinnamon, oranges, figs, ginger, pine-apples, yams, lemons, mangoes, and many other fruits and vegetables. the mandioca you have eaten in the shape of farina. it is very good food; one acre gives as much nutriment as six acres of wheat. "of the trees you have seen something. there are thousands of kinds, and most magnificent. some of them are more than thirty feet round about. there are two hundred different kinds of palms, and so thick stand the giant trees in many places, with creeping-plants growing between, that it is not possible for man to cut his way through the forests in some parts. language cannot describe the grandeur and glory of the brazilian forests. "we have numbers of wild horses, and hogs, and goats; and in the woods are tiger-cats, jaguars, tapirs, hyenas, sloths, porcupines, and--but you have seen many things already. if you live you will see more. i need not tell you of these things; very soon i will show you some. "the population of my country consists of the descendants of portuguese settlers, native indians, and negroes. of the latter, some are free, some slaves. the indians go about nearly naked. most of them are in a savage state: they paint their skins, and wear gaudy ornaments. the religion of the country is roman catholic, but all religions are tolerated; and i have much hope for the future of brazil, in spite of the priests." "and do ye git much out o' the di'mond mines?" inquired barney, whose mind was running on this subject. "o yes, a great deal. every year many are got, and government gets one-fifth of the value of all the gold and diamonds found in the country. one diamond was found a short time ago which was worth , pounds." "ye don't say so!" exclaimed barney in great surprise, as he blew an immense cloud of smoke from his lips. "now, that's extror'nary. why don't everybody go to the mines and dig up their fortin at wance?" "because men cannot _eat_ diamonds," replied the hermit gravely. "troth, i niver thought o' that; ye're right." martin laughed heartily as he lay in his hammock and watched his friend's expression while pondering this weighty subject. "moreover," resumed the hermit, "you will be surprised to hear that diamond and gold finding is not the most profitable employment in the country. "the man who cultivates the ground is better off than anybody. it, is a fact a very great fact, a fact that you should get firmly fixed in your memory--that in less than _two years_ the exports of sugar and coffee amounted to more than the value of all the diamonds found in _eighty_ years. yes, that is true. but the people of brazil are not well off. they have everything that is necessary to make a great nation; but we are not a great nation, far from it." the hermit sighed deeply as he ceased speaking, and fell into an abstracted frame of mind. "it's a great country intirely," said barney, knocking the ashes out of his pipe, and placing that much-loved implement carefully in his pocket; "a great country, but there's a tremendous big screw loose somewhere." "it seems curious to me," said martin, in a ruminating tone of voice, "that people should not get on better in a country, in which there is everything that man can desire, to make him rich and happy. i wonder what it wants; perhaps it's too hot and the people want energy of character." "want energy!" shouted the hermit leaping from his seat, and regarding his guests for a few moments with a stern expression of countenance; then, stretching forth his hand, he continued, in an excited tone: "brazil does not want energy; it has only one want,--it wants the bible! when a country is sunk down in superstition and ignorance and moral depravity, so that the people know not right from wrong, there is only one cure for her,--the bible. religion here is a mockery and a shame; such as, if it were better known, would make the heathen laugh in scorn. the priests are a curse to the land, not a blessing. perhaps they are better in other lands,--i know not; but well i know they are, many of them, false and wicked here. no truth is taught to the people,--no bible is read in their ears; religion is not taught,--even morality is not taught; men follow the devices and desires of their own hearts, and there is no voice raised to say, `you are doing wrong.' my country is sunk very low; and she cannot hope to rise, for the word of her maker is not in her hand. true, there are a few, a very few bibles in the great cities; but that is all: that cannot save her hundreds of towns and villages. thousands of her people are slaves in body,--all, all are slaves in soul; and yet you ask me what she wants. ha! she wants _truth_, she wants to be purged of falsehood. she has bones and muscles, and arteries and veins,--everything to make a strong and healthy nation; but she wants blood,--she has no vital stream; yes, brazil, my country, wants the bible!" chapter twelve. a hunting expedition, in which are seen stones that can run, and cows that require no food--besides a desperate encounter with a jaguar, and other strange things. for many weeks martin rattler and his friend barney o'flannagan continued to dwell with the hermit in his forest-home, enjoying his entertaining and instructive discourse, and joining with him in the bunting expeditions which he undertook for the purpose of procuring fresh food for his table. in these rambles they made constant discoveries of something new and surprising, both in reference to the vegetables and animals of that extraordinary region of the earth. they also had many adventures,--some amusing and some terrible,--which we cannot enlarge on here, for they would fill ten volumes such as this, were they to be all recorded in detail. one day the hermit roused them earlier than usual, and told them to get ready, as he intended to go a considerable distance that day, and he wished to reach a particular spot before the heat of noon. so martin and barney despatched breakfast in as short a time as possible, and the hermit read them a chapter out of his large and well-thumbed bible, after which they equipped themselves for the chase. when martin and his friend escaped from the pirates, and landed on the coast of brazil, they were clothed in sailor-like costume, namely, white duck trousers, coloured flannel shirts, blue jackets, round straw-hats, and strong shoes. this costume was not very suitable for the warm climate, in which they now found themselves, so their hospitable friend the hermit gave them two loose light cotton coats or jackets, of a blue colour, and broad-brimmed straw-hats similar to his own. he also gave them two curious garments called _ponchos_. the poncho serves the purpose of cloak and blanket. it is simply a square dark-coloured blanket with a hole in the middle of it, through which the head is thrust in rainy weather, and the garment hangs down all round. at night the poncho is useful as a covering. the hermit wore a loose open hunting-coat and underneath it a girdle, in which was a long sharp knife and a brace of pistols. his trousers were of blue-striped cotton. he usually carried a double-barrelled gun over his shoulder, and a powder-horn and bullet-bag were slung round his neck. barney now procured from this hospitable man a supply of powder and shot for his large brass-mounted cavalry pistol. the hermit also made him a present of a long hunting-knife; and he gave one of a smaller size to martin. as martin had no weapon, the hermit manufactured for him a stout bow and quiver full of arrows; with which, after some practice, he became reasonably expert. thus armed they sallied forth, and, following the foot-path that conducted from the door of the hut to the brow of the hill opposite, they were soon buried in the shades of the great forest. on this particular morning barney observed that the hermit carried with him a stout spear, which he was not usually in the habit of doing. being of an inquisitive disposition, he inquired the reason of his taking it. "i expect to find a jaguar to-day," answered the hermit. "i saw him yesterday go down into the small valley, in which my cows grow. i will show you my cows soon, martin." the hermit stopped short suddenly as he spoke, and pointed to a large bird, about fifty yards in advance of them. it seemed to bear a particular ill-will to a round rough stone which it pecked most energetically. after a few minutes the bird ceased its attacks and flew off; whereupon the rough stone opened itself out, and, running quickly away, burrowed into a little hole and disappeared! "that is an armadillo," remarked the hermit, continuing to lead the way through the woods; "it is covered with a coat of mail, as you see; and when enemies come it rolls itself up like a ball and lies like a hard stone till they go away. but it has four little legs, and with them it burrows so quickly that we cannot dig it up, and must smoke it out of its hole,--which i do often, because it is very good to eat, as you very well know." while they continued thus to walk through the woods conversing, martin and barney were again interested and amused by the immense number of brilliant parrots and toucans which swooped about, chattering from tree to tree, in large flocks. sometimes thirty or forty of the latter would come screaming through the woods and settle upon the dark-green foliage of a coffee-tree; the effect of which was to give the tree the appearance of having been suddenly loaded with ripe golden fruit. then the birds would catch sight of the travellers, and fly screaming away, leaving the tree dark-green and fruitless as before. the little green parrots were the most outrageously noisy things that ever lived. not content with screaming when they flew, they continued to shriek, apparently with delight while they devoured the seeds of the gorgeous sun-flowers: and, more than once, martin was prompted to scatter a handful of stones among them, as a hint to be less noisy; but this only made them worse,--like a bad baby, which, the more you tell it to be quiet, sets to work the more earnestly to increase and add to the vigour of its roaring. so martin wisely let the parrots alone. they also startled, in passing through swampy places, several large blue herons, and long-legged cranes: and on many of the trees they observed the curious hanging nests of a bird, which the hermit told them was the large oriole. these nests hung in long strings from the tops of the palm-trees, and the birds were very actively employed moving about and chattering round their swinging villages: on seeing which martin could not help remarking that it would astonish the colony not a little, if the top house were to give way and let all the mansions below come tumbling to the ground! they were disappointed, however, in not seeing monkeys gambolling among the trees, as they had expected. "ah! my friends," said the hermit, "travellers in my country are very often disappointed. they come here expecting to see everything all at once; but although there are jaguars, and serpents, and bears, and monkeys, plenty of them, as your ears can tell you, these creatures keep out of the sight of man as much as possible. they won't come out of the woods and show themselves to please travellers! you have been very lucky since you arrived. many travellers go about for months together and do not see half so much as you." "that's thrue," observed barney, with his head a little on one side, and his eyes cast up in a sort of meditative frown, as if he were engaged in subjecting the hermit's remarks to a process of severe philosophical contemplation; "but i would be very well plazed av' the wild bastes would show themselves now and then, for--" martin rattler burst into a loud laugh, for barney's upward glance of contemplation was suddenly transformed into a gaze of intense astonishment, as he beheld the blue countenance of a large red monkey staring down upon him from amid the branches of an overhanging tree. the monkey's face expressed, if possible, greater surprise than that of the irishman, and its mouth was partially open and thrust forward in a sort of threatening and inquiring manner. there seemed to be some bond of sympathy between the monkey and the man, for while _its_ mouth opened _his_ mouth opened too. "a-a-a-a-a-ah!" exclaimed the monkey. a facetious smile overspread barney's face-- "och! be all manes; the same to you, kindly," said he, taking off his hat and making a low bow. the civility did not seem to be appreciated, however; for the monkey put on a most indignant frown and displayed a terrific double-row of long brilliant teeth and red gums, while it uttered a shriek of passion, twisted its long tail round a branch, and hurled itself, with a motion more like that of a bird than a beast, into the midst of the tree and disappeared, leaving martin and barney and the hermit, each with a very broad grin on his countenance. the hunters now arrived at an open space where there were several large umbrageous trees, and as it was approaching mid-day they resolved to rest here for a couple of hours. birds and insects were gradually becoming more and more silent and soon afterwards the only sounds that broke upon their ears were the curious metallic notes of the urupongas, or bell-birds; which were so like to the rapid beating of a smith's hammer on an anvil, that it was with the greatest difficulty barney was restrained from going off by himself in search of the "smiddy." indeed he began to suspect that the worthy hermit was deceiving him, and was only fully convinced at last when he saw one of the birds. it was pure white, about the size of a thrush, and had a curious horn or fleshy tubercle upon its head. having rested and refreshed themselves, they resumed their journey a short time before the noisy inhabitants of the woods recommenced their active afternoon operations. "hallo! what's that?" cried barney, starting back and drawing his pistol, while martin hastily fitted an arrow to his bow. not ten paces in front of them a frightful monster ran across their path, which seemed so hideous to martin, that his mind instantly reverted to the fable of saint george and the dragon, and he almost expected to see fire issuing from its mouth. it was a huge lizard, with a body about three feet long, covered with bright scales. it had a long, thick tail. its head was clumsy and misshapen, and altogether its aspect was very horrible. before either martin or barney could fire, the hermit dropped his gun and spear, sprang quickly forward, caught the animal by the tail, and, putting forth his great strength to the utmost, swung it round his head and dashed its brains out against a tree. barney and martin could only stare with amazement. "this we call an iguana," said the hermit as he piled a number of heavy stones on the carcase to preserve it from other animals. "it is very good to eat--as good as chicken. this is not a very big one; they are sometimes five feet long, but almost quite harmless,--not venomous at all; and the only means he has to defend himself is the tail, which is very powerful, and gives a tremendously hard blow; but, as you see, if you catch him quick, he can do nothing." "it's all very well for you, or even barney here, to talk of catching him by the tail," said martin, smiling; "but it would have puzzled me to swing that fellow round my head." "arrah! ye're right, boy; i doubt if i could have done it mesilf," said barney. "no fear," said the hermit patting martin's broad shoulders as he passed him and led the way; "you will be strong enough for that very soon,--as strong as me in a year or two." they now proceeded down into a somewhat dark and closely wooded valley, through which meandered a small rivulet. here they had some difficulty in forcing their way through the dense under-wood and broad leaves, most of which seemed very strange to martin and his comrade, being so gigantic. there were also many kinds of ferns, which sometimes arched over their heads and completely shut out the view, while some of them crept up the trees like climbing-plants. emerging from this, they came upon a more open space, in the midst of which grew a number of majestic trees. "there are my cows!" said the hermit, pausing as he spoke, and pointing towards a group of tall straight-stemmed trees that were the noblest in appearance they had yet seen. "good cows they are," he continued, going up to one and making a notch in the bark with his axe: "they need no feeding or looking after, yet, as you see, they are always ready to give me cream." while he spoke, a thick white liquid flowed from the notch in the bark into a cocoa-nut drinking-cup, which the hermit always carried at his girdle. in a few minutes he presented his visitors with a draught, of what they declared was most excellent cream. the masseranduba, or milk-tree, as it is called, is indeed one of the most wonderful of all the extraordinary trees in the forests of brazil, and is one among many instances of the bountiful manner, in which god provides for the wants of his creatures. no doubt this might with equal truth be said of all the gifts that a beneficent creator bestows upon mankind; but when, as in the case of this milk-tree, the provision for our wants comes in a singular and striking manner, it seems fitting and appropriate that we should specially acknowledge the gift as coming from the hand of him who giveth us all things liberally to enjoy. the milk-tree rises with a straight stem to an enormous height, and the fruit, about the size of a small apple, is full of rich and juicy pulp, and is very good. the timber, also, is hard, fine-grained, and durable,--particularly adapted for such works as are exposed to the weather. but its most remarkable peculiarity is the rich vegetable milk which flows in abundance from it when the bark is cut. this milk is so like to that of the cow in taste, that it can scarcely be distinguished from it, having only a very slight peculiarity of flavour, which is rather agreeable than otherwise. in tea and coffee it has the same effect as rich cream, and, indeed, is so thick that it requires to be diluted with water before being used. this milk is also employed as glue. it hardens when exposed to the air, and becomes very tough and slightly elastic, and is said to be quite as good and useful as ordinary glue. having partaken of as much milk as they desired, they continued their journey a little further, when they came to a spur of the sierra, or mountain range, that cuts through that part of the country. here the ground became more rugged, but still densely covered with wood, and rocks lay piled about in many places, forming several dark and gloomy caverns. the hermit now unslung his gun and advanced to the foot of a cliff, near the further end of which there were several caves, the mouths of which were partially closed with long ferns and masses of luxuriant vegetation. "now we must be prepared," said the hermit feeling the point of his spear. "i think there is a jaguar here. i saw him yesterday, and i am quite sure he will not go away till he tries to do some mischief. he little knows that there is nothing here to hurt but me." the hermit chuckled as he said this, and resting his gun against the cliff near the entrance to the first cave, which was a small one, he passed on to the next. holding the spear in his left band, he threw a stone violently into the cavern. barney and martin listened and gazed in silent expectation; but they only heard the hollow sound of the falling stone as it dashed against the sides of the cave; then all was still. "och, then, he's off," cried barney. "hush," said martin; "don't speak till he has tried the other cave." without taking notice of their remarks, the hermit repeated the experiment at the mouths of two caverns further on, with the like result. "maybe the spalpeen's hidin' in the little cave where ye laid down yer gun," suggested barney, going towards the place as he spoke. "och, then, come here, friend; sure it must be the mouth of a mine, for there's two o' the beautifulest di'monds i iver--" barney's speech was cut short by a low peculiar sound, that seemed like the muttering of far-distant thunder. at the same moment the hermit pulled him violently back, and, placing himself in a firm attitude full in front of the cavern, held the point of the spear advanced before him. "martin," he whispered, "shoot an arrow straight into that hole,-- quick!" martin obeyed, and the arrow whizzed through the aperture. instantly there issued from it a savage and tremendous roar, so awful that it seemed as if the very mountain were bellowing and that the cavern were its mouth. but not a muscle of the hermit's figure moved. he stood like a bronze statue,--his head thrown back and his chest advanced, with one foot planted firmly before him and the spear pointing towards the cave. it seemed strange to martin that a man should face what appeared to him unknown danger, so boldly and calmly; but he did not consider that the hermit knew exactly the amount of danger before him. he knew precisely the manner in which it would assail him, and he knew just what was necessary to be done in order to avert it; and in the strength of that knowledge he stood unmoved, with a slight smile upon his tightly compressed lips. scarcely had the roar ceased when it was repeated with tenfold fierceness; the bushes and fern leaves shook violently, and an enormous and beautifully spotted jaguar shot through the air as if it had been discharged from a cannon's mouth. the hermit's eye wavered not; he bent forward a hair's-breadth; the glittering spear-point touched the animal's breast, pierced through it, and came out at its side below the ribs. but the force of the bound was too great for the strength of the weapon: the handle snapped in twain, and the transfixed jaguar struck down the hermit and fell writhing upon him! in the excitement of the moment barney drew his pistol from his belt and snapped it at the animal. it was well for the hermit at that moment that barney had forgotten to prime his weapon; for, although he aimed at the jaguar's skull, there is no doubt whatever that he would have blown out the hermit's brains. before he could make a second attempt, martin sprang towards the gun which leaned against the cliff, and, running quickly up, he placed the muzzle close to the jaguar's ear and lodged a bullet in its brain. all this was done in a few seconds, and the hermit regained his legs just as the animal fell dead. fortunately he was not hurt, having adroitly avoided the sharp claws of his enemy. "arrah! mister hermit," said barney, wiping the perspiration from his forehead, "it's yersilf that was well-nigh done for this time, an' no mistake. did iver i see sich a spring! an' ye stud the charge jist like a stone wall,--niver moved a fut!" "are you not hurt?" inquired martin, somewhat anxiously; "your face is all covered with blood." "yes, boy, but it is the blood of the jaguar; thanks to you for your quick hand, i am not hurt at all." the hermit washed his face in the neighbouring brook, and then proceeded to skin the jaguar, the carcase being worthless. after which they retraced their steps through the woods as quickly as possible, for the day was now far spent, and the twilight as we have before remarked, is so short in tropical latitudes that travellers require to make sure of reaching the end of the day's journey towards evening, unless they choose to risk losing their way, and spending the night in the forest. they picked up the iguana in passing; and, on reaching the spot where the armadillo had burrowed, the hermit paused and kindled a small fire over the hole, by means of his flint, steel, and tinder-box. he thus contrived to render the creature's habitation so uncomfortable that it rushed hurriedly out; then, observing that its enemies were waiting, it doubled its head and tail together, and became the image of a rough stone. "poor thing," said martin, as the hermit killed it; "that reminds me of the ostrich of the desert, which, i'm told, when it is chased over the plains by men on horseback, and finds that it cannot escape, thrusts its head into a bush, and fancies, no doubt, that it cannot be seen, although its great body is visible a mile off!" "martin," said barney, "this arth is full o' quare craturs intirely." "that's true, barney; and not the least `quare' among them is an irishman, a particular friend of mine!" "hould yer tongue, ye spalpeen, or i'll put yer head in the wather!" "i wish ye would, barney, for it is terribly hot and mosquito-bitten, and you couldn't have suggested anything more delightful. but here we are once more at our forest-home; and now for a magnificent cup of coffee and a mandioca-cake." "not to mintion," added barney, "a juicy steak of igu anny, an' a tender chop o' army dillo." chapter thirteen. martin and barney continue their travels, and see strange things--among others, they see living jewels--they go to see a festa--they fight and run away. martin rattler and barney o'flannagan soon after this began to entertain a desire to travel further into the interior of brazil, and behold with their own eyes the wonders of which they had heard so much from their kind and hospitable friend, the hermit. martin was especially anxious to see the great river amazon, about which he entertained the most romantic ideas,--as well he might, for there is not such another river in the world for size, and for the many curious things connected with its waters and its banks. barney, too, was smitten with an intense desire to visit the diamond mines, which he fancied must be the most brilliant and beautiful sight in the whole world; and when martin asked him what sort of place he expected to see, he used to say that he "pictur'd in his mind a great many deep and lofty caverns, windin' in an' out an' round about, with the sides and the floors and the ceilin's all of a blaze with glittering di'monds, an' top'zes, an' purls, an' what not; with naiggurs be the dozen picking them up in handfuls. an' sure," he would add, "if we was wance there, we could fill our pockets in no time, an' then, hooray for ould ireland! an' live like imperors for ivermore." "but you forget barney, the account the hermit has given us of the mines. he evidently does not think that much is to be made of them." "och! niver mind the hermit. there's always good luck attends barney o'flannagan; an' sure if nobody wint for fear they would git nothing, all the di'monds that iver came out o' the mines would be lyin' there still; an' didn't he tell us there was wan got only a short time since, worth i don't know how many thousand pounds? arrah! if i don't go to the mines an' git one the size o' me head, i'll let ye rig me out with a long tail, an' set me adrift in the woods for a blue-faced monkey." it so happened that this was the time when the hermit was in the habit of setting out on one of his trading trips; and when martin told him of the desire that he and barney entertained to visit the interior, he told them that he would be happy to take them along with him, provided they would act the part of muleteers. to this they readily agreed, being only too glad of an opportunity of making some return to their friend, who refused to accept any payment for his hospitality, although barney earnestly begged of him to accept of his watch, which was the only object of value he was possessed of,--and that wasn't worth much, being made of pinchbeck, and utterly incapable of going! moreover, he relieved their minds, by telling them that they would easily obtain employment as canoe-men on the amazon, for men were very difficult to be got on that river to man the boats; and if they could stand the heat, and were willing to work like indians, they might travel as far as they pleased. to which martin replied, in his ignorance, that he thought he could stand anything; and barney roundly asserted that, having been burnt to a cinder long ago in the "east injies," it was impossible to overdo him any more. under these circumstances, therefore, they started three weeks later to visit a populous town about twenty miles off, from which they set out on their travels, with a string of heavily laden mules, crossed the low countries or campos lying near to the sea, and began to ascend the sierras that divide this portion of brazil from the country which is watered by the innumerable rivers that flow into the mighty amazon. the cavalcade consisted of ten mules, each with two goodly sized bales of merchandise on its back. they were driven and attended to by negroes, whose costume consisted of a light cotton shirt with short sleeves, and a pair of loose cotton drawers reaching down to the knee. with the exception of a straw-hat this was all they wore. martin, and barney, and the hermit each bestrode a mule, with a small bale slung on either side; over the front of which their legs dangled comfortably. they had ponchos with them, strapped to the mules' backs, and each carried a clumsy umbrella to shield him from the fierce rays of the sun; but our two adventurers soon became so hardened and used to the climate, that they dispensed with the umbrellas altogether. the sierra, or mountain range, over which they passed was about thirty miles in extent, being in some places quite level and open, but in others somewhat rugged and covered with large but thinly scattered trees, the most common of which had fine dark-green glossy leaves, with spikes of bright-yellow flowers terminating the branchlets. there were also many peculiar shrubs and flowering plants, of a sort that the travellers had never seen the like of in their native land. "how i wish," said martin with a sigh, as he rode along beside his friend barney, "that i knew something of botany." barney opened his eyes in surprise. "arrah! it's too much of a philosopher ye are already, lad. what good would it do ye to know all the hard names that men have given to the flowers? sure i wance wint after the doctor o' a ship, to carry his box for him when he wint on what he called botanical excursions; and the poor cratur used to be pokin' his nose for iver down at the ground, an' peerin' through his green spectacles at miserable bits o' plants, an' niver seemin' to enjoy anything; when all the time _i_ was lookin' far fornint me, an all around me, an' up at the sky, seein' ivery beautiful thing, and snifterin' up the sweet smells, an' in fact enjoyin' the whole univarse--an my pipe to boot--like an intelligent cratur." barney looked round as he spoke, with a bland, self-satisfied expression of countenance, as if he felt that he had given a lucid definition of the very highest style of philosophy, and proved that he, barney o'flannagan, was possessed of the same in no common degree. "well, barney," rejoined martin, "since you give me credit for being a philosopher, i must continue to talk philosophically. your botanical friend took a _microscopic_ view of nature, while you took a _telescopic_ view of it. each view is good, but both views are better; and i can't help wishing that i were more of a philosopher than i am, especially in reference to botany." "humph!" ejaculated barney, who seemed not quite to understand his young friend, "yer observations are remarkably thrue, and do ye great credit, for yer years. ah! mr hermit, good luck to ye! i'm glad to see that ye've got some consideration for man and baste. i'm quite ready for my victuals, and so's my mule; aren't you, avic?" barney's latter remark was addressed to his patient charger, from whose back he sprang as he spoke, and slackened its girths. it was now approaching mid-day, and the hermit had pitched upon a large tree as a fitting spot for rest and refreshment. water had been brought up the mountain in a huge calabash; but they did not require to use it, as they found a quantity in the hollow stump of a tree. there were several frogs swimming about in this miniature lake; but it was found to be fresh and clear and good, notwithstanding. towards evening they passed a string of mules going towards the town which they had just left. they were driven by negroes, most of whom were slaves, and nearly quite naked. a brazilian merchant, wearing a picturesque broad-brimmed, high-crowned straw-hat, a poncho, and brown leather boots armed at the heels with large sharp spurs, rode at the head, and gave the strangers a surly nod of his head as they passed. soon after, they descended into the plain, and came to a halt at a sort of roadside public-house, where there was no sleeping accommodation, but where they found an open shed in which travellers placed their goods, and slung their hammocks, and attended to themselves. at the venda, close beside it, they purchased a large bag of farina, being short of that necessary article of food, and then set to work to prepare supper in the open air; while the merry negroes, who seemed to enjoy life most thoroughly, laughed and sang as they removed the bales from the mules' backs and cooked their simple fare. barney's cooking propensities now came into full play; and, with the variety of fruits and vegetables which the country afforded, he exercised his ingenuity, and produced several dishes of so savoury a nature that the hermit was compelled to open his eyes in amazement, and smack his lips with satisfaction, being quite unable to express his sentiments in words. while thus busily and agreeably employed, they were told by the owner of the venda that a festa was being celebrated at a village about a league distant from where they stood. "i should like to see it above all things," said martin eagerly; "could we not go?" the hermit frowned. "yes, we can go, but it will be to behold folly. perhaps it will be a good lesson, from which much may be learned. we will go." "it's not a step that i'll budge till i've finished me pipe," said barney, pulling away at that bosom friend with unexampled energy. "to smoke," he continued, winking gently with one eye, "is the first law of nature; jist give me ten minutes more, an' i'm your man for anything." being a fine evening, they proceeded on foot. in about an hour after setting out, they approached the village, which lay in a beautiful valley below them. sounds of mirth and music rose like a distant murmur on the air, and mingled with the songs of birds and insects. then the sun went down, and in a few minutes it grew dark, while the brilliant fire-flies began their nocturnal gambols. suddenly a bright flame burst over the village, and a flight of magnificent rockets shot up into the sky, and burst in a hundred bright and variously-coloured stars, which paled for a few seconds the lights of nature. but they vanished in a moment, and the clear stars shed abroad their undying lustre,--seeming, in their quiet unfading beauty, a gentle satire on the short-lived and garish productions of man. "mighty purty, no doubt," exclaimed barney. "is this the imperor's birth-day?" "no," replied the hermit shaking his head; "that is the way in which the false priests amuse the people. the poor indian and the negro, and, indeed, the ignorant brazilian, thinks it very grand; and the priests let them think it is pleasing to the god of heaven. ah! here comes an old negro; we will ask him." several country people, in varied and picturesque costumes, hurried past the travellers towards the village; and as they came to a foot-path that joined the road, an old negro approached them. saluting him in the portuguese language, the hermit said, "friend, why do they let off rockets to-night?" "por dios," (for god), answered the old man, looking and pointing upwards with grave solemnity. without vouchsafing another word, he hurried away. "so they think," said the hermit, "and so they are taught by the priests. music, noise, and fire-works please these ignorant people; and so the priests, who are mostly as ignorant as the people, tell them it is a good part of religious ceremony." presently a band of young girls came laughing and singing along the road. they were dressed in pure white, their rich black tresses being uncovered and ornamented with flowers, and what appeared to be bright jewels. "hallo!" exclaimed martin, gazing after them; "what splendid jewels! surely these must be the daughters of very rich people." "och, but they've been at the di'mond mines for certain! did iver ye sae the like?" the girls did indeed seem to blaze with jewels, which not only sparkled in their hair, but fringed their white robes, and were worked round the edges of their slippers; so that a positive light shone around their persons, and fell upon the path like a halo, giving them more the appearance of lovely supernatural beings than the daughters of earth. "these jewels," said the hermit, "were never polished by the hands of men. they are fire-flies." "fire-flies!" exclaimed martin and barney simultaneously. "yes, they are living fire-flies. the girls very often catch them and tie them up in little bits of gauze, and put them, as you see, on their dresses and in their hair. to my mind they seem more beautiful far than diamonds. sometimes the indians, when they travel at night, fix fire-flies to their feet and so have good lamps to their path." while barney was expressing his surprise at this information, in very racy language, they entered the village; and, mingling with the throng of holiday-keepers, followed the stream towards the grand square. the church, which seemed to be a centre of attraction, and was brilliantly illuminated, was a neat wooden building with two towers. the streets of the village were broad and straggling; and so luxuriant was the vegetation, and so lazy the nature of the inhabitants, that it seemed as if the whole place were overgrown with gigantic weeds. shrubs and creeping-plants grew in the neglected gardens, climbed over the palings, and straggled about the streets. plants grew on the tops of the houses, ferns peeped out under the eaves; and, in short, on looking at it, one had the feeling that ere long the whole place, people and all, must be smothered in superabundant vegetation! the houses were all painted white or yellow, with the doors and windows bright green,--just like grown-up toys; and sounds of revelry, with now and then the noise of disputation, issued from many of them. it is impossible to describe minutely the appearance of the motley crowd, through which our adventurers elbowed their way, gazing curiously on the strange scene, which seemed to them more like a dream than reality, after their long sojourn in the solitudes of the forest. processions headed by long-robed priests with flambeaux and crucifixes; young girls in light costumes and long white cotton shawls, selling sweet cakes of mandioca flour, and bonbons; swarthy brazilians, some in white jackets, loose cotton drawers, and straw-hats, others in brown leather boots and ponchos; negroes in short white drawers and shifts, besides many without any clothing above their waists; indians from the interior, copper-coloured, and some of them, fine-looking men, having only a strip of cloth about their loins;--such were the strange crew whose loud voices added to the whiz of rockets, squibs, crackers, guns, and musical instruments, created a deafening noise. in the midst of the village there was a tree of such enormous size that it quite took our travellers by surprise. it was a wild fig-tree, capable of sheltering a thousand persons under its shadow! here a spirited fandango was going on, and they stood for some time watching the movements of the performers. growing tired of this, they wandered about until they came to a less crowded part of the village, and entered a pleasant grove of trees, skirting the road by which they had arrived. while sauntering here, enjoying the cool night breeze and delicious perfume of flowers, a woman uttered a piercing shriek near to them. it was instantly followed by loud voices in altercation. ever ready to fly to the help of womankind, and, generally, to assist in a "row," barney darted through the bushes, and came upon the scene of action just in time to see the white skirt of a female's dress disappear down an avenue, and to behold two brazilians savagely writhing in mortal strife. at the moment he came up, one of the combatants had overcome the other, and a fierce smile of triumph crossed his swarthy countenance as he raised his gleaming knife. "och, ye murtherer! would ye attimpt that same?" cried barney, catching the man by the wrist and hurling him on his back. the other sprang up on being thus unexpectedly freed, and darted away, while the thwarted man uttered a yell of disappointment and sprang like a tiger at barney's throat. a blow, however, from the irishman's fist, quietly delivered, and straight between the eyes, stretched the brazilian on the ground. at the same moment a party of men, attracted by the cries, burst through the bushes and surrounded the successful champion. seeing their countryman apparently dead upon the ground, they rushed upon barney in a body; but the first who came within reach was floored in an instant, and the others were checked in their career by the sudden appearance of the hermit and martin rattler. the noise of many voices, as of people hastening towards them, was heard at the same time. "we have no time to lose, do as i bid you," whispered the hermit. whirling a heavy stick round his head the hermit shouted the single word "charge!" and dashed forward. barney and martin obeyed. three brazilians went down like ninepins; the rest turned and fled precipitately. "now, run for life!" cried the hermit, setting the example. barney hesitated to follow what he deemed a cowardly flight, but the yells of the natives returning in strong force decided the question. he and martin took to their heels with right good will, and in a few minutes the three friends were far on the road which led to their night bivouac; while the villagers, finding pursuit hopeless, returned to the village, and continued the wild orgies of their festa. chapter fourteen. cogitations and canoeing on the amazon--barney's exploit with an alligator--stubborn facts--remarkable mode of sleeping. it is pleasant, when the sun is bright, and the trees are green, and when flowering shrubs and sweet-smelling tropical trees scent the balmy atmosphere at eventide, to lie extended at full length in a canoe, and drop easily, silently, yet quickly, down the current of a noble river, under the grateful shadow of overhanging foliage; and to look lazily up at the bright blue sky which appears in broken patches among the verdant leaves; or down at the river in which that bright sky and those green leaves are reflected; or aside at the mud-banks where greedy vultures are searching for prey, and lazy alligators are basking in the sun; and to listen, the while, to the innumerable cries and notes of monkeys, toucans, parrots, orioles, bemtevi or fly-catchers, white-winged and blue chatterers, and all the myriads of birds and beasts that cause the forests of brazil, above all other forests in the world probably, to resound with the gleeful songs of animated nature! it is pleasant to be thus situated, especially when a cool breeze blows the mosquitoes and other insects off the water, and relieves you for a time from their incessant attacks. martin rattler found it pleasant as he thus lay on his back with his diminutive pet marmoset monkey seated on his breast quietly picking the kernel out of a nut. and barney o'flannagan found it pleasant, as he lay extended in the bow of the canoe with his head leaning over the edge gazing abstractedly at his own reflected visage, while his hands trailed through the cool water, and his young dog--a shaggy indescribable beast with a bluff nose and a bushy tail--watched him intently, as a mother might watch an only child in a dangerous situation. and the old sun-dried, and storm-battered, and time-shrivelled mulatto trader, in whose canoe they were embarked and whose servants they had become, found it pleasant, as he sat there perched in his little montaria, like an exceedingly ancient and overgrown monkey, guiding it safely down the waters of the great river of the tocantins. some months have passed since we last parted from our daring adventurers. during that period they had crossed an immense tract of country, and reached the head-waters of one of the many streams that carry the surplus moisture of central brazil into the amazon. here they found an old trader, a free mulatto, whose crew of indians had deserted him,--a common thing in that country,--and who gladly accepted their services, agreeing to pay them a small wage. and here they sorrowfully, and with many expressions of good-will, parted from their kind friend and entertainer the hermit. his last gift to martin was the wonderfully small marmoset monkey before mentioned; and his parting souvenir to barney was the bluff-nosed dog that watched over him with maternal care, and loved him next to itself;--as well it might; for if everybody had been of the same spirit as barney o'flannagan, the act for the prevention of cruelty to animals would never have been passed in britain. it was a peculiar and remarkable and altogether extraordinary monkey, that tiny marmoset. there was a sort of romance connected with it, too; for it had been the mother of an indescribably small infant-monkey, which was killed at the time of its mother's capture. it drank coffee, too, like--like a frenchman; and would by no means retire to rest at night until it had had its usual allowance. then it would fold its delicate little hands on its bosom, and close its eyes with an expression of solemn grief, as if, having had its last earthly wish gratified, it now resigned itself to sleep. martin loved it deeply, but his love was unrequited; for, strange to say, that small monkey lavished all its affection on barney's shaggy dog. and the dog knew it, and was evidently proud of it, and made no objection whatever to the monkey sitting on his back, or his head, or his nose, or doing in fact whatever it chose whenever it pleased. when in the canoe, the marmoset played with grampus, as the dog was named; and when on shore it invariably travelled on his back. martin used to lie in the canoe half asleep and watch the little face of the marmoset, until, by some unaccountable mental process, he came to think of aunt dorothy grumbit. often did poor martin dream of his dear old aunt, while sleeping under the shelter of these strange-leaved tropical trees and surrounded by the wild sounds of that distant land, until he dreamed himself back again in the old village. then he would rush to the well-known school, and find all the boys there except bob croaker, who he felt certain must be away drowning the white kitten; and off he would go and catch him, sure enough, in the very act, and would give him the old thrashing over again, with all the additional vigour acquired during his rambles abroad thrown into it. then he would run home in eager haste, and find old mrs grumbit hard at the one thousand nine hundred and ninety-ninth pair of worsted socks; and fat mr arthur jollyboy sitting opposite to her, dressed in the old lady's bed-curtain chintz and high-crowned cap, with the white kitten in his arms and his spectacles on his chin, watching the process with intense interest and cautioning her not to forget the "hitch" by any means; whereupon the kitten would fly up in his face, and mr jollyboy would dash through the window with a loud howl, and mrs grumbit's face would turn blue; and, uncoiling an enormous tail, she would bound shrieking after him in among the trees and disappear! martin usually wakened at this point and found the marmoset gazing in his face with an expression of sorrowful solemnity, and the old sun-dried trader staring vacantly before him as he steered his light craft down the broad stream of the tocantins. the trader could speak little more english than sufficed to enable him to say "yes" and "no;" barney could speak about as much portuguese as enabled him to say "no" and "yes;" while martin, by means of a slight smattering of that language, which he had picked up by ear during the last few months, mixed now and then with a word or two of latin, and helped out by a clever use of the language of signs, succeeded in becoming the link of communication between the two. for many weeks they continued to descend the river; paddling energetically when the stream was sluggish, and resting comfortably when the stream was strong, and sometimes dragging their canoe over rocks and sand-banks to avoid rapids--passing many villages and plantations of the natives by the way--till at last they swept out upon the bosom of the great amazon river. the very first thing they saw upon entering it was an enormous alligator, fully eighteen feet long, sound asleep on a mud-bank. "och! put ashore, ye naygur," cried barney, seizing his pistol and rising up in the bow of the canoe. the old man complied quickly, for his spirit was high and easily roused. "look out now, martin, an' hould back the dog for fear he wakes him up," said barney, in a hoarse whisper, as he stepped ashore and hastened stealthily towards the sleeping monster; catching up a handful of gravel as he went, and ramming it down the barrel of his pistol. it was a wonderful pistol that--an irish one by birth, and absolutely incapable of bursting, else assuredly it would have gone, as its owner said, to "smithereens" long ago. barney was not a good stalker. the alligator awoke and made for the water as fast as it could waddle. the irishman rushed forward close up, as it plunged into the river, and discharged the compound of lead and stones right against the back of its head. he might as well have fired at the boiler of a steam-engine. the entire body of an alligator--back and belly, head and tail--is so completely covered with thick hard scales, that shot has no effect on it; and even a bullet cannot pierce its coat of mail, except in one or two vulnerable places. nevertheless the shot had been fired so close to it that the animal was stunned, and rolled over on its back in the water. seeing this, the old trader rushed in up to his chin, and caught it by the tail; but at the same moment the monster recovered, and, turning round, displayed its terrific rows of teeth. the old man uttered a dreadful roar, and struggled to the land as fast as he could; while the alligator, equally frightened, no doubt, gave a magnificent flourish and splash with its tail, and dived to the bottom of the river. the travellers returned disgusted to their canoe, and resumed their journey up the amazon in silence. the vulnerable places about an alligator are the soft parts under the throat and the joints of the legs. this is well-known to the jaguar, its mortal foe, which attacks it on land, and fastening on these soft parts, soon succeeds in killing it; but should the alligator get the jaguar into its powerful jaws or catch it in the water, it is certain to come off the conqueror. the amazon, at its mouth, is more like a wide lake or arm of the sea than a river. mention has been already made of this noble stream in the hermit's story; but it is worthy of more particular notice, for truly the amazon is in many respects a wonderful river. it is the largest, though not quite the longest, in the world. taking its rise among the rocky solitudes of the great mountain range of the andes, it flows through nearly four thousand miles of the continent in an easterly direction, trending northward towards its mouth, and entering the atlantic ocean on the northern coast of south america, directly under the equator. in its course it receives the waters of nearly all the great rivers of central south america, and thousands of smaller tributaries; so that when it reaches the ocean its volume of water is enormous. some idea may be formed of its majestic size, from the fact that one of its tributaries--the rio negro--is fifteen hundred miles long, and varying in breadth; being a mile wide not far from its mouth, while higher up it spreads out in some places into sheets of ten miles in width. the madeira, another tributary, is also a river of the largest size. the amazon is divided into two branches at its mouth by the island of marajo, the larger branch being ninety-six miles in width. about two thousand miles from its mouth it is upwards of a mile wide. so great is the force of this flood of water, that it flows into the sea unmixed for nearly two hundred miles. the tide affects the river to a distance of about four hundred miles inland; and it is navigable from the sea for a distance of three thousand miles inland. on the north bank of the amazon there are ranges of low hills, partly bare and partly covered with thickets. these hills vary from three hundred to a thousand feet high, and extend about two hundred miles inland. beyond them the shores of the river are low and flat, for more than two thousand miles, till the spurs of the andes are reached. during the rainy season the amazon overflows all its banks, like the nile, for many hundreds of miles; during which season, as martin rattler truly remarked, the natives may be appropriately called aquatic animals. towns and villages, and plantations belonging to brazilians, foreign settlers, and half-civilised indians, occur at intervals throughout the whole course of the river; and a little trade in dye-woods, india-rubber, medicinal drugs, brazil nuts, coffee, etcetera, is done; but nothing to what might and ought to be, and perhaps would be, were this splendid country in the hands of an enterprising people. but the amazonians are lazy, and the greater part of the resources of one of the richest countries in the world is totally neglected. "arrah!" said barney, scratching his head and wrinkling his forehead intensely, as all that we have just written, and a great deal more, was told to him by a scotch settler whom he found superintending a cattle estate and a saw-mill on the banks of the amazon-- "faix, then, i'm jist as wise now as before ye begun to spake. i've no head for fagures whatsumdiver; an' to tell me that the strame is ninety-six miles long and three thousand miles broad at the mouth, and sich like calcerlations, is o' no manner o' use, and jist goes in at wan ear an' out at the tother." whereupon the scotch settler smiled and said, "well, then, if ye can remember that the amazon is longer than all europe is broad; that it opens up to the ocean not less than ten thousand miles of the interior of brazil; and that, _comparatively_ speaking, no use is made of it whatever, ye'll remember enough to think about with profit for some time to come." and barney did think about it, and ponder it, and revolve it in his mind, for many days after, while he worked with martin and the old trader at the paddles of their montaria. they found the work of canoeing easier than had been anticipated; for during the summer months the wind blows steadily up the river, and they were enabled to hoist their mat-sail, and bowl along before it against the stream. hotels and inns there were none; for brazil does not boast of many such conveniences, except in the chief towns; so they were obliged, in travelling, to make use of an empty hut or shed, when they chanced to stop at a village, and to cook their own victuals. more frequently, however, they preferred to encamp in the woods--slinging their hammocks between the stems of the trees, and making a fire sometimes, to frighten away the jaguars, which, although seldom seen, were often heard at night. they met large canoes and montarias occasionally coming down the stream, and saw them hauled up on shore, while their owners were cooking their breakfast in the woods; and once they came upon a solitary old indian in a very curious position. they had entered a small stream in order to procure a few turtles' eggs, of which there were many in that place buried in the sand-banks. on turning a point where the stream was narrow and overhung with bushes and trees, they beheld a canoe tied to the stem of a tree, and a hammock slung between two branches overhanging the water. in this an old indian lay extended, quite naked and fast asleep! the old fellow had grown weary with paddling his little canoe; and, finding the thicket along the river's banks so impenetrable that he could not land, he slung his hammock over the water, and thus quietly took his siesta. a flock of paroquets were screaming like little green demons just above him, and several alligators gave him a passing glance as they floundered heavily in the water below; but the red man cared not for such trifles. almost involuntarily martin began to hum the popular nursery rhyme-- "hushy ba, baby, on the tree top; when the wind blows the cradle will rock." "arrah, if he was only two foot lower, its thirty pair o' long teeth would be stuck into his flank in wan minute, or i'm no prophet," said barney, with a broad grin. "suppose we give him a touch with the paddle in passing," suggested martin. at this moment barney started up, shaded his eyes with his hand, and, after gazing for a few seconds at some object ahead of the canoe, he gave utterance to an exclamation of mingled surprise and consternation. chapter fifteen. the great anaconda's dinner--barney gets a fright--turtles' eggs, omelets and alligators' tails--senhor antonio's plantation--preparations for a great hunt. the object which called forth the cry from our irish friend, as related in the last chapter, was neither more nor less than a serpent of dimensions more enormous than barney had ever before conceived of. it was upwards of sixteen feet long, and nearly as thick as a man's body; but about the neck it was three times that size. this serpent was not, indeed, of the largest size. in south america they grow to nearly forty feet in length. but it was fabulously gigantic in the eyes of our adventurers, who had never seen a serpent of any kind before. "oh!" cried martin, eagerly, "that must be an anaconda. is it not?" he inquired, turning to the old trader. "yees; it dead," was the short reply. "so it is!" cried martin, who, on a nearer approach, observed that the brute's body was cut in two just below the swelling at the neck. "now, did ye iver," cried barney with increased surprise, "see a sarpint with a cow's horns growin' out at its mouth? put ashore, old boy; we must have a 'vestigation o' this remarkable cratur." the canoe was soon aground, and in another minute the three travellers busily engaged in turning over the carcass of the huge reptile, which they found, to the amazement of martin and barney, had actually swallowed an ox whole, with the exception of the horns, which protruded from its mouth! after much questioning, in bad portuguese, broken english, and remarkable signs, martin succeeded in drawing from the old trader the information that anacondas of a large size are often in the habit of thus bolting horses and oxen at a mouthful. there is not the slightest exaggeration in this fact. readers who are inclined to disbelieve it may refer to the works of wallace and gardner on brazil,--authorities which cannot be doubted. the reptile commences by patiently watching, until an unfortunate animal strays near to where it is lying, when it darts upon it, encircles it in its massive coils, and crushes it to death in an instant. then it squeezes the body and broken bones into a shapeless mass; after which it licks the carcass all over, and covers it with a thick coating of saliva. having thus prepared its mouthful, the anaconda begins at the tail and gradually engulfs its victim, while its elastic jaws, and throat, and stomach are distended sufficiently to let it in; after which it lies in a torpid state for many weeks, till the morsel is digested, when it is ready for another meal. a horse goes down entire, but a cow sticks at the horns, which the anaconda cannot swallow. they are allowed to protrude from its mouth until they decay and drop off. they were at a loss at first to account for the creature being killed; but the old trader suggested that it had been found in a torpid state, and slain by the indian whom they had seen a short time ago enjoying his siesta among the trees. having cut it open, in order to convince themselves beyond a doubt that it had swallowed an entire ox, martin and the old trader re-embarked in the canoe, and barney was on the point of joining them when the bushes close beside him were slightly stirred. looking quickly round, he beheld the head and the glittering eyes of another anaconda, apparently as large as the dead one, ready to dart upon him,--at least so he fancied; but he did not wait to give it a chance. he fled instantly, and sprang towards the boat which he nearly upset as he leaped into it, and pushed out into the stream. on reaching the middle of the river they looked back, but the anaconda was gone. soon after this they came to a long sandbank, where the old trader said they should find as many turtles' eggs as they wished for, although to barney and martin there seemed to be nothing on the bank at all. the freshwater turtle of the amazon, of which there are various species, is one of the most useful of reptiles. its flesh supplies abundance of good food; and the eggs, besides being eaten, afford an excellent oil. the largest species grow to the length of three feet, and have a flattish oval shell of a dark colour, and quite smooth. turtles lay their eggs about the beginning of september, when the sand-banks begin to be uncovered. they scrape deep holes for them, and cover them carefully over, beating down the sand quite flat, and walking across the place several times, for the purpose of concealment. the eggs are then left to be hatched by the heat of the sun. but alas for the poor turtles, men are too clever for them. the eggs are collected by the natives in thousands, and, when oil is to be made of them, they are thrown into a canoe, smashed and mixed up together, and left to stand, when the oil rises to the top, and is skimmed off and boiled. it keeps well, and is used both for lamps and cooking. very few of the millions of eggs that are annually laid arrive at maturity. when the young turtles issue forth and run to the water, there are many enemies watching for them. great alligators open their jaws and swallow them by hundreds; jaguars come out of the forests and feed upon them; eagles and buzzards and wood-ibises are there, too, to claim their share of the feast; and, if they are fortunate enough to escape all these, there are many large and ravenous fishes ready to seize them in the stream. it seems a marvel that any escape at all. in a few minutes the old trader scraped up about a hundred eggs, to the immense satisfaction of martin and barney. then he took a bow and arrow from the bottom of the montaria, and shot a large turtle in the water, while his companions kindled a fire, intending to dine. only the nose of the turtle was visible above water; but the old man was so expert in the use of the bow, that he succeeded in transfixing the soft part of the animal's neck with an arrow, although that part was under water. it was a large turtle, and very fat and heavy, so that it was with difficulty the trader lifted it upon his old shoulders and bore it in triumph to the spot where his companions were busily engaged with their cooking operations. turtles are frequently shot with the arrow by the natives; they are also taken in great numbers with the hook and the net. dinner was soon ready. barney concocted an immense and savoury omelet, and the old trader cooked an excellent turtle-steak, while martin prepared a junk of jaguar meat, which he roasted, being curious to taste it, as he had been told that the indians like it very much. it was pretty good, but not equal to the turtle-eggs. the shell of the egg is leathery, and the yolk only is eaten. the indians sometimes eat them raw, mixed with farina. cakes of farina, and excellent coffee, concluded their repast; and barney declared he had never had such a satisfactory "blow out" in his life; a sentiment with which martin entirely agreed, and the old trader--if one might judge from the expression of his black countenance--sympathised. for many weeks our adventurers continued to ascend the amazon, sometimes sailing before the wind; at other times, when it fell calm, pushing the montaria up the current by means of long poles, or advancing more easily with the paddles. occasionally they halted for a day at the residence of a wealthy cacao planter, in order to sell him some merchandise; for which purpose the canoe was unloaded, and the bales were opened out for his inspection. most of these planters were brazilians, a few were yankee adventurers, and one or two were scotch and english; but nearly all had married brazilian ladies, who, with their daughters, proved good customers to the old trader. some of these ladies were extremely "purty craturs," as barney expressed it; but most of them were totally uneducated and very ignorant,--not knowing half so much as a child of seven or eight years old in more favoured lands. they were very fond of fine dresses and ornaments, of which considerable supplies were sent to them from europe and the united states, in exchange for the valuable produce of their country. but although their dresses were fine and themselves elegant, their houses were generally very poor affairs--made of wood and thatched with broad leaves; and it was no uncommon thing to see a lady, who seemed from her gay dress to be fitted for a drawing-room, seated on an earthen floor. but there were all sorts of extremes in this strange land; for at the next place they came to, perhaps, they found a population of negroes and indians, and most of the grown-up people were half naked, while all the children were entirely so. at one plantation, where they resolved to spend a few days, the owner had a pond which was much frequented by alligators. these he was in the habit of hunting periodically, for the sake of their fat, which he converted into oil. at the time of their arrival, he was on the eve of starting on a hunting expedition to the lake, which was about eight miles distant; so barney and martin determined to go and "see the fun," as the latter said. "martin, lad," remarked barney, as they followed the negro slave who had been sent by senhor antonio, the planter, to conduct them to the lake, while he remained behind for an hour or two to examine the bales of the old trader; "this is the quarest country, i believe, that iver was made; what with bastes, and varmints, and riptiles, and traes, and bushes, and rivers, it bates all creation." "certainly it does, barney; and it is a pity there are so few people in it who know how to make use of the things that are scattered all around them. i'm inclined to think the hermit was right when he said that they wanted the bible. they are too far sunk in laziness and idleness to be raised up by anything else. just look," continued martin, glancing round, "what a wonderful place this is! it seems as if all the birds and curious trees in brazil had congregated here to meet us." "so't does," said barney, stopping to gaze on the scene through which they were passing, with an expression of perplexity on his face, as if he found the sight rather too much even for _his_ comprehension. besides the parrots and scarlet and yellow macaws, and other strange-looking birds which we have elsewhere mentioned, there were long-tailed light-coloured cuckoos flying about from tree to tree, not calling like the cuckoo of europe at all, but giving forth a sound like the creaking of a rusty hinge; there were hawks and buzzards of many different kinds, and red-breasted orioles in the bushes, and black vultures flying overhead, and muscovy ducks sweeping past with whizzing wings, and flocks of the great wood-ibis sailing in the air on noiseless pinions, and hundreds of other birds that it would require an ornithologist to name; and myriads of insects,--especially ants and spiders, great and small,--that no entomologist could chronicle in a life-time: all these were heard and seen at once; while of the animals that were heard, but not so often seen, there were black and spotted jaguars, and pacas, and cotias, and armadillos, and deer, and many others, that would take _pages_ to enumerate and whole books to describe. but the noise was the great point. that was the thing that took martin and barney quite aback, although it was by no means new to them; but they could not get used to it. and no wonder! ten thousand paroquets shrieking passionately, like a hundred knife-grinders at work, is no joke; especially when their melodies are mingled with the discordant cries of herons, and bitterns, and cranes, and the ceaseless buzz and hum of insects, like the bagpipe's drone, and the dismal croaking of boat-bills and frogs,--one kind of which latter, by the way, doesn't croak at all, but _whistles_, ay, better than many a bird! the universal hubbub is tremendous! i tell you, reader, that you _don't_ understand it and you can't understand it; and if, after i had used the utmost excess of exaggerated language to convey a correct impression of the reality, you were to imagine that you really _did_ understand it, you would be very lamentably mistaken--that's all! nevertheless, you must not run away with the idea that the whole empire of brazil is like this. there are dark thick solitudes in these vast forests, which are solemn and silent enough at times; and there are wide grassy campos, and great sandy plains, where such sounds are absent. yet there are also thousands of such spots as i have just described, where all nature, in earth, air, and water, is instinct with noisy animal life. after two hours' walk, martin and his companion reached the lake, and here active preparations were making for the alligator hunt. "is that the only place ye have to spind the night in, sambo?" said barney to their conductor, as he pointed to a wooden shed near which some fifteen or twenty negro slaves were overhauling the fishing tackle. "yis, massa," answered the black, showing his white teeth; "dat is de hottle of dis great city." sambo could speak a little english, having wrought for several years on the coffee plantation of a yankee settler. he was a bit of a wag, too, much to the indignation of his grave master, the senhor antonio, who abhorred jesting. "ye're too cliver, avic," said barney, with a patronising smile; "take care ye don't use up yer intellect too fast. it hurts the constitution in the long-run." "i say, barney," cried martin, who had gone ahead of his companions, "come here, man, and just look at this pond. it's literally crammed full of alligators." "musha, but there's more alligators than wather, i belave!" exclaimed barney. the pond was indeed swarming with these ferocious reptiles, which were constantly thrusting their ugly snouts above the surface and then disappearing with a flourish of their powerful tails. during the rainy season this lake was much larger, and afforded ample room for its inhabitants; but at the height of the dry season, which it was at this time, there was little water, and it was much overstocked. when alligators are thus put upon short allowance of water, they frequently bury themselves in the wet mud, and lie dormant for a long time, while the water continues to retire and leaves them buried. but when the first shower of the rainy season falls, they burst open their tomb, and drag their dry bodies to the lake or river, on whose margin they went to sleep. an hour or two later the senhor antonio arrived; but as it was getting dark, nothing could be done until the following morning; so they slung their hammocks under the wooden shed on the margin of the lake, and, in order to save themselves as much as possible from the bites of the tormenting mosquitoes, went to sleep with their heads tied up in their handkerchiefs, and their hands thrust into their breeches pockets! the occasional splash and snort of contending alligators, about twenty yards off, varied the monotony of the hours of darkness, while the frogs and cranes and jaguars sang their lullaby. chapter sixteen. an alligator hunt--remarkable explosions--the rainy season ushered in by an awful resurrection. at sunrise an expressive shout in portuguese set the black slaves on their feet; and, after a hasty breakfast of alligator-tail and farina, they commenced operations. alligator-tail is by no means bad food, and after the first mouthful--taken with hesitation and swallowed with difficulty,--martin and barney both pronounced it "capital." sambo, who had cooked the delicate morsel, and stood watching them, smacked his lips and added, "fuss rate." all being now ready for the hunt, a number of negroes entered the water, which was nowhere very deep, with long poles in their hands. this appeared to martin and barney a very reckless and dangerous thing to do, as no doubt it was. nevertheless accidents, they were told, very rarely happened. sambo, who was the overseer of the party, was the first to dash up to the middle in the water. "hi," exclaimed that dingy individual, making a torrent of remarks in portuguese, while he darted his long pole hither and thither; then, observing that martin and barney were gazing at him open mouthed, he shouted, "look out, boys! here 'im comes! take care, ole feller, or he jump right down you throat! hi-i-i!" as he spoke, a large alligator, having been rudely stirred up from his muddy bed, floundered on the surface of the lake, and sambo instantly gave it a thump over the back and a blow under the ribs; which had the effect of driving it in the direction of the shore. here a number of negroes were ready for him; and the moment he came within reach, a coil of rope with a noose on the end of it, called a lasso, was adroitly thrown over the reptile's head: ten or twelve men then hauled the lasso and dragged it ashore amid shouts of triumph. this alligator was twenty feet long, with an enormous misshapen head and fearful rows of teeth that were terrible to behold. the monster did not submit to be captured, however, without a struggle; and the negroes grew wild with excitement as they yelled and leaped madly about seeking to avoid its dangerous jaws and the blows of its powerful tail. after some trouble, a second lasso was thrown over the tail, which was thus somewhat restrained in its movements; and sambo, approaching cautiously with an axe, cut a deep gash just at the root of that formidable appendage, which rendered it harmless. "hi-i," shouted sambo in triumph, as he sprang towards the animal's head, and inflicted a similar gash in the neck; "dare, you quite finish, ole feller." "musha but that's thrue!" ejaculated barney, who stood staring at the whole proceeding like one in a trance. "did ye iver git a bite, sambo?" barney received no answer, for his sable friend was already up to his waist in the water with five or six of his brethren, who were flourishing their long poles and driving the snorting alligators towards the shore, where their comrades, with lassos and harpoons, awaited them. sometimes they harpooned the alligators, and then, fastening lassos to their heads and tails, or to a hind leg, dragged them ashore; at other times they threw the lasso over their heads at once, without taking the trouble to harpoon them. it was a terrible and a wonderful sight to witness the negroes in the very midst of a shoal of these creatures, any one of which could have taken a man into his jaws quite easily,--whence, once between these long saw-like rows of teeth, no man could have escaped to tell how sharp they were. the creatures were so numerous that it was impossible to thrust a pole into the mud without stirring up one of them; but they were so terrified at the sudden attack and the shouts of the negroes, that they thought only of escape. suddenly there arose a great cry. one of the lassos had snapt and the alligator was floundering back into the water, when sambo rushed in up to the arm-pits, and caught the end of the rope. at the same moment two alligators made at the negro with open jaws. it is probable that the animals went in his direction by mere accident, and would have brushed past him in blind haste; but to martin and barney it seemed as if the poor man's fate were sealed, and they uttered a loud shout of horror as they bounded simultaneously into the water, not knowing what to do, but being unable to restrain the impulse to spring to sambo's aid. fortunately, however, one of the other negroes was near sambo. he sprang forward, and dealt the alligators two tremendous blows with his pole on their snouts, right and left, which turned them off. then other negroes came up, laid hold of sambo, who would not let go his hold and was being dragged into deep water, caught the end of the rope, and in ten minutes hauled their victim to the shore, when it was quickly despatched in the usual manner. by this time about a dozen alligators, varying from ten to twenty feet in length, had been captured; and barney at length became so bold that he requested to be allowed to try his hand at throwing the lasso, the dexterous use of which by the negroes had filled him with admiration. a loud burst of laughter greeted this proposal, and sambo showed a set of teeth that might have made even the alligators envious, as he handed the irishman a coil of line. "now don't miss, barney," cried martin laughing heartily, as his comrade advanced to the edge of the lake and watched his opportunity. "mind, your credit as an expert hunter is at stake." the senhor antonio stood close behind the irishman, with his arms folded and a sarcastic smile on his countenance. "don't send it down him's throat," yelled sambo. "hi-i, dat's de vay to swing um round. stir um up, boys!--poke um up, villains, hi!" the negroes in the water obeyed with frantic glee, and the terrified monsters surged about in all directions, so that barney found it almost impossible to fix his attention on any particular individual. at length he made up his mind, whirled the coil round his head, discharged the noose, caught the senhor antonio round the neck, and jerked him violently to the ground! there was a simultaneous pause of horror among the slaves; but it was too much for their risible faculties to withstand; with one accord they rushed howling into the water to conceal their laughter, and began to stir up and belabour the alligators with their poles, until the surface of the lake was a sheet of foam. meanwhile the senhor antonio sprang to his feet and began to bluster considerably in portuguese; but poor barney seemed awfully crestfallen, and the deep concern which wrinkled his face, and the genuine regret that sounded in the tones of his voice, at length soothed the indignant brazilian, who frowned gravely, and waving his hand, as if to signify that barney had his forgiveness, he stalked up to the shed, lighted a cigarito, and lay down in his hammock. "well," said martin, in an undertone, "you did it that time, barney. i verily thought the old fellow was hanged. he became quite livid in the face." "och! bad luck to the lasso, say i. may i niver more see the swate groves o' killarney if iver i meddle with wan again." "hi-i; you is fuss rate," said sambo, as he and his comrades returned and busied themselves in cutting up the dead alligators. "you beat de niggers all to not'ing. not any of dis yere chiles eber lasso sen'or antonio yet; no, neber!" it was some time before the negroes could effectually subdue their merriment, but at length they succeeded, and applied themselves vigorously to the work of cutting out the fat. the alligators were all cut open,--a work of no small difficulty, owing to the hard scales which covered them, as with coats of mail; then the fat, which accumulates in large quantities about the intestines, was cut out and made up into packets in the skins of the smaller ones, which were taken off for this purpose. these packets were afterwards carried to the senhor's dwelling, and the fat melted down into oil, which served for burning in lamps quite as well as train oil. the flesh of a smaller species of alligator, some of which were also taken, is considered excellent food; and, while the negroes were engaged in their work, barney made himself useful by kindling a large fire and preparing a savoury dish for "all hands," plentifully seasoned with salt and pepper, with which condiments the country is well supplied, and of which the people are exceedingly fond. there was also caught in this lake a large species of fish called pirarucu, which, strangely enough, found it possible to exist in spite of alligators. they were splendid creatures, from five to six feet long, and covered with large scales more than an inch in diameter, which were beautifully marked and spotted with red. these fish were most delicately flavoured, and barney exerted his talents to the utmost in order to do them justice. martin also did his best to prove himself a willing and efficient assistant, and cleaned and washed the pirarucu steaks and the junks of alligator-tail to admiration. in short, the exertions of the two strangers in this way quite won the hearts of the negroes, and after dinner the senhor antonio had quite recovered his good humour. while staying at this place martin had an opportunity of seeing a great variety of the curious fish, with which the amazon is stocked. these are so numerous that sometimes, when sailing up stream with a fair wind, they were seen leaping all round the canoe in shoals, so that it was only necessary to strike the water with the paddles in order to kill a few. the peixe boi, or cow-fish, is one of the most curious of the inhabitants of the amazon. it is about six feet long, and no less than five feet in circumference at its thickest part. it is a perfectly smooth, and what we may call _dumpy_ fish, of a leaden colour, with a semicircular flat tail, and a large mouth with thick fleshy lips, resembling those of a cow. there are stiff bristles on the lips, and a few scattered hairs over the body. it has two fins just behind the head; and below these, in the females, there are two breasts, from which good white milk flows when pressure is applied. the cow-fish feeds on grass at the borders of rivers and lakes; and, when suckling its young, it carries it in its fins or flippers, and clasps the little one to its breast, just as a mother clasps her baby! it is harpooned and taken for the sake of its fat, from which oil is made. the flesh is also very good, resembling beef in quality, and it was much relished by martin and barney, who frequently dined on beefsteaks cut from this remarkable cow-fish. there was also another fish which surprised our adventurers not a little, the first time they met with it. one evening senhor antonio had ordered a net to be thrown into the river, being desirous of procuring a few fresh fish for the use of his establishment. the indians and negroes soon after commenced dragging, and in a few minutes afterwards the sandy bank of the river was strewn with an immense variety of small fish, among which were a few of a larger kind. martin and barney became excited as they saw them leaping and spluttering about, and ran in amongst them to assist in gathering them into baskets. but scarcely had the latter advanced a few steps when there was a loud report, as if a pistol had gone off under his feet. "hallo!" exclaimed the irishman, leaping two feet into the air. on his reaching the ground again, a similar explosion occurred, and barney dashed aside, overturning martin in his haste. martin's heel caught on a stone, and he fell flat on the ground, when instantly there was a report as if he had fallen upon and burst an inflated paper bag. the natives laughed loud and long, while the unfortunate couple sprang up the bank, half inclined to think that an earthquake was about to take place. the cause of their fright was then pointed out. it was a species of small fish which has the power of inflating the fore part of its body into a complete ball, and which, when stamped upon, explodes with a loud noise. there were great numbers of these scattered among the other fish, and also large quantities of a little fish armed with long spines, which inflict a serious wound when trodden upon. at this place adventures on a small scale crowded upon our travellers so thickly that martin began to look upon sudden surprises as a necessary of life, and barney said that, "if it wint on any longer he feared his eyebrows would get fixed near the top of his head, and niver more come down." one evening, soon after their departure from the residence of senhor antonio, the old trader was sitting steering in the stern of his canoe, which was running up before a pretty stiff breeze. martin was lying on his back, as was his wont in such easy circumstances, amusing himself with marmoset; and barney was reclining in the bow talking solemnly to grampus; when suddenly the wind ceased, and it became a dead calm. the current was so strong that they could scarcely paddle against it so they resolved to go no further that night, and ran the canoe ashore on a low point of mud, intending to encamp under the trees, no human habitation being near them. the mud-bank was hard and dry, and cracked with the heat; for it was now the end of the dry season, and the river had long since retired from it. "not a very comfortable place, barney," said martin, looking round, as he threw down one of the bales which he had just carried up from the canoe. "hallo! there's a hut, i declare. come, that's a comfort anyhow." as he spoke, martin pointed to one of the solitary and rudely constructed huts or sheds, which the natives of the banks of the amazon sometimes erect during the dry season, and forsake when the river overflows its banks. the hut was a very old one, and had evidently been inundated, for the floor was a mass of dry, solid mud, and the palm-leaf roof was much damaged. however, it was better than nothing, so they slung their hammocks under it, kindled a fire, and prepared supper. while they were busy discussing this meal, a few dark and ominous clouds gathered in the sky, and the old trader, glancing uneasily about him, gave them to understand that he feared the rainy season was going to begin. "well, then," said barney, lighting his pipe and stretching himself at full length in his hammock, with a leg swinging to and fro over one side and his head leaning over the other, as was his wont when he felt particularly comfortable in mind and body; "well then, avic, let it begin. if we're sure to have it anyhow, the sooner it begins the better, to my thinkin'." "i don't know that," said martin, who was seated on a large stone beside the fire sipping a can of coffee, which he shared equally with marmoset. the monkey sat on his shoulder gazing anxiously into his face, with an expression that seemed as if the creature were mentally exclaiming, "now me, now you; now me, now you," during the whole process. "it would be better, i think, if we were in a more sheltered position before it begins. ha! there it comes though, in earnest." a smart shower began to fall as he spoke, and, percolating through the old root descended rather copiously on the mud floor. in a few minutes there was a heaving of the ground under their feet! "ochone!" cried barney, taking his pipe out of his mouth and looking down with a disturbed expression, "there's an arthquake, i do belave." for a few seconds there was a dead silence. "nonsense," whispered martin uneasily. "it's dramin' i must have been," sighed barney, resuming his pipe. again the ground heaved and cracked, and martin and the old trader had just time to spring to their feet when the mud floor of the hut burst upwards and a huge dried-up looking alligator crawled forth, as if from the bowels of the earth! it glanced up at barney; opened its tremendous jaws, and made as if it would run at the terrified old trader; then, observing the doorway, it waddled out, and, trundling down the bank, plunged into the river and disappeared. barney could find no words to express his feelings, but continued to gaze, with an unbelieving expression, down into the hole, out of which the monster had come, and in which it had buried itself many weeks before, when the whole country was covered with soft mud. at that time it had probably regarded the shelter of the inundated hut as of some advantage, and had lain down to repose. the water retiring had left it there buried, and--as we have already mentioned in reference to alligators--when the first shower of the rainy season fell, it was led by instinct to burst its earthy prison, and seek its native element. before barney or his companions could recover from their surprise, they had other and more urgent matters to think about. the dark clouds burst overhead, and the rain descended like a continued water-spout--not in drops but in heavy sheets and masses; the roof of the hut gave way in several places, driving them into a corner for shelter; the river began to rise rapidly, soon flooding the hut; and, when darkness overspread the land, they found themselves drenched to the skin and suspended in their hammocks over a running stream of water! this event brought about an entire change in the aspect of nature, and was the cause of a sad and momentous era in the adventures of martin rattler and his companion. chapter seventeen. the gapo--interruptions--grampus and marmoset--canoeing in the woods--a night on a floating island. there is a peculiar and very striking feature in the character of the great amazon, which affects the distinctive appearance of that river, and materially alters the manners and customs of those who dwell beside it. this peculiarity is the periodical overflow of its low banks; and the part thus overflowed is called the _gapo_. it extends from a little above the town of santarem up to the confines of peru, a distance of about seventeen hundred miles; and varies in width from one to twenty miles: so that the country when inundated, assumes in many places the appearance of an extensive lake, with forest trees growing out of the water; and travellers may proceed many hundreds of miles in their canoes without once entering the main stream of the river. at this time the natives become almost aquatic animals. several tribes of indians inhabit the gapo; such as the purupurus, muras, and others. they build small movable huts on the sandy shores during the dry season, and on rafts in the wet. they subsist on turtle, cow-fish, and the other fish with which the river abounds, and live almost entirely in their canoes; while at night they frequently sling their hammocks between the branches of trees, and sleep suspended over the deep water. some of the animals found in the gapo are peculiar to it, being attracted by the fruit-trees which are found growing only there. the indians assert that every tree that grows in the gapo is distinct from all those that grow in other districts; and when we consider that these trees are submerged for six months every year, till they are tall enough to rise above the highest water-level, we may well believe their constitution is somewhat different from those that are reared on ordinary ground. the indians are wonderfully expert in finding their way among the trackless mazes of the gapo, being guided by the broken twigs and scraped bark that indicate the route followed by previous travellers. owing to this sudden commencement of the rainy season, the old trader resolved to return to a small village, and there spend several months. martin and barney were much annoyed at this; for the former was impatient to penetrate further into the interior, and the latter had firmly made up his mind to visit the diamond mines, about which he entertained the most extravagant notions. he did not, indeed, know in the least how to get to these mines, nor even in which direction they lay; but he had a strong impression that as long as he continued travelling he was approaching gradually nearer to them, and he had no doubt whatever that he would get to them at last. it was, therefore, with no small degree of impatience that they awaited the pleasure of their sable master, who explained to them that when the waters reached their height he would proceed. everything comes to an end, even a long story. after many weeks had passed slowly by, their sojourn in this village came to an end too. it was a dull place, very dull, and they had nothing to do; and the few poor people who lived there seemed to have very little or nothing to do. we will, therefore, pass it over, and resume our narrative at the point when the old trader announced to barney that the flood was at its height and they would now continue their journey. they embarked once more in their old canoe with their goods and chattels, not forgetting marmoset and grampus, whose friendship during their inactive life had become more close than ever. this friendship was evidenced, chiefly, by the matter-of-course way in which grampus permitted the monkey to mount his back, and ride about the village and through the woods, where dry places could be found, as long as she pleased. marmoset was fonder of riding than walking, so that grampus had enough to do; but he did not put himself much about. he trotted, walked, galloped, and lay down, when, and where, and as often as he chose, without any reference to the small monkey; and marmoset held on through thick and thin, and nibbled nuts or whatever else it picked up, utterly regardless of where it was going to, or the pace at which it went. it was sharp, though, that small monkey, sharp as a needle, and had its little black eyes glancing on all sides; so that when grampus dashed through under-wood, and the branches threatened to sweep it off, it ducked its head; or, lying flat down, shut its eyes and held on with all its teeth and four hands like a limpet to a rock. marmoset was not careful as to her attitude on dog-back. she sat with her face to the front or rear, just as her fancy or convenience dictated. after leaving the village they travelled for many days and nights through the gapo. although afloat on the waters of the amazon, they never entered the main river after the first few days, but wound their way, in a creeping, serpentine sort of fashion, through small streams and lakes and swamps, from which the light was partially excluded by the thick foliage of the forest. it was a strange scene, that illimitable watery waste, and aroused new sensations in the breasts of our travellers. as barney said, it made him "feel quite solemn-like and eerie to travel through the woods by wather." the canoe was forced under branches and among dense bushes, till they got into a part where the trees were loftier and a deep gloom prevailed. here the lowest branches were on a level with the surface of the water, and many of them were putting forth beautiful flowers. on one occasion they came to a grove of small palms, which were so deep in the water that the leaves were only a few feet above the surface. indeed they were so low that one of them caught martin's straw-hat and swept it overboard. "hallo! stop!" cried martin, interrupting the silence so suddenly that grampus sprang up with a growl, under the impression that game was in view; and marmoset scampered off behind a packing-box with an angry shriek. "what's wrong, lad?" inquired barney. "back water, quick! my hat's overboard, and there's an alligator going to snap it up. look alive, man!" in a few seconds the canoe was backed and the straw-hat rescued from its perilous position. "it's an ill wind that blows nae guid, as the scotch say," remarked barney, rising in the canoe and reaching towards something among the overhanging branches. "here's wan o' them trees that old black-face calls a maraja, with some splendid bunches o' fruit on it. hould yer hat martin; there's more nor enough for supper anyhow." as he spoke a rustling in the leaves told that monkeys were watching them, and marmoset kept peeping up as if she half expected they might be relations. but the moment the travellers caught sight of them they bounded away screaming. having gathered as much fruit as they required, they continued their voyage, and presently emerged into the pleasant sunshine in a large grassy lake, which was filled with lilies and beautiful water-plants, little yellow bladder-worts, with several other plants of which they knew not the names; especially one with a thick swollen stalk, curious leaves, and bright blue flowers. this lake was soon passed, and they again entered into the gloomy forest and paddled among the lofty trunks of the trees, which rose like massive columns out of the deep water. there was enough of animal life there, however, to amuse and interest them. the constant plash of falling fruit showed that birds were feeding overhead. sometimes a flock of parrots or bright blue chatterers swept from tree to tree, or a trogon swooped at a falling bunch of fruit and caught it ere it reached the water; while ungainly toucans plumped clumsily down upon the branches, and sat, in striking contrast, beside the lovely pompadours, with their claret-coloured plumage and delicate white wings. vieing with these birds in splendour were several large bright-yellow flowers of the creeping-plants, which twined round the trees. some of these plants had white, spotted, and purple blossoms; and there was one splendid species, called by the natives the flor de santa anna--the flower of saint ann--which emitted a delightful odour and was four inches in diameter. having traversed this part of the wood, they once more emerged upon the main stream of the amazon. it was covered with waterfowl. large logs of trees and numerous floating islands of grass were sailing down; and on these sat hundreds of white gulls, demurely and comfortably voyaging to the ocean; for the sea would be their final resting-place if they sat on these logs and islands until they descended several hundreds of miles of the great river. "i wish," said martin, after a long silence, during which the travellers had been gazing on the watery waste as they paddled up stream--"i wish that we could fall in with solid land, where we might have something cooked. i'm desperately hungry now; but i don't see a spot of earth large enough for a mosquito to rest his foot on." "we'll jist have to take to farhina and wather," remarked barney, laying down his paddle and proceeding leisurely to light his pipe. "it's a blissin' we've got baccy, any how. 'tis mesilf that could niver git on without it." "i wish you joy of it, barney. it may fill your mouth, but it can't stop your hunger." "och, boy, it's little ye know! sure it stops the cravin's o' hunger, and kapes yer stumick from callin' out for iver, till ye fall in with somethin' to ate." "it does not seem to stop the mouth then, barney, for you call out for grub oftener than i do; and then you say that you couldn't get on without it; so you're a slave to it old boy. i wouldn't be a slave to anything if i could help it." "martin, lad, ye're gittin' deep. take care now, or ye'll be in mettlefeesics soon. i say, ould black-face,"--barney was not on ceremony with the old trader,--"is there no land in thim parts at all?" "no, not dis night." "och, then, we'll have to git up a tree and try to cook somethin' there; for i'm not goin' to work on flour and wather. hallo! hould on! there's an island, or the portrait o' wan! port your helm, naygur! hard sport! d'ye hear?" the old man heard, but, as usual, paid no attention to the irishman's remarks; and the canoe would have passed straight on, had not barney used his bow-paddle so energetically that he managed to steer her, as he expressed it, by the nose, and ran her against a mass of floating logs which had caught firmly in a thicket and were so covered with grass and broken twigs as to have very much the appearance of a real island. here they landed, so to speak, kindled a small fire, made some coffee, roasted a few fish, baked several cakes, and were soon as happy and comfortable as hungry and wearied men usually are when they obtain rest and food. "this is what i call jolly," remarked barney. "what's jolly?" inquired martin. "why _this_, to be sure,--grub to begin with, and a smoke and a convanient snooze in prospect." the hopes which barney cherished, however, were destined to be blighted, at least in part. to the victuals he did ample justice; the pipe was delightful, and in good working order; but when they lay down to repose, they were attacked by swarms of stinging ants, which the heat of the fire had driven out of the old logs. these and mosquitoes effectually banished sleep from their eye-lids, and caused them to reflect very seriously, and to state to each other more than once very impressively, that with all their beauties and wonders, tropical lands had their disadvantages, and there was no place like the "ould country," after all. chapter eighteen. the sad and momentous era referred to at the close of the chapter preceding the last. one sultry evening, many weeks after our travellers had passed the uncomfortable night on the floating island in the gapo, they came to a place where the banks of the river rose boldly up in rugged rocks and hemmed in the waters of the amazon, which were by this time somewhat abated. here they put ashore, intending to kindle their fire and encamp for the night, having been up and hard at work since day-break. the evening was calm and beautiful, and the troublesome insects not so numerous as usual,--probably owing to the nature of the ground. one or two monkeys showed themselves for a moment, as if to inquire who was there, and then ran away screaming; a porcupine also crossed their path, and several small bright snakes, of a harmless species, glided over the rocks, and sought refuge among the small bushes; but beyond these there were few of the sights and sounds that were wont to greet them in the forest. "i think things look well to-night," remarked martin as he threw down a bundle of sticks which he had gathered for the fire; "we shall have a comfortable snooze for certain, if the mosquitoes don't wake up." "i'm not so sure of that," replied barney, striking a light with flint and steel and stooping to puff the smouldering spark into a flame. "i've larned by exparience that ye niver can be--puff--sure o' nothin' in this--puff--remarkable country. jist look at darkey now," continued the irishman, sitting down on a stone before the fire, which now began to kindle up, and stuffing the tobacco into his pipe with his little finger. "there he is, a livin' naygur, a-liftin' of the provision-bag out o' the canoe. well, if he was all of a suddent to turn into marmoset, an' swaller himself, an' then jump down the throat of grampus, and the whole consarn, canoe and all, to disappear, i don't think that i would be much surprised." "would you not, barney? i suspect that i should be, a little, under the circumstances; perhaps the old nigger would be more so." "niver a taste," continued barney. "ye see, if that was to happen, i would then know that it was all a drame. i've more than wance expected to wake up since i comed into furrin parts; the only thing that kapes me in doubt about it is the baccy." "how so, barney?" "why, bekase it tastes so rael, good luck to it! that i can't git myself to think it's only a drame. jist look, now," he continued, in the same tone of voice; "if it wasn't a drame, how could i see sich a thing as that standin' on the rock over there?" martin glanced towards the spot pointed out by his friend, and immediately started up with surprise.--"hallo! barney, that's no dream, i'll vouch for it. he's an indian, and a very ugly one too, i declare. i say, old fellow, do you know what sort of savage that is?" "not know," answered the trader, glancing uneasily at the stranger. "he might have the dacency to put on more close, anyhow," muttered barney, as he gazed inquiringly at the savage. the being who had thus appeared so suddenly before the travellers belonged to one of the numerous tribes of indians inhabiting the country near the head-waters of some of the chief tributaries of the amazon. he was almost entirely naked, having merely a scanty covering on his loins; and carried a small quiver full of arrows at his back, and what appeared to be a long spear in his hand. his figure was strongly but not well formed; and his face, which was of a dark copper hue, was disfigured in a most remarkable manner. a mass of coarse black hair formed the only covering to his head. his cheeks were painted with curious marks of jet black. but the most remarkable points about him were the huge pieces of wood which formed ornaments in his ears and under lip. they were round and flat like the wooden wheel of a toy-cart, about half an inch thick, and larger than an old-fashioned watch. these were fitted into enormous slits made in the ears and under lip, and the latter projected more than two inches from his mouth! indeed, the cut that had been made to receive this ornament was so large that the lip had been almost cut off altogether, and merely hung by each corner of his mouth! the aspect of the man was very hideous, and it was by no means improved when, having recovered from his surprise at unexpectedly encountering strangers, he opened his mouth to the full extent and uttered a savage yell. the cry was answered immediately. in a few minutes a troop of upwards of thirty savages sprang from the woods, and, ascending the rock on which their comrade stood, gazed down on the travellers in surprise, and, by their movements, seemed to be making hasty preparations for an attack. by this time barney had recovered his self-possession, and became thoroughly convinced of the reality of the apparition before him. drawing his pistol hastily from his belt, he caught up a handful of gravel, wherewith he loaded it to the muzzle, ramming down the charge with a bit of mandioca-cake in lieu of a wad; then drawing his cutlass he handed it to martin, exclaiming, "come, lad, we're in for it now. take you the cutlass and i'll try their skulls with the butt o' my pistol: it has done good work before now in that way. if there's no more o' the blackguards in the background we'll bate them aisy." martin instinctively grasped the cutlass, and there is no doubt that, under the impulse of that remarkable quality, british valour, which utterly despises odds, they would have hurled themselves recklessly upon the savages, when the horrified old trader threw himself on barney's neck and implored him not to fight; for if he did they would all be killed, and if he only kept quiet the savages would perhaps do them no harm. at the same moment about fifty additional indians arrived upon the scene of action. this, and the old man's earnest entreaties, induced them to hesitate for an instant, and, before they could determine what to do, they were surprised by some of the savages, who rushed upon them from behind and took them prisoners. barney struggled long and fiercely, but he was at length overpowered by numbers. the pistol, which missed fire, was wrenched from his grasp, and his hands were speedily bound behind his back. martin was likewise disarmed and secured; not, however, before he made a desperate slash at one of the savages, which narrowly missed his skull, and cut away his lip ornament. as for the old trader, he made no resistance at all, but submitted quietly to his fate. the savages did not seem to think it worth their while to bind him. grampus bounced and barked round the party savagely, but did not attack; and marmoset slept in the canoe in blissful ignorance of the whole transaction. the hands of the two prisoners being firmly bound, they were allowed to do as they pleased; so they sat down on a rock in gloomy silence, and watched the naked savages as they rifled the canoe and danced joyfully round the treasures which their active knives and fingers soon exposed to view. the old trader took things philosophically. knowing that it was absolutely impossible to escape, he sat quietly down on a stone, rested his chin on his hands, heaved one or two deep sighs, and thereafter seemed to be nothing more than an ebony statue. the ransacking of the canoe and appropriating of its contents occupied the savages but a short time, after which they packed everything up in small bundles, which they strapped upon their backs. then, making signs to their prisoners to rise, they all marched away into the forest. just as they were departing, marmoset observing that she was about to be left behind, uttered a frantic cry, which brought grampus gambolling to her side. with an active bound the monkey mounted its charger, and away they went into the forest in the track of the band of savages. during the first part of their march martin and barney were permitted to walk beside each other, and they conversed in low, anxious tones. "surely," said barney, as they marched along surrounded by indians, "thim long poles the savages have got are not spears; i don't see no point to them." "and what's more remarkable," added martin, "is that they all carry quivers full of arrows, but none of them have bows." "there's a raison for iverything," said barney, pointing to one of the indians in advance; "that fellow explains the mystery." as he spoke, the savage referred to lowered the pole, which seemed to be about thirteen feet long, and pushing an arrow into a hole in the end of it, applied it to his mouth. in another moment the arrow flew through the air and grazed a bird that was sitting on a branch hard by. "'tis a blow-pipe, and no mistake!" cried barney. "and a poisoned arrow, i'm quite sure," added martin; "for it only ruffled the bird's feathers, and see, it has fallen to the ground." "och, then, but we'd have stood a bad chance in a fight if thim's the wipons they use. och, the dirty spalpeens! martin, dear, we're done for. there's no chance for us at all." this impression seemed to take such deep hold of barney's mind, that his usually reckless and half jesting disposition was completely subdued, and he walked along in gloomy silence, while a feeling of deep dejection filled the heart of his young companion. the blow-pipe which these indians use is an ingeniously contrived weapon. it is made from a species of palm-tree. when an indian wants one, he goes into the woods and selects a tree with a long slender stem of less than an inch in diameter; he extracts the pith out of this, and then cuts another stem, so much larger than the first that he can push the small tube into the bore of the large one,--thus the slight bend in one is counteracted by the other, and a perfectly straight pipe is formed. the mouth-piece is afterwards neatly finished off. the arrows used are very short, having a little ball of cotton at the end to fill the tube of the blow-pipe. the points are dipped in a peculiar poison, which has the effect of producing death when introduced into the blood by a mere scratch of the skin. the indians can send these arrows an immense distance, and with unerring aim, as martin and barney had many an opportunity of witnessing during their long and weary journey on foot to the forest-home of the savages. chapter nineteen. worse and worse--everything seems to go wrong together. although the indians did not maltreat the unfortunate strangers who had thus fallen into their hands, they made them proceed by forced marches through the wilderness; and as neither barney nor martin had been of late much used to long walks, they felt the journey very severely. the old trader had been accustomed to everything wretched and unfortunate and uncomfortable from his childhood, so he plodded onward in silent indifference. the country through which they passed became every day more and more rugged, until at length it assumed the character of a wild mountainous district. sometimes they wound their way in a zig-zag manner up the mountain sides, by paths so narrow that they could scarcely find a foot-hold. at other times they descended into narrow valleys where they saw great numbers of wild animals of various kinds, some of which the indians killed for food. after they reached the mountain district they loosed the hands of their prisoners, in order to enable them to climb more easily. indeed in many places they had to scramble so carefully that it would have been impossible for any one to climb with his hands tied behind his back. but the indians knew full well that they ran no risk of losing their prisoners; for if they had attempted to escape, dozens of their number were on the watch, before, behind, and on either side, ready to dart away in pursuit. moreover, barney had a feeling of horror at the bare idea of the poisoned arrows, that effectually prevented him from making the smallest attempt at escape. with a cutlass or a heavy stick he would have attacked the whole tribe single-handed, and have fought till his brains were knocked out; but when he thought of the small arrows that would pour upon him in hundreds if he made a dash for the woods, and the certain death that would follow the slightest scratch, he discarded all idea of rebellion. one of the animals killed by the indians at this time was a black jaguar,--a magnificent animal, and very fierce. he was discovered crouching in a thicket backed by a precipice, from which he could only escape by charging through the ranks of his enemies. he did it nobly. with a roar that rebounded from the face of the high cliff and echoed through the valley like a peal of thunder, he sprang out and rushed at the savages in front, who scattered like chaff right and left. but at the same instant fifty blow-pipes sent their poisoned shafts into his body, and, after a few convulsive bounds, the splendid monarch of the american forests fell dead on the ground. the black jaguar is a somewhat rare animal, and is very seldom seen. this one was therefore hailed as a great prize, and the skin and claws were carefully preserved. on the afternoon of the same day the party came to a broad stream, over which they, or some other of the numerous tribes in the country, had constructed a very simple and curious bridge. it was a single rope attached to an immense mass of rock on one side and to the stem of a large tree on the other. on this tight-rope was fastened a simple loop of cord, so constructed that it could encircle the waist of a man and at the same time traverse from one end of the tight-rope to the other. barney put on a comical frown when he came to this and saw the leader of the party rest his weight in the loop, and, clinging with hands and legs to the long rope, work himself slowly across. "arrah! it's well for us, martin, that we're used to goin' aloft," said he, "or that same bridge would try our narves a little." "so it would, barney. i've seldom seen a more uncomfortable-looking contrivance. if we lost our hold we should first be dashed to pieces on the rocks, and then be drowned in the river." difficult though the passage seemed, however, it was soon accomplished by the active savages in safety. the only one of the party likely to be left behind was grampus; whom his master, after much entreaty in dumb-show, was permitted to carry over by tying him firmly to his shoulders. marmoset crossed over walking, like a tight-rope dancer, being quite _au fait_ at such work. soon after they came to another curious bridge over a ravine. it had been constructed by simply felling two tall trees on the edge of it in such a manner that they fell across. they were bound together with the supple vines that grew there in profusion. nature had soon covered the whole over with climbing-plants and luxuriant verdure; and the bridge had become a broad and solid structure, over which the whole party marched with perfect ease. several such bridges were crossed, and also a few of the rope kind, during the journey. after many weeks' constant travelling, the indians came to a beautiful valley one evening just about sunset--and began to make the usual preparations for encamping. the spot they selected was a singular one. it was the foot of a rocky gorge, up which might be seen trees and bushes mingled with jagged rocks and dark caverns, with a lofty sierra or mountain range in the background. in front was the beautiful valley which they had just crossed. on a huge rock there grew a tree of considerable size, the roots of which projected beyond the rock several yards, and then, bending downwards, struck into the ground. creeping-plants had twined thickly among the roots, and thus formed a sort of lattice-work which enclosed a large space of ground. in this natural arbour the chiefs of the indians took up their quarters and kindled their fire in the centre of it, while the main body of the party pitched their camp outside. the three prisoners were allotted a corner in the arbour; and, after having supped, they spread their ponchos on a pile of ferns, and found themselves very snug indeed. "martin," said barney, gravely, as he smoked his pipe and patted the head of his dog, "d'ye know, i'm beginning to feel tired o' the company o' thim naked rascals, and i've been revolvin' in my mind what we should do to escape. moreover, i've comed to a conclusion." "and what's that?" inquired martin. "that it's unposs'ble to escape at all, and i don't know what to do." "that's not a satisfactory conclusion barney. i, too, have been cogitating a good deal about these indians, and it is my opinion that they have been on a war expedition, for i've noticed that several of them have been wounded; and, besides, i cannot fancy what else could take them so far from home." "true, martin, true. i wonder what they intind to do with us. they don't mean to kill us, anyhow; for if they did they would niver take the trouble to bring us here. ochone! me heart's beginnin' to go down altogether; for we are miles and miles away from anywhere now, and i don't know the direction o' no place whatsumdiver." "never mind, barney, cheer up," said martin with a smile; "if they don't kill us that's all we need care about. i'm sure we shall manage to escape somehow or other in the long-run." while they thus conversed the old trader spread his poncho over himself and was soon sound asleep; while the indians, after finishing supper, held an animated conversation. at times they seemed to be disputing, and spoke angrily and with violent gesticulations, glancing now and then at the corner where their prisoners lay. "it's my belafe," whispered barney, "that they're spakin' about us. i'm afeard they don't mean us any good. och but if i wance had my pistol and the ould cutlass. well, well, it's of no manner o' use frettin'. good night martin, good night!" the irishman knocked the ashes out of his pipe, turned his face to the wall, and, heaving a deep sigh, speedily forgot his cares in sleep. the indians also lay down, the camp-fires died slowly out; and the deep breathing of the savages alone betokened the presence of man in that lone wilderness. barney's forebodings proved to be only too well founded; for next morning, instead of pursuing their way together, as usual, the savages divided their forces into two separate bands, placing the irishman and the old trader in the midst of one, and martin rattler with the other. "surely they're niver goin' to part us, martin," said barney with a careworn expression on his honest countenance that indicated the anxious suspicions in his heart. "i fear it much," replied martin with a startled look, as he watched the proceedings of the indians. "we must fight now, barney, if we should die for it. we _must_ not be separated." martin spoke with intense fervour and gazed anxiously in the face of his friend. a dark frown had gathered there. the sudden prospect of being forcibly torn from his young companion, whom he regarded with almost a mother's tenderness, stirred his enthusiastic and fiery temperament to its centre, and he gazed wildly about, as if for some weapon. but the savages anticipated his intention; ere he could grasp any offensive weapon two of their number leaped upon him, and at the same moment martin's arms were pinioned in a powerful grasp. "och, ye murderin' blackguards!" cried barney, hitting out right and left, and knocking down a savage at each blow. "now or niver! come on, ye kangaroos!" a general rush was made upon the irishman, who was fairly overturned by the mass of men. martin struggled fiercely to free himself, and would have succeeded had not two powerful indians hastened to the help of the one who had first seized him. despite his frantic efforts, he was dragged forcibly up the mountain gorge, the echoes of which rang with his cries as he shouted despairingly the name of his friend. barney fought like a tiger; but he could make no impression on such numbers. although at least a dozen indians lay around him bleeding and stunned by the savage blows of his fists,--a species of warfare which was entirely new to them,--fresh savages crowded round. but they did not wish to kill him, and numerous though they were, they found it no easy matter to secure so powerful a man; and when martin turned a last despairing glance towards the camp, ere a turn in the path shut it out from view, the hammer-like fists of his comrade were still smashing down the naked creatures who danced like monkeys round him, and the warlike shouts of his stentorian voice reverberated among the cliffs and caverns of the mountain pass long after he was hid from view. thus martin and barney were separated in the wild regions near the sierra dos parecis of brazil. chapter twenty. martin reflects much, and forms a firm resolve--the indian village. when the mind has been overwhelmed by some sudden and terrible calamity, it is long ere it again recovers its wonted elasticity. an aching void seems to exist in the heart, and a dead weight appears to press upon the brain, so that ordinary objects make but little impression, and the soul seems to turn inwards and brood drearily upon itself. the spirit of fun and frolic, that had filled martin rattler's heart ever since he landed in brazil, was now so thoroughly and rudely crushed, that he felt as if it were utterly impossible that he should ever smile again. he had no conception of the strength of his affection for the rough, hearty sailor, who had until now been the faithful and good-humoured companion of his wanderings. as barney had himself said on a former occasion, his life up till this period had been a pleasant and exciting dream. but he was now awakened rudely to the terrible reality of his forlorn position; and the more he thought of it the more hopeless and terrible it appeared to be. he knew not in what part of brazil he was; he was being hurried apparently deeper into these vast solitudes by savages who were certainly not friendly, and of whose language he knew not a word; and worst of all, he was separated perhaps for ever from the friend, on whom, all unconsciously to himself, he had so long leaned for support in all their difficulties and dangers. even though he and barney should succeed in escaping from the indians, he felt--and his heart was overwhelmed at the thought--that in such a vast country there was not the shadow of a chance that they should find each other. under the deep depression produced by these thoughts martin wandered on wearily, as if in a dream--taking no interest in anything that occurred by the way. at length, after several days fatiguing journey over mountains and plains, they arrived at the indian village. here the warriors were received with the utmost joy by the wives and children whom they had left behind, and for a long time martin was left almost entirely to do as he pleased. a few days before, his bonds had been removed, and once or twice he thought of attempting to escape; but whenever he wandered a little further than usual into the woods, he found that he was watched and followed by a tall and powerful savage, whose duty it evidently was to see that the prisoner did not escape. the fearful idea now entered martin's mind that he was reserved for torture, and perhaps a lingering death; for he had read that many savage nations treated their prisoners in this cruel manner, for the gratification of the women who had lost relations in the war. but as no violence was offered to him in the meantime, and he had as much farina and fruit to eat as he could use, his mind gradually became relieved, and he endeavoured as much as possible to dismiss the terrible thought altogether. the indian village occupied a lovely situation at the base of a gentle hill or rising ground, the summit of which was clothed with luxuriant trees and shrubs. the huts were of various shapes and sizes, and very simple in construction. they were built upon the bare ground; some were supported by four corner posts, twelve or fifteen feet high, and from thirty to forty feet long, the walls being made of thin laths connected with wicker-work, and plastered with clay. the doors were made of palm-leaves, and the roofs were covered with the same material, or with maize straw. other huts were made almost entirely of palm-leaves and tent-shaped in form; and, while a few were enclosed by walls, the most of the square ones had one or more sides entirely open. in the large huts several families dwelt together, and each family had a hearth and a portion of the floor allotted to it. the smoke from their fires was allowed to find its way out by the doors and chinks in the roofs, as no chimneys were constructed for its egress. the furniture of each hut was very simple. it consisted of a few earthen pots; baskets made of palm-leaves, which were filled with spanish potatoes, maize, mandioca-roots, and various kinds of wild fruits; one or two drinking vessels; the hollow trunk of a tree, used for pounding maize in; and several dishes which contained the colours used by the indians in painting their naked bodies,--a custom which was very prevalent amongst them. besides these things, there were bows, arrows, spears, and blow-pipes in abundance; and hammocks hung from various posts, elevated about a foot from the ground. these hammocks were made of cotton cords, and served the purpose of tables, chairs, and beds. the ground in the immediate neighbourhood of the village was laid out in patches, in which were cultivated mandioca-roots, maize, and other plants useful for domestic purposes. in front of the village there was an extensive valley, through which a small river gurgled with a pleasant sound. it was hemmed in on all sides by wooded mountains, and was so beautifully diversified by scattered clusters of palms, and irregular patches of undulating grassy plains, all covered with a rich profusion of tropical flowers and climbing-plants, that it seemed to martin more like a magnificent garden than the uncultivated forest--only far more rich and lovely and picturesque than any artificial garden could possibly be. when the sun shone in full splendour on this valley--as it almost always did!--it seemed as if the whole landscape were on the point of bursting into flames of red and blue, and green and gold; and when martin sat under the shade of a tamarind-tree and gazed long upon the enchanting scene, his memory often reverted to the eden of which he used to read in the bible at home, and he used to wonder if it were possible that the sun and flowers and trees _could_ be more lovely in the time when adam walked with god in paradise. martin was young then, and he did not consider, although he afterwards came to know, that it was not the beauty of natural objects, but the presence and favour of god and the absence of sin, that rendered the garden of eden a paradise. but these thoughts always carried him back to dear old aunt dorothy and the sweet village of ashford; and the brazilian paradise was not unfrequently obliterated in tears while he gazed, and turned into a vale of weeping. ay, he would have given that magnificent valley,--had it been his own, ten times over, in exchange for one more glance at the loved faces and the green fields of home. soon after his arrival at the indian village martin was given to understand, by signs, that he was to reside with a particular family, and work every day in the maize and mandioca fields, besides doing a great deal of the drudgery of the hut; so that he now knew he was regarded as a slave by the tribe into whose hands he had fallen. it is impossible to express the bitterness of his feelings at this discovery, and for many weeks he went about his work scarcely knowing what he did, and caring little, when the hot sun beat on him so fiercely that he could hardly stand, whether he lived or died. at length, however, he made up his mind firmly to attempt his escape. he was sitting beneath the shade of his favourite resort, the tamarind-tree, when he made this resolve. longing thoughts of home had been strong upon him all that day, and desire for the companionship of barney had filled his heart to bursting; so that the sweet evening sunshine and the beautiful vale over which his eyes wandered, instead of affording him pleasure, seemed but to mock his misery. it was a lesson that all must learn sooner or later, and one we would do well to think upon before we learn it, that sunshine in the soul is not dependent on the sunshine of this world, and when once the clouds descend, the brightest beams of all that earth contains cannot pierce them,--god alone can touch these dark clouds with the finger of love and mercy, and say again, as he said of old, "let there be light." a firm purpose, formed with heart and will, is cheering and invigorating to a depressed mind. no sooner did the firm determination to escape or die enter into martin's heart, than he sprang from his seat, and, falling on his knees, prayed to god, in the name of our redeemer, for help and guidance. he had not the least idea of how he was to effect his escape, or of what he intended to do. all he knew was that he had _made up his mind_ to do so, _if god would help him_. and under the strength of that resolve he soon recovered much of his former cheerfulness of disposition, and did his work among the savages with a degree of energy that filled them with surprise and respect. from that day forth he never ceased to revolve in his mind every imaginable and unimaginable plan of escape, and to watch every event or circumstance, no matter how trifling, that seemed likely to aid him in his purpose. seeing that he was a very strong and active fellow, and that he had become remarkably expert in the use of the bow and the blow-pipe, the indians now permitted martin to accompany them frequently on their short hunting expeditions, so that he had many opportunities of seeing more of the wonderful animals and plants of the brazilian forests, in the studying of which he experienced great delight. moreover, in the course of a few months he began to acquire a smattering of the indian language, and was not compelled to live in constant silence, as had been the case at first. but he carefully avoided the formation of any friendships with the youths of the tribe, although many of them seemed to desire it, considering that his doing so might in some way or other interfere with the execution of his great purpose. he was civil and kind to them all, however, though reserved; and, as time wore away, he enjoyed much more liberty than was the case at first. still, however, he was watched by the tall savage, who was a surly, silent fellow, and would not be drawn into conversation. indeed he did not walk with martin, but followed him wherever he went during his hours of leisure, at a distance of a few hundred yards, moving when his prisoner moved, and stopping when he halted, so that martin at last began to regard him more as a shadow than a man. chapter twenty one. savage feasts and ornaments--martin grows desperate, and makes a bold attempt to escape. hunting and feasting were the chief occupations of the men of the tribe, with whom martin sojourned. one day martin was told that a great feast was to take place, and he was permitted to attend. accordingly, a little before the appointed time he hastened to the large hut, in and around which the festivities were to take place, in order to witness the preparations. the first thing that struck him was that there seemed to be no preparations making for eating; and on inquiry he was told that they did not meet to eat, they met to drink and dance,--those who were hungry might eat at home. the preparations for drinking were made on an extensive scale by the women, a number of whom stood round a large caldron, preparing its contents for use. these women wore very little clothing, and their bodies, besides being painted in a fantastic style, were also decorated with flowers and feathers. martin could not help feeling that, however absurd the idea of painting the body was, it had at least the good effect of doing away to some extent with the idea of nakedness; for the curious patterns and devices gave to the indians the appearance of being clothed in tights,--and, at any rate, he argued mentally, paint was better than nothing. some of the flowers were artificially constructed out of beetles' wings, shells, fish-scales, and feathers, and were exquisitely beautiful, as well as gorgeous. one of the younger women struck martin as being ultra-fashionable in her paint. her black shining hair hung like a cloak over her reddish-brown shoulders, and various strange drawings and figures ornamented her face and breast. on each cheek she had a circle, and over that two strokes; under the nose were four red spots; from the corners of her mouth to the middle of each cheek were two parallel lines, and below these several upright stripes; on various parts of her back and shoulders were curiously entwined circles, and the form of a snake was depicted in vermilion down each arm. unlike the others, she wore no ornament except a simple necklace of monkeys' teeth. this beauty was particularly active in manufacturing the intoxicating drink, which is prepared thus:-- a quantity of maize was pounded in the hollow trunk of a tree, and put into an earthen pot, where it was boiled in a large quantity of water. then the women took the coarsely ground and boiled flour out of the water, chewed it in their mouths for a little, and put it into the pot again! by this means the decoction began to ferment and became intoxicating. it was a very disgusting method, yet it is practised by many indian tribes in america; and, strange to say, also by some of the south sea islanders, who, of course, could not have learned it from these indians. when this beverage was ready, the chief, a tall, broad-shouldered man, whose painted costume and ornaments were most elaborate, stepped up to the pot and began a strange series of incantations, which he accompanied by rattling a small wooden instrument in his hand; staring all the time at the earthen pot, as if he half expected it to run away; and dancing slowly round it as if to prevent such a catastrophe from taking place. the oftener the song was repeated the more solemn and earnest became the expression of his face and the tones of his voice. the rest of the indians, who were assembled to the number of several hundreds, stood motionless round the pot, staring at him intently without speaking, and only now and then, when the voice and actions of the chief became much excited, they gave vent to a sympathetic howl. after this had gone on for some time, the chief seized a drinking-cup, or cuja, which he gravely dipped into the pot and took a sip. then the shaking of the rattle and the monotonous song began again. the chief next took a good pull at the cup and emptied it; after which he presented it to his companions, who helped themselves at pleasure; and the dance and monotonous music became more furious and noisy the longer the cup went round. when the cup had circulated pretty freely among them, their dances and music became more lively; but they were by no means attractive. after he had watched them a short time, martin left the festive scene with a feeling of pity for the poor savages; and as he thought upon their low and debased condition he recalled to mind the remark of his old friend the hermit,--"they want the bible in brazil." during his frequent rambles in the neighbourhood of the indian village, martin discovered many beautiful and retired spots, to which he was in the habit of going in the evenings after his daily labours were accomplished, accompanied, as usual, at a respectful distance, by his vigilant friend the tall savage. one of his favourite resting-places was at the foot of a banana-tree, which grew on the brow of a stupendous cliff, about a mile distant from the hut, in which he dwelt. from this spot he had a commanding view of the noble valley and the distant mountains. these mountains now seemed to the poor boy to be the ponderous gates of his beautiful prison; for he had been told by one of his indian friends that on the other side of them were great campos and forests, beyond which dwelt many portuguese, while still further on was a great lake without shores, which was the end of the world. this, martin was convinced, must be the atlantic ocean; for, upon inquiry, he found that many months of travel must be undergone ere it could be reached. moreover, he knew that it could not be the pacific, because the sun rose in that direction. sauntering away to his favourite cliff, one fine evening towards sunset he seated himself beneath the banana-tree and gazed longingly at the distant mountains, whose sharp summits glittered in the ruddy glow. he had long racked his brain in order to devise some method of escape, but hitherto without success. wherever he went the "shadow" followed him, armed with the deadly blow-pipe; and he knew that even if he did succeed in eluding his vigilance and escaping into the woods, hundreds of savages would turn out and track him, with unerring certainty, to any hiding place. still the strength of his stern determination sustained him; and, at each failure in his efforts to devise some means of effecting his purpose, he threw off regret with a deep sigh, and returned to his labour with a firmer step, assured that he should eventually succeed. as he sat there on the edge of the precipice, he said, half aloud, "what prevents me from darting suddenly on that fellow and knocking him down?" this was a question that might have been easily answered. no doubt he was physically capable of coping with the man, for he had now been upwards of a year in the wilderness, and was in his sixteenth year, besides being unusually tall and robust for his age. indeed he looked more like a full-grown man than a stripling; for hard, incessant toil, had developed his muscles and enlarged his frame, and his stirring life, combined latterly with anxiety, had stamped a few of the lines of manhood on his sunburnt countenance. but, although he could have easily overcome the indian, he knew that he would be instantly missed; and, from what he had seen of the powers of the savages in tracking wild animals to their dens in the mountains, he felt that he could not possibly elude them except by stratagem. perplexed and wearied with unavailing thought and anxiety, martin pressed his hands to his forehead and gazed down the perpendicular cliff, which was elevated fully a hundred feet above the plain below. suddenly he started and clasped his hands upon his eyes, as if to shut out some terrible object from his sight. then, creeping cautiously towards the edge of the cliff, he gazed down, while an expression of stern resolution settled upon his pale face. and well might martin's cheek blanch, for he had hit upon a plan of escape which, to be successful, required that he should twice turn a bold, unflinching face on death. the precipice, as before mentioned, was fully a hundred feet high, and quite perpendicular. at the foot of it there flowed a deep and pretty wide stream, which, just under the spot where martin stood, collected in a deep black pool, where it rested for a moment ere it rushed on its rapid course down the valley. over the cliff and into that pool martin made up his mind to plunge, and so give the impression that he had fallen over and been drowned. the risk he ran in taking such a tremendous leap was very great indeed, but that was only half the danger he must encounter. the river was one of a remarkable kind, of which there are one or two instances in south america. it flowed down the valley between high rocks, and, a few hundred yards below the pool, it ran straight against the face of a precipice and there terminated to all appearance; but a gurgling vortex in the deep water at the base of the cliff, and the disappearance of everything that entered it, showed that the stream found a subterranean passage. there was no sign of its re-appearance, however, in all the country round. in short the river was lost in the bowels of the earth. from the pool to the cliff where the river was engulfed the water ran like a mill-race, and there was no spot on either bank where any one could land, or even grasp with his hand, except one. it was a narrow, sharp rock, that jutted out about two feet from the bank, quite close to the vortex of the whirlpool. this rock was martin's only hope. to miss it would be certain destruction. but if he should gain a footing on it he knew that he could climb by a narrow fissure into a wild, cavernous spot, which it was exceedingly difficult to reach from any other point. a bend in the river concealed this rock and the vortex from the place whereon he stood, so that he hoped to be able to reach the point of escape before the savage could descend the slope and gain the summit of the cliff from whence it could be seen. of all this martin was well aware, for he had been often at the place before, and knew every inch of the ground. his chief difficulty would be to leap over the precipice in such a manner as to cause the indian to believe he had fallen over accidentally. if he could accomplish this, then he felt assured the savages would suppose he had been drowned, and so make no search for him at all. fortunately the ground favoured this. about five feet below the edge of the precipice there was a projecting ledge of rock nearly four feet broad and covered with shrubs. upon this it was necessary to allow himself to fall. the expedient was a desperate one, and he grew sick at heart as he glanced down the awful cliff, which seemed to him three times higher than it really was, as all heights do when seen from above. glancing round, he observed his savage guardian gazing contemplatively at the distant prospect. martin's heart beat audibly as he rose and walked with an affectation of carelessness to the edge of the cliff. as he gazed down, a feeling of horror seized him; he gasped for breath, and almost fainted. then the idea of perpetual slavery flashed across his mind, and the thought of freedom and home nerved him. he clenched his hands, staggered convulsively forward and fell, with a loud and genuine shriek of terror, upon the shrubs that covered the rocky ledge. instantly he arose, ground his teeth together, raised his eyes for one moment to heaven, and sprang into the air. for one instant he swept through empty space; the next he was deep down in the waters of the dark pool, and when the horrified indian reached the edge of the precipice, he beheld his prisoner struggling on the surface for a moment, ere he was swept by the rapid stream round the point and out of view. bounding down the slope, the savage sped like a hunted antelope across the intervening space between the two cliffs, and quickly gained the brow of the lower precipice, which he reached just in time to see martin rattler's straw-hat dance for a moment on the troubled waters of the vortex and disappear in the awful abyss. but martin saw it too, from the cleft in the frowning rock. on reaching the surface after his leap he dashed the water from his eyes, and looked with intense earnestness in the direction of the projecting rock towards which he was hurried. down he came upon it with such speed that he felt no power of man could resist. but there was a small eddy just below it, into which he was whirled as he stretched forth his hands and clutched the rock with the energy of despair. he was instantly torn away. but another small point projected two feet below it. this he seized. the water swung his feet to and fro as it gushed into the vortex, but the eddy saved him. in a moment his breast was on the rock, then his foot, and he sprang into the sheltering cleft just a moment before the indian came in view of the scene of his supposed death. martin flung himself with his face to the ground, and thought rather than uttered a heartfelt thanksgiving for his deliverance. the savage carried the news of his death to his friends in the indian village, and recounted with deep solemnity the particulars of his awful fate to crowds of wondering,--in many cases sorrowing,--listeners; and for many a day after that the poor savages were wont to visit the terrible cliff and gaze with awe on the mysterious vortex that had swallowed up, as they believed, the fair-haired boy. chapter twenty two. the escape--alone in the wilderness--fight between a jaguar and an alligator--martin encounters strange and terrible creatures. freedom can be fully appreciated only by those who have been for a long period deprived of liberty. it is impossible to comprehend the feelings of joy that welled up in martin's bosom as he clambered up the rugged cliffs among which he had found shelter, and looked round upon the beautiful valley, now lying in the shadow of the mountain range behind which the sun had just set. he sat down on a rock, regardless of the wet condition of his clothes, and pondered long and earnestly over his position, which was still one of some danger; but a sensation of light-hearted recklessness made the prospect before him seem very bright. he soon made up his mind what to do. the weather was extremely warm, so that, after wringing the water out of his linen clothes, he experienced little discomfort; but he felt that there would not only be discomfort but no little danger in travelling in such a country without arms, covering, or provisions. he therefore determined on the bold expedient of revisiting the indian village during the darkness of the night in order to procure what he required. he ran great risk of being retaken, but his necessity was urgent and he was aware that several families were absent on a hunting expedition at that time, whose huts were pretty certain to be unoccupied. accordingly, when two or three hours of the night had passed, he clambered with much difficulty down the precipitous rocks, and reached the level plain, over which he quickly ran, and soon reached the outskirts of the village. the indians were all asleep, and no sound disturbed the solemn stillness of the night. going stealthily towards a hut he peeped in at the open window, but could see and hear nothing. just as he was about to enter, however, a long-drawn breath proved that it was occupied. he shrank hastily back into the deep shade of the bushes. in a few minutes he recovered from the agitation into which he had been thrown and advanced cautiously towards another hut. this one seemed to be untenanted, so he opened the palm-leaf door gently and entered. no time was to be lost now. he found an empty sack or bag, into which he hastily threw as much farina as he could carry without inconvenience. besides this, he appropriated a long knife; a small hatchet; a flint and steel, to enable him to make a fire; and a stout bow with a quiver full of arrows. it was so dark that it was with difficulty he found these things. but as he was on the point of leaving he observed a white object in a corner. this turned out to be a light hammock, which he seized eagerly, and, rolling it up into a small bundle, placed it in the sack. he also sought for, and fortunately found, an old straw-hat which he put on. martin had now obtained all that he required, and was about to quit the hut when he became suddenly rooted to the spot with horror on observing the dark countenance of an indian gazing at him with distended eyeballs over the edge of a hammock. his eyes, unaccustomed to the darkness of the room, had not at first observed that an indian was sleeping there. he now felt that he was lost. the savage evidently knew him. dreadful thoughts flashed through his brain. he thought of the knife in his belt, and how easily he could despatch the indian in a moment as he lay; but then the idea of imbruing his hands in human blood seemed so awful that he could not bring himself to do it. as he looked steadily at the savage he observed that his gaze was one of intense horror, and it suddenly occurred to him that the indian supposed he was a ghost! acting upon this supposition, martin advanced his face slowly towards that of the indian, put on a dark frown, and stood for a few seconds without uttering a word. the savage shrank back and shuddered from head to foot. then, with a noiseless step, martin retreated slowly backward towards the door and passed out like a spectre--never for a moment taking his eyes off those of the savage until he was lost in darkness. on gaining the forest he fled with a beating heart to his former retreat; but his fears were groundless, for the indian firmly believed that martin's spirit had visited his hut and carried away provisions for his journey to the land of spirits. without waiting to rest martin no sooner reached the scene of his adventurous leap than he fastened his bag firmly on his shoulders and struck across the valley in the direction of the blue mountains that hemmed it in. four or five hours hard walking brought him to their base, and long before the rising sun shone down upon his recent home he was over the hills and far away, trudging onward with a weary foot, but with a light heart, in what he believed to be the direction of the east coast of brazil. he did not dare to rest until the rugged peaks of the mountain range were between him and the savages; but, when he had left these far behind him, he halted about mid-day to breakfast and repose by the margin of a delightfully cool mountain stream. "i'm safe now!" said martin aloud, as he threw down his bundle beneath a spreading tree and commenced to prepare breakfast. "o! my friend barney, i wish that you were here to keep me company." the solitary youth looked round as if he half expected to see the rough visage and hear the gladsome voice of his friend; but no voice replied to his, and the only living creature he saw was a large monkey, which peered inquisitively down at him from among the branches of a neighbouring bush. this reminded him that he had left his pet marmoset in the indian village, and a feeling of deep self-reproach filled his heart. in the baste and anxiety of his flight he had totally forgotten his little friend. but regret was now unavailing. marmoset was lost to him for ever. having kindled a small fire, martin kneaded a large quantity of farina in the hollow of a smooth stone, and baked a number of flat cakes, which were soon fired and spread out upon the ground. while thus engaged, a snake of about six feet long and as thick as a man's arm glided past him. martin started convulsively, for he had never seen one of the kind before, and he knew that the bite of some of the snakes is deadly. fortunately his axe was at hand. grasping it quickly, he killed the reptile with a single blow. two or three mandioca-cakes, a few wild fruits, and a draught of water from the stream, formed the wanderer's simple breakfast. after it was finished, he slung his hammock between two trees, and jumping in, fell into a deep, untroubled slumber, in which he continued all that day and until day-break the following morning. after partaking of a hearty breakfast, martin took up his bundle and resumed his travels. that day he descended into the level and wooded country that succeeded the mountain range; and that night he was obliged to encamp in a swampy place, near a stagnant lake, in which several alligators were swimming, and where the mosquitoes were so numerous that he found it absolutely impossible to sleep. at last, in despair, he sprang into the branches of the tree to which his hammock was slung and ascended to the top. here, to his satisfaction, he found that there were scarcely any mosquitoes, while a cool breeze fanned his fevered brow; so he determined to spend the night in the tree. by binding several branches together he formed a rude sort of couch, on which he lay down comfortably, placing his knife and bow beside him, and using the hammock rolled up as a pillow. as the sun was setting, and while he leaned on his elbow looking down through the leaves with much interest at the alligators that gambolled in the reedy lake, his attention was attracted to a slight rustling in the bushes near the foot of the tree. looking down, he perceived a large jaguar gliding through the under-wood with cat-like stealth. martin now observed that a huge alligator had crawled out of the lake, and was lying on the bank asleep a few yards from the margin. when the jaguar reached the edge of the bushes it paused, and then, with one tremendous spring, seized the alligator by the soft part beneath its tail. the huge monster struggled for a few seconds, endeavouring to reach the water, and then lay still, while the jaguar worried and tore at its tough hide with savage fury. martin was much surprised at the passive conduct of the alligator. that it could not turn its stiff body, so as to catch the jaguar in its jaws, did not, indeed, surprise him; but he wondered very much to see the great reptile suffer pain so quietly. it seemed to be quite paralysed. in a few minutes the jaguar retired a short distance. then the alligator made a rush for the water; but the jaguar darted back and caught it again; and martin now saw that the jaguar was actually playing with the alligator as a cat plays with a mouse before she kills it! during one of the cessations of the combat, if we may call it by that name, the alligator almost gained the water, and in the short struggle that ensued both animals rolled down the bank and fell into the lake. the tables were now turned. the jaguar made for the shore; but before it could reach it the alligator wheeled round, opened its tremendous jaws and caught its enemy by the middle. there was one loud splash in the water, as the alligator's powerful tail dashed it into foam; and one awful roar of agony, which was cut suddenly short and stifled as the monster dived to the bottom with its prey; then all was silent as the grave, and a few ripples on the surface were all that remained to tell of the battle that had been fought there. martin remained motionless on the tree top, brooding over the fight which he had just witnessed, until the deepening shadows warned him that it was time to seek repose. turning on his side he laid his head on his pillow, while a soft breeze swayed the tree gently to and fro and rocked him sound asleep. thus, day after day, and week after week, did martin rattler wander alone through the great forests, sometimes pleasantly, and at other times with more or less discomfort; subsisting on game which he shot with his arrows, and on wild fruits. he met with many strange adventures by the way, which would fill numerous volumes were they to be written every one; but we must pass over many of these in silence, that we may recount those that were most interesting. one evening, as he was walking through a very beautiful country, in which were numerous small lakes and streams, he was suddenly arrested by a crashing sound in the under-wood, as if some large animal were coming towards him; and he had barely time to fit an arrow to his bow when the bushes in front of him were thrust aside, and the most hideous monster that he had ever seen appeared before his eyes. it was a tapir; but martin had never heard of or seen such creatures before, although there are a good many in some parts of brazil. the tapir is a very large animal,--about five or six feet long and three or four feet high. it is in appearance something between an elephant and a hog. its nose is very long, and extends into a short proboscis; but there is no finger at the end of it like that of the elephant. its colour is a deep brownish black, its tough hide is covered with a thin sprinkling of strong hairs, and its mane is thick and bristly. so thick is its hide that a bullet can scarcely penetrate it; and it can crush its way through thickets and bushes, however dense, without receiving a scratch. although a very terrific animal to look at, it is fortunately of a very peaceable and timid disposition, so that it flees from danger, and is very quick in discovering the presence of an enemy. sometimes it is attacked by the jaguar, which springs suddenly upon it and fastens its claws in its back; but the tapir's tough hide is not easily torn, and he gets rid of his enemy by bouncing into the tangled bushes and bursting through them, so that the jaguar is very soon _scraped_ off his back! the tapir lives as much in the water as on the land, and _delights_ to wallow like a pig in muddy pools. it is, in fact, very similar in many of its habits to the great hippopotamus of africa, but is not quite so large. it feeds entirely on vegetables, buds, fruits, and the tender shoots of trees, and always at night. during the day time it sleeps. the indians of brazil are fond of its flesh, and they hunt it with spears and poisoned arrows. but martin knew nothing of all this, and fully expected that the dreadful creature before him would attack and kill him; for, when he observed its coarse, tough-looking hide, and thought of the slender arrows with which he was armed, he felt that he had no chance, and there did not happen to be a tree near him at the time up which he could climb. with the energy of despair he let fly an arrow with all his force; but the weak shaft glanced from the tapir's side without doing it the slightest damage. then martin turned to fly, but at the same moment the tapir did the same, to his great delight and surprise. it wheeled round with a snort, and went off crashing through the stout under-wood as if it had been grass, leaving a broad track behind it. on another occasion he met with a formidable-looking but comparatively harmless animal, called the great ant-eater. this remarkable creature is about six feet in length, with very short legs and very long strong claws; a short curly tail, and a sharp snout, out of which it thrusts a long narrow tongue. it can roll itself up like a hedgehog, and when in this position might be easily mistaken for a bundle of coarse hay. it lives chiefly, if not entirely, upon ants. when martin discovered the great ant-eater, it was about to begin its supper; so he watched it. the plain was covered with ant-hills, somewhat pillar-like in shape. at the foot of one of these the animal made an attack, tearing up earth and sticks with its enormously strong claws, until it made a large hole in the hard materials, of which the hill was composed. into this hole it thrust its long tongue, and immediately the ants swarmed upon it. the creature let its tongue rest till it was completely covered over with thousands of ants, then it drew it into its mouth and engulfed them all! as martin had no reason in the world for attempting to shoot the great ant-eater, and as he was, moreover, by no means sure that he could kill it if he were to try, he passed on quietly and left this curious animal to finish its supper in peace. chapter twenty three. martin meets with friends and visits the diamond mines. one day, after martin had spent many weeks in wandering alone through the forest, during the course of which he was sometimes tempted to despair of seeing the face of man again, he discovered a beaten track; at the sight of which his heart bounded with delight. it was a saturday afternoon when he made this discovery, and he spent the sabbath-day in rest beside it. for martin had more than once called to remembrance the words which good aunt dorothy used to hear him repeat out of the bible, "remember the sabbath-day, to keep it holy." he had many long, earnest, and serious meditations in that silent forest, such as a youth would be very unlikely to have in almost any other circumstances, except, perhaps, on a sick-bed; and among other things he had been led to consider that if he made no difference between saturday and sunday, he must certainly be breaking that commandment; so he resolved thenceforth to rest on the sabbath-day; and he found much benefit, both to mind and body, from this arrangement. during this particular sabbath he rested beside the beaten track, and often did he walk up and down it a short way, wondering where it would lead him to; and several times he prayed that he might be led by it to the habitations of civilised men. next day after breakfast he prepared to set out; but now he was much perplexed as to which way he ought to go, for the track did not run in the direction in which he had been travelling, but at right angles to that way. while he still hesitated the sound of voices struck on his ear, and he almost fainted with excitement; for, besides the hope that he might now meet with friends, there was also the fear that those approaching might be enemies; and the sudden sound of the human voice, which he had not heard for so long, tended to create conflicting and almost overwhelming feelings in his breast. hiding quickly behind a tree, he awaited the passing of the cavalcade; for the sounds of horses hoofs were now audible. in a few minutes a string of laden mules approached, and then six horsemen appeared, whose bronzed olive complexions, straw-hats and ponchos, betokened them brazilians. as they passed, martin hailed them in an unsteady voice. they pulled up suddenly and drew pistols from their holsters; but on seeing only a fair youth armed with a bow, they replaced their weapons, and with a look of surprise rode up and assailed him with a volley of unintelligible portuguese. "do any of you speak english?" inquired martin, advancing. one of the horsemen replied, "yees, i spok one leet. ver' smoll. where you be com?" "i have escaped from the indians who live in the mountains far away over yonder. i have been wandering now for many weeks in the forest and i wish to get to the sea-coast or to some town where i may get something to do, that i may be enabled to return home." "ho!" said the horseman, gravely. "you com vid us. ve go vid goods to de diamond mines. git work dere, yees. put you body on dat hoss." as the brazilian spoke he pointed to a spare horse, which was led, along with several others, by a negro. thanking him for his politeness martin seized the horse by the mane and vaulted into the saddle, if the rude contrivance on its back might be so designated. the string of mules then moved on, and martin rode with a light heart beside this obliging stranger, conversing with much animation. in a very short time he learned, through the medium of his own bad portuguese and the brazilian's worse english, that he was not more than a day's ride from one of the diamond mines of that province of brazil which is named minas geraes; that he was still many leagues distant from the sea; and that he would be sure to get work at the mines if he wished it for the chief overseer, the baron fagoni, was an amiable man and very fond of the english,--but he could not speak their language at all, and required an interpreter. "and," said the brazilian, with a look of great dignity, "i hab de honour for be de 'terpreter." "ah!" exclaimed martin, "then i am in good fortune, for i shall have a friend at court." the interpreter smiled slightly and bowed, after which they proceeded for some time in silence. next evening they arrived at the mines; and, after seeing to the comfort of his horse, and inquiring rather hastily as to the welfare of his family, the interpreter conducted martin to the overseer's house in order to introduce him. the baron fagoni stood smoking in the doorway of his dwelling as they approached; and the first impression that martin received of him was anything but agreeable. he was a large, powerful man, with an enormous red beard and moustache, and a sombrero-like hat that concealed nearly the whole of his face. he seemed an irritable man, too; for he jerked his arms about and stamped in a violent manner as they drew near, and instead of waiting to receive them, he entered the house hastily and shut the door in their faces. "the baron would do well to take lessons in civility," said martin, colouring, as he turned to the interpreter. "ah, he be a leet pecoolair, sometime! nev'r mind. ve vill go to him." so saying, the interpreter opened the door and entered the hall where the overseer was seated at a desk, writing as if in violent haste. seeing that he did not mean to take notice of them, the interpreter spoke to him in portuguese; but he was soon interrupted by a sharp reply, uttered in a harsh, grating voice, by the overseer, who did not look up or cease from his work. again the interpreter spoke as if in some surprise; but he was cut short by the overseer uttering, in a deep, stern voice, the single word. "obey." with a low bow the interpreter turned away, and taking martin by the arm led him into an inner apartment, where, having securely fastened the window, he said to him, "de baron say you be von blackguard tief; go bout contrie for steal diamonds. he make pris'ner ov you. adios." so saying, the interpreter made his bow and retired, locking the door behind him and leaving martin standing in the middle of the room staring before him in speechless amazement. chapter twenty four. the diamond mines--more and more astonishing! if martin rattler was amazed at the treatment he experienced at the hands of his new acquaintances on arriving, he had occasion to be very much more surprised at what occurred three hours after his incarceration. it was getting dark when he was locked up, and for upwards of two hours he was left in total darkness. moreover, he began to feel very hungry, having eaten nothing since mid-day. he was deeply engaged in devising plans for his escape when he was interrupted by the door being unlocked, and a negro slave entering with four magnificent candles, made of bees-wax, which he placed upon the table. then he returned to the door, where another slave handed him a tray containing dishes, knives and forks, and, in short, all the requisites for laying out a supper-table. having spread a clean linen cloth on the board, he arranged covers for two, and going to the door placed his head to one side and regarded his arrangements with much complacency, and without paying the slightest attention to martin, who pinched himself in order to make sure he was not dreaming. in a few minutes the second negro returned with an enormous tray, on which were dishes of all sizes, from under whose covers came the most savoury odours imaginable. having placed these symmetrically on the board, both slaves retired and relocked the door without saying a word. at last it began to dawn on martin's imagination that the overseer must be an eccentric individual, who found pleasure in taking his visitors by surprise. but although this seemed a possible solution of the difficulty, he did not feel satisfied with it. he could with difficulty resist the temptation to attack the viands, however, and was beginning to think of doing this, regardless of all consequences, when the door again opened and the baron fagoni entered, relocked the door, put the key in his pocket and, standing before his prisoner with folded arms, gazed at him intently from beneath his sombrero. martin could not stand this. "sir," said he, starting up, "if this is a joke, you have carried it far enough; and if you really detain me here a prisoner, every feeling of honour ought to deter you from adding insult to injury." to this sternly delivered speech the baron made no reply, but springing suddenly upon martin, he grasped him in his powerful arms and crushed him to his broad chest till he almost broke every bone in his body! "och! cushla, bliss yer young face! sure it's yersilf, an' no mistake! kape still, martin, dear. let me look at ye, darlint! ah! then, isn't it my heart that's been broken for months an' months past about ye?" reader, it would be utterly in vain for me to attempt to describe either the words that flowed from the lips of martin rattler and barney o'flannagan on this happy occasion, or the feelings that filled their swelling hearts. the speechless amazement of martin, the ejaculatory exclamations of the baron fagoni, the rapid questions and brief replies, are all totally indescribable. suffice it to say that for full quarter of an hour they exclaimed, shouted, and danced round each other, without coming to any satisfactory knowledge of how each had got to the same place, except that barney at last discovered that martin had travelled there by chance, and he had reached the mines by "intuition." having settled this point, they sobered down a little. "now martin, darlint," cried the irishman, throwing aside his hat for the first time, and displaying his well-known jolly visage, of which the forehead, eyes, and nose alone survived the general inundation of red hair, "ye'll be hungry, i've small doubt, so sit ye down, lad, to supper, and you'll tell me yer story as ye go along, and afther that i'll tell ye mine, while i smoke my pipe,--the ould cutty, boy, that has comed through fire and wather, sound as a bell and blacker than iver!" the baron held up the well-known instrument of fumigation, as he spoke, in triumph. supper was superb. there were venison steaks, armadillo cutlets, tapir hash, iguana pie, and an immense variety of fruits and vegetables, that would have served a dozen men, besides cakes and splendid coffee. "you live well here, barney--i beg pardon--baron fagoni," said martin, during a pause in their meal; "how in the world did you come by that name?" barney winked expressively. "ah, boy, i wish i may niver have a worse. ye see, when i first comed here, about four months ago, i found that the mine was owned by an irish gintleman; an', like all the race, he's a trump. he took to me at wance when he hear'd my voice, and then he took more to me when he comed to know me character; and says he to me wan day, `barney,' says he, `i'm gittin' tired o' this kind o' life now, and if ye'll agree to stop here as overseer, and sind me the proceeds o' the mine to rio janeiro, a great city on the sea-coast an' the capital o' brazil, i'll give ye a good share o' the profits. but,' says he, `ye'll need to pretind ye're a roosian, or a pole, or somethin' o' that kind; for the fellows in thim parts are great rascals, and there's a few englishmen among them who would soon find out that ye're only a jack-tar before the mast and would chate ye at no allowance; but if ye could spake no language under the sun but the gibberish pecooliar to the unbeknown provinces o' siberia, ye could escape detection as far as yer voice is consarned; and by lettin' yer beard grow as long as possible, and dressin' yersilf properly, ye might pass, and be as dignified as the great mogul.' "`musha!' said i, `but if i don't spake me own tongue i'll have to be dumb altogither.' "`no fear,' says he; `i'll tache ye enough portuguese in a month or two to begin with, an' ye'll pick it up aisy after that.' and sure enough i began, tooth and nail, and, by hard workin', got on faster than i expected; for i can spake as much o' the lingo now as tides me over needcessities, and i understand most o' what's said to me. anyhow, i ginerally see what they're drivin' at." "so, then, you're actually in charge of the mine?" said martin, in surprise. "jist so, boy; but i'm tired of it already; it's by no means so pleasant as i expected it would be; so i'm thinkin' o' lavin' it, and takin' to the say again. i'm longin' dreadful to see the salt wather wance more." "but what will the owner say, barney: won't he have cause to complain of your breaking your engagement?" "niver a bit, boy. he tould me, before we parted, that if i wanted to quit i was to hand over the consarn to the interpreter, who is an honest fellow, i belave; so i'm jist goin' to pocket a di'mond or two, and ask lave to take them home wid me. i'll be off in a week, if all goes well. an' now, martin, fill yer glass; ye'll find the wine is not bad, after wan or two glasses; an' i'll tell ye about my adventures since i saw ye last." "but you have not explained about your name," said martin. "och! the fact is, that when i comed here i fortunately fell in with the owner first, and we spoke almost intirely in irish, so nobody understood where i comed from; and the interpreter hear'd the master call me by my name; so he wint off and said to the people that a great barono flanagoni had come, and was up at the house wid the master. but we corrected him afterward, and gave him to understand that i was the baron fagoni. i had some trouble with the people at first after the owner left; but i pounded wan or two o' the biggest o' them, to such a extint that their own friends hardly knew them; an iver since they've been mighty civil." having carefully filled the black pipe, and involved himself in his own favourite atmosphere, the baron fagoni then proceeded to relate his adventures, and dilated upon them to such an extent that five or six pipes were filled and finished ere the story came to a close. martin also related his adventures; to which his companion listened with such breathless attention and earnestness that his pipe was constantly going out; and the two friends did not retire to rest till near day-break. the substance of the baron's narrative was as follows:-- at the time that he had been so suddenly separated from his friend, barney had overcome many of his opponents, but at length he was overpowered by numbers, and his arms were firmly bound; after which he was roughly driven before them through the woods for several days, and was at length taken to their village among the mountains. here he remained a close prisoner for three weeks, shut up in a small hut and bound by a strong rope to a post. food was taken to him by an old indian woman, who paid no attention at first to what he said to her, for the good reason that she did not understand a word of english. the persuasive eloquence of her prisoner's tones, however, or perhaps his brogue, seemed in the course of a few days to have made an impression on her; for she condescended to smile at the unintelligible compliments which barney lavished upon her in the hope of securing her good-will. during all this time the irishman's heart was torn with conflicting feelings, and although, from the mere force of habit, he could jest with the old woman when she paid her daily visits, there was no feeling of fun in his bosom, but, on the contrary, a deep and overwhelming sorrow, which showed itself very evidently on his expressive face. he groaned aloud when he thought of martin, whom he never expected again to see; and he dreaded every hour the approach of his savage captors, who, he fully expected, retained him in order to put him to death. one day, while he was sitting in a very disconsolate mood, the indian woman entered with his usual dinner,--a plate of thick soup and a coarse cake. barney smiled upon her as usual, and then letting his eyes fall on the ground, sighed deeply,--for his heart was heavier than usual that day. as the woman was about to go, he looked earnestly and gravely in her face, and putting his large hand gently on her head, patted her grey hairs. this tender action seemed to affect the old woman more than usual. she laid her hand on barney's arm, and looked as if she wished to speak. then turning suddenly from him, she drew a small knife from her girdle and dropped it on the ground, as if accidentally, while she left the hut and re-fastened the door. barney's heart leaped. he seized the knife and concealed it hastily in his bosom, and then ate his dinner with more than ordinary zest; for now he possessed the means of cutting the strong rope that bound him. he waited with much impatience until night closed over the indian village, and, then cutting his bonds, he tore down the rude and rather feeble fastenings of the door. in another instant he was dashing along at full speed through the forest, without hat or coat, and with the knife clutched in his right hand. presently he heard cries behind him, and redoubled his speed; for now he knew that the savages had discovered his escape, and were in pursuit. but, although a good runner, barney was no match for the lithe and naked indians. they rapidly gained on him, and he was about to turn at bay and fight for his life, when he observed water gleaming through the foliage on his left. dashing down a glade he came to the edge of a broad river with a rapid current. into this he sprang recklessly, intending to swim with the stream; but ere he lost his footing he heard the low deep thunder of a cataract a short distance below! drawing back in terror, he regained the bank, and waded up a considerable distance in the shallow water, so as to leave no trace of his footsteps. then he leaped upon a rock, and, catching hold of the lower branches of a large tree, drew himself up among the dense foliage, just as the yelling savages rushed with wild tumult to the water's edge. here they paused, as if baffled. they spoke in rapid, vehement tones for a few seconds, and then one party hastened down the banks of the stream towards the fall, while another band searched the banks above. barney's heart fell as he sat panting in the tree, for he knew that they would soon discover him. but he soon resolved on a bold expedient. slipping down from the tree, he ran deliberately back towards the village; and, as he drew near, he followed the regular beaten track that led towards it. on the way he encountered one or two savages hastening after the pursuing party; but he leaped lightly into the bushes, and lay still till they were past. then he ran on, skirted round the village, and pushed into the woods in an entirely opposite direction, from the one in which he had first set out. keeping by one of the numerous tracks that radiated from the village into the forest he held on at top speed, until his progress was suddenly arrested by a stream about twenty yards broad. it was very deep, and he was about to plunge in, in order to swim across, when he observed a small montaria, or canoe, lying on the bank. this he launched quickly, and observing that the river took a bend a little further down, and appeared to proceed in the direction he wished to pursue,--namely, away from the indian village,--he paddled down the rapid stream as fast as he could. the current was very strong, so that his little bark flew down it like an arrow, and on more than one occasion narrowly missed being dashed to pieces on the rocks which here and there rose above the stream. in about two hours barney came to a place where the stream took another bend to the left, and soon after, the canoe swept out upon the broad river into which he had at first so nearly plunged. he was a long way below the fall now, for its sound was inaudible; but it was no time to abate his exertions. the indians might be still in pursuit; so he continued to paddle all that night and did not take rest until day-break. then he slept for two hours, ate a few wild fruits, and continued his journey. in the course of the next day, to his great joy, he overtook a trading canoe, which had been up another tributary of this river, and was descending with part of a cargo of india-rubber shoes. none of the men, of whom there were four, could speak english; but they easily saw from the irishman's condition that he had escaped from enemies and was in distress; so they took him on board, and were glad to avail themselves of his services: for, as we have before mentioned, men are not easily procured for voyaging in those parts of brazil. three weeks after this they arrived at a small town, where the natives were busily engaged in the manufacture of shoes, bottles, and other articles of india-rubber; and here barney found employment for a short time. the seringa, or india-rubber-tree, grows plentifully in some parts of brazil, and many hundreds of the inhabitants are employed in the manufacture of shoes. the india-rubber is the juice of the tree, and flows from it when an incision is made. this juice is poured into moulds and left to harden. it is of a yellowish colour naturally, and is blackened in the course of preparation. barney did not stay long here. shoe-making, he declared, was not his calling by any means; so he seized the first opportunity he had of joining a party of traders going into the interior, in the direction of the diamond districts. the journey was long and varied. sometimes by canoe and sometimes on the backs of mules and horses, and many extraordinary adventures did he go through ere he reached the diamond mines. and when at length he did so, great was his disappointment. instead of the glittering caves which his vivid imagination had pictured, he found that there were no caves at all; that the diamonds were found by washing in the muddy soil; and, worst of all, that when found they were dim and unpolished, so that they seemed no better than any other stone. however, he resolved to continue there for a short time, in order to make a little money; but now that martin had arrived he thought that they could not do better than make their way to the coast as fast as possible, and go to sea. "the only thing i have to regret," he said, at the conclusion of his narrative, "is that i left grampus behind me. but arrah! i came off from the savages in such a hurry that i had no time at all to tell him i was goin'!" having sat till day-break, the two friends went to bed to dream of each other and of home. next morning barney took martin to visit the diamond mines. on the way they passed a band of negro slaves who encircled a large fire, the weather being very cold. it was at that time about the end of july, which is one of the coldest months in the year. in this part of brazil summer and winter are reversed,--the coldest months being may, june, and july; the hottest, november, december, january, and february. minas geraes, the diamond district, is one of the richest provinces of brazil. the inhabitants are almost entirely occupied in mining or in supplying the miners with the necessaries of life. diggers and shopkeepers are the two principal classes, and of these the latter are best off; for their trade is steady and lucrative, while the success of the miners is very uncertain. frequently a large sum of money and much time are expended in mining without any adequate result; but the merchants always find a ready sale for their merchandise, and, as they take diamonds and gold-dust in exchange, they generally realise large profits and soon become rich. the poor miner is like the gambler. he digs on in hope; sometimes finding barely enough to supply his wants,-- at other times making a fortune suddenly; but never giving up in despair, because he knows that at every handful of earth he turns up he may perhaps find a diamond worth hundreds, or, it may be, thousands of pounds. cidade diamantina,--the city of diamonds,--is the capital of the province. it is a large city, with many fine churches and buildings; and the whole population, consisting of more than souls, are engaged, directly or indirectly, in mining. every one who owns a few slaves employs them in washing the earth for gold and diamonds. the mine of which barney had so unexpectedly become overseer, was a small one, in a remote part of the district, situated among the mountains, and far-distant from the city of diamonds. there were only a few huts, rudely built and roofed with palm-leaves, besides a larger building, or cottage, in which the baron fagoni resided. "'tis a strange life they lead here," said barney, as he led martin down a gorge of the mountains, towards a small spot of level ground, on which the slaves were at work; "a strange life, and by no means a pleasant wan; for the feedin' is none o' the best and the work very sevare." "why, barney, if i may judge from last night's supper, the feeding seems to be excellent." "thrue, boy, the baron fagoni feeds well, bekase he's the cock o' the roost; but the poor naygurs are not overly well fed, and the critters are up to their knees in wather all day, washing di'monds; so they suffer much from rheumatiz and colds. och, but it's murther entirely; an' i've more than wance felt inclined to fill their pockets with di'monds and set them all free! jist look, now, there they are, hard at it." as he spoke they arrived at the mine. the ground in the vicinity was all cut up and dug out to a considerable depth, and a dozen negroes were standing under a shed washing the earth, while others were engaged in the holes excavating the material. while martin watched them his friend explained the process. the different kinds of soil through which it is necessary to cut before reaching the diamond deposit are, first about twenty feet of reddish sandy soil; then about eight feet of a tough yellowish clay; beneath this lies a layer of coarse reddish sand, below which is the peculiar soil in which diamonds are found. it is called by the miners the _cascalho_, and consists of loose gravel, the pebbles of which are rounded and polished, having at some previous era been subject to the action of running water. the bed varies in thickness from one to four feet and the pebbles are of various kinds; but when there are many of a species called _esmerilo preto_, the cascalho is considered to be rich in diamonds. taking martin round to the back of the shed, barney showed him a row of troughs, about three feet square, close to the edge of a pond of water. these troughs are called _bacos_. in front of each stood a negro slave up to his knees in water. each had a wooden plate, with which he dashed water upon the rough cascalho as it was thrown into the trough by another slave. by this means, and by stirring it with a small hoe, the earth and sand are washed away. two overseers were closely watching the process; for it is during this part of the operation that the largest diamonds are found. these overseers were seated on elevated seats, each being armed with a long leathern whip, to keep a sharp look-out, for the slaves are expert thieves. after the cascalho had been thus purified, it was carefully removed to the shed to be finally washed. here seven slaves were seated on the side of a small canal, about four feet broad, with their legs in the water nearly up to their knees. this canal is called the _lavadeira_. each man had a small wooden platter, into which another slave, who stood behind him, put a shovelful of purified cascalho. the _bateia_, or platter, was then filled with water and washed with the utmost care several times, being closely examined after each washing, and the diamonds picked out. sometimes many platefuls were examined but nothing found; at other times several diamonds were found in one plate. while martin was looking on with much curiosity and interest, one of the slaves uttered an exclamation and held up a minute stone between his finger and thumb. "ah! good luck to ye, lad!" said barney, advancing and taking the diamond which had been discovered. "see here, martin; there's the thing, lad, that sparkles on the brow o' beauty, and gives the naygurs rheumatiz--" "not to mention their usefulness in providing the great baron fagoni with a livelihood," added martin, with a smile. barney laughed, and going up to the place where the two overseers were seated, dropped the precious gem into a plate of water placed between them for the purpose of receiving the diamonds as they were found. "they git fifteen or twinty a day sometimes," said barney, as they retraced their steps to the cottage; "and i've hear'd o' them getting stones worth many thousands o' pounds; but the biggest they iver found since i comed here was not worth more than four hundred." "and what do you do with them, barney, when they are found?" inquired martin. "sind them to rio janeiro, lad, where my employer sells them. i don't know how much he makes a year by it; but the thing must pay, for he's very liberal with his cash, and niver forgits to pay wages. there's always a lot o' gould-dust found in the bottom o' the bateia after each washing, and that is carefully collected and sold. but, arrah! i wouldn't give wan snifter o' the say-breezes for all the di'monds in brazil!" as barney said this he entered his cottage and flung down his hat with the air of a man who was resolved to stand it no longer. "but why don't you wash on your own account?" cried martin. "what say you; shall we begin together? we may make our fortune the first week, perhaps!" barney shook his head. "no, no, boy; i've no faith in my luck with the di'monds or gould. nevertheless i have hear'd o' men makin' an awful heap o' money that way; partiklarly wan man that made his fortin with wan stone." "who was that lucky dog?" asked martin. "well, ye see, it happened this way: there's a custom hereaway that slaves are allowed to work on sundays and holidays on their own account; but when the mines was a government consarn this was not allowed, and the slaves were the most awful thieves livin', and often made off with some o' the largest di'monds. well, there was a man named juiz de paz, who owned a small shop, and used to go down now and then to rio de janeiro to buy goods. wan evenin' he returned from wan o' his long journeys, and, bein' rather tired, wint to bed. he was jist goin' off into a comfortable doze when there came a terrible bumpin' at the door. "`hallo!' cried juiz, growlin' angrily in the portugee tongue; `what d'ye want?' "there was no answer but another bumpin' at the door. so up he jumps, and, takin' down a big blunderbuss that hung over his bed, opened the door, an' seized a naygur be the hair o' the head! "`oh, massa! oh, massa! let him go! got di'mond for to sell!' "on hearin' this, juiz let go, and found that the slave had come to offer for sale a large di'mond, which weighed about two penny-weights and a third. "`what d'ye ask for it?' said juiz, with sparklin' eyes. "`six hundred mil-reis,' answered the naygur. "this was about equal to pounds sterling. without more words about it he paid down the money; and the slave went away. juiz lost his sleep that night. he went and tould the neighbours he had forgot a piece of important business in rio and must go back at wance. so back he went and stayed some time in the city, tryin' to git his di'mond safely sold; for it was sich a big wan that he feared the government fellows might hear o't; in which case he would have got ten years transportation to angola on the coast of africa. at last however, he got rid of it for , mil-reis, which is about pounds. it was all paid to him in hard dollars; and he nearly went out o' his wits for joy. but he was brought down a peg nixt day, when he found that the same di'mond was sold for nearly twice as much as he had got for it. howiver, he had made a pretty considerable fortin; an' he's now the richest di'mond and gould merchant in the district." "a lucky fellow certainly," said martin. "but i must say i have no taste for such chance work; so i'm quite ready to start for the sea-coast whenever it suits the baron fagoni's convenience." while they were speaking they were attracted by voices outside the cottage, which sounded as if in altercation. in another minute the door burst open, and a man entered hurriedly, followed by the interpreter. "your overseer is impertinent!" exclaimed the man, who was a tall swarthy brazilian. "i wish to buy a horse or a good mule, and he won't let me have one. i am not a beggar; i offer to pay." the man spoke in portuguese, and barney replied in the same language. "you can have a horse _if you pay for it_." the brazilian replied by throwing a heavy bag of dollars on the table. "all right," said barney, turning to his interpreter and conversing with him in an undertone. "give him what he requires." so saying he bowed the brazilian out of the room, and returned to the enjoyment of his black pipe, which had been interrupted by the incident. "that man seems in a hurry," said martin. "so he is. my interpreter tells me that he is quite like one o' the blackguards that sometimes go about the mines doin' mischief, and he's in hot haste to be away. i should not wonder if the spalpeen has been stealin' gould or di'monds and wants to escape. but of course i've nothin' to do with that, unless i was sure of it; and i've a horse or two to sell, and he has money to pay for it; so he's welcome. he says he is makin' straight for the say-coast; and with your lave, martin, my boy, you and i will be doin' that same in a week after this, and say good-bye to the di'mond mines." chapter twenty five. new scenes and pleasant travelling. a new and agreeable sensation is a pleasant thing. it was on as bright an evening as ever shone upon brazil, and in as fair a scene as one could wish to behold, that martin rattler and his friend barney experienced a new sensation. on the wide campos, on the flower-bedecked and grassy plains, they each bestrode a fiery charger; and, in the exultation of health, and strength, and liberty, they swept over the green sward of the undulating campos, as light as the soft wind that fanned their bronzed cheeks, as gay in heart as the buzzing insects that hovered above the brilliant flowers. "oh, this is best of all!" shouted martin, turning his sparkling eyes to barney, as he reined up his steed after a gallop that caused its nostril to expand and its eye to dilate. "there's nothing like it! a fiery charger that can't and _won't_ tire, and a glorious sweep of plain like that! huzza! whoop!" and loosening the rein of his willing horse, away he went again in a wild headlong career. "och, boy, pull up, or ye'll kill the baste!" cried barney, who thundered along at martin's side enjoying to the full the spring of his powerful horse; for barney had spent the last farthing of his salary on the two best steeds the country could produce, being determined, as he said, to make the last overland voyage on clipper-built animals, which, he wisely concluded, would fetch a good price at the end of the journey. "pull up! d'ye hear? they can't stand goin' at that pace. back yer topsails, ye young rascal, or i'll board ye in a jiffy." "how can i pull up with _that_ before me!" cried martin, pointing to a wide ditch or gully that lay in front of them. "i must go over that first." "go over that!" cried barney, endeavouring to rein in his horse, and looking with an anxious expression at the chasm. "it's all very well for you to talk o' goin' over, ye feather; but fifteen stun--ah, then, _won't_ ye stop? bad luck to him, he's got the bit in his teeth! oh then, ye ugly baste, go, and my blissin' go with ye!" the leap was inevitable. martin went over like a deer. barney shut his eyes, seized the pommel of the saddle, and went at it like a thunder-bolt. in the excitement of the moment he shouted, in a stentorian voice, "clap on all sail! d'ye hear? stu'n sails and skyscrapers! kape her steady! hooray!" it was well for barney that he had seized the saddle. even as it was, he received a tremendous blow from the horse's head as it took the leap, and was thrown back on its haunches when it cleared the ditch, which it did nobly. "hallo! old boy, not hurt, i hope," said martin, suppressing his laughter as his comrade scrambled on to the saddle. "you travel about on the back of your horse at full gallop like a circus rider." "whist, darlint, i do belave he has damaged my faygur-head. what a nose i've got! sure i can see it mesilf without squintin'." "so you have, barney. it's a little swelled, but never mind. we must all learn by experience, you know. so come alone." "hould on, ye spalpeen, till i git my wind!" but martin was off again at full speed; and barney's horse, scorning to be left behind, took the bit again in its teeth and went--as he himself expressed it,--"screamin' before the wind." a new sensation is not always and necessarily an agreeable thing. martin and barney found it so on the evening of that same day, as they reclined (they could not sit) by the side of their fire on the campo under the shelter of one of the small trees which grew here and there at wide intervals on the plain. they had left the diamond mine early that morning, and their first day on horseback proved to them that there are shadows, as well as lights, in equestrian life. their only baggage was a single change of apparel and a small bag of diamonds,--the latter being the product of the mine during the baron fagoni's reign, and which that worthy was conveying faithfully to his employer. during the first part of the day they had ridden though a hilly and woody country, and towards evening they emerged upon one of the smaller campos, which occur here and there in the district. "martin," said barney, as he lay smoking his pipe, "'tis a pity that there's no pleasure in this world without _something_ crossgrained into it. my own feelin's is as if i had been lately passed through a stamping machine." "wrong, barney, as usual," said martin, who was busily engaged concluding supper with an orange. "if we had pleasures without discomforts, we wouldn't half enjoy them. we need lights and shadows in life--what are you grinning at barney?" "oh! nothin', only ye're a remarkable philosopher, when ye're in the vein." "'tis always in vain to talk philosophy to you, barney, so good night t'ye. oh, dear me, i wish i could sit down! but there's no alternative,--either bolt upright or quite flat." in quarter of an hour they both forgot pleasures and sorrows alike in sleep. next day the sun rose on the edge of the campo as it does out of the ocean, streaming across its grassy billows, and tipping the ridges as with ruddy gold. at first martin and barney did not enjoy the lovely scene, for they felt stiff and sore; but, after half an hour's ride, they began to recover; and when the sun rose in all its glory on the wide plain, the feelings of joyous bounding freedom that such scenes always engender obtained the mastery, and they coursed along in silent delight. the campo was hard, composed chiefly of a stiff red clay soil, and covered with short grass in most places; but here and there were rank bushes of long hairy grasses, around and amongst which grew a multitude of the most exquisitely beautiful flowerets and plants of elegant forms. wherever these flowers flourished very luxuriantly there were single trees of stunted growth and thick bark, which seldom rose above fifteen or twenty feet. besides these there were rich flowering myrtles, and here and there a grotesque cactus or two. under one of these trees they reined up after a ride of two hours, and picketing their horses, prepared breakfast. it was soon despatched, and then remounting, away they went once more over the beautiful plains. about mid-day, as they were hasting towards the shelter of a grove which appeared opportunely on the horizon, barney said suddenly-- "martin, lad, we're lost! we're out of our course, for sartin." "i've been thinking that for some time, barney," replied martin; "but you have your compass, and we can surely make the coast by dead reckoning--eh?" "true, lad, we can; but it'll cost us a dale o' tackin' to make up for lee-way. ah, good luck to ye! here's a friend'll help us." as he spoke a herd of wild cattle dashed out of the grove and scampered over the plain, followed by a herdsman on horseback. seeing that he was in eager pursuit of an animal which he wished to lasso, they followed him quietly and watched his movements. whirling the noose round his head, he threw it adroitly in such a manner that the bull put one of its legs within the coil. then he reined up suddenly, and the animal was thrown on its back. at the same moment the lasso broke, and the bull recovered its feet and continued its wild flight. "good day, friend," said barney, galloping towards the disappointed herdsman and addressing him in portuguese, "could you show us the road to rio? we've lost it intirely." the man pointed sulkily in the direction in which they were going, and, having mended his lasso, he wheeled about and galloped after the herd of cattle. "bad luck to yer manners!" said barney, as he gazed after him. "but what can ye expect from the poor critter? he niver larned better. come along, martin, we'll rest here a while." they were soon under the shelter of the trees, and having fastened their horses to one of them, they proceeded to search for water. while thus employed, barney shouted to his companion, "come here, lad; look here." there was something in the tone of the irishman's voice that startled martin, and he sprang hastily towards him. barney was standing with his arms crossed upon his chest and his head bowed forward, as he gazed with a solemn expression on the figure of a man at his feet. "is he ill?" inquired martin, stooping and lifting his hand. starting back as he dropped it, he exclaimed, "dead!" "ay, boy, he has gone to his last account. look at him again, martin. it was he who came to the mine a week ago to buy a horse, and now--." barney sighed as he stooped and turned the body over in order to ascertain whether he had been murdered; but there were no marks of violence to be seen. there was bread too in his wallet; so they could come to no other conclusion than that the unhappy man had been seized with fatal illness in the lonesome wood and died there. as they searched his clothes they found a small leathern bag, which, to their amazement was filled with gold-dust; and in the midst of the gold was another smaller bag containing several small diamonds. "ha!" exclaimed martin, "that explains his hurry. no doubt he had made off with these, and was anxious to avoid pursuit." "no doubt of it," said barney. "well, thief or no thief, we must give the poor cratur' dacent burial. there's not a scrap o' paper to tell who he is or where he came from,--a sure sign that he wasn't what he should ha' been. ah! martin, what will we not do for the sake o' money! and, after all, we can't keep it long. may the almighty niver let you or me set our hearts on it." they dug a shallow grave with their hands in a sandy spot where the soil was loose, in which they deposited the body of the unfortunate man; and then remounting their horses, rode away and left him in his lonely resting-place. for many days did martin and barney travel through the land on horseback, now galloping over open campos, anon threading their way through the forest, and sometimes toiling slowly up the mountain sides. the aspect of the country varied continually as they advanced, and the feelings of excessive hilarity with which they commenced the journey began to subside as they became accustomed to it. one evening they were toiling slowly up a steep range of hills, which had been the prospect in front of them the whole of that day. as they neared the summit of the range martin halted at a stream to drink, and barney advanced alone. suddenly martin was startled by a loud cry, and looking up he saw barney on his knees with his hands clasped before him! rushing up the hill, martin found his comrade with his face flushed and the tears coursing down his cheeks as he stared before him. "look at it martin, dear!" he cried, starting up and flinging his cap in the air, and shouting like a madman. "the say! my own native illiment! the beautiful ocean! och, darlint my blessing on ye! little did i think to see you more,--hooray!" barney sang and danced till he sank down on the grass exhausted; and, to say truth, martin felt much difficulty in restraining himself from doing likewise, for before him was spread out the bright ocean, gleaming in the light of the sinking sun, and calm and placid as a mirror. it was indeed a glorious sight to these two sailors, who had not seen the sea for nearly two years. it was like coming suddenly face to face--after a long absence--with an old and much-loved friend. although visible, the sea, however, was still a long way off from the serra dos orgos, on which they stood. but their steeds were good, and it was not long ere they were both rolling like dolphins in the beautiful bay of rio de janeiro. here barney delivered up the gold and diamonds to his employer, who paid him liberally for his services and entertained them both hospitably while they remained in the city. the bag of gold and diamonds, which had been found on the body of the dead man, they appropriated, as it was absolutely impossible to discover the rightful owner. barney's friend bought it of them at full price; and when they embarked, soon after, on board a homeward bound ship, each had four hundred pounds in his pocket! as they sailed out of the noble harbour martin sat on the poop gazing at the receding shore while thick-coming memories crowded on his brain. his imagination flew back to the day when he first landed on the coast, and escaped with his friend barney from the pirates,--to the hermit's cottage in the lonely valley, where he first made acquaintance with monkeys, iguanas, jaguars, armadillos, and all the wonderful, beautiful, and curious birds, beasts, and reptiles, plants, trees, and flowers, that live and flourish in that romantic country. once more, in fancy, he was sailing up the mighty amazon, shooting alligators on its banks, spearing fish in its waters, paddling through its curious gapo, and swinging in his hammock under its luxuriant forests. once again he was a prisoner among the wild indians, and he started convulsively as he thought of the terrible leap over the precipice into the stream that flowed into the heart of the earth. then he wandered in the lonely forest. suddenly the diamond mines were before him, and barney's jovial voice rang in his ears; and he replied to it with energy, for now he was bounding on a fiery steed over the grassy campos. with a deep sigh he awoke from his reverie to find himself surrounded by the great wide sea. chapter twenty six. the return. arthur jollyboy, esquire, of the old hulk, sat on the top of a tall three-legged stool in his own snug little office in the sea-port town of bilton, with his legs swinging to and fro; his socks displayed a considerable way above the tops of his gaiters; his hands thrust deep into his breeches pockets; his spectacles high on his bald forehead, and his eyes looking through the open letter that lay before him; through the desk underneath it; through the plank floor, cellars and foundations of the edifice; and through the entire world into the distant future beyond. "four thousand pair of socks," he murmured, pulling down his spectacles and consulting the open letter for the tenth time: "four thousand pair of socks, with the hitch, same as last bale, but a very little coarser in material." "four thousand pair! and who's to make them, i wonder. if poor mrs dorothy grumbit were here--ah! well, she's gone, so it can't be helped. four thousand!--dear me who _will_ make them. do _you_ know?" this question was addressed to his youngest clerk, who sat on the opposite side of the desk staring at mr jollyboy with that open impudence of expression peculiar to young puppy-dogs whose masters are unusually indulgent. "no, sir, i don't," said the clerk with a broad grin. before the perplexed merchant could come at any conclusion on this knotty subject the door opened and martin rattler entered the room, followed by his friend barney o'flannagan. "you've come to the wrong room, friends," said mr jollyboy with a benignant smile. "my principal clerk engages men and pays wages. his office is just opposite; first door in the passage." "we don't want to engage," said martin; "we wish to speak with you, sir." "oh, beg pardon!" cried mr jollyboy, leaping off the stool with surprising agility for a man of his years. "come in this way. pray be seated--eh! ah, surely i've seen you before, my good fellow?" "yis, sir, that ye have. i've sailed aboard your ships many a time. my name's barney o'flannagan, at yer sarvice." "ah! i recollect; and a good man you are, i've been told, barney; but i have lost sight of you for some years. been on a long voyage, i suppose?" "well, not 'xactly; but i've been on a long cruise, an' no mistake, in the woods o' brazil i wos wrecked on the coast there, in the firefly." "ah, to be sure. i remember. and your young messmate here, was he with you?" "yes, sir, i was," said martin, answering for himself; "and i had once the pleasure of your acquaintance. perhaps if you look steadily in my face you may--" "ah, then! don't try to bamboozle him. he might as well look at a bit o' mahogany as at your faygur-head. tell him at wance, martin, dear." "martin?" exclaimed the puzzled old gentleman, seizing the young sailor by the shoulders and gazing intently into his face. "martin! martin! surely not--yes! eh! martin rattler?" "ay that am i, dear mr jollyboy, safe and sound, and--" martin's speech was cut short in consequence of his being violently throttled by mr jollyboy, who flung his arms round his neck and staggered recklessly about the office with him! this was the great point which barney had expected; it was the climax to which he had been looking forward all the morning: and it did not come short of his anticipations; for mr jollyboy danced round martin and embraced him for at least ten minutes, asking him at the same time a shower of questions which he gave him no time to answer. in the excess of his delight barney smote his thigh with his broad hand so forcibly that it burst upon the startled clerk like a pistol-shot, and caused him to spring off his stool! "don't be afeared, young un," said barney, winking and poking the small clerk jocosely in the ribs with his thumb. "isn't it beautiful to see them? arrah, now! isn't it purty?" "keep your thumbs to yourself, you sea monster," said the small clerk, angrily, and laying his hand on the ruler. but barney minded him not, and continued to smite his thigh and rub his hands, while he performed a sort of gigantic war-dance round mr jollyboy and martin. in a few minutes the old gentleman subsided sufficiently to understand questions. "but, my aunt," said martin, anxiously; "you have said nothing about aunt dorothy. how is she? where is she? is she well?" to these questions mr jollyboy returned no answer, but sitting suddenly down on a chair, he covered his face with his hands. "she is not ill?" inquired martin in a husky voice, while his heart beat violently. "speak, mr jollyboy, is she--is she--" "no, she's not ill," returned the old gentleman; "but she's--" "she is dead!" said martin, in a tone so deep and sorrowful that the old gentleman started up. "no, no, not dead, my dear boy; i did not mean that. forgive my stupidity, martin. aunt dorothy is gone,--left the village a year ago; and i have never seen or heard of her since." terrible though this news was, martin felt a slight degree of relief to know that she was not dead;--at least there was reason to hope that she might be still alive. "but when did she go? and why? and where?" "she went about twelve months ago," replied mr jollyboy. "you see, martin, after she lost you she seemed to lose all hope and all spirit; and at last she gave up making socks for me, and did little but moan in her seat in the window and look out towards the sea. so i got a pleasant young girl to take care of her; and she did not want for any of the comforts of life. one day the little girl came to me here, having run all the way from the village, to say that mrs grumbit had packed up a bundle of clothes and gone off to liverpool by the coach. she took the opportunity of the girl's absence on some errand to escape; and we should never have known it, had not some boys of the village seen her get into the coach and tell the guard that she was going to make inquiries after martin. i instantly set out for liverpool; but long before i arrived the coach had discharged its passengers, and the coachman, not suspecting that anything was wrong, had taken no notice of her after arriving. from that day to this i have not ceased to advertise and make all possible inquiries, but without success." martin heard the narrative in silence, and when it was finished he sat a few minutes gazing vacantly before him, like one in a dream. then starting up suddenly, he wrung mr jollyboy's hand, "good-bye, my dear friend; good-bye. i shall go to liverpool. we shall meet again." "stay, martin, stay--" but martin had rushed from the room, followed by his faithful friend, and in less than half an hour they were in the village of ashford. the coach was to pass in twenty minutes, so, bidding barney engage two outside seats, he hastened round by the road towards the cottage. there it stood, quaint time-worn, and old-fashioned, as when he had last seen it--the little garden in which he had so often played, the bower in which, on fine weather, aunt dorothy used to sit, and the door-step on which the white kitten used to gambol. but the shutters were closed, and the door was locked, and there was an air of desolation and a deep silence brooding over the place, that sank more poignantly into martin's heart than if he had come and found every vestige of the home of his childhood swept away. it was like the body without the soul. the flowers, and stones, and well-known forms were there; but she who had given animation to the whole was gone. sitting down on the door-step, martin buried his face in his hands and wept. he was quickly aroused by the bugle of the approaching coach. springing up, he dashed the tears away and hurried towards the highroad. in a few minutes barney and he were seated on the top of the coach, and dashing, at the rate of ten miles an hour, along the road to liverpool. chapter twenty seven. the old garret. days, and weeks, and months, passed away, and martin had searched every nook and corner of the great sea-port without discovering his old aunt, or obtaining the slightest information regarding her. at first he and barney went about the search together, but after a time he sent his old companion forcibly away to visit his own relatives, who dwelt not far from bilton, at the same time promising that if he had any good news to tell he would immediately write and let him know. one morning, as martin was sitting beside the little fire in his lodging, a tap came to the door, and the servant girl told him that a policeman wished to see him. "show him in," said martin, who was not in the least surprised, for he had had much intercourse with these guardians of the public peace during the course of his unavailing search. "i think, sir," said the man on entering, "that we've got scent of an old woman wich is as like the one that you're arter as hanythink." martin rose in haste, "have you, my man? are you sure?" "'bout as sure as a man can be who never seed her. but it won't take you long to walk. you'd better come and see for yourself." without uttering another word, martin put on his hat, and followed the policeman. they passed through several streets and lanes, and at length came to one of the poorest districts of the city, not far-distant from the shipping. turning down a narrow alley, and crossing a low dirty-looking court, martin's guide stopped before a door, which he pushed open and mounted by a flight of rickety wooden stairs to a garret. he opened the door and entered. "there she is," said the man in a tone of pity, as he pointed to a corner of the apartment, "an' i'm afeer'd she's goin' fast." martin stepped towards a low truckle-bed on which lay the emaciated form of a woman covered with a scanty and ragged quilt. the corner of it was drawn across her face, and so gentle was her breathing that it seemed as if she were already dead. martin removed the covering, and one glance at that gentle, careworn countenance sufficed to convince him that his old aunt lay before him! his first impulse was to seize her in his strong arms, but another look at the frail and attenuated form caused him to shrink back in fear. "leave me," he said, rising hastily and slipping half a sovereign into the policeman's hand; "this is she. i wish to be alone with her." the man touched his hat and retired, closing the door behind him; while martin, sitting down on the bed, took one of his aunt's thin hands in his. the action was tenderly performed, but it awoke her. for the first time it flashed across martin's mind that the sudden joy at seeing him might be too much for one so feeble as aunt dorothy seemed to be. he turned his back hastily to the light and with a violent effort suppressed his feelings while he asked how she did. "well, very well," said aunt dorothy, in a faint voice. "are you the missionary that was here long ago? oh! i've been longing for you. why did you not come to read to me oftener about jesus? but i have had him here although you did not come. he has been saying `come unto me, ye that labour and are heavy laden, and i will give you rest.' yes, i have found rest in him." she ceased and seemed to fall asleep again; but in a few seconds she opened her eyes and said, "martin, too, has been to see me; but he does not come so often now. the darling boy used always to come to me in my dreams. but he never brings me food. why does no one ever bring me food? i am hungry." "should you like food now, if i brought it to you?" said martin in a low voice. "yes, yes; bring me food,--i am dying." martin released her hand and glided gently out of the room. in a few minutes he returned with a can of warm soup and a roll; of which aunt dorothy partook with an avidity that showed she had been in urgent need. immediately after, she went to sleep; and martin sat upon the bed holding her hand in both of his till she awoke, which she did in an hour after, and again ate a little food. while she was thus engaged the door opened and a young man entered, who stated that he was a doctor, and had been sent there by a policeman. "there is no hope," he said in a whisper, after feeling her pulse; "the system is quite exhausted." "doctor," whispered martin, seizing the young man by the arm, "can nothing save her? i have money, and can command _anything_ that may do her good." the doctor shook his head. "you may give her a little wine. it will strengthen her for a time, but i fear there is no hope. i will send in a bottle if you wish it." martin gave him the requisite sum, and in a few minutes the wine was brought up by a boy. the effect of the wine was wonderful. aunt dorothy's eyes sparkled as they used to do in days of old, and she spoke with unwonted energy. "you are kind to me, young man," she said, looking earnestly into martin's face, which, however, he kept carefully in shadow. "may our lord reward you." "would you like me to talk to you of your nephew?" said martin; "i have seen him abroad." "seen my boy! is he not dead?" "no; he is alive, and in this country, too." aunt dorothy turned pale, but did not reply for a few minutes, during which she grasped his hand convulsively. "turn your face to the light," she said faintly. martin obeyed, and bending over her whispered, "he is here; i am martin, my dear, dear aunt--" no expression of surprise escaped from aunt dorothy as she folded her arms round his neck, and pressed his head upon her bosom. his hot tears fell upon her neck while she held him, but she spoke not. it was evident that, as the strength infused by the wine abated, her faculties became confused. at length she whispered,--"it is good of you to come to see me, darling boy. you have often come to me in my dreams. but do not leave me so soon; stay a very little longer." "this is no dream, dearest aunt," whispered martin, while his tears flowed faster; "i am really here." "so you always say, my darling child; but you always go away and leave me. this is a dream, no doubt like all the rest; but oh, it seems very very real! you never _wept_ before, although you often smiled. surely this is the best and brightest dream i ever had!" continuing to murmur his name while she clasped him tightly to her bosom, aunt dorothy gently fell asleep. chapter twenty eight. conclusion. aunt dorothy grumbit did _not_ die! her gentle spirit had nearly fled; but martin's return and martin's tender nursing brought her round, and she gradually regained all her former strength and vigour. yes, to the unutterable joy of martin, to the inexpressible delight of mr arthur jollyboy and barney, and to the surprise and complete discomfiture of the young doctor who shook his head and said, "there is no hope," aunt dorothy grumbit recovered, and was brought back in health and in triumph to her old cottage at ashford. moreover, she was arrayed again in the old bed-curtain chintz with the flowers as big as saucers, and the old high-crowned cap. a white kitten was got, too, so like the one that used to be martin's playmate, that no one could discover a hair of difference. so remarkable was this, that martin made inquiry, and found that it was actually the grand-daughter of the old kitten, which was still alive and well; so he brought it back too, and formally installed it in the cottage along with its grandchild. there was a great house-warming, on the night of the day, in which aunt dorothy grumbit was brought back. mr arthur jollyboy was there--of course; and the vicar was there; and the pursy doctor who used to call martin "a scamp;" and the schoolmaster; and last--though not least barney o'flannagan was there. and they all had tea, during which dear aunt dorothy smiled sweetly on everybody and said nothing--and, indeed, did nothing, except that once or twice she put additional sugar and cream into martin's cup when he was not looking, and stroked one of his hands continually. after tea martin related his adventures in brazil, and barney helped him; and these two talked more that night than any one could have believed it possible for human beings to do, without the aid of steam lungs! and the doctor listened, and the vicar and schoolmaster questioned, and old mr jollyboy roared and laughed till he became purple in the face--particularly at the sallies of barney. as for old aunt dorothy grumbit, she listened when martin spoke. when martin was silent she became stone deaf! in the course of time mr jollyboy made martin his head clerk; and then, becoming impatient, he made him his partner off-hand. then he made barney o'flannagan an overseer in the warehouses; and when the duties of the day were over, the versatile irishman became his confidential servant and went to sup and sleep at the old hulk; which, he used to remark, was quite a natural and proper and decidedly comfortable place to come to an anchor in. martin became the stay and comfort of his aunt in her old age; and the joy which he was the means of giving to her heart was like a deep and placid river which never ceases to flow. ah! there is a rich blessing in store for those who tenderly nurse and comfort the aged, when called upon to do so; and assuredly there is a sharp thorn prepared for those who neglect this sacred duty. martin read the bible to her night and morning; and she did nothing but watch for him at the window while he was out. as martin afterwards became an active member of the benevolent societies, with which his partner was connected, he learned from sweet experience that, "it is more blessed to give than to receive," and that, "it is _better_ to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting." dear young reader, do not imagine that we plead in favour of moroseness or gloom. laugh if you will, and feast if you will, and remember, too, that, "a merry heart is a continual feast;" but we pray you not to forget that god himself has said that a visit to the house of mourning is _better_ than a visit to the house of feasting: and, strange to say, it is productive of greater joy; for to do good is better than to get good, as surely as sympathy is better than selfishness. martin visited the poor and read the bible to them; and in watering others he was himself watered, for he found the "pearl of great price," even jesus christ the saviour of the world. business prospered in the hands of martin rattler, too, and he became a man of substance. naturally, too, he became a man of great importance in the town of bilton. the quantity of work that martin and mr jollyboy and barney used to get through was quite marvellous; and the number of engagements they had during the course of a day was quite bewildering. in the existence of all men, who are not born to unmitigated misery, there are times and seasons of peculiar enjoyment. the happiest hour of all the twenty-four to martin rattler was the hour of seven in the evening; for then it was that he found himself seated before the blazing fire in the parlour of the old hulk, to which aunt dorothy grumbit had consented to be removed, and in which she was now a fixture. then it was that old mr jollyboy beamed with benevolence, until the old lady sometimes thought the fire was going to melt him; then it was that the tea-kettle sang on the hob like a canary; and then it was that barney bustled about the room preparing the evening meal, and talking all the time with the most perfect freedom to any one who chose to listen to him. yes, seven p.m. was martin's great hour, and aunt dorothy's great hour, and old mr jollyboy's great hour, and barney's too; for each knew that the labours of the day were done, and that the front door was locked for the night, and that a great talk was brewing. they had a tremendous talk every night, sometimes on one subject, sometimes on another; but the subject of all others that they talked oftenest about was their travels. and many a time and oft, when the winter storms howled round the old hulk, barney was invited to draw in his chair, and martin and he plunged again vigorously into the great old forests of south america, and spoke so feelingly about them that aunt dorothy and mr jollyboy almost fancied themselves transported into the midst of tropical scenes, and felt as if they were surrounded by parrots, and monkeys, and jaguars, and alligators, and anacondas, and all the wonderful birds, beasts, reptiles, and fishes, that inhabit the woods and waters of brazil. the end. note: text in the original formatted in italic is maked as _italic_. text in the original formatted in bold is marked as =bold=. the german element in brazil colonies and dialect by benjamin franklin schappelle, ph.d. americana germanica number americana germanica press philadelphia copyright[tn ] by benjamin franklin schappelle. * * * * * americana germanica monographs devoted to the comparative study of the literary, linguistic and other cultural relations of germany and america editor marion dexter learned university of pennsylvania xxvi. the german element in brazil colonies and dialect _(see list at the end of the book)_ * * * * * respectfully dedicated to joseph g. rosengarten, ll.d. table of contents lied der deutschbrasilianer preface chapter i. the colonies. history and location. the first settlers colonization in individual states. introductory remarks bahia minas geraes espirito santo rio de janeiro são paulo paraná santa catharina rio grande do sul the total number of germans in brazil chapter ii. the brazilian german dialect. underlying basis of the dialect brazilian german word forms surnames baptismal names terms of family relationship in titles examples from brazilian german documents. the written language the spoken language introduction to glossary glossary appendix. the brazilian german press almanacs newspapers bibliography lied der deutschbrasilianer. rein wie hoch am himmelsbogen unsrer heimat sterne stehn. mächtig, wie die meereswogen gegen unsre küste gehn, soll der heimat sang uns dringen aus der treuen brust hervor, soll brasiliens preis erklingen aus dem deutschen männerchor. fülle liegt auf deinen fluren, gottgesegnet vaterland; leuchtend zeigst du noch die spuren von des schöpfers meisterhand: in des mittags blauen fernen wo die goldne sonnenpracht, mit des himmels schönsten sternen schmükt sie funkelnd deine nacht. deine fruchtgetränkte erde gibt uns mut zu frischem tun, gibt uns müsse, um am herde sonder sorge auszuruhn. aus des bodens scholle ziehen wir des lebens bestes mark, aus des bodens kraft erblühen die geschlechter frei und stark. lasst uns schaffen mit der stärke dessen, der die heimat liebt, lasst uns beten, dass zum werke gott uns das gedeihen gibt! ewig heilig, ewig teuer bleibest du dem deutschen lied, heimatland, in dem das feuer unsres herdes gastlich glüht. o. meyer in _uhle's kalender_ for . preface. the primary purpose of this work is to give an idea of the dialect which has been developed by the german-speaking element in brazil. as comparatively little is known by the english-speaking public concerning the history, location and relative importance of the german element in brazil (judging from extant english publications referring to the subject), the main part of the work has been preceded by a chapter dealing with these particular phases. this first chapter is also intended to prepare the reader to form a reasonable estimate of the comparative importance and extent of the dialect under discussion in the main part of the work. in connection with this study the author is particularly indebted to the well-known authority on german american cultural relations and conditions, professor marion dexter learned, of the university of pennsylvania. it was at his suggestion and under his constant help and advice that the plan was carried out. while on a trip of investigation in brazil the writer was furnished important information and material by friedrich sommer, _direktor_ of the "banco allemão transatlantico" of são paulo; henrique bamberg of são paulo; otto specht, _chefe da secção de publicidade e bibliotheca_ of the "secretaria da agricultura" of são paulo; johann potucek, austro-hungarian consul in curityba; j.b. hafkemeyer, s.j., of the "collegio anchieta," porto alegre; g.a. büchler of the "neue schule," blumenau; cleto espey, o.f.m., of the "collegio st. antonio," blumenau; e. bloch, _engenheiro chefe da estrada de ferro santa catharina,_ itajahy; nikolaus dechent, _direktor_ of the "deutsche schule," joinville; petrus sinzig, o.f.m., of the "convento dos franciscanos," petropolis; edmondo hees, editor of the "nachrichten," petropolis; pastor fr. l. hoepffner of the "deutsch-evangelische gemeinde," rio de janeiro; w. münzenthaler, _kaiserlicher general-konsul,_ rio de janeiro; and heinrich lotz, _kgl. bezirksgeologe a.d._, berlin. special thanks are also due to professor d.b. shumway, of the university of pennsylvania, for valuable suggestions and assistance in the final arrangement of the manuscript. the above-mentioned persons are in no wise responsible for any errors which may appear in the text. =chapter i.= the colonies. history and location. the first settlers. the first reference to german settlers in brazil we have from the pen of hans stade of homberg in hessen. stade made two trips to brazil; one in and one in . in the latter instance he was shipwrecked but succeeded in landing safely near the present port of santos in the state of são paulo. as he was a skilled artillerist the portuguese made him commander of the fort bertioga, the ruins of which are an interesting landmark to this day. later stade spent several most trying years as the captive of a cannibalistic tribe. after his return to germany, stade published an account of his experiences. the first edition entitled "_wahrhafftige historia unnd beschreibung einer landschafft der wilden, nacketen, grimmigen, menschfresser leuthen in der newen welt america gelegen, ..._" appeared at marburg in .[ ] in this work stade refers to two of his fellow-countrymen located in brazil; the one heliodorus eoban of hessen, who had charge of a sugar-refinery on the island of são vicente (near santos); the other peter rösel, who was located in rio de janeiro as the representative for a business firm of antdorff.[ ] next we come to manuel beckmann, the son of a german who had located in lisbon. he is known in history as manoel bequimão and was the leader in the maranhão revolution of . this uprising, altho it came to grief, may be regarded as the first of a long series of protests against the home government resulting in the declaration of the independence of brazil on the field at ypiranga, september d, . beckmann died a martyr's death at rio on november , . his younger brother, thomas beckmann, who had also taken part in the revolution, was acquitted.[ ] in the th-century there was another important german figure in brazilian history; that of lieutenant-general johann heinrich von böhm. it was von böhm who, at the head of portuguese troops, recaptured the city of rio grande in rio grande do sul from the spaniards in .[ ] von böhm was assisted by two other german officers, i.e., the count of lippe and marschal funk. these three characters were in a sense the forerunners of the german battalions brought into brazil by the first empire in the early part of the following century. the first colonization of importance by germans in brazil did not take place until the early part of the th century. beginning with that century there was a steady stream of non-portuguese settlers into the country, and of these the germans formed an important part. colonization in individual states. _introductory remarks._ the following is a résumé of the german colonies[ ] in brazil and a brief introduction to their history. for the sake of convenience, the colonies have been divided: first; according to the states in which they are located. second; according to the date of founding. third; according to the kind of colony administratively at the time of founding. as to this they fall under three categories: a) private colonies, i.e., founded by a private individual or corporation. b) provincial colonies, i.e., founded by a particular state or former province. c) state colonies, i.e., founded by the central government, whether during the time of the empire[ ] or since the formation of the republic. the word _german_ as applied to colonists refers only to natives of germany who became naturalized citizens of brazil and to brazilians of german extraction. colonies located within the confines of other german colonies (_e.g.,_ hansa, são bento _etc._) are not listed. _direct immigration_ signifies immigration from europe. _indirect immigration_ signifies immigration from a south american country bordering on brazil; immigration from another brazilian state; or from another colony within the same state. numerical statistics concerning individual colonies have been avoided except in a few cases where they are of sufficient comparative importance to be noted in a work of this scope. all the colonies coming in consideration (excepting some of those founded since ) have been "emancipated," _i.e.,_ they no longer receive special aid from, the government and their special colonial directorates have been abolished. the states of brazil which are important so far as german colonization is concerned are bahia, minas geraes, espirito santo, rio de janeiro (federal district), são paulo, paraná, santa catharina and rio grande do sul.[ ] this is the geographical order from north to south and the one according to which they will be taken up. bahia. in this state is located the first german colony founded in brazil. it is =leopoldina=, started as a private undertaking by busch, reycke and freireiss in .[ ] =frankenthal=, another private colony, was founded in by peter weyll and saueracker.[ ] of all the states mentioned, bahia is the least important so far as german colonization is concerned. this is largely due to the fact that its climate is too tropical to favor such colonization oft an extended scale. minas geraes. the private colony =theophilo ottoni=,[ ] in the north-eastern part of the state was founded by a german stock-company in . recent state colonies where germans form a considerable part of the population are =nova baden, francisco salles, itajubá, joão pinheiro, constança, vargem grande,= and =rodrigo sylva=.[ ] germans form a considerable part of the population of the capital of the state (bello horizonte) and of the important city of juiz da fora. espirito santo. the state colony =santa izabel= was founded in . the first settlers were composed chiefly of rhenish prussians. =santa leopoldina=, another state colony, was founded in . a suggestion as to the origin of the first settlers is offered by the names of the different districts into which the colony was first divided; _viz._; schweiz, sachsen, pommern, rheinland, tirol and holland. the two above-mentioned are the most northern of the important german colonies in brazil to-day. rio de janeiro (federal district). =nova friburgo=, the oldest state colony in brazil, was founded in . the first settlers were swiss, but since germans immediately followed them and formed the larger part of the subsequent influx, nova friburgo is properly classed as a german colony. =petropolis= was made a state colony in . in reality it had its origin as a german colony in . the first settlers were german emigrants originally bound not for brazil but for sydney, australia. on account of the bad treatment they received on the french sailing vessel "justine" they revolted and compelled the captain to land them at rio de janeiro on december d, . here the brazilian imperial government assisted them and at the suggestion of major julius friedrich koehler[ ] gave them employment on the construction of the serra road between estrella, located a short distance above rio, and parahyba do sul, located near the border between the federal district and minas geraes. they formed their settlement at what later became petropolis. on account of the satisfaction which the government found in these immigrants it turned the settlement into a state colony in , as above mentioned. as in the case of santa leopolidina, the origin of individual groups of colonists to petropolis is indicated by the names of some of the sections into which the colony was divided, _viz.,_ bingen, ingelheim, moselthal, nassau, westphalen, unteres-rheinthal, mittleres-rheinthal, simmern, castellaunerthal, untere pfalz, obere pfalz, oberes rheinthal, wöstädterthal, schweizerthal, wormserthal, darmstädterthal, etc. since there has been but little german immigration into the petropolis colony. on the other hand, this particular colony has been a rich source for indirect german immigration into the more southern states. among the recent state colonies of rio de janeiro that of =visconde de mauá= is largely populated by germans.[ ] sÃo paulo. the oldest german settlements in the state are the provincial colonies founded in . on november th of that year the first levy of settlers, all south germans, landed at santos. these were apportioned into two colonies; one located at _santo amaro_ and the other between penha and nossa senhora dos garulhos. the provincial colony of =quilombo=, located between itapecerica and contia, was founded in .[ ] in the private colonies of =ybicaba= and =angelica= were founded by the senador vergueiro. they were put on the basis of _meiação_,[ ] the later abuse of which, by others than vergueiro, paved the way for the famous heydt rescript[ ] of november d, . in the following more recently established provincial colonies the population is largely made up of german settlers: =campos salles=, founded in ; =jorge tibiriça=, founded in ; =nova europa=, founded in ; and =bandeirantes=, founded in . in addition to these, the provincial colonies of =monção= and =pariquera assú= also contain important quotas of germans. in the state of são paulo the germans form to-day an urban rather than a rural population. they are very strongly represented in são paulo (the capital), campinas and santos. the following towns and their vicinities are also important centers of german population: riberão pires, são bernardo, rocinha, vallinhos, helvetia, nova friburgo, salto de ytú, sorocaba, botucatú, riberão preto, são joão da bôa vista, villa americana, pires, araras, leme, rio claro, são carlos do pinhal, santa rita do passo quatro, santa cruz das palmeiras, brotas, dous corregos, jahú, villa raffard, piracicaba, and jacarehy.[ ] excepting the older colonies first mentioned, the german element in são paulo is largely made up as the result of indirect immigration; in the early years from the petropolis district, and later from the more southern states and from argentine. paranÁ. the state colony of =rio negro= was founded in [ ] while this section of brazil was still within the limits of são paulo.[ ] shortly after its founding the colony was increased by the location of members of the mustered-out german legion of the imperial army.[ ] subsequently many settlers from the são bento district in santa catharina moved over to this colony. the following provincial colonies are settled largely by germans or german-speaking austrians: =jesuino marcondes, ivahy, iraty,= all founded in ; =itapará= and =tayó=, both founded in ; and =vera guarany=, founded in .[ ] by far the most important center for germans in the state is the capital, curityba. there are some , german-speaking residents in this city. in addition, a large number are located in the important cities of lapa, ponta grossa, porto da união and castro.[ ] a large part of the german element in paraná is due to indirect immigration from santa catharina. santa catharina. =são pedro de alcantara=, a state colony, was founded in .[ ] its first settlers came mainly from the rhine district. =itajahy=[ ] and =santa izabel=, two other state colonies were founded in and respectively. =blumenau=, a private colony (originally), was founded in by dr. hermann blumenau.[ ] the first settlers were mainly natives of pomerania and mecklenburg. blumenau is the most widely known (largely because of its german name) and one of the most important german colonies in brazil to-day. according to carvalho "blumenau constitue dans l'amérique du sud le type le plus parfait de la colonisation européenne."[ ] the area of the "municipio"[ ] covers , square kilometers and is populated by about , inhabitants, the great majority of whom are of german descent.[ ] the "stadtplatz"[ ] is composed mainly of one street - / kilometers in length (including altona) and is most beautifully situated on the right bank of the river itajahy-assú. it contains about , inhabitants, nearly all of whom are germans. =dona francisca= was founded in as a private colony by the "hamburger kolonisationsverein von ." it comprises the territory given as a marriage dot by dom pedro ii. to his sister, dona francisca, at the time of her marriage to the prince of joinville of the french house of orleans. the "stadtplatz" of the colony was named joinville in honor of the prince. dona francisca was founded under favorable circumstances at a time when many germans, including members of the "upper classes" were leaving the fatherland on account of the general political discontent during the latter part of the forties of the past century. this fact is reflected in the german language as spoken in joinville to-day. it is perhaps more free from dialect than in any other german colony in brazil. the general cultural status of the inhabitants of germanic origin is relatively high. the entire colony (municipio) of dona francisca contains more than , inhabitants; the "stadtplatz" about , . in both, the inhabitants of germanic origin form the great majority. the colony of =brusque=[ ] was founded in . its early colonists were composed largely of former inhabitants of the rheinland, westphalia, oldenburg and baden. next to blumenau and dona francisca, brusque is to-day the most important german colony in santa catharina. in the territory not included in the "municipios" mentioned above, the larger part of the inhabitants of the following centers are of german descent: angelina and santa thereza, both founded in ; therezopolis, founded in ; palhoça, braço do norte and pedras grandes. important numbers of germans are located along the following rivers of santa catharina: rio itajahy do sul; rio das tijucas; rio braço do norte; and rio capivary.[ ] in point of numbers, santa catharina is next to the most important state in brazil so far as german colonization is concerned. rio grande do sul. =são leopoldo=, a state colony, was founded in . the first settlers came from the hunsrück section. to-day its population is estimated at more than , , mostly of german descent.[ ] we may designate são leopoldo as the center of the "deutschbrasilianerthum" of rio grande do sul. the state colonies of =tres forquilhas= and =são pedro de alcantara das torres= were founded in . the former was settled by german protestants, the latter by german catholics. =santa cruz=, a state colony, was founded in . its first settlers were mainly from pomerania and the rheinland. next in order there followed an important period of private colonization. as a result of this we have =rincão d'el rei=, founded in by dr. israel r. barcellos; =mundo novo=, founded in by tristão josé monteiro; =conventos=, founded in by baptista f. pereira e cie.; =estrella=, founded in by santos pinto; =mariante=, founded in ; and =maratá= founded in by andreas kochenborger and pedro schreiner. in the year two provincial colonies were founded, i.e., =santo angelo= and =nova petropolis=. the year marked the second period of private colonization. in that year =são lourenço= was founded by jakob rheingantz. the first settlers of this colony were pomeranians and natives of the rheinland. in the same year =teutonia= was founded by a group of capitalists of porto alegre.[ ] the last period of strictly provincial colonization is marked by the founding of =monte alverne= in and of =são feliciano= in . in the most recent period a number of colonies supported by both the state and central governments have been founded. of these the following have been settled largely by germans; =guarany=, founded in ; =ijuhy=,[ ] founded in ; and =erechim=, founded in .[ ] in addition, dr. hermann meyer's private colonies of =xingú= and =neu württemberg= were founded in this period; the former in and the latter in . the german element is very strongly represented in the important cities of porto alegre and pelotas as well as in the "municipios" of são joão de montenegro, são sebastião do cahy (now includes nova petropolis), venancio ayres, lageado, taquara, cruz alta and palmeiro. rio grande do sul has a much larger population of german descent than any other state in brazil. the main reason why so many germans settled in this state we may attribute to the climatic conditions which are here more favorable to germanic peoples than in any other section of the country. an estimate as to the total number of germans in brazil. it is impossible to make an exact statement as to the total number of germans in the country. the reasons for this are not far to seek. the fact that an accurate census for brazil does not exist is not surprising when we consider the enormous expanse of territory.[ ] the greater part of this is but sparsely settled and largely covered with primeval forests. official statistics, where they do exist are apt to have been carelessly compiled and often are entirely untrustworthy, "paciencia," has been the watchword here as well as throughout all other walks of life in brazil. if we restrict ourselves to estimate, among the total of brazilian citizens, those of any particular european origin, the difficulty increases. here the census reports offer practically no help because all persons are listed simply as brazilians, no reference being made as to their origin. the primary sources in making up the estimates are furnished by the immigration reports as they are found in the "ministerio da agricultura" in rio and the "secretaria da agricultura" of several individual states. even here the statistics are inadequate for our purpose. as a rule only such colonists as came in third class on ships from europe are listed.[ ] in addition, it is impossible to determine how many colonists came by land (indirect immigration) from adjoining south american countries such, as uruguay, paraguay or argentine. the secondary sources, and the ones which in this instance are most valuable, are embodied in the estimates of former colonial directors and other officials, as well as private persons having first hand knowledge concerning the different european elements in brazil. the official data offered by the bureau of statistics of the "ministerio da agricultura" in rio concerning immigration directly from europe begins with the year . that concerning immigration from germany in particular begins with . official figures are available as to the number of immigrants from germany from that date to the present excepting the years - inclusive, , , , , , and . the total is , up to the end of the year .[ ] in order to determine the approximate numerical value of the german element in the population of brazil, many estimates worthy of consideration have been compared. the estimates which in the opinion of the writer have the strongest claim to accuracy, are listed below. as will be seen, those determined upon by friedrich sommer, _direktor_ of the "banco allemão transatlantico" of são paulo are largely followed. this authority has for years been making a careful study of the subject and consequently his conclusions bear particular weight. taking up the states in the order as previously, we have: bahia. no reliable estimates except as contained below in "northern and central states." minas geraes............... , . sommer. espirito santo............. , . ludwig[ ] rio (fed. dist.)........... , . sommer. são paulo.................. , . ibid. paraná .................... , . ibid. santa catharina............ , . müller von königswinter rio grande do sul.......... , . ibid. northern and central states (including bahia)........ , . sommer. ________ total...................... , . making a fairly liberal allowance for underestimates, we may regard the number , as representing the total number of citizens of german descent in brazil to-day.[ ] footnotes: [footnote : _v._ tootal, p. xcv.] [footnote : _v._ klüpfel, pp. and .] [footnote : _cf._ sommer: "manoel beckmann." _german american annals._ new series. vol. , nos. and , , pp. - . also pereira da silva: _quadros_.... p. .] [footnote : _v._ ludwig, p. .] [footnote : it is emphasized that only colonies (state, provincial, or private) in which the german element forms an important part of the population are noted.] [footnote : these are commonly designated as "imperial colonies."] [footnote : a comparatively very small number of germans are located in the northern and western states of brazil. they primarily follow business or professional careers and can hardly be classed as settlers. consequently they do not come in consideration in this work.] [footnote : _cf._ sellin, _das kaiserreich brasilien_, vol. ii, p. .] [footnote : ibid.] [footnote : formerly called "philadelphia."] [footnote : _cf._ report of pedro rache, _inspector do serviço de povoamento_, in _relatorio._] [footnote : koehler was born in mainz in . at the age of he went to brazil and soon became a naturalized citizen of the country. he entered the government service and was promoted to the rank of major in the engineering corps in . died in petropolis in .] [footnote : _cf._ report of the inspector antonio ribeiro de castro sobrinho in _relatorio._] [footnote : _v._ marcondes de souza: _o estado de são paulo_, p. . _cf._ statement by ernst heinke in _jahrbuch, erstes_ ..., p. .] [footnote : i.e., lease of a section of land for the return of one-half of the yearly products.] [footnote : a prussian ministerial decree (also adopted by other german states) forbidding the emigration of german citizens to brazil. in it was revoked for the three most southern states of brazil, i.e., rio grande do sul, santa catharina and paraná.] [footnote : _cf._ statements by c.f. scheler in _jahrbuch, erstes_ ..., p. ff.] [footnote : in according to grossi, p. .] [footnote : paraná was separated from são paulo in .] [footnote : _v._ sellin, _das kaiserreich brasilien_, vol. ii, p. .] [footnote : _cf._ report of the inspector manoel f. ferreira correia in _relatorio._] [footnote : information furnished by johann potucek, austro-hungarian consul in curityba.] [footnote : this is commonly referred to as the first colony in santa catharina. however, grossi (p. ) refers to a _colonia alemão o conselheiro pedreira_ (state colony) founded in .] [footnote : lacmann (p. ) states that _gross itajahy_ was founded in .] [footnote : born at hasselfelde in braunschweig. specialized in pharmacy. in came to brazil and laid out plans for a colony. from to he was primarily occupied in directing the colony which bears his name. this colony was emancipated in , but dr. blumenau remained on the scene of his former activities until , when he returned to germany. died .] [footnote : _v. le brésil meridional,_ p. .] [footnote : the term "municipio" denotes a city or town together with the surrounding districts coming under the same jurisdiction; frequently (as used in this work) an emancipated colony.] [footnote : according to census of and calculations to date (september, ) in the archives at blumenau.] [footnote : the term "stadtplatz" as used by the colonists designates the seat or governmental center of a particular colony. portuguese "sede."] [footnote : so named in honor of the president of the state at the time, dr. araujo brusque.] [footnote : information furnished by e. bloch, _engenheiro chefe da estrada de ferro santa catharina._] [footnote : grossi, p. .] [footnote : _cf._ ludwig, p. .] [footnote : a particularly strong current of german settlers has in recent years been moving into ijuhy, mostly by indirect immigration.] [footnote : _cf._ report of the inspector c. lila da silveira in _relatorio_.] [footnote : about equal to that of the united states without the colonies and alaska, but with the state of texas doubled.] [footnote : the study of emigration reports in european archives does not help us much because by no means did all persons listed as emigrants for brazil finally arrive in the latter country.] [footnote : in order to enable the reader to put a correct valuation on the popular bugaboo, the "perigo allemão" (german peril), the following facts are noted by way of comparison: according to the statistics above referred to, the german immigrants occupy fourth place in point of numbers for the period - , inclusive. they are superseded by: a) italians. first mentioned in the records . total to .................................... total to and including ...................... , , b) portuguese. first noted in . total to and including ...................... , c) spaniards. first noted . total to .................................... total to and including ...................... , ] [footnote : dr. ernst wagemann, of the kolonialinstitut, hamburg, recently estimated the german population of espirito santo at , - , , according to statements by w. münzenthaler, german consular-general in rio.] [footnote : the above estimates refer to conditions at the end of . the estimate for the total population of the country for that year was , , .] =chapter ii.= the brazilian german dialect. the underlying basis and reasons for the formation of the dialect. as may be inferred from chapter i, the german immigration into brazil antedating the nineteenth century was quite insignificant. beginning with the early years of that century, however, there was a steady current of new settlers from the german-speaking sections of europe into the southern part of the country. the people who made up this current settled, particularly during the early years, in small, widely separated colonial nuclei where they found themselves more or less thoroughly cut off from the outside world and its influences. it is not surprising, therefore, to find that these people have developed a new dialect which we may call "brazilian german." the germanic settlers from europe who had come to brazil found themselves located in surroundings radically different from the ones to which they had been accustomed in the land of their nativity. physically they had to adapt themselves to a new climate. from the moment of their arrival on the parcel of land allotted to them they were in contact with many objects for which their mother tongue offered no designation. the animals, plants, insects and even the agricultural implements in the new home land had, to a large extent, names for which the german language offered no equivalent. as a result, many non-germanic words had to be immediately adopted. in reference to the older colonies, the german-speaking immigrants from any particular section of germany, switzerland or austria would more or less settle in a particular section of brazil. thus we have petropolis in rio de janeiro settled by former inhabitants of the coblenz district and blumenau in santa catharina settled largely by pomeranians. in a general way it may be stated that the older colonies were in this respect relatively homogenious, while those founded since the middle of the past century drew their settlers to a larger extent from different german-speaking sections of europe. the settlers, largely drawn from the agricultural class, naturally brought with them from europe a variety of german dialects. these were more or less preserved depending on the relative isolation of the colonies. in cases where a considerable and constant influx of settlers either by direct or indirect immigration was kept up after the first years of the history of any particular colony the original dialect largely gave way to a modified form of high german, due primarily to the normalizing influence of the german school and church. such is the case in the "stadtplätze"[ ] of dona francisca, blumenau, santa cruz and são lourenço. the preceding statements are intended to present, as it were, the background or basis on which the new dialect was developed. we now come to the most potent influence in the formation of that dialect. it is the brazilian portuguese, a language which has no connection with the germanic group. in this point, therefore, our case differs radically from that of the student of the german dialects which have been developed in north america. the degree of linguistic influence exerted by the brazilian portuguese on the high german or its various dialects as spoken by the immigrants varies again according to the relative isolation of the settlements. we have degrees ranging from that of the old settlements in the santo amaro district of são paulo,[ ] where the german language has practically in its entirety given way to the brazilian portuguese, to that of some of the sections of the "municipios"[ ] of blumenau in santa catharina and são leopoldo in rio grande do sul where a modified german has not only held its own among the inhabitants of german extraction, but has also become the language of parts of the luso-brazilian[ ] and negro elements as well.[ ] about half way between these two extremes we might range the case of petropolis in rio de janeiro. brazilian german word forms. the following general principles are observed in connection with the dialect which has been developed by the german element in brazil. nouns form by far the greatest number of words taken over, followed next in order by verbs, exclamatory words and phrases, adjectives and adverbs. the last two appear relatively rarely. observations on words from the brazilian portuguese. i. nouns. a. masculines. ) in the case of masculines the vowel ending is as a rule dropped, e.g., _brazilian_ _brazilian_ _portuguese._ _german._ _english._ abatimento... abatiment... discount. campo........ camp........ field, plain. facão-....... fac......... hunting-knife. intendente... intendent... administrator. pasto........ past........ pasture. ) the same holds for words of the following type where there have been further orthographical changes with preserve, however, the same phonetic values. _brazilian_ _brazilian_ _portuguese._ _german._ _english._ macaco....... makak....... monkey. trapiche..... trapisch.... warehouse (on the wharf). ) internal phonetic changes have taken place in such words as: _brazilian_ _brazilian_ _portuguese._ _german._ _english._ kaschero..... kaschör..... shop-man, clerk (in a store). municipio.... munizip..... district. b. feminines. in feminines the final vowel '_-a_' is as a rule weakened to _'e'_, e.g., _brazilian_ _brazilian_ _portuguese._ _german._ _english._ capoeira..... capoeire.... copse. carreta...... carrete..... cart. garaffa...... garaffe..... bottle. lancha....... lanche...... barge. larancha..... laranche.... orange. mula......... mule........ mule. persianna.... persianne... venetian-blind. picada....... picade...... lane (through a forest). pimenta...... pimente..... pepper. pipa......... pipe........ barrel, tun. roça......... rosse....... clearing (of a forest). sanga........ sange....... ditch. tolda........ tolde....... cover, hood (of a wagon). traça........ trace....... track, design. venda........ vende....... inn, store. c. change of gender in nouns. ) masculine to feminine, e.g., _brazilian_ _brazilian_ _portuguese._ _german._ _english._ barranco _m._ barranke _f._ slope. cabresto _m._ cabreste _f._ halter. cachimbo _m._ kaschimbe _f._ tobacco-pipe. camarote _m._ camarote _f._ box (in a theater). cangalho _m._ cangalhe _f._ packsaddle. charuto _m._. charute _f._. cigar. farelo _m._.. farelle _f._. bran. hiate _m._... jatte _f._... yacht. portreiro _m._ portreere _f._ pasture-ground. rio _m._..... rio _f._..... (rarely _m._) stream, river. ) feminine to masculine, e.g., _brazilian_ _brazilian_ _portuguese._ _german._ _english._ cachaça _f._. cachass _m._ gin, brandy (of sugar-cane). troca _f._... troc _m._... change (of money). ) masculine to neuter, e.g., _brazilian_ _brazilian_ _portuguese._ _german._ _english._ doce _m._.... doss _n._... candy, confectionery. fosforo _m._. fosforo _n._ match. tatú _m._.... tatú _n._... armadillo. xarque _m._.. xarque _n._. jerked beef. ) feminine to neuter, e.g., _brazilian_ _brazilian_ _portuguese._ _german._ _english._ canoa _f._... kanoe _n._.. monoxylon, dugout. farinha _f._. farin _n._.. flour. from the above examples it will be observed that the gender of the brazilian german noun is, where there has been a change from that of the original brazilian portuguese, as a rule, the same as that of the high german word replaced, e.g., _brazilian german._ _high german._ barranke _f._........ böschung_f._ cachass _m._......... schnaps _m._ camarote _f._........ theaterloge _f._ charute _f._......... zigarre _f._ doss _n._............ konfekt _n._ farelle _f._......... kleie _f._ farin _n._........... mehl _n._ fosforon _n._........ streichholz_n._ kaschimbe _f._....... tabakspfeife _f._ portreere _f._....... weide _m._ troc _m._............ wechsel _m._ d. nouns of mixed origin are quite frequent, e.g., _brazilian german._ _english._ aboboramus........... stewed (and mashed) pumpkin. korbgarrafão......... demijohn. miljekolben.......... cob (of corn). mesclahosen.......... trousers (striped). ochsencarrete........ ox-cart palhazigarrette...... cigarette (with cornhusk wrapper). polizeidelegado...... inspector of police. puschochse........... draught-ox. rocewirtschaft....... agriculture, farming. sellofiskal.......... revenue agent. vendaschuld.......... drinking-score, debt for drink. ii. verbs. brazilian german verbs are commonly formed by adding a weak ending, _'-en'_ or _'-ieren'_ to the portuguese stem, e.g., _portuguese._ _brazilian german._ _english._ amolar......... amolieren.......... to grind, sharpen. capinar........ capinen............ to weed. cobrar......... cobrieren.......... to cash, take in (money), laçar ......... lassen............. to throw the lasso. puxar.......... puschen, pussen.... to pull. repousar....... posen.............. to rest. requerer....... rekerieren......... to request. roçar.......... rossieren.......... to clear of weeds. sellar......... sellieren.......... to stamp. tocar.......... tocken............. to beat, strike. trocar......... trocken............ to change (money etc.). in pronunciation the brazilian german differs still more from the portuguese than the printed forms would indicate. the main additional differences in this case are the following: ) the noun ending '_-ão'_ has the value of _'-ong'_ instead of the portuguese sound represented by _'-ão.'_ thus, by phonetic spelling we would have, e.g., _brazilian german._ _portuguese._ algodong for algodão. capong " capão, garrafong " garrafão, patakong " patacão. questong " questão, sertong " sertão, violong " violão. ) the _'j'_ instead of remaining sonant as in portuguese, becomes surd.[ ] thus _brazilian german._ _portuguese._ feschong for feijão, schakaré " jacaré. schwong " joão. ) in the case of infinitives the final _'-n'_ is not sounded, particularly in sections influenced by the hunsrück dialect. these forms are therefore pronounced, e.g., _brazilian german._ _portuguese._ amoliere for amolieren. kapine " kapinen. pusche " puschen. tocke " tocken. surnames. as a general rule german family names are retained in their original form in all sections where the german language held its own among the colonists. this is especially true where such names offer no difficulty in their pronunciation to people having portuguese as their mother tongue. on the other hand, where such names could not be readily pronounced by luso-brazilians,[ ] they underwent changes to greater or less extent even in communities where the german element is most strongly represented. where the german language disappeared the german family name as a rule disappeared with it, or was retained in such a form as to be hardly recognizable. by way of example a number of modifications in surnames are noted below; first, from a section where the german language has almost entirely given way to portuguese[ ], and second, from one of the strongest german-speaking sections of brazil.[ ] ) emmich became _m'_. the portuguese could not pronounce the "-ich" and consequently it dropped off, resulting in the formation of what is probably one of the shortest family names in existence.[ ] felippoffsky became _felippe, franz,_ or _franço_. in this instance one branch of the family adopted the first part of the original family name and other branches made surnames out of the christian name of the first immigrant, i.e., franz felippoffsky. glaser became _frittenmaku_. the first immigrant was fritz glaser. one of his characteristics was lameness. the new family name is equivalent in meaning to "der lahme fritz." gottfried became _gottesfried, gottesfrid_ or _gottesfritz_. helfenstein became _helfestein_. hessel became _essel_. klein became _cleene_. in this instance a german dialect variant of the original became the new family name. reinberg became _remberg_. rochenbach became _rocumbak_ or _rocumbaque_. roschel became _rocha_. toll became _doll_ or _doro_. weisshaupt became _sapateiro_. in this instance the first weisshaupt was a shoemaker. the trade name translated into portuguese became the family name. züllich became _sills_. ) wächter became _walter_. werner became _vierne_. from the above examples it will be noticed that the new family names show, as a general rule, an adaptation of the original to portuguese pronunciation. baptismal names. so far as baptismal names are concerned, the case is quite different from that applying to surnames. while the latter have been modified to a great extent only where the german language gave way to the portuguese almost entirely, as stated, the former have been replaced by their portuguese counterparts, as a rule, in all parts of brazil.[ ] probably the chief reason for this is sentiment, or, to use what is in this case perhaps a more accurate term, patriotism. the portuguese christian name in the country in question distinguishes the individual as a brazilian, not as a german. the people under discussion regard themselves first of all as brazilians.[ ] while, according to their idea the retention and cultivation of their "deutschthum" makes them better and more valuable brazilian citizens, they carefully differentiate between "deutschthum" and (to use their own expression) "deutschländerthum." the following are examples of portuguese baptismal names which are commonly substituted for their german counterparts by brazilian germans. _portuguese form._ _german form._ adolfo for adolf. alberto " albert. augusto " august. bernardo " bernard. carlos " karl. edmundo " edmund. eduardo " eduard. emilio " emil. ernesto " ernst. estevão " stephan. ewaldo " ewald. francisco " franz. frederico " friedrich. germano " hermann. guilhermo " wilhelm. gustavo " gustav. henrique " heinrich. ignacio " ignaz. joão " johann. jorge " georg. josé " joseph. julio " julius. leopoldo " leopold. luiz " ludwig. maximiliano " maximilian paulo " paul. pedro " peter. ricardo " richard. roberto " robert. rodolfo (rudolfo) " rudolf. theodoro " theodor. terms of family relationship in titles. for the terms of family relationship in titles (business, etc.) the portuguese forms are commonly used where the german forms would naturally be expected (i.e., in exclusively brazilian german publications, etc.). among the forms most frequently used in this manner (in full or abbreviated form, singular or plural) are the following:[ ] _portuguese form._ _german form._ filho for sohn. irmão " bruder. sobrinho " neffe. viuva " witwe. examples of brazilian german from documents. the written language. the following is an excerpt made from a short story entitled "unrecht schlägt seinen eigenen herrn."[ ] der reiche estancieiro[ ] joão rodrigues sass eines tages unter der grossen schattigen figueira,[ ] welche das wahrzeichen der estancia[ ] são manoel bildete. er berechnete eben, wie viel schlachtvieh er dieses jahr verkaufen könnte, und fand, dass es mindestens stück seien. das gab ein schönes häufchen geld; denn die viehpreise waren dieses jahr hoch. unter $ [ ] sollte ihm kein stück aus der invernada[ ] fort; das machte rund contos[ ] aus. ... "compadre,[ ] ich habe einen auftrag, für eine benachbarte charqueada[ ] rund stück schlachtvieh aufzukaufen...." ... damit war der handel abgeschlossen, und die beiden compadres verabschiedeten sich, jeder zufrieden: der estancieiro, weil er ein gutes geschäft gemacht hatte, und der tropeiro,[ ] weil er morgen ein noch besseres zu machen hoffte! des anderen tages stellte sich unser estancieiro bei guter zeit im geschäftshause ein und fand daselbst seinen compadre bento schon in angeheiteter stimmung in der venda[ ] sitzen. ... "noch für einen augenblick," stotterte da wieder der betrunkene tropeiro. "unter uns beiden braucht's zwar keine quittung, ich habe dein vieh und du hast mein geld; damit ist unsere sache erledigt. aber bei den herren von der charqueada muss ich etwas schwarz auf weiss vorweisen; ..." ... so wollte er gleich heute die ein paar hundert milréis betragene vendaschuld begleichen. ... "einen moment gedult, compadre joão, gleich ists prompt."[ ] und wirklich, es dauerte nur einige minuten, so hatte der estancieiro seine rechnung zu händen, sie betrug $ . er zug von den funkelnagelneuen zweihunderten heraus und reichte dieselben dem geschäftsmanne hin. der beschaute sich die dinger genau, holte aus seinem geldschrank einen schein derselben estampa[ ] heraus, befühlte das papier, schüttelte nachdenklich den kopf und sagte nur das eine wörtchen "falsch"! examples from advertisements. advertisements in almanacs, newspapers, etc., appearing in german and intended only for the german reading-public offer a rich source to the student of brazilian german words and phrases. the following examples are by no means unusual. they set forth the principle which obtains in practically all german publications in brazil. .) from almanacs. (for meanings of terms _v._ glossary.) luchsinger e. co.... import von fazendas und molhados....[ ] selbach e cia.... internationale verlags- u. sortiments-buchhandlung, buchdruckerei, buchbinderei und kartonnagen-fabrik....[ ] fraeb e co.... export von ... haar, wolle, xarque, gorduras, etc., etc.[ ] otto niemeyer. seccos e molhados.... eigenes armazem und trapiche....[ ] ... josé a. picoral ... papier-und palhazigaretten. ... leichte und starke charuten....[ ] fraeb e co.... import: fazendas, miudezas, molhados, ferragens, salz u.s.w....[ ] vva. josé müller e cia. geschäftshaus in fazendas, louça, miudezas, seccos und molhados, kolonie-produkten.[ ] ... sattlerei von jorge pedro grub ... zuggeschirre für aranhas, zäume, caronas, peitschen u.s.w. ...[ ] paulo grötzner, biscoutosfabrik "lucinda." ... leistungsfähigste fabrik in biscontos, bolachas, bonbons, konfitüren und allen besseren backwaaren. escriptorio und verkauf en gros: alto cabral.[ ] .) from newspapers. (for meanings of terms _v._ glossary.) comp. nac. de navegação costeira. der neue doppelschraubendampfer _itajuba_ am trapiche der costeira ... befördert passageire, frachten, encommendas, etc.[ ] antigo hotel koch.... bevorzugtes haus der musterreiter. eigenes portreiro. sorgsame verpflegung der reittiere. joão spitteler, eigentümer.[ ] hotel do sul von felippe werb filho. wird dem reisenden publikum ... empfohlen.... gute stallungen.[ ] kolonisten pflanzt aipim, mandioca, araruta!...[ ] aranha in bestem zustande mit vorzüglichem pferd zu verkaufen.[ ] lageado. carlos genehr, zahnarzt, empfiehlt sich den bewohnern dieser villa und der umliegenden pikaden....[ ] ... zwischen der eisenbahnstation und der villa gelegen, für kolonisation vermessen und in lotes von bis alqueires einteilen lassen ... der darauf befindliche matebestand ein ganz hervorragender.... der eigentümer bernardo olsen....[ ] pferde zugelaufen ( baio und zaino) gegen erstattung der unkosten abzuholen bein inspektor jakob neuhaus, ...[ ] poetry. a great deal of excellent poetry has been written by representatives of the german element in brazil. these writers have, however, primarily used high german as their medium of expression and consequently their works do not come in consideration in this study of a dialect. on the other hand, we frequently come across poems where brazilian german forms are more or less in evidence. the following, in which the hunsrück dialect forms the germanic basis is presented by way of example.[ ] (apologies to goethe!) _gutes geschäft oder eine pechincha._[ ] wer reit' lo dorch storm un wettergeriesel? das is der schrauber auf seime isel. der hut is gebunne fest unner dem kinne, der musterranze bammelt ihm hinne. "freund michel, was machst für ein banges gesicht?" "'sein sie's wahrhaftig? ich glaabten es nich! "'der schrauber wirklich mit mala[ ] un ranze? "'das is lo die reine pikadewanze!'"[ ] "mein lieber freund mach' platz mal hier! "die schönsten muster zeige ich dir: "algodão,[ ] riscado[ ] und druckkattun--" "'laassen se zu! was soll 'ch mit dem krempel lo tun?'" dau, vadder! raunt mutter, loss 's hannele sein! der schrauber seift dich e sunst jämmerlich ein. "'halt dei mund un scher' dich rein in dei kich,' "'de schrauber kenn' un seine schlich!'" "willst, lieber freund, du das neueste sehn? "hier hochfeine ponchos[ ] und kasemir schön, "korsetts und bunte strümpf zum präsent-- "bei bahrzahlung zehn prozent abatiment"[ ] dau, vadder! raunt mutter, loss ja dich nit schnappe, du hast noch genug an de meier ze berappe! "still!" murmelte herr michel, "un schwätze mer nit! "so'n mann als wie eich, der hat je kredit." der michel kauft und herr schrauber notiert, drei monate drauf hat der michel falliert. der schrauber hört es: "sie fassen ihn an! sie gehen ihm an seine venda[ ] heran!" herrn schrauber grausset's, er steigt auf die mule,[ ] ihm ist's um zehn contos[ ] am herzen so schwule, er tät im galoppe "zer venda reite," er kam, sagt _bom dia!_[ ]--der michel war pleite!" the spoken language. the dialect under discussion, as spoken in the "pikaden" is practically incomprehensible to the german-speaking person traveling in brazil for the first time. to the uninitiated it is even harder to understand than the german dialects of north america. the latter developed under the influence of a related language, as has been stated, while the former came into being because of linguistic influences entirely foreign. in order to give an idea of the spoken brazilian german the following "sprachprobe" by breitenbach[ ] is reproduced. while of somewhat peculiar composition, the example below quoted is a good representation of spoken brazilian german. ein kolonist fährt in seinem mit einer tolde[ ] versehenen wagen aus, der mit einem tupiano[ ] und einem zebruno[ ] bespannt ist, welche er von einem tropeiro[ ] von der serra[ ] gekauft hat. er will seinen compadre[ ] besuchen, findet die porteira[ ] zur pikade[ ] verschlossen, öffnet sie und erfährt von der ihm entgegenkommenden frau seines compadre, der mann sei in die rosse[ ] gegangen, um einige miljekolben[ ] für die mule[ ] und einige bobres[ ] für die schweine zu holen, welche im poteiro[ ] seien. wenn er den compadre aufsuchen wolle, so würde er ihn leicht finden, jenseits der sange,[ ] die aber steile barankas[ ] habe, so dass man beim ueberschreiten derselben vorsichtig sein müsse. da unser freund seinen compadre in der rosse nicht findet, so geht er in den nahen wald, aus dem hundgebell ihm entgegen schallt. mit seinem fakong[ ] schlägt er einige taquaras[ ] und zipos[ ] nieder, um sich den weg zu bahnen. bald trifft er denn auch seinen compadre, der soeben ein tatu[ ] ausgegraben und mit seinem fuchs[ ] erschlagen hat. nach den üblichen begrüssungen begeben sich beide ins haus und beschliessen, sich am nachmittag die carreira[ ] anzusehen. gleichzeitig will der compadre einige säcke farin[ ] mitnehmen, um sie dem vendisten[ ] zu verkaufen. zu diesem behuf muss eine mule eingefangen werden was aber nicht ganz leicht ist. die mule ist nämlich sehr störrisch und muss gepusst[ ] und getockt[ ] wereden. beim hause angelangt, wird dem tiere die cangalje[ ] aufgelegt und die ladung befestigt. dann geht's fort. introduction to the glossary of brazilian german terms. for reasons previously stated, the language or dialect of the german settlers in brazil underwent an almost immediate change, not in its syntax, but in its vocabulary. had the immigrants and their descendants only adopted such words as had no equivalent in their mother-tongue, our case would be much simpler. they went, however, much further, and, as a result even many of the commonest words dealing with the household or farm were replaced at an early date by brazilian portuguese terms, or by new formations based on them. in the following representation of brazilian german words and phrases an attempt has been made to select only such as have been adopted by german-speaking citizens in all parts of the country in question. in the few cases where words or phrases noted seem characteristic of any particular section of brazil that fact is indicated. the glossary, moreover, makes no claim to completeness. the sources[ ] of the expressions listed are brazilian german newspapers, books, almanacs, pamphlets, advertisements, "festschriften," etc.,[ ] as well as conversation with colonists. in the latter instance only such terms as were repeatedly used to the exclusion of the corresponding german terms were noted.[ ] in the glossary is given first the brazilian german term (in certain cases with variations), followed, by way of comparison as well as definition, by the corresponding high german form. if the brazilian portuguese[ ] equivalent differs in form or gender it is given in parentheses. if no such parenthetical form appears it signifies that both languages are in the particular instance identical.[ ] the german element in mixed compounds being self-evident, such words are treated as the simple brazilian german forms. gender is indicated except in the case of masculine nouns ending in _'-o'_ and feminines ending in _'-a.'_ terms dealing with weights, measures and coinage have not been noted except in cases where the brazilian german form shows a modification of the original and in instances where the terms refer to units no longer current.[ ] special abbreviations: r. = rio de janeiro. r.g. = rio grande do sul. glossary. =a.= _brazilian german._ _high german._ abacaxi _m._ ................. ananas. abatiment _m._ (abatimento) .. preisermässigung, abobora _or_ abobra .......... kürbis. abobora-mus _n._ ............. kürbis-mus. agrião ....................... brunnenkresse. r. aipim _m._ (aipim, aipii _m._) ...................... maniok (süsser). aldeamento _m._ .............. indianersiedlung. r.g. aldeia (aldeia _or_ aldea) ... dorf, weiler. alfandega .................... zollamt, steueramt. algodão ...................... baumwolle. amolieren (amolar) ........... schleifen, schärfen. aranha ....................... gig (_vehicle_). araruta ...................... pfeilwurz. armazem _m._ ................. kaufladen. arroba, arrobe _f._(arroba) .. . kg. (_weight._) arroio ....................... bach. até a volta .................. bis zur rückkehr! ateloge _n._ ................. aufwiedersehen. (_from_ até logo. _not used as noun in portuguese._) até logo ..................... auf wiedersehen! =b.= _brazilian german._ _high german._ baio ......................... pferd (castanienbraunes). bakeljau _m._ (bacalhão) ..... stockfisch, kabeljau. balse _f._ ................... fäbre, floss. banhado ...................... sumpf. baradi _m.v._ cachaça ........ baranca ...................... böschung, uferböschung. baranke _f.v._ baranca ....... barracão ..................... baracke, einwandererhaus. barranke _f.v._ baranca ...... barre _f._ (barra) ........... hafeneinfahrt. barricaria ................... böttcherei. batata, batate, _f._ (batata) kartoffel (brasilianische). _(the term "batate" is at times applied to the "irish" potato, altho the latter is generally called "kartoffel" or "europäische kartoffel.")_ batate doce _f._ (batata doce) süsskartoffel. becco ........................ gässchen, kleine gasse. benzedor _m._ ................ wunderdoktor. benzedura .................... besprechung der krankheiten, beschwörung. bicho ........................ insekt, tier. biscouto ..................... zwieback. boa noite .................... gute nacht! guten abend! boas tardes .................. guten tag! guten abend! bohre _f. v._ abobora ........ bolacha ...................... schiffszwieback. bom .......................... gut! bombilha ..................... materörchen (i.e., rörchen zum mate- trinken). bombacha (bombachas _f.plu._) pluderhose. r.g. bom dia ...................... guten tag! bond _m._ (bonde _m._) ....... tram, strassenbahnwagen. botina ....................... halbstiefel. brasse _f._ (braça) .......... . m. _(measure of length.)_ buger _m._ (bugre _m._) ...... indianer (botokude). c. _brazilian german._ _high german._ cabo ......................... unteroffizier. caboclo ...................... indianermischling. _(portuguese and indian.)_ cabreste _f.v._ kabreste ..... cachaça _m._, cachass _m._ (cachaça) .................. zuckerrohrschnapps. cacique _m._ ................. indianerhäuptling. cadea, cade _f._ (cadea, cadeia) .................... gefängniss. camarão, camarong _m._ (camarão) .................... krabbe. camarote _f._ (camarote _m._) theaterloge. campamento (acampamento) ..... feldlager. campanha ..................... ebne. campo, camp _m._ (campo) ..... grassland, flur. caneca ....................... wasserbecher. cangalje _f._ (cangalho) ..... kreuzbocksattel, packsattel. canna _m.v._ cachaça ......... canne _f._ (canna, cana) ..... zuckerrohr. canoa, _n._, canu _n._ (canoa _f._) ............... einbaum. capa ......................... mantel. capão, capões _m.plu._ ....... wald (kleiner, ausgerotteter) capataz _m._ ................. vorarbeiter.[tn ] capinen _v._. kapinen ........ capitão ...................... hauptmann. capivara ..................... wasserschein. capoeire _f._ (capoeira) ..... gebüsch. _(land which had been cleared, but which is again covered with underbrush.)_ caramba ...................... potztausend! donnerwetter! carapato (carrapato) ......... zecke, holzbock. carcereiro ................... kerkermeister. careje _f._ .................. materösterei. cargueiro .................... lastträger, lasttier, lasttierführer. carona ....................... sattelkissen. carreira ..................... pferderennen, wettrennen. carrete _f._ (carreta) ....... karren. carreteiro ................... fuhrmann, kärrner. carroça ...................... karosse, kutsche. carroceiro ................... fuhrmann. carteira ..................... brieftasche. catuno ....................... dieb. caspite ...................... potztausend! donnerwetter! cautela (cautela, cautella) .. einschreibezettel. cavalheiro ................... herr, edelmann. (_gentleman._) caxeiro ...................... ladendiener. caxoeira (cachoeira) ......... wasserfall, stromschnelle. chacara (chacara, chacra) .... grundstück, landhaus. chapeo republicano ........... hut (der gauchos). r.g. charque _n.v._ xarque ........ charqueada _f.v._ xarqueada .. charute _f._, cherrute _f._ (charuto, cherruto) ...... zigarre. chilena ...................... spore. (_as worn by gauchos._) r.g. chimarrão (chimarra) ......... ervatee. (_without sugar._) r.g. churasco (churrasco) ......... spiessbraten. r.g. cigarro ...................... zigarette. (_usually wrapped in palha._") cinema _m._ .................. lichtbilderhalle. cipó _m._ .................... liane, schlingpflanze. cobrança ..................... einkassierung. cobrieren _v._ kobrieren ..... cochilha ..................... hügelkette, hügelland. cochinilhos _m. plu._ ........ kochenillewaren. compadre _m._ ................ gevatter, freund. companheiro .................. gefährte, kamerad. coronel ...................... oberst. corral _m._ .................. viehhof. couveflor _n._ (couveflor _f._) blumenkohl. (r.) coxemalade _f._ (coxo = lame _and_ melado = _sap of sugar cane_) ..................... lecksyrup. coxinilhos _v._ cochinilhos .. cuia, cuja, cuya (cuia, cuya) matebecher. (_made of a hollowed gourd._) =d.= _brazilian german._ _high german._ delegado ..................... inspektor, abgeordneter. despaschieren (despachar) .... abfertigen[tn ], aus dem zollamt holen. devolut (devoluto) ........... vakant, brachliegend. (devolutes land == regierungsland.) diligencia ................... postwagen, diligence. dispaschieren _v._ despachieren. .............. doca (doca) .................. hafendamm, landeplatz. doce _n._, doss n. (doce _m._) süssigkeit, konfekt. dona ......................... frau, fräulein. =e.= _brazilian german._ _high german._ egua (egua, egoa) ............ stute. encommenda, ericommende _f._ (encommenda) ............. sendung (per post, bahn oder schiff). enfin (enfin, emfim) ......... mit einem worte, endlich. engenho _m._ ................. zuckermühle. erva ......................... paraguaythee (ilex paraguayensis). erva mate _m._ ............... _ibid._ escriptorio .................. büreau. eskadron _m._ (esquadão) ..... schwadron. está bom ..................... es ist gut! estampa ...................... gepräge, abdruck. estancia ..................... landgut, viehzüchterei. estancieiro .................. viehzüchter. e tanto ...................... und so und so viel. =f.= _brazilian german._ _high german._ fac _m._ (facão) ............. waldmesser. fakong _m. v._ fac ........... farello, farelle _f._ (farelo) kleie. farinha, farin _n._ (farinha) mehl, mandiocamehl. farrapo, farrape _m._ (farrapo) revolutionär. (_of ._) r.g. fazenda ...................... landgut fazendas ..................... schnittwaren, stoffe, waren. landgüter. fazendenloge _f._ (fazendas _and_ loja) ................ warenladen. feijão ....................... schminkbohne, schwarze bohne. feitor _m._ .................. verwalter, aufseher. ferragens _f. plu._ .......... eisenwaren. figueira ..................... feigenbaum. foice _f._ (foiça, foice, fouce, fouxe) .............. buschsichel. força ........................ streitkraft, revolutionärbande. fosforo _n._ (fosforo) ....... streichholz. freguéz _m._ ................. kunde. freguezia .................... kirchspiel. fuchs _m.v._ foice ........... fumo, fum _m._ (fumo) ........ tabac. =g.= _brazilian german._ _high german._ gaita ........................ dudelsack, zieharmonica. gallinha ..................... huhn. galpão ....................... schuppen, hütte. garaffe _f._ (garaffa) ....... flasche. garça ........................ reiher. garonne _f._ (garonna) ....... reitdecke, satteldecke (aus leder). garrafão, garafão (garrafão) . grosse flasche. garupa ....................... kruppe. gateado ...................... schwarzgefleckt (von tieren). gazose _f._ (gazosa) ......... brauselimonade. gordura ...................... fettware (i.e., schmalz, etc.). governador _m._ .............. statthalter. gramme _f._ (grama) .......... weidegras, hundgras, quecken. guisada (guisado) ............ ragout, würzspeise. =i.= _brazilian german._ _high german._ intendent _m._ (intendente _m._) .......... verwalter, landrat, intendant. invernada .................... winterquartier. (_for cattle._) =j.= _brazilian german._ _high german._ jacaré _m._ .................. krokodil, kaiman. jaguatirica .................. tigerkatze. jatte _f._ (hiate _m._) ...... segelschiff, jacht, zweimaster. =k=. _brazilian german._ _high german._ kabokler _v._ caboclo ........ kabreste f. (cabresto) ....... halfter. kadee _f.v._ cadea ........... kamp _v._ campo .............. kangalje _f.v._ cangalje ..... kanoe _n._, kanoh _n.v._ canoa kapinen (capinar) ............ gäten, jäten. karrete _v._ carrete ......... kartonnage _f._ (cartonnagens _f. plu._) ................. pappware, pappschachtel. kaschass _m.v._ cachaça ...... kaschero, kaschör _m.v._ caxeiro .................... kaschimbe, _f._ (cachimbo) ... tabakspfeife. kobrieren (cobrar) ........... einkassieren, einnehmen. korbgarrafão (garaffão) ...... korbflasche. =l=. _brazilian german._ _high german._ laço ......................... schlinge. ladeira ...................... abhang (eines berges), steiler weg. lagarto ...................... eidechse (grosse). lancha, lanche _f._ (lancha) . lastkahn, boot. larancha, laranche _f._ laranje _f._ (laranja) ..... orange. lassen (laçar) ............... schlinge werfen, mit der schlinge fangen. late _f._, latte _f._ (lata) . blechbüchse, dose, kasten. lelong _f._ (leilão) ......... versteigerung, auktion. löge _f._ (loja) ............. kaufmannsladen. lote _f._ .................... grundstück, landparzelle, lose. louça ........................ tafelgeschirr. =m=. _brazilian german._ _high german._ macaco ....................... affe. macho ........................ maulesel. mais ou menos ................ mehr oder weniger, ungefär. makak _m.v._ macaco .......... mala ......................... reisetasche, mantelsack. mamong _m._ (mamão) .......... rizinus, wunderbaumfrucht. mandioca ..................... maniok. mandubi _f., m._ (mandubi _m._, amendoim _m._) ............. erdnuss. manga ........................ hofplatz (für tiere). mangeira (manjeira) .......... futterstätte, viehhof. marchador .................... in langsamem trapp. mascato (mascate _m._) ....... hausierer, trödler. mata-bicho _(slang)_ ......... schnapps. matungo ...................... klepper. mellado ...................... syrup. mercado ...................... markt. mesclahosen _f. plu._ (mescla = mischung) ................ gestreifte hosen. mestizo (mestiço) ............ mestize, mischling. mico ......................... pfeifaffe. milho ........................ mais. miljekolben _m._ (miljo) ..... maiskolben. miudezas _f. plu._ ........... kleinigkeiten, kleine gegenstände. mula, mule _f._ (mula) ....... maulesel, maultier. multe _f._ (multa) ........... geldstrafe. multieren (multar) ........... zu einer geldstrafe verurteilen. munizip _n._ (município) ..... kreis, teil eines staates. =n.= _brazilian german._ _high german._ no é? (não é?) ............... nicht wahr? no senhor! (não senhor!) ..... nein, mein herr! =o.= _brazilian german._ _high german._ o de fora .................... heida, du draussen! orsament _m._ (orçamento) .... anschlag, bauanschlag, kostenanschlag. =p.= _brazilian german._ _high german._ paciencia .................... geduld! paiol _m._ ................... proviantkammer, vorratskammer. palha, palje _f._ (palha) .... maisstroh. palhazigarrette _f._ ......... zigarette (mit maisstroh gewickelt). palla ........................ leichter reitermantel. palpite _m._ ................. ahnung, herzklopfen. pancaré _m._ ................. hellbraunes pferd. past _m._ (pasto) ............ weide. pataca, patak _f._, patake _f._ (pataca) .............. reis. (_old coin._) patacão ...................... zweimilreistück. (_old spanish silver dollar._) patrão ....................... prinzipal, vorgesetzter. patte _f._ (pata) ............ ente. peão ......................... fussgänger, reitknecht. pechincha .................... gutes geschäft, unverhoffter gewinn. periquito .................... sittig, kleiner papagei. persienne _f._ (persianna) ... sommerladen, jalousie. perú _m._ .................... truthahn. picaço ....................... dunkelgefarbtes aber weissfüssiges pferd. picada, picade _f._, pikade _f._(picada) ............... waldpfad, urwaldweg, koloniestrasse. picapau _m._ ................. vorderlader, mit vorderlader bewaffneter soldat. pikarette _f._ (picareta) .... picke, spitzhacke. pimente _f._ (pimenta) ....... pfeffer, nelkenpfeffer. pinga ........................ tropfen (schnapps). pipa, pipe _f._ (pipa) ....... tonne, fass. polizeidelegado .............. polizei-inspektor. poncho ....................... reitermantel. portão, portong _m._ (portão) hauseingang, torweg. porteira ..................... eingangator (zur "pikade"). portreere _f._ (portreiro) ... koppel, weideplatz, viehraum (eingefriedigter). posen (repousar) ............. rasten, ruhen lassen. potro ........................ füllen, junges pferd. praça ........................ platz, marktplatz. prima ........................ base, kousine. primo ........................ vetter. prompt (prompto, pronto) ..... fertig, bereit puschen (puxar) .............. ziehen. puschochse _m._ .............. zugochse. pussen _v._ puschen .......... =q.= _brazilian german._ _high german._ quero-quero .................. kiebitz. questão _f._ (questão) ....... frage. =r.= _brazilian german._ _high german._ rancho ....................... kolonistenhaus, lehmhütte, hütte. rapadura ..................... zuckerkuchen, brauner zucker. rebankieren (arrebanhar) ..... in herden versammeln, zusammenscharen. rekerieren (requerer) ........ auffordern, bitten, ersuchen. riberong _m._ (riberão) ...... bach. rio _f. (sometimes m.),_ (rio) fluss. riscado ...................... gingan, gestreiftes baumwollenzeug. roça, roce _f._ (roça) ....... pflanzung, lichtung. rocemachen ................... land urbarmachen. rocewirtschaft _f._ .......... landwirtschaft. rodeiro ...................... umweg, ausflucht. rosse _f.v._ roça ............ rossieren (roçar) ............ ausjäten, urbarmachen. =s.= _brazilian german._ _high german._ sabiá _m._ ................... amsel (brasilianische). salto _m._ ................... wasserfall. sange _f._ (sanga) ........... graben (wasserhaltiger). scharute _f.v._ charute....... scheegen (chegar) ............ genügen. schikott _m._ (chicote _m._) . peitsche. seccos und molhados .......... kolonialwaren (i.e. trockene und nasse waren). sellieren (sellar) ........... stempeln, besiegeln. sello ........................ freimarke. serra ........................ gebirge, hochland. sertanejo .................... einwohner der wildnis. sertão ....................... wildnis, einöde, küstenwälder. si, senhor! (sim, senhor) .... ja, mein herr! sitio ........................ grundstück, kleines landgut, sobrado ...................... stockwerk, geschoss. stanz _f.v._ estancia ........ strupiat (estropiado) ........ lahm, verkrüppelt. suspensorios _m. plu._ ....... hosenträger. =t.= _brazilian german._ _high german._ tamanduá _m._ ................ ameisenbär, ameisenfresser. taquara ...................... bambus. tarraffe _f._ (tarrafa) ...... wurfnetz. tatú _n._ (tatú _m._) ........ gürteltier. 'te logo! _v._ até logo ...... tenente _m._ ................. leutnant. terral _m._ .................. landwind. thesouraria .................. schatzkammer, zahlamt. tocken (tocar) ............... schlagen, antreiben. tokaio (tocaio) .............. namensvetter. tolde _f._ (tolda) ........... verdeck (auf einem wagen). tostão ....................... reis. trace _f._ (traça) ........... spur, entwurf. trapiche _m._, trapisch _m._ (trapiche _m._) ............ lagerhaus (am hafen), kai. troc _m._ (troca) ............ wechsel, tausch, kleingeld. trocken (trocar) ............. wechseln, tauschen. tropa ........................ trupp, maultiertrupp. tropeiro ..................... viehhändler. tupiano ...................... scheck. (_dappled horse._) =u.= _brazilian german._ _high german._ urubú _m._ ................... geier. =v.= _brazilian german._ _high german._ vamos ........................ vorwärts! vaqueano ..................... führer. vendaschuld _f._ (venda) ..... zechschuld. venda, vende _f._ (venda) .... kaufladen, kram und schankladen, schenke. vendeiro, vedist _m._ (vendeiro) ................. gastwirt, kleinhändler. ventin _m._ (vintem _m._) .... reis. (_coin._) villa ........................ städtchen. vintem _m._, vinten _m. v._ ventin ..................... violáo ....................... bratache, bassgeige. viva ......................... vivat, lebehoch. =w.= _brazilian german._ _high german._ wentin _m. v._ ventin ........ wolte _f._ (volta)............ spaziergang, windung (eines weges oder flusses). =x.= _brazilian german._ _high german._ xarque _n._ (xarque _m._) .... dörrfleisch. xarqueada .................... schlächterei. =z.= _brazilian german._ _high german._ zaino ........................ ungeflecktes pferd (e.g. ganz schwarz). zebruno ...................... falbe. zigarro _v._ cigarro ......... zipo _v._ cipó ............... zise _f._ (sisa, siza) ....... accise, verbrauchssteuer. appendix. the brazilian german press. among the many things the german agricultural colonist in brazil had to dispense with so far as a supply from abroad was concerned, was reading matter. even to this day books are a relative rarity in the home along the "picada." only in the more important centers is there a general access to publications of this type. almanacs. as has been the case for centuries in german-speaking communities both in europe and north america, where there has been a general lack of books, the want of reading-matter has largely been filled by that most important medium, the almanac. the same condition applies to brazil. we might call the almanac the colonist's encyclopedia. it is his agricultural guide, medical adviser, compendium of short stories and poetry, moral guide, diary, and a thousand and one other things in addition to being the source of the information which an almanac is ordinarily supposed to furnish, i.e., list the change of seasons, days and months of the year, feast-days, eclipses, etc. to persons acquainted only with the folk-almanacs in europe and north america, the entire lack of weather-forecasts in the brazilian german editions is striking. among the best known and most important german folk-almanacs in brazil are: _rothermund's kalender für die deutschen in brasilien_, published in são leopoldo and cruz alta, r.g. do sul; _uhle's illustrierter deutsch-brasilianischer familien-kalender_, published in rio and curityba; _der familienfreund_, published in porte alegre; _riograndenser marienkalender_, published in porto alegre; and _musterreiters neu-historischer kalender_, published in porto alegre. rothermund's and uhle's almanacs are perhaps the most important as well as the most voluminous. to them one might well apply the statement found in the preface to one of the well-known reading-texts published for use in the "pikadenschulen": "darin ist alles enthalten, was für gebildeten kolonisten zu wissen interessant und lehrreich ist."[ ] the almanacs mentioned above have for years been appearing regularly. in addition there have been many others, appearing, as a rule, only for a year or sporadically. their influence has been of minor importance. in addition to being an indispensible source of information to the colonists, the brazilian german almanacs are also most valuable to persons living outside of brazil who want to form an idea of the life of those colonists. newspapers. the history of the german newspapers in brazil has its beginning in the early fifties of the past century. in october, , _der kolonist_ appeared for the first time in porto alegre. this journalistic effort was short-lived. from december, , to july th, , _der deutsche einwanderer_, appeared in the same city. beginning with april th, , _der deutsche beobachter_, edited by b. goldschmidt and g.f. busch appeared in rio de janeiro. this, like the preceding, soon turned from an ordinary newspaper into a propaganda-sheet for the solicitation of colonists and accordingly went out of existence. in the _brasilia_, a weekly, appeared in petropolis. it lasted about one year. beginning with january th, , the _germania_, a weekly edited by peter müller, appeared in the same city. this was a most important paper in its time and enjoyed a wide circulation. it lasted, however, only a few years. from to date the number of german newspapers with an ephemeral existence published in brazil is legion. excepting those above mentioned, we shall only concern ourselves with the ones which had a continual existence from the time of their founding and appearing to this day. they are included in the following list. in this list is indicated in each case the title of the paper, the place of publication, the number of times it appears weekly and the year in which it was founded. _deutsche zeitung_, porto alegre. daily. . _kolonie zeitung_, joinville. semi-weekly. . _deutsches volksblatt_, porto alegre. daily and weekly, . _germania_, são paulo. daily. . _deutsche post_, são leopoldo. daily. . _blumenauer zeitung_, blumenau. semi-weekly. . _neue deutsche zeitung_, porto alegre. daily and weekly. . _der beobachter_, curityba. thrice weekly. . _kolonie_, santa cruz. thrice weekly. . _der urwaldsbote_, blumenau. semi-weekly. . _nachrichten_, petropolis. semi-weekly. . _deutsche zeitung für são paulo._ daily. . _vaterland_, porto alegre. daily. . _der kompass_, curityba. thrice weekly. . _volks-zeitung_, são bento. weekly. . _die serra post_, ijuhy. semi-weekly. . _brusquer zeitung_, brusque. weekly. . _deutsche wacht_, pelotas. semi-weekly. . _deutsches tageblatt_, rio de janeiro. daily. . from what has been said above, in reference both to almanacs and newspapers, it will be noted that porto alegre in rio grande do sul has from the beginning been the most important center for brazilian german journalistic efforts. bibliography. the works listed below are important sources for the study of the history and cultural status of the german element in brazil. books, important pamphlets and several manuscripts are noted. a great many articles dealing with the general subject of the german element in brazil have in the past appeared in newspapers and periodicals such as the _alldeutsche blätter, ausland, der deutsche ansiedeler, deutsche erde, deutsche koloniezeitung, echo, globus, petermann's mitteilungen, etc._, and particularly in the brazilian german almanacs and newspapers listed in the appendix. due to the fact that a complete list of these articles would require a volume in itself, they are not further indicated. ackerbaukolonien. _dr. hermann meyer's ackerbaukolonien neu-würtemberg und xingu in rio grande do sul._ leipzig, . (_pamphlet._) agassiz, prof. louis and mrs.: _a journey to brazil._ boston, . angerami, domingos. _v._ fonseca, antonio. auswanderer. _central auskunftstelle für auswanderer. deutsche kolonialgesellschaft. rio grande do sul._ berlin, . (_pamphlet._) avé-lallement, dr. robert: _reise durch südbrasilien im jahre ._ leipzig, . (_ vols._) bastos, travares: _questões de immïgração. (manuscript in national library. rio.)_ blumenau, dr. hermann: _südbrasilien in seinen beziehungen zu deutscher auswanderung und kolonisation._ rudolstadt, . breitenbach, dr. w.: _aus süd-brasilien. erinnerungen und aufzeichnungen_, brackwede i/w., . breitenbach, dr. w.: _die provinz rio grande do sul brasiliens und die deutsche auswanderung._ heidelberg, . burton, richard f., _v._ tootal, albert. canstatt, oscar: _kritisches repertorium der deutsch-brasilianischen literatur._ berlin, . carvalho, c.m. delgado de: _le brésil méridional._ paris, . cunha, dr. josé bonifacio da: _commemoração do ° anniversario da fundação de blumenau._ blumenau, . dechent, n.: _festschrift zur jubelfeier des schulvereins zu joinville am . august ._ joinville, . dettmann, eduard: _brasiliens aufschwung in deutscher beleuchtung._ berlin, . dilthey, r.: _die deutschen ansiedelungen in südbrasilien, uruguay und argentinien._ berlin, . dörffel, dr. o.: _die colonie dona francisca in der südbrasilianischen provinz santa catharina._ joinville, . elliott, l.e.: _brazil today and tomorrow._ new york, . _l'État de são paulo. renseignements utiles._ antwerp, . (_são paulo state publication. d ed._) _festschrift zur erinnerung an den ostmarkenabend._ são paulo, . (apr. th.) _festschrift zum jährigem jubiläum der pfarrei são josé do hortencio._ porto alegre, . fonseca, antonio,--et angerami, domingos: _guide de l'etat de st. paul._ são paulo, . funke, alfred: _aus deutsch-brasilien. bilder aus dem leben der deutschen im staate rio grande do sul._ leipzig, . funke, alfred: _deutsche siedelung über see. ein abriss ihrer geschichte und ihr gedeihen in rio grande do sul._ halle a/saale, . gernhard, robert: _dona francisca, hansa und blumenau._ breslau, . gerstäcker, friedrich: _achtzehn monate in südamerika._ jena, , and leipzig, . giesebrecht, franz: _die deutsche kolonie hansa in südbrasilien._ berlin, . grimm, m., und rücker, a.a.: _heimatkunde von brasilien._ porto alegre, . grimm, m., und rücker, a.: _lehr- und lesebuch für schule und haus._ porto alegre, . grossi, prof. dott. vincenzo: _storia detta colonizzazione al brasil e della emigrazione italiana nello stato di s. paulo._ milano-roma-napoli, . _handbuch des deutschthums im auslande._ herausgegeben vom allgemeinen deutschen schulverein zur erhaltung des deutschthums im auslande. berlin. (dietrich reimer.) historia da immigração. _dados para a historia da immigração e da colonização em são paulo enviados pela seccão de informações do departamento estadual do trabalho á directoria do serviço de povoamento._ são paulo, . (_govt. publication._) imperio do brazil. _o imperio do brazil na exposição universal de em philadelphia._ rio de janeiro, . (_state publication._) _impressões do brazil no secolo vinte._ london, . (lloyds greater britain publishing company.) jahn, adalbert: _die kolonien von são leopoldo in der kaiserlich brasilianischen provinz rio grande do sul sowie allgemeine betrachtungen über freie einwanderung in brasilien._ leipzig, . jahrbuch. _erstes jahrbuch für die deutschsprechende kolonie im staate são paulo._ são paulo, . jannasch, r.: _land und leute von rio grande do sul._ berlin, . klüpfel, dr. karl: _n. federmanns und h. stades reisen in südamerica bis ._ stuttgart, . (bibl. des litt. vereins in stuttgart. no. .) koseritz, carl von: _bilder aus brasilien._ leipzig and berlin, . krauel, dr. r.: _deutsche interessen in brasilien._ hamburg, . kultur-pionier. _der kultur-pionier im staate são paulo._ (sonder-ausgabe der deutschen zeitung.) são paulo, . lacmann, dr. wilhelm: _ritte und rasttage in süd-brasilien. reisebilder und studien aus dem leben der deutschen siedelungen._ berlin, . lange, henry: _südbrasilien, mit rücksicht auf die deutsche kolonisation._ leipzig, . (_ d ed._) langendonck, madame van: _une colonie au brésil. récits historiques._ antwerp, . learned, m.d.: _guide to the manuscript materials relating to american history in the german state archives._ washington, . lehmann, emil: _die deutsche auswanderung._ berlin, . leyfer, h.: _deutsches kolonistenleben im staate santa catharina in südbrasilien._ leipzig, . lima, oliveira: _dom joão vi no brasil, - ._ rio de janeiro, . ludwig, a.: _a colonização nos paizes da america do sul._ porto alegre, . lufft, dr. hermann: _das portugiesische südamerika._ berlin and leipzig, . (sammlung göschen. no. .) marcondes de souza, t. oscar: _o estado de são paulo._ são paulo, . d'oliveira, luiz rodriguez: _algumas ideias sobre a colonisação do brazil._ paris, . (_pamphlet._) orlando, arthur: _brazil. a terra e o homem._ recife, . pereira da silva, j.m.: _quadros da historia colonial do brazil._ rio de janeiro, . perrin, paul: _les colonies agricoles au brésil d'après les documents officiels les plus récents._ paris, . piccarolo, dott. antonio: _l'emigrazione italiana nello stato de s. paulo._ são paulo, . pompeu, julio: _vier staaten brasiliens. four brazilian states._ rio de janeiro, . _prospekt der hanseatischen kolonisation-gesellschaft. ansiedelungen im staate santa catharina, südbrasilien, kolonie "hansa." (pamphlet.)_ hamburg, . _ratschläge für auswanderer nach südbrasilien._ (jannasch, koseritz, dörffel, sellin.) berlin, , (_ d ed._) _relatorio. ministerio da agricultura. serviço de povamento em ._ rio de janeiro, . rücker, a.a. _v._ grimm, m. schanz, moritz: _das heutige brasilien. land, leute und wirtschaftliche verhältnisse._ hamburg, . schüler, heinrich: _brasilien. ein land der zukunft._ stuttgart and leipzig, . sellin, a.w.: _brasilien und die la plata-staaten._ munich. (j.f. lehmann's verlag.) sellin, a.w.: _das kaiserreich brasilien._ leipzig, . (_ vols._) sellin, a.w.: _landeskunde der vereinigten staaten von brasilien._ hamburg, . sieves wilhelm: _südamerika und die deutschen interessen._ stuttgart, . simon, alex.: _auswanderung und deutsch-nationale kolonisation v. südamerika._ bayreuth, . sommer, friedrich: _das deutschthum in são paulo unter besonderer berücksichtigung seiner entwickdung und seiner heutigen wirthschaftlichen und kulturellen bedeutung._ são paulo. (_still in manuscript at the time the present work went to press._) stade, hans: _wahrhafftig historia und beschreibung einer landschafft der wilden, nacketen, grimmigen menschfresser leuthen, in der newen welt america gelegen._ franckfurt am main, . (_v._ klüpfel, dr. karl.) telles, moreira: _o brazil e a emigração._ lisbon, . tootal, albert, and burton, richard f.: _the captivity of hans stade of hesse, in a.d. - , among the wild tribes of eastern brazil._ london, . tschudi, johann jakob von: _reisen durch südamerika._ leipzig, - . (_ vols._) urwaldsbote. _der urwaldsbote. kalender für die deutschen in südbrasilien. herausgegeben zum jährigen bestehen der kolonie blumenau._ blumenau, . vallentin, dr. w.: _das deutschthum in südamerika._ berlin, . wagemann, e.: _die deutschen kolonisten im brasilianischen staate espirito santo._ schriften des vereins für sozialpolitik (beitrag zur enquête üher die ansiedelung von europäern in den tropen). [?].[ ] wappäus, dr. j.e.: _deutsche auswanderung und kolonisation._ leipzig, and . (_ parts._) wernicke, hugo: _deutsch-evangelisches volkstum in espirito santo. eine reise zu deutschen kaffeebauern in einem tropischen staate brasiliens._ potsdam, . (_ d ed._) wright, marie robinson: _the new brazil._ philadelphia, . zöller, hugo: _die deutschen im brasilischen urwald._ berlin and stuttgart, . footnotes: [footnote : _v._ note , p. .] [footnote : i.e., pedreiras, parelheiros, m'boy, colonia velha and itapecerica.] [footnote : _v._ note , p. .] [footnote : i.e., brazilian of portuguese extraction.] [footnote : in den schneizen [of santa cruz and são lourenço] sprechen sogar die dort aufgewachsenen neger hunsrücker dialekt.... ein musterreiter bereiste einst ... die rio grandenser kolonieen. als er an einen kreuzweg kam, sah er zwei schwarze am wege im felde hocken. er fragte sie auf portugiesisch um den richtigen weg. "wat seggt de kirl?" fragt ein schwarzer den andern. "ah, ihr sprecht deutsch?" ... "ja," war die antwort, "mir sein deitsche neger." e. niemeyer in "deutsche siedler und siedlungen im urwald." _uhle's kalender_ for , p. .] [footnote : this rule holds for the portuguese, but not for the german _'j'_ as e.g., where the latter replaces the _'h'_ in _jatte_ (from _hiate_), the _'i'_ or _'y'_ in _cuja_ (from _cuia, cuya_) or the _'lh'_ in _cangalje_ (from _cangalho_). in such cases the _'j'_ has the phonetic value of the english _'y'_.] [footnote : see note , p. .] [footnote : the outlying districts of santo amaro in são paulo. _v._ note , p. .] [footnote : joinville in dona francisca, state of santa catharina.] [footnote : for a further example of a short proper name compare the one commonly applied to the small town "o'" (contraction of "nossa senhora do o'"), located a short distance to the northwest of são paulo.] [footnote : this commonly applies to naturalized as well as to native-born german brazilians.] [footnote : political propaganda literature intended to lead the unwary to draw different conclusions has been copiously spread before the public during the last decade. whatever the ideas on the subject may be in foreign countries, the german brazilians themselves are the only ones who can speak on it with authority. strange to say, they never seem to be consulted or studied at first hand by those who speak most loudly about the "german peril" in brazil. porto alegre, blumenau, joinville and curityba can furnish more accurate information on this particular subject than berlin, paris, london and new york.] [footnote : several specific examples will be noted in the specimens from advertisements in almanacs and newspapers, pp. - .] [footnote : by p. th. amstadt, s.j. the story appears in the _familienfreund_ for , p. ff.] [footnote : _viezüchter._] [footnote : _feigenbaum._] [footnote : _landgut._] [footnote : read _ milreis_.] [footnote : _winterquatier._] [footnote : _conto_= milreis.] [footnote : _freund._] [footnote : _schlächterei._] [footnote : _viehhändler._] [footnote : _schenke._] [footnote : _fertig._] [footnote : _gepräge._] [footnote : _uhles familienkalender_, , p. .] [footnote : ibid., p. .] [footnote : ibid., p. .] [footnote : ibid., p~ .] [footnote : _familienfreund_, , p. xxv.] [footnote : ibid., p. xxvii.] [footnote : _riograndenser marienkalender_, , p. .] [footnote : _rotermund's kalender für die deutschen in brasilien_, , p. .] [footnote : _uhle's familienkalender_, , p. .] [footnote : _deutsche zeitung_, porto alegre, july , .] [footnote : _vaterland_, porto alegre, september , .] [footnote : ibid.] [footnote : _blumenauer zeitung_, august , .] [footnote : _brusker zeitung_, august , .] [footnote : _deutsches volksblatt_, porto alegre, july , .] [footnote : _kolonie-zeitung_, joinville, august , .] [footnote : _die serra-post_, ijuhy, rio grande do sul, september , .] [footnote : from funke's _aus deutsch-brasilien,_ p. .] [footnote : _unverhofftes gewinn._] [footnote : _reisetasche._] [footnote : _waldpfadswanze._] [footnote : _baumwolle._] [footnote : _gingan._] [footnote : _reitermäntel._] [footnote : _preisermässigung._] [footnote : _kaufladen._] [footnote : _maulesel._] [footnote : _ , milreis._] [footnote : _guten tag!_] [footnote : _v._ breitenbach: _aus süd-brasilien_, p. .] [footnote : _verdeck._] [footnote : _scheck._] [footnote : _falbe._] [footnote : _tierhändler._] [footnote : _hochland._] [footnote : _gevatter._] [footnote : _tor._] [footnote : _waldstrasse._] [footnote : _lichtung._] [footnote : _maiskolben._] [footnote : _maultier._] [footnote : _kürbisse._] [footnote : ="portreiro" (_weideplats, koppel_).] [footnote : _graben._] [footnote : _böschungen._] [footnote : _waldmesser._] [footnote : _bambus._] [footnote : _lianen._] [footnote : _gürteltier._] [footnote : _buschsichel._] [footnote : _wettrennen._] [footnote : _mehl._] [footnote : _kleinhändler._] [footnote : _gezogen._] [footnote : _geschlagen._] [footnote : _packsattel._] [footnote : of the words appearing in the glossary the writer acknowledges as his source for the following the _verdeutschungsheft_ by g.a. büchler, blumenau, : _backeljau, balse, kaschimbo, lelong, multe, multieren, orsament, pikarette, rekerieren, rossieren, sellieren, strupiat, wolte, zise._] [footnote : it is to be remembered, however, that high german is the norm in ordinary news articles in almanacs, newspapers, etc., as well as for literary purposes in general. in such instances brazilian german forms appear relatively rarely.] [footnote : all words or phrases thus noted have since been observed in print in brazilian german publications, with the exception of _agrião_ and _bond_.] [footnote : the simple word "portuguese" is particularly avoided here (as well as throughout this work generally) because the language as spoken by the general public in brazil frequently differs from the language of portugal. while the same in form, the words often have a different meaning. also many indian words, especially from the guarany and tupi languages, are embodied in the brazilian national idiom.] [footnote : this applies to the written, but not always to the spoken language.] [footnote : i.e., like the use of the word "sou" in france, "groschen" in germany, or "penny" in the united states.] [footnote : _v._ grimm-rücker: _lehr-und lesebuch_, p. iii.] [footnote : because of existing conditions it has been impossible to determine whether this work has as yet appeared in print.] americana germanica monograph series. . _translations of german poetry in american magazines - 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"martin rattler" appeared in . in his "personal reminiscences" ballantyne wrote: "how many thousands of lads have an intense liking for the idea of a sailor's life!" and he pointed out there the other side of the romantic picture: the long watches "in dirty unromantic weather," and the hard work of holystoning the decks, scraping down the masts and cleaning out the coal-hole. but though his books show something of this reverse side too, there is no doubt they have helped to set many boys dreaming of "wrecks, buccaneers, black flags, and desert lands on which, alone, the second crusoe stands." [footnote : see note to "the coral island" in this series.] among these persuasions to the life of adventure "martin rattler" is still one of the favourite among all his books. ballantyne himself was fated to die on foreign soil in , at rome, where he lies buried in the english protestant cemetery. the following is a list of ballantyne's chief romances, tales of adventure, and descriptive works:-- "hudson's bay, or every-day life in the wilds of north america," etc., ; "snowflakes and sunbeams, or the young fur traders," . in and appeared, under the pseudonym of "comus": "the butterfly's ball and the grasshopper's feast" (in verse by roscoe), ed. with music, coloured illustrations, and a prose version; "mister fox"; "my mother"; "the robber kitten" (by the author of "three little kittens"). "the coral island, a tale of the pacific ocean" (with a preface subscribed "ralph rover"), ( ); "ungava, a tale of esquimaux land," ( ); "martin rattler, or a boy's adventures in the forests of brazil," ; "ships, the _great eastern_ and lesser craft" (with illustrations), ; "mee-a-ow! or good advice to cats and kittens," ; "the world of ice, or adventures in the polar regions," ( ); "the dog crusoe, a tale of the western prairies," ( ); "the golden dream, or adventures in the far west," ( ); "the gorilla hunters, a tale of the wilds of africa," ; "the red eric, or the whaler's last cruise," ; "man on the ocean, a book for boys," ( ); "the wild man of the west, a tale of the rocky mountains," ( ); "gascoyne, the sandal-wood trader, a tale of the pacific," ( ); "the lifeboat, a tale of our coast heroes," ; "freaks on the fells, or three months' rustication," and "why i did not become a sailor," etc., ( ); "the lighthouse, being the story of a great fight between man and the sea," etc., ; "shifting winds, a tough yarn," etc., ; "silver lake, or lost in the snow," ; "a rescue in the rocky mountains," ; "fighting the flames, a tale of the london fire brigade," ; "away in the wilderness, or life among the red indians and fur traders of north america," ; "erling the bold, a tale of the norse sea-kings," with illustrations by the author, ; "deep down, a tale of the cornish mines," ; "the floating light of the goodwin sands," with illustrations by the author, ; "the iron horse, or life on the line, a tale of the grand national trunk railway," ; "the norsemen in the west, or america before columbus," ; "the pioneers, a tale of the western wilderness, illustrative of the adventures and discoveries of sir a. mackenzie," ; "black ivory, a tale of adventure among the slaves of east africa," ; "life in the red brigade, a story for boys," ; "the ocean and its wonders," ; "the pirate city, an algerine tale," ; "under the waves, or diving in deep waters," ; "rivers of ice, a tale illustrative of alpine adventure and glacier action," ; "the settler and the savage, a tale of peace and war in south africa," ; "jarwin and cuffy" (incident and adventure library), ; "in the track of the troops, a tale of modern war," ; "six months at the cape, or letters to periwinkle from south africa," ( ); "post haste, a tale of her majesty's mails," ( ); "the red man's revenge, a tale of the red river flood," ; "philosopher jack, a tale of the southern seas," ; "the lonely island, or the refuge of the mutineers," ; "the robber kitten" (in volume of tales by two or three authors), ; "the collected works of ensign sopht, late of the volunteers, illustrated by himself," ; "my doggie and i," etc., ; "the giant of the north, or pokings round the pole," ( ); "the kitten pilgrims, or great battles and grand victories," ; "the madman and the pirate," ; "the battery and the boiler, or adventures in the laying of submarine cables," etc., ; "battles with the sea, or heroes of the lifeboat and rocket," ; "dusty diamonds cut and polished, a tale of city-arab life and adventure," ( ); "twice bought, a tale of the oregon gold-fields," ( ); "the island queen, a tale of the southern hemisphere," etc., ; "the rover of the andes, a tale of adventure in south america," ; "red rooney, or the last of the crew," ; "the big otter, a tale of the great nor'-west," ( ); "the middy of the moors, an algerine story," ; "blue lights, or hot work in the soudan, a tale of soldier life," ; "the crew of the _water wagtail_, a story of newfoundland," ; "a gallant rescue" (stories jolly, stories new, etc.), ; "the fight on the green" (miles' fifty-two stories for boys), ; "charlie to the rescue, a tale of the sea and the rockies," with illustrations by the author, ; "the garret and the garden..., or the young coast-guardsman," ; "the coxswain's bride, or the rising tide, and other tales," with illustrations by the author, ; "the hot swamp, a romance of old albion," ; "hunted and harried, a tale of the scottish covenanters," ; "the walrus hunters, a romance of the realms of ice," . ballantyne's miscellany was started in . my dear young readers, in presenting this book to you i have only to repeat what i have said in the prefaces of my former works,--namely, that all the important points and anecdotes are true; only the minor and unimportant ones being mingled with fiction. with this single remark i commit my work to your hands, and wish you a pleasant ramble, in spirit, through the romantic forests of brazil. yours affectionately, r.m. ballantyne. [october, .] martin rattler chapter i the hero and his only relative martin rattler was a very bad boy. at least his aunt, mrs. dorothy grumbit, said so; and certainly she ought to have known, if anybody should, for martin lived with her, and was, as she herself expressed it, "the bane of her existence,--the very torment of her life." no doubt of it whatever, according to aunt dorothy grumbit's showing, martin rattler was "a remarkably bad boy." it is a curious fact, however, that, although most of the people in the village of ashford seemed to agree with mrs. grumbit in her opinion of martin, there were very few of them who did not smile cheerfully on the child when they met him, and say, "good day, lad!" as heartily as if they thought him the best boy in the place. no one seemed to bear martin rattler ill-will, notwithstanding his alleged badness. men laughed when they said he was a bad boy, as if they did not quite believe their own assertion. the vicar, an old whiteheaded man, with a kind, hearty countenance, said that the child was full of mischief, full of mischief; but he would improve as he grew older, he was quite certain of that. and the vicar was a good judge, for he had five boys of his own, besides three other boys, the sons of a distant relative, who boarded with him; and he had lived forty years in a parish overflowing with boys, and he was particularly fond of boys in general. not so the doctor, a pursy little man with a terrific frown, who hated boys, especially little ones, with a very powerful hatred. the doctor said that martin was a scamp. and yet martin had not the appearance of a scamp. he had fat rosy cheeks, a round rosy mouth, a straight delicately-formed nose, a firm massive chin, and a broad forehead. but the latter was seldom visible, owing to the thickly-clustering fair curls that overhung it. when asleep martin's face was the perfection of gentle innocence. but the instant he opened his dark-brown eyes, a thousand dimples and wrinkles played over his visage, chiefly at the corners of his mouth and round his eyes; as if the spirit of fun and the spirit of mischief had got entire possession of the boy, and were determined to make the most of him. when deeply interested in anything, martin was as grave and serious as a philosopher. aunt dorothy grumbit had a turned-up nose,--a very much turned-up nose; so much so, indeed, that it presented a front view of the nostrils! it was an aggravating nose, too for the old lady's spectacles refused to rest on any part of it except the extreme point. mrs. grumbit invariably placed them on the right part of her nose, and they as invariably slid down the curved slope until they were brought up by the little hillock at the end. there they condescended to repose in peace. mrs. grumbit was mild, and gentle, and little, and thin, and old,--perhaps seventy-five; but no one knew her age for certain, not even herself. she wore an old-fashioned, high-crowned cap, and a gown of bed-curtain chintz, with flowers on it the size of a saucer. it was a curious gown, and very cheap, for mrs. grumbit was poor. no one knew the extent of her poverty, any more than they did her age; but she herself knew it, and felt it deeply,--never so deeply, perhaps, as when her orphan nephew martin grew old enough to be put to school, and she had not wherewithal to send him. but love is quick-witted and resolute. a residence of six years in germany had taught her to knit stockings at a rate that cannot be described, neither conceived unless seen. she knitted two dozen pairs. the vicar took one dozen, the doctor took the other. the fact soon became known. shops were not numerous in the village in those days; and the wares they supplied were only second rate. orders came pouring in, mrs. grumbit's knitting wires clicked, and her little old hands wagged with incomprehensible rapidity and unflagging regularity,--and martin rattler was sent to school. while occupied with her knitting, she sat in a high-backed chair in a very small deep window, through which the sun streamed nearly the whole day; and out of which there was the most charming imaginable view of the gardens and orchards of the villagers, with a little dancing brook in the midst, and the green fields of the farmers beyond, studded with sheep and cattle and knolls of woodland, and bounded in the far distance by the bright blue sea. it was a lovely scene, such an one as causes the eye to brighten and the heart to melt as we gaze upon it, and think, perchance, of its creator. yes, it was a scene worth looking at; but mrs. grumbit never looked at it, for the simple reason that she could not have seen it if she had. half way across her own little parlour was the extent of her natural vision. by the aid of spectacles and a steady concentrated effort, she could see the fire-place at the other end of the room; and the portrait of her deceased husband, who had been a sea-captain; and the white kitten that usually sat on the rug before the fire. to be sure she saw them very indistinctly. the picture was a hazy blue patch, which was the captain's coat; with a white patch down the middle of it, which was his waistcoat; and a yellow ball on the top of it, which was his head. it was rather an indistinct and generalized view, no doubt; but she _saw_ it, and that was a great comfort. chapter ii in disgrace fire was the cause of martin's getting into disgrace at school for the first time; and this is how it happened. "go and poke the fire, martin rattler," said the school-master, "and put on a bit of coal, and see that you don't send the sparks flying about the floor." martin sprang with alacrity to obey; for he was standing up with the class at the time, and was glad of the temporary relaxation. he stirred the fire with great care, and put on several pieces of coal very slowly, and rearranged them two or three times; after which he stirred the fire a little more, and examined it carefully to see that it was all right; but he did not seem quite satisfied, and was proceeding to re-adjust the coals when bob croaker, one of the big boys, who was a bullying, ill-tempered fellow, and had a spite against martin, called out,-- "please, sir, rattler's playin' at the fire." "come back to your place, sir!" cried the master, sternly. martin returned in haste, and resumed his position in the class. as he did so he observed that his fore-finger was covered with soot. immediately a smile of glee overspread his features; and, while the master was busy with one of the boys, he drew his black finger gently down the forehead and nose of the boy next to him. "what part of the earth was peopled by the descendants of ham?" cried the master, pointing to the dux. "shem!" shrieked a small boy near the foot of the class. "silence!" thundered the master, with a frown that caused the small boy to quake down to the points of his toes. "asia!" answered dux. "next?" "turkey!" "next, next, next? hallo! john ward," cried the master, starting up in anger from his seat, "what do you mean by that, sir?" "what, sir?" said john ward, tremulously, while a suppressed titter ran round the class. "your face, sir! who blacked your face, eh?" "i--i--don't know," said the boy, drawing his sleeve across his face, which had the effect of covering it with sooty streaks. an uncontrollable shout of laughter burst from the whole school, which was instantly followed by a silence so awful and profound that a pin might have been heard to fall. "martin rattler, you did that! i know you did,--i see the marks on your fingers. come here, sir! now tell me; _did_ you do it?" martin rattler never told falsehoods. his old aunt had laboured to impress upon him from infancy that to lie was to commit a sin which is abhorred by god and scorned by man; and her teaching had not been in vain. the child would have suffered any punishment rather than have told a deliberate lie. he looked straight in the master's face and said, "yes, sir, i did it." "very well, go to your seat, and remain in school during the play-hour." with a heavy heart martin obeyed; and soon after the school was dismissed. "i say, rattler," whispered bob croaker, as he passed, "i'm going to teach your white kitten to swim just now. won't you come and see it?" the malicious laugh with which the boy accompanied this remark convinced martin that he intended to put his threat in execution. for a moment he thought of rushing out after him to protect his pet kitten; but a glance at the stern brow of the master, as he sat at his desk reading, restrained him; so, crushing down his feelings of mingled fear and anger, he endeavoured to while away the time by watching the boys as they played in the fields before the windows of the school. chapter iii the great fight "martin!" said the school-master, in a severe tone, looking up from the book with which he was engaged, "don't look out at the window, sir; turn your back to it." "please, sir, i can't help it," replied the boy, trembling with eagerness as he stared across the fields. "turn your back on it, i say!" reiterated the master in a loud tone, at the same time striking the desk violently with his cane. "oh, sir, let me out! there's bob croaker with my kitten. he's going to drown it. i know he is,--he said he would; and if he does aunty will die, for she loves it next to me; and i _must_ save it, and--and, if you _don't_ let me out--you'll be a murderer!" at this concluding burst, martin sprang forward and stood before his master with clenched fists and a face blazing with excitement. the schoolmaster's gaze of astonishment gradually gave place to a dark frown strangely mingled with a smile, and, when the boy concluded, he said quietly--"you may go." no second bidding was needed. the door flew open with a bang; and the gravel of the play-ground, spurned right and left, dashed against the window panes as martin flew across it. the paling that fenced it off from the fields beyond was low, but too high for a jump. never a boy in all the school had crossed that paling at a spring, without laying his hands upon it; but martin did. we do not mean to say that he did anything superhuman; but he rushed at it like a charge of cavalry, sprang from the ground like a deer, kicked away the top bar, tumbled completely over, landed on his head, and rolled down the slope on the other side as fast as he could have run down,--perhaps faster. it would have required sharper eyes than yours or mine to have observed how martin got on his legs again, but he did it in a twinkling, and was half across the field almost before you could wink, and panting on the heels of bob croaker. bob saw him coming and instantly started off at a hard run, followed by the whole school. a few minutes brought them to the banks of the stream, where bob croaker halted, and, turning round, held the white kitten up by the nape of the neck. "o spare it! spare it, bob!--don't do it--please don't, don't do it!" gasped martin, as he strove in vain to run faster. "there you go!" shouted bob, with a coarse laugh, sending the kitten high into the air, whence it fell with a loud splash into the water. it was a dreadful shock to feline nerves, no doubt, but that white kitten was no ordinary animal. its little heart beat bravely when it rose to the surface, and, before its young master came up, it had regained the bank. but, alas! what a change! it went into the stream a fat, round, comfortable ball of eider-down. it came out--a scraggy blotch of white paint, with its black eyes glaring like two great glass beads! no sooner did it crawl out of the water than bob croaker seized it, and whirled it round his head, amid suppressed cries of "shame!" intending to throw it in again; but at that instant martin rattler seized bob by the collar of his coat with both hands, and, letting himself drop suddenly, dragged the cruel boy to the ground, while the kitten crept humbly away and hid itself in a thick tuft of grass. a moment sufficed to enable bob croaker, who was nearly twice martin's weight, to free himself from the grasp of his panting antagonist, whom he threw on his back, and doubled his fist, intending to strike martin on the face; but a general rush of the boys prevented this. "shame, shame, fair play!" cried several; "don't hit him when he's down!" "then let him rise up and come on!" cried bob, fiercely, as he sprang up and released martin. "ay, that's fair. now then, martin, remember the kitten!" "strike men of your own size!" cried several of the bigger boys, as they interposed to prevent martin from rushing into the unequal contest. "so i will," cried bob croaker, glaring round with passion. "come on any of you that likes. i don't care a button for the biggest of you." no one accepted this challenge, for bob was the oldest and the strongest boy in the school, although, as is usually the case with bullies, by no means the bravest. seeing that no one intended to fight with him, and that a crowd of boys strove to hold martin rattler back, while they assured him that he had not the smallest chance in the world, bob turned towards the kitten, which was quietly and busily employed in licking itself dry, and said, "now, martin, you coward, i'll give it another swim for your impudence." "stop, stop!" cried martin earnestly. "bob croaker, i would rather do anything than fight. i would give you everything i have to save my kitten; but if you won't spare it unless i fight, i'll do it. if you throw it in before you fight me, you're the greatest coward that ever walked. just give me five minutes to breathe and a drink of water, and i'll fight you as long as i can stand." bob looked at his little foe in surprise. "well, that's fair. i'm your man; but if you don't lick me i'll drown the kitten, that's all." having said this, he quietly divested himself of his jacket and neckcloth, while several boys assisted martin to do the same, and brought him a draught of water in the crown of one of their caps. in five minutes all was ready, and the two boys stood face to face and foot to foot, with their fists doubled and revolving, and a ring of boys around them. just at this moment the kitten, having found the process of licking itself dry more fatiguing than it had expected, gave vent to a faint mew of distress. it was all that was wanting to set martin's indignant heart into a blaze of inexpressible fury. bob croaker's visage instantly received a shower of sharp, stinging blows, that had the double effect of taking that youth by surprise and throwing him down upon the green sward. but martin could not hope to do this a second time. bob now knew the vigour of his assailant, and braced himself warily to the combat, commencing operations by giving martin a tremendous blow on the point of his nose, and another on the chest. these had the effect of tempering martin's rage with a salutary degree of caution, and of eliciting from the spectators sundry cries of warning on the one hand, and admiration on the other, while the young champions revolved warily round each other, and panted vehemently. the battle that was fought that day was one of a thousand. it created as great a sensation in the village school as did the battle of waterloo in england. it was a notable fight; such as had not taken place within the memory of the oldest boy in the village, and from which, in after years, events of juvenile history were dated,--especially pugilistic events, of which, when a good one came off, it used to be said that "such a battle had not taken place since the year of the _great fight_" bob croaker was a noted fighter. martin rattler was, up to this date, an untried hero. although fond of rough play and boisterous mischief, he had an unconquerable aversion to _earnest_ fighting, and very rarely indeed returned home with a black eye,--much to the satisfaction of aunt dorothy grumbit, who objected to all fighting from principle, and frequently asserted, in gentle tones, that there should be no soldiers or sailors (fighting sailors, she meant) at all, but that people ought all to settle everything the best way they could without fighting, and live peaceably with one another, as the bible told them to do. they would be far happier and better off, she was sure of that; and if everybody was of her way of thinking, there would be neither swords, nor guns, nor pistols, nor squibs, nor anything else at all! dear old lady. it would indeed be a blessing if her principles could be carried out in this warring and jarring world. but as this is rather difficult, what we ought to be careful about is, that we never fight except in a good cause and with a clear conscience. it was well for martin rattler, on that great day, that the formation of the ground favoured him. the spot on which the fight took place was uneven, and covered with little hillocks and hollows, over which bob croaker stumbled, and into which he fell,--being a clumsy boy on his legs,--and did himself considerable damage; while martin, who was firmly knit and active as a kitten, scarcely ever fell, or, if he did, sprang up again like an india-rubber ball. fair-play was embedded deep in the centre of martin's heart, so that he scorned to hit his adversary when he was down or in the act of rising; but the thought of the fate that awaited the white kitten if he were conquered, acted like lightning in his veins, and scarcely had bob time to double his fists after a fall, when he was knocked back again into the hollow out of which he had risen. there were no _rounds_ in this fight,--no pausing to recover breath. martin's anger rose with every blow, whether given or received; and although he was knocked down flat four or five times, he rose again, and, without a second's delay, rushed headlong at his enemy. feeling that he was too little and light to make much impression on bob croaker by means of mere blows, he endeavoured as much as possible to throw his weight against him at each assault; but bob stood his ground well, and after a time seemed even to be recovering strength a little. suddenly he made a rush at martin, and, dealing him a successful blow on the forehead, knocked him down; at the same time he himself tripped over a molehill and fell upon his face. both were on their legs in an instant. martin grew desperate. the white kitten swimming for its life seemed to rise before him, and new energy was infused into his frame. he retreated a step or two, and then darted forward like an arrow from a bow. uttering a loud cry, he sprang completely in the air and plunged--head and fists together, as if he were taking a dive--into bob croaker's bosom! the effect was tremendous. bob went down like a shock of grain before the sickle; and having, in their prolonged movements, approached close to the brink of the stream, both he and martin went with a sounding splash into the deep pool and disappeared. it was but for a moment, however, martin's head emerged first, with eyes and mouth distended to the utmost. instantly, on finding bottom, he turned to deal his opponent another blow; but it was not needed. when bob croaker's head rose to the surface there was no motion in the features, and the eyes were closed. the intended blow was changed into a friendly grasp; and, exerting himself to the utmost, martin dragged his insensible school-fellow to the bank, where, in a few minutes, he recovered sufficiently to declare in a sulky tone that he would fight no more! "bob croaker," said martin, holding out his hand, "i'm sorry we've had to fight. i wouldn't have done it, but to save my kitten. you compelled me to do it, you know that. come, let's be friends again." bob made no reply, but slowly and with some difficulty put on his vest and jacket. "i'm sure," continued martin, "there's no reason in bearing me ill-will. i've done nothing unfair, and i'm very sorry we've had to fight. won't you shake hands?" bob was silent. "come, come, bob!" cried several of the bigger boys, "don't be sulky, man; shake hands and be friends. martin has licked you this time, and you'll lick him next time, no doubt, and that's all about it." "arrah, then, ye're out there, intirely. bob croaker'll niver lick martin rattler though he wos to live to the age of the great m'thuselah!'" said a deep-toned voice close to the spot where the fight had taken place. all eyes were instantly turned in the direction whence it proceeded, and the boys now became aware, for the first time, that the combat had been witnessed by a sailor, who, with a smile of approval beaming on his good-humoured countenance, sat under the shade of a neighbouring tree smoking a pipe of that excessive shortness and blackness that seems to be peculiarly beloved by irishmen in the humbler ranks of life. the man was very tall and broad-shouldered, and carried himself with a free-and-easy swagger, as he rose and approached the group of boys. "he'll niver bate ye, martin, avic, as long as there's two timbers of ye houldin' togither." the seaman patted martin on the head as he spoke; and, turning to bob croaker, continued: "ye ought to be proud, ye spalpeen, o' bein' wopped by sich a young hero as this. come here and shake hands with him: d'ye hear? troth an' it's besmearin' ye with too much honour that same. there, that'll do. don't say ye're sorry now, for it's lies ye'd be tellin' if ye did. come along, martin, an' i'll convarse with ye as ye go home. ye'll be a man yet, as sure as my name is barney o'flannagan." martin took the white kitten in his arms and thrust its wet little body into his equally wet bosom, where the warmth began soon to exercise a soothing influence on the kitten's depressed spirits, so that, ere long, it began to purr. he then walked with the sailor towards the village, with his face black and blue, and swelled and covered with blood, while bob croaker and his companions returned to the school. the distance to martin's residence was not great, but it was sufficient to enable the voluble irishman to recount a series of the most wonderful adventures and stories of foreign lands, that set martin's heart on fire with desire to go to sea,--a desire which was by no means new to him, and which recurred violently every time he paid a visit to the small sea-port of bilton, which lay about five miles to the southward of his native village. moreover, barney suggested that it was time martin should be doing for himself (he was now ten years old), and said that if he would join his ship, he could get him a berth, for he was much in want of an active lad to help him with the coppers. but martin rattler sighed deeply, and said that, although his heart was set upon going to sea, he did not see how it was to be managed, for his aunt would not let him go. before they separated, however, it was arranged that martin should pay the sailor's ship a visit, when he would hear a good deal more about foreign lands; and that, in the meantime, he should make another attempt to induce aunt dorothy grumbit to give her consent to his going to sea. chapter iv a lesson to all stocking-knitters--martin's prospects begin to open up in the small sea-port of bilton, before mentioned, there dwelt an old and wealthy merchant and ship-owner, who devoted a small portion of his time to business, and a very large portion of it to what is usually termed "doing good," this old gentleman was short, and stout, and rosy, and bald, and active, and sharp as a needle. in the short time that mr. arthur jollyboy devoted to business, he accomplished as much as most men do in the course of a long day. there was not a benevolent society in the town, of which arthur jollyboy, esquire, of the old hulk (as he styled his cottage), was not a member, director, secretary, and treasurer, all in one, and all at once! if it had been possible for man to be ubiquitous, mr. jollyboy would have been so naturally; or, if not naturally, he would have made himself so by force of will. yet he made no talk about it. his step was quiet, though quick; and his voice was gentle, though rapid; and he was chiefly famous for _talking_ little and _doing_ much. some time after the opening of our tale, mr. jollyboy had received information of mrs. grumbit's stocking movement. that same afternoon he put on his broad-brimmed white hat, and, walking out to the village in which she lived, called upon the vicar, who was a particular and intimate friend of his. having ascertained from the vicar that mrs. grumbit would not accept of charity, he said abruptly,-- "and why not,--is she too proud?" "by no means," replied the vicar. "she says that she would think shame to take money from friends as long as she can work, because every penny that she would thus get would be so much less to go to the helpless poor; of whom, she says, with much truth, there are enough and to spare. and i quite agree with her as regards her principle; but it does not apply fully to her, for she cannot work so as to procure a sufficient livelihood without injury to her health." "is she clever?" inquired mr. jollyboy. "why, no, not particularly. in fact, she does not often exert her reasoning faculties, except in the common-place matters of ordinary and every-day routine." "then she's cleverer than most people," said mr. jollyboy, shortly. "is she obstinate?" "no, not in the least," returned the vicar with a puzzled smile. "ah, well, good-bye, good-bye; that's all i want to know." mr. jollyboy rose, and hurrying through the village, tapped at the cottage door, and was soon closeted with mrs. dorothy grumbit. in the course of half an hour, mr. jollyboy drew from mrs. grumbit as much about her private affairs as he could, without appearing rude. but he found the old lady very close and sensitive on that point. not so, however, when he got her upon the subject of her nephew. she had enough, and more than enough, to say about him. it is true she began by remarking, sadly, that he was a very bad boy; but, as she continued to talk about him, she somehow or other gave her visitor the impression that he was a very _good_ boy! they had a wonderfully long and confidential talk about martin, during which mr. jollyboy struck mrs. grumbit nearly dumb with horror by stating positively what he would do for the boy,--he would send him to sea! then, seeing that he had hit the wrongest possible nail on the head, he said that he would make the lad a clerk in his office, where he would be sure to rise to a place of trust; whereat mrs. grumbit danced, if we may so speak, into herself for joy. "and now, ma'am, about these stockings. i want two thousand pairs as soon as i can get them!" "sir?" said mrs. grumbit. "of course, not for my own use, ma'am; nor for the use of my family, for i have no family; and if i had, that would be an unnecessarily large supply. the fact is, mrs. grumbit, i am a merchant, and i send very large supplies of home-made articles to foreign lands, and two thousand pairs of socks are a mere driblet. of course i do not expect you to make them all for me, but i wish you to make as many pairs as you can." "i shall be very happy--" began mrs. grumbit. "but, mrs. grumbit, there is a peculiar formation which i require in my socks that will give you extra trouble, i fear; but i must have it, whatever the additional expense may be. what is your charge for the pair you are now making?" "three shillings," said mrs. grumbit. "ah! very good. now, take up the wires if you please, ma'am, and do what i tell you. now, drop that stitch,--good; and take up this one,--capital; and pull this one across that way,--so; and that one across this way,--exactly. now, what is the result?" the result was a complicated knot; and mrs. grumbit, after staring a few seconds at the old gentleman in surprise, said so, and begged to know what use it was of. "oh, never mind, never mind. we merchants have strange fancies, and foreigners have curious tastes now and then. please to make all my socks with a hitch like that in them all round, just above the ankle. it will form an ornamental ring. i'm sorry to put you to the trouble, but of course i pay extra for fancy-work. will six shillings a pair do for these?" "my dear sir," said mrs. grumbit, "it is no additional--" "well, well, never mind," said mr. jollyboy. "two thousand pairs, remember, as soon as possible,--close knitted, plain stitch, rather coarse worsted; and don't forget the hitch, mrs. grumbit, don't forget the hitch." ah! reader, there are many mrs. grumbits in this world, requiring _hitches_ to be made in their stockings! at this moment the door burst open. mrs. dorothy grumbit uttered a piercing scream, mr. jollyboy dropped his spectacles and sat down on his hat, and martin rattler stood before them with the white kitten in his arms. for a few seconds there was a dead silence, while an expression of puzzled disappointment passed over mr. jollyboy's ruddy countenance. at last he said,-- "is this, madam, the nephew who, you told me a little ago, is not addicted to fighting?" "yes," answered the old lady faintly, and covering her eyes with her hands, "that is martin." "if my aunt told you that, sir, she told you the truth," said martin, setting down the blood-stained white kitten, which forthwith began to stretch its limbs and lick itself dry. "i don't ever fight if i can help it, but i couldn't help it to-day." with a great deal of energy, and a revival of much of his former indignation, when he spoke of the kitten's sufferings, martin recounted all the circumstances of the fight; during the recital of which mrs. dorothy grumbit took his hand in hers and patted it, gazing the while into his swelled visage, and weeping plentifully, but very silently. when he had finished, mr. jollyboy shook hands with him, and said he was a trump, at the same time recommending him to go and wash his face. then he whispered a few words in mrs. grumbit's ear, which seemed to give that excellent lady much pleasure; after which he endeavoured to straighten his crushed hat; in which attempt he failed, took his leave, promised to call again very soon, and went back to the old hulk--chuckling. chapter v martin, being willing to go to sea, goes to sea against his will four years rolled away, casting chequered light and shadow over the little village of ashford in their silent passage,--whitening the forelocks of the aged, and strengthening the muscles of the young. death, too, touched a hearth here and there, and carried desolation to a home; for four years cannot wing their flight without enforcing on us the lesson--which we are so often taught, and yet take so long to learn--that this is not our rest,--that here we have no abiding city. did we but ponder this lesson more frequently and earnestly, instead of making us sad, it would nerve our hearts and hands to fight and work more diligently,--to work in the cause of our redeemer,--the only cause that is worth the life-long energy of immortal beings,--the great cause that includes all others; and it would teach us to remember that our little day of opportunity will soon be spent, and that the night is at hand in which no man can work. four years rolled away, and during this time martin, having failed to obtain his aunt's consent to his going to sea, continued at school, doing his best to curb the roving spirit that strove within him. martin was not particularly bright at the dead languages; to the rules of grammar he entertained a rooted aversion; and at history he was inclined to yawn, except when it happened to touch upon the names and deeds of such men as vasco di gama and columbus. but in geography he was perfect; and in arithmetic and book-keeping he was quite a proficient, to the delight of mrs. dorothy grumbit, whose household books he summed up; and to the satisfaction of his fast friend, mr. arthur jollyboy, whose ledgers he was--in that old gentleman's secret resolves--destined to keep. martin was now fourteen, broad and strong, and tall for his age. he was the idol of the school,--dashing, daring, reckless, and good-natured. there was almost nothing that he would not attempt, and there were very few things that he could not do. he never fought, however--from principle; and his strength and size often saved him from the necessity. but he often prevented other boys from fighting, except when he thought there was good reason for it; then he stood by and saw fair play. there was a strange mixture of philosophical gravity, too, in martin. as he grew older he became more enthusiastic and less boisterous. bob croaker was still at the school, and was, from prudential motives, a fast friend of martin. but he bore him a secret grudge, for he could not forget the great fight. one day bob took martin by the arm, and said, "i say, rattler, come with me to bilton, and have some fun among the shipping." "well, i don't mind if i do," said martin. "i'm just in the mood for a ramble, and i'm not expected home till bed-time." in little more than an hour the two boys were wandering about the dock-yards of the sea-port town, and deeply engaged in examining the complicated rigging of the ships. while thus occupied, the clanking of a windlass and the merry "yo heave o! and away she goes," of the sailors, attracted their attention. "hallo! there goes the _firefly_, bound for the south seas," cried bob croaker; "come, let's see her start. i say, martin, isn't your friend, barney o'flannagan, on board?" "yes, he is. he tries to get me to go out every voyage, and i wish i could. come quickly; i want to say good-bye to him before he starts." "why don't you run away, rattler?" inquired bob, as they hurried round the docks to where the vessel was warping out. "because i don't need to. my aunt has given me leave to go if i like; but she says it would break her heart if i do; and i would rather be screwed down to a desk for ever than do that, bob croaker." the vessel, upon the deck of which the two boys now leaped, was a large, heavy-built barque. her sails were hanging loose, and the captain was giving orders to the men, who had their attention divided between their duties on board and their mothers, wives, and sisters, who still lingered to take a last farewell. "now, then, those who don't want to go to sea had better go ashore," roared the captain. there was an immediate rush to the side. "i say, martin," whispered barney, as he hurried past, "jump down below for'ard; you can go out o' the harbour mouth with us and get ashore in one o' the shore-boats alongside. they'll not cast off till we're well out. i want to speak to you--" "man the fore top-sail halyards," shouted the first mate. "ay ay, sir-r-r," and the men sprang to obey. just then the ship touched on the bar at the mouth of the harbour, and in another moment she was aground. "there, now, she's hard and fast!" roared the captain, as he stormed about the deck in a paroxysm of rage. but man's rage could avail nothing. they had missed the passage by a few feet, and now they had to wait the fall and rise again of the tide ere they could hope to get off. in the confusion that followed, bob croaker suggested that martin and he should take one of the punts, or small boats which hovered round the vessel, and put out to sea, where they might spend the day pleasantly in rowing and fishing. "capital!" exclaimed martin. "let's go at once. yonder's a little fellow who will let us have his punt for a few pence. i know him. hallo, tom!" "ay, ay," squeaked a boy who was so small that he could scarcely lift the oar, light though it was, with which he sculled his punt cleverly along. "shove alongside, like a good fellow; we want your boat for a little to row out a bit." "it's a-blowin' too hard," squeaked the small boy, as he ranged alongside. "i'm afeared you'll be blowed out." "nonsense!" cried bob croaker, grasping the rope which the boy threw to him. "jump on board, younker; we don't want you to help us, and you're too heavy for ballast. slip down the side, martin, and get in while i hold on to the rope. all right? now i'll follow. here, shrimp, hold the rope till i'm in, and then cast off. look alive!" as bob spoke, he handed the rope to the little boy; but, in doing so, let it accidentally slip out of his hand. "catch hold o' the main chains, martin,--quick!" but martin was too late. the current that swept out of the harbour whirled the light punt away from the ship's side, and carried it out seaward. martin instantly sprang to the oar, and turned the boat's head round. he was a stout and expert rower, and would soon have regained the ship; but the wind increased at the moment, and blew in a squall off shore, which carried him further out despite his utmost efforts. seeing that all further attempts were useless, martin stood up and waved his hand to bob croaker, shouting as he did so, "never mind, bob, i'll make for the south point. run round and meet me, and we'll row back together." the south point was a low cape of land which stretched a considerable distance out to sea, about three miles to the southward of bilton harbour. it formed a large bay, across which, in ordinary weather, a small boat might be rowed in safety. martin rattler was well known at the sea-port as a strong and fearless boy, so that no apprehension was entertained for his safety by those who saw him blown away. bob croaker immediately started for the point on foot, a distance of about four miles by land; and the crew of the _firefly_ were so busied with their stranded vessel that they took no notice of the doings of the boys. but the weather now became more and more stormy. thick clouds gathered on the horizon. the wind began to blow with steady violence, and shifted a couple of points to the southward; so that martin found it impossible to keep straight for the point. still he worked perseveringly at his single oar, and sculled rapidly over the sea; but, as he approached the point, he soon perceived that no effort of which he was capable could enable him to gain it. but martin's heart was stout. he strove with all the energy of hope, until the point was passed; and then, turning the head of his little boat towards it, he strove with all the energy of despair, until he fell down exhausted. the wind and tide swept him rapidly out to sea; and when his terrified comrade reached the point, the little boat was but a speck on the seaward horizon. well was it then for martin rattler that a friendly heart beat for him on board the _firefly_, bob croaker carried the news to the town; but no one was found daring enough to risk his life out in a boat on that stormy evening. the little punt had been long out of sight ere the news reached them, and the wind had increased to a gale. but barney o'flannagan questioned bob croaker closely, and took particular note of the point of the compass at which martin had disappeared; and when the _firefly_ at length got under weigh, he climbed to the fore-top cross-trees, and stood there scanning the horizon with an anxious eye. it was getting dark, and a feeling of despair began to creep over the seaman's heart as he gazed round the wide expanse of water, on which nothing was to be seen except the white foam that crested the rising billows. "starboard, hard!" he shouted suddenly. "starboard it is!" replied the man at the wheel, with prompt obedience. in another moment barney slid down the back-stay and stood on the deck, while the ship rounded to and narrowly missed striking a small boat that floated keel up on the water. there was no cry from the boat; and it might have been passed as a mere wreck, had not the lynx eye of barney noticed a dark object clinging to it. "lower away a boat, lads," cried the irishman, springing overboard; and the words had scarcely passed his lips when the water closed over his head. the _firefly_ was hove to, a boat was lowered and rowed towards barney, whose strong voice guided his shipmates towards him. in less than a quarter of an hour the bold sailor and his young friend martin rattler were safe on board, and the ship's head was again turned out to sea. it was full half an hour before martin was restored to consciousness in the forecastle, to which his deliverer had conveyed him. "musha, lad, but ye're booked for the blue wather now, an' no mistake!" said barney, looking with an expression of deep sympathy at the poor boy, who sat staring before him quite speechless. "the capting'll not let ye out o' this ship till ye git to the gould coast, or some sich place. he couldn't turn back av he wanted iver so much; but he doesn't want to, for he needs a smart lad like you, an' he'll keep you now, for sartin." barney sat down by martin's side and stroked his fair curls, as he sought in his own quaint fashion to console him. but in vain. martin grew quite desperate as he thought of the misery into which poor aunt dorothy grumbit would be plunged, on learning that he had been swept out to sea in a little boat, and drowned, as she would naturally suppose. in his frenzy he entreated and implored the captain to send him back in the boat, and even threatened to knock out his brains with a handspike if he did not; but the captain smiled and told him that it was his own fault. he had no business to be putting to sea in a small boat in rough weather, and he might be thankful he wasn't drowned. he wouldn't turn back now for fifty pounds twice told. at length martin became convinced that all hope of returning home was gone. he went quietly below, threw himself into one of the sailor's berths, turned his face to the wall, and wept long and bitterly. chapter vi the voyage, a pirate, chase, wreck, and escape time reconciles a man to almost anything. in the course of time martin rattler became reconciled to his fate, and went about the ordinary duties of a cabin-boy on board the _firefly_ just as if he had been appointed to that office in the ordinary way,--with the consent of the owners and by the advice of his friends. the captain, skinflint by name, and as surly an old fellow as ever walked a quarter-deck, agreed to pay him wages "if he behaved well." the steward, under whose immediate authority he was placed, turned out to be a hearty, good-natured young fellow, and was very kind to him. but martin's great friend was barney o'flannagan, the cook, with whom he spent many an hour in the night watches, talking over plans, and prospects, and retrospects, and foreign lands. as martin had no clothes except those on his back, which fortunately happened to be new and good, barney gave him a couple of blue striped shirts, and made him a jacket, pantaloons, and slippers of canvas; and, what was of much greater importance, taught him how to make and mend the same for himself. "ye see, martin, lad," he said, while thus employed one day, many weeks after leaving port, "it's a great thing, intirely, to be able to help yerself. for my part, i niver travel without my work-box in my pocket." "your work-box!" said martin, laughing. "jist so. an' it consists of wan sail-maker's needle, a ball o' twine, and a clasp-knife. set me down with these before a roll o' canvas and i'll make you a'most anything." "you seem to have a turn for everything, barney," said martin. "how came you to be a cook?" "that's more nor i can tell ye, lad. as far as i remimber, i began with murphies, when i was two feet high, in my father's cabin in ould ireland. but that was on my own account intirely, and not as a purfession; and a sorrowful time i had of it, too, for i was for iver burnin' my fingers promiskiously, and fallin' into the fire ivery day more or less--" "stand by to hoist top-gallant-sails," shouted the captain. "how's her head?" "south and by east, sir," answered the man at the wheel. "keep her away two points. look alive lads. hand me the glass, martin." the ship was close hauled when these abrupt orders were given, battling in the teeth of a stiff breeze, off the coast of south america. about this time, several piratical vessels had succeeded in cutting off a number of merchantmen near the coast of brazil. they had not only taken the valuable parts of their cargoes, but had murdered the crews under circumstances of great cruelty; and ships trading to these regions were, consequently, exceedingly careful to avoid all suspicious craft as much as possible. it was, therefore, with some anxiety that the men watched the captain's face as he examined the strange sail through the telescope. "a spanish schooner," muttered the captain, as he shut up the glass with a bang. "i won't trust her. up with the royals and rig out stun'-sails, mr. wilson, (to the mate). let her fall away, keep her head nor'-west, d'ye hear?" "ay, ay, sir." "let go the lee braces and square the yards. look sharp, now, lads. if that blackguard gets hold of us ye'll have to walk the plank, every man of ye." in a few minutes the ship's course was completely altered; a cloud of canvas spread out from the yards, and the _firefly_ bounded on her course like a fresh race-horse. but it soon became evident that the heavy barque was no match for the schooner, which crowded sail and bore down at a rate that bade fair to overhaul them in a few hours. the chase continued till evening, when suddenly the look-out at the mast-head shouted, "land, ho!" "where away?" cried the captain. "right ahead," sang out the man. "i'll run her ashore sooner than be taken," muttered the captain, with an angry scowl at the schooner, which was now almost within range on the weather quarter, with the dreaded black flag flying at her peak. in a few minutes breakers were descried ahead. "d'ye see anything like a passage?" shouted the captain. "yes, sir; two points on the weather bow." at this moment a white cloud burst from the schooner's bow, and a shot, evidently from a heavy gun, came ricochetting over the sea. it was well aimed, for it cut right through the barque's main-mast, just below the yard, and brought the main-top-mast, with all the yards, sails, and gearing above it, down upon the deck. the weight of the wreck, also, carried away the fore-top-mast, and, in a single instant, the _firefly_ was completely disabled. "lower away the boats," cried the captain; "look alive, now; we'll give them the slip yet. it'll be dark in two minutes." the captain was right. in tropical regions there is little or no twilight. night succeeds day almost instantaneously. before the boats were lowered and the men embarked it was becoming quite dark. the schooner observed the movement, however, and, as she did not dare to venture through the reef in the dark, her boats were also lowered and the chase was recommenced. the reef was passed in safety, and now a hard struggle took place, for the shore was still far distant. as it chanced to be cloudy weather the darkness became intense, and progress could only be guessed at by the sound of the oars; but these soon told too plainly that the boats of the schooner were overtaking those of the barque. "pull with a will, lads," cried the captain; "we can't be more than half a mile from shore; give way, my hearties." "surely, captain, we can fight them, we've most of us got pistols and cutlasses," said one of the men in a sulky tone. "fight them!" cried the captain, "they're four times our number, and every man armed to the teeth. if ye don't fancy walking the plank or dancing on nothing at the yard-arm, ye'd better pull away and hold your jaw." by this time they could just see the schooner's boats in the dim light, about half-musket range astern. "back you' oars," shouted a stern voice in broken english, "or i blow you out de watter in one oder moment,--black-yards!" this order was enforced by a musket shot, which whizzed over the boat within an inch of the captain's head. the men ceased rowing and the boats of the pirate ranged close up. "now then, martin," whispered barney o'flannagan, who sat at the bow oar, "i'm goin' to swim ashore; jist you slip arter me as quiet as ye can." "but the sharks!" suggested martin. "bad luck to them," said barney as he slipped over the side, "they're welcome to me. til take my chance. they'll find me mortial tough, anyhow. come along, lad, look sharp!" without a moment's hesitation martin slid over the gunwale into the sea, and, just as the pirate boats grappled with those of the barque, he and barney found themselves gliding as silently as otters towards the shore. so quietly had the manoeuvre been accomplished, that the men in their own boat were ignorant of their absence. in a few minutes they were beyond the chance of detection. "keep close to me, lad," whispered the irishman. "if we separate in the darkness we'll niver forgather again. catch hould o; my shoulder if ye get blowed, and splutter as much as ye like. they can't hear us now, and it'll help to frighten the sharks." "all right," replied martin; "i can swim like a cork in such warm water as this. just go a little slower and i'll do famously." thus encouraging each other, and keeping close together, lest they should get separated in the thick darkness of the night, the two friends struck out bravely for the shore. chapter vii martin and barney get lost in a great forest, where they see strange and terrible things on gaining the beach, the first thing that barney did, after shaking himself like a huge newfoundland dog, was to ascertain that his pistol and cutlass were safe; for, although the former could be of no use in its present condition, still, as he sagaciously remarked, "it was a good thing to have, for they might chance to git powder wan day or other, and the flint would make fire, anyhow." fortunately the weather was extremely warm; so they were enabled to take off and wring their clothes without much inconvenience, except that in a short time a few adventurous mosquitoes--probably sea-faring ones--came down out of the woods and attacked their bare bodies so vigorously that they were fain to hurry on their clothes again before they were quite dry. the clouds began to clear away soon after they landed, and the brilliant light of the southern constellations revealed to them dimly the appearance of the coast. it was a low sandy beach skirting the sea and extending back for about a quarter of a mile in the form of a grassy plain, dotted here and there with scrubby underwood. beyond this was a dark line of forest. the light was not sufficient to enable them to ascertain the appearance of the interior. barney and martin now cast about in their minds how they were to spend the night. "ye see," said the irishman, "it's of no use goin' to look for houses, because there's maybe none at all on this coast; an' there's no sayin' but we may fall in with savages--for them parts swarms with them; so we'd better go into the woods an'--" barney was interrupted here by a low howl, which proceeded from the woods referred to, and was most unlike any cry they had ever heard before. "och, but i'll think better of it. p'raps it'll be as well _not_ to go into the woods, but to camp where we are." "i think so too," said martin, searching about for small twigs and drift-wood with which to make a fire. "there is no saying what sort of wild beasts may be in the forest, so we had better wait till daylight." a fire was quickly lighted by means of the pistol-flint and a little dry grass, which, when well bruised and put into the pan, caught a spark after one or two attempts, and was soon blown into a flame. but no wood large enough to keep the fire burning for any length of time could be found; so barney said he would go up to the forest and fetch some. "i'll lave my shoes and socks, martin, to dry at the fire. see ye don't let them burn." traversing the meadow with hasty strides, the bold sailor quickly reached the edge of the forest, where he began to lop off several dead branches from the trees with his cutlass. while thus engaged the howl which had formerly startled him was repeated. "av i only knowed what ye was," muttered barney in a serious tone, "it would be some sort o' comfort." a loud cry of a different kind here interrupted his soliloquy, and soon after the first cry was repeated louder than before. clenching his teeth and knitting his brows the perplexed irishman resumed his work with a desperate resolve not to be again interrupted. but he had miscalculated the strength of his nerves. albeit as brave a man as ever stepped, when his enemy was before him, barney was, nevertheless, strongly imbued with superstitious feelings; and the conflict between his physical courage and his mental cowardice produced a species of wild exasperation, which, he often asserted, was very hard to bear. scarcely had he resumed his work when a bat of enormous size brushed past his nose so noiselessly that it seemed more like a phantom than a reality. barney had never seen anything of the sort before, and a cold perspiration broke out upon him, when he fancied it might be a ghost. again the bat swept past close to his eyes. "musha, but i'll kill ye, ghost or no ghost," he ejaculated, gazing all round into the gloomy depths of the woods with his cutlass uplifted. instead of flying again in front of him, as he had expected, the bat flew with a whirring noise past his ear. down came the cutlass with a sudden thwack, cutting deep into the trunk of a small tree, which trembled under the shock and sent a shower of ripe nuts of a large size down upon the sailor's head. startled as he was, he sprang backward with a wild cry; then, half ashamed of his groundless fears, he collected the wood he had cut, threw it hastily on his shoulder and went with a quick step out of the woods. in doing so he put his foot upon the head of a small snake, which wriggled up round his ankle and leg. if there was anything on earth that barney abhorred and dreaded it was a snake. no sooner did he feel its cold form writhing under his foot, than he uttered a tremendous yell of terror, dropped his bundle of sticks, and fled precipitately to the beach, where he did not hall till he found himself knee-deep in the sea. "och, martin, boy," gasped the affrighted sailor, "it's my belafe that all the evil spirits on arth live in yonder wood; indeed i do." "nonsense, barney," said martin, laughing; "there are no such things as ghosts; at any rate i'm resolved to face them, for if we don't get some sticks the fire will go out and leave us very comfortless. come, i'll go up with you." "put on yer shoes then, avic, for the sarpints are no ghosts, anyhow, and i'm tould they're pisonous sometimes." they soon found the bundle of dry sticks that barney had thrown down, and returning with it to the beach, they speedily kindled a roaring fire, which made them feel quite cheerful. true, they had nothing to eat; but having had a good dinner on board the barque late that afternoon, they were not much in want of food. while they sat thus on the sand of the sea-shore, spreading their hands before the blaze and talking over their strange position, a low rumbling of distant thunder was heard. barney's countenance instantly fell. "what's the matter, barney?" inquired martin, as he observed his companion gaze anxiously up at the sky. "och, it's comin', sure enough." "and what though it does come?" returned martin; "we can creep under one of these thick bushes till the shower is past." "did ye iver see a thunder-storm in the tropics?" inquired barney. "no, never," replied martin. "then if ye don't want to feel and see it both at wance, come with me as quick as iver ye can." barney started up as he spoke, stuck his cutlass and pistol into his belt, and set off towards the woods at a sharp run, followed closely by his wondering companion. their haste was by no means unnecessary. great black clouds rushed up towards the zenith from all points of the compass, and, just as they reached the woods, darkness so thick that it might almost be felt overspread the scene. then there was a flash of lightning so vivid that it seemed as if a bright day had been created and extinguished in a moment, leaving the darkness ten times more oppressive. it was followed instantaneously by a crash and a prolonged rattle, that sounded as if a universe of solid worlds were rushing into contact overhead and bursting into atoms. the flash was so far useful to the fugitives, that it enabled them to observe a many-stemmed tree with dense and heavy foliage, under which they darted. they were just in time, and had scarcely seated themselves among its branches when the rain came down in a way not only that martin had never seen, but that he had never conceived of before. it fell, as it were, in broad heavy sheets, and its sound was a loud, continuous roar. the wind soon after burst upon the forest and added to the hideous shriek of elements. the trees bent before it; the rain was whirled and dashed about in water-spouts; and huge limbs were rent from some of the larger trees with a crash like thunder, and swept far away into the forest. the very earth trembled and seemed terrified at the dreadful conflict going on above. it seemed to the two friends as if the end of the world were come; and they could do nothing but cower among the branches of the tree and watch the storm in silence; while they felt, in a way they had never before experienced, how utterly helpless they were and unable to foresee or avert the many dangers by which they were surrounded, and how absolutely dependent they were on god for protection. for several hours the storm continued. then it ceased as suddenly as it had begun, and the bright stars again shone down upon a peaceful scene. when it was over, martin and his comrade descended the tree and endeavoured to find their way back to the beach. but this was no easy matter. the haste with which they had run into the woods, and the confusion of the storm, had made them uncertain in which direction it lay; and the more they tried to get out, the deeper they penetrated into the forest. at length, wearied with fruitless wandering and stumbling about in the dark, they resolved to spend the night where they were. coming to a place which was more open than usual, and where they could see a portion of the starry sky overhead, they sat down on a dry spot under the shelter of a spreading tree, and, leaning their backs against the trunk, very soon fell sound asleep. chapter viii an enchanting land--an uncomfortable bed and a queer breakfast--many surprises and a few frights, together with a notable discovery "i've woked in paradise!" such was the exclamation that aroused martin rattler on the morning after his landing on the coast of south america. it was uttered by barney o'flannagan, who lay at full length on his back, his head propped up by a root of the tree under which they had slept, and his eyes staring right before him with an expression of concentrated amazement. when martin opened his eyes, he too was struck dumb with surprise. and well might they gaze with astonishment; for the last ray of departing daylight on the night before had flickered over the open sea, and now the first gleam of returning sunshine revealed to them the magnificent forests of brazil. yes, well might they gaze and gaze again in boundless admiration; for the tropical sun shone down on a scene of dazzling and luxuriant vegetation, so resplendent that it seemed to them the realization of a fairy tale. plants and shrubs and flowers were there, of the most curious and brilliant description, and of which they neither knew the uses nor the names. majestic trees were there, with foliage of every shape and size and hue; some with stems twenty feet in circumference; others more slender in form, straight and tall; and some twisted in a bunch together and rising upwards like fluted pillars: a few had buttresses, or natural planks, several feet broad, ranged all round their trunks, as if to support them; while many bent gracefully beneath the load of their clustering fruit and heavy foliage. orange-trees with their ripe fruit shone in the sunbeams like gold. stately palms rose above the surrounding trees and waved their feathery plumes in the air, and bananas with broad enormous leaves rustled in the breeze and cast a cool shadow on the ground. well might they gaze in great surprise; for all these curious and beautiful trees were surrounded by and entwined in the embrace of luxuriant and remarkable climbing plants. the parasitic vanilla with its star-like blossoms crept up their trunks and along their branches, where it hung in graceful festoons, or drooped back again almost to the ground. so rich and numerous were these creepers, that in many cases they killed the strong giants whom they embraced so lovingly. some of them hung from the tree-tops like stays from the masts of a ship, and many of them mingled their brilliant flowers so closely with the leaves, that the climbing-plants and their supporters could not be distinguished from each other, and it seemed as though the trees themselves had become gigantic flowering shrubs. birds, too, were there in myriads,--and such birds! their feathers were green and gold and scarlet and yellow and blue--fresh and bright and brilliant as the sky beneath which they were nurtured. the great toucan, with a beak nearly as big as his body, flew clumsily from stem to stem. the tiny, delicate humming-birds, scarce larger than bees, fluttered from flower to flower and spray to spray, like points of brilliant green. but they were irritable, passionate little creatures, these lovely things, and quarrelled with each other and fought like very wasps! enormous butterflies, with wings of deep metallic blue, shot past or hovered in the air like gleams of light; and green paroquets swooped from tree to tree and chattered joyfully over their morning meal. well might they gaze with wonder, and smile too with extreme merriment, for monkeys stared at them from between the leaves with expressions of undisguised amazement, and bounded away shrieking and chattering in consternation, swinging from branch to branch with incredible speed, and not scrupling to use each other's tails to swing by when occasion offered. some were big and red and ugly,--as ugly as you can possibly imagine, with blue faces and fiercely grinning teeth; others were delicately formed and sad of countenance, as if they were for ever bewailing the loss of near and dear relations, and could by no means come at consolation; and some were small and pretty, with faces no bigger than a halfpenny. as a general rule, it seemed to barney, the smaller the monkey the longer the tail. yes, well might they gaze and gaze again in surprise and in excessive admiration; and well might barney o'flannagan--under the circumstances, with such sights and sounds around him, and the delightful odours of myrtle trees arid orange blossoms and the cape jessamine stealing up his nostrils--deem himself the tenant of another world, and evince his conviction of the fact in that memorable expression--"i've woked in paradise!" but barney began to find "paradise" not quite so comfortable as it ought to be; for when he tried to get up he found his bones pained and stiff from sleeping in damp clothes; and moreover, his face was very much swelled, owing to the myriads of mosquitoes which had supped of it during the night. "arrah, then, _won't_ ye be done!" he cried, angrily, giving his face a slap that killed at least two or three hundred of his tormentors. but thousands more attacked him instantly, and he soon found out,--what every one finds out sooner or later in hot climates,--that _patience_ is one of the best remedies for mosquito bites. he also discovered shortly afterwards that smoke is not a bad remedy, in connection with patience. "what are we to have for breakfast, barney?" inquired martin as he rose and yawned and stretched his limbs. "help yersilf to what ye plase," said barney, with a polite bow, waving his hand round him, as if the forest were his private property and martin rattler his honoured guest. "well, i vote for oranges," said martin, going towards a tree which was laden with ripe fruit. "an' i'll try plums, by way of variety," added his companion. in a few minutes several kinds of fruit and nuts were gathered and spread at the foot of the tree under which they had reposed. then barney proceeded to kindle a fire,--not that he had anything to cook, but he said it looked sociable-like, and the smoke would keep off the flies. the operation, however, was by no means easy. everything had been soaked by the rain of the previous night, and a bit of dry grass could scarcely be found. at length he procured a little; and by rubbing it in the damp gunpowder which he had extracted from his pistol, and drying it in the sun, he formed a sort of tinder that caught fire after much persevering effort. some of the fruits they found to be good,--others bad. the good they ate,--the bad they threw away. after their frugal fare they felt much refreshed, and then began to talk of what they should do. "we can't live here with parrots and monkeys, you know," said martin; "we must try to find a village or town of some sort; or get to the coast, and then we shall perhaps meet with a ship." "true, lad," replied barney, knitting his brows and looking extremely sagacious; "the fact is, since neither of us knows nothing about anything, or the way to any place, my advice is to walk straight for'ard till we come to something." "so think i," replied martin; "therefore the sooner we set off the better." having no luggage to pack and no arrangements of any kind to make, the two friends rose from their primitive breakfast-table, and walked away straight before them into the forest. all that day they travelled patiently forward, conversing pleasantly about the various and wonderful trees, and flowers, and animals they met with by the way; but no signs were discovered that indicated the presence of man. towards evening, however, they fell upon a track or foot-path,--which discovery rejoiced them much; and here, before proceeding further, they sat down to eat a little more fruit,--which, indeed, they had done several times during the day. they walked nearly thirty miles that day without seeing a human being; but they met with many strange and beautiful birds and beasts,--some of which were of so fierce an aspect that they would have been very glad to have had guns to defend themselves with. fortunately, however, all the animals seemed to be much more afraid of them than they were of the animals; so they travelled in safety. several times during the course of the day they saw snakes and serpents, which glided away into the jungle on their approach, and could not be overtaken, although barney made repeated darts at them, intending to attack them with his cutlass; which assaults always proved fruitless. once they were charged by a herd of peccaries,--a species of pig or wild hog,--from which they escaped by jumping actively to one side; but the peccaries turned and rushed at them again, and it was only by springing up the branches of a neighbouring tree that they escaped their fury. these peccaries are the fiercest and most dauntless animals in the forests of brazil. they do not know what fear is,--they will rush in the face of anything; and, unlike all other animals, are quite indifferent to the report of fire-arms. their bodies are covered with long bristles, resembling very much the quills of the porcupine. as the evening drew on, the birds and beasts and the innumerable insects, that had kept up a perpetual noise during the day, retired to rest; and then the nocturnal animals began to creep out of their holes and go about. huge vampire-bats, one of which had given barney such a fright the night before, flew silently past them; and the wild howlings commenced again. they now discovered that one of the most dismal of the howls proceeded from a species of monkey: at which discovery martin laughed very much, and rallied his companion on being so easily frightened; but barney gladly joined in the laugh against himself, for, to say truth, he felt quite relieved and light-hearted at discovering that his ghosts were converted into bats and monkeys! there was one roar, however, which, when they heard it ever and anon, gave them considerable uneasiness. "d'ye think there's lions in them parts?" inquired barney, glancing with an expression of regret at his empty pistol, and laying his hand on the hilt of his cutlass. "i think not," replied martin, in a low tone of voice. "i have read in my school geography that there are tigers of some sort,--jaguars, or ounces, i think they are called,--but there are no--" martin's speech was cut short by a terrific roar, which rang through the woods, and the next instant a magnificent jaguar, or south american tiger, bounded on to the track a few yards in advance, and, wheeling round, glared fiercely at the travellers. it seemed, in the uncertain light, as if his eyes were two balls of living fire. though not so large as the royal bengal tiger of india, this animal was nevertheless of immense size, and had a very ferocious aspect. his roar was so sudden and awful, and his appearance so unexpected, that the blood was sent thrilling back into the hearts of the travellers, who stood rooted to the spot, absolutely unable to move. this was the first large animal of the cat kind that either of them had seen in all the terrible majesty of its wild condition; and, for the first time, martin and his friend felt that awful sensation of dread that will assail even the bravest heart when a new species of imminent danger is suddenly presented. it is said that no animal can withstand the steady gaze of a human eye; and many travellers in wild countries have proved this to be a fact. on the present occasion our adventurers stared long and steadily at the wild creature before them, from a mingled feeling of surprise and horror. in a few seconds the jaguar showed signs of being disconcerted. it turned its head from side to side slightly, and dropped its eyes, as if to avoid their gaze. then turning slowly and stealthily round, it sprang with a magnificent bound into the jungle, and disappeared. both martin and barney heaved a deep sigh of relief. "what a mercy it did not attack us!" said the former, wiping the cold perspiration from his forehead. "we should have had no chance against such a terrible beast with a cutlass, i fear." "true, boy, true," replied his friend, gravely; "it would have been little better than a penknife in the ribs o' sich a cratur. i niver thought that it was in the power o' man or baste to put me in sich a fright; but the longer we live we learn, boy." barney's disposition to make light of everything was thoroughly subdued by this incident, and he felt none of his usual inclination to regard all that he saw in the brazilian forests with a comical eye. the danger they had escaped was too real and terrible, and their almost unarmed condition too serious, to be lightly esteemed. for the next hour or two he continued to walk by martin's side either in total silence, or in earnest, grave conversation; but by degrees these feelings wore off, and his buoyant spirits gradually returned. the country over which they had passed during the day was of a mingled character. at one time they traversed a portion of dark forest, heavy and choked up with the dense and gigantic foliage peculiar to those countries that lie near to the equator; then they emerged from this upon what to their eyes seemed most beautiful scenery,--mingled plain and woodland,--where the excessive brilliancy and beauty of the tropical vegetation was brought to perfection by exposure to the light of the blue sky and the warm rays of the sun. in such lovely spots they travelled more slowly and rested more frequently, enjoying to the full the sight of the gaily-coloured birds and insects that fluttered busily around them, and the delicious perfume of the flowers that decked the ground and clambered up the trees. at other times they came to plains, or _campos_, as they are termed, where there were no trees at all, and few shrubs, and where the grass was burned brown and dry by the sun. over such they hurried as quickly as they could; and fortunately, where they chanced to travel, such places were neither numerous nor extensive, although in some districts of brazil there are campos hundreds of miles in extent. a small stream meandered through the forest, and enabled them to refresh themselves frequently; which was very fortunate, for the heat, especially towards noon, became extremely intense, and they could not have existed without water. so great, indeed, was the heat about mid-day, that, by mutual consent, they resolved to seek the cool shade of a spreading tree, and try to sleep if possible. at this time they learned, to their surprise, that all animated nature did likewise, and sought repose at noon. god had implanted in the breast of every bird and insect in that mighty forest an instinct which taught it to rest and find refreshment during the excessive heat of mid-day; so that, during the space of two or three hours, not a thing with life was seen, and not a sound was heard. even the troublesome mosquitoes, so active at all other times, day and night, were silent now. the change was very great and striking, and difficult for those who have not observed it to comprehend. all the forenoon, screams, and cries, and croaks, and grunts, and whistles, ring out through the woods incessantly; while, if you listen attentively, you hear the low, deep, and never-ending buzz and hum of millions upon millions of insects, that dance in the air and creep on every leaf and blade upon the ground. about noon all this is hushed. the hot rays of the sun beat perpendicularly down upon what seems a vast untenanted solitude, and not a single chirp breaks the death-like stillness of the great forest, with the solitary exception of the metallic note of the uruponga, or bell-bird, which seems to mount guard when all the rest of the world has gone to sleep. as the afternoon approaches they all wake up, refreshed by their siesta, active and lively as fairies, and ready for another spell of work and another deep-toned noisy chorus. the country through which our adventurers travelled, as evening approached, became gradually more hilly, and their march consequently more toilsome. they were just about to give up all thought of proceeding further that night, when, on reaching the summit of a little hill, they beheld a bright red light shining at a considerable distance in the valley beyond. with light steps and hearts full of hope they descended the hill and hastened towards it. chapter ix the hermit it was now quite dark, and the whole country seemed alive with fire-flies. these beautiful little insects sat upon the trees and bushes, spangling them as with living diamonds, and flew about in the air like little wandering stars. barney had seen them before, in the west indies, but martin had only heard of them; and his delight and amazement at their extreme brilliancy were very great. although he was naturally anxious to reach the light in the valley, in the hope that it might prove to proceed from some cottage, he could not refrain from stopping once or twice to catch these lovely creatures; and when he succeeded in doing so, and placed one on the palm of his hand, the light emitted from it was more brilliant than that of a small taper, and much more beautiful, for it was of a bluish colour, and very intense,--more like the light reflected from a jewel than a flame of fire. he could have read a book by means of it quite easily. in half an hour they drew near to the light, which they found proceeded from the window of a small cottage or hut. "whist, martin," whispered barney, as they approached the hut on tiptoe; "there may be savages into it, an' there's no sayin' what sort o' craturs they are in them parts." when about fifty yards distant, they could see through the open window into the room where the light burned; and what they beheld there was well calculated to fill them with surprise. on a rude wooden chair, at a rough unpainted table, a man was seated, with his head resting on his hand, and his eyes fixed intently on a book. owing to the distance, and the few leaves and branches that intervened between them and the hut, they could not observe him very distinctly. but it was evident that he was a large and strong man, a little past the prime of life. the hair of his head and beard was black and bushy, and streaked with silver-grey. his face was massive, and of a dark olive complexion, with an expression of sadness on it, strangely mingled with stern gravity. his broad shoulders--and, indeed, his whole person--were enveloped in the coarse folds of a long gown or robe, gathered in at the waist with a broad band of leather. the room in which he sat--or rather the hut, for there was but one room in it--was destitute of all furniture, except that already mentioned, besides one or two roughly-formed stools; but the walls were completely covered with strange-looking implements and trophies of the chase; and in a corner lay a confused pile of books, some of which were, from their appearance, extremely ancient. all this the benighted wanderers observed as they continued to approach cautiously on tiptoe. so cautious did they become as they drew near, and came within the light of the lamp, that barney at length attempted to step over his own shadow for fear of making a noise; and, in doing so, tripped and fell with considerable noise through a hedge of prickly shrubs that encircled the strange man's dwelling. the hermit--for such he appeared to be--betrayed no symptom of surprise or fear at the sudden sound; but, rising quietly though quickly from his seat, took down a musket that hung on the wall, and, stepping to the open door, demanded sternly, in the portuguese language, "who goes there?" "arrah, then, if ye'd help a fellow-cratur to rise, instead o' talkin' gibberish like that, it would be more to your credit!" exclaimed the irishman, as he scrambled to his feet and presented himself, along with martin, at the hermit's door. a peculiar smile lighted up the man's features as he retreated into the hut, and invited the strangers to enter. "come in," said he, in good english, although with a slightly foreign accent. "i am most happy to see you. you are english. i know the voice and the language very well. lived among them once, but long time past now--very long. have not seen one of you for many years." with many such speeches, and much expression of good-will, the hospitable hermit invited martin and his companion to sit down at his rude table, on which he quickly spread several plates of ripe and dried fruits, a few cakes, and a jar of excellent honey, with a stone bottle of cool water. when they were busily engaged with these viands, he began to make inquiries as to where his visitors had come from. "we've comed from the sae," replied barney, as he devoted himself to a magnificent pineapple. "och but yer victuals is mighty good, mister--what's yer name?--'ticklerly to them that's a'most starvin'." "the fact is," said martin, "our ship has been taken by pirates, and we two swam ashore, and lost ourselves in the woods; and now we have stumbled upon your dwelling, friend, which is a great comfort." "hoigh, an' that's true," sighed barney, as he finished the last slice of the pineapple. they now explained to their entertainer all the circumstances attending the capture of the _firefly_, and their subsequent adventures and vicissitudes in the forest; all of which barney detailed in a most graphic manner, and to all of which their new friend listened with grave attention and unbroken silence. when they had concluded he said,-- "very good. you have seen much in very short time. perhaps you shall see more by-and-by. for the present you will go to rest, for you must be fatigued. i will _think_ to-night,--to-morrow i will _speak_" "an', if i may make so bould," said barney, glancing with a somewhat rueful expression round the hard earthen floor of the hut, "where-abouts may i take the liberty of sleepin'?" the hermit replied by going to a corner, whence, from beneath a heap of rubbish, he dragged two hammocks, curiously wrought in a sort of light net-work. these he slung across the hut, at one end, from wall to wall, and, throwing a sheet or coverlet into each, he turned with a smile to his visitors,-- "behold your beds! i wish you a very good sleep,--adios!" so saying, this strange individual sat down at the table, and was soon as deeply engaged with his large book as if he had suffered no interruption; while martin and barney, having gazed gravely and abstractedly at him for five minutes, turned and smiled to each other, jumped into their hammocks, and were soon buried in deep slumber. chapter x an enemy in the night--the vampire bat--the hermit discourses on strange, and curious, and interesting things next morning martin rattler awoke with a feeling of lightness in his head, and a sensation of extreme weakness pervading his entire frame. turning his head round to the right he observed that a third hammock was slung across the further end of the hut; which was, no doubt, that in which the hermit had passed the night. but it was empty now. martin did not require to turn his head to the other side to see if barney o'flannagan was there, for that worthy individual made his presence known, for a distance of at least sixty yards all round the outside of the hut, by means of his nose, which he was in the habit of using as a trumpet when asleep. it was as well that martin did not require to look round; for he found, to his surprise, that he had scarcely strength to do so. while he was wondering in a dreamy sort of manner what could be the matter with him, the hermit entered the hut bearing a small deer upon his shoulders. resting his gun in a corner of the room, he advanced to martin's hammock. "my boy," he exclaimed, in surprise, "what is wrong with you?" "i'm sure i don't know," said martin, faintly; "i think there is something wet about my feet." turning up the sheet, he found that martin's feet were covered with blood! for a few seconds the hermit growled forth a number of apparently very pithy sentences in portuguese, in a deep guttural voice, which awakened barney with a start. springing from his hammock with a bound like a tiger, he exclaimed, "och! ye blackguard, would ye murther the boy before me very nose?" and seizing the hermit in his powerful grasp, he would infallibly have hurled him, big though he was, through his own doorway, had not martin cried out, "stop, stop, barney. it's all right; he's done nothing:" on hearing which the irishman loosened his hold, and turned towards his friend. "what's the matter, honey?" said barney, in a soothing tone of voice, as a mother might address her infant son. the hermit, whose composure had not been in the slightest degree disturbed, here said-- "the poor child has been sucked by a vampire bat." "ochone!" groaned barney, sitting down on the table, and looking at his host with a face of horror. "yes, these are the worst animals in brazil for sucking the blood of men and cattle. i find it quite impossible to keep my mules alive, they are so bad." barney groaned. "they have killed two cows which i tried to keep here, and one young horse--a foal you call him, i think; and now i have no cattle remaining, they are so bad." barney groaned again, and the hermit went on to enumerate the wicked deeds of the vampire bats, while he applied poultices of certain herbs to martin's toe, in order to check the bleeding, and then bandaged it up; after which he sat down to relate to his visitors the manner in which the bat carries on its bloody operations. he explained, first of all, that the vampire bats are so large and ferocious that they often kill horses and cattle by sucking their blood out. of course they cannot do this at one meal, but they attack the poor animals again and again, and the blood continues to flow from the wounds they make long afterwards, so that the creatures attacked soon grow weak and die. they attack men, too,--as martin knew to his cost; and they usually fix upon the toes and other extremities. so gentle are they in their operations, that sleepers frequently do not feel the puncture, which they make, it is supposed, with the sharp hooked nail of their thumb; and the unconscious victim knows nothing of the enemy who has been draining his blood until he awakens, faint and exhausted, in the morning. moreover, the hermit told them that these vampire bats have very sharp, carnivorous teeth, besides a tongue which is furnished with the curious organs by which they suck the life-blood of their fellow-creatures; that they have a peculiar, leaf-like, overhanging lip; and that he had a stuffed specimen of a bat that measured no less than two feet across the expanded wings, from tip to tip, "och, the blood-thirsty spalpeen!" exclaimed barney, as he rose and crossed the room to examine the bat in question, which was nailed against the wall. "bad luck to them, they've ruined martin intirely." "o no," remarked the hermit with a smile. "it will do the boy much good the loss of the blood; much good, and he will not be sick at all to-morrow." "i'm glad to hear you say so," said martin, "for it would be a great bore to be obliged to lie here when i've so many things to see. in fact i feel better already, and if you will be so kind as to give me a little breakfast i shall be quite well," while martin was speaking, the obliging hermit,--who, by the way, was now habited in a loose short hunting-coat of brown cotton,--spread a plentiful repast upon his table; to which, having assisted martin to get out of his hammock, they all proceeded to do ample justice: for the travellers were very hungry after the fatigue of the previous day; and as for the hermit, he looked like a man whose appetite was always sharp set and whose food agreed with him. they had cold meat of several kinds, and a hot steak of venison just killed that morning, which the hermit cooked while his guests were engaged with the other viands. there was also excellent coffee, and superb cream, besides cakes made of a species of coarse flour or meal, fruits of various kinds, arid very fine honey. "arrah! ye've the hoith o' livin' here!" cried barney, smacking his lips as he held out his plate for another supply of a species of meat which resembled chicken in tenderness and flavour. "what sort o' bird or baste may that be, now, av' i may ask ye, mister--what's yer name?" "my name is carlos," replied the hermit, gravely; "and this is the flesh of the armadillo." "arma--what--o?" inquired barney. "arma_dillo_," repeated the hermit. "he is very good to eat, but very difficult to catch. he digs down so fast we cannot catch him, and must smoke him out of his hole." "have you many cows?" inquired martin, as he replenished his cup with coffee. "cows?" echoed the hermit, "i have got no cows." "where do you get such capital cream, then?" asked martin in surprise. the hermit smiled. "ah! my friends, that cream has come from a very curious cow. it is from a cow that grows in the ground." "grows!" ejaculated his guests. "yes, he grows. i will show him to you one day." the hermit's broad shoulders shook with a quiet internal laugh. "i will explain a little of that you behold on my table. "the coffee i get from the trees. there are plenty of them here. much money is made in brazil by the export of coffee,--very much. the cakes are made from the mandioca-root, which i grow near my house. the root is dried and ground into flour, which, under the general _name farina_, is used all over the country. it is almost the only food used by the indians and negroes." "then there are injins and niggers here, are there?" inquired barney. "yes, a great many. most of the negroes are slaves; some of the indians too; and the people who are descended from the portuguese who came and took the country long ago, they are the masters.--well, the honey i get in holes in the trees. there are different kinds of honey here; some of it is _sour_ honey. and the fruits and roots, the plantains, and bananas, and yams, and cocoa-nuts, and oranges, and plums, all grow in the forest, and much more besides, which you will see for yourselves if you stay long here." "it's a quare country, intirely," remarked barney, as he wiped his mouth and heaved a sigh of contentment. then, drawing his hand over his chin, he looked earnestly in the hermit's face, and, with a peculiar twinkle in his eye, said-- "i s'pose ye couldn't favour me with the lind of a raazor, could ye?" "no, my friend; i never use that foolish weapon." "ah, well, as there's only monkeys and jaguars, and sich like to see me, it don't much signify; but my mustaches is gitin' mighty long, for i've been two weeks already without a shave." martin laughed heartily at the grave, anxious expression of his comrade's face. "never mind, barney," he said, "a beard and moustache will improve you vastly. besides, they will be a great protection against mosquitoes; for you are such a hairy monster, that when they grow nothing of your face will be exposed except your eyes and cheek-bones. and now," continued martin, climbing into his hammock again and addressing the hermit, "since you won't allow me to go out a-hunting to-day, i would like very much if you would tell me something more about this strange country." "an' may be," suggested barney, modestly, "ye won't object to tell us something about yersilf,--how you came for to live in this quare, solitary kind of a way." the hermit looked gravely from one to the other, and stroked his beard. drawing his rude chair towards the door of the hut, he folded his arms, and crossed his legs, and gazed dreamily forth upon the rich landscape. then, glancing again at his guests, he said, slowly: "yes, i will do what you ask,--i will tell you my story." "an', if i might make so bould as to inquire," said barney, with a deprecatory smile, while he drew a short black pipe from his pocket, "have ye got such a thing as 'baccy in them parts?" the hermit rose, and going to a small box which stood in a corner, returned with a quantity of cut tobacco in one hand, and a cigar not far short of a foot long in the other! in a few seconds the cigar was going in full force, like a factory chimney; and the short black pipe glowed like a miniature furnace, while its owner seated himself on a low stool, crossed his arms on his breast, leaned his back against the door-post, and smiled,--as only an irishman can smile under such circumstances. the smoke soon formed a thick cloud, which effectually drove the mosquitoes out of the hut, and through which martin, lying in his hammock, gazed out upon the sunlit orange and coffee trees, and tall palms with their rich festoons of creeping plants, and sweet-scented flowers, that clambered over and round the hut and peeped in at the open door and windows, while he listened to the hermit, who continued for at least ten minutes to murmur slowly, between the puffs of his cigar, "yes, i will do it; i will tell you my story." chapter xi the hermit's story "my ancestors," began the hermit, "were among the first to land upon brazil, after the country was taken possession of in the name of the king of portugal, in the year . in the first year of the century, vincent yanez pinçon, a companion of the famed columbus, discovered brazil; and in the next year, pedro alvarez cabral, a portuguese commander, took possession of it in the name of the king of portugal. in , americus vespucius discovered the bay of all saints, and took home a cargo of brazil-wood, monkeys and parrots; but no permanent settlement was effected upon the shores of the new continent, and the rich treasures of this great country remained for some years longer buried and unknown to man,--for the wild indians who lived here knew not their value. "it was on a dark and stormy night in the year . a group of swarthy and naked savages encircled a small fire on the edge of the forest on the east coast of brazil. the spot where their watchfire was kindled is now covered by the flourishing city of bahia. at that time it was a wilderness. before them stretched the noble bay which is now termed _bahia de todos santos,_--all saints' bay. "the savages talked earnestly and with excited looks as they stood upon the shore, for the memory of the wondrous ships of the white men that had visited them a few years before was deeply engraven on their minds; and now, in the midst of the howling storm, another ship was seen approaching their land. it was a small vessel, shattered and tempest-tossed, that drove into the bahia de todos santos on that stormy night. long had it battled with the waves of the atlantic, and the brave hearts that manned it had remained stanch to duty and strong in hope, remembering the recent glorious example of columbus. but the storm was fierce and the bark was frail. the top-masts were broken and the sails rent; and worst of all, just as land hove in sight and cheered the drooping spirits of the crew, a tremendous wave dashed upon the ship's stern and carried away the rudder. "as they drove helplessly before the gale towards the shore, the naked savages crowded down upon the beach and gazed in awe and astonishment at the mysterious ship. a few of them had seen the vessels of americus vespucius and cabral. the rumour of the white men and their floating castle had been wafted far and wide along the coast and into the interior of brazil, and with breathless wonder the natives had listened to the strange account. but now the vision was before them in reality. on came the floating castle, the white foam dashing from her bows and the torn sails and ropes flying from her masts as she surged over the billows and loomed through the driving spray. "it was a grand sight to see that ship dashing straight towards the shore at fearful speed; and those who looked on seemed to be impressed with a vague feeling that she had power to spring upon the strand and continue her swift career through the forest, as she had hitherto cleft her passage through the sea. as she approached, the savages shrank back in fear. suddenly her frame trembled with a mighty shock. a terrible cry was borne to land by the gale, and all her masts went overboard. a huge wave lifted the vessel on its crest and flung her further on the shore, where she remained firmly fixed, while the waves dashed in foam around her and soon began to break her up. ere this happened, however, a rope was thrown ashore and fastened to a rock by the natives. by means of this the crew were saved. but it would have been well for these bold navigators of portugal if they had perished in the stormy sea, for they were spared by the ocean only to be murdered by the wild savages on whose shore they had been cast. "all were slain save one,--diego alvarez carreo, the captain of the ship. before grasping the rope by which he reached the shore, he thrust several cartridges into his bosom and caught up a loaded musket. wrapping the lock in several folds of cloth to keep it dry, he slid along the rope and gained the beach in safety. here he was seized by the natives, and would no doubt have been barbarously slain with his unfortunate companions; but, being a very powerful man, he dashed aside the foremost, and, breaking through their ranks, rushed towards the wood. the fleet savages, however, overtook him in an instant, and were about to seize him when a young indian woman interposed between them and their victim. this girl was the chiefs daughter, and respect for her rank induced them to hesitate for a moment; but in another instant the portuguese captain was surrounded. in the scuffle that ensued his musket exploded, but fortunately wounded no one. instantly the horrified savages fled in all directions leaving carreo alone! "the captain was quick-witted. he knew that among hundreds of savages it was madness to attempt either to fight or fly, and the happy effect of the musket explosion induced him to adopt another course of action. he drew himself up proudly to his full height, and beckoned the savages to return. this they did, casting many glances of fear at the dreaded musket. going up to one who, from his bearing and ornaments, seemed to be a chief, carreo laid his musket on the sand, and, stepping over it so that he left it behind him, held out his hand frankly to the chief. the savage looked at him in surprise, and suffered the captain to take his hand and pat it; after which he began to examine the stranger's dress with much curiosity. seeing that their chief was friendly to the white man, the other savages hurried him to the campfire, where he soon stripped off his wet clothes and ate the food which they put before him. thus diego carreo was spared. "next day, the indians lined the beach and collected the stores of the wrecked vessel. while thus employed, carreo shot a gull with his musket; which so astonished the natives that they regarded him with fear and respect amounting almost to veneration. a considerable quantity of powder and shot was saved from the wreck, so that the captain was enabled to keep his ascendency over the ignorant natives; and at length he became a man of great importance in the tribe, and married the daughter of the chief. he went by the name of _caramuru_,--'the man of fire.' this man founded the city of bahia. "the coasts of brazil began soon after this to be settled in various places by the portuguese; who, however, were much annoyed by the spaniards, who claimed a share in the rich prize. the dutch and english also formed settlements; but the portuguese still retained possession of the country, and continued to prosper. meanwhile diego caramuru, 'the man of fire,' had a son who in course of time became a prosperous settler; and as his sons grew up he trained them to become cultivators of the soil and traders in the valuable products of the new world. he took a piece of ground, far removed from the spot where his father had been cast ashore, and a short distance in the interior of the country. here the eldest sons of the family dwelt, laboured, and died, for many generations. "in the year portugal was invaded by napoleon buonaparte, and the sovereign of that kingdom, john vi., fled to brazil, accompanied by his court and a large body of emigrants. the king was warmly received by the brazilians, and immediately set about improving the condition of the country. he threw open its ports to all nations; freed the land from all marks of colonial dependence; established newspapers; made the press free, and did everything to promote education and industry. but although much was done, the good was greatly hindered, especially in the inland districts, by the vice, ignorance, and stupidity of many of the roman catholic priests, who totally neglected their duties,--which, indeed, they were incompetent to perform,--and in many instances, were no better than miscreants in disguise, teaching the people vice instead of virtue. "foremost among the priests who opposed advancement was a descendant of the 'man of fire,' padre caramuru dwelt for some years with an english merchant in the capital of brazil, rio de janeiro. the padre was not an immoral man, but he was a fiery bigot, and fiercely opposed everything that tended to advance the education of the people. this he did, firmly believing that education was dangerous to the lower orders. his church taught him, too, that the bible was a dangerous book; and whenever a copy fell into his hands he immediately destroyed it. during the disturbances that took place after the time of king john's departure for portugal, and just before brazil became an independent state under his son, the emperor don pedro i., padre caramuru lost a beloved and only brother. he was quite a youth, and had joined the army only a few months previously, at the desire of his elder brother the padre, who was so overwhelmed by the blow that he ceased to take an active part in church or political affairs and buried himself in a retired part of his native valley. here he sought relief and comfort in the study of the beauties of nature by which he was surrounded, but found none. then he turned his mind to the doctrines of his church, and took pleasure in verifying them from the bible. but as he proceeded he found, to his great surprise, that these doctrines were, many of them, not to be found there; nay, further, that some of them were absolutely contradicted by the word of god. "padre caramuru had been in the habit of commanding his people not to listen to the bible when any one offered to read it; but in the bible itself he found these words, 'search the scriptures.' he had been in the habit of praying to the virgin mary, and begging her to intercede with god for him; but in the bible he found these words: 'there is one mediator between god and man, the man christ jesus.' these things perplexed him much. but while he was thus searching, as it were, for silver, the ignorant padre found gold! he found that he did not require to _work_ for salvation, but to _ask_ for it. he discovered that the atonement had been made once for all by jesus christ, the lamb of god; and he read with a thrilling heart these words: 'god so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' "long and earnestly did the padre ponder these words and pray over them; and gradually the holy spirit enlightened his mind, and he saw how hateful that system was which could forbid or discourage the reading of the blessed word of god. he soon resolved to forsake the priesthood. but when he had done so, he knew not what to turn his hand to. he had no one like-minded to consult with, and he felt that it was wrong to eat the bread of idleness. being thus uncertain what to do, he resolved in the meantime to carry goods into the interior of the country, and offer them for sale. the land round his dwelling and his own gun would supply him with food; and for the rest, he would spend his time in the study of the bible, and seek for more light and direction from god. "such," continued the hermit, "is a slight sketch of the history of my country and of myself." "yourself?" exclaimed martin. "yes. i am the padre caramuru, or rather i _was_. i am padre no longer, but senhor carlos caramuru, a merchant. yet i know not what to do. when i look round upon my country, and see how they know not the precious word of god, my heart burns in me, and i sometimes think that it is my duty to go forth and preach." "no doubt ye are right," said barney. "i've always bin of opinion that when a man feels very strong in his heart on any partic'lar subject, it's a sure sign that the almighty intends him to have something more to do with that subject than other men who don't feel about it at all." the hermit remained silent for a few minutes. "i think you are right, friend," he said; "but i am very ignorant yet. i have no one to explain difficulties to me; and i fear to go about preaching, lest i should preach what is not true. i will study yet for a time, and pray. after that, perhaps, i may go forth." "but you have told us nothing yet about the trade of the country," said martin, "or its size, or anything of that sort." "i will soon tell you of that when i have lighted another cigar. this one does not draw well. have you got a full pipe still, my friend?" "all right, mr. carrymooroo," replied barney, knocking out the ashes. "i'll jist load wance more, and then,--fire away." in a few minutes the big cigar and short pipe were in full play, and the hermit continued:-- "this country is very large and very rich, but it is not well worked. the people are lazy, many of them, and have not much enterprise. much is done, no doubt; but very much more _might_ be done. "the empire of brazil occupies nearly one-half of the whole continent of south america. it is miles long, and miles broad; which, as you know perhaps, is a little larger than all europe. the surface of the country is beautiful and varied. the hilly regions are very wild, although none of the mountains are very high, and the woods are magnificent; but a great part of the land consists of vast grassy plains, which are called llanos, or campos, or silvas. the campos along the banks of the river amazon are equal to six times the size of france; and there is one great plain which lies between the sierra ibiapaba and the river tocantins which is miles long by miles broad. there are very few lakes in brazil, and only one worth speaking of--the lagoa dos platos--which is miles long. but our rivers are the finest in the whole world, being so long, and wide, and deep, and free from falls, that they afford splendid communication with the interior of the land. but, alas! there are few ships on these rivers yet, very few. the rivers in the north part of brazil are so numerous and interlaced that they are much like the veins in the human body; and the great river amazon and a few of its chief tributaries resemble the arteries. "then as to our produce," continued the hermit, "who can tell it all? we export sugar, and coffee, and cotton, and gold, silver, lead, zinc, quicksilver, and amethysts, and we have diamond mines--" "di'mond mines!" echoed barney; "och but i would like for to see them. sure they would sparkle most beautiful. are they far off, mr. carrymooroo?" "yes, very far off. then we export dye-woods, and cabinet-woods, and drugs, and gums, and hides,--a great many hides, for the campos are full of wild cattle, and men hunt them on horseback, and catch them with a long rope called the _lasso_." "how i should like to have a gallop over these great plains," murmured martin. "then we have," continued the hermit, "rice, tapioca, cocoa, maize, wheat, mandioca, beans, bananas, pepper, cinnamon, oranges, figs, ginger, pineapples, yams, lemons, mangoes, and many other fruits and vegetables. the mandioca you have eaten in the shape of farina. it is very good food; one acre gives as much nutriment as six acres of wheat. "of the trees you have seen something. there are thousands of kinds, and most magnificent. some of them are more than thirty feet round about. there are two hundred different kinds of palms, and so thick stand the giant trees in many places, with creeping plants growing between, that it is not possible for man to cut his way through the forests in some parts. language cannot describe the grandeur and glory of the brazilian forests. "we have numbers of wild horses, and hogs, and goats; and in the woods are tiger-cats, jaguars, tapirs, hyenas, sloths, porcupines, and--but you have seen many things already. if you live you will see more. i need not tell you of these things; very soon i will show you some. "the population of my country consists of the descendants of portuguese settlers, native indians, and negroes. of the latter, some are free, some slaves. the indians go about nearly naked. most of them are in a savage state: they paint their skins, and wear gaudy ornaments. the religion of the country is roman catholic, but all religions are tolerated; and i have much hope for the future of brazil, in spite of the priests." "and do ye git much out o' the di'mond mines?" inquired barney, whose mind was running on this subject. "o yes, a great deal. every year many are got, and government gets one-fifth of the value of all the gold and diamonds found in the country. one diamond was found a short time ago which was worth £ , ." "ye don't say so!" exclaimed barney in great surprise, as he blew an immense cloud of smoke from his lips. "now, that's extror'nary. why don't everybody go to the mines and dig up their fortin at wance?" "because men cannot _eat_ diamonds," replied the hermit gravely. "troth, i niver thought o' that; ye're right." martin laughed heartily as he lay in his hammock and watched his friend's expression while pondering this weighty subject. "moreover," resumed the hermit, "you will be surprised to hear that diamond and gold finding is not the most profitable employment in this country. "the man who cultivates the ground is better off than anybody. it is a fact, a very great fact, a fact that you should get firmly fixed in your memory--that in less than _two years_ the exports of sugar and coffee amounted to more than the value of all the diamonds found in _eighty_ years. yes, that is true. but the people of brazil are not well off. they have everything that is necessary to make a great nation; but we are not a great nation, far from it." the hermit sighed deeply as he ceased speaking, and fell into an abstracted frame of mind. "it's a great country intirely," said barney, knocking the ashes out of his pipe, and placing that much-loved implement carefully in his pocket; "a great country, but there's a tremendous big screw loose somewhere." "it seems curious to me," said martin, in a ruminating tone of voice, "that people should not get on better in a country in which there is everything that man can desire to make him rich and happy. i wonder what it wants; perhaps it's too hot, and the people want energy of character." "want energy!" shouted the hermit, leaping from his seat, and regarding his guests for a few moments with a stern expression of countenance; then, stretching forth his hand, he continued, in an excited tone: "brazil does not want energy; it has only one want,--it wants the bible! when a country is sunk down in superstition and ignorance and moral depravity, so that the people know not right from wrong, there is only one cure for her,--the bible. religion here is a mockery and a shame; such as, if it were better known, would make the heathen laugh in scorn. the priests are a curse to the land, not a blessing. perhaps they are better in other lands,--i know not; but well i know they are many of them false and wicked here. no truth is taught to the people,--no bible is read in their ears; religion is not taught,--even morality is not taught; men follow the devices and desires of their own hearts, and there is no voice raised to say, 'you are doing wrong.' my country is sunk very low; and she cannot hope to rise, for the word of her maker is not in her hand. true, there are a few, a very few bibles in the great cities; but that is all: that cannot save her hundreds of towns and villages. thousands of her people are slaves in body,--all, all are slaves in soul; and yet you ask me what she wants. ha! she wants _truth_,--she wants to be purged of falsehood. she has bones and muscles, and arteries and veins,--everything to make a strong and healthy nation; but she wants blood,--she has no vital stream; yes, brazil, my country, wants the bible!" chapter xii a hunting expedition, in which are seen stones that can run, and cows that require no food--besides a desperate encounter with a jaguar, and other strange things for many weeks martin rattler and his friend barney o'flannagan continued to dwell with the hermit in his forest-home, enjoying his entertaining and instructive discourse, and joining with him in the hunting expeditions which he undertook for the purpose of procuring fresh food for his table. in these rambles they made constant discoveries of something new and surprising, both in reference to the vegetables and animals of that extraordinary region of the earth. they also had many adventures,--some amusing and some terrible,--which we cannot enlarge on here, for they would fill ten volumes such as this, were they to be all recorded in detail. one day the hermit roused them earlier than usual and told them to get ready, as he intended to go a considerable distance that day, and he wished to reach a particular spot before the heat of noon. so martin and barney despatched breakfast in as short a time as possible, and the hermit read them a chapter out of his large and well-thumbed bible, after which they equipped themselves for the chase. when martin and his friend escaped from the pirates and landed on the coast of brazil, they were clothed in sailor-like costume, namely, white duck trousers, coloured flannel shirts, blue jackets, round straw hats, and strong shoes. this costume was not very suitable for the warm climate in which they now found themselves, so their hospitable friend the hermit gave them two loose light cotton coats or jackets, of a blue colour, and broad brimmed straw hats similar to his own. he also gave them two curious garments called _ponchos_. the poncho serves the purpose of cloak and blanket. it is simply a square dark-coloured blanket with a hole in the middle of it, through which the head is thrust in rainy weather, and the garment hangs down all round. at night the poncho is useful as a covering. the hermit wore a loose open hunting coat, and underneath it a girdle, in which was a long sharp knife and a brace of pistols. his trousers were of blue-striped cotton. he usually carried a double-barrelled gun over his shoulder, and a powder-horn and bullet-bag were slung round his neck. barney now procured from this hospitable man a supply of powder and shot for his large brass-mounted cavalry pistol. the hermit also made him a present of a long hunting-knife; and he gave one of a smaller size to martin. as martin had no weapon, the hermit manufactured for him a stout bow and quiver full of arrows; with which, after some practice, he became reasonably expert. thus armed they sallied forth, and, following the foot-path that conducted from the door of the hut to the brow of the hill opposite, they were soon buried in the shades of the great forest. on this particular morning barney observed that the hermit carried with him a stout spear, which he was not usually in the habit of doing. being of an inquisitive disposition, he inquired the reason of his taking it. "i expect to find a jaguar to-day," answered the hermit. "i saw him yesterday go down into the small valley in which my cows grow. i will show you my cows soon, martin." the hermit stopped short suddenly as he spoke, and pointed to a large bird, about fifty yards in advance of them. it seemed to bear a particular ill-will to a round rough stone which it pecked most energetically. after a few minutes the bird ceased its attacks and flew off; whereupon the rough stone opened itself out, and, running quickly away, burrowed into a little hole and disappeared! "that is an armadillo," remarked the hermit, continuing to lead the way through the woods; "it is covered with a coat of mail, as you see; and when enemies come it rolls itself up like a ball and lies like a hard stone till they go away. but it has four little legs, and with them it burrows so quickly that we cannot dig it up, and must smoke it out of its hole,--which i do often, because it is very good to eat, as you very well know." while they continued thus to walk through the woods conversing, martin and barney were again interested and amused by the immense number of brilliant parrots and toucans which swooped about, chattering from tree to tree, in large flocks. sometimes thirty or forty of the latter would come screaming through the woods and settle upon the dark-green foliage of a coffee-tree; the effect of which was to give the tree the appearance of having been suddenly loaded with ripe golden fruit. then the birds would catch sight of the travellers and fly screaming away, leaving the tree dark-green and fruitless as before. the little green parrots were the most outrageously noisy things that ever lived. not content with screaming when they flew, they continued to shriek, apparently with delight, while they devoured the seeds of the gorgeous sun-flowers: and more than once martin was prompted to scatter a handful of stones among them, as a hint to be less noisy; but this only made them worse,--like a bad baby, which, the more you tell it to be quiet, sets to work the more earnestly to increase and add to the vigour of its roaring. so martin wisely let the parrots alone. they also startled, in passing through swampy places, several large blue herons, and long-legged cranes; and on many of the trees they observed the curious hanging nests of a bird, which the hermit told them was the large oriole. these nests hung in long strings from the tops of the palm-trees, and the birds were very actively employed moving about and chattering round their swinging villages: on seeing which martin could not help remarking that it would astonish the colony not a little, if the top house were to give way and let all the mansions below come tumbling to the ground! they were disappointed, however, in not seeing monkeys gambolling among the trees, as they had expected. "ah! my friends," said the hermit, "travellers in my country are very often disappointed. they come here expecting to see everything all at once; but although there are jaguars, and serpents, and bears, and monkeys, plenty of them, as your ears can tell you, these creatures keep out of the sight of man as much as possible. they won't come out of the woods and show themselves to please travellers! you have been very lucky since you arrived. many travellers go about for months together and do not see half so much as you." "that's thrue," observed barney, with his head a little on one side, and his eyes cast up in a sort of meditative frown, as if he were engaged in subjecting the hermit's remarks to a process of severe philosophical contemplation; "but i would be very well plazed av the wild bastes would show themselves now and then, for--" martin rattler burst into a loud laugh, for barney's upward glance of contemplation was suddenly transformed into a gaze of intense astonishment, as he beheld the blue countenance of a large red monkey staring down upon him from amid the branches of an overhanging tree. the monkey's face expressed, if possible, greater surprise than that of the irishman, and its mouth was partially open and thrust forward in a sort of threatening and inquiring manner. there seemed to be some bond of sympathy between the monkey and the man, for while _its_ mouth opened _his_ mouth opened too. "a-a-a-a-a--ah!" exclaimed the monkey. a facetious smile overspread barney's face--"och! be all manes; the same to you, kindly," said he, taking off his hat and making a low bow. the civility did not seem to be appreciated, however; for the monkey put on a most indignant frown and displayed a terrific double-row of long brilliant teeth and red gums, while it uttered a shriek of passion, twisted its long tail round a branch, and hurled itself, with a motion more like that of a bird than a beast, into the midst of the tree and disappeared, leaving martin and barney and the hermit each with a very broad grin on his countenance. the hunters now arrived at an open space where there were several large umbrageous trees, and as it was approaching mid-day they resolved to rest here for a couple of hours. birds and insects were gradually becoming more and more silent, and soon afterwards the only sounds that broke upon their ears were the curious metallic notes of the urupongas, or bell-birds; which were so like to the rapid beating of a smith's hammer on an anvil, that it was with the greatest difficulty barney was restrained from going off by himself in search of the "smiddy." indeed he began to suspect that the worthy hermit was deceiving him, and was only fully convinced at last when he saw one of the birds. it was pure white, about the size of a thrush, and had a curious horn or fleshy tubercle upon its head. having rested and refreshed themselves, they resumed their journey a short time before the noisy inhabitants of the woods recommenced their active afternoon operations. "hallo! what's that?" cried barney, starting back and drawing his pistol, while martin hastily fitted an arrow to his bow. not ten paces in front of them a frightful monster ran across their path, which seemed so hideous to martin that his mind instantly reverted to the fable of st. george and the dragon, and he almost expected to see fire issuing from its mouth. it was a huge lizard, with a body about three feet long, covered with bright scales. it had a long, thick tail. its head was clumsy and misshapen, and altogether its aspect was very horrible. before either martin or barney could fire, the hermit dropped his gun and spear, sprang quickly forward, caught the animal by the tail, and, putting forth his great strength to the utmost, swung it round his head and dashed its brains out against a tree. barney and martin could only stare with amazement. "this we call an iguana," said the hermit, as he piled a number of heavy stones on the carcase to preserve it from other animals. "it is very good to eat,--as good as chicken. this is not a very big one; they are sometimes five feet long, but almost quite harmless,--not venomous at all; and the only means he has to defend himself is the tail, which is very powerful, and gives a tremendously hard blow; but, as you see, if you catch him quick he can do nothing." "it's all very well for you, or even barney here, to talk of catching him by the tail," said martin, smiling; "but it would have puzzled me to swing that fellow round my head." "arrah! ye're right, boy; i doubt if i could have done it mesilf," said barney. "no fear," said the hermit, patting martin's broad shoulders as he passed him and led the way; "you will be strong enough for that very soon,--as strong as me in a year or two." they now proceeded down into a somewhat dark and closely wooded valley, through which meandered a small rivulet. here they had some difficulty in forcing their way through the dense underwood and broad leaves, most of which seemed very strange to martin and his comrade, being so gigantic. there were also many kinds of ferns, which sometimes arched over their heads and completely shut out the view, while some of them crept up the trees like climbing-plants. emerging from this, they came upon a more open space, in the midst of which grew a number of majestic trees. "there are my cows!" said the hermit, pausing as he spoke, and pointing towards a group of tall straight-stemmed trees that were the noblest in appearance they had yet seen. "good cows they are," he continued, going up to one and making a notch in the bark with his axe: "they need no feeding or looking after, yet, as you see, they are always ready to give me cream." while he spoke, a thick white liquid flowed from the notch in the bark into a cocoa-nut drinking-cup, which the hermit always carried at his girdle. in a few minutes he presented his visitors with a draught of what they declared was most excellent cream. the masseranduba, or milk-tree, as it is called, is indeed one of the most wonderful of all the extraordinary trees in the forests of brazil, and is one among many instances of the bountiful manner in which god provides for the wants of his creatures. no doubt this might with equal truth be said of all the gifts that a beneficent creator bestows upon mankind; but when, as in the case of this milk-tree, the provision for our wants comes in a singular and striking manner, it seems fitting and appropriate that we should specially acknowledge the gift as coming from the hand of him who giveth us all things liberally to enjoy. the milk-tree rises with a straight stem to an enormous height, and the fruit, about the size of a small apple, is full of rich and juicy pulp, and is very good. the timber, also, is hard, fine-grained, and durable,--particularly adapted for such works as are exposed to the weather. but its most remarkable peculiarity is the rich vegetable milk which flows in abundance from it when the bark is cut. this milk is so like to that of the cow in taste, that it can scarcely be distinguished from it, having only a very slight peculiarity of flavour, which is rather agreeable than otherwise. in tea and coffee it has the same effect as rich cream, and, indeed, is so thick that it requires to be diluted with water before being used. this milk is also employed as glue. it hardens when exposed to the air, and becomes very tough and slightly elastic, and is said to be quite as good and useful as ordinary glue. having partaken of as much milk as they desired, they continued their journey a little further, when they came to a spur of the sierra, or mountain range, that cuts through that part of the country. here the ground became more rugged, but still densely covered with wood, and rocks lay piled about in many places, forming several dark and gloomy caverns. the hermit now unslung his gun and advanced to the foot of a cliff, near the further end of which there were several caves, the mouths of which were partially closed with long ferns and masses of luxuriant vegetation. "now we must be prepared," said the hermit, feeling the point of his spear. "i think there is a jaguar here. i saw him yesterday, and i am quite sure he will not go away till he tries to do some mischief. he little knows that there is nothing here to hurt but me." the hermit chuckled as he said this, and resting his gun against the cliff near the entrance to the first cave, which was a small one, he passed on to the next. holding the spear in his left hand, he threw a stone violently into the cavern. barney and martin listened and gazed in silent expectation; but they only heard the hollow sound of the falling stone as it dashed against the sides of the cave; then all was still. "och, then, he's off," cried barney. "hush," said martin; "don't speak till he has tried the other cave." without taking notice of their remarks, the hermit repeated the experiment at the mouths of two caverns further on, with the like result. "maybe the spalpeen's hidin' in the little cave where ye laid down yer gun," suggested barney, going towards the place as he spoke. "och, then, come here, friend; sure it must be the mouth of a mine, for there's two o' the beautifulest di'monds i iver--" barney's speech was cut short by a low peculiar sound, that seemed like the muttering of far-distant thunder. at the same moment the hermit pulled him violently back, and, placing himself in a firm attitude full in front of the cavern, held the point of the spear advanced before him. "martin," he whispered, "shoot an arrow straight into that hole,--quick!" martin obeyed, and the arrow whizzed through the aperture. instantly there issued from it a savage and tremendous roar, so awful that it seemed as if the very mountain were bellowing and that the cavern were its mouth. but not a muscle of the hermit's figure moved. he stood like a bronze statue,--his head thrown back and his chest advanced, with one foot planted firmly before him and the spear pointing towards the cave. it seemed strange to martin that a man should face what appeared to him unknown danger so boldly and calmly; but he did not consider that the hermit knew exactly the amount of danger before him. he knew precisely the manner in which it would assail him, and he knew just what was necessary to be done in order to avert it; and in the strength of that knowledge he stood unmoved, with a slight smile upon his tightly compressed lips. scarcely had the roar ceased when it was repeated with tenfold fierceness; the bushes and fern leaves shook violently, and an enormous and beautifully spotted jaguar shot through the air as if it had been discharged from a cannon's mouth. the hermit's eye wavered not; he bent forward a hair's-breadth; the glittering spear-point touched the animal's breast, pierced through it, and came out at its side below the ribs. but the force of the bound was too great for the strength of the weapon: the handle snapped in twain, and the transfixed jaguar struck down the hermit and fell writhing upon him! in the excitement of the moment barney drew his pistol from his belt and snapped it at the animal. it was well for the hermit at that moment that barney had forgotten to prime his weapon; for, although he aimed at the jaguar's skull, there is no doubt whatever that he would have blown out the hermit's brains. before he could make a second attempt, martin sprang towards the gun which leaned against the cliff, and, running quickly up, he placed the muzzle close to the jaguar's ear and lodged a bullet in its brain. all this was done in a few seconds, and the hermit regained his legs just as the animal fell dead. fortunately he was not hurt, having adroitly avoided the sharp claws of his enemy. "arrah! mister hermit," said barney, wiping the perspiration from his forehead, "it's yersilf that was well-nigh done for this time, an' no mistake. did iver i see sich a spring! an' ye stud the charge jist like a stone wall,--niver moved a fut!" "are you not hurt?" inquired martin, somewhat anxiously; "your face is all covered with blood." "yes, boy, but it is the blood of the jaguar; thanks to you for your quick hand, i am not hurt at all." the hermit washed his face in the neighbouring brook, and then proceeded to skin the jaguar, the carcase being worthless. after which they retraced their steps through the woods as quickly as possible, for the day was now far spent, and the twilight, as we have before remarked, is so short in tropical latitudes that travellers require to make sure of reaching the end of the day's journey towards evening, unless they choose to risk losing their way, and spending the night in the forest. they picked up the iguana in passing; and, on reaching the spot where the armadillo had burrowed, the hermit paused and kindled a small fire over the hole, by means of his flint, steel, and tinder-box. he thus contrived to render the creature's habitation so uncomfortable that it rushed hurriedly out; then, observing that its enemies were waiting, it doubled its head and tail together, and became the image of a rough stone. "poor thing," said martin, as the hermit killed it, "that reminds me of the ostrich of the desert, which, i'm told, when it is chased over the plains by men on horseback, and finds that it cannot escape, thrusts its head into a bush, and fancies, no doubt, that it cannot be seen, although its great body is visible a mile off!" "martin," said barney, "this arth is full o' quare craturs intirely." "that's true, barney; and not the least 'quare' among them is an irishman, a particular friend of mine." "hould yer tongue, ye spalpeen, or i'll put yer head in the wather!" "i wish ye would, barney, for it is terribly hot and mosquito-bitten, and you couldn't have suggested anything more delightful. but here we are once more at our forest home; and now for a magnificent cup of coffee and a mandioca-cake." "not to mintion," added barney, "a juicy steak of igu anny, an' a tender chop o' army dillo." chapter xiii martin and barney continue their travels, and see strange things--among others, they see living jewels--they go to see a festa--they fight and run away martin rattler and barney o'flannagan soon after this began to entertain a desire to travel further into the interior of brazil, and behold with their own eyes the wonders of which they had heard so much from their kind and hospitable friend the hermit. martin was especially anxious to see the great river amazon, about which he entertained the most romantic ideas,--as well he might, for there is not such another river in the world for size, and for the many curious things connected with its waters and its banks. barney, too, was smitten with an intense desire to visit the diamond mines, which he fancied must be the most brilliant and beautiful sight in the whole world; and when martin asked him what sort of place he expected to see, he used to say that he "pictur'd in his mind a great many deep and lofty caverns, windin' in an' out an' round about, with the sides and the floors and the ceilin's all of a blaze with glittering di'monds, an' top'zes, an' purls, an' what not; with naiggurs be the dozen picking them up in handfuls. an' sure," he would add, "if we was wance there, we could fill our pockets in no time, an' then, hooray for ould ireland! an' live like imperors for ivermore." "but you forget, barney, the account the hermit has given us of the mines. he evidently does not think that much is to be made of them." "och! niver mind the hermit. there's always good luck attends barney o'flanngan; an' sure if nobody wint for fear they would git nothing, all the di'monds that iver came out o' the mines would be lyin' there still; an' didn't he tell us there was wan got only a short time since, worth i don't know how many thousand pounds? arrah! if i don't go to the mines an' git one the size o' me head, i'll let ye rig me out with a long tail an' set me adrift in the woods for a blue-faced monkey." it so happened that this was the time when the hermit was in the habit of setting out on one of his trading trips; and when martin told him of the desire that he and barney entertained to visit the interior, he told them that he would be happy to take them along with him, provided they would act the part of muleteers. to this they readily agreed, being only too glad of an opportunity of making some return to their friend, who refused to accept any payment for his hospitality, although barney earnestly begged of him to accept of his watch, which was the only object of value he was possessed of,--and that wasn't worth much, being made of pinch-beck, and utterly incapable of going! moreover, he relieved their minds, by telling them that they would easily obtain employment as canoe-men on the amazon, for men were very difficult to be got on that river to man the boats; and if they could stand the heat, and were willing to work like indians, they might travel as far as they pleased. to which martin replied, in his ignorance, that he thought he could stand anything; and barney roundly asserted that, having been burnt to a cinder long ago in the "east injies," it was impossible to overdo him any more. under these circumstances, therefore, they started three weeks later to visit a populous town about twenty miles off, from which they set out on their travels, with a string of heavily laden mules, crossed the low countries or campos lying near to the sea, and began to ascend the sierras that divide this portion of brazil from the country which is watered by the innumerable rivers that flow into the mighty amazon. the cavalcade consisted of ten mules, each with two goodly sized bales of merchandise on its back. they were driven and attended to by negroes, whose costume consisted of a light cotton shirt with short sleeves, and a pair of loose cotton drawers reaching down to the knee. with the exception of a straw hat this was all they wore. martin, and barney, and the hermit each bestrode a mule, with a small bale slung on either side; over the front of which their legs dangled comfortably. they had ponchos with them, strapped to the mules' backs, and each carried a clumsy umbrella to shield him from the fierce rays of the sun; but our two adventurers soon became so hardened and used to the climate, that they dispensed with the umbrellas altogether. the sierra, or mountain range, over which they passed was about thirty miles in extent, being in some places quite level and open, but in others somewhat rugged and covered with large but thinly scattered trees, the most common of which had fine dark-green glossy leaves, with spikes of bright yellow flowers terminating the branchlets. there were also many peculiar shrubs and flowering plants, of a sort that the travellers had never seen the like of in their native land. "how i wish," said martin with a sigh, as he rode along beside his friend barney, "that i knew something of botany." barney opened his eyes in surprise. "arrah! it's too much of a philosopher ye are already, lad. what good would it do ye to know all the hard names that men have given to the flowers? sure i wance wint after the doctor o' a ship, to carry his box for him when he wint on what he called botanical excursions; and the poor cratur used to be pokin' his nose for iver down at the ground, an' peerin' through his green spectacles at miserable bits o' plants, an' niver seemin' to enjoy anything; when all the time _i_ was lookin' far fornint me, an' all around me, an' up at the sky, seem' ivery beautiful thing, and snifterin' up the sweet smells, an' in fact enjoyin' the whole univarse--an my pipe to boot--like an intelligent cratur." barney looked round as he spoke, with a bland, self-satisfied expression of countenance, as if he felt that he had given a lucid definition of the very highest style of philosophy, and proved that he, barney o'flannagan, was possessed of the same in no common degree. "well, barney," rejoined martin, "since you give me credit for being a philosopher, i must continue to talk philosophically. your botanical friend took a _microscopic_ view of nature, while you took a _telescopic_ view of it. each view is good, but both views are better; and i can't help wishing that i were more of a philosopher than i am, especially in reference to botany." "humph!" ejaculated barney, who seemed not quite to understand his young friend, "yer observations are remarkably thrue, and do ye great credit, for yer years. ah! mr. hermit, good luck to ye! i'm glad to see that ye've got some consideration for man and baste. i'm quite ready for my victuals, and so's my mule; aren't you, avic?" barney's latter remark was addressed to his patient charger, from whose back he sprang as he spoke, and slackened its girths. it was now approaching mid-day, and the hermit had pitched upon a large tree as a fitting spot for rest and refreshment. water had been brought up the mountain in a huge calabash; but they did not require to use it, as they found a quantity in the hollow stump of a tree. there were several frogs swimming about in this miniature lake; but it was found to be fresh and clear and good notwithstanding. towards evening they passed a string of mules going towards the town which they had just left. they were driven by negroes, most of whom were slaves, and nearly quite naked. a brazilian merchant, wearing a picturesque broad-brimmed, high-crowned straw-hat, a poncho, and brown leather boots armed at the heels with large sharp spurs, rode at the head, and gave the strangers a surly nod of his head as they passed. soon after, they descended into the plain, and came to a halt at a sort of roadside public-house, where there was no sleeping accommodation, but where they found an open shed in which travellers placed their goods, and slung their hammocks, and attended to themselves. at the venda, close beside it, they purchased a large bag of farina, being short of that necessary article of food, and then set to work to prepare supper in the open air; while the merry negroes, who seemed to enjoy life most thoroughly, laughed and sang as they removed the bales from the mules' backs and cooked their simple fare. barney's cooking propensities now came into full play; and, with the variety of fruits and vegetables which the country afforded, he exercised his ingenuity, and produced several dishes of so savoury a nature that the hermit was compelled to open his eyes in amazement, and smack his lips with satisfaction, being quite unable to express his sentiments in words. while thus busily and agreeably employed, they were told by the owner of the venda that a festa was being celebrated at a village about a league distant from where they stood. "i should like to see it above all things," said martin eagerly; "could we not go?" the hermit frowned. "yes, we can go, but it will be to behold folly. perhaps it will be a good lesson, from which much may be learned. we will go." "it's not a step that i'll budge till i've finished me pipe," said barney, pulling away at that bosom friend with unexampled energy. "to smoke," he continued, winking gently with one eye, "is the first law of nature; jist give me ten minutes more, an' _i'm_ your man for anything," being a fine evening, they proceeded on foot. in about an hour after setting out they approached the village, which lay in a beautiful valley below them. sounds of mirth and music rose like a distant murmur on the air, and mingled with the songs of birds and insects. then the sun went down, and in a few minutes it grew dark, while the brilliant fire-flies began their nocturnal gambols. suddenly a bright flame burst over the village, and a flight of magnificent rockets shot up into the sky, and burst in a hundred bright and variously-coloured stars, which paled for a few seconds the lights of nature. but they vanished in a moment, and the clear stars shed abroad their undying lustre,--seeming, in their quiet, unfading beauty, a gentle satire on the short-lived and gairish productions of man. "mighty purty, no doubt," exclaimed barney. "is this the imperor's birth-day?" "no," replied the hermit, shaking his head; "that is the way in which the false priests amuse the people. the poor indian and the negro, and, indeed, the ignorant brazilian, thinks it very grand; and the priests let them think it is pleasing to the god of heaven. ah! here comes an old negro; we will ask him." several country people, in varied and picturesque costumes, hurried past the travellers towards the village; and as they came to a foot-path that joined the road, an old negro approached them. saluting him in the portuguese language, the hermit said, "friend, why do they let off rockets to-night?" "for dios" (for god), answered the old man, looking and pointing upwards with grave solemnity. without vouchsafing another word, he hurried away. "so they think," said the hermit, "and so they are taught by the priests. music, noise, and fire-works please these ignorant people; and so the priests, who are mostly as ignorant as the people, tell them it is a good part of religious ceremony." presently a band of young girls came laughing and singing along the road. they were dressed in pure white, their rich black tresses being uncovered and ornamented with flowers, and what appeared to be bright jewels. "hallo!" exclaimed martin, gazing after them; "what splendid jewels! surely these must be the daughters of very rich people." "och, but they've been at the di'mond mines for certain! did iver ye sae the like?" the girls did indeed seem to blaze with jewels, which not only sparkled in their hair, but fringed their white robes, and were worked round the edges of their slippers; so that a positive light shone around their persons, and fell upon the path like a halo, giving them more the appearance of lovely supernatural beings than the daughters of earth. "these jewels," said the hermit, "were never polished by the hands of men. they are fire-flies." "fire-flies!" exclaimed martin and barney simultaneously. "yes, they are living fire-flies. the girls very often catch them and tie them up in little bits of gauze, and put them, as you see, on their dresses and in their hair. to my mind they seem more beautiful far than diamonds. sometimes the indians, when they travel at night, fix fire-flies to their feet, and so have good lamps to their path." while barney was expressing his surprise at this information, in very racy language, they entered the village; and, mingling with the throng of holiday-keepers, followed the stream towards the grand square. the church, which seemed to be a centre of attraction, and was brilliantly illuminated, was a neat wooden building with two towers. the streets of the village were broad and straggling; and so luxuriant was the vegetation, and so lazy the nature of the inhabitants, that it seemed as if the whole place were overgrown with gigantic weeds. shrubs and creeping-plants grew in the neglected gardens, climbed over the palings, and straggled about the streets. plants grew on the tops of the houses, ferns peeped out under the eaves; and, in short, on looking at it one had the feeling that ere long the whole place, people and all, must be smothered in superabundant vegetation! the houses were all painted white or yellow, with the doors and windows bright green,--just like grown-up toys; and sounds of revelry, with now and then the noise of disputation, issued from many of them. it is impossible to describe minutely the appearance of the motley crowd through which our adventurers elbowed their way, gazing curiously on the strange scene, which seemed to them more like a dream than reality, after their long sojourn in the solitudes of the forest. processions headed by long-robed priests with flambeaux and crucifixes; young girls in light costumes and long white cotton shawls, selling sweet cakes of mandioca flour, and bonbons; swarthy brazilians, some in white jackets, loose cotton drawers, and straw hats, others in brown leather boots and ponchos; negroes in short white drawers and shirts, besides many without any clothing above their waists; indians from the interior, copper-coloured, and some of them, fine-looking men, having only a strip of cloth about their loins;--such were the strange crew whose loud voices added to the whiz of rockets, squibs, crackers, guns, and musical instruments, created a deafening noise. in the midst of the village there was a tree of such enormous size that it quite took our travellers by surprise. it was a wild fig-tree, capable of sheltering a thousand persons under its shadow! here a spirited fandango was going on, and they stood for some time watching the movements of the performers. growing tired of this, they wandered about until they came to a less crowded part of the village, and entered a pleasant grove of trees skirting the road by which they had arrived. while sauntering here, enjoying the cool night breeze and delicious perfume of flowers, a woman uttered a piercing shriek near to them. it was instantly followed by loud voices in altercation. ever ready to fly to the help of womankind, and, generally, to assist in a "row," barney darted through the bushes, and came upon the scene of action just in time to see the white skirt of a female's dress disappear down an avenue, and to behold two brazilians savagely writhing in mortal strife. at the moment he came up, one of the combatants had overcome the other, and a fierce smile of triumph crossed his swarthy countenance as he raised his gleaming knife. "och, ye murtherer! would ye attimpt that same?" cried barney, catching the man by the wrist and hurling him on his back. the other sprang up on being thus unexpectedly freed, and darted away, while the thwarted man uttered a yell of disappointment and sprang like a tiger at barney's throat. a blow, however, from the irishman's fist, quietly delivered, and straight between the eyes, stretched the brazilian on the ground. at the same moment a party of men, attracted by the cries, burst through the bushes and surrounded the successful champion. seeing their countryman apparently dead upon the ground, they rushed upon barney in a body; but the first who came within reach was floored in an instant, and the others were checked in their career by the sudden appearance of the hermit and martin rattler. the noise of many voices, as of people hastening towards them, was heard at the same time. "we have no time to lose, do as i bid you," whispered the hermit. whirling a heavy stick round his head the hermit shouted the single word "charge!" and dashed forward. barney and martin obeyed. three brazilians went down like ninepins; the rest turned and fled precipitately. "now, run for life!" cried the hermit, setting the example. barney hesitated to follow what he deemed a cowardly flight, but the yells of the natives returning in strong force decided the question. he and martin took to their heels with right good will, and in a few minutes the three friends were far on the road which led to their night bivouac; while the villagers, finding pursuit hopeless, returned to the village, and continued the wild orgies of their festa. chapter xiv cogitations and canoeing on the amazon--barney's exploit with an alligator--stubborn facts--remarkable mode of sleeping it is pleasant, when the sun is bright, and the trees are green, and when flowering shrubs and sweet-smelling tropical trees scent the balmy atmosphere at eventide, to lie extended at full length in a canoe, and drop easily, silently, yet quickly, down the current of a noble river, under the grateful shadow of overhanging foliage; and to look lazily up at the bright blue sky which appears in broken patches among the verdant leaves; or down at the river in which that bright sky and those green leaves are reflected; or aside at the mud-banks where greedy vultures are searching for prey, and lazy alligators are basking in the sun; and to listen, the while, to the innumerable cries and notes of monkeys, toucans, parrots, orioles, bemtevi or fly-catchers, white-winged and blue chatterers, and all the myriads of birds and beasts that cause the forests of brazil, above all other forests in the world probably, to resound with the gleeful songs of animated nature! it is pleasant to be thus situated, especially when a cool breeze blows the mosquitoes and other insects off the water, and relieves you for a time from their incessant attacks. martin rattler found it pleasant, as he thus lay on his back with his diminutive pet marmoset monkey seated on his breast quietly picking the kernel out of a nut. and barney o'flannagan found it pleasant, as he lay extended in the bow of the canoe with his head leaning over the edge gazing abstractedly at his own reflected visage, while his hands trailed through the cool water, and his young dog--a shaggy indescribable beast with a bluff nose and a bushy tail--watched him intently, as a mother might watch an only child in a dangerous situation. and the old sun-dried, and storm-battered, and time-shrivelled mulatto trader, in those canoe they were embarked and whose servants they had become, found it pleasant, as he sat there perched in his little montaria, like an exceedingly ancient and overgrown monkey, guiding it safely down the waters of the great river of the tocantins. some months have passed since we last parted from our daring adventurers. during that period they had crossed an immense tract of country, and reached the head waters of one of the many streams that carry the surplus moisture of central brazil into the amazon. here they found an old trader, a free mulatto, whose crew of indians had deserted him,--a common thing in that country,--and who gladly accepted their services, agreeing to pay them a small wage. and here they sorrowfully, and with many expressions of good-will, parted from their kind friend and entertainer the hermit. his last gift to martin was the wonderfully small marmoset monkey before mentioned; and his parting souvenir to barney was the bluff-nosed dog that watched over him with maternal care, and loved him next to itself;--as well it might; for if everybody had been of the same spirit as barney o'flannagan, the act for the prevention of cruelty to animals would never have been passed in britain. it was a peculiar and remarkable and altogether extraordinary monkey, that tiny marmoset. there was a sort of romance connected with it, too; for it had been the mother of an indescribably small infant-monkey, which was killed at the time of its mother's capture. it drank coffee, too, like--like a frenchman; and would by no means retire to rest at night until it had had its usual allowance. then it would fold its delicate little hands on its bosom, and close its eyes with an expression of solemn grief, as if, having had its last earthly wish gratified, it now resigned itself to--sleep. martin loved it deeply, but his love was unrequited; for, strange to say, that small monkey lavished all its affection on barney's shaggy dog. and the dog knew it, and was evidently proud of it, and made no objection whatever to the monkey sitting on his back, or his head, or his nose, or doing, in fact, whatever it chose whenever it pleased. when in the canoe, the marmoset played with grampus, as the dog was named; and when on shore it invariably travelled on his back. martin used to lie in the canoe half asleep and watch the little face of the marmoset, until, by some unaccountable mental process, he came to think of aunt dorothy grumbit. often did poor martin dream of his dear old aunt, while sleeping under the shelter of these strange-leaved tropical trees and surrounded by the wild sounds of that distant land, until he dreamed himself back again in the old village. then he would rush to the well-known school, and find all the boys there except bob croaker, who he felt certain must be away drowning the white kitten; and off he would go and catch him, sure enough, in the very act, and would give him the old thrashing over again, with all the additional vigour acquired during his rambles abroad thrown into it. then he would run home in eager haste, and find old mrs. grumbit hard at the one thousand nine hundred and ninety-ninth pair of worsted socks; and fat mr. arthur jollyboy sitting opposite to her, dressed in the old lady's bed-curtain chintz and high-crowned cap, with the white kitten in his arms and his spectacles on his chin, watching the process with intense interest, and cautioning her not to forget the "hitch" by any means; whereupon the kitten would fly up in his face, and mr. jollyboy would dash through the window with a loud howl, and mrs. grumbit's face would turn blue; and, uncoiling an enormous tail, she would bound shrieking after him in among the trees and disappear! martin usually wakened at this point, and found the marmoset gazing in his face with an expression of sorrowful solemnity, and the old sun-dried trader staring vacantly before him as he steered his light craft down the broad stream of the tocantins. the trader could speak little more english than sufficed to enable him to say "yes" and "no"; barney could speak about as much portuguese as enabled him to say "no" and "yes"; while martin, by means of a slight smattering of that language, which he had picked up by ear during the last few months, mixed now and then with a word or two of latin, and helped out by a clever use of the language of signs, succeeded in becoming the link of communication between the two. for many weeks they continued to descend the river; paddling energetically when the stream was sluggish, and resting comfortably when the stream was strong, and sometimes dragging their canoe over rocks and sand-banks to avoid rapids--passing many villages and plantations of the natives by the way--till at last they swept out upon the bosom of the great amazon river. the very first thing they saw upon entering it was an enormous alligator, fully eighteen feet long, sound asleep on a mud-bank. "och! put ashore, ye naygur," cried barney, seizing his pistol and rising up in the bow of the canoe. the old man complied quickly, for his spirit was high and easily roused. "look out now, martin, an' hould back the dog for fear he wakes him up," said barney, in a hoarse whisper, as he stepped ashore and hastened stealthily towards the sleeping monster; catching up a handful of gravel as he went, and ramming it down the barrel of his pistol. it was a wonderful pistol that--an irish one by birth, and absolutely incapable of bursting, else assuredly it would have gone, as its owner said, to "smithereens" long ago. barney was not a good stalker. the alligator awoke and made for the water as fast as it could waddle. the irishman rushed forward close up, as it plunged into the river, and discharged the compound of lead and stones right against the back of its head. he might as well have fired at the boiler of a steam-engine. the entire body of an alligator--back and belly, head and tail--is so completely covered with thick hard scales, that shot has no effect on it; and even a bullet cannot pierce its coat of mail, except in one or two vulnerable places. nevertheless the shot had been fired so close to it that the animal was stunned, and rolled over on its back in the water. seeing this, the old trader rushed in up to his chin, and caught it by the tail; but at the same moment the monster recovered, and, turning round, displayed its terrific rows of teeth. the old man uttered a dreadful roar, and struggled to the land as fast as he could; while the alligator, equally frightened, no doubt, gave a magnificent flourish and splash with its tail, and dived to the bottom of the river. the travellers returned disgusted to their canoe, and resumed their journey up the amazon in silence. the vulnerable places about an alligator are the soft parts under the throat and the joints of the legs. this is well known to the jaguar, its mortal foe, which attacks it on land, and fastening on these soft parts, soon succeeds in killing it; but should the alligator get the jaguar into its powerful jaws or catch it in the water, it is certain to come off the conqueror. the amazon, at its mouth, is more like a wide lake or arm of the sea than a river. mention has been already made of this noble stream in the hermit's story; but it is worthy of more particular notice, for truly the amazon is in many respects a wonderful river. it is the largest, though not quite the longest, in the world. taking its rise among the rocky solitudes of the great mountain range of the andes, it flows through nearly four thousand miles of the continent in an easterly direction, trending northward towards its mouth, and entering the atlantic ocean on the northern coast of south america, directly under the equator. in its course it receives the waters of nearly all the great rivers of central south america, and thousands of smaller tributaries; so that when it reaches the ocean its volume of water is enormous. some idea may be formed of its majestic size, from the fact that one of its tributaries--the rio negro--is fifteen hundred miles long, and varying in breadth; being a mile wide not far from its mouth, while higher up it spreads out in some places into sheets of ten miles in width. the madeira, another tributary, is also a river of the largest size. the amazon is divided into two branches at its mouth by the island of marajo, the larger branch being ninety-six miles in width. about two thousand miles from its mouth it is upwards of a mile wide. so great is the force of this flood of water, that it flows into the sea unmixed for nearly two hundred miles. the tide affects the river to a distance of about four hundred miles inland; and it is navigable from the sea for a distance of three thousand miles inland. on the north bank of the amazon there are ranges of low hills, partly bare and partly covered with thickets. these hills vary from three hundred to a thousand feet high, and extend about two hundred miles inland. beyond them the shores of the river are low and flat for more than two thousand miles, till the spurs of the andes are reached. during the rainy season the amazon overflows all its banks, like the nile, for many hundreds of miles; during which season, as martin rattler truly remarked, the natives may be appropriately called aquatic animals. towns and villages, and plantations belonging to brazilians, foreign settlers, and half-civilized indians, occur at intervals throughout the whole course of the river; and a little trade in dye-woods, india-rubber, medicinal drugs, brazil nuts, coffee, &c., is done; but nothing to what might and ought to be, and perhaps would be, were this splendid country in the hands of an enterprising people. but the amazonians are lazy, and the greater part of the resources of one of the richest countries in the world is totally neglected. "arrah!" said barney, scratching his head and wrinkling his forehead intensely, as all that we have just written, and a great deal more, was told to him by a scotch settler whom he found superintending a cattle estate and a saw-mill on the banks of the amazon--"faix, then, i'm jist as wise now as before ye begun to spake. i've no head for fagures whatsumdiver; an' to tell me that the strame is ninety-six miles long and three thousand miles broad at the mouth, and sich like calcerlations, is o' no manner o' use, and jist goes in at wan ear an' out at the tother." whereupon the scotch settler smiled and said, "well, then, if ye can remember that the amazon is longer than all europe is broad; that it opens up to the ocean not less than ten thousand miles of the interior of brazil; and that, _comparatively_ speaking, no use is made of it whatever, ye'll remember enough to think about with profit for some time to come." and barney did think about it, and ponder it, and revolve it in his mind, for many days after, while he worked with martin and the old trader at the paddles of their montaria. they found the work of canoeing easier than had been anticipated; for during the summer months the wind blows steadily up the river, and they were enabled to hoist their mat-sail, and bowl along before it against the stream. hotels and inns there were none; for brazil does not boast of many such conveniences, except in the chief towns; so they were obliged, in travelling, to make use of an empty hut or shed, when they chanced to stop at a village, and to cook their own victuals. more frequently, however, they preferred to encamp in the woods--slinging their hammocks between the stems of the trees, and making a fire sometimes, to frighten away the jaguars, which, although seldom seen, were often heard at night. they met large canoes and montarias occasionally coming down the stream, and saw them hauled up on shore, while their owners were cooking their breakfast in the woods; and once they came upon a solitary old indian in a very curious position. they had entered a small stream in order to procure a few turtles' eggs, of which there were many in that place buried in the sand-banks. on turning a point where the stream was narrow and overhung with bushes and trees, they beheld a canoe tied to the stem of a tree, and a hammock slung between two branches overhanging the water. in this an old indian lay extended, quite naked and fast asleep! the old fellow had grown weary with paddling his little canoe; and, finding the thicket along the river's banks so impenetrable that he could not land, he slung his hammock over the water, and thus quietly took his siesta. a flock of paroquets were screaming like little green demons just above him, and several alligators gave him a passing glance as they floundered heavily in the water below; but the red man cared not for such trifles. almost involuntarily martin began to hum the popular nursery rhyme-- "hushy ba, baby, on the tree top; when the wind blows the cradle will rock." "arrah, if he was only two foot lower, its thirty pair o' long teeth would be stuck into his flank in wan minute, or i'm no prophet," said barney, with a broad grin. "suppose we give him a touch with the paddle in passing," suggested martin. at this moment barney started up, shaded his eyes with his hand, and, after gazing for a few seconds at some object ahead of the canoe, he gave utterance to an exclamation of mingled surprise and consternation. chapter xv the great anaconda's dinner--barney gets a fright--turtles' eggs, omelets and alligators' tails--senhor antonio's plantation--preparations for a great hunt the object which called forth the cry from our irish friend, as related in the last chapter, was neither more nor less than a serpent of dimensions more enormous than barney had ever before conceived of. it was upwards of sixteen feet long, and nearly as thick as a man's body; but about the neck it was three times that size. this serpent was not, indeed, of the largest size. in south america they grow to nearly forty feet in length. but it was fabulously gigantic in the eyes of our adventurers, who had never seen a serpent of any kind before. "oh!" cried martin, eagerly, "that must be an anaconda. is it not?" he inquired, turning to the old trader. "yees; it dead," was the short reply. "so it is!" cried martin, who, on a nearer approach, observed that the brute's body was cut in two just below the swelling at the neck. "now, did ye iver," cried barney with increased surprise, "see a sarpint with a cow's horns growin' out at its mouth? put ashore, old boy; we must have a vestigation o' this remarkable cratur." the canoe was soon aground, and in another minute the three travellers busily engaged in turning over the carcass of the huge reptile, which they found, to the amazement of martin and barney, had actually swallowed an ox whole, with the exception of the horns, which protruded from its mouth! after much questioning, in bad portuguese, broken english, and remarkable signs, martin succeeded in drawing from the old trader the information that anacondas of a large size are often in the habit of thus bolting horses and oxen at a mouthful. there is not the slightest exaggeration in this fact. readers who are inclined to disbelieve it may refer to the works of wallace and gardner on brazil,--authorities which cannot be doubted. the reptile commences by patiently watching until an unfortunate animal strays near to where it is lying, when it darts upon it, encircles it in its massive coils, and crushes it to death in an instant. then it squeezes the body and broken bones into a shapeless mass; after which it licks the carcass all over, and covers it with a thick coating of saliva. having thus prepared its mouthful, the andaconda begins at the tail and gradually engulfs its victim, while its elastic jaws, and throat, and stomach are distended sufficiently to let it in; after which it lies in a torpid state for many weeks, till the morsel is digested, when it is ready for another meal. a horse goes down entire, but a cow sticks at the horns, which the anaconda cannot swallow. they are allowed to protrude from its mouth until they decay and drop off. they were at a loss at first to account for the creature being killed; but the old trader suggested that it had been found in a torpid state, and slain by the indian whom they had seen a short time ago enjoying his siesta among the trees. having cut it open, in order to convince themselves beyond a doubt that it had swallowed an entire ox, martin and the old trader re-embarked in the canoe, and barney was on the point of joining them when the bushes close beside him were slightly stirred. looking quickly round, he beheld the head and the glittering eyes of another anaconda, apparently as large as the dead one, ready to dart upon him,--at least so he fancied; but he did not wait to give it a chance. he fled instantly, and sprang towards the boat, which he nearly upset as he leaped into it, and pushed out into the stream. on reaching the middle of the river they looked back, but the anaconda was gone. soon after this they came to a long sandbank, where the old trader said they should find as many turtles' eggs as they wished for, although to barney and martin there seemed to be nothing on the bank at all. the fresh-water turtle of the amazon, of which there are various species, is one of the most useful of reptiles. its flesh supplies abundance of good food; and the eggs, besides being eaten, afford an excellent oil. the largest species grow to the length of three feet, and have a flattish oval shell of a dark colour, and quite smooth. turtles lay their eggs about the beginning of september, when the sand-banks begin to be uncovered. they scrape deep holes for them, and cover them carefully over, beating down the sand quite flat, and walking across the place several times, for the purpose of concealment. the eggs are then left to be hatched by the heat of the sun. but, alas for the poor turtles! men are too clever for them. the eggs are collected by the natives in thousands, and, when oil is to be made of them, they are thrown into a canoe, smashed and mixed up together, and left to stand, when the oil rises to the top, and is skimmed off and boiled. it keeps well, and is used both for lamps and cooking. very few of the millions of eggs that are annually laid arrive at maturity. when the young turtles issue forth and run to the water, there are many enemies watching for them. great alligators open their jaws and swallow them by hundreds; jaguars come out of the forests and feed upon them; eagles and buzzards and wood ibises are there, too, to claim their share of the feast; and, if they are fortunate enough to escape all these, there are many large and ravenous fishes ready to seize them in the stream. it seems a marvel that any escape at all. in a few minutes the old trader scraped up about a hundred eggs, to the immense satisfaction of martin and barney. then he took a bow and arrow from the bottom of the montaria and shot a large turtle in the water, while his companions kindled a fire, intending to dine. only the nose of the turtle was visible above water; but the old man was so expert in the use of the bow, that he succeeded in transfixing the soft part of the animal's neck with an arrow, although that part was under water. it was a large turtle, and very fat and heavy, so that it was with difficulty the trader lifted it upon his old shoulders and bore it in triumph to the spot where his companions were busily engaged with their cooking operations. turtles are frequently shot with the arrow by the natives; they are also taken in great numbers with the hook and the net. dinner was soon ready. barney concocted an immense and savoury omelet, and the old trader cooked an excellent turtle-steak, while martin prepared a junk of jaguar meat, which he roasted, being curious to taste it, as he had been told that the indians like it very much. it was pretty good, but not equal to the turtle-eggs. the shell of the egg is leathery, and the yolk only is eaten. the indians sometimes cat them raw, mixed with farina. cakes of farina, and excellent coffee, concluded their repast; and barney declared he had never had such a satisfactory "blow out" in his life; a sentiment with which martin entirely agreed, and the old trader--if one might judge from the expression of his black countenance--sympathized. for many weeks our adventurers continued to ascend the amazon, sometimes sailing before the wind; at other times, when it fell calm, pushing the montaria up the current by means of long poles, or advancing more easily with the paddles. occasionally they halted for a day at the residence of a wealthy cacao planter, in order to sell him some merchandise; for which purpose the canoe was unloaded, and the bales were opened out for his inspection. most of these planters were brazilians, a few were yankee adventurers, and one or two were scotch and english; but nearly all had married brazilian ladies, who, with their daughters, proved good customers to the old trader. some of these ladies were extremely "purty craturs," as barney expressed it; but most of them were totally uneducated and very ignorant,--not knowing half so much as a child of seven or eight years old in more favoured lands. they were very fond of fine dresses and ornaments, of which considerable supplies were sent to them from europe and the united states, in exchange for the valuable produce of their country. but, although their dresses were fine and themselves elegant, their houses were generally very poor affairs--made of wood and thatched with broad leaves; and it was no uncommon thing to see a lady, who seemed from her gay dress to be fitted for a drawing-room, seated on an earthen floor. but there were all sorts of extremes in this strange land; for at the next place they came to, perhaps, they found a population of negroes and indians, and most of the grown-up people were half naked, while all the children were entirely so. at one plantation, where they resolved to spend a few days, the owner had a pond which was much frequented by alligators. these he was in the habit of hunting periodically, for the sake of their fat, which he converted into oil. at the time of their arrival, he was on the eve of starting on a hunting expedition to the lake, which was about eight miles distant; so barney and martin determined to go and "see the fun," as the latter said. "martin, lad," remarked barney, as they followed the negro slave who had been sent by senhor antonio, the planter, to conduct them to the lake, while he remained behind for an hour or two to examine the bales of the old trader; "this is the quarest country, i believe, that iver was made; what with bastes, and varmints, and riptiles, and traes, and bushes, and rivers, it bates all creation." "certainly it does, barney; and it is a pity there are so few people in it who know how to make use of the things that are scattered all around them. i'm inclined to think the hermit was right when he said that they wanted the bible. they are too far sunk in laziness and idleness to be raised up by anything else. just look," continued martin, glancing round, "what a wonderful place this is! it seems as if all the birds and curious trees in brazil had congregated here to meet us." "so't does," said barney, stopping to gaze on the scene through which they were passing, with an expression of perplexity on his face, as if he found the sight rather too much even for _his_ comprehension. besides the parrots and scarlet and yellow macaws, and other strange-looking birds which we have elsewhere mentioned, there were long-tailed light-coloured cuckoos flying about from tree to tree, not calling like the cuckoo of europe at all, but giving forth a sound like the creaking of a rusty hinge; there were hawks and buzzards of many different kinds, and red-breasted orioles in the bushes, and black vultures flying overhead, and muscovy ducks sweeping past with whizzing wings, and flocks of the great wood-ibis sailing in the air on noiseless pinions, and hundreds of other birds that it would require an ornithologist to name; and myriads of insects,--especially ants and spiders, great and small,--that no entomologist could chronicle in a lifetime; all these were heard and seen at once; while of the animals that were heard, but not so often seen, there were black and spotted jaguars, and pacas, and cotias, and armadillos, and deer, and many others, that would take _pages_ to enumerate and whole books to describe. but the noise was the great point. that was the thing that took martin and barney quite aback, although it was by no means new to them; but they could not get used to it. and no wonder! ten thousand paroquets shrieking passionately, like a hundred knife-grinders at work, is no joke; especially when their melodies are mingled with the discordant cries of herons, and bitterns, and cranes, and the ceaseless buzz and hum of insects, like the bagpipe's drone, and the dismal croaking of boat-bills and frogs,--one kind of which latter, by the way, doesn't croak at all, but _whistles_, ay, better than many a bird! the universal hubbub is tremendous! i tell you, reader, that you _don't_ understand it, and you _can't_ understand it; and if, after i had used the utmost excess of exaggerated language to convey a correct impression of the reality, you were to imagine that you really _did_ understand it, you would be very lamentably mistaken--that's all! nevertheless, you must not run away with the idea that the whole empire of brazil is like this. there are dark thick solitudes in these vast forests, which are solemn and silent enough at times; and there are wide grassy campos, and great sandy plains, where such sounds are absent. yet there are also thousands of such spots as i have just described, where all nature, in earth, air, and water, is instinct with noisy animal life. after two hours' walk, martin and his companion reached the lake, and here active preparations were making for the alligator hunt. "is that the only place ye have to spind the night in, sambo?" said barney to their conductor, as he pointed to a wooden shed near which some fifteen or twenty negro slaves were overhauling the fishing tackle. "yis, massa," answered the black, showing his white teeth; "dat is de bottle of dis great city." sambo could speak a little english, having wrought for several years on the coffee plantation of a yankee settler. he was a bit of a wag, too, much to the indignation of his grave master, the senhor antonio, who abhorred jesting. "ye're too cliver, avic," said barney, with a patronizing smile; "take care ye don't use up yer intellect too fast. it hurts the constitution in the long-run." "i say, barney," cried martin, who had gone ahead of his companions, "come here, man, and just look at this pond. it's literally crammed full of alligators." "musha, but there's more alligators than wather, i belave!" exclaimed barney. the pond was indeed swarming with these ferocious reptiles, which were constantly thrusting their ugly snouts above the surface and then disappearing with a flourish of their powerful tails. during the rainy season this lake was much larger, and afforded ample room for its inhabitants; but at the height of the dry season, which it was at this time, there was little water, and it was much overstocked. when alligators are thus put upon short allowance of water, they frequently bury themselves in the wet mud, and lie dormant for a long time, while the water continues to retire and leaves them buried. but when the first shower of the rainy season falls, they burst open their tomb and drag their dry bodies to the lake or river on whose margin they went to sleep. an hour or two later the senhor antonio arrived; but as it was getting dark, nothing could be done until the following morning; so they slung their hammocks under the wooden shed on the margin of the lake, and, in order to save themselves as much as possible from the bites of the tormenting mosquitoes, went to sleep with their heads tied up in their handkerchiefs, and their hands thrust into their breeches pockets! the occasional splash and snort of contending alligators, about twenty yards off, varied the monotony of the hours of darkness, while the frogs and cranes and jaguars sang their lullaby. chapter xvi an alligator hunt--remarkable explosions--the rainy season ushered in by an awful resurrection at sunrise an expressive shout in portuguese set the black slaves on their feet; and, after a hasty breakfast of alligator-tail and farina, they commenced operations. alligator-tail is by no means bad food, and after the first mouthful,--taken with hesitation and swallowed with difficulty,--martin and barney both pronounced it "capital." sambo, who had cooked the delicate morsel, and stood watching them, smacked his lips and added, "fuss rate." all being now ready for the hunt, a number of negroes entered the water, which was nowhere very deep, with long poles in their hands. this appeared to martin and barney a very reckless and dangerous thing to do, as no doubt it was. nevertheless accidents, they were told, very rarely happened. sambo, who was the overseer of the party, was the first to dash up to the middle in the water. "hi," exclaimed that dingy individual, making a torrent of remarks in portuguese, while he darted his long pole hither and thither; then, observing that martin and barney were gazing at him open mouthed, he shouted, "look out, boys! here jim comes! take care, ole feller, or he jump right down you' throat! hi-i-i!" as he spoke, a large alligator, having been rudely stirred up from his muddy bed, floundered on the surface of the lake and sambo instantly gave it a thump over the back and a blow under the ribs; which had the effect of driving it in the direction of the shore. here a number of negroes were ready for him; and the moment he came within reach, a coil of rope with a noose on the end of it, called a lasso, was adroitly thrown over the reptile's head: ten or twelve men then hauled the lasso and dragged it ashore amid shouts of triumph. this alligator was twenty feet long, with an enormous misshapen head and fearful rows of teeth that were terrible to behold. the monster did not submit to be captured, however, without a struggle; and the negroes grew wild with excitement as they yelled and leaped madly about seeking to avoid its dangerous jaws and the blows of its powerful tail. after some trouble, a second lasso was thrown over the tail, which was thus somewhat restrained in its movements; and sambo, approaching cautiously with an axe, cut a deep gash just at the root of that formidable appendage, which rendered it harmless. "hi-i," shouted sambo in triumph, as he sprang towards the animal's head, and inflicted a similar gash in the neck; "dare, you quite finish, ole feller." "musha but that's thrue!" ejaculated barney, who stood staring at the whole proceeding like one in a trance. "did ye iver git a bite, sambo?" barney received no answer, for his sable friend was already up to his waist in the water with five or six of his brethren, who were flourishing their long poles and driving the snorting alligators towards the shore, where their comrades, with lassos and harpoons, awaited them. sometimes they harpooned the alligators, and then, fastening lassos to their heads and tails, or to a hind leg, dragged them ashore; at other times they threw the lasso over their heads at once, without taking the trouble to harpoon them. it was a terrible and a wonderful sight to witness the negroes in the very midst of a shoal of these creatures, any one of which could have taken a man into his jaws quite easily,--whence, once between these long saw-like rows of teeth, no man could have escaped to tell how sharp they were. the creatures were so numerous that it was impossible to thrust a pole into the mud without stirring up one of them; but they were so terrified at the sudden attack and the shouts of the negroes, that they thought only of escape. suddenly there arose a great cry. one of the lassos had snapt, and the alligator was floundering back into the water, when sambo rushed in up to the arm-pits, and caught the end of the rope. at the same moment two alligators made at the negro with open jaws. it is probable that the animals went in his direction by mere accident, and would have brushed past him in blind haste; but to martin and barney it seemed as if the poor man's fate were sealed, and they uttered a loud shout of horror as they bounded simultaneously into the water, not knowing what to do, but being unable to restrain the impulse to spring to sambo's aid. fortunately, however, one of the other negroes was near sambo. he sprang forward, and dealt the alligators two tremendous blows with his pole on their snouts, right and left, which turned them off. then other negroes came up, laid hold of sambo, who would not let go his hold and was being dragged into deep water, caught the end of the rope, and in ten minutes hauled their victim to the shore, when it was quickly despatched in the usual manner. by this time about a dozen alligators, varying from ten to twenty feet in length, had been captured; and barney at length became so bold that he requested to be allowed to try his hand at throwing the lasso, the dexterous use of which by the negroes had filled him with admiration. a loud burst of laughter greeted this proposal, and sambo showed a set of teeth that might have made even the alligators envious, as he handed the irishman a coil of line. "now don't miss, barney," cried martin, laughing heartily, as his comrade advanced to the edge of the lake and watched his opportunity. "mind, your credit as an expert hunter is at stake." the senhor antonio stood close behind the irishman, with his arms folded and a sarcastic smile on his countenance. "don't send it down him's throat," yelled sambo. "hi-i; dat's de vay to swing urn round. stir um up, boys!--poke um up, villains, hi!" the negroes in the water obeyed with frantic glee, and the terrified monsters surged about in all directions, so that barney found it almost impossible to fix his attention on any particular individual. at length he made up his mind, whirled the coil round his head, discharged the noose, caught the senhor antonio round the neck, and jerked him violently to the ground! there was a simultaneous pause of horror among the slaves; but it was too much for their risible faculties to withstand; with one accord they rushed howling into the water to conceal their laughter, and began to stir up and belabour the alligators with their poles, until the surface of the lake was a sheet of foam. meanwhile the senhor antonio sprang to his feet and began to bluster considerably in portuguese; but poor barney seemed awfully crest-fallen, arid the deep concern which wrinkled his face, and the genuine regret that sounded in the tones of his voice, at length soothed the indignant brazilian, who frowned gravely, and waving his hand, as if to signify that barney had his forgiveness, he stalked up to the shed, lighted a cigarito, and lay down in his hammock. "well!" said martin, in an under-tone, "you did it that time, barney. i verily thought the old fellow was hanged. he became quite livid in the face." "och! bad luck to the lasso, say i. may i niver more see the swate groves o' killarney if iver i meddle with wan again." "hi-i; you is fuss rate," said sambo, as he and his comrades returned and busied themselves in cutting up the dead alligators. "you beat de niggers all to not'ing. not any of dis yere chiles eber lasso sen'or antonio yet; no, neber!" it was some time before the negroes could effectually subdue their merriment, but at length they succeeded, and applied themselves vigorously to the work of cutting out the fat. the alligators were all cut open,--a work of no small difficulty, owing to the hard scales which covered them as with coats of mail; then the fat, which accumulates in large quantities about the intestines, was cut out and made up into packets in the skins of the smaller ones, which were taken off for this purpose. these packets were afterwards carried to the senhor's dwelling, and the fat melted down into oil, which served for burning in lamps quite as well as train oil. the flesh of a smaller species of alligator, some of which were also taken, is considered excellent food; and, while the negroes were engaged in their work, barney made himself useful by kindling a large fire and preparing a savoury dish for "all hands," plentifully seasoned with salt and pepper, with which condiments the country is well supplied, and of which the people are exceedingly fond. there was also caught in this lake a large species of fish called pirarucu, which, strangely enough, found it possible to exist in spite of alligators. they were splendid creatures, from five to six feet long, and covered with large scales more than an inch in diameter, which were beautifully marked and spotted with red. these fish were most delicately flavoured, and barney exerted his talents to the utmost in order to do them justice. martin also did his best to prove himself a willing and efficient assistant, and cleaned and washed the pirarucu steaks and the junks of alligator-tail to admiration. in short, the exertions of the two strangers in this way quite won the hearts of the negroes, and after dinner the senhor antonio had quite recovered his good humour. while staying at this place martin had an opportunity of seeing a great variety of the curious fish with which the amazon is stocked. these are so numerous that sometimes, when sailing up stream with a fair wind, they were seen leaping all round the canoe in shoals, so that it was only necessary to strike the water with the paddles in order to kill a few. the peixe boi, or cow-fish, is one of the most curious of the inhabitants of the amazon. it is about six feet long, and no less than five feet in circumference at its thickest part. it is a perfectly smooth, and what we may call _dumpy_ fish, of a leaden colour, with a semi-circular flat tail, and a large mouth with thick fleshy lips resembling those of a cow. there are stiff bristles on the lips, and a few scattered hairs over the body. it has two fins just behind the head; and below these, in the females, there are two breasts, from which good white milk flows when pressure is applied. the cow-fish feeds on grass at the borders of rivers and lakes; and when suckling its young it carries it in its fins or flippers, and clasps the little one to its breast, just as a mother clasps her baby! it is harpooned and taken for the sake of its fat, from which oil is made. the flesh is also very good, resembling beef in quality, and it was much relished by martin and barney, who frequently dined on beef-steaks cut from this remarkable cow-fish. there was also another fish which surprised our adventurers not a little the first time they met with it. one evening senhor antonio had ordered a net to be thrown into the river, being desirous of procuring a few fresh fish for the use of his establishment. the indians and negroes soon after commenced dragging, and in a few minutes afterwards the sandy bank of the river was strewn with an immense variety of small fish, among which were a few of a larger kind. martin and barney became excited as they saw them leaping and spluttering about, and ran in amongst them to assist in gathering them into baskets. but scarcely had the latter advanced a few steps when there was a loud report, as if a pistol had gone off under his feet. "hallo!" exclaimed the irishman, leaping two feet into the air. on his reaching the ground again, a similar explosion occurred, and barney dashed aside, overturning martin in his haste. martin's heel caught on a stone, and he fell flat on the ground, when instantly there was a report as if he had fallen upon and burst an inflated paper bag. the natives laughed loud and long, while the unfortunate couple sprang up the bank, half inclined to think that an earthquake was about to take place. the cause of their fright was then pointed out. it was a species of small fish which has the power of inflating the fore part of its body into a complete ball, and which, when stamped upon, explodes with a loud noise. there were great numbers of these scattered among the other fish, and also large quantities of a little fish armed with long spines, which inflict a serious wound when trodden upon. at this place adventures on a small scale crowded upon our travellers so thickly that martin began to look upon sudden surprises as a necessary of life, and barney said that "if it wint on any longer he feared his eye-brows would get fixed near the top of his head, and niver more come down," one evening, soon after their departure from the residence of senhor antonio, the old trader was sitting steering in the stern of his canoe, which was running up before a pretty stiff breeze. martin was lying on his back, as was his wont in such easy circumstances, amusing himself with marmoset; and barney was reclining in the bow talking solemnly to grampus; when suddenly the wind ceased, and it became a dead calm. the current was so strong that they could scarcely paddle against it, so they resolved to go no further that night, and ran the canoe ashore on a low point of mud, intending to encamp under the trees, no human habitation being near them. the mud bank was hard and dry, and cracked with the heat; for it was now the end of the dry season, and the river had long since retired from it. "not a very comfortable place, barney," said martin, looking round, as he threw down one of the bales which he had just carried up from the canoe. "hallo! there's a hut, i declare. come, that's a comfort anyhow." as he spoke martin pointed to one of the solitary and rudely constructed huts or sheds which the natives of the banks of the amazon sometimes erect during the dry season, and forsake when the river overflows its banks. the hut was a very old one, and had evidently been inundated, for the floor was a mass of dry, solid mud, and the palm-leaf roof was much damaged. however, it was better than nothing, so they slung their hammocks under it, kindled a fire, and prepared supper. while they were busy discussing this meal, a few dark and ominous clouds gathered in the sky, and the old trader, glancing uneasily about him, gave them to understand that he feared the rainy season was going to begin. "well then," said barney, lighting his pipe and stretching himself at full length in his hammock, with a leg swinging to and fro over one side and his head leaning over the other, as was his wont when he felt particularly comfortable in mind and body; "well then, avic, let it begin. if we're sure to have it anyhow, the sooner it begins the better, to my thinkin'." "i don't know that," said martin, who was seated on a large stone beside the fire sipping a can of coffee, which he shared equally with marmoset. the monkey sat on his shoulder gazing anxiously into his face, with an expression that seemed as if the creature were mentally exclaiming, "now me, now you; now me, now you," during the whole process. "it would be better, i think, if we were in a more sheltered position before it begins. ha! there it comes though, in earnest." a smart shower began to fall as he spoke, and, percolating through the old roof, descended rather copiously on the mud floor. in a few minutes there was a heaving of the ground under their feet! "ochone!" cried barney, taking his pipe out of his mouth and looking down with a disturbed expression, "there's an arthquake, i do belave." for a few seconds there was a dead silence. "nonsense," whispered martin uneasily. "it's dramin' i must have been," sighed barney, resuming his pipe. again the ground heaved and cracked, and martin and the old trader had just time to spring to their feet when the mud floor of the hut burst upwards and a huge dried-up-looking alligator crawled forth, as if from the bowels of the earth! it glanced up at barney; opened its tremendous jaws, and made as if it would run at the terrified old trader; then, observing the doorway, it waddled out, and, trundling down the bank, plunged into the river and disappeared. barney could find no words to express his feelings, but continued to gaze with an unbelieving expression down into the hole out of which the monster had come, and in which it had buried itself many weeks before, when the whole country was covered with soft mud. at that time it had probably regarded the shelter of the inundated hut as of some advantage, and had lain down to repose. the water retiring had left it there buried, and--as we have already mentioned in reference to alligators--when the first shower of the rainy season fell it was led by instinct to burst its earthy prison, and seek its native element. before barney or his companions could recover from their surprise, they had other and more urgent matters to think about. the dark clouds burst overhead, and the rain descended like a continued water-spout,--not in drops but in heavy sheets and masses; the roof of the hut gave way in several places, driving them into a corner for shelter; the river began to rise rapidly, soon flooding the hut; and, when darkness overspread the land, they found themselves drenched to the skin and suspended in their hammocks over a running stream of water! this event brought about an entire change in the aspect of nature, and was the cause of a sad and momentous era in the adventures of martin rattler and his companion. chapter xvii the capo--interruptions--grampus and marmoset--canoeing in the woods--a night on a floating island there is a peculiar and very striking feature in the character of the great amazon, which affects the distinctive appearance of that river and materially alters the manners and customs of those who dwell beside it. this peculiarity is the periodical overflow of its low banks; and the part thus overflowed is called the _gapo_. it extends from a little above the town of san-tarem up to the confines of peru, a distance of about seventeen hundred miles; and varies in width from one to twenty miles: so that the country when inundated assumes in many places the appearance of an extensive lake with forest trees growing out of the water; and travellers may proceed many hundreds of miles in their canoes without once entering the main stream of the river. at this time the natives become almost aquatic animals. several tribes of indians inhabit the gapo; such as the purupurus, muras; and others. they build small movable huts on the sandy shores during the dry season, and on rafts in the wet they subsist on turtle, cow-fish, and the other fish with which the river abounds, and live almost entirely in their canoes; while at night they frequently sling their hammocks between the branches of trees and sleep suspended over the deep water. some of the animals found in the gapo are peculiar to it, being attracted by the fruit-trees which are found growing only there. the indians assert that every tree that grows in the gapo is distinct from all those that grow in other districts; and when we consider that these trees are submerged for six months every year, till they are tall enough to rise above the highest water-level, we may well believe their constitution is somewhat different from those that are reared on ordinary ground. the indians are wonderfully expert in finding their way among the trackless mazes of the gapo, being guided by the broken twigs and scraped bark that indicate the route followed by previous travellers. owing to this sudden commencement of the rainy season, the old trader resolved to return to a small village and there spend several months. martin and barney were much annoyed at this; for the former was impatient to penetrate further into the interior, and the latter had firmly made up his mind to visit the diamond mines, about which he entertained the most extravagant notions. he did not, indeed, know in the least how to get to these mines, nor even in which direction they lay; but he had a strong impression that as long as he continued travelling he was approaching gradually nearer to them, and he had no doubt whatever that he would get to them at last. it was, therefore, with no small degree of impatience that they awaited the pleasure of their sable master, who explained to them that when the waters reached their height he would proceed. everything comes to an end, even a long story. after many weeks had passed slowly by, their sojourn in this village came to an end too. it was a dull place, very dull, and they had nothing to do; and the few poor people who lived there seemed to have very little or nothing to do. we will, therefore, pass it over, and resume our narrative at the point when the old trader announced to barney that the flood was at its height and they would now continue their journey. they embarked once more in their old canoe with their goods and chattels, not forgetting marmoset and grampus, whose friendship during their inactive life had become more close than ever. this friendship was evidenced chiefly by the matter-of-course way in which grampus permitted the monkey to mount his back and ride about the village and through the woods, where dry places could be found, as long as she pleased. marmoset was fonder of riding than walking, so that grampus had enough to do; but he did not put himself much about. he trotted, walked, galloped, and lay down, when, and where, and as often as he chose, without any reference to the small monkey; and marmoset held on through thick and thin, and nibbled nuts or whatever else it picked up, utterly regardless of where it was going to or the pace at which it went. it was sharp, though, that small monkey, sharp as a needle, and had its little black eyes glancing on all sides; so that when grampus dashed through underwood, and the branches threatened to sweep it off, it ducked its head; or, lying flat down, shut its eyes and held on with all its teeth and four hands like a limpet to a rock. marmoset was not careful as to her attitude on dog-back. she sat with her face to the front or rear, just as her fancy or convenience dictated. after leaving the village they travelled for many days and nights through the gapo. although afloat on the waters of the amazon, they never entered the main river after the first few days, but wound their way, in a creeping, serpentine sort of fashion, through small streams and lakes and swamps, from which the light was partially excluded by the thick foliage of the forest. it was a strange scene that illimitable watery waste, and aroused new sensations in the breasts of our travellers. as barney said, it made him "feel quite solemn-like and eerie to travel through the woods by wather." the canoe was forced under branches and among dense bushes, till they got into a part where the trees were loftier and a deep gloom prevailed. here the lowest branches were on a level with the surface of the water, and many of them were putting forth beautiful flowers. on one occasion they came to a grove of small palms, which were so deep in the water that the leaves were only a few feet above the surface. indeed they were so low that one of them caught martin's straw-hat and swept it overboard. "hallo! stop!" cried martin, interrupting the silence so suddenly that grampus sprang up with a growl, under the impression that game was in view; and marmoset scampered off behind a packing-box with an angry shriek. "what's wrong, lad?" inquired barney. "back water, quick! my hat's overboard, and there's an alligator going to snap it up. look alive, man!" in a few seconds the canoe was backed and the straw-hat rescued from its perilous position. "it's an ill wind that blows nae guid, as the scotch say," remarked barney, rising in the canoe and reaching towards something among the overhanging branches. "here's wan o' them trees that old black-face calls a maraja, with some splendid bunches o' fruit on it. hould yer hat, martin; there's more nor enough for supper anyhow," as he spoke a rustling in the leaves told that monkeys were watching us, and marmoset kept peeping up as if she half expected they might be relations. but the moment the travellers caught sight of them they bounded away screaming. having gathered as much fruit as they required, they continued their voyage, and presently emerged into the pleasant sunshine in a large grassy lake, which was filled with lilies and beautiful water-plants, little yellow bladder-worts, with several other plants of which they knew not the names; especially one with a thick swollen stalk, curious leaves, and bright blue flowers. this lake was soon passed, and they again entered into the gloomy forest, and paddled among the lofty trunks of the trees, which rose like massive columns out of the deep water. there was enough of animal life there, however, to amuse and interest them. the constant plash of falling fruit showed that birds were feeding overhead. sometimes a flock of parrots or bright blue chatterers swept from tree to tree, or atrogon swooped at a falling bunch of fruit and caught it ere it reached the water; while ungainly toucans plumped clumsily down upon the branches, and sat, in striking contrast, beside the lovely pompadours, with their claret-coloured plumage and delicate white wings. vieing with these birds in splendour were several large bright-yellow flowers of the creeping-plants, which twined round the trees. some of these plants had white, spotted, and purple blossoms; and there was one splendid species, called by the natives the flor de santa anna--the flower of st. ann--which emitted a delightful odour and was four inches in diameter. having traversed this part of the wood, they once more emerged upon the main stream of the amazon. it was covered with water-fowl. large logs of trees and numerous floating islands of grass were sailing down; and on these sat hundreds of white gulls, demurely and comfortably voyaging to the ocean; for the sea would be their final resting-place if they sat on these logs and islands until they descended several hundreds of miles of the great river. "i wish," said martin, after a long silence, during which the travellers had been gazing on the watery waste as they paddled up stream--"i wish that we could fall in with solid land, where we might have something cooked. i'm desperately hungry now; but i don't see a spot of earth large enough for a mosquito to rest his foot on." "we'll jist have to take to farhina and wather," remarked barney, laying down his paddle and proceeding leisurely to light his pipe. "it's a blissin' we've got baccy, any how. tis mesilf that could niver git on without it." "i wish you joy of it, barney. it may fill your mouth, but it can't stop your hunger." "och, boy, it's little ye know! sure it stops the cravin's o' hunger, and kapes yer stumick from callin' out for iver, till ye fall in with somethin' to ate." "it does not seem to stop the mouth then, barney, for you call out for grub oftener than i do; and then you say that you couldn't get on without it; so you're a slave to it, old boy. i wouldn't be a slave to anything if i could help it." "martin, lad, ye're gittin' deep. take care now, or ye'll be in mettlefeesics soon. i say, ould black-face,"--barney was not on ceremony with the old trader,--"is there no land in thim parts at all?" "no, not dis night," "och, then, we'll have to git up a tree and try to cook somethin' there; for i'm not goin' to work on flour and wather. hallo! hould on! there's an island, or the portrait o' wan! port your helm, naygur! hard aport! d'ye hear?" the old man heard, but, as usual, paid no attention to the irishman's remarks; and the canoe would have passed straight on, had not barney used his bow-paddle so energetically that he managed to steer her, as he expressed it, by the nose, and ran her against a mass of floating logs which had caught firmly in a thicket, and were so covered with grass and broken twigs as to have very much the appearance of a real island. here they landed, so to speak, kindled a small fire, made some coffee, roasted a few fish, baked several cakes, and were soon as happy and comfortable as hungry and wearied men usually are when they obtain rest and food. "this is what i call jolly," remarked barney. "what's jolly?" inquired martin. "why _this_, to be sure,--grub to begin with, and a smoke and a convanient snooze in prospect," the hopes which barney cherished, however, were destined to be blighted, at least in part. to the victuals he did ample justice; the pipe was delightful, and in good working order; but when they lay down to repose, they were attacked by swarms of stinging ants, which the heat of the fire had driven out of the old logs. these and mosquitoes effectually banished sleep from their eye-lids, and caused them to reflect very seriously, and to state to each other more than once very impressively, that, with all their beauties and wonders, tropical lands had their disadvantages, and there was no place like the "ould country," after all. chapter xviii the sad and momentous era referred to at the close of the chapter preceding the last one sultry evening, many weeks after our travellers had passed the uncomfortable night on the floating island in the gapo, they came to a place where the banks of the river rose boldly up in rugged rocks and hemmed in the waters of the amazon, which were by this time somewhat abated. here they put ashore, intending to kindle their fire and encamp for the night, having been up and hard at work since daybreak. the evening was calm and beautiful, and the troublesome insects not so numerous as usual,--probably owing to the nature of the ground. one or two monkeys showed themselves for a moment, as if to enquire who was there, and then ran away screaming; a porcupine also crossed their path, and several small bright snakes, of a harmless species, glided over the rocks, and sought refuge among the small bushes; but beyond these there were few of the sights and sounds that were wont to greet them in the forest. "i think things look well to-night," remarked martin as he threw down a bundle of sticks which he had gathered for the fire; "we shall have a comfortable snooze for certain, if the mosquitoes don't wake up." "i'm not so sure of that," replied barney, striking a light with flint and steel and stooping to puff the smouldering spark into a flame. "i've larned by exparience that ye niver can be--puff--sure o' nothin' in this--puff--remarkable country. jist look at darkey now," continued the irishman, sitting down on a stone before the fire, which now began to kindle up, and stuffing the tobacco into his pipe with his little finger. "there he is, a livin' naygur, aliftin' of the provision-bag out o' the canoe. well, if he was all of a suddent to turn into marmoset an' swaller himself, an' then jump down the throat of grampus, and the whole consarn, canoe and all, to disappear, i don't think that i would be much surprised." "would you not, barney? i suspect that i should be, a little, under the circumstances; perhaps the old nigger would be more so." "niver a taste," continued barney. "ye see, if that was to happen, i would then know that it was all a drame. i've more than wance expected to wake up since i comed into furrin parts; the only thing that kapes me in doubt about it is the baccy." "how so, barney?" "why, bekase it tastes so rael, good luck to it! that i can't git myself to think it's only a drame. jist look, now," he continued, in the same tone of voice; "if it wasn't a drame, how could i see sich a thing as that standin' on the rock over there?" martin glanced towards the spot pointed out by his friend, and immediately started up with surprise. "hallo! barney, that's no dream, i'll vouch for it. he's an indian, and a very ugly one too, i declare. i say, old fellow, do you know what sort of savage that is?" "not know," answered the trader, glancing uneasily at the stranger. "he might have the dacency to put on more close, anyhow," muttered barney, as he gazed inquiringly at the savage. the being who had thus appeared so suddenly before the travellers belonged to one of the numerous tribes of indians inhabiting the country near the head-waters of some of the chief tributaries of the amazon. he was almost entirely naked, having merely a scanty covering on his loins; and carried a small quiver full of arrows at his back, and what appeared to be a long spear in his hand. his figure was strongly but not well formed; and his face, which was of a dark copper hue, was disfigured in a most remarkable manner. a mass of coarse black hair formed the only covering to his head. his cheeks were painted with curious marks of jet black. but the most remarkable points about him were the huge pieces of wood which formed ornaments in his ears and under lip. they were round and flat like the wooden wheel of a toy-cart, about half an inch thick, and larger than an old-fashioned watch. these were fitted into enormous slits made in the ears and under lip, and the latter projected more than two inches from his mouth! indeed, the cut that had been made to receive this ornament was so large that the lip had been almost cut off altogether, and merely hung by each corner of his mouth! the aspect of the man was very hideous, and it was by no means improved when, having recovered from his surprise at unexpectedly encountering strangers, he opened his mouth to the full extent and uttered a savage yell. the cry was answered immediately. in a few minutes a troop of upwards of thirty savages sprang from the woods, and, ascending the rock on which their comrade stood, gazed down on the travellers in surprise, and, by their movements, seemed to be making hasty preparations for an attack. by this time barney had recovered his self-possession, and became thoroughly convinced of the reality of the apparition before him. drawing his pistol hastily from his belt, he caught up a handful of gravel, wherewith he loaded it to the muzzle, ramming down the charge with a bit of mandioca-cake in lieu of a wad; then drawing his cutlass he handed it to martin, exclaiming, "come, lad, we're in for it now. take you the cutlass and til try their skulls with the butt o' my pistol: it has done good work before now in that way. if there's no more o' the blackguards in the background we'll bate them aisy." martin instinctively grasped the cutlass, and there is no doubt that, under the impulse of that remarkable quality, british valour, which utterly despises odds, they would have hurled themselves recklessly upon the savages, when the horrified old trader threw himself on barney's neck and implored him not to fight; for if he did they would all be killed, and if he only kept quiet the savages would perhaps do them no harm. at the same moment about fifty additional indians arrived upon the scene of action. this, and the old man's earnest entreaties, induced them to hesitate for an instant, and, before they could determine what to do, they were surprised by some of the savages, who rushed upon them from behind and took them prisoners. barney struggled long and fiercely, but he was at length overpowered by numbers. the pistol, which missed fire, was wrenched from his grasp, and his hands were speedily bound behind his back. martin was likewise disarmed and secured; not, however, before he made a desperate slash at one of the savages, which narrowly missed his skull, and cut away his lip ornament. as for the old trader, he made no resistance at all, but submitted quietly to his fate. the savages did not seem to think it worth their while to bind him. grampus bounced and barked round the party savagely, but did not attack; and marmoset slept in the canoe in blissful ignorance of the whole transaction. the hands of the two prisoners being firmly bound, they were allowed to do as they pleased; so they sat down on a rock in gloomy silence, and watched the naked savages as they rifled the canoe and danced joyfully round the treasures which their active knives and fingers soon exposed to view. the old trader took things philosophically. knowing that it was absolutely impossible to escape, he sat quietly down on a stone, rested his chin on his hands, heaved one or two deep sighs, and thereafter seemed to be nothing more than an ebony statue. the ransacking of the canoe and appropriating of its contents occupied the savages but a short time, after which they packed everything up in small bundles, which they strapped upon their backs. then, making signs to their prisoners to rise, they all marched away into the forest. just as they were departing, marmoset, observing that she was about to be left behind, uttered a frantic cry, which brought grampus gambolling to her side. with an active bound the monkey mounted its charger, and away they went into the forest in the track of the band of savages. during the first part of their march martin and barney were permitted to walk beside each other, and they conversed in low, anxious tones. "surely," said barney, as they marched along surrounded by indians, "thim long poles the savages have got are not spears; i don't see no point to them." "and what's more remarkable," added martin, "is that they all carry quivers full of arrows, but none of them have bows." "there's a raison for iverything," said barney, pointing to one of the indians in advance; "that fellow explains the mystery." as he spoke, the savage referred to lowered the pole, which seemed to be about thirteen feet long, and pushing an arrow into a hole in the end of it, applied it to his mouth. in another moment the arrow flew through the air and grazed a bird that was sitting on a branch hard by. "tis a blow-pipe, and no mistake!" cried barney. "and a poisoned arrow, i'm quite sure," added martin; "for it only ruffled the bird's feathers, and see, it has fallen to the ground." "och, then, but we'd have stood a bad chance in a fight, if thim's the wipons they use. och, the dirty spalpeens! martin, dear, we're done for. there's no chance for us at all." this impression seemed to take such deep hold of barney's mind, that his usually reckless and half jesting disposition was completely subdued, and he walked along in gloomy silence, while a feeling of deep dejection filled the heart of his young companion. the blow-pipe which these indians use is an ingeniously contrived weapon. it is made from a species of palm-tree. when an indian wants one, he goes into the woods and selects a tree with a long slender stem of less than an inch in diameter; he extracts the pith out of this, and then cuts another stem, so much larger than the first that he can push the small tube into the bore of the large one,--thus the slight bend in one is counteracted by the other, and a perfectly straight pipe is formed. the mouthpiece is afterwards neatly finished off. the arrows used are very short, having a little ball of cotton at the end to fill the tube of the blow-pipe. the points are dipped in a peculiar poison, which has the effect of producing death when introduced into the blood by a mere scratch of the skin. the indians can send these arrows an immense distance, and with unerring aim, as martin and barney had many an opportunity of witnessing during their long and weary journey on foot to the forest-home of the savages. chapter xix worse and worse--everything seems to go wrong together although the indians did not maltreat the unfortunate strangers who had thus fallen into their hands, they made them proceed by forced marches through the wilderness; and as neither barney nor martin had been of late much used to long walks, they felt the journey very severely. the old trader had been accustomed to everything wretched and unfortunate and uncomfortable from his childhood, so he plodded onward in silent indifference. the country through which they passed became every day more and more rugged, until at length it assumed the character of a wild mountainous district. sometimes they wound their way in a zigzag manner up the mountain sides, by paths so narrow that they could scarcely find a foot-hold. at other times they descended into narrow valleys where they saw great numbers of wild animals of various kinds, some of which the indians killed for food. after they reached the mountain district they loosed the hands of their prisoners, in order to enable them to climb more easily. indeed in many places they had to scramble so carefully that it would have been impossible for any one to climb with his hands tied behind his back. but the indians knew full well that they ran no risk of losing their prisoners; for if they had attempted to escape, dozens of their number were on the watch, before, behind, and on either side, ready to dart away in pursuit. moreover, barney had a feeling of horror at the bare idea of the poisoned arrows, that effectually prevented him from making the smallest attempt at escape. with a cutlass or a heavy stick he would have attacked the whole tribe single-handed, and have fought till his brains were knocked out; but when he thought of the small arrows that would pour upon him in hundreds if he made a dash for the woods, and the certain death that would follow the slightest scratch, he discarded all idea of rebellion. one of the animals killed by the indians at this time was a black jaguar,--a magnificent animal, and very fierce. he was discovered crouching in a thicket backed by a precipice, from which he could only escape by charging through the ranks of his enemies. he did it nobly. with a roar that rebounded from the face of the high cliff and echoed through the valley like a peal of thunder, he sprang out and rushed at the savages in front, who scattered like chaff right and left. but at the same instant fifty blow-pipes sent their poisoned shafts into his body, and, after a few convulsive bounds, the splendid monarch of the american forests fell dead on the ground. the black jaguar is a somewhat rare animal, and is very seldom seen. this one was therefore hailed as a great prize, and the skin and claws were carefully preserved. on the afternoon of the same day the party came to a broad stream, over which they, or some other of the numerous tribes in the country, had constructed a very simple and curious bridge. it was a single rope attached to an immense mass of rock on one side and to the stem of a large tree on the other. on this tight-rope was fastened a simple loop of cord, so constructed that it could encircle the waist of a man and at the same time traverse from one end of the tight-rope to the other. barney put on a comical frown when he came to this and saw the leader of the party rest his weight in the loop, and, in clinging with hands and legs to the long rope, work himself slowly across. "arrah! it's well for us, martin, that we're used to goin' aloft," said he, "or that same bridge would try our narves a little." "so it would, barney. i've seldom seen a more uncomfortable-looking contrivance. if we lost our hold we should first be dashed to pieces on the rocks, and then be drowned in the river." difficult though the passage seemed, however? it was soon accomplished by the active savages in safety. the only one of the party likely to be left behind was grampus; whom his master, after much entreaty in dumb-show, was permitted to carry over by tying him firmly to his shoulders. marmoset crossed over walking, like a tight-rope dancer, being quite _au fait_ at such work. soon after they came to another curious bridge over a ravine. it had been constructed by simply felling two tall trees on the edge of it in such a manner that they fell across. they were bound together with the supple vines that grew there in profusion. nature had soon covered the whole over with climbing plants and luxuriant verdure; and the bridge had become a broad and solid structure over which the whole party marched with perfect ease. several such bridges were crossed, and also a few of the rope kind, during the journey. after many weeks' constant travelling, the indians came to a beautiful valley one evening just about sunset, and began to make the usual preparations for encamping. the spot they selected was a singular one. it was at the foot of a rocky gorge, up which might be seen trees and bushes mingled with jagged rocks and dark caverns, with a lofty sierra or mountain range in the background. in front was the beautiful valley which they had just crossed. on a huge rock there grew a tree of considerable size, the roots of which projected beyond the rock several yards, and then, bending downwards, struck into the ground. creeping plants had twined thickly among the roots, and thus formed a sort of lattice-work which enclosed a large space of ground. in this natural arbour the chiefs of the indians took up their quarters and kindled their fire in the centre of it, while the main body of the party pitched their camp outside. the three prisoners were allotted a corner in the arbour; and, after having supped, they spread their ponchos on a pile of ferns, and found themselves very snug indeed. "martin," said barney, gravely, as he smoked his pipe and patted the head of his dog, "d'ye know i'm beginning to feel tired o' the company o' thim naked rascals, and i've been revolvin' in my mind what we should do to escape. moreover, i've corned to a conclusion." "and what's that?" inquired martin. "that it's unposs'ble to escape at all, and i don't know what to do." "that's not a satisfactory conclusion, barney. i, too, have been cogitating a good deal about these indians, and it is my opinion that they have been on a war expedition, for i've noticed that several of them have been wounded; and, besides, i cannot fancy what else could take them so far from home." "true, martin, true. i wonder what they intind to do with us. they don't mean to kill us, anyhow; for if they did they would niver take the trouble to bring us here. ochone! me heart's beginnin' to go down altogether; for we are miles and miles away from anywrhere now, and i don't know the direction o' no place whatsumdiver." "never mind, barney, cheer up," said martin with a smile; "if they don't kill us that's all we need care about. i'm sure we shall manage to escape somehow or other in the long-run." while they thus conversed the old trader spread his poncho over himself and was soon sound asleep; while the indians, after finishing supper, held an animated conversation. at times they seemed to be disputing, and spoke angrily and with violent gesticulations, glancing now and then at the corner where their prisoners lay. "it's my belafe," whispered barney, "that they're spakin' about us. i'm afeard they don't mean us any good. och, but if i wance had my pistol and the ould cutlass. well, well, it's of no manner o' use frettin'. good-night, martin, good-night!" the irishman knocked the ashes out of his pipe, turned his face to the wall, and, heaving a deep sigh, speedily forgot his cares in sleep. the indians also lay down, the camp-fires died slowly out; and the deep breathing of the savages alone betokened the presence of man in that lone wilderness. barney's forebodings proved to be only too well founded; for next morning, instead of pursuing their way together, as usual, the savages divided their forces into two separate bands, placing the irishman and the old trader in the midst of one, and martin rattler with the other. "surely they're niver goin' to part us, martin," said barney with a care-worn expression on his honest countenance that indicated the anxious suspicions in his heart. "i fear it much," replied martin with a startled look, as he watched the proceedings of the indians. "we must fight now, barney, if we should die for it. we _must_ not be separated." martin spoke with intense fervour and gazed anxiously in the face of his friend. a dark frown had gathered there. the sudden prospect of being forcibly torn from his young companion, whom he regarded with almost a mother's tenderness, stirred his enthusiastic and fiery temperament to its centre, and he gazed wildly about, as if for some weapon. but the savages anticipated his intention; ere he could grasp any offensive weapon two of their number leaped upon him, and at the same moment martin's arms were pinioned in a powerful grasp. "och, ye murderin' blackguards!" cried barney, hitting out right and left and knocking down a savage at each blow. "now or niver! come on, ye kangaroos!" a general rush was made upon the irishman, who was fairly overturned by the mass of men. martin struggled fiercely to free himself, and would have succeeded had not two powerful indians hastened to the help of the one who had first seized him. despite his frantic efforts, he was dragged forcibly up the mountain gorge, the echoes of which rang with his cries as he shouted despairingly the name of his friend. barney fought like a tiger; but he could make no impression on such numbers. although at least a dozen indians lay around him bleeding and stunned by the savage blows of his fists,--a species of warfare which was entirely new to them,--fresh savages crowded round. but they did not wish to kill him, and numerous though they were, they found it no easy matter to secure so powerful a man; and when martin turned a last despairing glance towards the camp, ere a turn in the path shut it out from view, the hammer-like fists of his comrade were still smashing down the naked creatures who danced like monkeys round him, and the war-like shouts of his stentorian voice reverberated among the cliffs and caverns of the mountain pass long after he was hid from view. thus martin and barney were separated in the wild regions near the sierra dos parecis of brazil. chapter xx martin reflects much, and forms a firm resolve--the indian village when the mind has been overwhelmed by some sudden and terrible calamity, it is long ere it again recovers its wonted elasticity. an aching void seems to exist in the heart, and a dead weight appears to press upon the brain, so that ordinary objects make but little impression, and the soul seems to turn inwards and brood drearily upon itself. the spirit of fun arid frolick, that had filled martin rattler's heart ever since he landed in brazil, was now so thoroughly and rudely crushed, that he felt as if it were utterly impossible that he should ever smile again. he had no conception of the strength of his affection for the rough, hearty sailor, who had until now been the faithful and good-humoured companion of his wanderings. as barney had himself said on a former occasion, his life up till this period had been a pleasant and exciting dream. but he was now awakened rudely to the terrible reality of his forlorn position; and the more he thought of it the more hopeless and terrible it appeared to be. he knew not in what part of brazil he was; he was being hurried apparently deeper into these vast solitudes by savages who were certainly not friendly, and of whose language he knew not a word; and worst of all, he was separated perhaps for ever from the friend on whom, all unconsciously to himself, he had so long leaned for support in all their difficulties and dangers. even though he and barney should succeed in escaping from the indians, he felt--and his heart was overwhelmed at the thought--that in such a vast country there was not the shadow of a chance that they should find each other. under the deep depression produced by these thoughts martin wandered on wearily, as if in a dream--taking no interest in anything that occurred by the way. at length, after several days fatiguing journey over mountains and plains, they arrived at the indian village. here the warriors were received with the utmost joy by the wives and children whom they had left behind, and for a long time martin was left almost entirely to do as he pleased. a few days before, his bonds had been removed, and once or twice he thought of attempting to escape; but whenever he wandered a little further than usual into the woods, he found that he was watched and followed by a tall and powerful savage, whose duty it evidently was to see that the prisoner did not escape. the fearful idea now entered martin's mind that he was reserved for torture, and perhaps a lingering death; for he had read that many savage nations treated their prisoners in this cruel manner, for the gratification of the women who had lost relations in the war. but as no violence was offered to him in the meantime, and he had as much farina and fruit to eat as he could use, his mind gradually became relieved, and he endeavoured as much as possible to dismiss the terrible thought altogether. the indian village occupied a lovely situation at the base of a gentle hill or rising ground, the summit of which was clothed with luxuriant trees and shrubs. the huts were of various shapes and sizes, and very simple in construction. they were built upon the bare ground; some were supported by four corner posts, twelve or fifteen feet high, and from thirty to forty feet long, the walls being made of thin laths connected with wicker-work and plastered with clay. the doors were made of palm-leaves, and the roofs were covered with the same material, or with maize straw. other huts were made almost entirely of palm-leaves and tent-shaped in form; and, while a few were enclosed by walls, the most of the square ones had one or more sides entirely open. in the large huts several families dwelt together, and each family had a hearth and a portion of the floor allotted to it. the smoke from their fires was allowed to find its way out by the doors and chinks in the roofs, as no chimneys were constructed for its egress. the furniture of each hut was very simple. it consisted of a few earthen pots; baskets made of palm-leaves, which were filled with spanish potatoes, maize, mandioca roots, and various kinds of wild fruits; one or two drinking vessels; the hollow trunk of a tree, used for pounding maize in; and several dishes which contained the colours used by the indians in painting their naked bodies,--a custom which was very prevalent amongst them. besides these things, there were bows, arrows, spears, and blow-pipes in abundance; and hammocks hung from various posts, elevated about a foot from the ground. these hammocks were made of cotton cords, and served the purpose of tables, chairs, and beds. the ground in the immediate neighbourhood of the village was laid out in patches, in which were cultivated mandioca roots, maize, and other plants useful for domestic purposes. in front of the village there was an extensive valley, through which a small river gurgled with a pleasant sound. it was hemmed in on all sides by wooded mountains, and was so beautifully diversified by scattered clusters of palms, and irregular patches of undulating grassy plains all covered with a rich profusion of tropical flowers and climbing plants, that it seemed to martin more like a magnificent garden than the uncultivated forest,--only far more rich and lovely and picturesque than any artificial garden could possibly be. when the sun shone in full splendour on this valley--as it almost always did--it seemed as if the whole landscape were on the point of bursting into flames of red and blue, and green and gold; and when martin sat under the shade of a tamarind-tree and gazed long upon the enchanting scene, his memory often reverted to the eden of which he used to read in the bible at home, and he used to wonder if it were possible that the sun and flowers and trees _could_ be more lovely in the time when adam walked with god in paradise. martin was young then, and he did not consider, although he afterwards came to know, that it was not the beauty of natural objects, but the presence and favour of god and the absence of sin, that rendered the garden of eden a paradise. but these thoughts always carried him back to dear old aunt dorothy and the sweet village of ashford; and the brazilian paradise was not unfrequently obliterated in tears while he gazed, and turned into a vale of weeping. ay, he would have given that magnificent valley,--had it been his own,--ten times over, in exchange for one more glance at the loved faces and the green fields of home. soon after his arrival at the indian village martin was given to understand, by signs, that he was to reside with a particular family, and work every day in the maize and mandioca fields, besides doing a great deal of the drudgery of the hut; so that he now knew he was regarded as a slave by the tribe into whose hands he had fallen. it is impossible to express the bitterness of his feelings at this discovery, and for many weeks he went about his work scarcely knowing what he did, and caring little, when the hot sun beat on him so fiercely that he could hardly stand, whether he lived or died. at length, however, he made up his mind firmly to attempt his escape. he was sitting beneath the shade of his favourite resort, the tamarind-tree, when he made this resolve. longing thoughts of home had been strong upon him all that day, and desire for the companionship of barney had filled his heart to bursting; so that the sweet evening sunshine and the beautiful vale over which his eyes wandered, instead of affording him pleasure, seemed but to mock his misery. it was a lesson that all must learn sooner or later, and one we would do well to think upon before we learn it, that sunshine in the soul is not dependent on the sunshine of this world, and when once the clouds descend, the brightest beams of all that earth contains cannot pierce them,--god alone can touch these dark clouds with the finger of love and mercy, and say again, as he said of old, "let there be light." a firm purpose, formed with heart and will, is cheering and invigorating to a depressed mind. no sooner did the firm determination to escape or die enter into martin's heart, than he sprang from his seat, and, falling on his knees, prayed to god, in the name of our redeemer, for help and guidance. he had not the least idea of how he was to effect his escape, or of what he intended to do. all he knew was that he had _made up his mind_ to do so, _if god would help him_. and under the strength of that resolve he soon recovered much of his former cheerfulness of disposition, and did his work among the savages with a degree of energy that filled them with surprise and respect. from that day forth he never ceased to revolve in his mind every imaginable and unimaginable plan of escape, and to watch every event or circumstance, no matter how trifling, that seemed likely to aid him in his purpose. seeing that he was a very strong and active fellow, and that he had become remarkably expert in the use of the bow and the blow-pipe, the indians now permitted martin to accompany them frequently on their short hunting expeditions, so that he had many opportunities of seeing more of the wonderful animals and plants of the brazilian forests, in the studying of which he experienced great delight. moreover, in the course of a few months he began to acquire a smattering of the indian language, and was not compelled to live in constant silence, as had been the case at first. but he carefully avoided the formation of any friendships with the youths of the tribe, although many of them seemed to desire it, considering that his doing so might in some way or other interfere with the execution of his great purpose. he was civil and kind to them all, however, though reserved; and, as time wore away, he enjoyed much more liberty than was the case at first. still, however, he was watched by the tall savage, who was a surly, silent fellow, and would not be drawn into conversation. indeed he did not walk with martin, but followed him wherever he went, during his hours of leisure, at a distance of a few hundred yards, moving when his prisoner moved, and stopping when he halted, so that martin at last began to regard him more as a shadow than a man. chapter xxi savage feasts and ornaments--martin grows desperate, and makes a bold attempt to escape hunting and feasting were the chief occupations of the men of the tribe with whom martin sojourned. one day martin was told that a great feast was to take place, and he was permitted to attend. accordingly, a little before the appointed time he hastened to the large hut in and around which the festivities were to take place, in order to witness the preparations. the first thing that struck him was that there seemed to be no preparations making for eating; and on inquiry he was told that they did not meet to eat, they met to drink and dance,--those who were hungry might eat at home. the preparations for drinking were made on an extensive scale by the women, a number of whom stood round a large caldron, preparing its contents for use. these women wore very little clothing, and their bodies, besides being painted in a fantastic style, were also decorated with flowers and feathers. martin could not help feeling that, however absurd the idea of painting the body was, it had at least the good effect of doing away to some extent with the idea of nakedness; for the curious patterns and devices gave to the indians the appearance of being clothed in tights,--and, at any rate, he argued mentally, paint was better than nothing. some of the flowers were artificially constructed out of beetles' wings, shells, fish-scales, and feathers, and were exquisitely beautiful as well as gorgeous. one of the younger women struck martin as being ultra-fashionable in her paint. her black shining hair hung like a cloak over her reddish-brown shoulders, and various strange drawings and figures ornamented her face and breast. on each cheek she had a circle, and over that two strokes; under the nose were four red spots; from the corners of her mouth to the middle of each cheek were two parallel lines, and below these several upright stripes; on various parts of her back and shoulders were curiously entwined circles, and the form of a snake was depicted in vermilion down each arm. unlike the others, she wore no ornament except a simple necklace of monkeys' teeth. this beauty was particularly active in manufacturing the intoxicating drink, which is prepared thus:--a quantity of maize was pounded in the hollow trunk of a tree and put into an earthen pot, where it was boiled in a large quantity of water. then the woman took the coarsely ground and boiled flour out of the water, chewed it in their mouths for a little, and put it into the pot again! by this means the decoction began to ferment and became intoxicating. it was a very disgusting method, yet it is practised by many indian tribes in america; and, strange to say, also by some of the south sea islanders, who, of course, could not have learned it from these indians. when this beverage was ready, the chief, a tall, broad-shouldered man, whose painted costume and ornaments were most elaborate, stepped up to the pot and began a strange series of incantations, which he accompanied by rattling a small wooden instrument in his hand; staring all the time at the earthen pot, as if he half expected it to run away; and dancing slowly round it, as if to prevent such a catastrophe from taking place. the oftener the song was repeated the more solemn and earnest became the expression of his face and the tones of his voice. the rest of the indians, who were assembled to the number of several hundreds, stood motionless round the pot, staring at him intently without speaking, and only now and then, when the voice and actions of the chief became much excited, they gave vent to a sympathetic howl. after this had gone on for some time, the chief seized a drinking-cup, or cuja, which he gravely dipped into the pot and took a sip. then the shaking of the rattle and the monotonous song began again. the chief next took a good pull at the cup and emptied it; after which he presented it to his companions, who helped themselves at pleasure; and the dance and monotonous music became more furious and noisy the longer the cup went round. when the cup had circulated pretty freely among them, their dances and music became more lively; but they were by no means attractive. after he had watched them a short time, martin left the festive scene with a feeling of pity for the poor savages; and as he thought upon their low and debased condition he recalled to mind the remark of his old friend the hermit,--"they want the bible in brazil." during his frequent rambles in the neighbourhood of the indian village, martin discovered many beautiful and retired spots, to which he was in the habit of going in the evenings after his daily labours were accomplished, accompanied, as usual, at a respectful distance, by his vigilant friend the tall savage. one of his favourite resting-places was at the foot of a banana-tree which grew on the brow of a stupendous cliff about a mile distant from the hut in which he dwelt. from this spot he had a commanding view of the noble valley and the distant mountains. these mountains now seemed to the poor boy to be the ponderous gates of his beautiful prison; for he had been told by one of his indian friends that on the other side of them were great campos and forests, beyond which dwelt many portuguese, while still further on was a great lake without shores, which was the end of the world. this, martin was convinced, must be the atlantic ocean; for, upon inquiry, he found that many months of travel must be undergone ere it could be reached. moreover, he knew that it could not be the pacific, because the sun rose in that direction. sauntering away to his favourite cliff, one fine evening towards sunset, he seated himself beneath the banana-tree and gazed longingly at the distant mountains, whose sharp summits glittered in the ruddy glow. he had long racked his brain in order to devise some method of escape, but hitherto without success. wherever he went the "shadow" followed him, armed with the deadly blow-pipe; and he knew that even if he did succeed in eluding his vigilance and escaping into the woods, hundreds of savages would turn out and track him, with unerring certainty, to any hiding-place. still the strength of his stern determination sustained him; and, at each failure in his efforts to devise some means of effecting his purpose, he threw off regret with a deep sigh, and returned to his labour with a firmer step, assured that he should eventually succeed. as he sat there on the edge of the precipice, he said, half aloud, "what prevents me from darting suddenly on that fellow and knocking him down?" this was a question that might have been easily answered. no doubt he was physically capable of coping with the man, for he had now been upwards of a year in the wilderness, and was in his sixteenth year, besides being unusually tall and robust for his age. indeed he looked more like a full-grown man than a stripling; for hard, incessant toil had developed his muscles and enlarged his frame, and his stirring life, combined latterly with anxiety, had stamped a few of the lines of manhood on his sunburnt countenance. but, although he could have easily overcome the indian, he knew that he would be instantly missed; and, from what he had seen of the powers of the savages in tracking wild animals to their dens in the mountains, he felt that he could not possibly elude them except by stratagem. perplexed and wearied with unavailing thought and anxiety, martin pressed his hands to his forehead and gazed down the perpendicular cliff, which was elevated fully a hundred feet above the plain below. suddenly he started and clasped his hands upon his eyes, as if to shut out some terrible object from his sight. then, creeping cautiously towards the edge of the cliff, he gazed down, while an expression of stern resolution settled upon his pale face. and well might martin's cheek blanch, for he had hit upon a plan of escape which, to be successful, required that he should twice turn a bold, unflinching face on death. the precipice, as before mentioned, was fully a hundred feet high, and quite perpendicular. at the foot of it there flowed a deep and pretty wide stream, which, just under the spot where martin stood, collected in a deep black pool, where it rested for a moment ere it rushed on its rapid course down the valley. over the cliff and into that pool martin made up his mind to plunge, and so give the impression that he had fallen over and been drowned. the risk he ran in taking such a tremendous leap was very great indeed, but that was only half the danger he must encounter. the river was one of a remarkable kind, of which there are one or two instances in south america. it flowed down the valley between high rocks, and, a few hundred yards below the pool, it ran straight against the face of a precipice and there terminated to all appearance; but a gurgling vortex in the deep water at the base of the cliff, and the disappearance of everything that entered it, showed that the stream found a subterranean passage. there was no sign of its reappearance, however, in all the country round. in short, the river was lost in the bowels of the earth. from the pool to the cliff where the river was engulfed the water ran like a mill-race, and there was no spot on either bank where any one could land, or even grasp with his hand, except one. it was a narrow, sharp rock, that jutted out about two feet from the bank, quite close to the vortex of the whirlpool. this rock was martin's only hope. to miss it would be certain destruction. but if he should gain a footing on it he knew that he could climb by a narrow fissure into a wild, cavernous spot, which it was exceedingly difficult to reach from any other point. a bend in the river concealed this rock and the vortex from the place whereon he stood, so that he hoped to be able to reach the point of escape before the savage could descend the slope and gain the summit of the cliff from whence it could be seen. of all this martin was well aware, for he had been often at the place before, and knew every inch of the ground. his chief difficulty would be to leap over the precipice in such a manner as to cause the indian to believe he had fallen over accidentally. if he could accomplish this, then he felt assured the savages would suppose he had been drowned, and so make no search for him at all. fortunately the ground favoured this. about five feet below the edge of the precipice there was a projecting ledge of rock nearly four feet broad and covered with shrubs. upon this it was necessary to allow himself to fall. the expedient was a desperate one, and he grew sick at heart as he glanced down the awful cliff, which seemed to him three times higher than it really was, as all heights do when seen from above. glancing round, he observed his savage guardian gazing contemplatively at the distant prospect. martin's heart beat audibly as he rose and walked with an affectation of carelessness to the edge of the cliff. as he gazed down, a feeling of horror seized him; he gasped for breath, and almost fainted. then the idea of perpetual slavery flashed across his mind, and the thought of freedom and home nerved him: he clenched his hands, staggered convulsively forward and fell, with a loud and genuine shriek of terror, upon the shrubs that covered the rocky ledge. instantly he arose, ground his teeth together, raised his eyes for one moment to heaven, and sprang into the air. for one instant he swept through empty space; the next he was deep down in the waters of the dark pool, and when the horrified indian reached the edge of the precipice, he beheld his prisoner struggling on the surface for a moment, ere he was swept by the rapid stream round the point and out of view. bounding down the slope, the savage sped like a hunted antelope across the intervening space between the two cliffs, and quickly gained the brow of the lower precipice, which he reached just in time to see martin rattler's straw hat dance for a moment on the troubled waters of the vortex and disappear in the awful abyss. but martin saw it, too, from the cleft in the frowning rock. on reaching the surface after his leap he dashed the water from his eyes and looked with intense earnestness in the direction of the projecting rock towards which he was hurried. down he came upon it with such speed that he felt no power of man could resist. but there was a small eddy just below it, into which he was whirled as he stretched forth his hands and clutched the rock with the energy of despair. he was instantly torn away. but another small point projected two feet below it. this he seized. the water swung his feet to and fro as it gushed into the vortex, but the eddy saved him. in a moment his breast was on the rock, then his foot, and he sprang into the sheltering cleft just a moment before the indian came in view of the scene of his supposed death. martin flung himself with his face to the ground, and thought rather than uttered a heartfelt thanksgiving for his deliverance. the savage carried the news of his death to his friends in the indian village, and recounted with deep solemnity the particulars of his awful fate to crowds of wondering,--in many cases sorrowing,--listeners; and for many a day after that, the poor savages were wont to visit the terrible cliff and gaze with awe on the mysterious vortex that had swallowed up, as they believed, the fair-haired boy. chapter xxii the escape--alone in the wilderness--fight between a jaguar and an alligator--martin encounters strange and terrible creatures freedom can be fully appreciated only by those who have been for a long period deprived of liberty. it is impossible to comprehend the feelings of joy that welled up in martin's bosom as he clambered up the rugged cliffs among which he had found shelter, and looked round upon the beautiful valley, now lying in the shadow of the mountain range behind which the sun had just set. he sat down on a rock, regardless of the wet condition of his clothes, and pondered long and earnestly over his position, which was still one of some danger; but a sensation of light-hearted recklessness made the prospect before him seem very bright. he soon made up his mind what to do. the weather was extremely warm, so that after wringing the water out of his linen clothes he experienced little discomfort; but he felt that there would not only be discomfort but no little danger in travelling in such a country without arms, covering, or provisions. he therefore determined on the bold expedient of revisiting the indian village during the darkness of the night in order to procure what he required. he ran great risk of being retaken, but his necessity was urgent, and he was aware that several families were absent on a hunting expedition at that time whose huts were pretty certain to be unoccupied. accordingly, when two or three hours of the night had passed, he clambered with much difficulty down the precipitous rock and reached the level plain, over which he quickly ran, and soon reached the outskirts of the village. the indians were all asleep, and no sound disturbed the solemn stillness of the night. going stealthily towards a hut he peeped in at the open window, but could see and hear nothing. just as he was about to enter, however, a long-drawn breath proved that it was occupied. he shrank hastily back into the deep shade of the bushes. in a few minutes he recovered from the agitation into which he had been thrown and advanced cautiously towards another hut. this one seemed to be untenanted, so he opened the palm-leaf door gently and entered. no time was to be lost now. he found an empty sack or bag, into which he hastily threw as much farina as he could carry without inconvenience. besides this, he appropriated a long knife; a small hatchet; a flint and steel, to enable him to make a fire; and a stout bow with a quiver full of arrows. it was so dark that it was with difficulty he found these things. but as he was on the point of leaving he observed a white object in a corner. this turned out to be a light hammock, which he seized eagerly, and, rolling it up into a small bundle, placed it in the sack. he also sought for, and fortunately found, an old straw-hat, which he put on. martin had now obtained all that he required, and was about to quit the hut when he became suddenly rooted to the spot with horror on observing the dark countenance of an indian gazing at him with distended eyeballs over the edge of a hammock. his eyes, unaccustomed to the darkness of the room, had not at first observed that an indian was sleeping there. he now felt that he was lost. the savage evidently knew him. dreadful thoughts flashed through his brain. he thought of the knife in his belt, and how easily he could despatch the indian in a moment as he lay; but then the idea of imbruing his hands in human blood seemed so awful that he could not bring himself to do it. as he looked steadily at the savage he observed that his gaze was one of intense horror, and it suddenly occurred to him that the indian supposed he was a ghost! acting upon this supposition, martin advanced his face slowly towards that of the indian, put on a dark frown, and stood for a few seconds without uttering a word. the savage shrank back and shuddered from head to foot. then, with a noiseless step, martin retreated slowly backward towards the door and passed out like a spectre--never for a moment taking his eyes off those of the savage until he was lost in darkness. on gaining the forest he fled with a beating heart to his former retreat; but his fears were groundless, for the indian firmly believed that martin's spirit had visited his hut and carried away provisions for his journey to the land of spirits. without waiting to rest, martin no sooner reached the scene of his adventurous leap than he fastened his bag firmly on his shoulders and struck across the valley in the direction of the blue mountains that hemmed it in. four or five hours' hard walking brought him to their base, and long before the rising sun shone down upon his recent home he was over the hills and far away, trudging onward with a weary foot, but with a light heart, in what he believed to be the direction of the east coast of brazil. he did not dare to rest until the rugged peaks of the mountain range were between him and the savages; but, when he had left these far behind him, he halted about mid-day to breakfast and repose by the margin of a delightfully cool mountain stream. "i'm safe now!" said martin aloud, as he threw down his bundle beneath a spreading tree and commenced to prepare breakfast. "o! my friend barney, i wish that you were here to keep me company." the solitary youth looked round as if he half expected to see the rough visage and hear the gladsome voice of his friend; but no voice replied to his, and the only living creature he saw was a large monkey, which peered inquisitively clown at him from among the branches of a neighbouring bush. this reminded him that he had left his pet marmoset in the indian village, and a feeling of deep self-reproach filled his heart in the haste and anxiety of his flight he had totally forgotten his little friend. but regret was now unavailing. marmoset was lost to him for ever. having kindled a small fire, martin kneaded a large quantity of farina in the hollow of a smooth stone, and baked a number of flat cakes, which were soon fired and spread out upon the ground. while thus engaged, a snake of about six feet long and as thick as a man's arm glided past him. martin started convulsively, for he had never seen one of the kind before, and he knew that the bite of some of the snakes is deadly. fortunately his axe was at hand. grasping it quickly, he killed the reptile with a single blow. two or three mandioca cakes, a few wild fruits, and a draught of water from the stream, formed the wanderer's simple breakfast. after it was finished, he slung his hammock between two trees, and jumping in, fell into a deep, untroubled slumber, in which he continued all that day and until daybreak the following morning. after partaking of a hearty breakfast, martin took up his bundle and resumed his travels. that day he descended into the level and wooded country that succeeded the mountain range; and that night he was obliged to encamp in a swampy place near a stagnant lake in which several alligators were swimming, and where the mosquitoes were so numerous that he found it absolutely impossible to sleep. at last, in despair, he sprang into the branches of the tree to which his hammock was slung and ascended to the top. here, to his satisfaction, he found that there were scarcely any mosquitoes, while a cool breeze fanned his fevered brow; so he determined to spend the night in the tree. by binding several branches together he formed a rude sort of couch, on which he lay down comfortably, placing his knife and bow beside him, and using the hammock rolled up as a pillow. as the sun was setting, and while he leaned on his elbow looking down through the leaves with much interest at the alligators that gambolled in the reedy lake, his attention was attracted to a slight rustling in the bushes near the foot of the tree. looking down, he perceived a large jaguar gliding through the underwood with cat-like stealth. martin now observed that a huge alligator had crawled out of the lake, and was lying on the bank asleep a few yards from the margin. when the jaguar reached the edge of the bushes it paused, and then, with one tremendous spring, seized the alligator by the soft part beneath its tail. the huge monster struggled for a few seconds, endeavouring to reach the water, and then lay still, while the jaguar worried and tore at its tough hide with savage fury. martin was much surprised at the passive conduct of the alligator. that it could not turn its stiff body, so as to catch the jaguar in its jaws, did not, indeed, surprise him; but he wondered very much to see the great reptile suffer pain so quietly. it seemed to be quite paralyzed. in a few minutes the jaguar retired a short distance. then the alligator made a rush for the water; but the jaguar darted back and caught it again; and martin now saw that the jaguar was actually playing with the alligator as a cat plays with a mouse before she kills it! during one of the cessations of the combat, if we may call it by that name, the alligator almost gained the water, and in the short struggle that ensued both animals rolled down the bank and fell into the lake. the tables were now turned. the jaguar made for the shore; but before it could reach it the alligator wheeled round, opened its tremendous jaws and caught its enemy by the middle. there was one loud splash in the water, as the alligator's powerful tail dashed it into foam; and one awful roar of agony, which was cut suddenly short and stifled as the monster dived to the bottom with its prey; then all was silent as the grave, and a few ripples on the surface were all that remained to tell of the battle that had been fought there. martin remained motionless on the tree top, brooding over the fight which he had just witnessed, until the deepening shadows warned him that it was time to seek repose. turning on his side he laid his head on his pillow, while a soft breeze swayed the tree gently to and fro and rocked him sound asleep. thus, day after day, and week after week, did martin rattler wander alone through the great forests, sometimes pleasantly, and at other times with more or less discomfort; subsisting on game which he shot with his arrows, and on wild fruits. he met with many strange adventures by the way, which would fill numerous volumes were they to be written every one; but we must pass over many of these in silence that we may recount those that were most interesting. one evening as he was walking through a very beautiful country, in which were numerous small lakes and streams, he was suddenly arrested by a crashing sound in the underwood, as if some large animal were coming towards him; and he had barely time to fit an arrow to his bow when the bushes in front of him were thrust aside, and the most hideous monster that he had ever seen appeared before his eyes. it was a tapir; but martin had never heard of or seen such creatures before, although there are a good many in some parts of brazil. the tapir is a very large animal,--about five or six feet long and three or four feet high. it is in appearance something between an elephant and a hog. its nose is very long, and extends into a short proboscis; but there is no finger at the end of it like that of the elephant. its colour is a deep brownish black, its tough hide is covered with a thin sprinkling of strong hairs, and its mane is thick and bristly. so thick is its hide that a bullet can scarcely penetrate it; and it can crush its way through thickets and bushes, however dense, without receiving a scratch. although a very terrific animal to look at, it is fortunately of a very peaceable and timid disposition, so that it flees from danger and is very quick in discovering the presence of an enemy. sometimes it is attacked by the jaguar, which springs suddenly upon it and fastens its claws in its back; but the tapir's tough hide is not easily torn, and he gets rid of his enemy by bouncing into the tangled bushes and bursting through them, so that the jaguar is very soon _scraped_ off his back! the tapir lives as much in the water as on the land, and delights to wallow like a pig in muddy pools. it is, in fact, very similar in many of its habits to the great hippopotamus of africa, but is not quite so large. it feeds entirely on vegetables, buds, fruits, and the tender shoots of trees, and always at night. during the day time it sleeps. the indians of brazil are fond of its flesh, and they hunt it with spears and poisoned arrows. but martin knew nothing of all this, and fully expected that the dreadful creature before him would attack and kill him; for, when he observed its coarse, tough-looking hide, and thought of the slender arrows with which he was armed, he felt that he had no chance, and there did not happen to be a tree near him at the time up which he could climb. with the energy of despair he let fly an arrow with all his force; but the weak shaft glanced from the tapir's side without doing it the slightest damage. then martin turned to fly, but at the same moment the tapir did the same, to his great delight and surprise. it wheeled round with a snort, and went off crashing through the stout underwood as if it had been grass, leaving a broad track behind it. on another occasion he met with a formidable-looking but comparatively harmless animal, called the great ant-eater. this remarkable creature is about six feet in length, with very short legs and very long strong claws; a short curly tail, and a sharp snout, out of which it thrusts a long narrow tongue. it can roll itself up like a hedgehog, and when in this position might be easily mistaken for a bundle of coarse hay. it lives chiefly if not entirely upon ants. when martin discovered the great ant-eater, it was about to begin its supper; so he watched it. the plain was covered with ant-hills, somewhat pillar-like in shape. at the foot of one of these the animal made an attack, tearing up earth and sticks with its enormously strong claws, until it made a large hole in the hard materials of which the hill was composed. into this hole it thrust its long tongue, and immediately the ants swarmed upon it. the creature let its tongue rest till it was completely covered over with thousands of ants, then it drew it into its mouth and engulfed them all! as martin had no reason in the world for attempting to shoot the great ant-eater, and as he was, moreover, by no means sure that he could kill it if he were to try, he passed on quietly and left this curious animal to finish its supper in peace. chapter xxiii martin meets with friends and visits the diamond mines one day, after martin had spent many weeks in wandering alone through the forest, during the course of which he was sometimes tempted to despair of seeing the face of man again, he discovered a beaten track; at the sight of which his heart bounded with delight. it was a saturday afternoon when he made this discovery, and he spent the sabbath-day in rest beside it. for martin had more than once called to remembrance the words which good aunt dorothy used to hear him repeat out of the bible "remember the sabbath-day, to keep it holy." he had many long, earnest, and serious meditations in that silent forest, such as a youth would be very unlikely to have in almost any other circumstances, except, perhaps, on a sick-bed; and among other things he had been led to consider that if he made no difference between saturday and sunday, he must certainly be breaking that commandment; so he resolved thenceforth to rest on the sabbath-day; and he found much benefit, both to mind and body, from this arrangement. during this particular sabbath he rested beside the beaten track, and often did he walk up and down it a short way, wondering where it would lead him to; and several times he prayed that he might be led by it to the habitations of civilized men. next day after breakfast he prepared to set out; but now he was much perplexed as to which way he ought to go, for the track did not run in the direction in which he had been travelling, but at right angles to that way. while he still hesitated the sound of voices struck on his ear, and he almost fainted with excitement; for, besides the hope that he might now meet with friends, there was also the fear that those approaching might be enemies; and the sudden sound of the human voice, which he had not heard for so long, tended to create conflicting and almost overwhelming feelings in his breast. hiding quickly behind a tree, he awaited the passing of the cavalcade; for the sounds of horses' hoofs were now audible. in a few minutes a string of laden mules approached, and then six horsemen appeared, whose bronzed olive complexions, straw-hats and ponchos, betokened them brazilians. as they passed, martin hailed them in an unsteady voice. they pulled up suddenly and drew pistols from their holsters; but on seeing only a fair youth armed with a bow, they replaced their weapons, and with a look of surprise rode up and assailed him with a volley of unintelligible portuguese. "do any of you speak english?" inquired martin, advancing. one of the horsemen replied, "yees, i spok one leet. ver' smoll. where you be com?" "i have escaped from the indians who live in the mountains far away over yonder. i have been wandering now for many weeks in the forest, and i wish to get to the sea-coast or to some town where i may get something to do, that i may be enabled to return home." "ho!" said the horseman, gravely. "you com vid us. ve go vid goods to de diamond mines. git vork dere, yees. put you body on dat hoss." as the brazilian spoke he pointed to a spare horse, which was led, along with several others, by a negro. thanking him for his politeness martin seized the horse by the mane and vaulted into the saddle, if the rude contrivance on its back might be so designated. the string of mules then moved on, and martin rode with a light heart beside this obliging stranger, conversing with much animation. in a very short time he learned, through the medium of his own bad portuguese and the brazilian's worse english, that he was not more than a day's ride from one of the diamond mines of that province of brazil which is named minas geraes; that he was still many leagues distant from the sea; and that he would be sure to get work at the mines if he wished it, for the chief overseer, the baron fagoni, was an amiable man and very fond of the english,--but he could not speak their language at all, and required an interpreter. "and," said the brazilian, with a look of great dignity, "i hab de honour for be de 'terpreter." "ah!" exclaimed martin, "then i am in good fortune, for i shall have a friend at court." the interpreter smiled slightly and bowed, after which they proceeded for some time in silence. next evening they arrived at the mines; and, after seeing to the comfort of his horse, and inquiring rather hastily as to the welfare of his family, the interpreter conducted martin to the overseer's house in order to introduce him. the baron fagoni stood smoking in the doorway of his dwelling as they approached; and the first impression that martin received of him was anything but agreeable. he was a large, powerful man, with an enormous red beard and moustache, and a sombrero-like hat that concealed nearly the whole of his face. he seemed an irritable man, too; for he jerked his arms about and stamped in a violent manner as they drew near, and instead of waiting to receive them, he entered the house hastily and shut the door in their faces! "the baron would do well to take lessons in civility," said martin, colouring, as he turned to the interpreter. "ah, he be a leet pecoolair, sometime! nev'r mind. ve vill go to him," so saying, the interpreter opened the door and entered the hall where the overseer was seated at a desk writing as if in violent haste. seeing that he did not mean to take notice of them, the interpreter spoke to him in portuguese; but he was soon interrupted by a sharp reply, uttered in a harsh, grating voice, by the overseer, who did not look up or cease from his work. again the interpreter spoke as if in some surprise; but he was cut short by the overseer uttering, in a deep, stern voice, the single word "obey." with a low bow the interpreter turned away, and taking martin by the arm led him into an inner apartment, where, having securely fastened the window, he said to him, "de baron say you be von blackguard tief; go bout contrie for steal diamonds. he make prisoner ov you. adios." so saying, the interpreter made his bow and retired, locking the door behind him and leaving martin standing in the middle of the room staring before him in speechless amazement. chapter xxiv the diamond mines--more and more astonishing! if martin rattler was amazed at the treatment he experienced at the hands of his new acquaintances on arriving, he had occasion to be very much more surprised at what occurred three hours after his incarceration. it was getting dark when he was locked up, and for upwards of two hours he was left in total darkness. moreover, he began to feel very hungry, having eaten nothing since mid-day. he was deeply engaged in devising plans for his escape when he was interrupted by the door being unlocked and a negro slave entering with four magnificent candles, made of beeswax, which he placed upon the table. then he returned to the door, where another slave handed him a tray containing dishes, knives and forks, and, in short, all the requisites for laying out a supper-table. having spread a clean linen cloth on the board, he arranged covers for two, and going to the door placed his head to one side and regarded his arrangements with much complacency and without paying the slightest attention to martin, who pinched himself in order to make sure he was not dreaming. in a few minutes the second negro returned with an enormous tray, on which were dishes of all sizes, from under whose covers came the most savoury odours imaginable. having placed these symmetrically on the board, both slaves retired and relocked the door without saying a word. at last it began to dawn on martin's imagination that the overseer must be an eccentric individual, who found pleasure in taking his visitors by surprise. but although this seemed a possible solution of the difficulty, he did not feel satisfied with it. he could with difficulty resist the temptation to attack the viands, however, and was beginning to think of doing this, regardless of all consequences, when the door again opened and the baron fagoni entered, relocked the door, put the key in his pocket, and, standing before his prisoner with folded arms, gazed at him intently from beneath his sombrero. martin could not stand this. "sir," said he, starting up, "if this is a joke you have carried it far enough; and if you really detain me here a prisoner, every feeling of honour ought to deter you from adding insult to injury." to this sternly delivered speech the baron made no reply, but, springing suddenly upon martin, he grasped him in his powerful arms and crushed him to his broad breast till he almost broke every bone in his body. "och! cushla, bliss yer young face! sure it's yersilf, an' no mistake! kape still, martin dear. let me look at ye, darlint! ah! then, isn't it my heart that's been broken for months an' months past about ye?" reader, it would be utterly in vain for me to attempt to describe either the words that flowed from the lips of martin rattler and barney o'flannagan on this happy occasion, or the feelings that filled their swelling hearts. the speechless amazement of martin, the ejaculatory exclamations of the baron fagoni, the rapid questions and brief replies, are all totally indescribable. suffice it to say that for full quarter of an hour they exclaimed, shouted, and danced round each other, without coming to any satisfactory knowledge of how each had got to the same place, except that barney at last discovered that martin had travelled there by chance, and he had reached the mines by "intuition." having settled this point, they sobered down a little. "now, martin darlint," cried the irishman, throwing aside his hat for the first time, and displaying his well-known jolly visage, of which the forehead, eyes, and nose alone survived the general inundation of red hair, "ye'll be hungry, i've small doubt, so sit ye down, lad, to supper, and you'll tell me yer story as ye go along, and afther that i'll tell ye mine, while i smoke my pipe,--the ould cutty, boy, that has corned through fire and wather, sound as a bell and blacker than iver!" the baron held up the well-known instrument of fumigation, as he spoke, in triumph. supper was superb. there were venison steaks, armadillo cutlets, tapir hash, iguana pie, and an immense variety of fruits and vegetables, that would have served a dozen men, besides cakes and splendid coffee. "you live well here, barney--i beg pardon--baron fagoni," said martin, during a pause in their meal; "how in the world did you come by that name?" barney winked expressively. "ah, boy, i wish i may niver have a worse. ye see, when i first corned here, about four months ago, i found that the mine was owned by an irish gintleman; an', like all the race, he's a trump. he took to me at wance when he hear'd my voice, and then he took more to me when he corned to know me character; and says he to me wan day, 'barney,' says he, 'i'm gittin' tired o' this kind o' life now, and if ye'll agree to stop here as overseer, and sind me the proceeds o' the mine to rio janeiro, a great city on the sea-coast, an' the capital o' brazil, i'll give ye a good share o' the profits. but,' says he, 'ye'll need to pretind ye're a roosian, or a pole, or somethin' o' that kind; for the fellows in thim parts are great rascals, and there's a few englishmen among them who would soon find out that ye're only a jack-tar before the mast, and would chate ye at no allowance; but if ye could spake no language under the sun but the gibberish pecooliar to the unbeknown provinces o' siberia, ye could escape detection as far as yer voice is consarned; and by lettin' yer beard grow as long as possible, and dressin' yersilf properly, ye might pass, and be as dignified as the great mogul.' "'musha!' said i, 'but if i don't spake me own tongue i'll have to be dumb altogither.' "'no fear,' says he; 'i'll tache ye enough portuguese in a month or two to begin with, an' ye'll pick it up aisy after that.' and sure enough i began, tooth and nail, and, by hard workin', got on faster than i expected; for i can spake as much o' the lingo now as tides me over needcessities, and i understand most o' what's said to me. anyhow, i ginerally see what they're drivin' at." "so, then, you're actually in charge of the mine?" said martin, in surprise. "jist so, boy; but i'm tired of it already; it's by no means so pleasant as i expected it would be; so i'm thinkin' o' lavin' it, and takin' to the say again. i'm longin' dreadful to see the salt wather wance more." "but what will the owner say, barney: won't he have cause to complain of your breaking your engagement?" "niver a bit, boy. he tould me, before we parted, that if i wanted to quit i was to hand over the consarn to the interpreter, who is an honest fellow, i belave; so i'm jist goin' to pocket a di'mond or two, and ask lave to take them home wid me. i'll be off in a week, if all goes well. an' now, martin, fill yer glass; ye'll find the wine is not bad, after wan or two glasses; an' i'll tell ye about my adventures since i saw ye last." "but you have not explained about your name," said martin. "och! the fact is, that when i corned here i fortunately fell in with the owner first, and we spoke almost intirely in irish, so nobody understood where i corned from; and the interpreter hear'd the master call me by my name; so he wint off and said to the people that a great barono flanagoni had come, and was up at the house wid the master. but we corrected him afterward, and gave him to understand that i was the baron fagoni. i had some trouble with the people at first, after the owner left; but i pounded wan or two o' the biggest o' them, to such a extint that their own friends hardly knew them; an' iver since they've been mighty civil." having carefully filled the black pipe, and involved himself in his own favourite atmosphere, the baron fagoni then proceeded to relate his adventures, and dilated upon them to such an extent that five or six pipes were filled and finished ere the story came to a close. martin also related his adventures; to which his companion listened with such breathless attention and earnestness that his pipe was constantly going-out; and the two friends did not retire to rest till near daybreak. the substance of the baron's narrative was as follows:-- at the time that he had been so suddenly separated from his friend, barney had overcome many of his opponents, but at length he was overpowered by numbers, and his arms were firmly bound; after which he was roughly driven before them through the woods for several days, and was at length taken to their village among the mountains. here he remained a close prisoner for three weeks, shut up in a small hut and bound by a strong rope to a post. food was taken to him by an old indian woman, who paid no attention at first to what he said to her, for the good reason that she did not understand a word of english. the persuasive eloquence of her prisoner's tones, however, or perhaps his brogue, seemed in the course of a few days to have made an impression on her; for she condescended to smile at the unintelligible compliments which barney lavished upon her in the hope of securing her good-will. during all this time the irishman's heart was torn with conflicting feelings, and although, from the mere force of habit, he could jest with the old woman when she paid her daily visits, there was no feeling of fun in his bosom, but, on the contrary, a deep and overwhelming sorrow, which showed itself very evidently on his expressive face. he groaned aloud when he thought of martin, whom he never expected again to see; and he dreaded every hour the approach of his savage captors, who, he fully expected, retained him in order to put him to death. one day, while he was sitting in a very disconsolate mood, the indian woman entered with his usual dinner--a plate of thick soup and a coarse cake. barney smiled upon her as usual, and then letting his eyes fall on the ground, sighed deeply,--for his heart was heavier than usual that day. as the woman was about to go, he looked earnestly and gravely in her face, and putting his large hand gently on her head, patted her grey hairs. this tender action seemed to affect the old woman more than usual. she laid her hand on barney's arm, and looked as if she wished to speak. then turning suddenly from him, she drew a small knife from her girdle and dropped it on the ground, as if accidentally, while she left the hut and re-fastened the door. barney's heart leaped. he seized the knife and concealed it hastily in his bosom, and then ate his dinner with more than ordinary zest; for now he possessed the means of cutting the strong rope that bound him. he waited with much impatience until night closed over the indian village, and then cutting his bonds, he tore down the rude and rather feeble fastenings of the door. in another instant he was dashing along at full speed through the forest, without hat or coat, and with the knife clutched in his right hand! presently he heard cries behind him, and redoubled his speed; for now he knew that the savages had discovered his escape and were in pursuit. but, although a good runner, barney was no match for the lithe and naked indians. they rapidly gained on him, and he was about to turn at bay and fight for his life, when he observed water gleaming through the foliage on his left. dashing down a glade he came to the edge of a broad river with a rapid current. into this he sprang recklessly, intending to swim with the stream; but ere he lost his footing he heard the low deep thunder of a cataract a short distance below! drawing back in terror, he regained the bank, and waded up a considerable distance in the shallow water, so as to leave no trace of his footsteps. then he leaped upon a rock, and, catching hold of the lower branches of a large tree, drew himself up among the dense foliage, just as the yelling savages rushed with wild tumult to the water's edge. here they paused, as if baffled. they spoke in rapid, vehement tones for a few seconds, and then one party hastened down the banks of the stream towards the fall, while another band searched the banks above. barney's heart fell as he sat panting in the tree, for he knew that they would soon discover him. but he soon resolved on a bold expedient. slipping down from the tree, he ran deliberately back towards the village; and, as he drew near, he followed the regular beaten track that led towards it. on the way he encountered one or two savages hastening after the pursuing party; but he leaped lightly into the bushes, and lay still till they were past. then he ran on, skirted round the village, and pushed into the woods in an entirely opposite direction from the one in which he had first set out. keeping by one of the numerous tracks that radiated from the village into the forest, he held on at top speed, until his progress was suddenly arrested by a stream about twenty yards broad. it was very deep, and he was about to plunge in, in order to swim across, when he observed a small montaria, or canoe, lying on the bank. this he launched quickly, and observing that the river took a bend a little further down, and appeared to proceed in the direction he wished to pursue,--namely, away from the indian village,--he paddled down the rapid stream as fast as he could. the current was very strong, so that his little bark flew down it like an arrow, and on more than one occasion narrowly missed being dashed to pieces on the rocks which here and there rose above the stream. in about two hours barney came to a place where the stream took another bend to the left, and soon after the canoe swept out upon the broad river into which he had at first so nearly plunged. he was a long way below the fall now, for its sound was inaudible; but it was no time to abate his exertions. the indians might be still in pursuit; so he continued to paddle all that night, and did not take rest until daybreak. then he slept for two hours, ate a few wild fruits, and continued his journey. in the course of the next day, to his great joy, he overtook a trading canoe, which had been up another tributary of this river, and was descending with part of a cargo of india-rubber shoes. none of the men, of whom there were four, could speak english; but they easily saw from the irishman's condition that he had escaped from enemies and was in distress; so they took him on board, and were glad to avail themselves of his services: for, as we have before mentioned, men are not easily procured for voyaging in those parts of brazil. three weeks after this they arrived at a small town, where the natives were busily engaged in the manufacture of shoes, bottles, and other articles of india-rubber; and here barney found employment for a short time. the seringa, or india-rubber-tree, grows plentifully in some parts of brazil, and many hundreds of the inhabitants are employed in the manufacture of shoes. the india-rubber is the juice of the tree, and flows from it when an incision is made. this juice is poured into moulds and left to harden. it is of a yellowish colour naturally, and is blackened in the course of preparation. barney did not stay long here. shoe-making, he declared, was not his calling by any means; so he seized the first opportunity he had of joining a party of traders going into the interior, in the direction of the diamond districts. the journey was long and varied. sometimes by canoe and sometimes on the backs of mules and horses, and many extraordinary adventures did he go through ere he reached the diamond mines. and when at length he did so, great was his disappointment. instead of the glittering caves which his vivid imagination had pictured, he found that there were no caves at all; that the diamonds were found by washing in the muddy soil; and worst of all, that when found they were dim and unpolished, so that they seemed no better than any other stone. however, he resolved to continue there for a short time, in order to make a little money; but now that martin had arrived he thought that they could not do better than make their way to the coast as fast as possible, and go to sea. "the only thing i have to regret," he said, at the conclusion of his narrative, "is that i left grampus behind me. but arrah! i came off from the savages in such a hurry that i had no time at all to tell him i was goin'!" having sat till daybreak, the two friends went to bed to dream of each other and of home. next morning barney took martin to visit the diamond mines. on the way they passed a band of negro slaves who encircled a large fire, the weather being very cold. it was at that time about the end of july, which is one of the coldest months in the year. in this part of brazil summer and winter are reversed,--the coldest months being may, june, and july; the hottest, november, december, january, and february. minas geraes, the diamond district, is one of the richest provinces of brazil. the inhabitants are almost entirely occupied in mining or in supplying the miners with the necessaries of life. diggers and shopkeepers are the two principal classes, and of these the latter are best off; for their trade is steady and lucrative, while the success of the miners is very uncertain. frequently a large sum of money and much time are expended in mining without any adequate result; but the merchants always find a ready sale for their merchandise, and, as they take diamonds and gold-dust in exchange, they generally realize large profits and soon become rich. the poor miner is like the gambler. he digs on in hope; sometimes finding barely enough to supply his wants,--at other times making a fortune suddenly; but never giving up in despair, because he knows that at every handful of earth he turns up he may perhaps find a diamond worth hundreds, or, it may be, thousands of pounds. cidade diamantina,--the city of diamonds,--is the capital of the province. it is a large city, with many fine churches and buildings; and the whole population, consisting of more than souls, are engaged, directly or indirectly, in mining. every one who owns a few slaves employs them in washing the earth for gold and diamonds. the mine of which barney had so unexpectedly become overseer, was a small one, in a remote part of the district, situated among the mountains, and far distant from the city of diamonds. there were only a few huts, rudely built and roofed with palm leaves, besides a larger building, or cottage, in which the baron fagoni resided. "tis a strange life they lead here," said barney, as he led martin down a gorge of the mountains towards a small spot of level ground on which the slaves were at work; "a strange life, and by no means a pleasant wan; for the feedin' is none o' the best and the work very sevare." "why, barney, if i may judge from last night's supper, the feeding seems to be excellent." "thrue, boy, the baron fagoni feeds well, bekase he's the cock o' the roost; but the poor naygurs are not overly well fed, and the critters are up to their knees in wather all day, washing di'monds; so they suffer much from rheumatiz and colds. och, but it's murther entirely; an' i've more than wance felt inclined to fill their pockets with di'monds and set them all free! jist look, now, there they are, hard at it." as he spoke they arrived at the mine. the ground in the vicinity was all cut up and dug out to a considerable depth, and a dozen negroes were standing under a shed washing the earth, while others were engaged in the holes excavating the material. while martin watched them his friend explained the process. the different kinds of soil through which it is necessary to cut before reaching the diamond deposit are, first, about twenty feet of reddish sandy soil; then about eight feet of a tough yellowish clay; beneath this lies a layer of coarse reddish sand, below which is the peculiar soil in which diamonds are found. it is called by the miners the _cascalho_, and consists of loose gravel, the pebbles of which are rounded and polished, having at some previous era been subject to the action of running water. the bed varies in thickness from one to four feet, and the pebbles are of various kinds; but when there are many of a species called _esmerilopreto_, the cascalho is considered to be rich in diamonds. taking martin round to the back of the shed, barney showed him a row of troughs, about three feet square, close to the edge of a pond of water. these troughs are called _bacos_. in front of each stood a negro slave up to his knees in water. each had a wooden plate, with which he dashed water upon the rough cascalho as it was thrown into the trough by another slave. by this means, and by stirring it with a small hoe, the earth and sand are washed away. two overseers were closely watching the process; for it is during this part of the operation that the largest diamonds are found. these overseers were seated on elevated seats, each being armed with a long leathern whip, to keep a sharp look out, for the slaves are expert thieves. after the cascalho had been thus purified it was carefully removed to the shed to be finally washed. here seven slaves were seated on the side of a small canal, about four feet broad, with their legs in the water nearly up to their knees. the canal is called the _lavadeira_. each man had a small wooden platter, into which another slave, who stood behind him, put a shovelful of purified cascalho. the _bateia_, or platter, was then filled with water and washed with the utmost care several times, being closely examined after each washing, and the diamonds picked out. sometimes many platefuls were examined but nothing found; at other times several diamonds were found in one plate. while martin was looking on with much curiosity and interest, one of the slaves uttered an exclamation and held up a minute stone between his finger and thumb. "ah! good luck to ye, lad!" said barney, advancing and taking the diamond which had been discovered. "see here, martin; there's the thing, lad, that sparkles on the brow o' beauty, and gives the naygurs rheumatiz--" "not to mention their usefulness in providing the great baron fagoni with a livelihood," added martin, with a smile. barney laughed, and going up to the place where the two overseers were seated, dropped the precious gem into a plate of water placed between them for the purpose of receiving the diamonds as they were found. "they git fifteen or twinty a day sometimes," said barney, as they retraced their steps to the cottage; "and i've hear'd o' them getting stones worth many thousands o' pounds; but the biggest they iver found since i corned here was not worth more than four hundred." "and what do you do with them, barney, when they are found?" inquired martin. "sind them to rio janeiro, lad, where my employer sells them. i don't know how much he makes a year by it; but the thing must pay, for he's very liberal with his cash, and niver forgits to pay wages. there's always a lot o' gould-dust found in the bottom o' the bateia after each washing, and that is carefully collected and sold. but, arrah! i wouldn't give wan snifter o' the say-breezes for all the di'monds in brazil!" as barney said this he entered his cottage and flung down his hat with the air of a man who was resolved to stand it no longer. "but why don't you wash on your own account?" cried martin. "what say you; shall we begin together? we may make our fortune the first week, perhaps!" barney shook his head. "no, no, boy; i've no faith in my luck with the di'monds or gould. nevertheless i have hear'd o' men makin' an awful heap o' money that way; partiklarly wan man that made his fortin with wan stone." "who was that lucky dog?" asked martin. "well, ye see, it happened this way: there's a custom hereaway that slaves are allowed to work on sundays and holidays on their own account; but when the mines was a government consarn this was not allowed, and the slaves were the most awful thieves livin', and often made off with some o' the largest diamonds. well, there was a man named juiz de paz, who owned a small shop, and used to go down now and then to rio de janeiro to buy goods. wan evenin' he returned from wan o' his long journeys, and, being rather tired, wint to bed. he was jist goin' off into a comfortable doze when there came a terrible bumpin' at the door. "'hallo!' cried juiz, growlin' angrily in the portugee tongue; 'what d'ye want?' "there was no answer but another bumpin' at the door. so up he jumps, and, takin' down a big blunderbuss that hung over his bed, opened the door, an' seized a naygur be the hair o' the head! "'oh, massa! oh, massa! let him go! got di'mond for to sell!' "on hearin' this, juiz let go, and found that the slave had come to offer for sale a large di'mond, which weighed about two penny-weights and a third. "'what d'ye ask for it?' said juiz, with sparklin' eyes. "'six hundred mil-reis,' answered the naygur. "this was about equal to £ stirling. without more words about it, he paid down the money; and the slave went away. juiz lost his sleep that night. he went and tould the neighbours he had forgot a piece of important business in rio and must go back at wance. so back he went, and stayed some time in the city, tryin' to git his di'mond safely sold; for it was such a big wan that he feared the government fellows might hear o't; in which case he would have got tin years transportation to angola on the coast of africa. at last, however, he got rid of it for , mil-reis, which is about £ . it was all paid to him in hard dollars; and he nearly went out o' his wits for joy. but he was brought down a peg nixt day, when he found that the same di'mond was sold for nearly twice as much as he had got for it. howiver, he had made a pretty considerable fortin; an' he's now the richest di'mond and gould merchant in the district." "a lucky fellow certainly," said martin. "but i must say i have no taste for such chance work; so i'm quite ready to start for the sea-coast whenever it suits the baron fagoni's convenience." while they were speaking they were attracted by voices outside the cottage, which sounded as if in altercation. in another minute the door burst open, and a man entered hurriedly, followed by the interpreter. "your overseer is impertinent!" exclaimed the man, who was a tall swarthy brazilian. "i wish to buy a horse or a good mule, and he won't let me have one. i am not a beggar; i offer to pay." the man spoke in portuguese, and barney replied in the same language. "you can have a horse _if you pay for it_." the brazilian replied by throwing a heavy bag of dollars on the table. "all right," said barney, turning to his interpreter and conversing with him in an under-tone. "give him what he requires." so saying he bowed the brazilian out of the room, and returned to the enjoyment of his black pipe, which had been interrupted by the incident. "that man seems in a hurry," said martin. "so he is. my interpreter tells me that he is quite like one o' the blackguards that sometimes go about the mines doin' mischief, and he's in hot haste to be away. i should not wonder if the spalpeen has been stealin' gould or di'monds and wants to escape. but of course i've nothin' to do with that, unless i was sure of it; and i've a horse or two to sell, and he has money to pay for it; so he's welcome. he says he is makin' straight for the say-coast; and with your lave, martin, my boy, you and i will be doin' that same in a week after this, and say good-bye to the di'mond mines." chapter xxv new scenes and pleasant travelling a new and agreeable sensation is a pleasant thing. it was on as bright an evening as ever shone upon brazil, and in as fair a scene as one could wish to behold, that martin rattler and his friend barney experienced a new sensation. on the wide campos, on the flower-bedecked and grassy plains, they each bestrode a fiery charger; and, in the exultation of health, and strength, and liberty, they swept over the green sward of the undulating campos, as light as the soft wind that fanned their bronzed cheeks, as gay in heart as the buzzing insects that hovered above the brilliant flowers. "oh, this is best of all!" shouted martin, turning his sparkling eyes to barney, as he reined up his steed after a gallop that caused its nostril to expand and its eye to dilate. "there's nothing like it! a fiery charger that can't and _won't_ tire, and a glorious sweep of plain like that! huzza! whoop!" and loosening the rein of his willing horse, away he went again in a wild headlong career. "och, boy, pull up, or ye'll kill the baste!" cried barney, who thundered along at martin's side enjoying to the full the spring of his powerful horse; for barney had spent the last farthing of his salary on the two best steeds the country could produce, being determined, as he said, to make the last overland voyage on clipper-built animals, which, he wisely concluded, would fetch a good price at the end of the journey. "pull up! d'ye hear? they can't stand goin' at that pace. back yer topsails, ye young rascal, or i'll board ye in a jiffy." "how can i pull up with _that_ before me?" cried martin, pointing to a wide ditch or gully that lay in front of them. "i must go over that first." "go over that!" cried barney, endeavouring to rein in his horse, and looking with an anxious expression at the chasm. "it's all very well for you to talk o' goin' over, ye feather; but fifteen stun--ah, then, _won't_ ye stop? bad luck to him, he's got the bit in his teeth! oh then, ye ugly baste, go, and my blissin' go with ye!" the leap was inevitable. martin went over like a deer. barney shut his eyes, seized the pommel of the saddle, and went at it like a thunder-bolt in the excitement of the moment he shouted, in a stentorian voice, "clap on all sail! d'ye hear? stu'n-sails and sky-scrapers! kape her steady! hooray!" it was well for barney that he had seized the saddle. even as it was he received a tremendous blow from the horse's head as it took the leap, and was thrown back on its haunches when it cleared the ditch, which it did nobly. "hallo! old boy, not hurt, i hope," said martin, suppressing his laughter as his comrade scrambled on to the saddle. "you travel about on the back of your horse at full gallop like a circus rider." "whist, darlint, i do belave he has damaged my faygurhead. what a nose i've got! sure i can see it mesilf without squintin'." "so you have, barney. it's a little swelled, but never mind. we must all learn by experience, you know. so come along." "hould on, ye spalpeen, till i git my wind!" but martin was off again at full speed; and barney's horse, scorning to be left behind, took the bit again in its teeth and went--as he himself expressed it,--"screamin' before the wind." a new sensation is not always and necessarily an agreeable thing. martin and barney found it so on the evening of that same day, as they reclined (they could not sit) by the side of their fire on the campo under the shelter of one of the small trees which grew here and there at wide intervals on the plain. they had left the diamond mine early that morning, and their first day on horseback proved to them that there are shadows as well as lights in equestrian life. their only baggage was a single change of apparel and a small bag of diamonds,--the latter being the product of the mine during the baron fagoni's reign, and which that worthy was conveying faithfully to his employer. during the first part of the day they had ridden through a hilly and woody country, and towards evening they emerged upon one of the smaller campos, which occur here and there in the district. "martin," said barney, as he lay smoking his pipe, "'tis a pity that there's no pleasure in this world without _something_ cross-grained into it. my own feelin's is as if i had been lately passed through a stamping machine." "wrong, barney, as usual," said martin, who was busily engaged concluding supper with an orange. "if we had pleasures without discomforts we wouldn't half enjoy them. we need lights and shadows in life--what are you grinning at, barney?" "oh! nothin', only ye're a remarkable philosopher, when ye're in the vein." "tis always in vain to talk philosophy to you, barney, so good-night t' ye. oh, dear me, i wish i could sit down! but there's no alternative,--either bolt upright or quite flat." in a quarter of an hour they both forgot pleasures and sorrows alike in sleep. next day the sun rose on the edge of the campo as it does out of the ocean, streaming across its grassy billows, and tipping the ridges as with ruddy gold. at first martin and barney did not enjoy the lovely scene, for they felt stiff and sore; but after half an hour's ride they began to recover; and when the sun rose in all its glory on the wide plain, the feelings of joyous bounding freedom that such scenes always engender obtained the mastery, and they coursed along in silent delight. the campo was hard, composed chiefly of a stiff red clay soil and covered with short grass in most places; but here and there were rank bushes of long hairy grasses, around and amongst which grew a multitude of the most exquisitely beautiful flowerets and plants of elegant forms. wherever these flowers flourished very luxuriantly there were single trees of stunted growth and thick bark, which seldom rose above fifteen or twenty feet. besides these there were rich flowering myrtles, and here and there a grotesque cactus or two. under one of these trees they reined up after a ride of two hours, and piqueting their horses, prepared breakfast. it was soon despatched, and then remounting, away they went once more over the beautiful plains. about mid-day, as they were hasting towards the shelter of a grove which appeared opportunely on the horizon, barney said suddenly,-- "martin, lad, we're lost! we're out of our course, for sartin." "i've been thinking that for some time, barney," replied martin; "but you have your compass, and we can surely make the coast by dead reckoning--eh?" "true, lad, we can; but it'll cost us a dale o' tackin' to make up for lee-way. ah, good luck to ye! here's a friend 'll help us." as he spoke a herd of wild cattle dashed out of the grove and scampered over the plain, followed by a herdsman on horseback. seeing that he was in eager pursuit of an animal which he wished to lasso, they followed him quietly and watched his movements. whirling the noose round his head, he threw it adroitly in such a manner that the bull put one of its legs within the coil. then he reined up suddenly, and the animal was thrown on its back. at the same moment the lasso broke, and the bull recovered its feet and continued its wild flight. "good-day, friend," said barney, galloping towards the disappointed herdsman and addressing him in portuguese, "could you show us the road to rio? we've lost it intirely." the man pointed sulkily in the direction in which they were going, and, having mended his lasso, he wheeled about and galloped after the herd of cattle. "bad luck to yer manners!" said barney, as he gazed after him. "but what can ye expect from the poor critter? he niver larned better come along, martin, we'll rest here a while." they were soon under the shelter of the trees, and having fastened their horses to one of them, they proceeded to search for water. while thus employed, barney shouted to his companion, "come here, lad; look here." there was something in the tone of the irishman's voice that startled martin, and he sprang hastily towards him. barney was standing with his arms crossed upon his chest and his head bowed forward, as he gazed with a solemn expression on the figure of a man at his feet. "is he ill?" inquired martin, stooping and lifting his hand. starting back as he dropped it, he exclaimed, "dead!" "ah, boy, he has gone to his last account. look at him again, martin. it was he who came to the mine a week ago to buy a horse, and now--" barney sighed as he stooped and turned the body over in order to ascertain whether he had been murdered; but there were no marks of violence to be seen. there was bread too in his wallet; so they could come to no other conclusion than that the unhappy man had been seized with fatal illness in the lonesome wood and died there. as they searched his clothes they found a small leathern bag, which, to their amazement, was filled with gold-dust; and in the midst of the gold was another smaller bag containing several small diamonds. "ha!" exclaimed martin, "that explains his hurry. no doubt he had made off with these, and was anxious to avoid pursuit." "no doubt of it," said barney. "well, thief or no thief, we must give the poor cratur' dacent burial. there's not a scrap o' paper to tell who he is or where he came from,--a sure sign that he wasn't what he should ha' been. ah! martin, what will we not do for the sake o' money! and, after all, we can't keep it long. may the almighty niver let you or me set our hearts on it." they dug a shallow grave with their hands in a sandy spot where the soil was loose, in which they deposited the body of the unfortunate man; and then remounting their horses, rode away and left him in his lonely resting-place. for many days did martin and barney travel through the land on horseback, now galloping over open campos, anon threading their way through the forest, and sometimes toiling slowly up the mountain sides. the aspect of the country varied continually as they advanced, and the feelings of excessive hilarity with which they commenced the journey began to subside as they became accustomed to it. one evening they were toiling slowly up a steep range of hills which had been the prospect in front of them the whole of that day. as they neared the summit of the range martin halted at a stream to drink, and barney advanced alone. suddenly martin was startled by a loud cry, and looking up he saw barney on his knees with his hands clasped before him! rushing up the hill, martin found his comrade with his face flushed and the tears coursing down his cheeks as he stared before him! "look at it, martin, dear!" he cried, starting up and flinging his cap in the air, and shouting like a madman. "the say! my own native illiment! the beautiful ocean! och, darlint, my blessing on ye! little did i think to see you more,--hooray!" barney sang and danced till he sank down on the grass exhausted; and, to say truth, martin felt much difficulty in restraining himself from doing likewise, for before him was spread out the bright ocean, gleaming in the light of the sinking sun, and calm and placid as a mirror. it was indeed a glorious sight to these two sailors, who had not seen the sea for nearly two years. it was like coming suddenly face to face--after a long absence--with an old and much loved friend. although visible, the sea, however, was still a long way off from the serra dos orgos on which they stood. but their steeds were good, and it was not long ere they were both rolling like dolphins in the beautiful bay of rio de janeiro. here barney delivered up the gold and diamonds to his employer, who paid him liberally for his services and entertained them both hospitably while they remained in the city. the bag of gold and diamonds which had been found on the body of the dead man they appropriated, as it was absolutely impossible to discover the rightful owner. barney's friend bought it of them at full price; and when they embarked, soon after, on board a homeward bound ship, each had four hundred pounds in his pocket! as they sailed out of the noble harbour martin sat on the poop gazing at the receding shore while thick-coming memories crowded on his brain. his imagination flew back to the day when he first landed on the coast and escaped with his friend barney from the pirates,--to the hermit's cottage in the lonely valley, where he first made acquaintance with monkeys, iguanas, jaguars, armadillos, and all the wonderful, beautiful, and curious birds, beasts, and reptiles, plants, trees, and flowers, that live and flourish in that romantic country. once more, in fancy, he was sailing up the mighty amazon, shooting alligators on its banks, spearing fish in its waters, paddling through its curious gapo, and swinging in his hammock under its luxuriant forests. once again he was a prisoner among the wild indians, and he started convulsively as he thought of the terrible leap over the precipice into the stream that flowed into the heart of the earth. then he wandered in the lonely forest. suddenly the diamond mines were before him, and barney's jovial voice rang in his ears; and he replied to it with energy, for now he was bounding on a fiery steed over the grassy campos. with a deep sigh he awoke from his reverie to find himself surrounded by the great wide sea. chapter xxvi the return arthur jollyboy, esquire, of the old hulk, sat on the top of a tall three-legged stool in his own snug little office in the sea-port town of bilton, with his legs swinging to and fro; his socks displayed a considerable way above the tops of his gaiters; his hands thrust deep into his breeches pockets; his spectacles high on his bald forehead, and his eyes looking through the open letter that lay before him; through the desk underneath it; through the plank floor, cellars and foundations of the edifice; and through the entire world into the distant future beyond. "four thousand pair of socks," he murmured, pulling down his spectacles and consulting the open letter for the tenth time; "four thousand pair of socks, with the hitch, same as last bale, but a very little coarser in material." "four thousand pair! and who's to make them, i wonder. if poor mrs. dorothy grumbit were here--ah! well, she's gone, so it can't be helped. four thousand!--dear me who _will_ make them. do _you_ know?" this question was addressed to his youngest clerk, who sat on the opposite side of the desk staring at mr. jollyboy with that open impudence of expression peculiar to young puppy-dogs whose masters are unusually indulgent. "no, sir, i don't," said the clerk with a broad grin. before the perplexed merchant could come at any conclusion on this knotty subject the door opened and martin rattler entered the room, followed by his friend barney o'flannagan. "you've come to the wrong room, friends," said mr. jollyboy with a benignant smile. "my principal clerk engages men and pays wages. his office is just opposite; first door in the passage." "we don't want to engage," said martin; "we wish to speak with you, sir." "oh, beg pardon!" cried mr. jollyboy, leaping off the stool with surprising agility for a man of his years. "come in this way. pray be seated--eh! ah, surely i've seen you before, my good fellow?" "yis, sir, that ye have. i've sailed aboard your ships many a time. my name's barney o'flannagan, at yer sarvice." "ah! i recollect; and a good man you are, i've been told, barney; but i have lost sight of you for some years. been on a long voyage, i suppose?" "well, not 'xactly; but i've been on a long cruise, an' no mistake, in the woods o' brazil. i wos wrecked on the coast there, in the _firefly_." "ah! to be sure. i remember. and your young messmate here, was he with you?" "yes, sir, i was," said martin, answering for himself; "and i had once the pleasure of your acquaintance. perhaps if you look steadily in my face you may--" "ah, then! don't try to bamboozle him. he might as well look at a bit o' mahogany as at your faygurhead. tell him at wance, martin dear." "martin?" exclaimed the puzzled old gentleman, seizing the young sailor by the shoulders and gazing intently into his face. "martin! martin! surely not--yes! eh? martin rattler?" "ay that am i, dear mr. jollyboy, safe and sound, and--" martin's speech was cut short in consequence of his being violently throttled by mr. jollyboy, who flung his arms round his neck and staggered recklessly about the office with him! this was the great point which barney had expected; it was the climax to which he had been looking forward all the morning: and it did not come short of his anticipations; for mr. jollyboy danced round martin and embraced him for at least ten minutes, asking him at the same time a shower of questions which he gave him no time to answer. in the excess of his delight barney smote his thigh with his broad hand so forcibly that it burst upon the startled clerk like a pistol-shot, and caused him to spring off his stool! "don't be afeared, young un," said barney, winking and poking the small clerk jocosely in the ribs with his thumb. "isn't it beautiful to see them. arrah, now! isn't it purty?" "keep your thumbs to yourself, you sea monster," said the small clerk, angrily, and laying his hand on the ruler. but barney minded him not, and continued to smite his thigh and rub his hands, while he performed a sort of gigantic war-dance round mr. jollyboy and martin. in a few minutes the old gentleman subsided sufficiently to understand questions. "but, my aunt," said martin, anxiously; "you have said nothing about aunt dorothy. how is she? where is she? is she well?" to these questions mr. jollyboy returned no answer, but sitting suddenly down on a chair, he covered his face with his hands. "she is not ill?" inquired martin in a husky voice, while his heart beat violently. "speak, mr. jollyboy, is she--is she--" "no, she's not ill," returned the old gentleman; "but she's--" "she is dead!" said martin, in a tone so deep and sorrowful that the old gentleman started up. "no, no, not dead, my dear boy; i did not mean that. forgive my stupidity, martin. aunt dorothy is gone,--left the village a year ago; and i have never seen or heard of her since." terrible though this news was, martin felt a slight degree of relief to know that she was not dead;--at least there was reason to hope that she might be still alive. "but when did she go? and why? and where?" "she went about twelve months ago," replied mr. jollyboy. "you see, martin, after she lost you she seemed to lose all hope and all spirit; and at last she gave up making socks for me, and did little but moan in her seat in the window and look out towards the sea. so i got a pleasant young girl to take care of her; and she did not want for any of the comforts of life. one day the little girl came to me here, having run all the way from the village, to say that mrs. grumbit had packed up a bundle of clothes and gone off to liverpool by the coach. she took the opportunity of the girl's absence on some errand to escape; and we should never have known it, had not some boys of the village seen her get into the coach and tell the guard that she was going to make inquiries after martin. i instantly set out for liverpool; but long before i arrived the coach had discharged its passengers, and the coachman, not suspecting that anything was wrong, had taken no notice of her after arriving. from that day to this i have not ceased to advertise and make all possible inquiries, but without success." martin heard the narrative in silence, and when it was finished he sat a few minutes gazing vacantly before him, like one in a dream. then starting up suddenly, he wrung mr. jollyboy's hand, "good-bye, my dear friend; good-bye. i shall go to liverpool. we shall meet again." "stay, martin, stay--" but martin had rushed from the room, followed by his faithful friend, and in less than half an hour they were in the village of ashford. the coach was to pass in twenty minutes, so, bidding barney engage two outside seats, he hastened round by the road towards the cottage. there it stood, quaint, time-worn, and old-fashioned, as when he had last seen it,--the little garden in which he had so often played,--the bower in which, on fine weather, aunt dorothy used to sit, and the door-step on which the white kitten used to gambol. but the shutters were closed, and the door was locked, and there was an air of desolation and a deep silence brooding over the place, that sank more poignantly into martin's heart than if he had come and found every vestige of the home of his childhood swept away. it was like the body without the soul. the flowers, and stones, and well-known forms were there; but she who had given animation to the whole was gone. sitting down on the door-step, martin buried his face in his hands and wept. he was quickly aroused by the bugle of the approaching coach. springing up, he dashed the tears away and hurried towards the high-road. in a few minutes barney and he were seated on the top of the coach, and dashing, at the rate of ten miles an hour, along the road to liverpool. chapter xxvii the old garret days, and weeks, and months, passed away, and martin had searched every nook and corner of the great sea-port without discovering his old aunt, or obtaining the slightest information regarding her. at first he and barney went about the search together, but after a time he sent his old companion forcibly away to visit his own relatives, who dwelt not far from bilton, at the same time promising that if he had any good news to tell he would immediately write and let him know. one morning, as martin was sitting beside the little fire in his lodging, a tap came to the door, and the servant girl told him that a policeman wished to see him. "show him in," said martin, who was not in the least surprised, for he had had much intercourse with these guardians of the public peace during the course of his unavailing search. "i think, sir," said the man on entering, "that we've got scent of an old woman w'ich is as like the one that you're arter as hanythink." martin rose in haste. "have you, my man? are you sure?" "'bout as sure as a man can be who never seed her. but it won't take you long to walk. you'd better come and see for yourself." without uttering another word, martin put on his hat and followed the policeman. they passed through several streets and lanes, and at length came to one of the poorest districts of the city, not far distant from the shipping. turning down a narrow alley, and crossing a low dirty-looking court, martin's guide stopped before a door, which he pushed open and mounted by a flight of rickety wooden stairs to a garret. he opened the door and entered. "there she is," said the man in a tone of pity, as he pointed to a corner of the apartment, "an' i'm afeer'd she's goin' fast." martin stepped towards a low truckle-bed on which lay the emaciated form of a woman covered with a scanty and ragged quilt. the corner of it was drawn across her face, and so gentle was her breathing that it seemed as if she were already dead. martin removed the covering, and one glance at that gentle, care-worn countenance sufficed to convince him that his old aunt lay before him! his first impulse was to seize her in his strong arms, but another look at the frail and attenuated form caused him to shrink back in fear. "leave me," he said, rising hastily and slipping half a sovereign into the policeman's hand; "this is she. i wish to be alone with her." the man touched his hat and retired, closing the door behind him; while martin, sitting down on the bed, took one of his aunt's thin hands in his. the action was tenderly performed, but it awoke her. for the first time it flashed across martin's mind that the sudden joy at seeing him might be too much for one so feeble as aunt dorothy seemed to be. he turned his back hastily to the light, and with a violent effort suppressed his feelings while he asked how she did. "well, very well," said aunt dorothy, in a faint voice. "are you the missionary that was here long ago? oh! i've been longing for you. why did you not come to read to me oftener about jesus? but i have had him here although you did not come. he has been saying 'come unto me, ye that labour and are heavy laden, and i will give you rest.' yes, i have found rest in him." she ceased and seemed to fall asleep again; but in a few seconds she opened her eyes and said, "martin, too, has been to see me; but he does not come so often now. the darling boy used always to come to me in my dreams. but he never brings me food. why does no one ever bring me food? i am hungry." "should you like food now, if i brought it to you?" said martin in a low voice. "yes, yes; bring me food,--i am dying." martin released her hand and glided gently out of the room. in a few minutes he returned with a can of warm soup and a roll; of which aunt dorothy partook with an avidity that showed she had been in urgent need. immediately after, she went to sleep; and martin sat upon the bed holding her hand in both of his till she awoke, which she did in an hour after, and again ate a little food. while she was thus engaged the door opened and a young man entered, who stated that he was a doctor, and had been sent there by a policeman. "there is no hope," he said in a whisper, after feeling her pulse; "the system is quite exhausted." "doctor," whispered martin, seizing the young man by the arm, "can nothing save her? i have money, and can command _anything_ that may do her good." the doctor shook his head. "you may give her a little wine. it will strengthen her for a time, but i fear there is no hope. i will send in a bottle if you wish it." martin gave him the requisite sum, and in a few minutes the wine was brought up by a boy. the effect of the wine was wonderful. aunt dorothy's eyes sparkled as they used to do in days of old, and she spoke with unwonted energy. "you are kind to me, young man," she said, looking earnestly into martin's face, which, however, he kept carefully in shadow. "may our lord reward you." "would you like me to talk to you of your nephew?" said martin; "i have seen him abroad." "seen my boy! is he not dead?" "no; he is alive, and in this country, too." aunt dorothy turned pale, but did not reply for a few minutes, during which she grasped his hand convulsively. "turn your face to the light," she said faintly. martin obeyed, and bending over her whispered, "he is here; i am martin, my dear, dear aunt--" no expression of surprise escaped from aunt dorothy as she folded her arms round his neck and pressed his head upon her bosom. his hot tears fell upon her neck while she held him, but she spoke not. it was evident that as the strength infused by the wine abated her faculties became confused. at length she whispered,-- "it is good of you to come to see me, darling boy. you have often come to me in my dreams. but do not leave me so soon; stay a very little longer," "this is no dream, dearest aunt," whispered martin, while his tears flowed faster; "i am really here." "ay, so you always say, my darling child; but you always go away and leave me. this is a dream, no doubt, like all the rest; but oh, it seems very very real! you never _wept_ before, although you often smiled. surely this is the best and brightest dream i ever had!" continuing to murmur his name while she clasped him tightly to her bosom, aunt dorothy gently fell asleep. chapter xxviii conclusion aunt dorothy grumbit did _not_ die! her gentle spirit had nearly fled; but martin's return and martin's tender nursing brought her round, and she gradually regained all her former strength and vigour. yes, to the unutterable joy of martin, to the inexpressible delight of mr. arthur jollyboy and barney, and to the surprise and complete discomfiture of the young doctor who shook his head and said "there is no hope," aunt dorothy grumbit recovered? and was brought back in health and in triumph to her old cottage at ashford! moreover, she was arrayed again in the old bed-curtain chintz with the flowers as big as saucers, and the old high-crowned cap. a white kitten was got, too, so like the one that used to be martin's playmate, that no one could discover a hair of difference. so remarkable was this, that martin made inquiry, and found that it was actually the grand-daughter of the old kitten, which was still alive and well; so he brought it back too, and formally installed it in the cottage along with its grandchild. there was a great house-warming on the night of the day in which aunt dorothy grumbit was brought back. mr. arthur jollyboy was there--of course; and the vicar was there; and the pursy doctor who used to call martin "a scamp;" and the school-master; and last, though not least, barney o'flannagan was there. and they all had tea, during which dear aunt dorothy smiled sweetly on everybody and said nothing,--and, indeed, did nothing, except that once or twice she put additional sugar and cream into martin's cup when he was not looking, and stroked one of his hands continually. after tea martin related his adventures in brazil, and barney helped him; and these two talked more that night than any one could have believed it possible for human beings to do, without the aid of steam lungs! and the doctor listened, and the vicar and school-master questioned, and old mr. jollyboy roared and laughed till he became purple in the face--particularly at the sallies of barney. as for old aunt dorothy grumbit, she listened when martin spoke. when martin was silent she became stone deaf! in the course of time mr. jollyboy made martin his head clerk; and then, becoming impatient, he made him his partner off-hand. then he made barney o'flannagan an overseer in the warehouses; and when the duties of the day were over, the versatile irishman became his confidential servant, and went to sup and sleep at the old hulk; which, he used to remark, was quite a natural and proper and decidedly comfortable place to come to an anchor in. martin became the stay and comfort of his aunt in her old age; and the joy which he was the means of giving to her heart was like a deep and placid river which never ceases to flow. ah! there is a rich blessing in store for those who tenderly nurse and comfort the aged, when called upon to do so; and assuredly there is a sharp thorn prepared for those who neglect this sacred duty. martin read the bible to her night and morning; and she did nothing but watch for him at the window while he was out. as martin afterwards became an active member of the benevolent societies with which his partner was connected, he learned from sweet experience that "it is more blessed to give than to receive," and that "it is _better_ to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting." dear young reader, do not imagine that we plead in favour of moroseness or gloom. laugh if you will, and feast if you will, and remember, too, that "a merry heart is a continual feast;" but we pray you not to forget that god himself has said that a visit to the house of mourning is _better_ than a visit to the house of feasting: and, strange to say, it is productive of greater joy; for to do good is better than to get good, as surely as sympathy is better than selfishness. martin visited the poor and read the bible to them; and in watering others he was himself watered, for he found the "pearl of great price," even jesus christ, the saviour of the world. business prospered in the hands of martin rattler, too, and he became a man of substance. naturally, too, he became a man of great importance in the town of bilton. the quantity of work that martin and mr. jollyboy and barney used to get through was quite marvellous; and the number of engagements they had during the course of a day was quite bewildering. in the existence of all men, who are not born to unmitigated misery, there are times and seasons of peculiar enjoyment. the happiest hour of all the twenty-four to martin rattler was the hour of seven in the evening; for then it was that he found himself seated before the blazing fire in the parlour of the old hulk, to which aunt dorothy grumbit had consented to be removed, and in which she _was_ now a fixture. then it was that old mr. jollyboy beamed with benevolence, until the old lady sometimes thought the fire was going to melt him; then it was that the tea-kettle sang on the hob like a canary; and then it was that barney bustled about the room preparing the evening meal, and talking all the time with the most perfect freedom to any one who chose to listen to him. yes, seven p.m. was martin's great hour, and aunt dorothy's great hour, and old mr. jollyboy's great hour, and barney's too; for each knew that the labours of the day were done, and that the front door was locked for the night, and that a great talk was brewing. they had a tremendous talk every night, sometimes on one subject, sometimes on another; but the subject of all others that they talked oftenest about was their travels. and many a time and oft, when the winter storms howled round the old hulk, barney was invited to draw in his chair, and martin and he plunged again vigorously into the great old forests of south america, and spoke so feelingly about them that aunt dorothy and mr. jollyboy almost fancied themselves transported into the midst of tropical scenes, and felt as if they were surrounded by parrots, and monkeys, and jaguars, and alligators, and anacondas, and all the wonderful birds, beasts, reptiles, and fishes, that inhabit the woods and waters of brazil. the end note: project gutenberg also has an html version of this file which includes the original illustrations. see -h.htm or -h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/ / -h/ -h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/ / -h.zip) [illustration: _a large wildcat was greedily devouring the remains of a small deer._] lost in the wilds of brazil by james foster the saalfield publishing company akron, ohio new york copyright, mcmxxxiii the saalfield publishing company printed in the united states of america * * * * * * the exploration series by james foster lost in the wilds of brazil captured by the arabs secrets of the andes the forest of mystery * * * * * * contents chapter page i a startling discovery ii firebugs at work iii valuable information iv the treacherous crook v a worth-while offer vi off for the wilds of brazil vii new york-and on viii the beginning of trouble ix a daring rescue x in the heart of the jungle xi on the alert xii a fearful sight xiii the death struggle xiv the deserted village xv danger at hand xvi a thrilling encounter xvii terrible peccaries xviii a nightmare experience xix the call for help xx fighting against heavy odds xxi magnificent country xxii lost in the wilds of brazil xxiii terrible cries of savages xxiv the hideous village xxv reunion at last xxvi the terrible battle xxvii human heads still dripping! xxviii the forced get-away chapter i a startling discovery "look here, joe. there's something stirring. i know the signs. our dads wouldn't keep together constantly, studying maps and reading books and making frequent trips to the museum, for nothing. it----" "you're right, bob. they certainly must have something important in mind. and i have an idea as to what it is." "another expedition into the unknown," cut in bob holton, in tones that implied certainty. "but where, do you suppose?" asked joe lewis, his brown eyes sparkling with interest. "more than i know," the other youth replied. "could be any place. but wherever it is, i'll bet they've been there before. they just travel from one end of this little old world to another in search of birds and reptiles and animals, and they always find them." "and always will," added joe with strong conviction. "why," he went on, becoming even more absorbed, "do you remember the time they went to africa in search of a white rhinoceros?" "yes. looked high and low for several months, and finally got one after all hopes had been abandoned. oh, it takes them to do it. just let the curator mention the things wanted, and if it's at all possible, our dads will get them. all specimens are alike to----" he was interrupted by the sound of footsteps from the side of the house and turned to see who the person might be. while he is looking expectantly, it might be well to tell who the boys were, and what had been their experiences up to the time this story opens. bob was a big fellow, strong and muscular, and endowed with the ability to do the right thing at the right time. he was one of the star players on the high school football team. everyone liked him--he was so straightforward and sympathizing and trustworthy. joe was of medium size, with almost black eyes and a naturally dark complexion. he was lighter and less robust than his friend, but was possessed of fierce courage and bravery. he never started a thing without finishing it. mr. holton and mr. lewis, fathers of the youths, were noted naturalists and collectors of specimens for museums and zoos. they had been nearly everywhere and always welcomed any hint that might start them on a new trip into the unknown. the two men had met several years before at a convention of scientists, and took a great liking to each other. as they both lived in washington, d. c., they agreed to work together in behalf of a large museum, and mr. lewis made an attempt to purchase the residence next to that of his friend. he was at last successful in acquiring it, and then began the warm friendship between the two youths, bob and joe. the boys were together much of their time and got along excellently, following in their fathers' footsteps as much as possible by taking hikes into the woods to study nature. fresh with the vigor of youth, they were having a grand time together, but would have had a still greater one had they been permitted to accompany the men on the various scientific expeditions. "you're only freshmen," mr. holton had told them, about three years before. "wait till you're juniors or seniors, and then perhaps we will consider taking you along." now the boys were in their senior year, or would be when school opened the coming fall, and were eagerly anticipating the future. "if they'd only make a trip this summer," said joe, shortly after school had closed. "then we might----" let us return to the boys, as they cast glances at the side of the house. the sound of footsteps grew louder, and the next moment bob's father came into view. "hello, dad." "hello, mr. holton." the naturalist returned the greetings and then made his way to a porch seat. several moments he spent in lighting a cigar. then he turned to the youths. "what's all this praise you've been giving mr. lewis and me for our scientific work?" he asked, trying hard to suppress a smile. the young men grinned. they had not suspected this. "you got it right," returned joe. "you two have done as much for the museum as anyone else in this old u. s. and that's as straight as a lion's tail when he's about to charge." mr. holton laughed unbelievingly. "i know your game," he chuckled. "you're paving the way to accompany us on that brazilian trip we're about to take. right?" bob and joe jumped to their feet in wild excitement. a trip to brazil! think of that! then their supposition was correct. something was stirring after all. mr. holton guessed their thoughts and broke the short period of suspense. "it's an expedition to the jungles of the amazon," he explained, as the boys seated themselves and listened with breathless interest. "going to get specimens of fauna for the museum. in addition, we wish to make a study of several wild indian tribes there. it's a trip i've always wished to take, but, strange to say, i've never had the opportunity. you boys probably know that this region is one of the least-known on the face of the globe. it has the world's heaviest forests, some of the most savage of people, and a wide variety of birds and beasts." "great!" blurted out joe in a strange, animated tone. "how wonderful it would be! away out in the wildest of brazilian wilds, seeing strange and astonishing things--things that only a very few have the opportunity of seeing." "it's my idea of adventure," declared bob, taking up where his friend had left off. "why can't you arrange to take us with you?" the scientist eyed the young men intently with an expression of sympathy. "then you want to go that badly?" he asked, and then his eyes fell. he had been young himself once. how often had he visualized this very mission! how many times had he tramped through the heavy western woods, imagining himself in a great tropical forest, with its mysteries, thrills, and tragedies! if those longings could only have been satisfied when they were strongest! for over a minute mr. holton stared thoughtfully at the floor. then, with twinkling eyes, he glanced up at the boys. "what would you give to go with us?" he asked, his face brightening. "what!" cried bob, with a look that combined delight with bewilderment. "you mean that we can go?" "not exactly," was the reply. "i just asked you what you'd give to go." "everything!" blurted out joe. "everything we've got--and then some. oh, do take us, mr. holton," he went on more pleadingly. "we're old enough by now to take care of ourselves." "i'd like to have you," the naturalist said. "and so would your father. but your mothers----" here he stopped. it was unnecessary to continue. the youths understood. "but i'm sure they'll consent," bob said, with a certainty that he was far from feeling. "especially if they know you are willing to have us." "of course there's a possibility," the man assured them. "but i wouldn't be too sure of it. you know how they are. unwilling to have their sons take any unnecessary risks. well, perhaps they're right," he went on, tapping the chair thoughtfully. "perhaps it isn't best to tax good fortune too much. you boys are young and have a great future before you. what if anything should happen----" "but, dad," bob pleaded, "nothing will happen. we'd be with you and mr. lewis--and anyone else who would be along. nothing has happened to you so far. you've always come back o.k." "we've had some narrow escapes, though," with a shaking of the head. "fever, wild beasts, savages, hurricanes--there's no limit to the number of tragedies that may befall an expedition into the unknown. but then," his tones became more lively, "you boys want to go with us regardless of these dangers, and if i must say so, i believe you'd make a good showing. i'll talk the matter over with mr. lewis and your mothers and let you know later how things look." "fine!" cried bob, overwhelmed with joy. "now tell us some more about this mission. what section of amazonia do you intend to explore?" "the lower middle," was the response. "we intend to follow the amazon to the purús river, where we'll branch off and travel by native canoes for approximately five hundred miles." joe gave a long whistle. "five hundred miles by canoe!" he gasped, almost unbelievingly. "seems almost impossible. how can you take food enough along?" "does seem sort of absurd. but we'll manage it. and we expect to live on game and fish to a certain extent. everything will have to be timed to a dot. we won't dare stay any longer than our food supply lasts. when that begins to get low, back to civilization we'll go." "how long do you expect to be gone?" bob asked. "we--ll, perhaps three or four months. we want to get as much done as possible. you see," he explained, "as i said before, our stay is limited to the supply of provisions we have with us. if it were possible to carry enough, i would like to spend at least six months there. what a wonderful opportunity to study primitive man in his everyday life." "should think it would be rather dangerous," remarked joe. "he might object and study you instead. headhunters, i mean." "it's a chance we have to take," was the reply. "but after all, if we treat them kindly there is little danger. human nature is much the same all over the globe." "i'll trust you to come out all right," bob said. "we hope to," the scientist returned. "and we also hope to add greatly to the world's knowledge of brazil and its animal inhabitants." "at present that isn't very much, is it?" joe asked. "you can't exactly say that," mr. holton answered, "for a large amount is known about different sections that have been more or less frequented by civilized man. but when you refer to the deeper, more inaccessible regions, then it's different. of course there have been numerous expeditions sent out to explore these unknown sections, but even now there is a large and interesting field open to the scientist." "well," said bob, after a short silence, "i only hope that joe and i may go with you." "we'll see about it," his father replied. "but i can assure you that consent from your mothers will not come without considerable---- well! look who's here. come on the porch and sit down, ben." he referred to joe's father, mr. lewis, who, as usual, was to be his intimate companion during their stay in brazil. mr. lewis was a man of medium height, with sparkling blue eyes and a complexion that was extremely bronzed. "hello, friends," he greeted, seating himself and wiping the perspiration from his brow. "i suppose," he said to mr. holton, "you've been telling the boys about our coming expedition to south america. right?" "right!" echoed bob. "and not only that, but joe and i are going with you." "what's that!" mr. lewis cried in surprise. "yes," bob's father returned, "they've put in their request to be a part of the expedition. what do you think of it?" "well--a--i hardly know. how do you think their mothers will look at it?" mr. holton shook his head. "impossible to say," he answered. "but we can all guess. still, if we see fit to take the boys along, we can put the matter before them. they may consent after considerable pleading." "hurrah!" cried joe, in tones of gratitude. "and i'm sure----" he stopped suddenly and sniffed the air sharply. "there's something burning," he said quietly, and then moved around the house. the next instant he was back, pale-faced and panic-stricken. "our garage is on fire!" he cried. "it's all ablaze!" chapter ii firebugs at work! at joe's ominous words, mr. lewis leaped to his feet. "come on," he said in wild excitement. "we can't get there any too quickly, for not only are the cars in danger but a satchel of valuable papers as well." "something in connection with our expedition to brazil?" asked bob's father, as he took second place in the race to the garage. "yes. they're very important. i should have taken them in the house at once." as they turned to look at the scene, a feeling of helplessness crept over them, for already the blaze had leaped high in the air, and the crackling sound told that the fire had made considerable headway. bob rushed into the house and telephoned the fire department. then, with mrs. lewis and joe's sister, he moved back outside, to see that the structure was blazing even higher. meanwhile the others had unlocked the doors and were inside, doing their best to roll out the cars. but the smoke was so thick that they were making little headway. "quick!" cried mr. holton. "where are the keys, ben?" "i don't know. i--i can't seem to find them. should be in my pocket. no, guess i left them in the house." the next instant he was gone, leaving his friends to survey the situation more carefully. "it strikes me," remarked bob thoughtfully, "that if we wait for him to return with the keys it will be too late." "but what--how----" mr. holton stammered, but was interrupted by his son. "the only way that i can see is to break the glass in one of the doors. then we can get inside to release the emergency brake. how about it?" "i'd hate to do that, my boy. yet there seems to be no other way out." as bob had stated, it was evident that if they were to wait for the keys the cars would be badly burned. there was a possibility that the gasoline tanks might even explode, for at intervals particles of ignited timber fell from the blazing roof and missed them only a few inches. rapidly the flames crept downward. already they were halfway down the wall and moving like lightning. there was no time to lose. something must be done! "come on," bob urged, entering the garage once more. "we must get those cars out at any cost." he looked about for some object with which he could break a glass, but could see nothing. "if there was only a board, or even----" "here," came from his father, moving on up with a sharp piece of metal, "let me do it." there was a crash, a splintering of glass, and the next moment mr. holton was inside. it took but a second to release the parking brake, and then the car rolled easily out of danger. "there," panted the naturalist, rubbing his hand over his forehead. "now to get to the coupé." just then there came the sound of fire bells, and before they had attended to the other car, several fire trucks pulled up in front of the house. their occupants were easily attracted to the scene of the fire, and they lost no time in hurrying back. "quick!" yelled joe, almost panic-stricken. "let's get dad's private car out. the enamel is already off the left front fender." again mr. holton made use of the iron pipe, and the remaining automobile was pushed out just in time to avoid a large section of the roof that suddenly caved in. "a narrow escape!" breathed bob, stopping only for a moment to examine the finish that had been slightly scorched. "a very narrow one," returned joe, as he thought of what would have happened had the roof fallen on the top. by now two lines of hose had been attached, and firemen were working unflinchingly to check the cruel flames which, owing to a strong north wind, were protruding several yards beyond the roof. occasionally a spark would fly over to the house, and this did not in the least simplify the efforts of the fire fighters. a large crowd had gathered to view the spectacle and included several of bob's and joe's friends who lived near by. "some blaze, eh, fellows?" was the comment made by john peterman, a classmate in school. "the biggest i've seen for an age," put in tom rogers, another friend. "how'd it start?" asked another. "beyond us," answered bob. "do you have any idea, joe?" "no. i'm sure dad wouldn't have left a cigar stub----" "impossible," his chum broke in, "for that blaze started on or near the roof." mr. lewis had now joined the others, and his delight was beyond words when he saw that the cars had been removed in time to avert disaster. "i kept thinking that i could find the key," he said. "i finally did, but not in time to save them." gradually the flames were diminishing, and if the firemen kept up the good work it promised to be over in a short time. "good thing that your garage is quite a distance over," remarked joe to his friend. "one is bad enough without having two on fire." finally the last blaze was extinguished amid a rousing cheer from the crowd, and, after closer examination inside, the firemen left the scene, and the crowd gradually thinned until no one was left but bob, joe, their fathers, and a few neighbors. "covered by insurance, isn't it?" inquired bob of mr. lewis, as they cast a resentful look at the charred beams of the structure that had once been a fine garage. "yes, but this may delay our expedition to brazil for a week or two until i can look after the reconstruction of it. that is"--he glanced at mr. holton--"unless your father objects." "not in the least," came from that individual. "in fact," he went on, "that is about the only way out." bob and joe walked into the burned building. all about were ashes--ashes that had once been the roof of the structure. the charcoal smell was strong about them. "don't know where we'll keep the cars tonight," said joe, glancing up through the hole in the roof. "guess we can find room in our garage," his friend replied. "we only have the one car, and it doesn't take up all the room by any means." "awfully good of you." suddenly bob uttered an exclamation that brought his friend hurrying to his side. "what is it?" joe asked. for answer the other youth pointed to a small tin box that was black from being in the fire. it had hung on the wall behind an old radiator hood, which had a moment before fallen to the floor. "what could that be?" bob holton asked. "does it belong to your dad?" joe reached up and took it down from its hanger. "has a hole in the top. and what's that thing protruding from the side?" "beyond me. could be a---- great scott! come on. we must get it to your father at once." bewildered, joe followed his friend to the back door, where the two men were still conversing. "what does this mean?" asked bob coolly, handing the box to mr. lewis. the latter examined it closely for a moment. then, suddenly grasping the meaning, he stared at the others. "firebugs at work!" he exclaimed, fumbling the box nervously. "someone _set_ the garage on fire!" chapter iii valuable information at the remark mr. holton gasped in astonishment. "who would it be?" he asked. "has anyone got anything against you?" "not that i know of," joe's father replied. "let me think." he assumed a mood of thoughtful anxiety, and mr. holton took the small box for a closer examination. it was about eight inches square, with a hole in the top out of which protruded a short iron stem. inside, an alarm clock was still ticking. "hmm! that fire was probably set for ten o'clock," mr. holton murmured, as he noticed that it was now nearly eleven. "how long ago do you suppose it was set?" inquired bob. "impossible to say," the response came. "it couldn't have been more than twelve hours ago, however." mr. lewis looked up. "i can think of several people who could be bad enough to do this," he said thoughtfully. "but i cannot say which one it would be. "first i might mention a man who wanted to buy some specimens from me, but i declined to sell them. he had a sour disposition, and his temper was thoroughly aroused when, after he had offered large sums of money, i refused him. said he'd get even some time." "what'd he want with them?" joe asked. "wanted to sell them to a well-known museum. you see they were very rare birds that i got in new zealand, and he'd have been offered a large sum for them." "could be the very man!" mr. holton said. "who else might have done it?" "a rival naturalist," the other returned. "name is davis--thomas t. davis. perhaps you remember, howard. the fellow with the gold eyeglasses and scarred face. said he got it when a tiger sprang at him. always----" "yes," mr. holton interrupted, his eyes bright with sudden recollection. "the museum employed him awhile, didn't it?" joe's father nodded. "he always had a dislike for me," he went on. "didn't like it at all when i headed that expedition to central asia." there was a short silence. then mr. lewis made a resolution. "i'm going to put this matter in the hands of detectives," he said. "they may be able to figure it out." "that's the thing to do," bob agreed. "seems to me, though, that this first man you mentioned is responsible. the one who wanted to buy the specimens from you." "could be. but i am very much in doubt as to whether he would do such a thing." "are you certain that there is no one else that has anything against you?" mr. holton questioned. "no. not certain. but fairly sure." suddenly bob's face lightened, and he turned to mr. lewis. "do you know where this man lives? the one who wanted to buy the specimens from you, i mean." "why--yes," mr. lewis faltered. "that is, i have it in my memorandum. what do you want with it?" "don't know that it'll be any good at all. but we could inquire of his neighbors what kind of man he is." "good idea. better let me go, though." bob shook his head. "joe and i haven't anything else to do," he argued, "and we'll be glad to do it." "all right. come in the house and i'll put his name and address on paper." in a short time mr. lewis was back with a folded paper, which he handed to bob. "now use tact in getting your information," he said. "remember, don't let the people you inquire of in on the secret." "we won't," came the response, and after securing permission to use mr. holton's sedan, they left for the man's address. what would they find? would the people living near know anything about this person? would the youths find that he had moved and, owing to his criminal record, had told no one of his new location? these questions were in the minds of bob and joe as they went farther toward their destination. after a twenty-minute ride they pulled up on a poor cross street near the city limits and gazed to their left at a small house set back from the sidewalk. directly beside it was another house of slightly better appearance. "that's the place," pronounced bob. "doesn't look like anyone's at home." "let's go to the house next to it," suggested joe, getting out of the car. "we'll trust to luck that the occupants are not related to the man we're after." the boys made their way to the door and knocked. for over a minute they waited in silence. then, as it was evident that there was no one at home, they turned to leave. but at that moment a small car moved up to the curb and stopped. two men got out and started toward the house where the alleged crook lived. but the second they caught sight of bob and joe they turned back to their car. "come on," whispered bob. "let's follow them. i have a notion that one of those fellows is the man we're after." joe nodded in agreement. "did you notice how strange they acted when they saw us?" he asked. "perhaps they thought we were officers that had come to arrest them." the youths made their way to their automobile and had the motor started just as the other car whizzed away. for over ten minutes they followed cautiously, and they were satisfied that the men had not noticed them. then at last they turned up a dilapidated street and stopped in front of a small, weather-beaten house. here they left the car and went inside, while bob and joe stopped a square away. "let's go up and look around," suggested joe. as quietly as possible, the boys walked up to the house. "come around to the back," beckoned joe. "there might be a window." his supposition proved correct, for they found one before they reached the back porch. the glass was out and the opening was boarded up fairly tight, but there were several large cracks. cautiously bob leaned up close and peeped inside. then he turned to joe. "four men inside," he whispered. "two of them are the ones we followed. wait! let's hear what they're saying." again he leaned over to the window, this time to listen. joe squeezed up close that he might hear also. "where do you suppose he is?" one man was saying in a gruff voice. "left town, mebbe," another answered. "just plain slipped out on us, an' him owin' us a lot of dough." "the dirty tramp!" a third said with an oath. "we'll get him, don't you worry. no guy can put anything over on us!" "he's afraid of the cops, no doubt," the first said. "maybe---- but say! speakin' of cops, we saw a couple of guys at the house next door to him, and nobody lives there. haven't for two months. they might have been detectives." "he means us," whispered joe. "we scared them off, i guess." the man who had been silent now spoke. "you may be right," he said. "it don't take them detectives long to get on a guy's trail. if you stick around where you been keepin' yourself they'll get you sure. that's prob'ly the reason why this guy ain't home. give him time. he'll settle with us." but the first man was impatient. "we want our dough now!" he bawled. "we was supposed to have it at noon an' he didn't come. he owes us a good many bucks, and for the spark machine too. he was supposed to pay for that, you know." bob and joe looked at each other. the spark machine! "that proves it!" bob whispered, gritting his teeth. "they're the fellows that set your dad's garage on fire, all right! we'll make them----" "shhh!" "but listen, tim," one of the men was saying, "there ain't any use to get hot-headed yet. i know this guy pretty well. i've done a lot for him and he's done a lot for me. he's never backed out on me yet. he's got plenty of money, even if he is tryin' hard to get more. "here's what let's do. let's give him till tomorrow night, and then if he don't pay us we can go after him." "all right." and the agreement was made. bob and joe looked at each other. what were they to do now? they had secured evidence that these men were the guilty ones. now would it be best to report the matter to the police at once, or had they better wait longer for any further information that the crooks might unknowingly give them? "let's wait a few more minutes," suggested joe. "they might leave the house just as we made for our car, and then it would be too bad." bob thought this good advice, and he leaned against the house to wait. joe remained at the window. for a minute there was silence inside. then the man called tim got up from his chair and started for the door. "where you goin'?" he was asked. "over to see if i can't collect that dough," he growled. "anybody want ter go with me?" "what's the use?" one fellow asked. "we was there not more than an hour ago." "all right. leave it to me." he walked on toward the door. "come on," muttered joe. "let's get to our car before he gets away." as hastily, yet as quietly, as possible the youths ran around the back of the house and through the alley for a distance of about a square. then they turned out to the street and to their car. joe had the motor started just as the crook left the curb. "let's head him off," suggested bob. "we can easily get there before he does if we cut across and not take the through street." "good idea," and the car was turned up a narrow cross street. before long the boys were in the neighborhood of the house occupied by that man who had indirectly set mr. lewis's garage on fire by hiring criminals experienced in that line to do it. "be careful and don't get too close," warned joe, as they neared the structure. "o. k. let's go around the alley. we can park there for a few minutes and nobody will know anything about it." the car was turned into the alley and parked almost directly behind the house. then the youths got out to stretch their legs and decide on a plan of action. "how will we work it?" asked joe, glancing around to see if anyone happened to be watching them. for a moment there was no answer. then bob had an idea. "let's walk up to the back door," he said. "there are a lot of trees and shrubbery close and we can hide behind them until we are sure that everything is all right." joe agreed, and they made their way as quietly as possible. when close enough, they saw that the door was shut and the blinds were drawn. it was evident that no one was at home. suddenly there came a noise from the front of the house and both boys concealed themselves behind a large clump of bushes. "someone's coming around to the back door," breathed bob. "probably that's tim who came back here to collect the money owed him. the fellow we headed off, i mean. yes, it's he," joe observed, peeking down the side of the house. the sound of footsteps grew louder, and the next minute the man stepped around the corner, fists clinched and face scowling. "come on," said bob, and leaving his place of hiding he launched himself with full force on the back of the crook. chapter iv the treacherous crook with an oath the man shook bob off and turned to deal with him. "you?" he growled in surprise. "you, little more than a kid, would dare to fight tim donnahan? why, i'll----" the sentence remained unfinished, for at that moment bob's fist shot out with lightning rapidity and caught the man squarely between the eyes. without an outcry he went sprawling to the ground and rolled over. for a second he remained dazed. then he recovered himself and regained his feet. summoning all his power he lunged forward, mouth foaming and eyes glaring with rage. it was easy to see that bob was dealing with no weakling. his heaving chest was in itself a symbol of strength, as were also the powerful arms and heavy body. but then neither was bob a weakling, as he had displayed so many times before. true he did not delight in fighting, but when called upon he was able to give a good account of himself. if the truth be known, he had not only won cups and letters in high school football and basketball, but in boxing as well. joe was lighter and less robust, although by no means easy to knock out. now, as the young men faced this crook, there was a strong desire to win in their minds. here was a chance--perhaps the only one they would have--to bring these men to justice for their cruel, underhanded way of getting even with mr. lewis for a trivial matter. they possessed two fears. what if this fellow had a gun with him and thought nothing of using it? and what if the arch-crook would emerge from the house? "if he only stays away," thought bob, as he cleverly ducked the large fist that came with all force. for nearly five minutes the fight kept up, neither of the participants gaining anything. then suddenly the man swung around in an unguarded moment and sent his fist crashing into bob's jaw. taken unawares, the youth went to the ground, almost unconscious. grinning in triumph, the crook was reaching for a revolver when joe leaped forward and threw him on his side. the impact hurled the gun several feet away, and both made for it. but bob was there first! he had struggled to his senses while joe did his part to prevent calamity. "get back!" bob commanded, flashing the automatic in the man's face. "it's all over now!" for a moment the fellow could not believe that the tide had turned. he stared first at bob and then at joe, muttering to himself. once he started forward, but, as the gun was pressed in his face, he shrank back, apparently giving himself over to any fate. "get goin'," joe commanded, advancing a step or two. the order was obeyed, and they marched out to the alley, where mr. holton's car remained, unmolested. "now," said bob, handing the key to joe, "i'll get in the back seat and guard this man, and you get in front and drive us to the police station." no conversation was carried on during the trip, for the boys resolved to take no chances. "at any minute he might attempt a get-away," thought joe, as he increased the speed as much as was consistent with safety. through streets and side streets they went, until at last they found themselves near the city's business district. it was thought best not to travel on the busy thoroughfares for fear of attracting attention. after rounding a sharp corner, joe found it necessary to stop quickly at a traffic signal. directly to the right was a horde of people, gathered to witness a ceremony of the salvation army. there were fully thirty in the crowd, and shrill notes of a trumpet attracted more spectators constantly. suddenly bob and joe were taken in total surprise. their captive leaned out of the car window and, hailing the crowd of people, cried, "help! a hold-up! help!" immediately the people's attention was attracted, and with wonder and curiosity they rushed toward the screaming man. the two youths, because of the suddenness of the unexpected happening, could not immediately master the situation. the crowd enfolded the car and rushed toward bob and joe, against whom the criminal had directed them. "well, of all the rotten experiences!" muttered bob holton, as a tall man grasped him by the arm none too gently. and upon glancing behind he saw that joe, too, had been taken a mistaken prisoner. so their captive had won out after all! thus it seemed to the boys, but they clinched their fists, and bob especially was determined not to be beaten so easily. true they might wait and explain matters to the police, and if they did not believe, perhaps the judge would. but there was too much chance of losing, even though there was a possibility of winning. the next instant they saw that it would be impossible to settle later, for the crook, deciding it best to take advantage of the situation, opened the door of the car, and with the words, "arrest these fellows," he ran down the street, leaving the crowd to stare in surprise and wonder. thinking it useless to explain to the people in time to recapture the man, bob suddenly sent his fist crashing into the man who still had hold of his arm with such force that he went down in a dazed condition. for a second the youth was free and, gathering courage, he broke through the mass of people and dashed down the street in pursuit of the escaped criminal, who could be seen some two blocks ahead. "i ought to catch him after awhile," the youth thought, as he noted that the man was rapidly losing ground. several more minutes brought pursuer and pursued to the potomac river, and bob feared that the man might attempt to swim across but was mistaken. the youth was now close upon him, and when they came to a small clump of shrubbery, bob resolved to end the chase. "here goes," he thought, and, exerting himself to the utmost, he caught up and aimed his foot in the man's path. with an exclamation of rage the fellow went down head first in a clump of bushes. immediately he was up, and with a hoarse bellow he aimed a blow at his young enemy's chin. but bob dodged and with expert quickness sent his fist smashing into the man's nose. stunned, dazed, bewildered at this youth's daring, he again took flight, bob at his heels. had the revolver not been taken from him by the crowd of people, bob would have been tempted to open fire. suddenly a man appeared not far away, and bob called to him for assistance. the stranger finally grasped the meaning, and not questioning the cause of the chase, started after the criminal from another direction. "we've got him," panted bob, as he came within an arm's reach. "it's all over now." and so it was. with a terrific crack to the chin the youth sent his enemy to the ground unconscious. "but what does this all mean?" demanded the stranger who had helped in the capture. "he's a criminal," bob answered. "set a garage on fire. tell you later if you'll give me your name and address. mine's bob holton. i live at----wait, here's one of dad's cards." the stranger accepted the card and in turn gave his name and address, but it was evident that he was very much puzzled about the whole affair. the criminal's eyes were opening, and he squirmed about uneasily. at last he seemed fully revived and sat up. "where's an officer?" bob asked, looking about. "here," came a shout, and the next moment a policeman stepped up, looked at the downed captive and then at bob. "take this man to the police station," the youth directed. "you're certain you've got the goods on him?" "yes. i'll come along with you." tim donnahan slowly responded to the officer's command to "rise an' get goin'," and they started to a police telephone, where a call for a patrol wagon was to be made. meanwhile joe, who was left behind in the car when bob made his escape, had resolved to free himself if it were at all possible. he saw that it would be impossible to break away as his friend had done, for the crowd was all the more determined to bring him to justice as a "hold-up man," which they didn't doubt that he was. so the only thing left was to do his best to make them believe what he told them. "i tell you it's a mistake," he pleaded. "this first fellow that got away is the guilty person. we caught him after he had set fire to my father's garage. we were taking him to the police station when he pulled his gag about being held up. you noticed he lost no time in getting away, didn't you? would a man who wasn't guilty have done such a thing?" his tones were so much in earnest that many of the people were inclined to believe him. "he's telling the truth, all right," declared one man, nodding. several policemen now came up on motorcycles, and joe again told his story. "my friend is still after the crook down the street," he said, as finishing words. "all right," one of the officers replied, as if he believed. "suppose we go down the street and investigate. i'll get in the car with you." joe, glad of the chance to prove that he had told the truth, did as directed. a little farther down they pulled up beside the crowd that had gathered at the spot where bob had caught the criminal. "there they are," pointed out joe, as he saw his friend, a policeman, and tim donnahan making their way to a telephone. "bob did get him," observed joe, overwhelmed with joy. the car was stopped beside them, and a short discussion was held. bob was asked to tell his story, and the policemen noted that it exactly coincided with that told by the other boy. "looks like a clear case on you," one of the officers said to tim donnahan, but the man remained silent. "i'll go with you fellows to the garage that burned," the other officer said to bob and joe. "and meanwhile," he went on, "we'll send police out to get those other crooks you were talking about." bob took the wheel, and in less than fifteen minutes they pulled up in front of joe's house and got out. mr. lewis and mr. holton came out to meet them. "what's it all about?" the latter asked, as he noted the policeman. "we've caught the fellows that set fire to dad's garage," joe answered, and then proceeded to tell of their experiences. when he had finished, the men looked at their sons with intense admiration and praise. it was evident that the youths had gone beyond their expectations. "it was a brave deed!" commended joe's father, patting them on the back. but bob protested. "we didn't do much. catching that fellow wasn't so hard." "you got the whole gang indirectly," corrected mr. lewis. "now," he continued, "you fellows are entitled to a reward. what would you like to have?" "nothing," returned bob. "it wasn't worth much. we came out all right and had a lot of fun at that." "i won't have it that way," rejected mr. lewis. "you boys must have a reward for your services, and i'm going to see that you get it. what would you like?" there was a short silence. then joe's eyes twinkled, and he resolved to venture a bold question. "let us go with you on that trip you're about to take to the wilds of brazil," he said quietly. chapter v a worth-while offer both mr. lewis and mr. holton smiled. it was evident that they had not expected this. "that's the only thing that'll satisfy you?" the former asked, his mind working rapidly. the young men nodded. "we'll be careful and do all we can for the good of the expedition," said bob anxiously. "please arrange to take us along." there was a period of suspense. then the men looked at each other. "what will we say?" joe's father asked, totally undecided. mr. holton had been mentally debating the subject. now he was ready for an answer. "let's let them go," he said. "they're as big and strong as we and are usually equal to any crisis. you see what they did to this gang of men. shows they are resourceful, and that's what you have to be in a strange land where danger lurks at every step. in my opinion they'd be a valuable asset to the expedition." the youths looked at mr. holton gratefully. they felt that the battle was nearly half won. for nearly a minute mr. lewis was silent. then he spoke with decision. "i think you're right, howard," he said. "we'll have a talk with their mothers this afternoon, and i am of the opinion that they'll give their consent if we go at them right." "fine!" cried bob joyously. "do your best to win them over. i think they'll agree to let us go, especially since they have so much faith in you. but say! you haven't told us who all intend to make up the expedition. there isn't to be a large number, is there?" "no," mr. holton answered. "we only intended to have three, mr. lewis, an anthropologist, and myself, but if you boys accompany us the number will, of course, be raised to five. and perhaps," he went on, "that would be better than to have so few. you see it isn't like an expedition into africa, where there are plenty of native carriers to bear your provisions. we'll have to rely more on our own resources and be extremely careful that we don't get lost. several million square miles of jungle is a wide area to cut into, especially when so much of it is unexplored." "should think it would be great fun," commented joe, mentally picturing the many thrills that promised to make the trip interesting. "it will be," mr. holton returned. "but it will also have its dangers. these are mainly of human character. why, it is said that there are tribes of indians so uncivilized that they think nothing of----" "ahem!" mr. lewis cut in purposefully. "what were you going to say?" joe asked. "perhaps i'll tell you some other time," came the reply. "right now i think i'll have a look at my firearms. in all probability they need oiling." he left for the house, and the others remained for several minutes longer. then mr. lewis departed also, leaving the youths to themselves. "what do you suppose dad was going to say--about the savages, i mean?" bob asked, glancing around to make sure that the men were gone. "something that shouldn't go into our young ears," smiled joe and then turned to the house. as he did so he happened to glance out at the street, to see that two men were making their way up to the house. each carried a small hand satchel. that they were strangers joe guessed at once, although they might not be to his father and mr. holton. joe waited until the men were close and then turned to meet them. "naturalists by the names of lewis and holton," one man said. "can we find them here?" "yes," joe replied, wondering what was meant. "come in the house and i'll call them." the strangers did as directed, and joe went around to find his father and mr. holton. bob took a chair on the porch. joe found the men cleaning their rifles. neither could explain who the strangers were. "perhaps they're from the museum," said bob's father, as he and mr. lewis left for the living room of the lewis home. during the discussion bob and joe remained on the porch, not wishing to intrude on the naturalists' private affairs. they were not there long, however, till mr. holton called them in with the others. "boys, this is mr. weslowe, and this, mr. duncan, both of the neuman film corporation. the young man on my left is joe lewis; on my right, bob holton, my son." after a few casual remarks, mr. holton proceeded to tell why the representatives from the film corporation were there. "you see, they learned of our proposed expedition into the wilds of brazil," he explained, "and they have come to make a business proposition. suppose one of you continues," he ended, looking at the men, "for if these young men are to be a part of the expedition they should know about this." "as you know, we are with the neuman film corporation," mr. weslowe explained. "now this house is always on the lookout for an opportunity to take motion pictures of little-known places, and here is certainly an opportunity. unexplored brazil! ah! what a chance! "the minute neuman learned of this expedition they lost no time in sending us out here to make an offer--one that we sincerely trust you will take up." he stopped to open his satchel and get out a folded paper. then he continued: "we want you to take motion pictures of brazil for our company. will you do it?" for a few seconds no one answered. then mr. lewis leaned forward. "won't it be difficult?" he asked. "on the contrary," mr. duncan returned. "very simple. hardly anything to it. we'll give you complete instructions and will not hold you strictly responsible for any lost film. in fact it nearly always happens that at least several score feet of film are lost on such an expedition, where wet and damp have so much to do with the success of the pictures taken." "of course," said mr. weslowe, "we realize that yours will be an expedition for the good of science, not to take moving pictures. it is for this reason that we will willingly place the responsibility, which isn't very much, in the hands of these young men here--your sons. "now this will not mean," he assured them, "that they must put in all their time for this cause. we only wish several scenes along the journey. for instance, you might start by taking a movie of pará, or whatever other city you first reach. then several hundred feet may be used along the mainstream of the amazon, showing the gradual progress of the expedition. when you turn onto a less-known river, that's when we want the real show to start. the country you'll pass through will be wilder, and the pictures will be more interesting. but once again let me assure you that the apparatus we'll furnish will be of the simplest design, and you need not worry about not meeting with success as far as that goes. and we'll pay you well for your trouble. here's the contract. read it over. see what you think of it." he passed the paper to mr. holton, who shared the reading with bob, joe, and mr. lewis. chapter vi off for the wilds of brazil "well?" it was mr. weslowe's voice after the scientists and their sons had finished reading the contract. mr. holton nodded. "it's all right," he declared. "contains nothing whatever that would be objectionable." mr. lewis agreed. "we'll leave the matter to the boys," he said. "they'll be the ones who will have charge of taking the pictures. and let me say that you can rely on them." "you haven't said that we can go yet," remarked bob. "how about our mothers? will they consent?" "yes," mr. lewis answered. "they finally agreed. we were planning to make it a surprise later." "what!" cried bob, while joe gasped in astonishment. "fine!" blurted out joe, after he had regained his breath. "we don't know how to thank you enough. and i'll be more than glad to accept this offer to take the movies. bob will, too, i'm sure." "all right," mr. weslowe said. "here's a pen. you men, as the ones in charge of the expedition, must sign here." they did as directed, and then the representatives prepared to depart. "the film, machine, and other equipment will be here inside of a week," mr. duncan said. "and you'll find it as simple as we explained." then they took their leave. "a chance to make some money," said mr. lewis to the youths, as they seated themselves on the porch awaiting the evening meal. "yes," said bob. "and i know we'll find it interesting." "what kind of a camera do you suppose they'll furnish?" joe asked. "probably the small, simple kind that requires no tripod. all you do is press a button and the film is automatically exposed. but you'll have to follow the instructions closely or the whole thing will be a total failure. and to a certain extent, mr. holton and i will be held responsible." practically all of the next day was spent in the business district purchasing various articles to be used on the coming great adventure. in the evening when they returned home they were satisfied with everything they had bought. bob and joe were especially delighted with the new rifles that their fathers presented them, for they were of the very latest design. "i suppose they'll bring down anything," said bob, in reference to the guns. "anything but elephants, rhinos, and the like that have extremely tough hides," his father answered. "you needn't fear them, though, for we won't come across them in south america." "what is considered the most dangerous game of that continent?" asked joe. "the jaguar, generally," was the response. "he sometimes attains a length of nearly six feet and is extremely powerful. he has been known to attack a mustang, swim with it across a river, and place it in the thick bushes. again he has been seen to open fish and heavy turtles with his powerful claws." "poisonous snakes are also dangerous," said mr. lewis, "although they seldom attack a man without first being disturbed." "there's a remedy for every such bite, isn't there?" inquired joe. "yes. that is, for nearly every one. the strange part of it is that one antidote may be totally ineffective against one kind of poison, while it has effect on another. you see there are several types or classes of venomous reptiles, and each has a different type of poison. hence several antidotes have to be carried so as to take no chances." "anacondas are not poisonous, are they?" asked joe. "no," replied mr. holton. "they are constrictors, that kill their victims by crushing them to death. another name for them is 'water boa,' because they are found near a stream or mud hole. you boys probably know that they are among the world's largest snakes, often being thirty feet in length and thicker than a man's leg. they are capable of crushing an ox to death, and often tear up small trees by the roots." joe shuddered. "i don't think i'd care to meet one of them," he said. "especially since i'm not an excellent shot like you and dad." "and bob," added mr. lewis. really bob was not far behind the naturalists in marksmanship. after the preparations for the trip were fully completed, the youths and their fathers rested, for the coming venture was to be a tiresome one, and it was wholly unwise to use too much of their energy that was to be so much needed later. meanwhile reconstruction work was being done on mr. lewis's garage, and the workmen promised to have the task completed in three days. "won't have to worry about that," bob assured his chum's father. "you can just take it easy until the time comes to leave for brazil." mr. lewis nodded but found out later, as did mr. holton, that to rest was impossible, much as they would have liked to. frequent trips to the museum had to be made, visits to various libraries were necessary, and they found at last that a journey to baltimore was inevitable. as might be expected, they were greatly fatigued when, although every matter was settled, only two days remained before the long mission into the unknown. that afternoon professor bigelow, a noted anthropologist who was to be a part of the expedition, arrived at mr. holton's home, where he was to remain until the expedition would leave. he was a rather small man, with heavy gray hair and a swarthy complexion that the boys rightly guessed was due to his many missions into strange lands to study primitive people. he at once took a great liking to the youths, and together they discussed many strange happenings, which the professor related in breath-taking tales. he told of adventures in darkest africa, where many little-known clans of natives were studied. he thrilled his listeners with stories of narrow escapes from the dyaks of borneo, of journeys into ecuador to investigate the savage head-shrinkers, into india, mongolia, venezuela, islands of the south seas, and many other strange places. yes, it was a great life--that pursued by an anthropologist. "two more things i'd like to know," said bob, the next afternoon. "first, what food will we take along?" "that is all arranged," his father replied. "a company in new york packed our provisions in light tin containers that are airtight and will float on water. you don't need to worry about our having enough, for we took into consideration the possibility of a long, unexpected delay. what's your other question?" "this: where do we sail from, new york? and on what ship?" mr. holton gasped in astonishment. "what!" he cried. "you don't know that yet? i thought we discussed that matter several days ago." "if you did, i wasn't there," bob returned, grinning. "we've been so busy with preparations that i haven't given it a thought." "all right, i'll tell you. we sail from new york on the steamer _empire_, a vessel of ten thousand tons. it is scheduled to arrive in macapá, which is several miles inland on the amazon, in twelve days. fairly good time, considering a stop at the west indies." at frequent intervals mrs. holton and mrs. lewis expressed the desire for their sons to give up the thought of accompanying the expedition, but the boys did their best to convince their mothers that, while there were dangers attached, they were not as numerous as one might think. "come to think of it, you can't blame them, though," said joe. "we're rather inexperienced in the art of exploring." "we'll come through all right," bob assured him. "oh! how i wish the time would pass quicker!" despite bob's desire, the great day of leaving took its time in coming. but when it did arrive, everyone was in readiness. "weather's cool and the sky's clear," observed joe, as he and bob lugged their belongings out to the front porch of bob's home, where the members of both households were to gather before the party would leave. "just the right temperature," declared mr. holton, who had moved up in time to hear his son's chum. the train was to leave for new york at ten o'clock and the party barely had time to get breakfast and prepare themselves and their possessions, which, by the way, included the motion-picture cameras and several thousand feet of film, sent ahead by the neuman film corporation. bob and joe--and the others to a less degree--had studied the instructions on how to take motion pictures and felt that it would be an easy matter to carry them out. shortly after breakfast mrs. holton and mrs. lewis drove the family cars out in front, and the others carried out their belongings and got inside. "the last we'll see of good old washington for several months to come," sighed joe, as he cast a final look at the homes they were leaving behind. there were tears in the eyes of mrs. lewis and mrs. holton as they gave the youths and their fathers a warm farewell. professor bigelow also took part in the leave-taking, for he was well liked by all. bob's smaller brother and joe's sister gave tender good-byes, and with one last adieu the adventurers made their way down the platform and to the new york limited. chapter vii new york--and on the trip to new york, while interesting, was without incident, and they were glad to stretch their legs in the pennsylvania terminal, where hundreds of people from all parts of the country were assembled. "now what?" asked joe, after a bountiful lunch. "better get to a hotel," replied mr. holton, picking up his bags. the party walked outside and hailed a taxi, the driver of which agreed to take them to a comfortable hotel near the waterfront. "an outside room," observed bob, as he glanced at his ticket and followed the others to an elevator. their sleeping quarters were on the seventeenth floor, where a wonderful view of lower manhattan and the waterfront could be had. "fairly high, but could be a lot higher," observed joe, as he gazed out at the scores of other tall buildings that were grouped about them. "the trend is upward," remarked mr. lewis. "imagine how old new york will look fifty years from now, when there may be buildings two hundred stories high!" "suppose we go down and see how things look from the street," suggested mr. holton. "been a long time since we've been here." the remainder of that day was spent exploring manhattan island. they turned in early in the evening, for they were very tired. "tomorrow," said bob, as he threw himself on the bed, "we'll see sights for sore eyes." and they did. the scene at the dock was one of absorbing interest to all, even as much as the men had witnessed it. ships from all countries were anchored in dense rows, their crewmen busy loading and unloading cargoes. boxes and bales were being piled in great stacks, awaiting transfer by motor truck. passengers and spectators crowded closely around the sections where passenger liners were anchored. "here we are," said mr. holton, pointing to a medium-sized ship between two other smaller boats. "the _empire_. looks staunch enough." the others agreed and then made their way up the gangplank. a white-clad officer came out to meet them and upon receipt of their tickets directed them to their staterooms. "large and comfortable," commented bob, as he set down his baggage and looked about. "all you could ask for," said joe, who was to share the room with his chum. the youths spent several more minutes in examining the articles furnished them for the voyage. then bob turned toward the door. "let's go out on deck," he suggested. "it won't be long until the ship lifts anchor." on deck they found everything in readiness for the voyage, and the scene of action below was interesting to the extreme. crewmen hurried back and forth with ropes, boxes, bales, and other objects, intent upon a purpose. visitors scurried off the ship and stood by to witness the leaving. "everyone probably wishes he were going with us," said bob, as the crowd grudgingly stepped back for the gangplank to be pulled in. the next instant the long-drawn, deep whistle of the boat sounded, and with the ringing of gongs the engines started. a streak of foam arose between the hull and the dock, and the ship started moving. "good-bye, america!" shouted joe, leaning far out over the rail. "yes," affirmed mr. holton. "it's the last we'll see of good old new york for many weeks to come." mr. holton, mr. lewis, and professor bigelow turned and walked to the other end of the deck. bob and joe remained where they were. neither of the youths said anything, for they were busy with their thoughts. who knew what perils might befall them before they would again see that land they so dearly loved? chapter viii the beginning of trouble bob and joe found the ocean voyage very interesting, for it was something new to them. the waves, sea gulls, flying fish, an occasional shark, the painted horizon, and the ship itself all held their undivided attention and made them thrill at the fact that they were living through an experience that only a comparative few had the opportunity of enjoying. they spent much of their time on deck, enjoying the never-ending charm of the ocean. thus far the weather had remained peaceable enough, and both boys expressed a desire for it to continue thus. they had never witnessed a hurricane, but had heard from their fathers of how destructive a tropical ocean storm could really be. "the ship looks strong enough to come through safely," remarked joe, as he cast eyes about the deck. "yes," his friend replied. "she's built on the stoutest possible lines." section by section the youths explored the _empire_ and were much impressed by everything they saw. they visited the various passenger quarters, the bridge, the enormous kitchens, the hold, and last and most interesting, the engine rooms, where mammoth turbines turned harmoniously and kept the ship at a smooth, even gait. the vessel interested them greatly, and while not built on the enormous proportions of the huge liners that sailed between american and european ports, it was large enough to keep the youths wondering. "one of the many man-made wonders," said bob, as he thought of how complex the engines were. one of the things that impressed the boys most was the large supply of provisions that were taken along. there were literally tons of food, water, novelties, and other goods stored in great rooms, and every bit was to be used on this one voyage. artificial refrigeration kept perishable food fresh and wholesome. early the next day bob and joe showed their first signs of seasickness. they had been standing at the rail watching the rolling of the waves and were growing rather tired when joe turned about, his face pale and of a yellowish color. "i think i'll go to my berth," he said, his voice unsteady. "what's the matter? you----" "it came at last," smiled mr. lewis, who had moved up to the youths. "i seldom knew it to fail. seasickness is almost sure to be felt on the first voyage one takes. bob, i'm betting that before two hours will have passed you'll be as bad off as joe. of course," he went on in a tone that he tried to keep serious, "let's hope you'll have better luck, but the chances are against you." mr. lewis's prophecy proved correct. in fact it was less than one hour later that big bob, after heroically postponing the dreaded seasickness as long as he possibly could, turned and went to his berth to join his stricken comrade. "too bad," remarked mr. holton, closing the door of the stateroom after cautiously peeping in. "perhaps their next voyage--if they take any more--will be free from unpleasantness." throughout the remainder of that day the boys' condition remained unchanged. if anything, they were worse off than before, and neither would look at a bite of food of any kind. "this is terrible," moaned joe to his father, the professor, and mr. holton, who went in to see how the youths were. "cheer up," mr. holton said in lively tones. "you can surely stand a couple of more days." he was right. it was two days later when the boys began to show signs of recovery. then only very slowly did they resume their natural cheerfulness. "too bad we had to miss so much," mourned bob. "but i'll admit there wasn't much to see." "nothing but water," said joe and then turned to go into the cabin. as he did so he happened to glance down at the stern and pointed for bob to follow his gaze. leaning against the rail were the boys' fathers conversing with an elderly bearded man, with a uniform that distinguished him as the ship's captain. he seemed good-natured and humorous, for occasionally he would cause the men to laugh so hard that they would have to grip the rail to maintain their balance. "come over, boys," mr. holton said, glancing up. they did so. "this," he continued, "is captain crowell, chief officer of the _empire_. captain, this is joe lewis, and this, bob holton, the young men we were telling you about. what do you think of them?" the old officer spent nearly a minute in looking the boys over. then he turned to the naturalists. "spirited-looking chaps," he grinned. "look as if they'd like to deprive brazil of every bit of animal life in it. better not let them have a rifle. the jaguars will all make for cover." "roasting us, are you?" retorted bob. "no. what creature, no matter how fierce, wouldn't be afraid of two mates who captured a gang of desperate criminals all by themselves? you don't need to worry about these fellows," he said to their fathers. "they'll take care of themselves and you, too, perhaps." bob and joe took a liking to the old seaman and intended to discuss many problems with him in the future. "maybe he can suggest something to do to while the time away," said bob the next day, when captain crowell was again referred to. "that reminds me," the other youth blurted out. "there's a swimming pool in the second deck. let's go up." bob readily agreed, and they were soon floating calmly about. "we'd better get as much out of this as we can," remarked joe. "there won't be a chance to enjoy this sport in brazilian waters." "no," put in bob. "the alligators and piranhas and other dangerous forms won't give us a chance to even wade." the youths were not the only ones to invade the swimming pool, however. as they neared the tropics, and the temperature steadily went up, people from all over the ship enjoyed its cool retreat, the pool becoming almost crowded. it was great fun. nothing to do but just splash about. games also held the boys' attention. shuffleboard, quoits, deck tennis, horseshoes, and other activities played an important part in the daily life, and in times when they desired more quiet entertainment, the library, with its scores of books of all types, afforded interesting occupation. many leisure hours were spent conversing with captain crowell, who always had a humorous tale to tell. on one occasion, when they had been at sea nearly a week, bob and joe happened upon him standing at the rail, gazing up at the sky, on his face a worried expression. "big storm coming," he said, after the salutation. "a storm!" cried joe and then looked upward. sure enough, clouds were banking heavily, and the sun was nowhere in sight. a stiff breeze had arisen, and with this came the smell of rain. an officer came up and handed a slip of paper to the captain. he read it, and then, with a parting word for bob and joe, he turned and went toward the bridge. the boys looked at each other. were things going to turn out for the worse? surely something serious was wrong, or the captain would never have acted in such manner. "getting darker," bob said, as he noted that the clouds were joining. "won't be long before it'll rain," prophesied joe, and he was correct, for it was less than ten minutes later that a heavy drizzle fell, forcing the chums into the cabin. there they turned and looked out at the sea, which was rapidly getting higher. the wind was blowing fiercely, its velocity increasing with each minute. "well, boys, what do you think of it?" it was mr. holton's voice. he and his two companions had moved up to the glass, as had a number of other people. "suppose you answer that question," replied bob. "you're in a better position to know than we are." "i believe we're in for a bad one," was the opinion voiced by professor bigelow. "but how long it will last is hard to say." mr. lewis nodded. "tropical hurricanes are very uncertain," he said. "sometimes they last only a few hours, while at other times they keep up for two and three days." the boat was now rocking violently, and many people had difficulty in keeping their footing. bob and joe took chairs that were fastened securely to the floor. they intended to remain awake all night if the storm did not subside. but exhaustion was stronger than their intentions, and finally they stumbled to their stateroom, ready for a night's rest. "storm or no storm, i'm going to turn in," bob said, and then lost his footing and went sprawling to the floor, with joe on top of him. the ship had suddenly tilted as she struck a mountainous wave. "wow!" cried joe, gripping a water pipe and righting himself. "better hold tight from now on or we're likely to get a bad spill." by almost a miracle the youths undressed. then they tumbled into their berths, to go to sleep at once. about midnight they were awakened by a shrill, long-drawn whistle, and all the sleep knocked out of them, they were on their feet in an instant wondering what was meant by that unusual sound in the dark of the night. chapter ix a daring rescue "what is it?" asked joe, as he hurriedly slipped on his clothing. "beyond me," bob answered. "come on. let's go out on deck. we may be able to find out." the ship was rocking terribly, and the boys found it difficult to keep their footing. but they finally managed to catch hold of a rail, and from then on it was easier. several other passengers were up also, intent upon investigating the strange whistle. "maybe the boat's sinking," suggested joe. bob shook his head. "probably isn't that. at least let's hope not." with beating hearts the youths came up to the glass and turned to look out at the angry sea. then their expression changed. a short distance from the _empire_ was a small fishing schooner, its prow out of sight in the water. on the stern stood a score or more men, waving their arms frantically. it was evident that they were panic-stricken, for several of them occasionally shouted for help. the little boat tossed about violently on the crest of the mountainous waves, her front deck gradually fading from view. every minute it seemed that the end would come. "it's sinking fast!" cried joe. "why don't some of our crew do something?" "they are. look." farther up on the _empire's_ deck fifteen or twenty men, under the direction of officers, were busy lowering lifeboats, although it looked out of reason to let them down on that sea. suddenly bob turned and started toward his berth. "where you going?" joe asked. "to get the motion-picture camera. here'll be a good chance to take some pictures. there's plenty of light around here." the next moment he was gone, and joe turned to the deck. the roar of the storm was deafening, and the wind howled ruefully through the funnels and masts. it was as though the end of the world were coming. in less than five minutes two lifeboats were lowered, four or five men in each one. then slowly they made their way toward the doomed schooner. bob now returned with the movie camera and cranked away, delighted to get an opportunity to film such an unusual happening. the boys, however, were not the only ones to watch the daring attempt at rescue. in fact the glass was now crowded with people, and mr. holton, mr. lewis, and professor bigelow came up and wormed their way to their companions. "most thrilling thing i ever saw!" exclaimed mr. holton, as he breathlessly directed his gaze at the puny boats, which wallowed heavily and threatened to be swamped at every moment. on and on went the rescue boats, their occupants bailing furiously. now and then they threatened to capsize but always righted themselves. in what seemed to be a long period of suspense to the spectators, the _empire's_ crew reached the fishing schooner, which was now far under water. one by one the fishermen climbed into the lifeboats, although it was necessary to give sharp commands to prevent disorder. when the last of the men from the doomed boat stepped into the lifeboats, the officer in charge gave the word, and they started back to the _empire_. the return trip threatened to be more perilous, for the boats were very low in the water with the added load. hurriedly the oarsmen set to work, so that they might be a good distance from the schooner when it sank, for a whirlpool would be created, meaning certain disaster to all around it. once a giant wave passed over the little boats and they disappeared from view, amid gasps from the spectators. but the danger was soon over, and the lifeboats emerged unharmed, the crewmen bailing rapidly. they were barely at the _empire's_ side when the schooner sank. with a last look at the scene of disaster, the fishermen boarded the ship. they were water-soaked and shivering with cold, but were too glad that they had been saved from the hungry depths of the sea to make any complaints. "they're portuguese," observed professor bigelow, as the fishermen came nearer. the men muttered several words of thanks to the _empire's_ crew, but it was clear that few understood them. professor bigelow, however, picked up the meaning at once and translated to his companions. mr. holton and mr. lewis had a slight knowledge of that language, but could not keep up with the excited men. "the captain says it's too bad they had to lose the schooner," professor bigelow said. "he said they did their best to save it from going down, but had to give up. they did not intend to be this far at sea, but the storm gave them no chance of turning back." in a short time the excitement was over, and most of the passengers again retired, for the next morning they were to sight the west indies. bob was overjoyed at the success he had had in taking the movies of the rescue and knew they would be a hit with the neuman film corporation. they were the first of any importance that had been taken on the ship, and, as joe said, a little action now and then does a lot to liven up a thing. the next morning the storm had completely subsided, and true to schedule the _empire_ sighted porto rico. there was a scramble of passengers who had reached their destination. "probably think they'll be carried on," smiled bob, as a rather nervous man fled down the stairs. at first the shoreline was so dim as to be hardly distinguishable from the low clouds, but it gradually grew more plain. at last trees and houses could be made out, and then the skyline of san juan loomed up in the distance. "looks like a city," remarked joe. "it is," his father replied. "has over eighty-five thousand inhabitants." "will we have time to go ashore?" asked bob. "yes. the ship remains in port for about three hours," mr. holton answered. as the _empire_ approached the city, she backed her engines and moved slowly into port, where a small crowd of people were massed to give greeting. several other boats, large and small, were anchored at the busy docks, and the _empire_ steamed in between two freighters, one of which was being loaded with sugar. "sugar is one of the principal exports," explained professor bigelow, as the exploration party prepared to leave the ship on a tour of the city. as soon as they were in port, the gangplank was lowered. the adventurers made their way down, among a score of other passengers, many of whom were to leave the ship here. bob and joe were at once impressed by the native residents, for there was a great variety of races. spaniards were the most numerous, but there were also negroes, mulattoes, french, americans, and a small sprinkling of indians. "quite a variety," commented joe. "though it is possible to see this very thing in parts of new york." the explorers found that it would be comparatively easy to walk to various places of interest, and, after passing the former governor-general's palace, they resolved to take in as much of the city as they could in two hours. they found that the city was built on morro island, although the mainland could be easily reached by the numerous bridges. the streets were regularly laid out, and in the white quarters the residences were rather attractive. "doesn't look much like america, though," said joe. the exploration party reached the _empire_ with thirty minutes to spare, and they took chairs on deck to watch the busy dock below. all too soon the whistle of leaving blew, and visitors scrambled down the gangplank. then, with one long blast the ship slowly steamed out to sea, leaving porto rico behind. at last they were on the final stretch. there would be no more stops till they reached south america. then only short stays at paramaribo and cayenne, which were important seaport cities about two hundred miles apart. "how long will it be until we again see land?" asked bob, as he and the others sat on deck. "two days," replied his father. "no doubt that they'll seem like a long time, too." and they did. bob and joe were no more vexed than the others, however, for the men were also anxious to get started into the unknown. but when at last they did sight south america they forgot the past and looked into the future. the boys, with their cameras in hand, were the first to reach the prow. they were closely followed by their fathers and the professor, who also crowded in for a first view. at first, land was only a speck far out on the horizon. then only gradually did it take on form and color. "we're nearing paramaribo," pronounced mr. holton, as he made out the outline of the city. "what country is it in?" asked joe. "dutch guiana," the professor answered. "one of the smallest nations in south america." the _empire_ steamed into a port nearly as busy as that of san juan, although most of the boats were small. for a second time the gangplank was lowered, and as the explorers had a half-hour to spare, they started on a short walking trip of the city. "quite a bit different from san juan," said bob, as he noted that many of the people were native indians. the others nodded. none of them had been here before, and they naturally took a great interest in these unusual surroundings. in fact professor bigelow was the only one who had ever seen south america before, but this did not lessen his enthusiasm. the streets were, for the most part, narrow and straight, cutting one another at right angles. the party was surprised to find the houses extremely low, hardly any of them exceeding two stories. some were built of brick, but most were of cane plastered with mud. several minutes were spent in rambling over the various quarters of the city. then they went back to the ship, which was now nearly ready to sail. "south america is all right to visit," remarked joe, "but i don't think i'd care to live here." the others agreed with him. "and yet," said professor bigelow, "there are a number of cities that are very well developed. take rio de janeiro and buenos aires, for instance. they are large, clean, and well kept. a street in buenos aires looks very much like a street in the united states." soon the _empire_ was off, having unloaded a large cargo of american goods. several passengers also took their leave here. from then on the scientific party was restless and eager to get started into the unknown. as one nears his goal, he nearly always finds it hard to wait through the last few stretches. bob and joe especially were excited, for it was their first adventure. their hearts throbbed as they eagerly anticipated the coming days. that evening they arrived in cayenne, the capital of french guiana, and, as before, took a short trip about the city. it was much the same as paramaribo, however, and they were glad to board the _empire_ again for the last leg of the long journey. it was about six hundred miles to macapá, the _empire's_ destination, and the party settled back in anticipation. neither of the boys did anything of importance. they were too enthusiastic over the coming great adventure. "let's take it easy on deck," suggested bob, and they arranged chairs for all of the party that cared to rest. "there's nothing like enjoying the spell of the ocean," remarked mr. holton. a few days later captain crowell announced that they were sailing up the mighty amazon, and the explorers were thrilled to the bone. the amazon! at last one of their strongest ambitions had been fulfilled. bob and joe were overjoyous, for they had had a strong desire to see this great water system. "doesn't look like a river to me," said joe as he tried in vain to see the shore. "over a hundred miles wide at the delta," said bob. "it's the greatest river system in the world." for several hours they steamed on up the great river, past small settlements, plantations, and green islands. occasionally they would get a glimpse of beautiful wild vegetation, and their hearts would beat fast. then, almost without knowing it, they came to macapá. there was a fairly good port, and the vessel took her place between two small river steamers. the long ocean voyage had come to an end. chapter x in the heart of the jungle "now what?" asked joe, as the party passed on down the gangplank. "better get our belongings together first," said mr. lewis. "then we can make inquiries about the leaving of a boat that'll take us to our destination." "but what about finding a place to stay overnight?" asked the professor. "you needn't worry about that." all looked around, to see that captain crowell had moved up behind them. "i heard what you said," he remarked. "and let me say that you are welcome to your berths on the _empire_ until we leave for new york. that may be tomorrow, or it may be the next day. go on up and make yourselves at home." the party accepted the invitation with warm thanks. then they moved on up to the boat. "pretty soft," smiled bob, as they sat on deck. "we might have hunted for hours before finding rooms." it was late that night when the party retired, but all slept well and awoke the next morning ready for any plans that might be made. after breakfast mr. lewis and mr. holton left for the dock, where they would make inquiries about the leaving of a boat for farther upstream. bob and joe followed a road out of town to see the country. they hiked for perhaps two miles, looking sharply about. then, as there was not much new to see, they turned and went back to town, desirous of finding out what information, if any, their fathers had gained about the leaving of a boat. by luck the boys met their fathers in the main street, and there were smiles on the men's faces. "pat us on the back," smiled mr. holton, so overjoyed that he could hardly keep his composure. "what!" cried bob. "you've found a boat so soon?" the naturalists nodded. "by chance we met the captain of a small freight vessel that happens to be going up the purús to acre, on the bolivian frontier," said mr. holton. "sheer luck, i calls it. any other time it would have been necessary to wait three or four weeks before finding such an opportunity. of course we wouldn't have waited that long, though. we would have found it necessary to take two boats, one to manáos, and one on up the purús. but the way things are now--" he smiled broadly--"we're all set for a pleasant voyage, with no stops till we reach our destination." "when does the boat leave?" inquired joe. "in less than three hours," his father answered. "that means we'll have to hurry and get packed." they walked on down the dock to the _empire_ and found professor bigelow in the library. he looked up smilingly and placed his book back on the shelf. "what did you find?" he asked. mr. holton told of obtaining passage on the boat to the purús, and the anthropologist was delighted beyond words. the delay was maddening to him, even though he was able to keep his time occupied. it did not take the party long to get their possessions together, and after locating captain crowell and thanking him for the use of the berths, they left for the newly chartered boat, which was anchored farther down the pier. "small but staunch-looking," commented bob, as they came to it. "built on rather speedy lines, too," added mr. lewis. they lugged their baggage up on deck, to be met by the burly captain, who in his rough attire was a strange contrast to captain crowell. he was good-natured, however, and readily showed the explorers to their sleeping quarters. "hope you have a jolly voyage," he boomed, leaving for the cabin. "i told you boys wrong when i said we don't stop till we get to our destination," mr. holton corrected himself, as the party started out to the rail. "the boat stops at manáos, but only for a couple of hours. we'll have time to go about the city." a little later the boat's whistle sounded, and then came the faint chugging of the engines. "we're off!" cried joe excitedly. "off on the last stretch of our journey." soon the waterfront of macapá was left behind, and the _selvas_, for that was the vessel's name, steamed out to the middle of the mighty amazon. the explorers did not move from deck until one of the crew announced that the noon meal was ready. "wonder what we'll have to eat?" asked joe, as they went into the dining room. "probably salt pork and a few other dishes of cured food," returned mr. lewis, and he was right. "it's all right for a change, anyway," said bob. the boys spent the remainder of that day in exploring the boat and were impressed by everything they saw. aside from the fact that it was rather old, it was worthy of the great river on which it steamed. "let's hear something about manáos," bob said to his father that night. "if we are to see it soon, i'd like to know what to expect." "it's a wonderful city," mr. holton replied. "large stores, office buildings, hotels. if what i've heard is correct, we will be astonished." and they _were_ astonished. in fact, when they pulled into the busy port, the boys' eyes almost popped from their heads. even after hearing about manáos from their fathers, they could not believe that they would find anything like this away out in the heart of the vast wilderness. "has a rather impressive skyline," observed joe, gazing ahead at the outlines of the hotels and office buildings. "many of the structures are new," put in professor bigelow. "the city's growth has been rather rapid. but now," he went on, "suppose we get off the boat and take a short trip about town." the adventurers easily procured a map of the city. then they boarded a street car for a ride down the principal business street. "modern is right," commented bob, gazing out at the large buildings, hotels, theaters, and stores. they passed many points of interest, including the theatre of manáos, the many parks and gardens, schools and colleges, and monuments and statues. and to cap all this, they spent several minutes in one of the most complete museums they had ever been in. "truly a great city in the heart of the forest," said mr. holton, as they prepared to board the boat for the continuation of the journey. they got to the _selvas_ with barely five minutes to spare. already the crew were making ready for the long voyage that was to follow. shortly later they were again in the midst of the forest, after having left manáos behind. "i see we're not the only passengers on the boat," said professor bigelow, glancing across at two men who sat near the stern. "probably they're rubber gatherers who have a plantation farther down," was the opinion voiced by mr. lewis, and his guess was right, as they later found out when an acquaintance sprang up between the brazilians and the americans. that acquaintance was delightful and tended to relieve the monotony of the trip. the men, acmio and piemo by name, took a liking to the explorers and told of many strange sights of the jungle. they knew nothing, however, of the region the expedition was going to penetrate. "i bet we won't find anything, either," said joe. "no one seems to have been far in the interior." at last the _selvas_ came to the purús river, and down this it steamed. "considerably narrower than the amazon," observed bob. "but at that it's a good many rods across." "the purús is noted for its crooked course," remarked professor bigelow. "the sand bars occur with such regularity that the natives reckon distances by counting the number of them." at this time of year the water was rather high, for the rainy season was barely over. they steamed on for the greater part of that day before coming to a settlement, and this was small and crude. they did not stop, although several men came out to greet them. as they steamed farther, the river became more crooked. in fact it was often impossible to see more than three hundred feet ahead. and as they penetrated deeper into the jungle, vegetation became more dense. great clusters of bright-colored flowers lined the banks, tall trees showed themselves above the other growth, parasitic vines wound themselves around forest giants. ferns, high grass, small bushes, oddly shaped stalks--all these caught the eyes of the explorers. after a long journey they reached the mouth of the tapauá, and at a small town between the two rivers the boat stopped. here the adventurers got off. it seemed strange to set foot on ground out here away from civilization. why, it was almost like another world! for some time bob and joe could not realize that they were now in the very heart of the great amazon jungle. the captain of the _selvas_ had given the party a letter of recommendation to a brazilian who would be able to fit them out with boats and indian crew. he lived at the edge of the town, and to that place they went, led by mr. holton. they found the man sitting idly in his thatched house. he was very tall and slender, but looked to be possessed of great strength. "you are senhor del pereo?" asked mr. holton in the native tongue. "_sí_," the man replied. bob's father took out the letter and handed it to him. he read carefully for several moments. then his face lighted. sure he would help them. anyone who was a friend of the captain was a friend of his. it would be easy to get a boat--or boats, for that matter--and he knew of several trustworthy indians who would readily act as guides. but he knew nothing about the distant country. few people did. it was a land of mystery. mr. holton translated to bob and joe. then he again turned to the brazilian. "you will lead us to the boats and guides now?" "yes." they started out, the brazilian in the van. he led them around the village to a large native hut, in front of which sat several semi-naked indians. they were on their feet in an instant when they caught sight of senhor del pereo, and with friendly greetings listened to what he had to say. for several minutes he conversed with them in their native tongue, and in the end they nodded in acceptance. "they will go," he said to the explorers. "they will be your guides in an unknown country." chapter xi on the alert "now the next thing is to get boats," said mr. holton. senhor del pereo announced that it would be possible to get them at once, without having to have them constructed, and the explorers were delighted. he led them down to the river bank, where two large canoes were aground. each was about thirty-five feet long and capable of carrying a ton and a half of cargo with ease. mr. holton and mr. lewis were amazed. "they are not native canoes," mr. lewis said, as he noted the deep, full lines and high freeboard. the brazilian explained that they had been used by a party of british hunters on the purús river, and were purchased when the men were through with them for a small sum. "got it all over indian boats," remarked bob, glancing farther down at several that were moored. the indians had accompanied them to the boats, and now senhor del pereo introduced the ones who were to be a part of the expedition. there were six of them--three to attend to each boat. all were large, strong fellows, capable of any kind of work required by the venture, and the brazilian assured the explorers that they could be relied upon. after attending to a few more matters with senhor del pereo, the party set about loading their provisions and supplies in one of the boats; the other was to be used as a storeplace for the specimens they would collect. bob and joe did a good share of the work. then occasionally they would take motion pictures. when the last box was lifted up, mr. holton gave the sign, and, with parting words with the brazilian who had done so much for them, they got in the foremost canoe and were paddled upstream by the crew. at last they were off for the unknown. "now for the fun," smiled joe, as he cranked the movie camera and looked expectantly into the green depths of the bordering jungle. "i suppose you're referring to hunting," said mr. lewis. "well, we'll do plenty of that a little later. but first we want to penetrate a large distance from any outposts of civilization." at the start, the river was rather wide, but it promised to narrow later. they glided swiftly on for perhaps three hours. then mr. lewis suggested that they stop for the noon meal. meanwhile, the crew could be resting. the boats were brought to a stop at a large sand bank, and all climbed out to stretch their legs after such a long journey in more or less one position. bob and joe felt like running and shouting. "like to go in for a swim," said bob, wiping the perspiration from his streaming brow. "so would everyone else," returned mr. lewis. "but with the alligators and piranhas and other dangerous aquatic forms it's absurd even to think of such a thing." "are they this close to the purús?" asked joe. "i thought they were found deeper in the jungle." mr. holton shook his head. "piranhas and alligators are very common all through this region," he said. mr. holton and mr. lewis got out a ration of food, while bob and joe attended to minor tasks. professor bigelow looked after the plates and utensils. in a short time the meal was prepared, and all ate in quiet contentment. the food tasted good after those three long hours of constant traveling. bob and joe glanced at the frowning jungle, which was but a short distance away. it seemed to challenge the explorers to penetrate its leafy depths, although in many places this was almost impossible. "quite a variety of trees," observed bob, his eye scanning the edge. "i suppose there are hundreds of different kinds." "there are," answered professor bigelow. "all different kinds, from mahogany to bacaba palms. much of the wood is worthlessly soft and useless, but mahogany and a few others are shipped to all parts of the world. there would be a much greater amount sent out, though, if it were all buoyant. the fact that many of the logs are not prevents them from being floated downstream." the explorers spent several minutes in the shade of a large tree, talking and chatting merrily. then the professor suggested that they move on, and the others were more than glad to do so. "you're right," mr. lewis told the professor. "we want to cover as much ground as possible today." the provisions were packed in the boat. they then boarded, to be paddled upstream by the indians. there was plenty of room to move about, and the youths shifted their positions frequently. not because they grew tired of the scenery, however, for at every yard there was something new to see. bright-colored flowers lined the banks, red-leafed bushes were common, tall palms, grotesque vines, ferns, plants of all kinds that baffled the boys. occasionally they would pass dead branches covered with living orchids. then again there were trees that themselves had flowers. once they came to a tree over fifty feet high with wide, spreading branches that were covered with yellow blossoms. often the river would bend sharply, making necessary utmost caution by the crew. on one such occasion the explorers were engaged in conversation when suddenly a loud splash from ahead made them look up. then, as they rounded the bend, they saw something that made them jump to their feet and grasp their rifles. chapter xii a fearful sight on the bank not far away were at least fifteen large alligators, their hideous jaws partly open as they basked in the hot sun. frequently one would plunge into the water to cool itself, and then there would be a terrific splashing about. as soon as possible, the indians stopped the boats, and the explorers viewed the creatures with a terrible awe. here was their first encounter with the wild life of brazil. here, not far away, were some of the most terrible reptiles of south america. for some time the alligators did not seem to notice the human invaders. then they one by one crawled off the bank and sank a few inches beneath the water. "evidently don't care for our company," said joe in a low tone. he had brought the movie camera to his shoulder and was taking in the unusual sight. it was thought best not shoot any of the reptiles for fear of causing an undue commotion. then, too, it would prove difficult to get the victims in the boat with so many others around. in a short time no traces of the creatures were left, and the indians again turned to the paddles. "is it safe to go on?" asked joe. "yes," the professor replied. "they probably won't attack the boats. and if they should they could do little or no damage to the stout hulls." for a few seconds he conversed with the indians. then the party resumed the journey, keeping a close watch about. no more was seen of the alligators, and the explorers again were quiet. but now they were more anxious than ever before, for the past experience had stirred their sporting blood and made them long for a jaunt in the forest. even professor bigelow was affected, and he sat fingering his rifle as if awaiting another such incident. "alligators and crocodiles are very much alike," said mr. lewis, wishing to break the silence. "the only difference is in the canine teeth. in the alligator they fit into pits in the upper jaw; in the crocodile they fit into notches. otherwise they look alike." "which is the most ferocious?" inquired joe, thoroughly interested. "scarcely any difference," his father returned. "both are bad enough when they're after you." for a time the adventurers paddled near the center of the river, in order to avoid heavy piles of brush that lay near the shore's edge. they did not feel like talking. the mid-afternoon sun beat down upon them until they were dripping with perspiration. why, even summer florida weather was nothing to this! the water glistened like silver. it was almost impossible even to cast eyes upon it, for the reflection of the sun was extremely blinding. for entertainment and amusement the boys' fathers and professor bigelow related some of their experiences, which bob and joe never grew tired of hearing. the naturalists told of encounters with wild animals; the professor, of savage people. bob and joe sat in silence, marveling that before long they could tell of happenings probably as much or more breath-taking. suddenly, as they neared a patch of bright red bushes, mr. holton called to the indians to stop the boat. "what is it?" asked bob, and then his gaze followed that of his father. not far away on a low branch was a large oriole, almost the size of a crow, with a red and white bill, and yellow, green, and brown plumage. it uttered not a word, although no one doubted that it could. "we must have that bird," whispered mr. holton. "it is rather rare, and few of them are in museums. keep quiet now, while i get a small gun." the others obeyed. the naturalist found a suitable shotgun. he raised it to his shoulder, took careful aim, and pulled the trigger. the next moment there was a terrible screeching and wailing. the bird fluttered about for a brief second, then fell into the water. "you got him," said bob joyously. "you----well, of all things!" the reason for his exclamation was not far to seek. no sooner had the bird struck the water than a rather small fish darted to the surface, caught the bird by the breast, and bit it in two. it evidently did not like the taste, however, for the remains of the bird's body were left to float on the water. "stung!" exclaimed mr. holton, regaining his breath. "the piranhas spoiled the chance of getting that specimen." "so that fish was a piranha?" asked joe, looking to see if he could locate it in the dark water. "yes," mr. lewis returned. "they're mean creatures, all right. got a temper like a bull. they'll attack anything from jaguars to people, and they usually do the job right. i once heard of a man devoured by them in a very short time." "it wasn't very large," said bob. "looked about like a pickerel to me." "it isn't their size," his father returned. "it's their ferocity--and strong, sharp teeth." "let's don't worry about the bird," consoled the professor. "we'll probably see more of them later on." the naturalists resolved to follow the professor's advice and regard the matter as one of the many discouragements that could be expected at almost any time. "after all, we didn't lose much," said mr. lewis. "but then--but then----" as they paddled on, signs of life became more frequent. once there was a small flock of bright red birds, and the naturalists had more luck in bringing them in as specimens. none was shot near the river; only those on shore were aimed at. a little later they saw the first monkeys since they had turned down this river. they had often heard the little creatures in the depths of the jungle, but had never been successful in getting a glimpse of them. along toward evening mr. lewis suggested that they go ashore and pitch camp for the night. his friends agreed, and after making sure that the indians were willing, he gave the word and the boats were turned into a little cove, where they were tied to a stout tree. "plenty of room around here," observed bob, as he got out and stretched his legs. "no trees within a radius of several score feet. ought to be fairly good protection against night marauders." the tents and poles were untied, and after locating a suitable site the stakes were driven to the ground, the poles hoisted, and the hammocks hung. then a bountiful supper was prepared, and the party ate hungrily. bob and joe especially partook of large quantities, for their appetites were those of youth. after the meal the explorers sat in a group, chatting merrily. even the indians took part in the conversation, answering many of the whites' questions about the jungles they were passing through. bob and joe had trouble in understanding them, but their fathers translated whenever there was any difficulty. a little later, darkness fell suddenly, and with it came the chill of night. "seems strange that the nights should be so cool when the days are so hot," remarked bob, going into the tent for a coat. "does at that," said mr. lewis. "but it's true of all tropical places." soon the sky became dotted with countless numbers of twinkling stars. soon afterwards the moon came out in full splendor, flooding the boundless expanse with enchanting light, and casting a reflection on the water beautiful beyond description. the explorers were filled with awe as they sat staring into the vast jungle, thrilled that they were the only inhabitants on this wild shore. for some time no one spoke. then mr. holton rose and looked at his watch. "getting late," he said, walking over to a box of supplies. "yes," agreed professor bigelow. "i suggest that we turn in." the others agreed, and they attended to last-minute tasks. "ordinarily it is the indians' duty to stand guard," said mr. lewis, glancing at the brawny crew, several of whom had fallen asleep. "but since they've worked hard and unflinchingly, and are nearly worn out, i suggest that we whites take turn about on this first night. we've had it comparatively easy all day. then, too, it will increase their respect and liking for us. what do you think?" "i'm all for it," declared professor bigelow. "now who is to have the first watch?" it was decided to draw straws, the person getting the shortest to be the first guard. by chance the short piece fell to bob, and he took his place just outside the tents, sitting on one of the boxes, a rifle in ready grasp. the others retired to their hammocks. for over a half-hour bob stared quietly into space, glancing occasionally at the sparkling river. then he decided to change his position. but at that moment there came a crashing sound on the far side of a group of palm trees. the youth was on his feet at the instant, wondering what the noise meant. then he decided to find out. "it's only a short distance from camp," he thought. "there's no harm in going over there." grasping his rifle, he stole quietly in the direction of the strange commotion. it did not take him long to reach the patch of trees. then he wormed his way through the tall grass for a distance of perhaps twenty feet. the next instant he shrank back, for the sight that met his eyes was fearful and repulsive. chapter xiii the death struggle beside a patch of bushes was a large wildcat, greedily devouring the remains of a small deer. most of the deer's body has been torn to pieces, so that only the head remained intact. there was a terrible stare from the wide eyes that caused bob to shudder in disgust. the tiger-cat was evidently very hungry, for it would scarcely bite out one section when it would tear into another, crunching horribly. occasionally it would shift its position and sample various parts of the body. it finally crouched at the stomach, and in no time stripped the flesh from the bone. the sight was not wholly to bob's liking, but he could not tear himself away. after all, the occasion was not one so terrible. all wild creatures must eat, and this is the only way they know. bob lifted his eyes from the feast to the great cat, and for the first time saw how beautifully marked it was. why had he not noticed that before? probably because he was much more impressed by the meal. the wildcat's fur was of a light brown, spotted and barred with black and darker brown. its abdomen was pure white, and seemed spotlessly clean. it looked about four feet long, exclusive of the tail. "doesn't look very ferocious," bob thought, but he knew what would probably happen if the creature were to discover him in its domain. for several minutes the feast continued, the animal's hunger seeming to increase rather than lessen. suddenly there came a rustling sound from behind a low shrub. instantly the cat was on its feet, tail erect, eyes staring. the rustling sound continued, and a moment later another cat of the same type leaped out into the clearing, took in its surroundings carefully, and then made for the body of the deer. but it did not get far. a moment later the first tiger-cat crouched itself and sprang at the invader's throat. then a terrific combat took place, the memory of which was to remain with bob for many years to come. the creatures thrashed constantly about, each trying to inflict a death wound. they growled horribly, and occasionally one would cry out in pain. sometimes they reared up on hind legs, biting and tearing fearfully. then again they would be on top of each other, stamping and tearing to the height of their ability. for nearly five minutes the fight continued, and by now it was evident that the invader was getting the worst of it. instead of being on the offensive it slunk back, trying in vain to ward off the assaults of its enemy. suddenly it fell back, as a vital part was pierced. the first tiger-cat had won. a few more minutes were spent in awaiting any further movements from the defeated, but as none came the victor resumed its feast. "all over," bob muttered to himself. "a swell fight, too. i wouldn't have missed it for anything. but say! this fellow would be a fine specimen for dad and mr. lewis. i wonder if i can plug him. don't think the dead one will be of much use to them, it's so badly mauled." the moon was still shining down brightly, and it was nearly as light as day. this was both an advantage and a disadvantage. true, it would be much easier to get a good aim at the animal, but the light would make bob much more easily seen. still he resolved to chance it. gripping his rifle firmly, he parted the bushes and rose to his feet. but the slight commotion caused the tiger-cat to turn about, and rage came into its eyes as they lighted on the youth. what was this new type of creature that had come to interrupt the feast? bob raised his rifle to his shoulder and awaited a chance to fire an effective shot. but none came. the great cat crouched to spring. "i've got to get him," said bob, gritting his teeth. then, as the animal launched itself into the air, the youth took rapid but careful aim and fired. the bullet sped true, entering the open mouth. the tiger-cat fell at the boy's feet, twitched about for a moment, and then lay still. "hurrah!" bob cried, exulted beyond words. "i got him. and what a fine specimen." the rifle shot had aroused the rest of the expedition, and they came running out, wondering what was meant. "what's up?" demanded mr. holton, as he first caught sight of his son. "plenty," bob replied and led them to the bodies of the wildcats. everyone cried out in surprise and amazement at sight of the beasts. "ocelots," pronounced mr. lewis. "i didn't know that they were this common. how did you happen to come across them?" bob was obliged to relate the entire experience. he told of how he had come across one of the creatures at the body of the deer, of the thrilling combat that took place when the other ocelot arrived, and of shooting the survivor. the party listened with breathless interest, and even the indians demanded a translation. "an unusual happening," said professor bigelow, looking at bob in admiration and wishing that he had been present. "takes old bob to do it," smiled joe. "and that required some nerve, too. the first wild animal he's ever met." "it's a case where the first is one of the most savage," remarked mr. lewis, directing a glance at the creature's sharp canine teeth. "the ocelot is next only to the jaguar in ferocity and daring." "not much left of the deer he was feasting on," observed joe. "i suppose he would have left little more than the skeleton if bob hadn't so rudely interrupted him." mr. holton and mr. lewis procured knives and began the task of skinning the creatures. it was believed that both could be used, as the one that had been previously killed was not as badly mauled as bob had thought. in a short time the skinning was completed, and they again retired for the night, bob remaining throughout the remainder of his watch. nothing more happened that night, however, and they awoke the next morning to witness a beautiful sunrise. breakfast was soon over, and then began the task of breaking camp. "let's hurry," urged professor bigelow. "we want to cover twenty miles today, if possible." "and we will if rapids don't bar our way," said mr. lewis. soon the belongings were packed in the boats, and they started on up the river. meanwhile bob and joe were taking motion pictures quite often and were always on the lookout for new sights. many times did they regret that they had been unable to film bob's experience of the night before. the men kept their time occupied in writing notes and collecting specimens, which were growing in number hourly. already there was an abundance of game. monkeys quite often were crowded in the trees, birds of brilliant plumage were more numerous, various small animals darted out, and once joe caught a glimpse of a wild pig running through the underbrush. "when are we going ashore?" asked bob. "looks like here is a good chance to get some specimens." "it undoubtedly is," mr. holton returned. "and we would try our luck now if professor bigelow were not anxious to find a strange tribe of indians that's reputed to be somewhere in this region. when we locate it we can stop and stay at one spot as long as the professor chooses, for game will probably be abundant, and we will have the chance to get scores of specimens." that day they made nearly twenty-five miles, and all were delighted that no rapids loomed up to hinder them. "there's nothing that puts you at more inconvenience than rapids," said professor bigelow, as they sought out a place to camp for the night. they found the spot they wanted beside a rocky knoll, not far from the river. there was a small open space a short distance away, and to this the party made. again preparations were made for the night, and then the evening meal was prepared. "let's turn in early," suggested mr. holton, after they had finished eating. "the three indians in the back boat complained that one of the clamps for an oar is loose, and it may take quite a while to repair it. for that reason we must be up early in the morning." the clamp, they discovered later, had been split through, making it necessary to carve out a new one. to do this was not easy, for suitable wood had to be cut and measurements taken. all told, there was a delay of over three hours. "now let's go," urged professor bigelow, his patience almost exhausted. day after day the miles were laid behind them in both a pleasant and disagreeable manner. in times when treacherous rapids offered a hindrance, they struggled unflinchingly, often knee deep in the water or mud. but there were chances for relaxation, when there was nothing to do but take it easy in the high seats of the boats. bob and joe could not fully realize that they were not in a dream but that this was the real thing--a wild, untamed land in the very heart of vast amazonia. "it's great, joe, old boy," said bob, when over a week had passed. "i've often visualized this expedition, but my expectations are far surpassed." one morning when they were paddling swiftly along, professor bigelow uttered a cry of delight and pointed to the bank. "indians!" he cried excitedly. "at last we've found a band of indians!" chapter xiv the deserted village professor bigelow was right. on the shore not far away were a dozen or more native huts, grouped in a cluster about one that was larger and more carefully built. all about on the ground were various objects of daily life, such as wooden machetes, pots and kettles of clay, pieces of wood, and hides and skins of animals. but, strain their eyes as they did, the explorers could see no indians. the explorers were uncertain as to whether it would be safe to go ashore, but finally professor bigelow resolved to take the chance. he was as excited as a boy, and seemed not able to wait until the boats could be turned to the river bank. the crew, however, were a bit dubious about the venture into an unknown village. they had heard stories of how explorers had been massacred by savage indians, and as they had never been far as this upstream, they were at a loss to know how the strange tribe would treat them. still if the strange scientist was bound to hazard it they would go, although they would be ready for instant flight if necessary. the boats were brought up alongside the bank and made secure to small trees. then the explorers climbed out and looked about. "an ideal site for a village," said joe, glancing about. "trust the natives to pick out the best spots," said bob. slowly and cautiously they walked toward the village, gripping their rifles tightly. when within a short distance from the foremost hut they stopped, and the professor, who had studied the languages spoken in this region, called out loudly in the native tongue--or rather what he thought to be the native tongue. there was no answer, and the explorers proceeded on into the habitation. "no signs of life anywhere," said professor bigelow. "perhaps another tribe invaded and killed the inhabitants," suggested mr. lewis, glancing about. "no," disagreed the professor. "there is evidence that the place has been recently inhabited. for instance, look at those ashes over there," pointing to a place where a fire had been built. "they are not very old. i know the signs. we can look for the tribe at almost any time now." "seems strange that the women and children went away too," said mr. holton, almost unbelievingly. "they often do it," answered the professor. "the women, you see, do almost as much as the men. in many cases they do much more. they many times go along on excursions into the forest to carry the weapons and the trophies of the hunt. and as this is a rather small settlement, we can take that for granted." "when do you think they'll return?" asked bob. "that is hard to say," was the reply. "it is all according to how long they have been out. they may be back in a few hours, or it may be a week. but," he added, "i am all for waiting. the chances are we'll be all right." they explored the huts and found them to be very substantially built. there were few pieces of furniture in them, but the largest hut, which was undoubtedly the chief's, contained several articles of interest to the visitors. there were brightly decorated pots and kettles, carved sticks, jaguar hides, spears and clubs, bows and arrows and blowguns. "quite an elaborate display of implements," remarked joe, examining a blowgun with interest. this weapon was about ten feet long, round and tapering, and covered with a glossy substance resembling glue. at each end it was bound with heavy cord made from vines. a quiver of arrows was attached to it, and, with utmost care lest they be poisoned, he took one out. it was about three feet long and sharp as a needle. there were many other objects of domestic use lying and hanging about, and they were examined especially by professor bigelow, who had found himself in an anthropologist's paradise. baskets, closely woven from a strange type of straw, were filled with farina; bone tubes for snuffing were strewn about, and many kinds of ornaments hung on wooden pegs. bob's attention was attracted to a kind of necklace, which was strung with the teeth of some wild animal--unless, but this was hardly probable, they were human teeth. "not human," smiled mr. holton. "can't you tell a monkey's molars when you see them?" "sorry, but i'm not as much of a naturalist and zoölogist as you are," laughed bob. meanwhile joe was cranking the movie camera, filming the entire village. as a matter of fact he had been engaged in doing this since they first sighted the village. "these ought to be interesting scenes," he confided to bob, as the two walked toward the river bank. "they will be," was the reply. "tend to break the monotony of the constant river-traveling." at the shore they found several native canoes tethered to trees. they were mere dugouts, but they looked staunch and strong enough to stem almost any current. the youths spent several more minutes at the bank; then they made their way back to the others. "what'd you find?" asked mr. lewis. "only native canoes," bob answered. "only----" he stopped and listened. what was that he had heard? again it came to his ears, this time louder and nearer. "sounds like someone's shouting," said joe. "sounds like----" "indians!" cried professor bigelow. "the indians are returning!" chapter xv danger at hand "quick! let's get to the boats at once!" cried mr. holton. "it won't do for them to find us here in the village." the explorers hastened to the river bank with all the speed they could put into their legs. not until they were safe in the boats did they draw a breath. then they cast glances about the shore. the shouting grew louder, and the next moment twenty-five or thirty semi-naked indians burst into the clearing and made for the huts. but one that was evidently the chief called them back and pointed to the river, where the explorers' canoes were moored. "now's the time to act," muttered professor bigelow, getting out of the boat. he strode up to within fifty feet of the indians, throwing his hands apart in a gesture of friendliness. then he called out something that the other whites did not understand. immediately there was a turmoil of excited chattering, in which the chief took the biggest part. then the latter called back to the professor, who listened eagerly. in the end there was a smile on his face. "it's all right," he said to the explorers, beckoning them to come ashore. "sure there's no danger?" asked mr. lewis. "it will be safe. the chief welcomed us into the village." mr. holton was the first one out of the boat, followed by joe, mr. lewis, and bob. the crew trailed. they did not think it wise to bring their rifles, for the indians might suspect them. but each had a revolver in his holster, and it was mr. lewis who warned them to be on the lookout for any treachery. professor bigelow waited for them to come nearer. then he led the way into the village. for several minutes he carried on conversation with the chief and seemed to have little or no trouble in understanding him. the indian regarded him soberly most of the time, but at several of the professor's remarks he smiled broadly. "the professor's building up a feeling of good will," grinned bob, a new glow of respect for the scientist coming over him. "he'll manage those savages all right," said mr. holton, as he recalled some of the encounters with savage people that had been told of professor bigelow. the conversation ended with an introduction of the other whites to the indians, and after a few more casual remarks professor bigelow resolved to tell why they were there. while the remainder of his party waited in ignorance of what was being said, he related the details of the expedition: why it had been organized, what its purposes were, and where it intended to explore. all this he put in the simple language of the natives, and although it was difficult to convey many ideas correctly, he succeeded admirably. the chief's answer was that he and his people would furnish information about their daily life, and, if the whites so desired, they would also help in getting specimens. the big indian stressed the point that these were the first white people he had ever seen, although several of the older members of the tribe had met a party of them many years ago. professor bigelow translated what had been said, and the naturalists were joyous. they could gain many things by remaining here with these simple people. as soon as the novelty had worn off, the chief, whose name was otari, escorted the party to one big hut, where they were to remain at night during their stay at the village. "plenty of room here," observed joe, glancing about the thatched walls. "yes," bob agreed. "not a bit crowded. it's one of the best dwellings in the settlement." much room as there was, however, there were only a few pieces of native furniture and implements. a large box-like table, assembled with wooden pegs, stood in the middle of the room. beneath it were five or six clay pots and containers, each washed clean. in one corner were two bows and arrows and a blow gun. "they sure use poor taste in furnishing a house," grinned bob. "but i suppose for them it's sufficient." professor bigelow thought it wise to bring in their belongings from the boats, but the others were a bit dubious about the safety of them. "we can leave the crew to guard them when we are away," he said. "i don't think even that will be necessary, for i have a light, portable safe that i take on all expeditions such as this." he opened a large box and took out several flat pieces of metal. to his friends' astonishment they were easily lifted, although they looked to weigh seventy pounds each. "they are magnalium," he explained. "about the lightest and strongest metal there is." there were lock clamps at the edges of each piece, and these were fitted into each other. in a short time a large safe stood before their eyes. bob gasped in astonishment. "that's a new one on me," he confessed. "never heard of anything like it." "it's also new to me," said mr. lewis. "i knew there were such safes, but heretofore i have never seen one." "but," hesitated mr. holton, "what kind of an explanation will we give the indians? it occurs to me that they would take this as a kind of insult. might get it in their heads that we thought they would steal something." "restrain yourself from worrying about that," the professor consoled him. "i've used this before many times. as an explanation, we'll simply say that the safe is a place to store the belongings where we can have them easily at hand. then, too, it will prevent any of the children from curiously straying into our hut to meddle with things. i've never yet had any trouble." the safe was large enough to hold the professor's typewriter, paper, a few books, and various other essential objects. in addition, there was room for rifles, ammunition, knives and preparations used in skinning, and several other articles that it was best to lock up. "it's just the thing," remarked joe. "now we can be sure that valuable possessions will always be here when we get back from a hunting trip." "i will probably spend most of my time in here writing and conversing with the natives," professor bigelow said. "so when you are out you can be doubly sure that things will be all right." it was now about meal time, and the chief wanted to bring the explorers dishes of native food, but they thanked him, saying that they would use their own provisions. "for my part i don't care for any of their delicacies," grinned joe. "you can never tell what you're getting." "true enough," laughed mr. holton. "for that reason we'll stick to our own grub." after lunching bountifully, the explorers rested on the straw beds and felt much better for it. when an hour had passed, mr. holton rose and walked over to the supplies. "let's go out specimen-collecting," he suggested, getting out a rifle and small shotgun. bob and joe were on their feet in an instant, their faces radiant with delight. at last had come a chance to explore the jungle, with its many thrills, wonders, and tragedies. how they had longed for it! "can't get there any too soon for me," said bob, grasping his rifle. mr. lewis also agreed, and they started out toward the back of the village, bob and joe in the lead. there was a fairly well blazed trail at the edge of the last hut, and the hunters resolved to follow it. "probably won't be much large game along this path, but there will undoubtedly be others branching off from it," remarked mr. holton, as he took the lead and plunged into the jungle. that jungle interested the youths immensely, for the variety of tropical vegetation was wide. trees of all types grew one beside another, their leaves coming in contact with each other. many of the trunks were encircled with parasitic vines, which, in many cases, caused the trees to be stunted. all about on the ground were shrubs and bushes and tall grass that hindered walking. "have to be careful here," warned mr. lewis, carefully avoiding a low shrub studded with sharp-pointed thorns. "right," agreed bob's father. "keep a ready hand on your rifles, for there are countless creatures that may be dangerous." although the jungle seemed thick at the start, it was nothing to what they found it later on. vegetation was certainly dense. large clusters of ferns barred the way, their enormous leaves suggesting forests of prehistoric times. gay flowers loomed up here and there, tempting the hunters to stop and marvel at their beauty. oddly shaped plants were numerous, among them being a stalk that grew straight up for a distance of perhaps ten feet, then spliced and fell to the ground in several places. bob and joe had expected much, but this was beyond any of their anticipations. nature was certainly bountiful in displaying her art in these little-known places. after a fifteen-minute hike they reached a region of thick bushes, many of which bore sharp-pointed thorns that were far from pleasant to encounter. even with their heavy clothing, they emerged with torn garments and with bruises that stung and pained severely. but the unpleasantness was lost before the many tropical wonders that presented themselves. suddenly a flock of white birds flew overhead, and mr. lewis and bob fired their shotguns together. at once four fell to the ground, amid the terrible screeching of the others. "egrets," said mr. holton, upon examining the birds. as the hunters moved on they added many other birds and small animals to the collection. one of the most remarkable of the latter was a large ant-bear, with a long, slender head that terminated into a toothless mouth. the creature was about four feet long, with a bushy tail protruding another two feet. bob and joe did their part in the specimen-collecting, and they at once won the recognition of their elders for their accurate shooting. bob was especially praised, for he was not far behind the men in marksmanship. the hunters had been out several hours when mr. lewis suggested that they get back to the village. "professor bigelow and the others may worry about us," he said. "in my opinion we have been out long enough for the first time." the others agreed, and they were about to retrace their footsteps when joe caught sight of something that turned his blood cold. chapter xvi a thrilling encounter protruding from a tree bough not ten feet away was a long, sinister snake, its evil eyes glistening in what little sunlight penetrated the dense jungle. whether it was poisonous joe did not know, but he knew that even though it were not it would be dangerous to the extreme. as cautiously as possible he nudged his companions, and then the naturalists held their rifles tighter. here, only a short distance away, was a jararaca, one of the most poisonous of brazilian reptiles--a snake that often was known to take the aggressive. for a moment there was silence--an ominous silence that ended in a blood-curdling hiss. mr. holton and mr. lewis raised their rifles and took long and careful aim. bob followed suit, although he was not sure that his aim would be true. then, just as the snake prepared to strike, the men fired simultaneously, and bob pulled the trigger a second later. in such a crisis it was necessary that their bullets take effect, and they did. the reptile's head was shattered into a horrible pulp that was all but sickening, and the great body lashed about in pain. for several minutes the movements continued; then, as life faded out, the snake became less active, finally stretching out into one last mass. "whew!" breathed bob, relaxing for the first time. "that was some encounter." mr. holton nodded in affirmation. "if we had been stung by those terrible fangs it would have been the last of us," he said, casting a resentful look in that direction. "the venom is extremely powerful," remarked mr. lewis, wiping the perspiration from his brow. "it is yellow in color, and takes effect almost immediately. the nervous system becomes paralyzed in a very short time." "a pleasant way to die--i don't think," muttered joe, shrugging his shoulders. they made a wide circle about the reptile's body and started on the return journey. "i'd like to have it as a specimen," remarked mr. lewis, referring to the jararaca. "but in its shattered condition it would not be worth the taking." the hunters rested awhile under the shade of a large hardwood tree, whose branches extended out over a great distance. then mr. holton took up his belongings, and the others did the same. gradually the jungle became less dense, and at last they came to the village, where they were given a hearty greeting by the indians, who were glad to see the hunters back in the village. they found professor bigelow in the hut, his hands flying over the keys of the typewriter. at first he did not notice them, thinking they were indians, but finally he lifted his gaze. "what kind of luck did you have?" he inquired absently. the others hesitated a moment at the professor's almost unconscious question. it was evident that the anthropologist was becoming deeply absorbed in this work of observing the daily life of the little-known indians. then, with a wink at the others, mr. holton decided on a preposterous answer to see how the professor would take it. "we brought down two tigers and an elephant," he said, in as sober tones as he could summon. "hmm. well, that's fine"--the typewriter still clicked rapidly. "i suppose you'll have them skinned at once?" bob and joe could not help breaking out in laughter, and the naturalists joined them. professor bigelow looked up in surprise. "i must confess i wish i could see something humorous," he said, stopping his writing for a moment and looking at his companions in wonder. the others were laughing all the harder now, and poor professor bigelow was bewildered beyond words. only an explanation would satisfy him. as soon as mr. holton could regain his breath he hastened to assure the professor that it was nothing about his person that caused the laugh, but only his intense scientific enthusiasm. he joined in the merriment also when the joke was told. "that's one on me," he said mirthfully. "i guess i was too deeply engrossed in this manuscript." the remainder of that day was spent rather idly, for, hot as it had previously been, it seemed to grow all the more stifling. bob remarked that he did not feel like doing anything but loafing, and the others were none different. the next day bob, joe, and their fathers again started out on a collecting trip and added many new specimens to the already large assemblage. they brought in gorgeously colored macaws, screamers, woodpeckers, trumpeters, finfoots, waxbills, and many other birds. they shot many small animals, including a type of opossum, a large lizard, and an armadillo. it was indeed a large number of specimens that the naturalists prepared that night. "so far, everything is working out fine," smiled mr. lewis, as he put the fauna up for exhibition. meanwhile the chief, otari, was helping professor bigelow as best he could and gave him several articles of daily use as a present, in return for which the professor gave the indian beads and mirrors and other objects dear to all primitive people. "i have enough material now to write several books," the professor said joyfully. "the museum certainly will welcome this information. and these articles that the chief gave me--well, they will tickle the museum heads greatly." time tended to increase rather than lessen the number of daily interests to the explorers, and they found themselves living as in a dream. the great tropical forest about them added an enchantment to the work, and the simple, primitive people that they were living with caused them to imagine themselves living in prehistoric times. "it's great, joe, old boy," said bob, deeply stirred. "who would have ever thought that away out here in the wilderness it would be possible to come across things so interesting?" "yet," said joe, "i suppose they wouldn't be interesting to everyone." one day, when the party had been at the indian village nearly a week, bob and joe asked permission to go into the forest and try their luck at getting specimens. "all right," mr. holton replied. "but don't get too far away." bob picked out a rifle and joe a small shotgun, and after parting words with their elders they made for the jungle. the trail was one that they had never taken, and it was consequently necessary to be doubly careful to pick the right branch. but they had little difficulty, as the main path was much wider than the branches. in no time they were engulfed by the jungle, which was here even thicker than they had previously found it. monkeys were more numerous in the tree boughs, and they peered doubtfully at the white hunters who had invaded their land. joe raised his shotgun and brought several down, intent upon leaving them at the spot until they would return to the village. "so far, so good," remarked bob. "wonder what else we'll come across?" "time will tell," joe replied. on and on they trekked, keeping a sharp lookout on all sides. once bob lost his footing and went sprawling on the ground. "better be more careful," warned joe. suddenly there came a loud snort, and the youths were on the alert at the instant. gripping their guns tightly, they stopped and waited. again it came, and the next minute they caught sight of a wild pig, or peccary, rustling the tall grass not far away. "keep still," whispered bob, raising his rifle. "maybe i can get him. then we can have meat--and his hide as a specimen." several moments bob spent in taking careful aim. then he pulled the trigger. bang! oink! oink! silence. "hurrah!" cried joe. "killed him dead as a doornail. now to get his----" he stopped suddenly as he caught sight of something that froze him with horror. not fifty feet down the path rushed a drove of peccaries numbering at least twenty. chapter xvii terrible peccaries "run!" cried bob in tones of mortal terror. he tore down the path at full speed, closely followed by joe, who was panting furiously. the youths had a start of less than fifty feet, but how long they could keep in the lead they well knew, for hardly any creature, large or small, could elude the tireless chase of peccaries. they dared not glance back for fear of stumbling, but feared that the wild pigs were gaining rapidly. what would the boys do? how could they ever escape that furious drove? suddenly joe's foot slipped and he went down, his face as pale as death. he looked appealingly to bob. bob wheeled about and brought his rifle to his shoulder. the nearest peccary was not more than ten feet away. the youth took hasty aim, then pulled the trigger. at the report of the gun the animal fell, gasping and writhing about. bob worked the bolt on his rifle. he took a second aim at the next peccary and killed it. for a moment, at least, the jungle was cleared, and by now joe had arisen to his feet, although the pain in his ankle was terrific. "come on," beckoned bob. "we must get away at once. the rest of them will be here in a moment. can you make it?" "i--i guess so. my ankle hurts terribly, though." not far away there was a large hollow, the place where the roots of a tree had been before a hurricane had uprooted them. to this the boys made with all speed. if they could only reach it in time there might be a chance of escape, for the peccaries would find it hard to climb the steep bank. the youths scrambled down the edge and tumbled to the bottom. then they began the task of climbing the opposite side. they reached the top just as the drove started down, and for the first time felt that they had a good chance of escaping. "make for the trail," panted joe. "then we might get back to the village." they kept up the fast pace for a distance of several hundred yards, and then, panting and gasping, they slowed down to a trot. "guess we've thrown them off the track," breathed joe, hobbling along almost on one foot. "let's hope so," bob answered, glancing around for a brief moment. at last they parted the foliage and burst into the village, their faces red with fatigue, their bodies dripping with perspiration. mr. lewis came out to meet them, and he glanced up in some surprise. "what happened?" he asked, sensing that the youths had met with some misfortune. "peccaries!" returned bob. "a drove of peccaries! doesn't that mean something?" "ah!" the naturalist exclaimed. "well, it's no wonder you're so worn out. let's hear about it." mr. holton and professor bigelow now came running out, along with a few indians. bob related their narrow escape from the wild pigs, and mr. holton shook his head gravely. "you don't want any more such encounters," he said. "good luck like that couldn't happen twice." "at that, we would have got away sooner if joe hadn't sprained his ankle," said bob. "a sprained ankle is a bad thing to have when in a wild land," said professor bigelow, with a grim smile. "it often proves one's own undoing. but now," he added, "i'm off to converse with the chief. i'm getting a wealth of information about these strange people." but though he was meeting with success, the professor was destined not to be satisfied in prolonging his stay in this village. it happened in this way. the explorers were seated about the campfire one evening when the chief happened casually to mention a strange indian tribe that lived in the remote beyond. at once the anthropologist was on the alert, ready to hear anything that otari might say. "tell me something about them," urged the scientist in the native tongue. the chief explained that little was known about the tribe, except that the members were extremely warlike and did not hesitate to kill anyone that looked to be an enemy. often they were cannibalistic, boiling their victims in huge clay kettles. asked how he knew about them, otari replied that one of his tribe, a born rover and adventurer, happened to come across them when on an exploring expedition in the upper reaches of the river. at first he was taken prisoner but was later released and allowed to return down the river. for nearly five minutes after otari had finished, professor bigelow was thoughtfully silent, absorbed in picturing the journey into the unknown. how wonderful it would be to visit this strange tribe! what an opportunity to win recognition from eminent men of his profession! "how far away is this place?" he asked at last. how far? a journey of many, many days through wild, heavily forested country. it would not be safe to attempt the journey. the professor then asked the chief how he thought the unknown tribe would treat the explorers, and the big indian shook his head doubtfully. "_otanima turutee nevark_ [take big chance]," he said vaguely, and then proceeded to point out the many dangers that would accompany the venture. but despite the indian's warning, professor bigelow was determined to investigate this unknown tribe. it was more than likely that otari was influenced by native superstition and that the dangers that he feared were largely imaginative. after all he (professor bigelow) had looked up many other strange people in various parts of the world and had had little difficulty in winning their good will. even the wildest of savages, if well treated and presented with gifts, were more or less easily won over. surely this tribe would not be worse than others he had visited. professor bigelow sought out his companions and put the facts before them, not hesitating to tell them that the venture would probably be dangerous and fraught with displeasures. but he pointed out much stronger that there would be a wonderful opportunity to study the most primitive of men, in addition to finding many strange, or perhaps unknown, animals. the others listened intently, and in the end they were very thoughtful. bob and joe remained silent. here was a time when they thought it best not to voice an opinion, for they had had no experience in the work of exploring. "if it were not for the fact that the boys are with us i would answer 'yes' at once," said mr. lewis. "but since they are, i hardly know what to say." "it would be terrible if anything should happen to them," put in mr. holton. "but they have proven that they are able to take care of themselves in almost any predicament, and we wouldn't need to worry about them. still, that wouldn't prevent anything from happening to the whole party. yet professor bigelow has shown that he has an enormous amount of ability to handle savage people, and i'd be willing to bet that in the end we'd come out all right. what do you think of it, ben?" "i'm willing to go if you are," mr. lewis replied. "as you said, we'll probably have little or no trouble." "then you'll go?" the professor asked. the others nodded. "fine! i assure you that i will do all in my power to bring about friendly relations. and i might add that otari has consented to give me a list of words of the strange tribe's language. he got them from the fellow that wandered into their domain. "now the next thing," he continued, "is to get our belongings together and pack them in the boats. you can start doing that now, while i look up otari. i'll be back in a very short time." the next minute he was gone, and the naturalists and their sons began the task of packing their provisions in the boats. for some time no one spoke. then mr. lewis put down a box he was carrying and turned to the others. "we don't want to have any bloodshed if we can possibly prevent it," he said gravely. "but there may be a time when we'll find it necessary to use our rifles in order to protect our lives. in that case, every man must be depended upon to be wide awake and do his part in the shooting. let's hope that nothing like that happens, but as there is a possibility, it is best to be on the safe side. i think it might be wise to construct sides and a top on the boats, so as to ward off spears and poisoned arrows--if any should come our way. we can get the indians to help us, and otari will point out the best wood to use. what do you say?" "i'm all for it," replied bob. "it might mean the difference between life and death." professor bigelow and otari now came in, and the plan was explained to them. at once the professor gave his approval, and translated to the chief, who in the end sent men into the forest to pick out the best wood to be used in building the enclosure. then the work of carrying the expedition's belongings to the boats was resumed. in a short time the indians were back with a good supply of a light but tough wood, and the adventurers at once set to work at building the sides and top on the boats. first the sides were built up to a height of about three feet; then a top was placed over about half of the length and fastened on securely. the material was so light that no difference in the standing of the boat was noticed. yet otari said that the tough wood would withstand a blow from any kind of native weapon. to prove this, he ordered one of his men to shoot an arrow at close range, and the sharp-pointed missile merely glanced off the wood and fell into the river. the explorers were well pleased with this floating fort, and stood for some time admiring its staunch construction. "now to get to the other boat," said mr. lewis, picking up a hammer and nails. in less than an hour the second enclosure was built on the other canoe, and it appealed also to the explorers. "let's get started at once," said professor bigelow. the last of their belongings was packed into the compartments, and then, with a sincere farewell to otari and his tribe, the crew paddled them upstream on another stretch of the great river journey. what new adventures and thrills awaited them? chapter xviii a nightmare experience it did not take the explorers long to pass a group of islands not far upstream, one of the landmarks that otari had told them about, and as the islands were a number of miles from the village, they felt that they were making a rapid start. the country was gradually becoming wilder and more beautiful, but with this came an increase in the number of dangerous obstacles that had to be avoided. on the shore the jungle was denser than they had ever seen it before. in many places, to attempt to penetrate its depths would be difficult and perilous, and disaster would come upon anyone who would not blaze a trail. the variety of fauna was still greater, and many new specimens did the naturalists add to their already large collection. birds and beasts and reptiles all fell at the report of the explorers' rifles. finally they came to a wide tributary, which forged off from the main stream, making the two rivers form a perfect v. this was the second of otari's landmarks, and the explorers felt that another important distance had been covered. "the current's rather rough," said bob, his eyes following the course of the tributary. the explorers passed the stream by, not thinking it wise to chance an exploration of it. the next day their adventurous spirits proved their own undoing. they had been paddling constantly after the morning meal when suddenly they came upon another tributary, this time branching out at right angles from the main stream. there was something about that river that made the explorers want to follow its rough course. "probably doesn't continue far," was the opinion given by mr. holton. "let's turn the boats up for a considerable distance. we may come across something totally different." the others agreed, for there was a possibility of finding almost anything in this out-of-the-way tributary. "but we must not stray too far from the tapauá," warned professor bigelow, as the crew turned the boats in that direction. for the first hour the country remained much the same. then they reached a region where rocky crags protruded out from the shore, making it necessary for the crew to be doubly careful in guiding the boats. and with this danger came the possibility of another, for the current was growing stronger. a terrific rapids could be only a short distance downstream. at last, much to the surprise of all, they came to another river, running at right angles to the one they were on. a thought struck bob. "do you remember that tributary we passed yesterday that formed a v with the tapauá?" he asked. "well, i'll bet this is it. it runs almost parallel with the tapauá, and we've come upon it by taking this course that runs at right angles." "by george, you may be right," agreed mr. lewis, suddenly grasping the meaning. "what say we turn down it and see if bob isn't right? if he is we'll gradually fork over to the tapauá and be where we were yesterday afternoon." the others did not object, for they were curious to know whether or not bob was right. the current gradually grew stronger, carrying the boats ahead at a much swifter pace. although this afforded the crew a chance to rest, it worried the explorers, for it was plain that a rapids was somewhere ahead. they paddled on, however, confident that they were not near enough to be in danger. "we'll continue for a while," said mr. holton. "then we may be able to find out what is ahead of us." the words had scarcely left his mouth when the boats rounded a corner, not two hundred feet above a seething, boiling rapids, its waters rushing madly past protruding rocks. there was no time to lose. something must be done at once! "stop the boats!" cried mr. lewis in portuguese to the crew. the indians heard, and struggled with all their might against the rapidly increasing current, but their efforts were in vain. the boats had gained too much momentum. the cruel water carried them on at terrific speed, which was increased several fold when they went into the rapids. then they realized that there was little use trying to stop. the forces of man were puny indeed compared to that terrific onslaught of foam. "make for the middle of the stream!" commanded mr. holton. "even then it will tax our efforts to the utmost." the whites grabbed poles and what other objects they could find and did their part in keeping the foremost boat at as near the middle of the river as they could. but even with the added help it was extremely difficult to guide straight. the crew had the paddles, and they were doing their best to steer the boats away from the banks. they succeeded fairly well, for the river was still several score feet wide. but grave misfortune awaited them. not far away was a small island, stretching several hundred feet along the course of the river. the distance between the river bank and the island shore was little more than twenty feet, hardly room enough for the boats to get through. and to make matters worse, there were several large boulders protruding near the bank. disaster seemed almost certain! in the face of this grave danger the explorers remained calm, determining to save themselves and the boats if it were at all possible. but how? with sinking hearts they saw the boats head directly for the rocks, where they would immediately be dashed to pieces. "we must--we've got to do something!" cried professor bigelow, rapidly losing his nerve. bob and joe were nearest the bank, and anything that could be done was up to them. summoning all his power, joe thrust a sturdy pole into the roots of a large tree that grew almost in the water. he little expected anything to come of the act, but it was a last resort. much to the surprise and relief of all, the sudden impact forced the boat back into midstream, although joe was nearly thrown overboard by the clash. bob drew a sigh of relief. a narrow escape! perhaps the closest they would ever be to death and yet evade it. but what of the other boat? the whites were so intent upon guiding the one they were in that they completely forgot about the one that trailed. they quickly glanced around, to see that it had escaped also, and was dashing along behind. how the good luck was brought about they never knew. "that was a wonderful act on your part," praised mr. holton, turning a moment to joe. the latter shook his head. "don't know how i happened to think of it," he said modestly. "i didn't expect any good from it, though." the others also took part in the commendation, and joe was glad to turn the conversation to their present predicament. "looks like we have a fair chance now," he remarked, glancing far ahead. then suddenly they struck a seething whirlpool and were spun around broadside to the terrific current. chapter xix the call for help "quick!" yelled mr. holton to anyone who might hear. "turn the head around or we'll be swamped at once." the indian who was steering heard and was doing his best to swerve the craft about, but he was having little luck. the terrible rapids was reluctant to yield to the puny efforts of a mere human being. water was now dashing into the boat, and if this were to continue there could be but one outcome--tragedy! this time it was bob who came to the rescue. pushing the indian aside, he jumped into the seat and caught hold of the paddle, at the same time giving the rudder a swift turn about. there was a roar and a swish, and the next moment the boat had swerved around and was facing the current head first, leaving the treacherous whirlpool far behind. "great work, son!" panted mr. holton. "you saved the day that time." it was now evident that the worst was over, for the current was gradually losing its terrible force. slowly but surely they were pulling away from the perilous rapids, and if their good fortune continued, they would soon be in calm waters. "unless," said joe soberly, "we strike another whirlpool." but no other whirlpool barred their way, and soon they were safely riding the calm ripples farther downstream. for the first time they were given a chance to relax. their faces were red from exertion; their bodies were dripping with perspiration. in short, they were greatly fatigued. "the most thrilling adventure we've had since we started," remarked bob, rubbing his forehead. "it was a terribly narrow escape," affirmed professor bigelow, not bearing to think of the tragedy that was so closely averted. "we owe our lives to you boys," praised mr. lewis. "it was your thought and action that prevented the boat from being dashed to pieces. first joe came across with a plan that kept us from striking the rocks. then bob swerved the boat around out of the whirlpool. if it hadn't been for you----" "forget it!" bob dismissed the subject as best he could, and then asked his friends' opinion of where they now were. "probably halfway to the junction with the mainstream," replied mr. holton. "that rapids carried us along at a terrific speed." his opinion proved correct, for they reached the tapauá early the next morning and turned the boats to retrace the distance covered the day before. "might as well consider that much time wasted," said joe. "for about a day the journey will be a repetition of what it was two days ago." they did not mind the delay, however. that is, all but professor bigelow, who was anxious to find the strange tribe that otari had spoken about. every mile that went behind them lagged, to him, till it seemed that he was almost in a nightmare. even after they had made up for the lost time and were paddling several score miles farther upstream, he was irritated. it was clearly evident that his impatient scientific enthusiasm was getting the better of him. as they traveled on, his anxiety increased rather than lessened, for they were getting nearer the region occupied by the savages. "the old boy's so excited he can hardly wait," smiled joe, aside to his chum. "he's anxious to test his wits against the cannibals," returned bob. "wants to stay for dinner, maybe." they camped that night on a wide sand bank, at the base of a rocky knoll. after the evening meal, they sat in a group about the firelight, chatting merrily, despite the fact that they were near, or perhaps in, the cannibal country. they turned in early, and the night passed without incident. "well," smiled mr. holton the next morning as he went about preparing breakfast, "nothing happened to disturb our deep slumber." "perhaps we are not quite near enough the dangerous territory," replied professor bigelow. "but according to otari, we shouldn't have to travel much farther." that morning, for the first time, two of the crew began to show signs of uneasiness. it was bob who first noticed them talking in muffled tones, and upon listening, he found that they did not like the idea of going into this unknown country that was the abode of wild savages. but as they appeared to come to no conclusion, bob turned to help prepare the meal. after breakfast they paddled on upstream in search of a suitable hunting area, for the naturalists wished to go ashore and add to their collection. at every point of the compass the scenery was beautiful beyond description. there were steep, jagged cliffs, densely overgrown with the brilliant green of tropical vegetation; tall forest giants, towering a hundred feet into the sky; gorgeously colored flowers that sent their sweet fragrance far afield. mr. holton broke the enchanted silence. "here we are," he said, singling out a stopping place. the boats were turned into a little cove, behind which was a stretch of smooth country. the naturalists and their sons picked out guns and prepared to leave on a hunting trip, but professor bigelow announced that he would remain at the boats to read. "don't see how he can read on a morning like this," murmured joe. "this cool air gets under my skin and cries 'action, _action_!'" they decided to take all but two of the crew with them to help carry in specimens, and strangely enough the two indians who remained behind were the ones bob had heard talking about not liking the prospect of penetrating into this unknown country. bob wondered if it would be safe to leave things as they were. for a moment he thought of appealing to the others to change the situation, but thought better of it and followed on into the forest. after all, nothing would probably come of the happening. "we want to get a jaguar today if it's at all possible," said mr. lewis, his keen eyes scanning the surrounding trees, as if he expected to find one of the big cats lurking there. "a jaguar!" repeated joe. "fine. we'll get one if there's any around." they tramped on for about five minutes before seeing any game but monkeys and bright-colored birds. then mr. lewis caught sight of a long, lithe body gliding over the tangled underbrush. the others saw, too, and they raised their rifles and fired. the snake was immediately made into pulp, and the hunters ran up to examine it. "coral snake," said mr. holton, recognizing the striped body. "whether it's poisonous i don't know. here is one reptile that cannot easily be distinguished as to whether it is of the harmless or poisonous variety." the reptile was no good as a specimen, and they passed it by. suddenly mr. holton stopped still in his tracks and pointed to a low tree bough not far away. the others looked and then shrank back in awe. there, resting peacefully in the shaded depths of a limb, was a huge, powerful jaguar, its spotted coat showing in strange contrast to the surrounding jungle. "back," whispered mr. holton, slowly raising his rifle. carefully the naturalist took aim, while the others stood by with ready rifles. bang! the bullet sped true. there was a terrific pawing and clutching at the bough, but to no avail. a second later the great cat fell to the ground, moved convulsively for a moment, and then lay still. "hurrah!" cried bob. "our first jaguar." "the biggest and most dangerous animal of south america," chimed in mr. lewis. at once the skin was ripped off and then placed in a bag carried by the crew. a little later bob was several score feet behind the others, examining a peculiar plant that had small blue flowers. as he started to pluck one he suddenly heard a faint cry that seemed to come from the direction of the river. at first he thought it was some strange bird, but when he heard it again he was immediately on the alert. that a bird? absurd. but what could it be? then a thought struck him, and he almost turned pale. it was professor bigelow! he called to the others to follow and then turned and ran with all speed to the boats. chapter xx fighting against heavy odds bob had often run in track races at high school, but never had he equaled the pace that was now taking him to the boats. it was as though wings had suddenly lifted him through space at an alarming rate of speed. the youth had all he could do to prevent coming in contact with thorns and fringed plants, but he did his best. but what of thorns when professor bigelow needed help? on and on he went, swinging his rifle over shrubs and bushes. at times it was necessary to hold his arms high above his head to prevent striking limbs and other projections. at last, after what seemed a terribly long time, he parted the foliage and gazed ahead to see what was happening. then a look of rage came on his face. on the river bank a terrific struggle was taking place between professor bigelow and the two indians who had been left behind. the men had the professor down, and the latter's face was ghastly white as strong arms and hands tried to choke him into unconsciousness. occasionally he would manage to call out a muffled cry for assistance. for a moment bob took in the situation carefully. then he rushed at the men with rage and fury and landed on the back of the one nearest, bearing him to the ground with a thud. the indians glanced up in surprise at this abrupt interruption, and they turned to deal with this new enemy. one of the men gained his feet and launched himself with all force at bob's side, the impact hurling the youth from the back of the first man. but bob shook the fellow off and threw an arm around his neck with the strength of one in desperation. there was a terrific struggle, and the two thrashed about, neither able to gain the upper hand. bob gripped the indian's neck with all his strength, and the man's face began to turn purple from the terrific strain. it was clearly evident that he would soon be put out of the fight. but the other indian was not motionless. in fact if it had not been for him, the youth would have had the better of the first fellow, for he was slowly giving out. but suddenly bob felt a heavy body landing on his back and had to release his hold on the first man. this again gave the indians the advantage, and they were quick to sense their chance. bob soon saw that he could gain nothing as things were. he must resort to some other means. professor bigelow was now beginning to show signs of life, but he was so badly battered that what little he did to help amounted to nothing, for he was soon sent sprawling to the ground. suddenly bob gained his feet, intent upon resorting to boxing, a method that the indians probably knew little about. a quick glance around showed that his friends had arrived and were making for the boats as fast as they could. but it was only a glance, for the indians were rushing at him with redoubled force. bob caught the first man squarely between the eyes and sent him sprawling to the ground in a dazed condition. the other indian saw that it would be useless to continue the fight, for the other whites were returning fast. he turned and made for the boat, bob at his heels. the youth suspected that the man was going after a gun, and he was right. but he hardly had the revolver in his hand when bob pounced upon him and wrenched the weapon from his grip. one hard blow put him out of the fight. then, for the first time, bob drew a long breath. he was panting and gasping from exertion, but he hurried over to professor bigelow. "are you all right?" he asked. "yes," the professor replied, getting to his feet. and then: "that was a wonderful fight you put up, bob. if you had come much later, the indians would have escaped with the boat and our provisions." "so that was their game!" said mr. lewis angrily, glancing at the still limp indian on shore. "they wanted to put you out and then escape with the boats, leaving us here to starve!" he drew his fist, and for a moment it looked as if another fight were going to take place. "just for that we should desert them," gritted joe. "can hardly do that," said mr. holton. "it would amount to the same as murder for robbery, and such punishment is unjust. now if they had killed one of our party it might be different. even then i'd hesitate to do it." "but they've got to have some kind of punishment," persisted joe. "who knows but that they'll attempt the same thing later?" "we'll have to keep a close lookout," returned the professor. "if we see any more treachery we won't dare take any more chances." the other members of the crew could not understand the actions of the two would-be deserters, and at once cast them aside as traitors, calling them names which, had they been translated into english, would have been extremely shocking to civilized persons. in a short time the two indians emerged into consciousness, and they sat awaiting any fate that might be thrust upon them. the explorers were at a loss to know what to do with the men, but they finally decided to give them hard jobs in full view of all, so that they could neither escape again with the boats nor get the others of the crew to thinking their way. "probably won't have any more trouble," remarked mr. lewis, as they prepared to start up the river again. "we'll keep a sharp lookout, and if we see any more dishonesty we'll act accordingly." the specimens were prepared, and they resumed the journey up the river, hoping that few more days would pass before they found the unknown indians. the whites were anxious and yet rather fearful to come in contact with them, fortified as the boats were. professor bigelow, however, took the matter lightly, and often when his friends thought of his numerous visits to strange tribes, many of them hostile, they were inclined to cast aside their worries and leave the future happenings to him. for surely, with his wide experience, he could see to any predicament. "we want to make good time today," said mr. holton. "twenty-five miles, at least." "we will," joe's father assured him. "unless," he added, "more rapids hold us back." "i don't think--i hardly believe they will," professor bigelow said, but this was a statement of hope rather than of conviction. bob and joe constantly took motion pictures of the country they were passing through, and often they took the cameras with them on hunting trips, to photograph not only wild life but any adventures that they might have. the number of feet of exposed film had grown to nearly a thousand, and they intended to make it several more before they "closed" the picture. they were allowed four thousand feet and fully expected to use all of it. the next day after the fracas with the traitorous indians, they were paddling swiftly along when suddenly there was a jar and a crash, and the foremost boat was sent aside and heading in the opposite direction. at once the explorers were on their feet and had their rifles in ready grasp. they cautiously peered over the side into the river, half expecting to see a dozen or more savages leap out and make for the boat. but no savages came. instead there arose a large black body, nearly ten feet long, shaped like a seal, with the faintest suggestion of fins protruding from its side. for a moment it glanced about, then swam on up the river. "a manatee," said mr. holton. "or sea-cow, if you prefer that name." "sure is a whopper," observed joe. "looks like it might be dangerous. is it?" "no," his father replied. "one of the most harmless animals of south america." mr. lewis raised his rifle to bring the creature down as a specimen, but just as he prepared to pull the trigger it darted below the water and swam off at a rapid pace, leaving a thin streak of ripples behind. then the naturalists saw that shooting would mean only a waste of bullets. a few miles on they came upon another rapids and saw that it would be necessary to lay a portage of logs along the river bank in order to get the boats through. anxious to make time, they worked untiringly and had the task completed in a short time. "now to get the boats through," said mr. holton, beginning to unload their contents. the canoes were heavy, even with the provisions removed, and it required all the combined strength of the whites and the indian crew to get them beyond the rough stretch. but the undertaking was finally finished. next the provisions were carried around, placed in the boats, and the latter were moved into the river. at last the strenuous task was completed. "ready to go again?" asked joe. "it's about noon," said professor bigelow. "i suggest that we get a lunch." the others agreed, and an ample repast was prepared. then mr. lewis advised that they take it easy under low palm trees. the others, with the exception of bob and joe, were glad of a chance to repose. the boys, however, were restless and eager to explore the surrounding territory. unlike their elders, their tireless limbs cried out for action, even after hard labor. "we'll be careful and not take any chances," joe assured the men. but had they realized what dangerous country they were in, they would never have started out. chapter xxi magnificent country there was a rocky hill not far away, and it was joe who expressed a desire to go over and climb to the top. "fairly high," he remarked. "ought to be able to get a good view of the surrounding territory." "yes," bob agreed. "maybe we can catch sight of an indian village in the distance. the unknown tribe! be fine if we could be the ones to locate it, wouldn't it?" "sure would. professor bigelow would be delighted beyond words. think of the rumpus he'd kick up if we announced that we'd found the savages he's been hunting." it was a distance of less than a half-mile to the foot of the knoll, and the youths made it in a very few minutes. then they began the task of climbing the jagged side. there was little vegetation to hinder their progress, although twisted vines and shrubs were rather numerous on the ground. "the undergrowth offers footholds that we could not otherwise find," said bob. "here's a place where it comes in handy, even though most of the time it's merely something to avoid." at last, panting and perspiring, the youths reached the top of the hill and then turned to glance down below. jungle, jungle, jungle! nothing but heavily wooded country stretched before them. as far as the eye could see the great tropical forest loomed up--in green, brown, red. it was as though all the world were covered with dense vegetation. the boys turned about. on the other side was the river, winding through gulches and hills and stretching out of sight in the distance. opposite the hill were the boats, and under trees not far away were the explorers resting peacefully in the shade. it was a spectacular view, and bob and joe spent several minutes in silently gazing down. "no evidence of human habitation anywhere around," remarked bob, trying to single out a settlement somewhere in the distance. in the vast, silent jungle sound travels far, and realizing this, the youths shouted to the others, to let them know of their commanding position. "now let's get down from here and tramp on through the forest," said joe, finding a foothold in the heavy soil. it was necessary to exercise more care in descending, for the rocks were pointed and dangerous to step on. a safe place had to be felt out cautiously. the youths reached the bottom in a very short time, however, and followed a narrow trail that wound out of sight. "be impossible to cut through this jungle if there were no trails of any kind," said bob, his keen eyes unable to penetrate the tangled mass of vegetation on either side of them. "not without a machete, anyway," nodded joe. "even then it would be a hard job." the youths hiked on until they came to a small stream that emptied into the river. they sat down on the bank to take in their surroundings. on the other side of the stream was a break in the ground that indicated the presence of a gully--how steep, they did not know. they resolved to find out as soon as they had rested. "unless," said joe, "we can't get across the creek. never can tell how many alligators and piranhas have migrated here from the river." he picked up a stone and threw it with all his strength into the muddy water, hoping to arouse any life that might be lurking sluggishly out of sight. once he thought he detected a slight ripple other than that caused by the stone but was not sure. "don't believe i care to wade it," backed out bob. "wouldn't feel funny to have a toe nipped off by a piranha, or worse yet, to be carried into an alligator's lair. suppose we throw a log across for safety." they spent several more minutes sitting on the bank in idleness. at last joe got up and looked about the near-by jungle. "no logs around here," he called to bob, who had wandered along the bank. further search was not in vain. a small tree that had been uprooted by a hurricane lay in a patch of bushes not far away, and it was carried to the stream and thrown across. then the youths began carefully walking along its narrow surface. bob reached the other side first, and he warned his friend to be careful. joe was, and in a few moments also had crossed the log. "now let's see what's beyond that ravine," he said. they walked over to the edge and then halted abruptly, awe-stricken and spellbound at the wonderful panorama that stretched out before them. they were standing at the brink of a two-hundred-foot canyon, which sloped down and back up to form a perfect u. at the very bottom was a large grove of huge red flowers, which added not a little to the beauty of the scene. "some view," breathed joe, gazing far ahead at the distant jungle. bob nodded. "bet we can see twenty miles or more," he said. "and nothing but dense jungle." the youths spent several more minutes in looking off into space. they could not tear themselves away from the wonderful view. it seemed almost impossible to come suddenly upon such a gulch in a land that seemed fairly level. at last bob shouldered his rifle as a signal to move on. "can't spend too much time here if we expect to do any more exploring," he said, looking at his watch. "they'll expect us back in another hour." "where'll we go next?" "no difference to me. how about down the hill?" they hiked down the gradual slope of the canyon, although the jungle was in places impenetrable. when about halfway down, joe stopped suddenly, his face an ashen gray, his limbs trembling. bob's eyes opened wide, and he clutched his rifle tightly. the next moment there came a horrid hiss, and the thirty-foot anaconda lunged forward. chapter xxii lost in the wilds of brazil the largest snake of brazil was about to strike and enfold the youths in its terrible coils. and that could mean but one thing--death in an awful form. slowly bob and joe raised their rifles and took careful aim at the horrible head. they must not miss. here, if ever, was a need for accurate shooting. there came another hiss, and the reptile glided still closer, its wicked eyes gleaming in the sunlight. it was moving stealthily, as if wondering which of the boys to make for. "now!" whispered bob and a second later pulled the trigger. bang! bang! two rifles spoke, but only one found the mark. it would have been a difficult task for even an expert marksman to strike that small swaying head. and bob and joe were not expert marksmen, although the former was much better than the average. but the bullet had only glanced the top of the head and had done no real damage. the reptile was only more enraged. "run!" cried joe, as he saw that the anaconda was preparing to strike. "one more shot," whispered back bob, again raising his rifle. "i'm afraid we couldn't get far if we ran." again the rifles spoke, and this time, thanks to the young hunters' courage, both bullets smashed into the head and shattered it. the great snake thrashed about in its death struggle, the coils describing circles and curves. at last it quieted down and lay still. for the first time it had been defeated. bob and joe waited several minutes for any other signs of life, but none came. they moved up to examine the great body, which lay stretched out over a radius of fifteen feet. "thicker than a man's leg," observed joe, who was still unsteady from the terrible encounter. "an unusually large specimen," commented bob. "think of the excitement our dads would stir up if they could see it." "they might take it back to the states," said joe. "only--i doubt if it would be much good to them with the head shattered as it is." the boys spent several more minutes in examining the anaconda. then, unwilling to lose precious time, they started on down the decline. they intended at least to reach the other side before turning back. "steep along here," said joe, as they came to a rocky edge. "couldn't fall far," his friend remarked. "the heavy vegetation would catch you before you'd fallen ten feet. but even then i wouldn't care to lose my balance and come up against a tree." the young explorers stumbled on to the bottom and then began the ascent of the opposite side. suddenly they heard a vicious snarl and looked back to see that a large, powerful jaguar was poised ready to spring. its wicked eyes shone like beads as it bared its sharp teeth. slowly the youths raised their rifles and took steady aim. joe was the first to pull the trigger, and a moment later bob followed. a part snarl, part whine came from the beast, and it weaved as if going to fall. but it righted itself and then again prepared to spring. "it's up to you, bob," murmured joe in a tone that he tried to keep steady. "my rifle's empty. can't get it loaded in time." bob frowned. a second later he raised his gun to fire, but it caught on a sharp protruding branch and was wrenched from his grasp. with a frightened glance at the huge cat he turned to run, and joe was at his heels. the boys well knew that they had little chance of escape in that dense jungle, but they resolved to retreat as fast as their legs would carry them. and the fact that the jaguar was severely wounded gave them courage to run with all the strength they could muster. "good thing you got him in the leg," panted joe, as they made for a faintly outlined path not far away. "we wouldn't have had a chance in the world otherwise." as joe said, the boys would have proved no match for the animal's agility had it not been wounded. even as it was, they knew that the great cat was gaining rapidly. in no time it would be upon them. a few yards down, the path branched into several directions. they chose the one to the right, for no reason at all. it offered no better chance of escape than did the others. "oh!" groaned joe, imagining that he could feel the hot breath of the beast. "we can't keep this up much longer." the youths refused to lose heart, however, and continued as rapidly as they could. at several other places the trail branched, and they followed the widest and most clearly defined. they had no notion of where they were going. in fact they did not care, as long as they were outdistancing their terrible enemy. at last they found it impossible to continue the flight. their breath gone completely; their hearts were beating like triphammers. with a sudden movement bob wheeled about and brought out his hunting knife, just as the jaguar prepared to spring. the great cat lunged forward, bearing the youth to the ground. as he fell, bob summoned all his strength and plunged the sharp blade of the knife deep into the animal's side at a point where he judged it would find the heart. his aim was true. with one last cough the beast rolled over and lay still. the knife plus bob's courage had proven too much for even its brute strength. for a time the youth could not speak. at last he managed to blurt out a few almost unintelligible words to joe, who had been helpless to render aid during the death struggle. joe sighed and shook his head. "another narrow escape!" he breathed, picturing what would have happened had not bob made use of his hunting knife. the boys spent only a short time in examining the great cat, for they were anxious to get back to the boats at once. "let's hurry back to camp," moved bob, looking at his watch. "we've been gone several hours. doesn't seem possible, does it?" but little did the young hunters dream that they were miles from the boats and their elders--that they had unknowingly penetrated deeper and deeper into this dense jungle. after one last look at the great jaguar, the chums started back down the trail, heading for the boats. they wondered what kind of a reception their fathers would give them after being gone so long. ten minutes of constant hiking brought them to a spot where the trail branched into four or five other paths, each winding in a slightly different direction from the others. which branch should they take to get back to camp? "strange," mused joe. "i thought sure we could pick out the right branch. but you know we didn't have much time for thought when that jaguar was chasing us." the youths spent fully ten minutes in trying to decide on which trail they had turned out, but in the end they were no more enlightened than they were at the start. they tried to remember some landmark that might be suggestive but could not. the heavy amazonian jungle had proven too much for their memories. but they refused to admit that they were beaten, and at last chose the middle trail, as it seemed more like the one they had followed. there was no use giving up without showing fight. they walked on constantly and at last came to another place where the path branched. here again they were at a loss to know which direction to take. "believe it's the one to the left," concluded joe, scratching his head thoughtfully. "i'm sure i don't know," the other said. "but if you think you're right, we may as well follow it." they did follow it. one, two, three miles they hiked. but where was the canyon? "we're surely on the wrong course," said bob, glancing at his pedometer. "three miles is farther than we went before. and we haven't come to the spot where i dropped my gun yet. suppose we go back and try another trail." joe was willing, and they retraced their footsteps, at last coming to the place where the path branched. "suppose we try the one to the right," suggested joe, and they did. but when, after a half-hour's tramp, they made no more headway than before, they saw the futility of continuing on this trail. again they went back and took another direction. and again they failed to come to bob's rifle. the youths continued the search for several hours, never ceasing. but each time they met with failure. the cruel brazilian forest was not to be conquered by man. finally, exhausted and baffled to the extreme, they sat down on a decaying tree trunk. the stark truth had at last dawned on them. they were lost--lost in the wilds of brazil! chapter xxiii terrible cries of savages "oh, why did we have to wander so far away!" moaned joe, rapidly losing his nerve. "we should have known better than to try to penetrate this endless jungle." bob was equally touched, but he resolved to keep up hope. there was no use in tamely submitting to fear so soon. one more search might bring them to the river, and then it would be easy to find the boats. "we'll come out all right," he said, "although i'll admit we're in a tight fix." the youths rested for nearly a half-hour. then their strength--and to some extent their hope--restored, they again took up the task of finding the right trail. back and forth they hiked, confident that at last they would happen upon it. but search as they did, their efforts were in vain. the cruel brazilian jungle was not to be conquered by man. at last, satisfied that nothing could be gained by continuing such efforts, joe moved that they take one of the other trails in the hope that it would lead them to the river. "all right," said bob. "no use trying to find the one we followed when running from the jaguar." joe had reloaded his rifle, and bob had placed his hunting knife ready for instant use. they were taking no chances on meeting some formidable jungle beast. the path that they now followed was wider than the others and consequently was more likely to lead to some definite spot. but neither of the chums was sure that they were heading for the river. it might lead them fifty miles away, for all they knew. still they hiked on. "do you know," remarked bob, when another hour had passed, "that i'm beginning to think that these trails were not cut by wild animals! they're too closely defined. now take this one, for example. see how wide it is? and look over there. the vegetation's been _cut_ by a machete." joe grew suddenly pale. he clutched his rifle tighter. "you mean--savages?" he demanded, at the same time looking sharply about. "i may be wrong," bob said quietly, "but that is my opinion. and as we're about in the region inhabited by the savage tribe that professor bigelow was searching for, it seems that these paths could have been cut by them. what do you think?" "i'm all too afraid that you're right," was the reply. "and we'll have to be very careful from now on. at the slightest unfamiliar sound we'll have to hide." bob groaned. "if i only had my rifle," he cried. "or if i had brought my revolver it wouldn't be quite as bad." but there was no use regretting something that could not be helped, and bob and joe resolved to meet conditions as they were. perhaps if it should happen that indians discovered them, it would be best not to use their weapons except in self-defense. if the natives' good will could be gained, it would not only help them but be of benefit to professor bigelow also. all the remainder of that afternoon the youths tramped on up the trail, hoping to burst at last upon the river. they were tired and downhearted when finally they stopped by a small spring of cool water. experience had taught them that in the great majority of cases these jungle springs were ideal drinking places and that only a very few were poisoned. so they drank freely of the refreshing liquid and felt much better for it. "better stop here for the night, hadn't we?" asked bob, taking in the surrounding country. "yes," his friend replied. "there's a good place to sleep," pointing to a large hollow in the ground. a little later darkness fell suddenly, and with it came the usual chill of the atmosphere. joe had some matches in a small waterproof box, and he took them out and ignited the dry branches of an uprooted tree. the fire blazed lively up into the black reaches of the jungle, giving off heat that was welcomed by the two chums as they sat close together. before retiring, they took account of their weapons and ammunition. joe's rifle was the only firearm in their possession, but both boys had a large supply of cartridges that should last a long time. with cautious use they might make them satisfy their needs for several days. but after that? still there was no use worrying about the future. they could let it take care of itself. at present they were safe. "i'll take the first guard," said bob, half an hour later. "you turn in and get several hours' sleep. i'll call you when the night's half over." joe grudgingly consented. he had intended to stand watch first. bob heaped the fire up high and had a good supply of fuel ready to keep it blazing constantly. but when ten minutes had passed he smothered it down to half the size it had been. it was not wise to keep it too high, for though it was a sure protection from wild animals, it might attract the attention of hostile indians. "have to prevent that at any cost," the young man thought. bob sat moodily fingering his rifle, gazing into the dark depths of the jungle. from afar came a terrorizing howl of some beast that had fallen victim of a stronger enemy. shortly later there came another howl of different origin. then another, another, until the whole jungle rang with fiendish cries. it was enough to frighten anyone, and bob stared rather fearfully into the surrounding forest, wondering what tragedies were going on at that moment. "probably scores of creatures being killed," he thought, shifting uneasily. nothing happened throughout his watch, and he at last moved over and tapped joe on the back. the latter jumped to his feet as if shot, and gazed fearfully about, as if expecting to see a band of cannibals rush in on them. but a moment later he smiled sheepishly. "guess i was dreaming," he said, taking his position on a log. bob readily sympathized with his chum, for the day had been a strenuous one, and their endurance had been taxed severely. "we'll surely find a way out tomorrow," bob said, curling up in the hollow. "hope so," was the reply. joe's watch was also devoid of incident, and late the next morning he called the other youth from his slumber. they were obliged to begin the day without any breakfast, although they were extremely hungry. they could have shot some small animal, but bob thought it wise to wait until noon. "by that time," he said hopefully, "maybe we'll have found the river--or something else." they followed the same trail until joe stopped and looked about. "we're not getting any place as things are," he said. "seems to me the river should be over in that direction." "i think so too," agreed bob. "there should be plenty of branch paths that would take us over there." they found one before another five minutes had passed, and turned onto its narrow surface. "the world's greatest jungle," mused bob, shaking his head. "sure is a whopper," the other agreed. "wonderful. i had no idea it would have such a wide variety of plants, and that it could be so dense." all that morning the boys spent in vainly searching for the river. the trail that they had turned onto continued, but where it would lead to they did not know. it might have gradually circled several miles out of the way. during that desperate search the chums saw a large number of all types of wild animals, although none happened to be dangerous. monkeys crowded thickly down to the lowest boughs, small gnawing creatures darted across the path, brightly colored birds flew swiftly overhead. occasionally the boys could get a glimpse of a snake slinking through the underbrush. it was a wonderful menagerie and could have been enjoyed to the full had they not been in such a terrible plight. "do you know," remarked bob, his eyes on a small creature, "i believe these animals are used to seeing people." joe looked around inquiringly. "now take that small furred creature that just passed," bob continued. "did you notice how wary it seemed? one glance at us was enough to send it running back at full speed. they never did that before. now here's what i think: we're in a country inhabited either by rubber gatherers or indians. why rubber gatherers would be so far from civilization i don't know, unless----" "i don't think they would be," interrupted joe. "we didn't come across any boat that they might have come in. and of course they wouldn't have come all these hundreds of miles by land." "then it's indians. savages, cannibals, maybe, for all we know. it's their bows and arrows that have scared these wild animals out of their wits." the youths knew not what to make of the situation. there could easily be indians in this region, for professor bigelow was almost sure they were near the strange savage tribe that otari told about. but how the natives would treat these two lone whites was a mystery. if there should be a battle the youths knew that their rifle could be relied upon only as long as the supply of cartridges lasted. then they would be compelled to surrender. "i have a plan," stated joe, several minutes later. "if anything should happen that we are discovered by savages, it might be best to act extremely exhausted, as if we couldn't stand up a minute longer. we could even fall in our tracks before they quite get sight of us. the chances are they would sympathize with us and take us into their village." "then what?" "we could gain their friendship and have them lead us to the river." "fine!" cried bob holton, his hope renewed. "takes you to think of some plan to get us out of danger. most likely we could carry it out, for these savages are only grown children when it comes to catching on to anything unusual. but we'd have to be very careful and keep a close watch for any treachery." along toward noon the youths began to look for game. they were by now furiously hungry and felt as if they could devour almost any creature that would fall at the report of their rifle. they did not have to wait long before a large duck-like bird flew over and perched on a tree bough, not twenty feet away. joe handed his rifle to his chum. "take a shot at it," urged joe. "we may not see another chance as good." bob aimed carefully and fired just as the bird prepared to take flight. a moment later feathers flew and the creature fluttered to the ground. "hurrah!" cried joe. "now we eat!" a fire was built of dead wood in the vicinity, and the young hunters' quarry was placed over the flames to bake. before long a delicious odor filled the clearing, and the youths prepared a feast fit for a king. "roast duck! think of that!" cried joe. the bird tasted good, despite the fact that it was rather tough. bob and joe ate heartily, until only a small portion was left. then they stretched themselves on the soft grass for a short rest. "i feel like getting some sleep," remarked joe. "but of course----" he stopped suddenly and strained his ears to listen. bob looked inquiringly but remained quiet. a moment later there came a long, weird chant that cut through the thin jungle air with remarkable clearness. it was repeated several times, always nearer. never before had the youths heard anything like it, and they were intensely bewildered. bob looked inquiringly at his friend, but the latter could give no explanation. "beyond me," he muttered. again the cry came, and then the boys jumped to their feet in horror. "savages!" cried bob excitedly. "indians--wild indians. they're coming this way!" chapter xxiv the hideous village "oh!" groaned bob hopelessly. "guess it's all up with us." "no, it isn't," the other youth retorted. "you remember what we said to do in such an emergency, don't you? act extremely exhausted, as if we couldn't move another foot. lie on the ground--do anything to make them feel sorry for us. they will if the thing is carried out right." the cries were gradually getting louder, indicating that the indians were coming closer. occasionally some savage would chant louder than the others, and then there would be a grand chorus of shouts and yells. "they're getting nearer," muttered joe. "come on, let's lie on the ground. act as if you're half dead." the youths threw themselves on the soft grass and awaited developments. they had not long to wait. a figure burst into view from around a bend in the trail. another, followed by fully twenty other savages, their gruesome faces showing surprise and bewilderment at sight of the youths. who were these persons--persons of a strange color? were they enemies? were they on the ground waiting for a chance to kill? what was that strange long thing that was beside them? what were they doing here? had they been sent down from the sky to bring destruction to villages, or had they wandered from an unknown region in the remote beyond? for fully ten minutes the savages were silent. then they began chattering loudly and moved stealthily up to the boys, bows and arrows and blowguns in readiness. bob and joe waited in terrible suspense, half expecting to be pierced by deadly weapons. the youths longed to move about, if only for a moment. once joe felt an itching along his back, and the desire to scratch was almost uncontrollable, but he finally managed to remain quiet. an indian that was evidently the chief felt of the boys' bodies and limbs carefully, while his men looked on, ready to send an arrow at once if necessary. at last, after feeling the beating of the boys' hearts, the native regained his feet and conversed with the others. then bob and joe were picked up by strong arms and carried through the jungle. where would they be taken? what was to be their fate? could they gain the friendship of the savages? these questions were in the youths' minds as they were being carried along the trail. "maybe they're going to put us in boiling water," thought joe, and he shuddered in spite of himself. "but then," he finally reasoned, "they probably won't do that. after all, very few tribes are cannibalistic." how long the tramp continued, bob and joe did not know, but at last, after what seemed several hours, they came to a spot where the path broadened into twice the original width, and a few minutes later they parted the bushes and came to a large native village, where at least sixty wild indians were walking about. at sight of the warriors and their burdens the indians rushed forward and crowded around, their eagerness to get a view of the strange people resembling that of small children at a circus. there was a turmoil of excited chattering, in which everyone took part. questions flew thick and fast, and it was all the warriors could do to answer them. bob and joe were placed in one of the native huts and for a short time left to themselves. there was a crude door at the entrance, and this was shut to keep out the curious. then for the first time they opened their eyes and looked about. "we're in a fairly large hut," whispered bob, glancing about. "and there are several pieces of furniture to keep us company. over there is a kind of a table, laden down with pots and---- hurrah! there's our rifle. what do you know about that!" "they're certainly generous," admitted joe. "it's a wonder they didn't take it and start pulling the trigger, which would no doubt have resulted in five or ten of them getting their brains blown out." "but now," mused bob, "what do you think? what'll they do with us?" "i don't happen to know," was the response. "but we'll----" he ceased abruptly, as he noticed that the door was opening. the youths took a sitting position and tried to act as innocent as they could. a second later the chief entered, followed by ten others. they stopped short when they noticed that the boys were sitting up, and stared in wonder. bob and joe threw their hands apart in a gesture of helplessness and smiled gratefully. bob beckoned the men to come in the hut. they stood undecidedly at first, but finally, convinced that these strangers meant no harm, moved on in the dwelling. then the boys did all they could to convey the idea that they were thankful to the indians for saving them from death from exhaustion, and in the end it looked as if they had succeeded. not until the big chief smiled, however, did they feel secure, for there were grim looks on the faces of all the savages. but when the chief showed his teeth in friendship, the youths felt that the battle was won. with the head native on their side things looked a great deal brighter. "now for something to eat," said bob to his chum. "i'm not particular what it is, just so it's nourishing." he put his hands to his mouth, and began working his jaws as if chewing. then he imitated drinking. the chief understood, and he gave directions to one of his men, who dashed off to another part of the village. meanwhile the others stood gazing at the youths, who in their sun-tanned condition were scarcely less dark than the indians themselves. in a short time the indian returned with plates and pots of food, which he placed on the ground beside them. "do you suppose the stuff's all right?" asked joe, hesitating to begin eating. "don't know why it wouldn't be," bob returned. "why should they poison us? at present we're too much of a curiosity to kill. they'll at least wait for the novelty to wear off." the food tasted good despite the fact that the boys were ignorant as to what it was. they ate heartily, and in a very short time their strength was restored. then by signs they asked permission to walk around the village. at first the natives hesitated, but at last the chief nodded in approval, and the youths got to their feet. "if we could just speak some of their language," said bob, as they went out of the thatched house. "be easy then," affirmed joe. "but maybe we can get them to take us to the river, and then professor bigelow can talk with them." the chief led the way around the settlement, pointing with pride to many articles that were the results of the indians' handiwork. many objects were totally new to the boys, and they viewed them with interest. but when they came to one large hut they saw something that turned their blood cold with horror. hanging thickly on the walls were scores of dried human heads, their features perfectly preserved. in fact the ghastly trophies were so thick that there were no cracks between them. bob and joe glanced around the room in terrible awe. suddenly, as they turned about, their eyes fell on something that again caused them to be horror-stricken, this time more than before. near the corner were two heads that were--white! "explorers," breathed bob, rather nervously. "or were they missionaries? at any rate these heads were those of white men--and they've been killed for their heads!" the youths felt fairly sick, and once joe reeled as if to fall. but he got a grip on himself and resolved to take matters as they were. at present they were in no danger. the terrible and yet genial chief seemed to be their friend. but how soon his lust to kill would come to the surface they did not know. they spent no more time at the horrible trophy house, for it contained such things as one might see in a nightmare. bob and joe made up their minds to seek out something more pleasant. they found it in a large board that had lines crossing and crisscrossing from one side to the other. the chief got out a box and took out several wooden pegs, which he placed in the spaces on the board. he moved them back and forth and laughed. "must be some kind of a game," concluded bob, thoroughly interested. the boys spent several hours in touring the village, and although they were constantly enfolded by the crowd of curious savages, they enjoyed the experience. it was unique and different, but they felt some repulsion for the various activities carried on by these heathen people. "all right for a visit," mused joe, "but i don't think i'd care to live here." "i'd feel a whole lot safer back in the boats with our dads and the professor," said bob, as he thought of the hideous dried human heads. "still," he went on, "i suppose we should do all we can to help professor bigelow. here is a chance for him to get plenty of information of the kind that he wants most." late that afternoon bob and joe took the rifle and, motioning for the chief to follow, started into the jungle just back of the village. they intended to give the native a real surprise and thrill, such as he had never before had. at last he went with them, probably wondering what the strange whites had in mind, but willing to find out. "maybe we can show him how to kill a jaguar," said joe, keeping a sharp watch over the forest. no game was in the immediate vicinity of the village, owing to the frequent hunting trips made by the savages. but when they had gone several miles there came fresh signs that wild creatures were close by. suddenly they caught sight of a large tapir rooting in the tall grass. bob took the rifle and, motioning to the indian, he pointed to the gun and then to the animal. a moment later he pulled the trigger. at the report of the weapon the big indian jumped in fright and was on the verge of running back to the village, when bob pointed again to the gun and then to the tapir, which was now dead. then for the first time the chief caught the meaning, and he looked at the boys with something like worship in his eyes. what strange magic was this? a long thing that spouted fire had killed a tapir instantly, without a struggle. these people must be gods. from that moment on, the chief's friendship for the youths increased to devotion, which at times promised to be embarrassing. but bob and joe did not care. this would be all the better opportunity for professor bigelow to secure information on the savages' daily life and customs. the three hunters trudged on farther, hoping to stir up more game. the boys wished particularly to get a shot at a jaguar, so that the power of the gun could be demonstrated still further. "the old boy'd just about throw a fit if he saw the rifle pot off the king of brazilian wild beasts," smiled joe. at last they burst through a thick mass of vegetation and found themselves on the bank of a small stream. at once bob and joe were wild with delight, for this stream evidently was a tributary of the river. and the river was what they wanted to find above all else. "hurrah!" cried joe, overwhelmed with delight. "we've as good as found our party already!" chapter xxv reunion at last the chief was puzzled by the actions of bob and joe, and the boys realized it, but there was no use trying to explain. it would take more than signs to convey the idea that more whites were near the river. "suppose we try to get him to go with us," suggested joe. "think he will?" "hard to say. we'll find out." the youths beckoned the indian to come with them, and they were surprised to find that he did so without hesitation. "he probably intends to do anything we ask from now on," said bob. "our ability to kill wild beasts with fire was too much for him. maybe he thinks he'll die like the tapir if he refuses." there was a narrow trail along the bank of the stream, and bob led the way down it, followed by joe and the chief. the boys intended to make as much time as possible, for they wished to reach the river as soon as they could. how far away it was, they did not know. perhaps a large number of miles. "if we can just keep the chief with us everything will turn out fine," said bob. all the rest of that day they trudged on, keeping their rifle ready for any savage jungle beast that might show itself. the indian kept with them tirelessly, and many times he proved of valuable assistance in pointing out the easiest course through the underbrush. along toward evening they stopped at a large open space that was devoid of vegetation. "better stay here for the night, hadn't we?" asked joe. "yes," bob replied. "you stay here and build a fire while the chief and i go in search of game. don't think you'll be in any danger. we'll be back in a short time." bob and the indian started out down the bank of the stream, confident that they would see game sooner or later. they had not far to go. at a sharp bend in the trail a small animal, the name of which bob did not know, darted out and made for the water. but it did not get there. bang! came the report of the rifle, and the bullet sped straight. the creature fell dead at once. this time the indian did not show signs of fear, for he knew what was to come. instead he looked at bob with awe and wonder in his eyes. back at the clearing they found that joe had started a large fire. the warmth of it felt good as the chill of the fast-approaching night fell. "you did have some luck, didn't you?" observed joe. "wonder if it'll be good eating." "hope so." the animal was skinned with bob's hunting knife and placed over the fire to bake. then the three sat together to witness the falling of night. as usual it came suddenly, and they huddled closer to the fire. in time the animal was thoroughly baked, and then they began the meal. suddenly the chief got up and dashed through the jungle out of sight, leaving the youths to wonder at this sudden departure. "think he's gone?" asked joe, trying to catch sight of the indian through the dense vegetation. "doesn't seem possible that he'd desert us as abruptly as this," replied bob. "he seemed to be all our friend." the youths waited silently, almost convinced that the man had left for good. but a moment later he emerged from the jungle as suddenly as he had disappeared. in his arms were several varieties of what was evidently wild fruit. he ran toward the boys with a smile as he glanced first at the roasted animal and then at the fruit he was carrying. when he reached the fire he deposited the stuff near, and then sat down to eat. "a welcome addition to the meal," said bob joyfully. "takes these savages to know what all the vast forest contains that's nourishing." nevertheless the young men were careful to see that the indian ate first before they sampled any of the wild fruit. "take no chances," remarked joe. "ten to one he means no harm, but it's best to be on the safe side." the chief ate of everything, however, and then the boys followed suit. they found that all of the fruit was delicious, with flavors that they had never before tasted. there were large, round melons, like a cross between a watermelon and a cantaloup. there were bulbs resembling potatoes, bunches of small bright-colored berries, and wild bananas. it was a meal unlike any that the boys had ever eaten. they felt like savages themselves, and were delighted that soon they would come to the river. "won't it be wonderful to see our party again?" asked joe, deeply touched. "sure will," bob replied. "but we don't want to be too sure that everything will turn out all right. something else may turn up that's not expected." after the feast the three sat in silence, watching the moon float silently and majestically over the great jungle. at last joe turned to put more fuel on the fire. "hadn't some of us better turn in?" he asked. "we've had a tough time of it today and need rest." bob agreed, and they set about arranging watches. "i'll be the first guard," announced joe. "you and the chief curl up by the fire and get some sleep. i'll call you in a few hours. we'd better not disturb the indian tonight." thus it was arranged, and joe sat idly beside the fire, his rifle near by. his watch passed without incident, and at last he tapped bob on the back. they changed positions, joe retiring and bob keeping a lookout for intruders. despite the fact that bob had a strange feeling that something would happen, the night passed peacefully, although the youth was confident that wild animals were just beyond the zone of firelight. in the morning joe and the indian were up early, preparing to hike on. the former still did not know where the boys were going or what their purpose was, but he showed no signs of hesitation. "we want to see the river today," remarked bob, as they again took up the trail. "i think we will," the other youth returned. "we made good time yesterday, and if the luck continues, we will today." all morning they tramped without a stop. they were tired and exhausted, but did not wish to lose time until necessary. about noon they came to another clearing, and bob moved that they stop for the noon meal. the chief and joe went into the jungle a short distance away to gather wild fruit, which alone was to serve as their meal. in a short time they returned with a bountiful supply, and then the feast began. "several new additions to our menu today," remarked bob, as he noticed that there were cocoanuts, roots like carrots, and a plant resembling cane. the three ate heartily of everything, and then they started on. "stream's getting wider," observed bob, several hours later. "yes," returned joe. "the river shouldn't be very far away." he had scarcely uttered the words when they rounded a sharp curve and found themselves at the junction with the river. for a moment the youths could hardly believe their eyes. here at last was the thing they had been searching for all these days--the thing that would lead them to their fathers and the others of the party. never had anything looked so good to them. "at last!" breathed joe, too delighted for words. "now let's hurry on up to the boats." "how do you know we should go up?" demanded bob. "they could be easily farther downstream as well." "i know it," was the response. "but it seems to me that i remember passing this stream several hours before we stopped." "all right. let's go." they had to search quite a while before a path was found that followed the river. "if we keep up this good time, we'll surely see the boats today--if they're there to see," said bob, as he led the way up the trail. notwithstanding this, they hiked on constantly for the remainder of the afternoon without coming to the explorers' boats. "perhaps if we fire rifle shots it will attract their attention," said joe, and he sent out three shots, repeating at intervals. "what's that?" said joe, raising a hand for silence. "thought i heard an answering report," he said. "but maybe---- yes, there it is again. and there." two shots had sounded from afar, and at once the boys responded with joe's rifle. "now let's move on upstream," said bob. "if we can meet them halfway it will be all the better." the youths again followed the trail, the indian chief close behind them. they realized that the answering reports had come from afar and that it would take no little hiking to get to them. about every five minutes joe raised the rifle and fired, each time receiving an answering shot. finally, after an hour's constant traveling, they heard a crashing sound in the jungle not far ahead, and they were on the alert at once. a moment later mr. lewis and mr. holton emerged and looked about. their eyes fell on bob and joe, and the men rushed forward in intense relief and thankfulness. "boys!" cried mr. holton, almost unable to believe his own eyes. the next instant they were stammering out words of thanksgiving at finding their sons alive and apparently none the worse for their experience. "we didn't see how you could possibly escape tragedy," said mr. lewis gravely. "getting lost in the vast amazon jungle is a serious thing, especially when you have no food of any kind with you." "all the time we were in doubt as to how we'd come out," said bob. "worst part of it was that we were afraid to hike far for fear of getting farther away from the river, but we knew we couldn't get any place sitting down." "tell us all about it," urged mr. holton, and the youths related their experience from start to finish. they told of shooting the jaguar, of the necessary abandoning of bob's rifle, and of the flight that followed. and at last of coming across the strange tribe of indians that was probably the one professor bigelow had been searching for. "a fearful experience," breathed mr. lewis, when the youths had finished. "not many could have had such good luck. if you hadn't come across the indians, your fate would probably have been sealed by now." "but wait," hesitated joe, with a sudden recollection. "here's the chief of the tribe we got in with. we finally got him to come with us." he glanced around, but the indian was nowhere in sight. "strange," mused bob. "he was here a few minutes ago. could he have left?" he called loudly, but it was unnecessary. the man had only stepped behind a bush, undecided as to whether to come in sight of the other whites, and at once left his place of concealment and walked out warily. bob and joe beckoned for him to move up to them. at first he was uncertain, but finally concluded that it would be safe to venture nearer. the boys introduced him as best they could by signs, and although it was rather awkward, they felt that much of his uncertainty vanished before the cordial attitude of mr. lewis and mr. holton. "now we must get to the boats," joe's father said. "professor bigelow will be worried about us, if he is not by now." they hiked on up the river, the chief following. "won't the old boy be surprised when he finds that professor bigelow can talk with him!" smiled joe, as they rounded a long bend. "that isn't a strong enough word," laughed mr. holton. "still," he hesitated, "we don't want to be too sure that this indian is from the tribe that the professor was searching for." the boats were several miles distant, and it would require several hours' traveling to get to them. but the whites were all overly anxious and made good time. at last, after passing through a thick grove of palms, they sighted the boats in the distance. professor bigelow came running up at once, a broad smile of thankfulness on his bronzed, scholarly face. he gave the boys a welcome almost as warm as that of mr. holton and mr. lewis. the crew, too, took part in the reception and muttered words of joy at seeing bob and joe alive and unharmed. even the indians who had previously attempted desertion joined in, outwardly at least. "but look here, professor," said bob. "we've found the savage tribe you were searching for and have brought you the chief." "what!" for answer bob motioned for the indian, who was standing several score feet down the path, to come closer. he grudgingly did so, and the professor was taken completely aback in surprise and joy. his eyes opened wide, and it was some time before he could regain his composure. "how can i ever thank you enough?" he muttered, his eyes on the sober indian. "we might have searched for days and days and then not found the tribe." he turned to the chief and said something that the others did not understand. at once the savage's face lightened, and he began chattering so rapidly that the professor had to put up a hand for silence. "i'm sorry, but i'm not that familiar with his language," laughed the professor. "i think, though, that if he'll talk slowly i may be able to understand him. luckily he's from the same tribe that otari told about." again professor bigelow turned to the indian and this time asked him to talk more slowly. he did, and a long conversation followed. it was broken and awkward, but in the end the professor gained a large amount of information. there was a smile on his face as he turned to the others. "he says he will tell me all i want to know about his people if i will go with him to his settlement. his people will treat us all right. i don't think there is cause to worry about that. what do you think about going?" "all right with me," returned mr. holton. "that was one purpose for coming up here, you know. and the chances are that we'll find an abundance of fauna in those remote forests. i'm all for it." "fine," burst out professor bigelow. "then we'll go at once. but first," he hesitated, "we'll have to decide who will go and who will stay with the boats." "why not take the boats with us?" suggested joe. "the stream that bob and i followed to the river is deep, even if it isn't wide. i think we can easily paddle through." the others gave their approval at once, and they moved on up to the boats. they decided to get a lunch first, however, for all were tired after the day's strain. the chief was in no special hurry to get back to the village, as he had often left on long hunting trips alone. soon after the meal the provisions that had been taken out were packed in the boats, and then all climbed in. "now let's make time," urged mr. lewis, and the crew paddled them upstream. the afternoon was rapidly wearing away, and before long it would be night. at last mr. holton called to the crew to stop the boats. "it's unsafe to paddle farther," he said. "suppose we turn up into that little bay over there." the suggestion was carried out. then they made camp. "hope nothing happens tonight," said bob, as he prepared to turn in for the night. "i'm with you there," his chum returned. "somehow i've had enough thrills for a while." but he had no way of knowing how soon action would present itself in a big way. the next morning they were up early, preparing to resume the journey shortly after breakfast. the chief of the strange tribe told professor bigelow that they should reach his village late that day, if all turned out well. "i'm not especially anxious to get back among those wild men," bob said aside to his chum. "but we must do all we can to help professor bigelow." late that afternoon the chief said something to the anthropologist and pointed to a clearly defined trail that wound away through the heavy vegetation. "he says that here is where we leave the boats and head for his village," the scientist told the others in animated tones. "fine!" exclaimed mr. lewis, also delighted that the journey had come to an end. "there's a place that will act as a harbor," pointing to a groove in the shore. he directed the crew to paddle the boats to land, and as soon as this was done all climbed out and made the crafts fast to staunch trees. professor bigelow turned to the savage and conversed for several minutes. then he moved to the boats. "the village isn't far away," he said. "it will be safe to leave our provisions here for the time being." as a precaution, however, and also because the naturalists wished to secure new specimens, they carried their rifles and a good supply of ammunition. the chief led the way along the path, the others close at his heels. the path was so well cut that they had no trouble in walking along briskly. a half-hour, the indian said through professor bigelow, would be all the time required to get to the village. suddenly the explorers heard a faint screaming and shouting that came from the village, and at once the chief began chattering nervously. professor bigelow gave a groan and translated to the others. "he says that probably a fight is taking place between his tribe and another," said the scientist. "what!" cried mr. holton excitedly. "then that means that we whites may have to use our rifles after all. ask him if the other tribe is using poisoned arrows." the savage nodded in affirmation when the question was put before him, and the whites tightened their grips on their weapons. "i guess this means that we're in for some excitement," bob confided to his chum, as the party again followed the trail. ten minutes later they parted the foliage and came abruptly within full view of the village. all uttered cries of consternation at the furiousness of the battle that was taking place between the two savage tribes. chapter xxvi the terrible battle spears and arrows and darts flew thick and fast, striking down many a man on both sides. fierce cries filled the atmosphere and made the americans shudder. here in the untamed wilds of brazil was taking place as terrible a battle as the world had ever known. savages--wild, hostile indians--were the participants, and no people anywhere were more terrible when excited to insane fury. for some time none of the explorers spoke. they were too captivated by the scene. but at last mr. holton turned thought into action. "get your rifles in readiness," he commanded. "it's up to us to drive this tribe away. the chief's men seem unable to do it. "now we're all good shots," he went on. "suppose we fire a volley of bullets and see if we can't make them leave without bloodshed. if we can't, we'll have to shoot to kill. come on, now." the whites raised their rifles, and, one at a time, pulled the triggers. five shots rang out, much to the surprise of the savages. but as no damage seemed to be done by the strange reports, the indians regained confidence and sent spears and arrows in the explorers' direction. as a result, one of the crew went down, wounded in the thigh. "we'll have to shoot to kill," said mr. lewis at once. he raised his rifle and, taking careful aim, fired at the nearest native, who went down instantly. mr. lewis's shot was followed by those of the other whites, and at once panic ensued among the invading savages. after only a thin defense, they took to their heels with cries of fright and bewilderment, leaving their dead and wounded behind. "guess that drove them off all right," said bob with a grim smile. "come on, let's----but wait! look! the chief's tribe is worshiping us." bob was right. the indians had fallen to their knees, waving their arms and muttering words that were not understood even by professor bigelow. even the chief, accustomed as he was to the rifles and the whites' power to bring down animals, bowed his head in awe at his tribe's deliverance. it was a most embarrassing situation, and for a time the explorers were at a loss to know what to do next. finally professor bigelow walked forward and uttered kind words, at the same time raising hands for the savages to rise to their feet. he succeeded well. at once they got to their feet and resumed something of their usual attitude, although they were not quite convinced that these people were not gods. the chief went forward and conversed with them so rapidly that professor bigelow could not keep up. "he's telling of his visit to our camp," the scientist said. "he perhaps considers it a much-prized experience." as soon as the chief had finished, the indians jabbered excitedly, eager to get all the details. occasionally they would look at the whites as if they considered them super-beings. "they can't get over the thought that we have higher powers than they have," mused bob. "but maybe," he hesitated, his thoughts going back to the terrible trophy chamber of dried human heads that was one of the tribe's prized possessions, "it will be just as well to let them go on thinking that way. it would be hard to say when they might turn against us if they thought we were ordinary persons." "turn against us?" demanded mr. lewis, rather surprised. "what makes you think they would do that? they seem all right." "don't know that they would," bob replied, exchanging meaning glances with joe. "still it's wise to be on the safe side." it was evident that bob's significant statement had the men highly puzzled. finally professor bigelow demanded an explanation. "there's nothing to it--except that these people are headhunters," said joe. "if you don't believe it just take a look at the place where they keep the heads. and say! they've killed a couple of white men, too." astonished gasps came from mr. holton and mr. lewis, but not from professor bigelow. anthropologist as he was, he had suspected this from the start. very few _savage_ tribes in the wilds of brazil did not have that custom. suddenly a groan made all turn about, to see that the indian of the crew who had been wounded by a spear had regained consciousness. his side apparently pained severely, for on his face was a look of agony. mr. holton got to work at once. "ask the chief if we can have some water," he said to professor bigelow. "bob, suppose you run down to the boats and bring a box of antiseptic. go as fast as you can. meanwhile we'll be taking care of others that were wounded." bob grabbed a rifle and dashed off down the path for the stream. he reached the boats in record time and hurriedly got out a box of first-aid materials. then he made his way back to the village. but he had gone only a few yards when a fluttering noise caused him to look up. at once his jaw dropped in astonishment, and a look of surprise and wonder came on his face. chapter xxvii human heads still dripping! the sight that bob beheld was one that few hunters and scientists have the opportunity of seeing. strange sights were common enough in all little-known lands, but this was indeed a wonder of wonders. not thirty feet in the air a bird resembling an eagle was carrying a half-grown tapir with apparently perfect ease, although the tapir was three times heavier than itself. the tapir was very much alive, as indicated by its writhing movements, but these availed it nothing. it might as well have been caught in an iron vise. for several minutes bob stared spellbound, taken completely aback. finally he called himself to action and raised his rifle. "dad and mr. lewis would no doubt welcome the addition of such an unusual specimen as this eagle," he thought and then pulled the trigger. the report of the gun was immediately followed by the dropping of the bird and its prey. it fluttered about for a moment and then lay still. the tapir had been killed instantly by the fall. much to bob's surprise, the bird could be lifted easily, and he hastened on to the indian settlement, confident that the naturalists would nearly throw a fit over the strange eagle. and he thought right. mr. holton and mr. lewis exclaimed in delight and surprise when they caught sight of bob and the strange creature he was carrying. "where did you ever find it?" asked mr. lewis, and bob was forced to tell of the entire experience. "the great hairy eagle," pronounced mr. holton, when the youth had finished. "i thought they were confined to the jungles of guiana, didn't you, ben?" he asked of joe's father. "yes," was the reply. "never heard of their being found here. such is unusual indeed. the claws are the most powerful of any known bird." but there was little time for further examining the specimen, for the wounded indians needed treatment. the member of the crew was looked after first, and then they turned to the chief's men, many of whom were seriously wounded. as for those who had been struck by poisoned arrows, treatment was unnecessary, for death had set in long before. the better part of an hour was spent in giving first-aid to the unfortunate savages, and in the end they felt that a large number of lives had been saved by their actions. "but don't think that the natives have no cure for human ills," said professor bigelow. "the chances are that they know of many remedies that surpass those of civilization in curing properties." when the task was completed, the indians invited the whites to come in the main hut and participate in a feast in honor of their ability to drive off the hostile invaders. the invitation was accepted at once, for the explorers were all very hungry. "wonder what they'll give us to eat?" asked joe, as they went into the thatched hut. "perhaps it'll be better not to know," bob grinned. whatever it was, however, it tasted good, and they ate heartily of everything. "now i'm going to get in touch with the chief, whose name i recently learned is reemikuk," announced professor bigelow. "but first, however, i must have my typewriter. that means a trip to the boats." "and while he's doing that, mr. lewis and i can have a look about the village," bob's father said. "perhaps you boys can show us the places and things of interest. will you do it?" "to be sure we will," returned joe. "but first," he said with a grim smile, "you must prepare yourselves to see things that are unpleasant." "what do you mean?" his father demanded. for answer the youths led the way to the trophy house and its hideous contents. impulsively the naturalists shrank back in disgust at the scene. never had they laid eyes on such a place of horror before. "to think," muttered mr. lewis, "that even these wild people could do such hideous things!" but despite the gruesomeness of the place they spent several minutes there, unable to tear themselves away from its terrible fascination. at last mr. holton made for the outside. "now for something more pleasant," he said. "what is there, boys?" "plenty," answered joe. "there are games and baskets and carvings and...." all the remainder of that day was spent in examining the many articles of interest made by the simple savages. when at last they went back to the hut that was to be theirs during their stay at the village, they found the professor in earnest conversation with the chief and a witch doctor. the indians were talking slowly, so that the scientist could pick up every word. he glanced up at the other whites only for a moment, so deeply engrossed was he in what the savages were telling him. "he seems to be enjoying himself immensely," observed joe aside to his chum. "no doubt about it," bob replied. "and look how the indians are regarding the typewriter. probably think it's another of the whites' magics." professor bigelow _was_ enjoying himself. every strange custom of the savages appealed to him as a wonderful item to put in the book he intended to write about the primitive inhabitants of these wild regions. but two days later something happened that, although considered a very interesting custom by the anthropologist, was not to the liking of the other whites. a band of twenty-five warriors had gone into the upper reaches of the river several days before, and now they returned laden with--human heads! "ugh! me for the hut," said bob, a sickly feeling creeping over him as he viewed the ghastly trophies. and the others, with the exception of professor bigelow, felt the same way. the anthropologist, however, seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the terrible scene. "how thrilling a custom!" he said to his friends that night, as they prepared to retire. for answer the others only groaned. but if the explorers thought the mere carrying in of human heads was gruesome, they were to witness something still more terrible before a week would pass. chapter xxviii the forced get-away "bob!" "joe!" "did you see it?" "yes. human bones! these savages are _cannibals_!" it was night--a dark, lowering night. the moon was nowhere in sight. not a star twinkled down from the heavy jungle sky. huge, roaring fires blazed in front of the chief's large hut, while about them danced scores of painted savages, shouting and screaming and gesticulating. it was a scene wild enough to strike terror to the heart of anyone. bob and joe gazed fearfully into the raging mob, wondering if the lives of them and their companions would be taken for the feast. the boys moved over to their elders, who were standing at the other side of their thatched dwelling. "cannibals!" professor bigelow was muttering. he had seen too. mr. holton and mr. lewis nodded, on their faces a grave expression. they were so taken aback as to be almost speechless. "i think perhaps we had better get away from here," said the professor, who, although deeply attentive to scientific work, knew when he was in a dangerous situation. "i know enough of the ways of primitive people to surmise what they'll probably do to us if we stay. their appetites for human flesh will be so stimulated that they will no doubt kill us also. lucky that this happened as late as it did. i wouldn't have wanted to leave so soon if i had not secured about all the information there is to be obtained about them." just before leaving, bob and joe got out their cameras and took motion pictures of the gruesome feast, and in the end they were almost convinced that nothing of this kind had ever been shown on the silver screen. with the aid of flashlights, whose beams, by the way, were concealed from the savages, the explorers had gathered their belongings together and were now ready to leave for the boats. of course it would be perilous traveling at night through the jungle, but the chance had to be taken. at that moment an indian entered their hut, glanced about, and then started to call to the others. displaying a quickness remarkable for his size and weight, mr. holton launched himself full force at the fellow, sending him to the ground unconscious. "now let's get away--quick!" he said. "there's no telling when the whole tribe will be in here after us." as quietly as possible, the explorers and their indian crew dashed away down the trail for the stream, never looking back, but fearing that they would hear the screams of the cannibals at any moment. the flashlights rendered traveling easy, and as they had been over the trail many times, they reached the boats in record time. their possessions were piled inside. then they climbed hastily in and were paddled swiftly away. it was not until they had reached the main stream that they felt safe. then they turned the boats downstream on the journey back to the coast. "it isn't wise to tax good fortune too much," said mr. lewis, as the narrow stream faded in the distance. "we came up here for two definite purposes, and we've accomplished them both. first, professor bigelow has made a rather extensive study of little-known indians, and second, mr. holton and i have collected hundreds of specimens for the museum. you boys have met with success in taking moving pictures, also. now that our work is finished, we'd better get to the purús at once." however, "at once" was a bit too hastily, for there were dangerous rapids that had to be portaged, totally unknown animals that diverted the naturalists' attention, and a hundred and one reasons for making slow progress, even downstream. but at last they sighted the purús in the distance. "now to hunt up senhor del pereo, the man who fitted us out with our boats and crew," said mr. holton. they found that individual in his house at the edge of the little town that rested between the two rivers. he was more than glad to see the explorers back after such a long, perilous journey, and insisted that they remain at his house overnight, or until a boat could be found that would take them to the amazon. the explorers accepted the invitation at once, glad of the chance to partake of the comforts of civilization after those long weeks into the unknown. the next day they were fortunate in getting passage on a boat bound for manáos. it was a small steamer, scheduled to reach its destination in less than five days. at manáos the explorers had another streak of good luck, finding a large liner that would take them straight to new york. down the mighty amazon they steamed, at last coming into the port at pará for a short stay. after a walk about town, the americans again boarded the vessel for the trip to new york. it was an ideal evening as they steamed majestically out of the busy harbor and turned toward the united states. "do you know, joe, old boy," remarked bob, as they sat with their elders on deck in the light of the full moon, "the farther away we get from the region we explored the more i prize our experience." joe nodded. "it was great," he agreed. "and just think. we were lost--lost in the wilds of brazil." * * * * * * transcriber's note: the four books in this series have been transcribed in the same manner. this means that in some books, table of contents and or/list of series names have been added. except in cases of obvious typographical errors, archaic and inconsistent spelling has been retained. [illustration: the author.] across unknown south america by a. henry savage-landor with maps, coloured plates, and illustrations from photographs by the author _in two volumes_ vol. i hodder and stoughton london new york toronto _printed in _ _copyright in the united states of america_ _by a. henry savage-landor_ this work is dedicated to the people of the great brazilian republic preface south america is, to my mind, "the coming continent"--the continent of the future. everybody knows the wealth of the argentine, peru, chile, and bolivia; but the interior of brazil, the largest and richest country of all, not unlike forbidden tibet, was perhaps better known a century or two ago than now. few people realize that brazil is larger than the united states of north america, germany, portugal, and a few other countries taken together. the interior is practically a _terra incognita_--although the ancient jesuits and, at a later date, escaped slaves and native rubber collectors have perhaps found their way inland to a considerable distance. when i started on the transcontinental journey i did not take europeans with me. it is not easy to find men who can stand the strain of so long a journey. i was also not surprised, although i was disappointed, not to be able to obtain suitable officers in brazil to go part of the journey with me, so that i might be relieved of a portion of the tedious scientific work of the expedition, especially taking and computing daily astronomical observations, to which much time has to be devoted. all the work of all kinds eventually fell upon my shoulders, and after departing i found myself filling the posts of surveyor, hydrographer, cartographer, geologist, meteorologist, anthropologist, botanist, doctor, veterinary surgeon, painter, photographer, boat-builder, guide, navigator, etc. the muleteers who accompanied me--only six, all counted--were of little help to me--perhaps the reverse. so that, considering all the adventures and misfortunes we had, i am sure the reader, after perusing this book, will wonder that we got back at all, and will be indulgent enough to give me a little credit for saving, through innumerable disasters--and perhaps not altogether by mere luck--all my photographs ( of them), all my note-books, all my scientific observations, as well as all the vocabularies i made of the various indian languages of tribes found on my way. also for bringing all my men out alive. here are, briefly, a few results of the expedition:-- (_a_) first of all it has proved that, far from south america's being an impenetrable continent--as was believed--it is possible for any experienced traveller to cross brazil in any direction, if he could obtain suitable followers. (_b_) it has proved that the "millions of savage indians" supposed to be swarming all over the interior of brazil do not exist at all. all the pure indians of central brazil taken together may number a few hundreds, or including half-castes (negroes and portuguese), a few thousands. as for the wild beasts and snakes, no one ever need fear being troubled by them. they are more afraid of you than you of them, you can take my word for it. so that the terror which has so far prevented people penetrating the interior has no reasonable ground, and this book ought to be the means of making european people some day swarm to develop that marvellous land now absolutely uninhabited. (_c_) meteorological observations were recorded daily right across brazil. (_d_) altitude observations, forming a complete chain and including all minor undulations, were registered across the entire south american continent from the atlantic coast at rio de janeiro as far as callao on the pacific coast. the observations were taken with a hypsometer and several excellent aneroids. these show that many of the elevations marked on the existing maps of brazil are inaccurate, the error amounting sometimes to several hundred feet. (_e_) a complete survey was made of new country between the araguaya river and the madeira, including a careful survey of the arinos river and the river arinos-juruena, one of the most powerful tributaries of the amazon. in the small map, reproduced from the best existing maps, at the end of the first volume, several high mountain ranges, quite as high as the andes, may be noticed extending from north to south between the rivers madeira, tapajoz, xingu, araguaya and tocantins. those high ranges are merely the work of imaginative cartographers, who have drawn them to make the map look pretty. they do not exist. i have left them in order to draw the attention of the reader to them. the position of the arinos-juruena is from to ½ degrees farther west than it is there drawn, and should be where i have marked the red line of my route. (_f_) everything that was of interest pictorially, geologically, botanically, or anthropologically was photographed or sketched. astronomical observations were constantly taken to determine the positions of our camps and places of importance. botanical and geological collections were made, but unfortunately had to be abandoned. (_g_) during the journey the head waters of the following important rivers were visited: the rio vermelho, rio claro, rio araguaya, rio barreiros, rio das mortes, rio s. lourenço, the cuyaba river, the xingu, the paranatinga, the paraguay river (paraná), the rio arinos, the secundury. (_h_) the entire course of the river tapajoz was studied, and also the entire course of the amazon from its mouth almost to its birthplace in the andes. (_i_) useful vocabularies were drawn up of the following indian languages: bororo, apiacar, mundurucu, campas or antis. (_k_) the expedition has furthermore shown that it is possible with poor material in the way of followers to accomplish work of unusual difficulty. (_l_) that it is possible for people in a normal condition of health to go at least sixteen days without food while doing hard work. (_m_) that it is possible to cross an entire continent--for one entire year--in the company of dangerous and lazy criminals without any weapon for protection--not even a penknife--and to bring forth from such poor material remarkable qualities of endurance, courage, and almost superhuman energy. (_n_) last, but not least, on that expedition i was able to collect further evidence that a theory i had long held as to the present shape of the earth was correct. i had never believed in the well-known theory that a continent, now submerged, once existed between america, europe and africa--in other words, where the atlantic ocean is now. that theory has found many followers. in support of it one is told that such islands as madeira, the canaries, the azores, are the topmost peaks of a now partly submerged range of mountains which once stood upon that vanished continent. it is also a common belief that northern africa underwent the contrary process, and was pushed up from under the sea. that is why--it is said--the sahara desert, which was formerly, without doubt, an ocean bed, is now dry and above water. one has only to look at any map of the entire world to see what really happened to the earth in days long gone by. let me first of all tell you that there never existed a continent between africa and south america. in fact, i doubt whether there is as much as a square mile between those two continents more submerged to-day than it was thousands upon thousands of years ago. here is what really happened. the earth at one period changed its shape--when, is merely guesswork, and is of no consequence here--and the crust of the earth--not the core, mind you--split into two great gaps from pole to pole, with a number of other minor fissures. in other words, the earth opened just like the skin of an over-heated baked apple. the african and american continents, as well as australasia, with new guinea, the celebes islands, the philippine archipelago and china, which before that event formed part of one immense continent, thus became divided, leaving north and south america isolated, between the two great oceans--the atlantic and the pacific--which were then, and only then, formed. it is easy, by looking intelligently at a map, to reconstruct the former shape of the world. you will notice that the most western portion of africa fits exactly into the gap between north and south america, while the entire african coast between dahomey and the cape colony fits in perfectly in all its indentations and projections into the coast line of south america. the shores of western europe in those days were joined to north america, and find to-day their almost parallel and well-fitting coast line on the east coast of the united states and canada. on the opposite side of the world, the western side of south america, the same conditions can be noticed, although the division of the two continents (america and asia) is there much wider. fragments were formed, leaving innumerable islands scattered in the pacific ocean, half-way between the actual continents of asia, australia and america. a mere glance is sufficient to see how well australia fits in along the chilian and peruvian coast, the great island of new guinea along part of peru and ecuador, and the west coast of the central american isthmus. the philippine islands lay probably in those days alongside of guatemala, while california bordered on japan. such immense rivers as the amazon, and its portentous tributaries flowing from south to north, were also formed perhaps at that time, great fissures caused by the sudden splitting and cooling of the earth's crust becoming the river beds. so perhaps was formed the giant cañon of colorado and the immense fissures in the earth's crust that occur in central asia, in central africa, and, as we shall see, on the central plateau of brazil. undoubtedly the antarctic continent was once joined to south america, australia and africa. during the last antarctic expeditions it has been shown that the same geological formation exists in south america as in the antarctic plateau. on perusing this book, the reader will be struck by the wonderful resemblance between the indians of south america, the malay races of asia, and the tribes of polynesia. i maintain that they not only resemble each other, but are actually the same people in different stages of development, and naturally influenced to a certain extent by climatic and other local conditions. those people did not come there, as has been supposed, by marching up the entire asiatic coast, crossing over the behring straits and then down the american coast, nor by means of any other migration. no, indeed; it is not they who have moved, but it is the country under them which has shifted and separated them, leaving members of the same race thousands of miles apart. i was able to notice among the indians of central brazil many words of malay origin, others closely resembling words of languages current among tribes of the philippine islands. the anthropometric measurements which i took of south american indians corresponded almost exactly with those of natives of the sulu archipelago and the island of mindanao. i hope some day to use the wealth of material i have collected among innumerable tribes on the asiatic coast, on the islands of the pacific ocean, in south america and in africa, in making a comparative study of those peoples. it should prove interesting enough. i have no space here to go deeply into the subject, as this is merely a book descriptive of south america. i may add that the most ardent supporter of the above theory is the celebrated explorer and scientist, colonel marchand, of fashoda fame--a man who has studied and understands the mysteries of this world better than any man living. my sincere thanks are due to the following gentlemen for much politeness shown me in connection with the expedition: to mr. gustave babin, the famous writer of paris; to mr. manoel bomfin (ex-deputy of brazil), to senador alcindo guanabara, for the keen interest taken in the expedition and for proposing to congress after my return that a grant of £ , should be given to me as a reward for the work done. i herewith also express my gratitude to the brazilian government for paying me that sum, which came in usefully to defray part of the expenses of the expedition. to h.e. dr. pedro de toledo, minister of agriculture, for the intelligent desire shown to help as much as he could in the venture, and for kindly giving me the free use of all the telegraphs in brazil, including the amazon cable, and other important privileges; to dr. josé carlos rodriguez for hospitality and much valuable advice; to dr. paolo de frontin, conseilheiro antonio prado, dr. josé pereira rebonças and mr. mockill and their respective companies for the many privileges granted me upon the various railways of which they were the presidents; to colonel r. e. brazil and commandante macedo for their kind hospitality to me while navigating the lower tapajoz river; to dr. a. b. leguia, president of the peruvian republic; to the british ministers at petropolis, lima, la paz, and buenos ayres, and the british consuls of rio de janeiro, pará, manaos, iquitos, antofogasta, valparaiso; finally to the british and american residents at all those places for much exquisite hospitality offered me. special thanks are due to mr. regis de oliveira, ex-brazilian minister in london, for valuable credentials given me before my departure which paved the way to the hearty reception i received everywhere in brazil. a. henry savage-landor. savoy hotel, london. _september_ . contents vol. i chapter i the heart of brazil--brazil, its size and its immense wealth--rio de janeiro--brazilian men of genius--são paulo--the _bandeirantes_--the paulista railway pp. - chapter ii coffee--the dumont railway pp. - chapter iii on the mogyana railway pp. - chapter iv the terminus of the railway--an unpleasant incident--the purchase of animals--on the march with the caravan pp. - chapter v travelling across country--a musical genius--valuable woods--thermal springs pp. - chapter vi inquisitiveness--snakes--a wonderful cure--butterflies--a striking scene pp. - chapter vii in the city of goyaz pp. - chapter viii fourteen long and weary days--disappointment--criminals as followers pp. - chapter ix the departure--devoured by insects pp. - chapter x fishing--termites--the great araguaya river pp. - chapter xi the _tucano_--fish of the araguaya river--a bad shot--a strange sight pp. - chapter xii geological speculation--beautiful pasture-land pp. - chapter xiii the river barreiros--a country of tablelands pp. - chapter xiv the bororo indians pp. - chapter xv bororo superstitions--the bororo language--bororo music pp. - chapter xvi bororo legends--the religion of the bororos--funeral rites pp. - chapter xvii the river das garças--majestic scenery pp. - chapter xviii the salesian fathers--a volcanic zone pp. - chapter xix the paredão grande--a cañon--a weird phenomenon--troublesome insects pp. - chapter xx wild animals--an immense chasm--interesting cloud effects pp. - chapter xxi a beautiful lagoon--strange lunar display--waves of lava--curious grottoes--rock carvings--a beautiful waterfall pp. - chapter xxii in search of the highest point of the brazilian plateau--mutiny--great domes--travelling by compass--a gigantic fissure in the earth's crust pp. - chapter xxiii the jangada river--demented descendants of slaves--appalling degeneration--giant monoliths--the river roncador--gigantic natural gateways--the discovery of fossils pp. - chapter xxiv a swampy valley--impressive scenery--"church rock"--escaping before a forest fire--the rio manso--difficulties of marching across virgin country--beautiful rapids pp. - chapter xxv the blue mountains--the cuyabá river--inaccurate maps--a rebellion in camp--infamy of author's followers--the lagõa dos veados and the seven lakes--falling back on diamantino--another mutiny--slavery--descending from the tableland pp. - list of illustrations vol. i the author _photogravure frontispiece_ page rio de janeiro, showing the beautiful avenida central rio de janeiro as it was in dr. pedro de toledo, minister of agriculture, brazil senador alcindo guanabara, a great literary genius and patriot of brazil the municipal theatre, rio de janeiro baron de rio branco dr. passos a beautiful waterfall at theresopolis antonio prado's coffee estate the station and shed of the goyaz railway, araguary. mr. luiz schnoor and his two engineers typical trees of the brazilian forest, goyaz. the stem devoid of branches and foliage up to a great height author departing from morro da meza, showing style of costume worn during the expedition alcides and filippe the negro goyaz railway in construction: the cut leading to the paranahyba river author's caravan crossing a stream characteristic types of brazilians of the interior. (notice the degenerate faces and development of goitre) a typical village of the province of goyaz picturesque ox-carts of goyaz a home in central brazil a clever automatic pounding machine brazilian pack-saddles a typical village. (the higher building is the church) author's caravan about to cross the river corumba burity palms the president of goyaz and his family. (giant cactus in the background) the main square of goyaz city, showing prison and public library some of the baggage and scientific instruments used by author on his expedition author's six followers view of goyaz city from sta. barbara author's men packing animals some of author's pack animals author's caravan across the immense prairies of matto grosso the araguaya river (looking north) the araguaya (looking south) caraja indian of the upper araguaya river typical flat-topped plateau of central brazil one night's fishing on the araguaya the paredÃozinho typical scenery of matto grosso volcanic scenery of matto grosso (chapada in foreground) peculiar formation of central plateau curious domes of lava with upper stratum of earth, sand and ashes great undulating campos of matto grosso typical brazilian plateau, showing work of erosion on the plateau of matto grosso (alcides in foreground) a fine bororo type on a visit to author's camp bororo men, showing lip ornament bororo men bororo indians bororo men (the aprons are not actually worn) bororo warriors bororo warriors the horrors of photography: bororo children bororo chief rattling gourds filled with pebbles, in order to call members of his tribe (_coloured plate_) bororo child showing strong malay characteristics bororo girls bororo girls (side view) bororo women, showing method of carrying children bororos showing formation of hands bororo women bororo women bororos thrashing indian corn a bororo blind woman bororo children bororo women isolated conical hills with tower-like rocky formations on summit the endless campos of matto grosso geometrical pattern on the surface of a flow of lava (caused by sudden contraction in cooling) the observatory at the salesian colony. (padre colbacchini in the foreground) bororo women and children strange formation of volcanic rock volcanic cavities (matto grosso) a vertical mass of solid rock of a brilliant red colour the paredÃo grande (matto grosso) (_coloured plate_) the paredÃo grande, showing vertical rocks with great arches mushroom-shaped rocks of volcanic formation a great earthquake fissure in the terrestrial crust (matto grosso) strange geometrical pattern of lava over giant volcanic dome author's troop of animals wading across a shallow stream central cluster of trees and palms in a cuvette (matto grosso) a giant wave of lava strange rock-carvings of matto grosso weird lunar effect witnessed by author (_coloured plate_) a giant quadrangular block of rock rock-carvings in matto grosso a picturesque waterfall on the s. lourenÇo river a caÑon of matto grosso how author's animals rolled down trailless ravines hideous types characteristic of central brazil. two women (left) and two men (right) author's caravan marching across trailless country the roncador river fossil skull of a giant animal discovered by author (side view) fossil skull of giant animal (seen from underneath) a grand rock ("church rock") church rock (side view) quadrangular rocky mountain connected by natural wall of rock with the vertical-sided range in background quadrangular rocky mountain showing rocky wall connecting it with the neighbouring range author's caravan in the heart of matto grosso a giant dome of lava campos and chapada of matto grosso marvellous scenery of the central brazilian plateau. "church rock" standing in the centre (_coloured plate_) a street of diamantino the dogs of the expedition matto-grosso girl, a mixture of portuguese, indian and negro blood brazilian child, a mixture of portuguese and negro map showing author's route map showing the arinos and arinos-juruena rivers chapter i the heart of brazil--brazil, its size and its immense wealth--rio de janeiro--brazilian men of genius--são paulo--the _bandeirantes_--the paulista railway "more than three months to reach the spot?" asked the cinematograph man in amazement. "then perhaps monsieur is on a journey to mars or the moon! there is no spot on earth that takes so long to reach." (hearty laughter at his own wit.) that exclamation, and wise words that follow, came from the assistant of one of the largest firms of cinematograph appliances in paris, where i had called in order to purchase a moving picture apparatus and , metres of film to be used on my forthcoming journey across the south american continent. the shop assistant had very honestly warned me that if the films were to be used in a damp, tropical climate, they must be exposed and developed within three months of their manufacture. after that time they would become so perforated and fogged as to be quite useless. i had remarked that it would take me more than three months to reach the spot where i should begin to take cinematograph pictures. "will monsieur please tell where is the spot where he would be likely to use the films?" continued the assistant, still overcome with surprise. "in the heart of brazil." "in the heart of brazil ... in the very heart of brazil?... _oh, mon dieu! mon dieu!_" (more laughter and a look of compassion at me.) "_mais nous avons une de nos maisons tout à fait près de là!_" (why, indeed, we have one of our factories quite close to there.) it was then my turn for hearty laughter and the look of compassion. "pray," i inquired, "tell me more exactly. where is your factory close to the heart of brazil?" "it is quite, quite close. it is in montreal, canada.... you will send your films there ... two or three days' journey.... it will take us a week to develop them ... two or three days for their return journey. in a fortnight you will have them back again." quite close, indeed: only a distance of some ° of latitude--or some kilometres as the crow flies--with no direct communication by land or water! that was the frenchman's knowledge of geography; but i find that the average englishman, unless he is directly interested in those countries, knows little better, and perhaps even less. time after time i have been asked in london if brazil were not a province of mexico, and whether it is not through brazil that the americans are cutting the panama canal! there are many who have a vague idea that brazil is a german colony; others, more patriotic, who claim it as an english possession. many of those who have looked at the map of the world are under the impression that spanish is spoken in brazil, and are surprised when you tell them that portuguese happens to be the local language. others, more enlightened in their geography by that great play _charley's aunt_, imagine it a great forest of nut trees. others, more enlightened still, believe it to be a land where you are constantly walking in avenues adorned with wonderful orchids, with a sky overhead swarming with birds of beautiful plumage. i have been asked in all seriousness whether i found the andes quite flat--great prairies (the person had heard of the argentine _pampas_ and got mixed up)--or whether "it" was merely a large lagoon! i could quote dozens more of these extreme cases of ignorance, but of one thing i am certain, and that is, that there are few people in the british isles who realize the actual size of the great brazilian republic. brazil is , , square kilometres--with the territory of the acre newly acquired from bolivia, , , sq. kil. in extent; that is to say, it covers an area larger than the united states of north america, germany, portugal, greece and montenegro taken together. some of the states of the republic are larger than some of the largest countries in europe: such as the state of the amazonas with , , sq. kil.; the state of matto grosso with , , sq. kil.; the state of pará with an area of , , sq. kil.; the state of goyaz with , sq. kil.; the state of minas geraes with , sq. kil.; the acre territory, , sq. kil. there are fewer people still who seriously appreciate the great importance of that beautiful country--with no exception the richest, the most wonderful in the world; to my mind undoubtedly the continent of the future. incalculable is the richness of brazil in mineral wealth. magnificent yellow diamonds are to be found in various regions, those of minas geraes and matto grosso being famous for their purity and extraordinary brilliancy; agates, moonstones, amethysts, emeralds, sapphires, rubies, topazes, and all kinds of beautiful rock crystals are plentiful. gold exists in many regions on the central plateau--but particularly in minas geraes and matto grosso; and platinum in the states of são paulo, minas geraes, sta. catharina and espirito santo; silver, mercury, lead, tin, salicylated and natural copper are found in many places, as well as graphite, iron, magnetic iron, oxide of copper, antimony, argentiferous galena, malachite, manganese oxide, alum, bituminous schist, anthracite, phosphate of lime, sulphate of sodium, hæmatite, monazitic sands (the latter in large quantities), nitrate of potassium, yellow, rose-coloured, and opalescent quartz, sulphate of iron, sulphate of magnesia, potash, kaolin. coal and lignite of poor quality have been discovered in some regions, and also petroleum, but not in large quantities. [illustration: rio de janeiro, showing the beautiful avenida central.] springs of thermal and mineral waters are numerous--particularly those of which the waters are sulphurous or ferruginous; others contain arsenic and magnesia. most beautiful marble of various colours is to be found, and also enormous quantities of mica and amianth; porphyry and porphyroid granite, carbonated and hydroxided iron, argillaceous schist, mica schist. even richer than the mineral wealth is the botanical wealth, hitherto dormant, of brazil. valuable woods occur in many brazilian forests--although it must not for one moment be imagined that entire forests are to be found composed of useful woods. indeed this is not the case. most of the woods are absolutely valueless. still, when it is realized that the forests of brazil extend for several millions of square kilometres, it is easy to conceive that there is plenty of room among a majority of poor trees for some good ones. most brazilian woods are interesting on account of their high specific gravity. few, very few, will float on water. on the central plateau, for instance, i could not find a single wood which floated--barring, under special conditions, the burity palm (_mauritia vinifera_ m.). along the banks of the amazon and in the northern part of brazil this is not quite the case. some brazilian woods, such as the iron-tree (pao-ferro), whose name fitly indicates its character, are of extraordinary hardness. the brazilian forest, although not specially rich in woods for building and naval purposes, is nevertheless most abundant in lactiferous, oliferous, fibrous, medicinal, resinous, and industrial plants--such for instance as can be used for tanning purposes, etc. no country in the world is as rich as brazil in its natural growth of rubber trees; nor have i ever seen anywhere else such beautiful and plentiful palms: the piassava (_attalia fumifera_ m.), the assahy (_euterpe oleracea_ l.), the burity (_mauritia vinifera_ m.), the carnahuberia (_copernicia cerifera_ m.), the palmito (_euterpe edulis_ m.), and many others. i shall give a more detailed description of the most important of these plants as we proceed on our journey and find them in their habitat. where, perhaps, brazil's greatest richness lies is in its hundreds of thousands of square miles of wonderful pasture lands--perfectly ideal, with plenty of excellent water and a delicious climate--capable of some day fattening enough cattle to supply half the world with meat. all these wonderful riches are absolutely dormant; more than that, absolutely wasted for lack of population, for lack of roads, trails, railways, or navigation of the rivers. the coast of brazil is highly civilized, and so, more or less, is the immediate neighbourhood of large cities; but the moment you leave those cities, or the narrow zone along the few hundred kilometres of railways which now exist, you immediately relapse into the middle ages. when you get beyond the comparatively narrow belt of semi-civilization, along the coast, brazil is almost as unknown as mars or the moon. the people who know least the country are, curiously enough, the brazilians themselves. owing greatly to racial apathy, they care little for the trouble of developing their beautiful land. they watch with envy strangers taking gold, diamonds, platinum, and precious stones out of their country. they accuse foreigners of going there to rob them of their wealth; yet you seldom meet a brazilian who will venture out of a city to go and help himself. the brazilian government is now beginning to wake up to the fact that it is the possessor of the most magnificent country on earth, and it is its wish to endeavour to develop it; but the existing laws, made by short-sighted politicians, are considered likely to hamper development for many years to come. brazil is not lacking in intelligent men. indeed, i met in rio de janeiro and s. paulo men who would be remarkable anywhere. councillor antonio prado of s. paulo, for instance, was a genius who had done wonders for his country. the great development of the state of s. paulo compared with other states is chiefly due to that great patriot. then the baron de rio branco--the shrewd diplomatist, who has lately died--has left a monument of good work for his country. the cession of the immensely rich tract of the acre territory by bolivia to brazil is in itself a wonderful achievement. dr. pedro de toledo, the present minister of agriculture, is a practical, well-enlightened, go-ahead gentleman, who makes superhuman efforts, and in the right direction, in order to place his country among the leading states of the two americas. dr. lauro severiano müller, the new minister of foreign affairs, is a worthy successor of baron de rio branco. there are many other persons of positive genius, such as senator alcindo guanabara, a man of remarkable literary ability, and one of the few men in brazil who realize thoroughly the true wants of the republic, a man of large views, who is anxious to see his country opened up and properly developed. another remarkable man is dr. josé carlos rodriguez, the proprietor of the leading newspaper in rio--the _jornal do commercio_--and the organizing genius of some of the most important brazilian commercial ventures. having had an american and english education, dr. rodriguez has been able to establish in rio the best edited and produced daily newspaper in the world. its complete service of telegraphic news from all over the globe--on a scale which no paper, even in england, can equal or even approach--the moderate tone and seriousness of its leading articles, its highly reliable and instructive columns on all possible kinds of subjects by a specially able staff of the cleverest writers in brazil, and the refined style in which it is printed, do great honour to dr. rodriguez. then comes another man of genius--dr. francisco pereira passos, who, with dr. paulo de frontin, has been able in a few years to transform rio de janeiro from one of the dirtiest and ugliest cities in south america into the most beautiful. the great drive around the beautiful bay, the spacious new avenida central--with its parallel avenues of great width--the construction of a magnificently appointed municipal theatre, the heavenly road along the tijuca mountains encircling and overlooking the great harbour, and a thousand other improvements of the city are due to those two men. dr. paulo frontin has also been active in developing the network of railways in brazil. whatever he has undertaken, he has accomplished with great judgment and skill. [illustration: rio de janeiro as it was in .] it would be impossible to enumerate here all the clever men of brazil. they are indeed too numerous. the older generation has worked at great disadvantage owing to the difficulty of obtaining proper education. many are the illiterate or almost illiterate people one finds even among the better classes. now, however, excellent and most up-to-date schools have been established in the principal cities, and with the great enthusiasm and natural facility in learning of the younger generations wonderful results have been obtained. on account partly of the exhausting climate and the indolent life that brazilians are inclined to lead, a good deal of the enthusiasm of youth dies out in later years; still brazil has in its younger generation a great many men who are ambitious and heartily wish to render their country service. it is to be hoped that their efforts may be crowned with success. it is not talent which is lacking in brazil, it is not patriotism; but persistence is not perhaps the chief characteristic among races of portuguese descent. in these days of competition it is difficult to accomplish anything great without labour and trouble. i left london on december rd, , by the royal mail steamship _amazon_, one of the most comfortable steamers i have ever been on. we touched at madeira, pernambuco, and then at bahia. bahia seen from the sea was quite picturesque, with its two horizontal lines of buildings, one on the summit of a low hill-range, the other along the water line. a border of deep green vegetation separated the lower from the upper town. a massive red building stood prominent almost in the centre of the upper town, and also a number of church towers, the high dome of a church crowning the highest point. i arrived in rio de janeiro on january th, . it is no use my giving a description of the city of rio de janeiro. everybody knows that it is--from a pictorial point of view--quite a heavenly spot. few seaside cities on earth can expect to have such a glorious background of fantastic mountains, and at the same time be situated on one of the most wonderful harbours known. i have personally seen a harbour which was quite as strangely interesting as the rio harbour--but there was no city on it. it was the malampaya sound, on the island of palawan (philippine archipelago). but such an _ensemble_ of nature's wonderful work combined with man's cannot, to the best of my knowledge, be found anywhere else than in rio. it does not do to examine everything too closely in detail when you land--for while there are buildings of beautiful architectural lines, there are others which suggest the work of a pastrycook. to any one coming direct from europe some of the statuary by local talent which adorns the principal squares gives a severe shock. ladies in evening dress and naked cupids in bronze flying through national flags flapping in the wind, half of their bodies on one side, the other half on the other side of the flags, look somewhat grotesque as you approach the statues from behind. but rio is not the only place where you see grotesque statuary--you have not to go far from or even out of london to receive similar and worse shocks. if rio has some bad statues it also possesses some remarkably beautiful ones by the sculptor bernardelli--a wonderful genius who is now at the head of the academy of fine arts in rio. this man has had a marvellous influence in the beautifying of the city, and to him are due the impressive lines of the finest buildings in rio, such as the academy of fine arts. naturally, in a young country like brazil--i am speaking of new brazil, now wide awake, not of the brazil which has been asleep for some decades--perfection cannot be reached in everything in one day. it is really marvellous how much the brazilians have been able to accomplish during the last ten years or so in their cities, on or near the coast. brazilians have their own way of thinking, which is not ours, and which is to us almost incomprehensible. they are most indirect in their thoughts and deeds--a characteristic which is purely racial, and which they themselves cannot appreciate, but which often shocks europeans. for instance, one of the most palatial buildings in the avenida central was built only a short time ago. in it, as became such an up-to-date building, was established a lift. but do you think that the architect, like all other architects anywhere else in the world, would make the lift start from the ground floor? no, indeed. the lift only starts from the second floor up--and, if i remember rightly, you have to walk some thirty-eight steps up a grand staircase before you reach it! do you know why? because the architect wished to compel all visitors to the building to admire a window of gaudy coloured glass half-way up the staircase. in this way they reason about nearly everything. they have not yet mastered the importance and due proportion of detail. frequently what is to us a trifling detail is placed by them in the forefront as the most important point of whatever they undertake. thanks to the strong credentials i carried--among which were letters from h.e. regis de oliveira, brazilian minister in london--i was received in rio de janeiro with the utmost consideration and kindness. from the president of the republic to the humblest citizens, all with no exception treated me with charming civility. my stay in rio was a delightful one. the brazilians of the principal cities were most courteous and accomplished, and it was a great pleasure to associate with them. intense interest was shown by the government of the country and by the people in my plan to cross the continent. dr. pedro de toledo, the minister of agriculture, was specially interested in the scheme, and it was at first suggested that the expedition should be an anglo-brazilian one, and that i should be accompanied by brazilian officers and soldiers. colonel rondon, a well-known and brave officer, was ordered by the government to find suitable volunteers in the army to accompany my expedition. after a long delay, colonel rondon informed me that his search had been unsuccessful. colonel rondon said he would have gladly accompanied the expedition himself, had he not been detained in rio by his duties as chief of the bureau for the protection and civilization of the indians. another officer offered his services in a private capacity, but he having become involved in a lawsuit, the negotiations were suddenly interrupted. [illustration: dr. pedro de toledo, minister of agriculture, brazil.] i endeavoured to find suitable civilians. no one would go. the brazilian forest, they all said, was worse, more impenetrable than any forest in the world. brazilian rivers were broader, deeper and more dangerous than any river on earth. wild beasts in brazil were more numerous and wilder than the wildest animals of africa or asia. as for the indians of central brazil, they were innumerable--millions of them--and ferocious beyond all conception. they were treacherous cannibals, and unfortunate was the person who ventured among them. they told stories galore of how the few who had gone had never come back. then the insects, the climate, the terrible diseases of central brazil were worse than any insect, any climate, any terrible disease anywhere. that is more or less the talk one hears in every country when about to start on an expedition. i had prepared my expedition carefully, at a cost of some £ , for outfit. few private expeditions have ever started better equipped. i carried ample provisions for one year (tinned meats, vegetables, , boxes of sardines, fruits, jams, biscuits, chocolate, cocoa, coffee, tea, etc.), two serviceable light tents, two complete sets of instruments for astronomical and meteorological observations, and all the instruments necessary for making an accurate survey of the country traversed. four excellent aneroids--which had been specially constructed for me--and a well-made hypsometrical apparatus with six boiling-point thermometers, duly tested at the kew observatory, were carried in order to determine accurately the altitudes observed. then i possessed two prismatic and six other excellent compasses, chronometers, six photographic cameras, specially made for me, with the very best zeiss and goertz lenses, and some , glass photographic plates--including some for colour photography. all articles liable to be injured by heat and damp were duly packed in air- and water-tight metal cases with outer covers of wood. then i carried all the instruments necessary for anthropometric work, and painting materials for recording views and scenes in colours when the camera could not be used, as at night or when the daylight was insufficient. i had a complete supply of spades, picks, large saws, axes, and heavy-bladed knives (two feet long) for cutting our way through the forest, making roads and constructing rafts, canoes and temporary bridges. i carried, as usual, very little medicine--merely three gallons of castor oil, a few bottles of iodine, some formiate of quinine, strong carbolic and arsenical soaps, permanganate and other powerful disinfectants, caustic--that was about all. these medicines were mostly to be used, if necessary, upon my men and not upon myself. i had twelve of the best repeating rifles that are made, as well as excellent automatic pistols of the most modern type, and several thousand rounds of ammunition--chiefly soft-nosed bullets. these weapons were carried in order to arm my followers. although i had several first-class rifles for my own use--following my usual custom, i never myself carried any weapons--not even a penknife--upon my person except when actually going after game. again on this occasion--as on previous journeys--i did not masquerade about in fancy costumes such as are imagined to be worn by explorers, with straps and buckles and patent arrangements all over. i merely wore a sack coat with ample pockets, over long trousers such as i use in town. nor did i wear any special boots. i always wore comfortable clothes everywhere, and made no difference in my attire between the brazilian forest and piccadilly, london. when it got too hot, naturally i removed the coat and remained in shirt sleeves; but that was all the difference i ever made in my wearing apparel between london and central brazil. i have never in my life adopted a sun helmet--the most absurd, uncomfortable and grotesque headgear that was ever invented. i find, personally, that a common straw hat provides as much protection as any healthy person requires from the equatorial sun. if i give these details, it is merely because they might be of some use to others--not because i wish to advertise these facts; and also, if i do not give the names of the firms which supplied the various articles, it is because--unlike many other explorers--i have been in the custom of never letting my name be used in any way whatever for advertising purposes. there are many people who are enthusiastic over a dangerous project when they first hear of it, but on thinking it over and talking with friends and relatives their enthusiasm soon wears off. that is what happened in rio. i wasted some time in rio--socially most enjoyably employed--in order to get followers and come to some suitable arrangement with the government. i was deeply indebted to the minister of agriculture, dr. pedro de toledo, for allowing me the free use of all the telegraphs in brazil, and also for a special permission (of which i never availed myself) to use, if necessary, the flotilla of government boats on the amazon. credentials were also furnished me, but owing to the way in which they were worded they were more of a danger to me than a protection. they actually proved to be so once or twice when i was compelled to present them. the expedition was considered so dangerous that the government published broadcast statements in the official and other papers stating that "mr. a. h. savage landor's expedition across brazil was undertaken solely at his own initiative and absolutely at his own risk and responsibility." they also circulated widely the statement that i had promised not in any way to injure or hurt the native indians, that i would not supply them with firearms of any kind, and that i would in no way ill-treat them. i had gladly promised all that. i had not even dreamt of doing any of those things to the natives, and naturally i strictly kept my promise. in a luxurious administration car placed at my disposal by dr. paulo frontin i left rio by the central railway, escorted as far as s. paulo by dr. carlo da fonseca, a railway engineer, sent to look after my comfort by the central brazilian railway company. on approaching s. paulo in the early morning i was much struck by the activity of the waking city as compared with rio. carts were dashing to and fro in the streets, the people walked along fast as if they had something to do, and numerous factory chimneys ejected clouds of smoke, puffing away in great white balls. the people stopped to chat away briskly as if they had some life in them. it seemed almost as if we had suddenly dropped into an active commercial european city. the type of people, their ways and manners were different from those of the people of rio--but equally civil, equally charming to me from the moment i landed at the handsome railway station. with a delicious climate--owing to its elevation--with a population of energetic people chiefly of italian origin, instead of the apathetic mixture of portuguese and negro, s. paulo was indeed the most flourishing city of the brazilian republic. its yearly development was enormous. architecturally it was gradually becoming modified and improved, so that in a few years it will be a very beautiful city indeed. already the city possessed beautiful avenues and a wonderful theatre. [illustration: senador alcindo guanabara, a great literary genius and patriot of brazil.] everybody knows what an important part the enterprising people of s. paulo have played in the expansion and colonization of the central and southern regions of brazil. the early activity of the paulistas--it dates back to --can be traced from the river plate on the south, to the head waters of the madeira in matto grosso on the east, and as far as piantry on the north. i cannot indulge here, as i should like to do, in giving a complete historical sketch of the amazing daring and enterprise of those early explorers and adventurers and of their really remarkable achievements. their raids extended to territories of south america which are to-day almost impenetrable. it was really wonderful how they were able to locate and exploit many of the most important mines within an immense radius of their base. the history of the famous bandeiras, under the command of raposo, and composed of mamelucos (crosses of portuguese and indians) and tupy indians, the latter a hardy and bold race, which started out on slave-hunting expeditions, is thrilling beyond words and reads almost like fiction. the ways of the bandeirantes were sinister. they managed to capture immense numbers of slaves, and must have killed as many as they were able to bring back or more. they managed, therefore, to depopulate the country almost entirely, the few tribes that contrived to escape destruction seeking refuge farther west upon the slopes of the andes. although the brazilians--even in official statistics--estimate the number of pure savage indians in the interior at several millions, i think that the readers of this book will be convinced, as i was in my journey across the widest and wildest part of brazil, that perhaps a few hundreds would be a more correct estimate. counting half-castes, second, third and fourth crosses, and indians who have entirely adopted portuguese ways, language and clothes, they may perhaps amount to several thousand--but that is all. the jesuits endeavoured to save the indians from the too-enterprising bandeirantes, with the result that the missions were destroyed also and the missionaries driven away or killed. brazil occupies to-day in the world's knowledge practically the same position that forbidden tibet occupied some fifteen or twenty years ago. it was easier to travel all over brazil centuries ago than now. the bandeirantes became extraordinarily daring. in another slave-hunting paulista expedition started out to sack the missions of paraguay and make great hauls of converted indians. the adventurers invaded even the impenetrable territory of the chaco. but, history tells us, the jesuits, who were well prepared for war, were not only able to trap the paulista bandeirantes in an ambuscade and to set free their prisoners, but killed a great number of them, of the adventurous bandeirantes thus supplying a handsome dinner for the cannibal chaco indians. infuriated at the reverse, the survivors of the expedition destroyed all the missions and indian villages upon their passage, not one escaping. they came to grief, however, in the end. few only returned home to tell the tale. that lesson practically ended the slave-hunting expeditions on a large scale of the bandeirantes, but not the expeditions of parties in search of gold and diamonds, many of which were extraordinarily successful. minor expeditions were undertaken in which paulista adventurers were employed under contract in various parts of brazil for such purposes as to fight the indians or to break up the so-called republic of the palmeiras--an unpleasant congregation of negroes and indians. the astonishing success which the dauntless paulistas had obtained everywhere made them thirst for gold and diamonds, which they knew existed in the interior. they set out in great numbers--men, women, and children--in search of wealth and fresh adventure. several of the towns in distant parts of the interior of brazil owe their origin to this great band of adventurers, especially in the section of brazil now called minas geraes. the adventurers were eventually outnumbered and overpowered by swarms of brazilians from other parts of the country, and by portuguese who had quickly arrived in order to share in the wealth discovered by the paulistas. they finally had to abandon the mines which they had conquered at an appalling loss of human life. the ardour of the paulistas was quelled but not extinguished. about the year they started afresh to the north-west in the direction of the cuyaba river and of goyaz, where they had learnt that gold and diamonds of great beauty were to be found. so many joined in these adventurous expeditions that s. paulo was left almost depopulated. that is how those immense territories of goyaz and matto grosso were discovered and annexed to s. paulo, but eventually, owing to their size, these became split up into _capitaneas_, then into states. the paulistas were great fighters. in they were able to drive away the spaniards from rio grande do sul and forced them to retreat into uruguay. after many years of vicissitudes in war and exploration--after phases of prosperity, oppression, and even of almost total ruin, owing to maladministration and official greed--things began to look up again for são paulo when the port of santos was thrown open to the trade of the world, in . the history of brazil during the last hundred years is too well known to be repeated here. during the last few years the state of são paulo has attained amazing prosperity, principally from the export of coffee--perhaps the most delicious coffee in the world. although nearly all the rivers of the state of são paulo are absolutely useless for navigation, owing to dangerous rapids, the state is intersected by innumerable streams, large and small--of great importance for purposes of irrigation and for the generation of electric power. the most important harbour in the state is santos. ubatuba, são sebastião, iguape and carranca are ports of less consequence. it is principally from santos that the exportation of coffee takes place. [illustration: the municipal theatre, rio de janeiro.] the state extends roughly in a parallelogram from the ocean, south-east, to the parana river, north-west; between the rio grande, to the north, and the rio paranapanema, to the south, the latter being two tributaries of the parana river. the state can be divided into two distinct zones, one comprising the low-lying lands of the littoral, the second the tablelands of the interior north-west of the serra cadias, serra do paranapiacaba and serra do mar--along or near the sea-coasts. the first zone by the sea is extremely hot and damp, with swampy and sandy soil often broken up by spurs from the neighbouring hill ranges. it is well suited for the cultivation of rice. the second zone, which covers practically all the elevated country between the coast ranges and the parana river, is extraordinarily fertile, with a fairly mild climate and abundant rains during the summer months. during the winter the days are generally clear and dry. it is in that second zone that immense coffee plantations are to be found, the red soil typical of that tableland being particularly suitable for the cultivation of the coffee trees. it is hardly necessary here to go into detailed statistics, but it may be sufficient to state, on the authority of the directoria de estatistica commercial of rio de janeiro, that during the first eleven months of the year , , , sacks of coffee were exported from brazil--mostly from são paulo--showing an increase of , sacks on eleven months of the previous year. that means a sum of £ , , sterling, or £ , , more than the previous year; the average value of the coffee being, in , , milreis, or, taking the pound sterling at milreis, £ _s._ ½_d._ a sack--an increase in price of , reis = _s._ _d._ per sack, on the sales of . the other exports from the state of são paulo are flour, mandioca, cassava, bran, tanned hides, horns, fruit (pineapples, bananas, cocoanuts, abacates (alligator pears), oranges, tangerines, etc.), wax, timber (chiefly jacarandà or rosewood), a yearly decreasing quantity of cotton, steel and iron, mica, goldsmith's dust, dried and preserved fish, scrap sole leather, salted and dry hides, wool, castor seed or bean, crystal, _mate_, rice, sugar, rum (_aguardente_) and other articles of minor importance. the area of the state of são paulo has been put down at , sq. kil. its population in was calculated at , , , and it had then more inhabitants to the square kilometre than any other part of brazil. it is useless to give actual figures of the population, for none are reliable. although this state is the most civilized in brazil, yet a good portion of its western territory is still practically a _terra incognita_, so that even the best official figures are mere guess-work. owing to the wonderful foresight of that great man, antonio prado--to my mind the greatest man in brazil--a new industry has been started in the state of são paulo which promises to be as lucrative and perhaps more so than the cultivation of coffee. it is the breeding of cattle on a gigantic scale, the magnificent prairies near barretos, in the northern part of the state, being employed for the purpose. slaughter-houses and refrigerating plants of the most modern type are to be established there, and with such a practical man as antonio prado at the head of the enterprise, the scheme is bound, i should think, to be a success. with the population of the republic gradually increasing--it could be centupled and there would still be plenty of room for as many people again--the são paulo state will one day supply most of the meat for the principal markets of brazil. a good deal of the cattle which will eventually be raised on the marvellous campos of matto grosso and goyaz, and destined to southern brazilian markets, will find its way to the coast via são paulo. the rest will travel perhaps via minas geraes. for some years cattle breeding has been carried on successfully enough, but on a comparatively small scale, in this state. experiments have been made in crossing the best local breeds, principally the caracù, with good foreign breeds, such as the jersey, durham and dutch stocks. pigs of the berkshire, yorkshire, canasters and tatus type are the favourites in são paulo, and seem to flourish in that climate. sheep-breeding is also successful, and would be even more so if proper care were taken of the animals. of the wool-producing kinds, those preferred are the leicester, merino, oxford and lincoln, the oxford having already produced quite excellent results. the government of the state, i understand, is at present giving great attention to the matter, and is using discrimination in the selection of suitable breeds from foreign countries in order to procure the best animals of various kinds for the production of meat, butter, and hides. i also believe that an endeavour is being made to produce in the state a good breed of horses for military and other purposes. the elevation of são paulo city is , ft. above the sea level. thanks to the kindness of the president of the paulista railway, a special saloon carriage was placed at my disposal when i left são paulo, and a railway inspector sent to escort me and furnish me with any information i required. i preferred travelling seated in front of the engine, where i could obtain the full view of the interesting scenery through which we were to pass. [illustration: baron de rio branco.] the paulista railway was interesting, as it was the first line in brazil constructed entirely with brazilian capital. the line was begun in , but since that date several extensions have been successfully laid out. up to the lines owned and worked by the paulista railway were the · -metre-gauge trunk line from jundiahy to descalvado (north of s. paulo), and the two branch lines of the same gauge from cordeiro to rio claro; laranja azeda to s. veridiana; the two branch lines of · m. gauge from descalvado to aurora and from porto ferreira to s. rita do passo quatro. then they possessed the one-metre trunk line from rio claro to araraquara, with the following branch and extension lines: visconde de rio claro to jahu; araraquara to jaboticabal; bebedouro to barretos; mogy guasso rincão to pontal; s. carlos to s. euxodia and rib. bonita; agudos to dois corregos and piratininga; and the loop line through brotas. of the total charters for , kil. have been granted by the federal government and are under their supervision, whereas kil. are under charter granted by the state of são paulo. the following statistics taken from the last brazilian year book show the wonderful development of the passenger and goods traffic on the paulista railway:-- -----+-----------+-----------+--------------+------------+------------ | | |goods carried,| | | | passengers| including |transport of|baggage and |line open. | carried. | coffee. | animals. | parcels. -----+-----------+-----------+--------------+------------+------------ |kilometres.| | tons. | | tons. | | , | , | , | -- | | , | , | , | , | , | , , | , | , | , -----+-----------+-----------+--------------+------------+------------ at jundiahy the paulista company has extensive repairing shops for engines. formerly they had there also shops for building carriages, but these are now constructed at the rio claro station, partly from material which comes from abroad. the rolling stock of the company is excellent in every way--quite up-to-date, and kept in good condition--almost too luxurious for the kind of passengers it has to carry. it is principally after leaving campinas that the scenery of the line is really beautiful--wonderful undulating country--but with no habitations, except, perhaps, a few miserable sheds miles and miles apart. at nueva odena the government is experimenting with russian and italian labourers, for whom it has built a neat little colony. after a time each labourer becomes the owner of the land he has cultivated. i am told that the colony is a success. chapter ii coffee--the dumont railway my object in travelling by the paulista railway was to inspect the line on my way to the immense coffee plantations at martinho prado, owned by conselheiro antonio prado. the estate is situated at an elevation above the sea level of , ft., upon fertile red soil. it is difficult, without seeing them, to realize the extent and beauty of those coffee groves--miles and miles of parallel lines of trees of a healthy, dark green, shining foliage. a full-grown coffee tree, as everybody knows, varies in height from ft. to or ft. according to the variety, the climate, and quality of the soil. it possesses a slender stem, straight and polished, seldom larger than to in. in diameter, from which shoot out horizontal or slightly oblique branches--the larger quite close to the soil--which gradually diminish in length to its summit. the small white blossom of the coffee tree is not unlike jessamine in shape and also in odour. the fruit, green in its youth, gradually becomes of a yellowish tint and then of a bright vermilion when quite ripe--except in the botucatú kind, which remains yellow to the end. the fruit contains within a pericarp a pulp slightly viscous and sweet, within which, covered by a membrane, are the two hemispherical coffee beans placed face to face and each covered by a tender pellicle. it is not unusual to find a single bean in the fruit, which then takes the shape of an ellipsoid grooved in its longer axis--and this is called _moka_ owing to the resemblance which it bears to the coffee of that name. the coffee chiefly cultivated in brazil is the _arabica_ l. and to a small extent also the _liberica_ hiern, but other varieties have developed from those, and there are crosses of local kinds such as the maragogype, which takes its name from the place where it was discovered (bahia province). those varieties are locally known as creoulo, bourbon, java, botucatú (or yellow bean coffee), the maragogype, and the goyaz. the creoulo, the botucatú and the maragogype are wilder and show more resistance than the java and bourbon sorts, which are nevertheless more productive under good conditions and with careful cultivation, which the first three qualities do not exact. the coffee tree is a most serviceable plant, every part of which can be used. its wood is much used in cabinet making, and makes excellent fuel; its leaves, properly torrefied, and then stewed in boiling water, give a palatable kind of tea; from the sweet pulp of its fruit an agreeable liqueur can be distilled; from its beans can be made the beverage we all know, and from the shells and residue of the fruit a good fertilizer can be produced. the chemical examination of the cinders of the coffee bean shows that it contains · per cent of potash, · per cent of phosphoric acid, · per cent of magnesia, · per cent of lime, and some traces of sulphuric and salicylic acid, oxide of iron and chlorine. an interesting study has been made by dr. dafert of the weight of the various components of the coffee tree at different ages, from which it appears that the proportion of potash increases progressively in the organs as they are more and more distant from the roots. the contrary is the case with lime and phosphoric acid, which preponderate generally in the seeds. with this knowledge a scientific cultivator can judge exactly how to treat the exigencies of the different trees at different ages. naturally, the condition of the soil has to be taken into consideration in any case. according to experiments made by dr. dafert each kilo of coffee beans has extracted from the soil--potash · gramme; phosphoric acid · gramme; magnesia · gramme; lime · gramme. these experiments apply merely to coffee grown in brazil, and are no doubt at variance with experiments on coffee grown elsewhere. taking all things into consideration, it has been proved by chemical analysis that the brazilian coffee comes as near as any in its components to what the normal or perfect coffee should be. the soil, the elevation of the land, the zone and the climate naturally have considerable influence on the quality of the coffee. the _coffea arabica_ seems to feel happy enough in a temperate zone and at elevations from , to , ft. the states of são paulo, minas geraes, rio de janeiro and espirito santo fulfil most if not all these conditions. [illustration: dr. passos.] the coffee trees can stand cold--if not of long duration--down to freezing-point, as well as a fairly high temperature. unlike the liberia coffee, they fare better on undulating or broken ground than on the flat. two distinct seasons--the dry and the rainy--each of about six months' duration--such as are found in the above-mentioned states of brazil, seem perfectly to suit the growth of the coffee trees. the trees are in bloom for three or four days some time during the months of september to december. if the rains are not abundant when the trees are in blossom, and during the maturing of the fruits, the latter do not develop properly, especially those at the end of the branches, where the berries become dry before their time or even do not form. if the rain comes too long before the trees are in bloom it causes the blossoms to open before their time and they are frequently spoiled by the cold which follows. the coffee beans are collected in april, during the dry weather. the coffee trees are very sensitive to winds, cold or hot, especially when blowing continuously in the same direction, which causes the undue fall of leaves and rupture of the bark at the neck of the roots. wind, indeed, is one of the most dangerous enemies of coffee trees, and it is to obviate this danger that in many countries--but not in brazil--a protecting plantation in lines of other trees--generally useful fruit trees--is adopted in order to screen the coffee trees from the prevailing wind, as well as to give a further income from the fruit produced. it has been proved that even from good trees below a certain altitude the coffee is of inferior quality, while above that height the crop becomes irregular. in zones fully exposed to the sun the quality is superior to that of regions where the sun does not reach or only reaches for a short portion of the day. the _coffea arabica_ is not particularly exacting in the quality of the soil, but the soil on which it flourishes best is that formed in great part by decomposed vegetable matter--as, for instance, from ancient trees mixed with volcanic earth, such as the famous red earth of the state of são paulo. volcanic cinders also are said to be wonderful fertilizers for the soil, and well adapted for the welfare of coffee trees. one thing is undoubted, and that is that the state of são paulo possesses the ideal soil for coffee plantations. analysis has shown that, curiously enough, the soil of são paulo is not in itself very rich. it has an insufficient quantity of fertilizing substances, particularly of lime; but it should not be forgotten that locality and climatic conditions must be taken into serious consideration, and that we must not be misled by the difference between the apparent and the real fertility of the soil. what would be a poor soil in europe may prove to be an excellent one in a tropical country. so the famous "red earth" of são paulo, which in a drier climate would be sterile and unproductive, is there excellent because of its extremely permeable, porous and powdery qualities. the special terms used for naming the different kinds of earth suitable for the cultivation of coffee are: _terra roxa_ (red earth), _massapé_, _salmorão_, _catanduva_, _terra de areia_ (sand earth), _picarra_ (stony earth), and _pedreguelho_ (stony earth). the _terra roxa_ is an argillaceous, ferruginous earth of diabasic origin, occasionally mixed with sand. it contains salicylic acid, oxide of iron, alumina, phosphoric acid, oxide of manganese, lime, magnesia, potash and soda. the _massapé_, originally decomposed gneiss-granitic rock mixed with clay, contains oxide of iron. its occasional blackness is due to the decomposed vegetable matter it embodies. the _salmorão_ includes in its formation small stones indicating the incomplete decomposition of the rock from which it originates. the _catanduva_--which is of inferior quality--is composed of much disintegrated vegetable matter and fine dust. the names of the other kinds of earth well denote their quality. one reason why coffee cultivation is so popular in brazil is because of the general belief that no trouble is required to look after the trees--a very mistaken notion indeed. there is a marked difference between plantations carefully looked after and those that are not. more than usual care must be taken to select the seed for new plantations. the young plants must get strong in a nursery and then be transplanted into proper soil, the prudent distance between trees being generally from to ft. for the convenience of collecting the beans and keeping the soil clean, a perfect alignment in all directions is necessary. the most suitable month for planting coffee in brazil, according to the authority of dr. dafert, is the month of july. great care must be taken of the trees themselves and of the soil around the trees, which must be kept clean and absolutely free from grass. the capillary roots of the trees extending horizontally near the surface of the soil are much affected by the presence of any other vegetation, and by the collection of insects which this produces and harbours. frost, rain, and the heat of the sun naturally affect the trees more when the soil is dirty than when kept clean. many of the coffee estates suffer considerably from insufficient labour. the effects of this are quickly visible on the trees. artificial fertilization is useful, even necessary after a number of years, and so is careful pruning in order to keep the trees healthy, strong and clean. [illustration: a beautiful waterfall at theresopolis.] [illustration: antonio prado's coffee estate.] coffee trees have many natural enemies--chiefly vegetable and animal parasites--which mostly attack the leaves. the _ramularia goeldiana_, a parasite not unlike the _cercospora coffeicola_, is one of the worst, and undoubtedly the chief offender in brazil, although great is the number of insects prejudicial to the trees. the most terrible of all, perhaps, are the ants and termites, such as the _termes opacus_, which attack and destroy the roots of young trees. the _cupim_ (_termes album_) or white ant, and the _carregador_ or _sauba_, a giant ant with which we shall get fully acquainted later on our journey, are implacable enemies of all plants. also the _quen-quen_, another kind of ant. these ants are so numerous that it is almost an impossibility to extirpate them. various ways are suggested for their destruction, but none are really effective. certain larvæ, flies and cochinilla, owing to their sucking habits, deposit on the leaves and branches a viscous sugary substance, which, on account of the heat, causes fermentation known locally as _fumagina_. this produces great damage. birds pick and destroy the berries when ripe; and caterpillars are responsible for the absolute devastation of many coffee districts in the rio de janeiro and são paulo states. other pests of the _heteroptera_ type attack the roots to such an extent as to cause the death of the trees. among the diseases of the trees are the _aphelencus coffeæ_ and the _loranthus brasiliensis_--the latter a terrible parasite which quickly envelops the stem and branches of the tree and ends by killing it. the collection of the berries is the busiest process in the fazendas, and has to be performed with considerable care, for some of the berries are already ripe and dried when others hidden under the branches have not yet reached the required degree of maturity. an experienced hand can collect from to litres of coffee berries per day. it takes an average of litres of coffee berries to produce kilos of prepared coffee beans ready to be shipped. the crop is not the same every year. after one plentiful crop there generally succeeds one year, sometimes two or three, of poor--almost insignificant--collections, varying according to the care that is taken of the trees and the soil. when once the coffee has been collected and transported to the fazenda in baskets, blankets and sheets, it is necessary to remove the skin and viscous pulpy matter which envelop the beans. this is done partly by maceration in water tanks, and afterwards by drying upon extensive flat terraces, tiled or cemented, and locally called _terreiro_. the process of drying by machinery has not been adopted in brazil; principally because of its high cost. the coffee is first placed for some days in mounds on the terraces, until fermentation of the outer skin begins, which afterwards hastens desiccation when coffee is spread flat in a thin layer on the terraces. when once the coffee berries have been freed from their pulpy envelope and skin, the desiccation--if the weather is propitious--takes place in a few days. care must be taken to move the berries constantly, so that they dry evenly on all sides, as perfect desiccation is necessary in order to preserve the coffee in good condition after it is packed for shipment. there are two ways of preparing coffee for export--the humid and the dry. in the humid process the berries are placed in a special machine called _despolpadore_, which leaves the beans merely covered and held together in couples by the membrane immediately enclosing them after the skin and viscous sugary coating have been removed. those coffees are called in commerce, _lavados_, or washed. the dry process consists, after the berries have been skinned and dried, in removing part of the pulp and membrane in a special machine and a series of ventilators. they are then quite ready for export. the preparation of coffee from the drying terraces is slightly more complicated. the coffee passes through a first ventilator, which frees it from impurities such as earth, stems, stones, filaments, etc.; from this it is conveyed by means of an elevator into the _descascador_, where the membrane is removed. subsequently it passes through a series of other ventilators, which eliminate whatever impurities have remained and convey the coffee into a polishing machine (_brunidor_). there the coffee is subjected to violent friction, which not only removes the last atoms of impurity but gives the beans a finishing polish. the coffee is then ready for the market. i spent a most instructive day inspecting the fazenda of conselheiro antonio prado and having things clearly explained by his intelligent overseer, mr. henrique p. ribeiro. from that place i drove across country, through endless groves of coffee trees--for miles and miles--as far as the next great coffee estate, belonging to the dumont company, an english concern, with an authorized capital of £ , , the estates being valued at £ , , . it is not often one sees an estate so beautifully managed and looked after in a country like brazil. the buildings, the machinery, the "drying terraces," everything was in capital order. to indicate on what scale the company does business, it will be sufficient to state that in the coffee crop amounted to , cwts., which realized on a gross average _s._ ½_d._ per cwt. this crop was not as plentiful as in the previous year, when , cwts. were harvested. the gross profit for the year up to june st, , was £ , _s._ _d._, which, less london charges, still showed the substantial sum of £ , _s._ _d._ there had been a considerable rise in the rate at which coffee was sold in --viz., _s._ ½_d._ per cwt. as compared with _s._ ½_d._ the previous year; but notwithstanding the high price, the high rate of exchange, and the cost of laying the coffee down in london--which had risen on the estate by _s._ ½_d._ and by _s._ ½_d._ in respect of charges between the estate and london, the company had been able to earn a profit of _s._ ¾_d._ per cwt. i was taken round the estate by mr. j. a. davy, the general manager, whose good and sensible work was noticeable at every turn. the trees seemed in excellent condition and likely to have a long life on the specially suitable rich red soil, and with sufficient breathing space allowed to maintain them in good health. the soil was of such unusual richness in that particular spot that no artificial stimulation was required in order to keep the trees healthy and vigorous. one could walk for miles and miles along the beautiful groves of coffee trees, clean-looking with their rich deep green foliage. they seemed to have no great difficulty on the dumont estate in obtaining sufficient labour--greatly, i think, owing to the fair way in which labourers were treated. mr. davy told me that over an area of , acres a crop had been maintained which averaged ¼ cwts. per acre. experiments have also been made on the dumont estate (at an elevation of , ft. above the sea level)--chiefly, i believe, to satisfy the wish of shareholders in london--in the cultivation of rubber, but it did not prove a success--as was, after all, to be expected. it is not easy to make the majority of people understand that coffee grows lustily in that particular part of the state of são paulo mainly because of the eminently suitable quality of the soil; but it does not at all follow that soil or climatic conditions which are good for coffee are suitable for rubber trees, or vice versa. in the case of the dumont estates, although the best possible land was chosen and three different varieties of rubber--the pará, ceará and the castilloa were experimented with, it was soon discovered that only one kind--the ceará--attained any growth at all, and this gave very little latex--owing undoubtedly to the nature of the soil and the climate. the cost of extracting the latex was prohibitive. with wages at four shillings a day a man could collect about one-third of a pound of latex a day. rubber trees could, in that region, not be expected to produce more than one-fifth of a pound of rubber a year, so that the cost of collecting and shipping rubber from ten-year-old trees would amount to _s._ _d._ per lb., without counting the cost of planting and upkeep. by a special train on the dumont railway line i travelled across beautiful country--all coffee plantations--the property of the dumont company and of colonel schmidt, the "coffee king," whose magnificent estate lies along the dumont railway line. i regretted that i could not visit this great estate also, but i was most anxious to get on with my journey and get away as soon as possible from civilization. it was pleasant to see that no rivalry existed between the various larger estates, and i learnt that the dumont railway actually carried--for a consideration, naturally--all the coffee from the schmidt estate to the riberão preto station on the mogyana railway. chapter iii on the mogyana railway i arrived at riberão preto at . p.m. on march th. riberão preto-- kil. n.n.w. of são paulo and kil. from santos--is without doubt the most important commercial centre in the northern part of the state of são paulo, and is a handsome active city, neat and clean-looking, with an italian, spanish and portuguese population of some , souls. its elevation above the sea level is , ft. the people of riberão preto subsist chiefly on the coffee industry. there are one or two theatres in the city, the principal being a provincial one. there are several hotels of various degrees of cleanliness and several industrial establishments. unlike other cities of the interior, riberão preto boasts of a good supply of _agua potavel_ (drinking water), and the town is lighted by the electric light. the value of land in the vicinity of riberão preto varies from milreis to , milreis for the _alqueire_, a price far superior to that of other localities on the same line, where cultivated land can be purchased at milreis an _alqueire_ and pasture land at milreis. at riberão preto i was to leave the dumont railway. special arrangements had been made for me to meet at that station a special administration car which was to be attached to the ordinary express train on the mogyana railway line. i had been warned at the dumont estate that a brass band had been sent to the riberão preto station, where some notabilities were awaiting my arrival in order to greet me with the usual speeches of welcome. as i particularly dislike public speaking and publicity, i managed to mix unseen among the crowd--they expecting to see an explorer fully armed and in khaki clothes of special cut as represented in illustrated papers. it was with some relief that i saw them departing, with disappointed faces, and with their brass instruments, big drums and all, after they had entered the luxurious special car placed at my disposal by the mogyana railway and found it empty--i humbly watching the proceedings some distance away from the platform. thanks to the splendid arrangements which had been made for me by dr. josé pereira rebonças, the president of the mogyana, i was able to take a most instructive journey on that line, the traffic superintendent, mr. vicente bittencourt, having been instructed to accompany me and furnish all possible information. a few words of praise are justly due to the mogyana line for the excellence of the service and the perfection of the rolling stock. i inspected the entire train and was amazed to find such beautiful and comfortable carriages, provided with the latest improvements for passengers of all classes. it is seldom i have seen in any country a train look so "smart" as the one in which i travelled from riberão preto to the terminus of the line. the appointments of every kind were perfect, the train ran in excellent time, and very smoothly over well-laid rails. the special car in which i travelled was "palatial and replete with every comfort," if i may use the stock words invariably applied to railway travelling. here are a few interesting points regarding the mogyana railway. by a provincial law (são paulo) of march st, , a guaranteed interest of per cent on a capital of , , milreis was granted for ninety years for the construction of a railway of metre gauge from campinas to mogymirim, and of a branch line to amparo, to the north-east of campinas and due east of inguary. by a similar law of march th, , a guaranteed interest was granted for thirty years as to the capital of , , milreis for a prolongation of the line to casa blanca. by a provincial law (minas geraes) of october st, , another guarantee was granted of per cent for thirty years, upon a maximum capital of , , milreis, for a continuation of the railway through the provincial territory from the right bank of the rio grande to the left bank of the paranahyba river. finally, by a provincial contract of minas geraes of october, , a further guarantee was granted of per cent for thirty years, on a maximum capital of , , milreis, for the construction of the prolongation of the railway from its terminal point at the rio grande as far as the paranahyba via the city of uberaba. in view of other important concessions obtained, one may consider that the mogyana company is perhaps the most important railway concern in brazil, up to the present time. it does great credit to brazilians that the railway was constructed almost entirely by capital raised on bonds in brazil itself, the only foreign loan issued in london being a sum raised amounting merely to £ , at an interest of per cent. between the years and the company returned to the government of são paulo the interests received, thus liquidating its debt. a decree of october th, , fixed the capital spent on the rio grande line and a branch to caldas at , , milreis gold and , , . milreis paper as guarantee of the interest of per cent conceded by the national treasury. in the year the value of interests received amounted to , , . milreis in paper, and , , . milreis in gold, out of which , . milreis were in debenture bonds. on the same date the value of interests repaid to the national treasury amounted to , , . milreis in paper currency. the federalized lines of the company were: from riberão preto to rio grande (concession of ); from rio grande to araguary (concession of ); with a total extension of kil., and a branch line from cascavel to poço de caldas, kil., the last kil. of which were in the province of minas geraes. the extension from rio grande to araguary, kil., was also situated in the province of minas geraes. having dodged the expectant crowd at the station unnoticed, i did not go with the traffic superintendent, mr. vicente bittencourt, into the luxurious special car as the train was steaming out of the riberão preto station, but preferred to travel in front of the engine so as to get a full view of the beautiful scenery along the line. we went at a good speed over gentle curves rounding hill-sides, the grass of which bent under a light breeze. here and there stood a minute white cottage--almost toy-like--where coffee gatherers lived. on the left we had a grandiose undulating region--what the americans would call "rolling country"--combed into thousands of parallel lines of coffee trees, interrupted at intervals by extensive stretches of light green grazing land. only now and then, as the engine puffed and throbbed under me, did i notice a rectangle of dried brownish yellow, where the farmers had grown their indian corn. these patches were a great contrast to the interminable mass of rich dark green of the coffee trees and the light green of the prairies. near these patches--prominently noticeable in the landscape because so scarce--one invariably saw groups of low whitewashed or red-painted houses, mere humble sheds. where the land was not yet under cultivation--quite a lot of it--low scrub and stunted trees far apart dotted the landscape. on nearing villages, as the express dashed through, goats stampeded in all directions: sleepy women and men looked at the train half dazed as it went by, and children, with quite a characteristic gesture, screened their eyes with their elbows to protect them from the dust and wind the train produced. i was astonished to notice how many fair-haired children one saw--curious indeed in a population of latin races and negroes. that golden hair, however, seemed gradually to grow darker, and became almost black in the older people. hideous barbed-wire fences gave a certain air of civilization to those parts, but the landscape was nevertheless getting desolate as we proceeded farther north. except in the immediate vicinity of habitations, one felt the absolute lack of animal life. only rarely did we see a black bird of extraordinary elongated form dash frightened across the railway line, much too fast for me to identify to which family it belonged. one could not help being impressed by the immensity of the landscape, endless sweeping undulation after undulation spreading before us, but not a real mountain in sight. it was like a solid ocean of magnified proportions. just above the horizon-line a large accumulation of globular clouds of immaculate white intensified the interesting colour-scheme of greens and yellows on the earth's surface to its full value by contrast. the large proportion of cultivated land which had impressed me so much in the vicinity of riberão preto gradually diminished; and at sunset, by the time we had reached batataes, only kil. farther on, hardly any more coffee plantations were visible. only fields of short grass spread before us on all sides. an occasional bunch of trees hiding a humble farmhouse could be perceived here and there, but no other sign of life upon the immense, silent, green undulations of symmetric curves, not unlike enormous waves of the sea. farther north upon the mogyana line, land seemed to diminish in price considerably. its quality was not so good, especially for coffee plantations. at batataes, for instance, kil. by rail from the coast, prices were cheaper. good land for cultivation could be obtained at milreis, and campos at milreis an alqueire. such low prices were general north of riberão preto, although naturally they were likely to increase as the country got slowly opened up with new roads and railroads. away from the railway the price of land was much lower. one thing that particularly struck the traveller straying in those parts was the poverty of all the minor towns and villages. the industrial development of the larger settlements consisted merely of a distillery of "fire-water" (_aguardente_), or, if the city were modern and up-to-date, of a brewery, the only two profitable industries in those regions. batataes--according to brazilian statistics--was stated to "_deve ter_"--"it should have perhaps" some , inhabitants. the zone around it was said to be suitable for coffee growing; in fact, the municipality possessed much machinery for the preparation of coffee. at . p.m. punctually--as she was due--the engine steamed into the franca station, where the train was to halt for the night. the passenger traffic was not yet sufficiently extensive on that line to allow trains to travel continuously during the twenty-four hours. passenger trains ran only in the daytime. i was treated with the greatest consideration while travelling on the mogyana. not only was the administration saloon car, containing a comfortable bedroom, placed at my disposal, but telegrams had been sent all along the line with orders to supply me with anything i required. at franca, much to my surprise, i found an imposing dinner of sixteen courses waiting for me in the station hotel--with repeated apologies that they were distressed they could not produce more, as the telegram announcing my arrival had been received late. on no account whatever was i allowed--as i wished--to pay for anything. i was rather interested to watch in the station restaurant the wonderful mixture of people who had assembled: priests, monks, railway porters, commercial travellers--some black, some white, some a combination of the two--all sitting together in a jovial manner sipping coffee or devouring a meal. the city of franca itself, kil. away from the station, kil. from the sea at santos, kil. from são paulo, was in the most remote northerly corner of the state of são paulo, and had a population of , people or thereabout. the electric light had been installed in the town, and there was a theatre. much difficulty was experienced in obtaining sufficient water for the needs of the population. in the municipality there existed a number of machines for use in the rice and the coffee culture, as well as two steam saws, a butter, and a sugar factory. there were several trails--so-called roads--branching off from this town and leading to borda de matta, garimpo das canoas, potrocinio do sapucahy, s. josé da bella vista, etc. the climate was healthy and delightful. while i was there the fahrenheit thermometer registered ° at an elevation of , feet. with a fairly good soil, the municipality could produce cereals in plenty under proper cultivation. land was cheap enough in that region-- milreis per alqueire for good land for cultivation, and to milreis per alqueire for campos. we proceeded on our journey north the next morning, passing through indaya, , ft. above the sea level--a settlement boasting of two houses upon the highest point of the railway line in the state of são paulo. we were nearing the rio grande, or great river, which, flowing in a westerly direction, formed in that region the northern boundary of the state of são paulo with the state of minas geraes. as we got near the river a greater lack of cultivation was noticeable, with more extensive zones of wooded country, especially in the depressions of the land. the undulations of the landscape were more accentuated as we approached the minas geraes province. clouds hung low in the valleys, and we occasionally went through banks of mist not unlike those of scotland. at chapadão the ground was more "_accidenté_"--to use an appropriate french expression--with deep depressions and indentations in the surface soil caused by erosion. the high land on which we had been travelling between franca and igaçaba, the station after chapadão, gave birth on the west to several important tributaries of the rio grande, enumerated below, from south to north; the rio salgado, the rio do carmo, riberão ponte nova, rib. bandeira, rio da soledade, rib. s. pedro; on the east was the rib. s. jesus, also a tributary of the rio grande. as the train sped down the incline towards the rio grande we were now treated to magnificent scenery on our right. an isolated hill stood at the bottom of the valley with higher mountains on either side of it, and, beyond, a high flat-topped plateau. the railway line skirted snake-like along the hill-side. the hill-tops were getting more rounded and fairly thickly wooded. as we got to a lower elevation the isolated hill assumed the appearance of an elephant's back. a grassy valley several miles wide opened up before us. at rifaina station we had reached the level of the banks of the rio grande, that is to say, , ft. above the sea level. the valley of the river was formed, in this case also, by erosion which had left isolated hills in terraces, one with as many as six distinct terraces, others with rounded backs, but all plainly showing in their stratification, which was identical with that of the surrounding elevations, that in former days there stood, where the valley was now, a plateau which had subsequently been gradually eroded by the action of water and wind. having crossed the river, we arrived at jaguara--we were now travelling in the minas geraes province--where a breakfast awaited us of rice, pork, dried beef, as hard as leather, omelette with shrimps (a much cherished dish in those parts), beans, mandioca, and coffee. black railway porters, firemen and engine drivers all sat round the table and ate heartily, the meal costing milreis, or about _s._ _d._ the railway ran almost parallel with the river on the north side round the immense curve which the rio grande describes in that particular section. we passed sacramento (elev. , ft.), and, in numerous curves, the railway rose by a gradient of ½ per cent among hills seemingly worn out by torrential rains into rounded shapes with huge gaps between. we left the rio grande, there about yards wide with thickly wooded banks and islands. at conquista we had already again reached an elevation of , ft., but we still continued to rise by a gradient of ½ to per cent, until a pass was reached from which two exquisite panoramas were obtained. one, particularly interesting, looked over conquista with its whitewashed houses--some of them--and red-tiled roofs against the background formed by the rugged sides of the natural cauldron worn in the tableland by erosion. at kil., , ft. above the sea level, a view was obtained of a small coffee plantation, but most of the country around was scantily wooded, grassy in places, barren in others. the railway, having descended to , ft., rose again to , ft. near paneiras station. then, through beautiful grazing country, gently undulating, we descended and mounted and went round sweeping curves, which formed in places regular loops not unlike a horseshoe. two pits producing a considerable quantity of lime existed some kil. from paneiras. weak attempts were noticeable here and there at growing coffee. we were now in an eminently wonderful pasture land--getting more and more beautiful as we neared uberaba, where we found ourselves on almost flat country at an elevation of , ft., with hardly any trees at all and with a delicious climate. the town of uberaba, with some , people, was situated at a slightly lower elevation--only , ft. [illustration: the station and shed of the goyaz railway, araguary. mr. luiz schnoor and his two engineers.] [illustration: typical trees of the brazilian forest, goyaz. the stem devoid of branches and foliage up to a great height.] uberaba was perhaps the most important distributing centre in the western part of minas geraes, for many trails branched from that place to various distant points in the farther interior. the most important trail was the one to sta. rita do paranahyba, thence to the capital of goyaz province via marrinhos and allemão; whence a second trail went to fructal via conceiçao das alagaos; a third, to sant' anna do paranahyba, going on the whole almost due west, but with great deviations, went almost across south america as far as pulacayo, in bolivia, crossing first the state of matto grosso in its southern and narrower point via coxim and corumba, then all bolivia, eventually joining the la paz-antofagasta railway line at uyum (pulacayo is connected by rail to uyum), and ending at the pacific ocean. another trail led to monte alegre; yet another to uberabinha--although the railway had already connected that town with uberaba. this last trail continued, making great detours, to bagagem, then to patrocino, from which place it deviated due north to paracatú, where three ramifications occurred: one to sta. lucia, pyrinopolis, and goyaz (capital); the second to jamarria, jocaré (on the san francisco river), and carrinhan (on the carinhaha river, a tributary of the san francisco), and eventually by water to the atlantic ocean; the third trail proceeded due east--across the s. francisco river to montes claros and grão mogol; a fourth in a south-easterly direction led to curvelho and sta. lucia, where it met the railway to rio de janeiro. another route proceeded south to sta. rita do paraiso. the price of land--which was excellent in the valley of the river--in the vicinity of uberaba was from to milreis per alqueire--each alqueire being reckoned at , square braças, and a braça being about ½ ft., or a little over two metres. after leaving uberaba the scenery was magnificent, especially when a storm approached as we were steaming over the serra de caracol. dense black clouds collected and capped the dark green forest of the serra, while down, down below on our right the endless gently undulating plain of fresh green grass was brilliantly illuminated by a warm dazzling sun. most beautiful grazing land--practically going to waste now--we crossed on reaching the highest point of the serra; grass, grass, as far as the eye could see--quite flat land--but not a head of cattle in sight; in fact, no sign of animal life, and a stillness of death except for the puffing of the railway engine on which i sat. water, however, did not seem to abound--only a small stream, near which curious-looking patches, or _bosquets_ of trees lay in dark spots on that light green expanse. we were then at an elevation of , ft., amid delightfully cool and crisp air. at burity passed the great route of the cattle dealers from goyaz and matto grosso for sta. rita, passos, and tres corações do rio verde. at palestina ( kil. from the sea) we were on what seemed an interminable flat plateau with ideally green grass, and here and there patches of stunted vegetation. land could be purchased there as low as milreis an alqueire, although the best land cost from to milreis. all was absolutely flat until we reached sicupira (elev. , ft. above the sea level), where we began to descend to the rio uberabinha, its delightfully clear crystalline water winding its way through scrub. at uberabinha we again came across the wonderful red earth of the riberão preto district. situated at an elevation of , ft. stood the little town of some , inhabitants, about yards from the comfortable and pretty station. although the land was beautiful, cultivation could not be said to be prevalent. merely some rice, beans, and indian corn were grown in small quantities. from uberabinha the railway line descended all the time through thinly wooded country of shrubs and stunted trees; the verdant prairies, so refreshing to the eyes, were left behind, and the country became more broken, but the land was still excellent for agricultural purposes. after crossing a well-constructed iron bridge resting on two masonry pillars and spanning the picturesque rapids of the rio das velhas--the river, with its turbid, muddy, nasty-looking water, being there some yards wide, at an elevation of , ft. above the sea level--we again began a steep ascent by a gradient of over per cent, following most of the time the river course. the thickly wooded banks obstructed a good deal of the view except here and there, where a charming glimpse of the water could be obtained. seven hundred and eighty-nine kilometres from campinas--or kil. from the atlantic ocean at santos--we arrived at the terminal station of the mogyana railway at a place called araguary, , ft. above the sea level--one of the dirtiest and most unpleasant spots on the face of the earth. the termini of railway lines in newly developed countries seem to act like filters. whatever is good passes through; only the impurities or dregs remain. chapter iv the terminus of the railway--an unpleasant incident--the purchase of animals--on the march with the caravan a great crowd had assembled at the station. the train had hardly stopped when my car was invaded by boisterous people, who embraced me and patted me on the back in the most approved brazilian style. before i could inquire who they were, one fellow, more boisterous than the others, informed me that he had purchased a great many mules for me, that he had engaged men for me, and also procured riding and pack-saddles, harness, implements, clothing and bedding for the men he had engaged, and i do not know what else. everything was paid for. i could return the sum paid out the next day. another man said he had already prepared a sumptuous apartment for me in the best hotel in the town. when asked who had instructed them to make such arrangements, they were vague, and on being pressed for an answer gave names of people of whose existence i was perfectly ignorant. before i could realize what all this meant i discovered--much to my annoyance--that all my baggage had been taken out of the train and had been conveyed to the hotel. i was therefore compelled to proceed there myself, in the company of my new "friends," who shouted everything they had to say at the top of their voices, so that i should not fail to understand. it was already night, and the streets of the town were in such a terrible condition that the overladen carriage--there were people on all the seats, on the box and standing on the steps--nearly turned over on going round corners. the wheels sank up to their axles in mud. we pulled up at the hotel door, where another crowd of loafers had assembled. i was literally dragged into the hotel--for i had become somewhat reluctant, first on seeing the appearance of the place, then on being met by waves of a nauseating odour which suggested the non-existence of sanitary arrangements and worse. "come in, come in!... wait here!" shouted they in a most excited manner, when i expressed a wish to inspect the palatial quarters which they had been good enough to reserve for me. "wait a moment!" shouted the landlord, a slumbering, disjointed, murderous-looking creature, whose violent gestures and waving of hands in front of my face were somewhat irritating. he dashed into a room on the ground floor--and we outside could hear an altercation between the loud-voiced proprietor and the plaintive moans of a half-dying man. a moment later the half-dying man, skeleton-like, with livid eyes, a complexion the colour of a lemon gone bad, and quivering bare legs, was literally dragged out of the bed and roughly thrown out of the door. "here is your room!" cried the landlord triumphantly to me, as he flung out of that apartment some cheap canvas bags, clothes--which from birth had been innocent of washing and pressing--and the socks, shoes, and day shirt of the guest who had been ejected. the odour alone, as i peeped into the room, was enough to stifle any one with the sense of scent even less delicate than my own. as for the vacant bed--any pariah dog of any other country would have been offended to be offered such filthy accommodation. in brazil--as elsewhere--it does not do to lose one's calm. i also wished to avoid an unpleasant quarrel, as i have a belief that quarrels are bad for one's health. i spoke gently and kindly to the hotel-keeper, and said that, although i had ordered nothing, still, as he had kindly reserved that charming apartment for me, i should be very pleased to pay for it, which i would do at once. if he would excuse me, i preferred to go back to sleep in my private car. upon hearing these words a nasty tragi-comic scene occurred, which, had i not remained cool and collected, might have ended badly. "do you know, sir," shouted the landlord, with livid features and eyes shooting out of their orbits, so enraged was he--"do you know that i am the chief of police here, and that everybody is afraid of me? i have only to give orders and every one will kill any one i like." here he discontinued shaking his somewhat grimy hands under my nose and, drawing himself up, stood upon the doorstep of the hotel in order to harangue the great crowd which had collected. "we are all millionaires in brazil," shouted the landlord, with an effort which seriously impaired the safety of his fully-congested jugular vein. "we are all atheists and anarchists in brazil. down with the infamous oppression and slavery of europe! down with kings and emperors! down with europe, the land of oppression and cruelty!" and again: "we in brazil are the richest people on earth. we are all millionaires in brazil. we do not need foreign charity!" "down with foreigners!" answered the chorus of assembled natives. the railway inspector who had been sent by the company to accompany me became scared at the turn matters were taking, and told me, against the instructions he had received, that i could not now return to the car. upon hearing this, my new friends, believing they had me in their power, renewed their vocal attack. i remained some time endeavouring to collect my baggage, pretending to pay no attention whatever to the absurd oratory. to this day i cannot yet grasp what the oppression of europe had to do with my wanting to pay for something i had never had. i then repeated my offer, which was again refused. with the protection of his strong rear-guard, the chief of police advanced bravely towards me, holding in a suggestive manner with his right hand the pommel of his revolver in the back pocket of his trousers. in a tragic manner he exclaimed: "we will settle this matter, to-morrow." "we will settle it at once," i placidly replied. "no, to-morrow," he repeated, with a vicious look. "very good: at what time and where?" "at ten o'clock," he eventually grunted, after i had repeated the above question four times. i also politely invited all the others present to come forward if they had any claims to square. i was quite ready to settle anybody at any time and anywhere. perhaps they might get more than they wished. i departed with my baggage laden on two carriages and a cart, and eventually found accommodation at an equally filthy hotel near the station--only the latter place was kept by a humble and honest, decrepit old woman. i do not know that i have ever spent a more miserable evening anywhere. i do not mind roughing it in the roughest way possible, but i have always detested pretentious efforts at civilization of an inferior kind. thus i sat having a meal--eggs, beans, rice--all soaked in _toucinho_ (pork fat) which i detest and loathe. i watched black railway workmen and porters stuffing themselves with food in a most unappetizing way, and making disgusting noises of all kinds. fortunately i remembered that a friend of mine--a railway contractor, mr. louis schnoor--must be at that time in araguary, looking after the construction of the new railway line which will eventually join araguary to the capital of goyaz. i went in search of him, stumbling along the terrible roads with deep holes and pools of water and mud. as luck would have it, i was able to purchase from him, that very same evening, a number of excellent mules, which he very generously had offered to place at my disposal without payment. also he promised to supply me with two reliable men--a job not at all easy in that particular part of brazil. [illustration: author departing from morro da meza, showing costume worn during the expedition.] [illustration: alcides. filippe the negro.] mr. louis schnoor--a brazilian of german extraction--was a godsend to me. thanks to him, i returned that night quite happy to the miserable hotel. happy, because in less than half an hour i had arranged to leave that pestilential hole the following day. mr. schnoor had kindly undertaken that he would send me, at eleven o'clock the next morning, in a special train to the end of the line in construction, some kil. farther north. in a town of gentle folks like araguary the luxury of sleeping with one's window open could not be indulged in--especially as nearly all the houses were one storey high. so the night was rendered particularly oppressive and long, tormented as you were in your bed by its innumerable inhabitants, which stung you all over. i had taken the precaution to spread a waterproof sheet under my own blankets on the bed, but that, too, proved ineffective. mosquitoes were numerous. no sanitary arrangements to speak of existed in araguary, so that everything was flung out of the windows into the streets, which made walking about the town most objectionable. the odour everywhere was revolting, as can well be imagined. the city was nevertheless considered by the natives as all that is most perfect in the way of civilization, for not only did it possess a few anæmic electric lights--so far apart as to be a nuisance instead of a help in seeing one's way about--but also, behold! it actually boasted of a spasmodic cinematograph. there were some houses, all counted, at araguary, all more or less miserable-looking, and a population of some , souls--"lost souls," i should think. slowly, very slowly came the next morning, march st. at ten o'clock sharp i called on the chief of police at his hotel, and found that he had departed early in the morning and was not to be expected back for some hours! a charming way of keeping an appointment which he was so anxious to bring about. in the company of mr. louis schnoor i also called on the persons who said they had made arrangements for my expedition, as i did not wish to have any misunderstanding in the matter. far from having purchased mules, horses, saddles and harness, they could produce nothing on demand, and finally asked me to remain in araguary for one month--fancy one month in araguary!--so that they could produce their purchases. as i was driving in mr. schnoor's carriage we met, a long way from his home and hotel, the chief of police and hotel proprietor. i immediately dismounted and informed that gentleman of my visit at the appointed time. i also demanded that whatever he wished me to settle must be settled at once. "nothing at all," said he, shaking me warmly by the hand. "you owe me nothing. it was all a mistake. it was all a mistake. please do not think of it any more. you owe me nothing, nothing, nothing. if i can be of use to you, pray order me! i am your humble servant." and his delightful politeness was such that i could hardly realize it was the same vicious man of the previous evening. in my surprise i had to turn to mr. schnoor to inquire whether i had got hold of the wrong man. yes, indeed. some of those fellows of central brazil were a remarkable mixture of villainy and charm--in chemical language one might describe them as sublimates of rascality and delightful manners. however, good manners or not, i had taken such a dislike to the place that i was glad when eleven o'clock came and mr. schnoor conveyed me to the special train--an engine and one car. i inspected the new station of the goyaz railway, which was already finished--a useful, well-constructed building, quite sufficient for its needs. in the company of mr. schnoor, his chief engineer, mr. schirmer and mr. bertoux, we left araguary--oh, what a relief!--for the end of the line, kil. away. i had decided to go and wait there in the open country the few hours which would be necessary to collect the men who were to accompany me, and the mules. the work on that portion of the goyaz line which was already laid was well and quickly done. mr. schnoor assured me that in four or five months more they expected to run trains to catalão. an iron bridge will eventually be built across the paranahyba river, within a short distance of which the line had already been laid when i was there. some delay had been experienced in making a deep cut on the south side of paranahyba hills, where the strata had been found much harder than expected. i camped for a day and a half at morro da meza, a lovely spot at an elevation of , ft., from whence an immense panorama could be enjoyed. what a relief this heavenly place was after araguary, and how everlastingly grateful i shall be to my friend mr. schnoor for having deposited me there! i took the opportunity of the solitude to rearrange my baggage. on april st my good friend schnoor reappeared to see that all arrangements were satisfactory for my departure. morro da meza will ever remain present in my mind, for it was my jumping-off place into the wilds. it was from there that the actual marching on horseback and on foot began, and it was there i last saw a railway train for the best part of a year. on april st, at p.m., i left morro da meza, went through the new railway cut in preparation, crossed the paranahyba river (at an elevation of , ft. above the sea level), and made my camp on the opposite side of the stream at anhãnguera (elev. , ft. above sea level) in the railway engineers' camp, yards away from the water. the engineers, an italian, mr. schnoor's father-in-law, and a russian--a mr. martens--showed me every possible civility. a curious incident occurred while we were having dinner. the day was a holiday, and the workmen on the line were resting. we were sipping our coffee, when a man entered our hut and said a companion of his had been shot. we rushed to see him, and we found that the poor wretch had had his skin perforated in eight different places by the same bullet. what was more remarkable was that each perforation was close to dangerous places in the man's anatomy, and yet not a single wound was mortal. this is how it happened. the man was lying down in his suspended hammock, resting his left hand on his left knee. a friend came along to show him a new automatic pistol he had purchased. in the usual silly fashion he had pointed it at his friend. the pistol went off, and the bullet passed just under the skin at the knee, at the side of the knee-cap, and having come out again, went right through the soft part of the hand between the thumb and index finger. it then perforated the arm at the biceps, and further entering the chest, shaved the heart and came out at the shoulder-blade, continuing its flight beyond to somewhere where no one could find it again. that spoke highly for the penetrating power of bullets from automatic pistols, and also for the little harm those little bullets may inflict. the man, after we had carefully dressed his wounds, looked, perhaps, a little miserable, but he was able to depart on horseback carrying with his good arm a bottle of medicine. the goyaz railway was making rapid progress. the rails were soon to be laid on the north side of the river as far as catalão. the bed of the railway was fast being made ready. it was not until april rd that i was able actually to make a start with my caravan. my good friend, mr. louis schnoor, had promised me two men--alcides ferreiro dos santos and filippe da costa de britto; the first a german brazilian of a violent revolutionary temper but of extraordinary bravery; the other a pure negro of a boisterous, simple nature, also of indisputable bravery in moments of great danger. these two men--both natives of araguary--proved themselves to be on that fateful expedition the two best men i possessed. thus, if nothing else can be said in praise of araguary, it must be said in justice that it can produce some men of great courage and faithfulness--a boast which cannot well be applied to many places in brazil. on april rd, at a.m., after a touching farewell, i left the engineers' camp mounted on a magnificent mule that mr. schnoor had insisted on lending me as far as goyaz, with the pack animals which i had purchased. i did not follow the principal road, which went by a somewhat circuitous route from araguary to the capital of goyaz via the towns of catalão and bomfin, but preferred to travel across country by a short cut which took you there in an almost direct line in a north-westerly direction. on getting over the serrinha (elev. , ft.), a hill range, one obtained a gorgeous view of the valley of the paranahyba river--a river which, already of good width there, became eventually the great parana. it is on the right bank of the river, near its mouth, some thousands of miles from where we were, that buenos aires is situated. going through a beautiful forest in undulating country, we reached the summit of a flat-topped tableland, , ft. above the sea level, with a gentle slope towards the north, where the edge of its summit was some ft. lower than on the south. the vegetation was somewhat stunted, but interesting, for many were the trees i noticed which could be put to some use or other. the barbatimão (_stryphnodendron bar._ m.) was plentiful, and could be used advantageously in tanning leather; the pao ferro (_cæsalpinia ferria_ m.) and the paneira, were present in quantities. through the forest we descended in three hours to the rio virissimo, which, swollen by the sub-tributaries barrocas, indaica, pirahitinga and perobas on the east and vae vem on the west, throws itself into the paranatinga between morro alto and porto do barreiro. that stream had been bridged over. we had descended to , ft. during the entire distance--we had travelled some kil. from the paranahyba river--we had passed only two miserable sheds and we had not met a single soul, barring a glimpse at a shaggy female who happened to be opening the door of her hut as we were passing, and with a yell of terror banged it again, and bolted it as she perceived us riding by. a peculiar kind of wild fig-tree was to be seen, ball-like in appearance, with branches inclined down instead of skyward like most trees. on our right as we proceeded down to the farms of s. jeronymo and sta. barbara (elev. , ft.) stood a mountain with beautiful grazing land upon its slopes. healthy fat cattle, in most wonderful condition--testifying to the excellence of the grazing in that region--were bred by the farmers. to the north, north-east and north-west behind this place were to be seen delightful green round-topped hills, also with excellent grazing. a few cows and imported zebus were to be seen, it is true, but the country could support a million times that number and more. it was that evening that i noticed for the first time in brazil a peculiar and most wonderful effect of light at sunset--not unlike an aurora borealis. white, well-defined radiations shot skyward from the west, where the sun had set, and stood out luminously against the dark blue sky, like the spokes of a gigantic wheel. this effect, as we shall see, was repeated frequently at sunset, and sometimes was even more beautiful than on the occasion of that first acquaintance with it. we marched ½ kil. that day--with my nine pack-mules, formosa (which in portuguese means "beautiful"), the splendid white mule i rode, and three other mules ridden by my men. it was a real pleasure to see the appetite of the animals when we made camp. how joyfully they ground with their powerful jaws the indian corn which each had received in a nose-bag soon after we had halted, removed the loads and saddles from their backs, and properly groomed them! when we started the next morning we went through most beautiful grazing land for some kil., and through marvellous grassy slopes on the mountains beyond. streamlets of clear abundant water were passed. from , ft., the elevation of the stream, we rose to , ft., then descended gradually to the village of corumbahyba, with its brand-new red-tiled roofs and whitewashed houses--very tiny, and, with one exception, all one-storied. the windows and doors were gaily decorated with bright blue paint. there was a church, of course, on one side of the large square smothered in high grass, and by the church two wooden pillars supported a beam from which hung a bronze bell. then in the centre of the square stood, most prominent of all in the village, a huge wooden cross in a dilapidated condition. what little life seemed to exist in the place was to be found in the local store, where an inquisitive crowd had collected when i arrived. [illustration: goyaz railway in construction. the cut leading to the paranahyba river.] [illustration: author's caravan crossing a stream.] my mules were let loose to graze in the square, joining a number of cows that were there already. as i sat in the shop, closely examined by the inhabitants, i returned the compliment by analysing them. what a strange, dried-up, worn-out appearance young and old presented! what narrow, chicken-like chests, what long, unstable legs and short arms. and, dear me! what shaggy, rebellious hair, which stood out bristle-like in all directions upon their scalps! yet those people came from ancestors who must have been, centuries ago, magnificent types of humanity to be able to accomplish what they did in the way of colonization. with the habit we possess of looking for finer, healthier specimens of humanity in the country than in the cities, this condition of affairs came somewhat as a surprise to me, since that rule generally applied to most nations i have visited except brazil. those people, partly by constant intermarriage among themselves, partly by the mixture of black blood with the white, and greatly owing to the effects of the most terrible complaint of the blood in existence--universal in brazil--partly, too, by the dull, uninteresting, wasted lives they led and the poverty of their nourishment, were reduced to a state of semi-idiocy. the men hardly seemed to have the strength and energy to walk or even stand up--although i must confess, to my regret, that they had not yet lost the power of talking. their features were unattractive. eyes wide apart and widely expanded, so that the entire circle of the iris was exposed, although the eyeball itself was not _à fleur de tête_, but rather sunk into excessively spacious orbital cavities in the skull. the part of the eyeball which is usually white was yellow with them, softened somewhat by luxuriant eyelashes of abnormal length. in fact, the only thing that seemed plentiful and vigorous with them was the hair, which grew abundantly and luxuriantly everywhere, just as bad grass and weeds do on uncultivated or abandoned lands. there was a lot of hair everywhere--on the scalp, on the eyebrows, on the men's unshaven cheeks, on the chest, the arms, hands, and the legs. it is, i believe, a well-known fact that hair is generally more luxuriant, the weaker and more anæmic the subject is--up to a certain point. deep grooves and hollow cheeks--the latter due to absence of teeth--marked the faces of even young men. then one of the most noticeable peculiarities was the extraordinary development, prominence and angularity of the apple of the throat. the ears--which to my mind show the real character and condition of health of a person more than any other visible part of his or her anatomy--were large and prominent, occasionally well-formed, but lacking colour and the delightful, well-chiselled, vigorous curves of healthy, normal, intelligent people. the hands and feet were generally small and well-shaped, in wonderful condition--though not necessarily clean--owing to the inborn reluctance which all the people of brazil have towards manual labour. it has always been my experience that, generally speaking, malformed people possess distorted brains--which does not mean at all that the brain of a malformed person may not perhaps develop in a marvellous manner in one particular direction. what i maintain is that, with few possible exceptions, the brains of malformed people are seldom perfectly balanced. in those particular subjects it did not take a deep student of human nature to set down the entire crowd of them as visionaries, most fantastically inclined--in which direction, having no restraint whatever, they ran absolutely amuck. yet there was something very charming about the people of the interior of brazil, after they had overcome their first suspicion of strangers and their own shyness. they seemed imbued with the idea that everybody went there specially to do them harm. they lived in a constant state of fear and trembling, even of their own relations and friends. they all went about armed to the teeth, and would not dream of going a yard outside their homes without a revolver, a rifle and a dagger. even to walk about the village the men were all armed. when not in a rage or sulky--which seemed to be their almost constant condition--they were the most good-hearted people i have ever met; gentle, affectionate--in fact, so sentimental that it became a positive nuisance. if one learnt how to deal with them--which was not always easy--they were really delightful people in their enviable simplicity. a reflection of the people's mentality was to be discovered at a glance in examining the articles that were for sale in the only shop in the village. there, remember, you were in a country which, from an agricultural point of view, could be made of immense value. now, did you notice any implements in the shop which suggested agricultural pursuits of any kind whatever? no; what you found were patent leather dress shoes, elaborately embroidered top-boots, fancy neckties, gaudy gilt and silver spurs of immense size, bottles of powerful perfumes, fancy soaps, mirrors, combs, and highly-coloured calicoes, beer, fire-water, and other such articles of luxury. [illustration: characteristic types of brazilians of the interior. (notice degenerate faces and development of goitre.)] [illustration: a typical village of the province of goyaz.] the corumbahyba village stood at an elevation of , ft. in a hollow surrounded by low hills. the water was delicious at that place. as i was getting through my lunch--which i enjoyed thoroughly after my morning march of kil.--i saw crossing the square two murderers laden with iron chains, led along with a rope by two mounted men. the natives present laughed as they saw the poor devils struggle along. not a sign of pity or care was shown by anybody present. after leaving corumbahyba we witnessed a panorama of magnificent mountain scenery from a height of , ft., to which we had ascended. then came a steep and rugged descent through a forest down to a streamlet ( , ft.); then up another ascent to , ft. and down again to , ft. at the great corumbá river, there yards wide. we crossed this beautiful stream--animals and all--on three canoes joined together, upon which a platform had been built. chapter v travelling across country--a musical genius--valuable woods--thermal springs at the river were several picturesque two-wheeled carts waiting to be ferried across. drawn by ten, twenty, and even as many as thirty oxen, these heavy hooded vehicles travelled across country in a most wonderful manner. naturally they had to be of solid construction to stand the wear and tear demanded of them. their wheels were heavy solid discs of hard wood encircled by powerful tyres of iron. a primitive system of brake--a mere bar of wood held in position by ropes--retarded the speed of the vehicle down extra-steep declivities. when going up or down hill the friction of the wheels upon their axles produced a continuous shrill whistle, which, when heard from a distance, sounded not unlike the whistle of a locomotive. in the deathly stillness of the goyaz landscape those whistles could be heard a long way off. the expectant farmers--expectant, because those trading carts conveyed to them a good deal of the food-stuff, salt, and other necessaries of life, as well as the luxuries they could afford--were clever at recognizing the whistles of the various carts, and they identified one special cart or another by what they poetically called the "voice of the wheel" or the "song of goyaz." there were some picturesque rapids just above the spot where we crossed the corumbá river, which flowed in a tortuous channel with a general direction of w.s.w. to the east of our track, as we proceeded northward, stood a glorious range of hills with magnificent grazing land extending for many miles. in front of us to the north and n.n.e. towered a high plateau, the serra de callos, also called, i believe, serra do cusuzeiro. still travelling up and down and across several streamlets, we reached at sunset the rio boccagna ( , ft. above the sea level), which, soon after passing the place where we crossed it, entered the large river bagri, winding its way through a gorgeous forest. we had passed during the day really wonderful grazing land on either side of the track, but principally to the east, between the north bank of the corumbá river and camp mazagan. there were plenty of small streams in the hilly and sometimes slightly wooded valleys. at seven o'clock, having ridden that day kil., we halted after dark at the _moradoria_, or farm, of mazagan (elev. , ft. above the sea level). we were politely asked to enter the house, and immediately preparations were made to clear out the best room for me. the illumination was not grand: an ancient metal arrangement--not unlike a pompeian lamp--with a wick soaked in oil profusely smoking. in the dim light i could just distinguish in the background, reclining against the wall, a youth with a guitar, from which two chords--always the same two chords--were strummed. the boy seemed in a trance over this musical composition, and even our appearance had not disturbed his efforts. he had taken no notice whatever of us. dinner was prepared--it took a long time--the musician all the time delighting his admiring family with the two monotonous chords. "it is a pity," said his delighted mother to me, "that we cannot send him to school. he is a genius; he would astonish the world." "yes," i hastily agreed, "it _is_ a pity you cannot send him ... somewhere!" "can you not take him with you?" i explained to the poor woman that it required very civilized people to appreciate her son's music. among the wild indians i expected to find, later on in my journey, i was sure that with music like that, we should all be killed; they were such savages! after two solid hours--and the two chords still continuing, with no signs whatever of relenting--i asked the musical genius if he could treat me to a different tune. alas! he knew no other, but as he saw that i was so fond of music he would again, with the greatest pleasure, go on playing the same air--he called it an air. "_muito obrigado!_ (thank you very much!)" i moaned, with a sickly smile on my lips and a violent internal wish to smash guitar and guitarist. "_no hai de que!_ (do not mention it!)" and here recommenced the repetition of the two chords. "i should like to go to sleep now; thank you very much again for the lovely music," i next plaintively added, in my most approved brazilian politeness. "oh, not at all: i shall go on playing while you are sleeping. it will give you pleasant dreams!" it was too pathetic. nothing short of murder could have stopped his enthusiasm. being a traveller of years' experience, i was not to be outwitted. as he would not stop the music, i stopped hearing it by stuffing my ears tight with cotton-wool. so i slept soundly enough, notwithstanding the orchestral entertainment. at sunrise, when i opened my eyes again, the boy was still at it. i removed the cotton from my ears ... yes, indeed, the identical two chords! the boy and the guitar will perhaps never know what a narrow escape they both had! in despair i gave orders to get the mules ready at once in order to depart immediately. those halts in farmhouses were dreary beyond words. the brazilians of the interior--quite unlike those of the big towns in or near the coast--were sullen people, with no conversation--or else too much--no interest in anything, no art, no imagination. they were timid and vain to an incredible degree, suspicious, avaricious, and easily offended, so that the greatest tact had to be used with them. they were ignorant of everything even in their own immediate neighbourhood. yet, mind you, with all that, extraordinarily kind and ultra-polite of speech. they all seemed turned out of the same mould. when you had seen one you had seen them all. there were, of course, a few exceptions--brazilians of recent german, french, italian or spanish origin--but these exceptions were indeed very rare in the interior. ill-fed, his blood corrupted and impoverished to the utmost degree--his health, therefore, never in a normal condition--his finances at the lowest ebb, the brazilian of the interior had little indeed to make him happy. his home at best was as miserable and dirty as possible. the room generally given to an honoured guest--the best in the house--was the granary. more than once was my camp-bed perched on a mound of indian corn. and the furniture? a wooden bench of the roughest description--really an instrument of torture rather than an article of comfort; a few wooden pegs in the wall for hanging rifles or other things; an occasional wooden bedstead; seldom, very seldom, a stool or a chair--in any case, never a comfortable one such as you invariably find with peasants and old-established colonists of most other countries. they cared not for comfort. their beds, a mass of rags, were shared by masters and hens and dogs. everything was in an abandoned state, everything had fallen to rack and ruin. all looked as if they were tired of life, too indolent to move. they seldom saluted when you met them on the trail, nor when you entered their houses; if they did, they rapidly touched their dilapidated hats as if afraid to spoil them. never did you perceive a smile upon their long-drawn countenances. when they greeted one another they laid their bodies close together as if about to dance the _tango_, and patted each other repeatedly on the shoulder-blades, turning their heads away as if to avoid their reciprocal evil odour. it is not the fashion in any part of brazil to shake hands. some say it is because of the unpleasant feeling of touching sweating hands; others suggest that it is to prevent the contagion of the many skin complaints from which people suffer. when they do shake hands--with a stranger, for instance--one might as well be grasping the very dead hand of a very dead man; it is done in so heartless a manner. for a consideration they reluctantly gave a stranger what little they possessed, but they had not the remotest idea of the value of things. in one farmhouse you were charged the equivalent of a few pence for an egg or a chicken; in the next farm a small fortune was demanded for similar articles of convenience. men, women, children, dogs, pigs and fowls, all lived--not happily, but most unhappily--together. no sooner were we able to saddle the animals and pack the baggage and pay our hostess, than we tried to make our escape from that musical farm. but luck was hard on me that day. one mule was lost, a second received a terrible gash in his hind quarters from a powerful kick from another mule. we went on among low, fairly grassy hills to the west, w.n.w. and to the east of us. we still had before us the serra de callos--a flat-topped tableland some kil. in diameter on the summit, where it was almost circular. its deeply grooved sides showed clearly the great work of erosion which had occurred and was still taking place in those regions. with the exception of two spurs, which projected on the west and east sides of the plateau, its sky-line was quite clean and flat. after rising to an elevation of , ft., then descending to , ft., we crossed two streamlets which afterwards joined a fairly important torrent. one was called the rio boa vista. we gradually then rose to , ft. on another flat tableland to the east of the serra de callos, with its sides eroded in two distinct terraces, the higher one being almost a straight wall from two-thirds up the side of the range. in the lower portion a number of rounded mounds were to be observed, which, with a stretch of the imagination and for the sake of comparison, resembled, perhaps, elephants' heads. north-east of the serra stood a thickly-wooded, detached mound, while to the north as we went along there was displayed before us a magnificent view of the flat valley into which we were about to descend. where the country was wooded many trees and plants were to be found, useful for their tanning, medicinal, oliferous or lactiferous qualities: such as the dedal, a yellowish-leafed shrub from which a yellow dye can be obtained; the tall thin arariba amarelho, or amarelhino (_centrolobium robustum_), a great number of lobelia trees, with their elongated light green leaves and clean barked stems, which eject, from incisions, a caustic and poisonous juice. the tallest of all the trees in that region was perhaps the jacaranda, with its tiny leaves.... there were four kinds of jacaranda--the jacaranda _cabiuna_, _rosa_, _tan_ and _violeta_, technically known as _dalbergia nigra_, _machærium incorruptibile_, _machærium cencopterum_, _machærium alemanni_, benth. the three latter have a specific gravity higher than that of most woods in brazil, except the pao de ferro (_cæsalpina ferrea_), the very plentiful barbatimao (_stryphnodendron barbatimao_), a mimosa-like tree, and the vinhatico amarello (_echyrosperum balthazarii_), the last of which has the highest specific gravity of all. then we found plenty of sambaiba, an excellent wood, and imuliana, a wood of great resistance, much used in certain parts of brazil for constructing fences. a peculiar tree with concave leaves shaped like a cup was locally called ariticun or articun. it produced a large fruit, quite good to eat. much botanical variety was indeed everywhere around us.... there was the _terra da folha miuta_, which, as its name tells, possessed minute shiny leaves; then the tall faveiro (_pterodon pubescens_), producing a bean, and having dark leaves not unlike those of mimosas. then, many were the kinds of acacias we noticed as we went along. [illustration: picturesque ox-carts of goyaz.] still descending, we arrived at the little town of caldas de goyaz--so called because there were three hot springs of water of different temperatures. i visited the three springs. the water tasted slightly of iron, was beautifully clear and quite good to drink. two springs were found in a depression some ft. lower than the village--viz., at an elevation of , ft., whereas the village itself was at , ft. these two springs were only ft. away from a stream of cold water. a short distance from the cold stream was another stream of hot water emerging from the rocks. small rectangular tanks had been made at the two higher springs, which were said to possess wonderful curing qualities for eczema and other cutaneous troubles; also for rheumatism and blood complaints of all kinds. whether those waters were really beneficial or not, it was not possible to ascertain on a passing visit. i drank some of the water and it did me no harm, so if it does no good neither is it injurious. the village of caldas showed signs of having seen better days. it was clean-looking, but like all other villages of goyaz it was dreary in the extreme. there were only a few houses in the place, and each had a shop; all the shops sold similar articles--nickel-plated revolvers, spurs and daggers, calicoes, gaudy wearing-apparel, perfumery, and so on. for any one interested in the study of the effects of erosion on a gigantic scale, no more suitable country could be found than central brazil. here again to the e.n.e. of caldas stood the serra do sappé. in this case it was not a tableland, like the serra de caldas, but purely a hill range. the plateau of serra de caldas, i was told, measured on its summit kil. by kil. again, after leaving caldas, we went through most wonderful grazing ground to the north-east and east of our route at the foot of the serra do sappé. we had descended to the rio lagiadi, , ft. above the sea level, which flowed into the pirapitinga river (a tributary of the corumbá). once more did we admire that evening the remarkable effect of solar radiation, this time a double radiation with one centre--the sun--to the west, and a second centre, at a point diametrically opposite, to the east. those radiations, with a gradually expanded width, rose to the highest point of the celestial vault, where they met. the effect was gorgeous indeed, and gave the observer the impression of being enclosed in the immeasurable interior of an amazingly beautiful sea-shell turned inside out. we arrived in the evening at the farm of laza (elev. , ft.), where we had to abandon the wounded mule, and also another which, on coming down a steep incline, had badly injured its fore leg. the pack-saddles used in the interior of brazil (minas geraes, goyaz and matto grosso) were the most impracticable, torturing arrangements i have ever had to use on my travels. the natives swore by them--it was sufficient for anything to be absurdly unpractical for them to do so. it only led, as it did with me at first, to continuous unpleasantness, wearying discussions and eventual failure if one tried to diverge from the local habits, or attempted to eradicate deeply-rooted ideas. let me describe a typical brazilian pack-saddle. it weighed, with its inseparable protecting hide, well over lbs. it was bulky and cumbersome, most difficult to lift and set right on the animal's back. it consisted of two great parallel, clumsily-carved, heavy u-shaped pieces of wood supported upright on two enormous pads, at least double the size and thickness necessary. the breast and tail pieces were of extra thick leather of great width, which had the double disadvantage of being heavy and of producing bad sores by their constant friction and hard, saw-like, cutting edges. then the saddle allowed the loads to hang much too low on the sides of the animal's body. this naturally saved trouble and effort to the men who packed the animals. two of them simply lifted the loads simultaneously on the two sides and hooked them to the saddle by means of adjusted loops of leather or rope. then came the difficulty of keeping the loads in position, so that they would not shift back and forth. this was done by passing a leather thong over all and under the animal's belly, which was then squeezed beyond all measure. result of this: continuous trouble to pack rebellious animals, who knew what was coming; painful marching for the animals, who thus had difficulty in breathing, and therefore extra long marches, almost an impossibility without much injury to them. we will not speak of sore backs, sore sides, sore chests, and sore tail root--which was a matter of course after a pack animal had borne for a few hours one of those torturing arrangements on its back. i had tried to adopt lighter saddles of a more practical design, such as i had used on other expeditions; but as this involved a different method altogether of packing the animals, it led to much derision, unpleasantness, and refusal to do the work except in their own stupid way, so that in order to save time, expense and trouble i had to conform, much against my will, to the brazilian method. it was an impossibility to induce a brazilian of the interior to agree that any other way of doing anything was better or even as good as his own. a painful phase of human existence, as the country became more and more sparsely inhabited, was the number, relative to the population, of cases of sexual insanity, due naturally to the great difficulty of intercourse. we will not refer to sexual vices--extremely common--which reduced the few inhabitants to a state of absolute idiocy. thus at laza farm there were only three women and no men. they were all of a certain age, and for many many years had been there alone, and had not seen a man. they had become absolutely insane, and it required no little tact to prevent a catastrophe. one--a repulsive, toothless black woman, formerly a slave--was in such an excited state of mind that i was really glad when i saw my troop of animals started on the march early the next morning. on april th we were still on the north side of the serra de caldas, at the northernmost point of which flowed a _riberão_, or great river (elev. , ft.). most beautiful grazing land spread to the north of us, enormous stretches of undulating country verdant with delicious grass. the sappé mountains were still visible in the distance. marching through enchanting country--almost level, or merely rising or descending a few feet--with a magnificent view of distant mountains to our right and of low flat plains and far-away tablelands to our left, we arrived, after a morning's march of kil., at the fazenda of pouso alto (elev. , ft.). [illustration: a home in central brazil.] [illustration: a clever automatic pounding machine.] outwardly pouso alto was by far the neatest-looking fazenda we had yet seen since leaving araguary, but on entering the house the floor was a mass of dirt. fowls were running to and fro all over the rooms. a rough table of portuguese origin, a couple of benches so dirty that one did not dare to sit on them, some roughly made bedsteads, miserable and filthy--but no washstands or basins, no articles of necessity were anywhere to be observed or found. the mattresses--if one can elevate them to the dignity of such a name: they were mere bags filled with anything that had been found handy, such as the leaves and stalks of indian-corn, wool and dried grass--were rolled up in the daytime. only one bed was still made up. on it a cackling hen was busy laying an egg. that egg--a very good egg--was triumphantly served to me for breakfast. the walls of nearly all the farmhouses in the southern part of the province of goyaz were made of wooden lattice work, the square cavities formed by the cross sticks being filled in and the whole plastered over with mud, which eventually became hard when dry. near the foundations the walls were strengthened with mud bricks half baked. evidently, as was the case with this particular old house, in former days, when goyaz was more prosperous than it is now, in the time of the emperor, most of the houses were whitewashed--a luxury which in these days of misery the farmers can no longer indulge in. the doors and windows were rambling, though the frames of them were generally solidly made, but one never saw a pane of glass in any window anywhere in the country. at night the people barricaded themselves tight into their rooms and let no air in. it was partly due to fear of attack. whenever a building was whitewashed one invariably saw on it the impression of its owner's spread hand in outline, or else his signature in blue paint. the favourite colours in house decoration--where any were noticeable--were blue and a dirty cinnabar red. dogs were numerous everywhere, and, like their masters, were indolent and sleepy. in the afternoon of that same day we travelled some kil. more, on practically level ground intersected by a couple of streamlets. marching through thinly wooded country, grassy here and there, one began to notice a variation in the scenery, which was gradually becoming more tropical in appearance. palm trees, especially burity (_mauritia vinifera_ m.), in single specimens, or in groups, could be seen in the great stretches of good grazing country which appeared on both sides of our course. we spent the night at the fazenda of ritiro alegre (elev. , ft.), which words translated mean "the merry rest"--a most undeserved name, i can assure you, for neither merriment nor rest was to be obtained there. an evening in a brazilian farm was, nevertheless, occasionally not devoid of interest or of comic scenes. these folks evidently valued little the life of their children. as i was sitting on the doorstep waiting for my dinner to be cooked, down came, galloping at a breakneck speed and riding bareback, a little child of eight, carrying slung under his arm a smaller child of one, the latter squealing terribly. they both landed safely at the door. then there appeared one of the picturesque carts drawn by twelve oxen, anxiously awaited by the family. twenty snarling, snorting, ill-natured pigs provided enough noise seriously to impair the drums of one's ears; and when you added to this the monotonous bellowing of cows and oxen, the frantic neighing of horses and mules waiting to be fed, the crowing of cocks and the cackling of hens, the unmusical shrieks of a beautiful _arara_ (or macaw, of gorgeous green, blue, and yellow plumage), and of two green parrots--to which total add, please, the piercing yells of the children--it was really enough to drive one insane. they were superior farmers, those of the "merry rest"--no one could doubt it when the lady of the house and her pretty daughter arrived from an errand and found strangers in the house. dear me, what style, what enchanting affectation, the pretty maid and her mamma put on when they perceived us!... with an air of solemnity that was really delightful, they each offered us the tip of one finger for us to shake, and spoke with such affectation that their words stumbled one against the other. their vocabulary was evidently restricted, and in order to make the conversation elegant they interpolated high-sounding words which did not exactly belong, but sounded grand in their ears. it was a trial to have to remain serious. dinner was served--always the same fare wherever you went. boiled rice (very badly boiled), beans, stewed chicken chopped up, _pimienta_ (peppers), fried eggs and indian corn flour, which one mixed up together on one's plate and rendered into a paste. the coffee was always plentiful and good, but so strong that it was quite bitter. by the light of a wick burning and smoking terribly from the neck of an ex-medicine bottle filled with oil, we enjoyed our meal, watched intently by the entire family, silent and flattened in semi-obscurity against the walls. the primitive lamp gave so little light--although it gave abundant smell--that the many figures were almost indistinguishable against the dirty background, and all one perceived on raising one's eyes from the dinner-plate was a row of expanded eyes, following the movements of our hands, and just under that row a row of white teeth. when seen in a stronger light it was curious to notice criminal characteristics on nearly every face one saw; in the servants at those farmhouses one frequently observed murderous-looking creatures whom one would not care to meet alone in the dark. they were a special breed of stranded outcasts who had drifted there--the outcome of a complex mixture of portuguese, former black slaves, and indians. when you realized that the people who had drifted into the interior were the worst portuguese, the worst blacks, and the indians who intermarried with these gentry the worst indians, you can well imagine what fine results could be expected from such a breed. one trait predominant among these people was the unreasonable jealousy of the men over their women. had they been so many venuses of milo the men could not have guarded them with more ferocity. i am sure it would take a brave man indeed, and, above all, a totally blind man, to fall in love with the farmers' wives, daughters, or servants of the province of goyaz. i must say this in favour of my brazilian men, that, whatever other faults they may have had, they always, behaved in a most chivalrous, dignified way with the women-folk we met. never once did i have to reprimand them. in the morning, as the cows were driven into the yard to be milked, and the calves were being suckled by their mothers, and the children, rubbing their sleepy eyes with the backs of their hands, scrambled out of the house upon their drowsy legs, the girls of the family brought the last cups of coffee to us departing strangers. we packed our animals, paid the bill, and were off again. on april th we crossed the piracanjuga river, another tributary of the corumbá, yards wide, flowing from north-east to south-west, at an elevation of , ft. one league ( kil. m.) farther on we crossed another stream flowing east, in its turn a tributary of the piracanjuga. one of the most beautiful trees in that region was the _caneleira_, of the family of the _laurineas_. beautiful, too, were the _oleo pardo_ and _vermelho_ (_myrocarpus frondosus_ and _myrospermum erythrozylon_). we were next treated to a view of an extensive, deliciously green valley, most excellent for grazing purposes, extending from north to south to the west of our route. in the central depression of this valley were _burity_ palms in abundance. they say that wherever you find a burity you are sure to find water. it is perfectly true, as the burity only flourishes where there is a good deal of moisture in the soil. having crossed a low pass, we found ourselves in another valley--this one sparsely wooded ( , ft. above the sea level), very beautiful, with undulations some ft. high, and with streamlets at the bottom of most of the undulations. the summit of the highest elevation on that undulating land was , ft., the level of the principal streamlet , ft. above the sea. chapter vi inquisitiveness--snakes--a wonderful cure--butterflies--a striking scene twenty-nine kilometres from the "merry rest" we arrived at the little town of pouso alto--duly translated "high camp"--situated , ft. above the sea level on an elevation between the two rivers piracanjuba, and the furmiga (which afterwards became the rio meio ponte), throwing itself into the paranahyba river. pouso alto was like all the other _villas_ or settlements of goyaz, only perhaps a little larger. the same whitewashed houses with doors and windows decorated with blue, the same abandoned, deserted look of the principal square and streets; in fact, another "city of the dead." only two men--drinking in the local store--were visible in the whole village. the usual impertinent questions had to be answered. "who are you? why do you come here? is your country as beautiful as ours? have you any cities as large as ours in your country? how much money have you? are you married? you are english; then you come here to steal our gold and diamonds." "have you any gold and diamonds here?" "no!" "no, you cannot travel for pleasure. the english only travel to take away all the riches from other countries! those instruments you carry" (a compass and two aneroids) "are those that tell you where to dig for gold!" i could not help remarking to this gentleman that so far the country i had traversed seemed merely to be rich in misery, that was all. nothing could be imagined more funereal than those little towns. my men intended remaining there for the night, but i insisted on pushing on for a few more kilometres--especially as in these places my men were led to drink and became unmanageable. on we went for kil. to the farm of bellianti (elev. , ft. above the sea level). on april th we made an early start and travelled through a luxuriant forest, which was daily getting more and more tropical as we went farther north. we were, of course, do not forget, south of the equator. thirteen kilometres from camp we crossed the rio furmiga (or meio ponte) about yards wide, flowing there in a direction from east to west at an elevation of , ft. most gorgeous, richly verdant vegetation overhung and festooned the banks of the stream. as we went farther toward the interior the vegetation grew more beautiful, the people more repulsive. the majority of the people suffered from goître in more or less advanced stages. many were the persons affected by leprosy. we were in a region where oranges (imported, of course) of most excellent juicy quality were obtainable--for instance at the farm of felicidade (elev. , ft.). all those farms--very old--showed signs of having seen better days--no doubt when slavery existed in a legal form in brazil and it was possible to work those estates profitably. with the prohibitive price of labour--and in fact the impossibility of obtaining labour at any price in the interior--farming cannot indeed flourish to-day. the comparatively few immigrants who landed at the various ports in brazil were at once absorbed near the coast, and seldom left the port of landing, where labour was anxiously required. for the first time, that day did i see two snakes, which were concealed in the deep grooves left by a cart wheel. one wound itself around the front leg of my mule, and for a moment i was anxious lest the animal had been bitten; but fortunately the snake, which had been trodden upon, did no damage. only rarely did we see a bird anywhere, except in villages, where an occasional crow, with its dried-up neck and jerky motions, could be seen. how like the inhabitants those birds were! [illustration: brazilian pack-saddles.] [illustration: a typical village. (the higher building is the church.)] twenty-seven kilometres farther we reached santo antonio, a village situated in quite a heavenly spot, , ft. above the sea level, but in itself one of the most miserable villages i have ever seen. there were altogether some forty houses scattered about, eight of which were along the sides of the principal square--an abandoned field. the church had the appearance of a disused barn. a large wooden cross stood in front of it, upon which birds had built their nests. four thin, anæmic-looking palms stood at different angles by the side of the cross. we had the misfortune to stay there for the night. by seven o'clock everybody had barricaded their houses and had retired to sleep. there was, of course, no such thing as a post-office or a telegraph in the place. the nearest place where a letter could be posted was some kil. away on the high road between goyaz and catalão. goats tied in pairs, with a log of wood between in order to keep them apart, seemed to have the run of the place, and were the only things there which appeared to have any life in them. but if the place was miserable, if the natives were repulsive and dull, there was plenty to be thankful for in admiration of the really glorious country around, and the superb sunsets to which we were treated every evening. again that evening, when everybody in the place was slumbering, the sunset was more wonderful than words can describe. the usual radiations, which again reached the highest point of the sky's vault, were that night white on the west, with corresponding ones of brilliant cobalt blue to the east. a drizzling rain rendered the night cold and damp, although the fahrenheit thermometer registered a minimum temperature of °. on leaving s. antonio the trail ascended to a height of , ft. ( ½ kil. from the village), and we were then in a rich forest region, where the _acaju_--of the _terebinthaceæ_ family--was plentiful, with its huge leaves and contorted branches. the acaju produced a refreshing fruit, either of a bright red or else of a yellow colour, not unlike a large pepper, outside of which was strongly attached a seed possessing highly caustic qualities. many _gordinha_ trees were also to be seen. it was interesting to see how those zones of forest were suddenly succeeded by beautiful and vast areas of grazing land, such as we found that day. we crossed three streams at the respective elevations of , ft., , ft., and , ft., after which we reached an elevation of , ft., the highest we had so far attained on our route from the coast, where we found ourselves on a grassy tableland of considerable beauty. looking back to the s.s.e., we perceived the two hill ranges, one behind the other, which we had crossed. between them and us were marvellous slopes covered with green grass, but not in the lower portion, where bordering the stream was luxuriant forest. this was noticeable also on a hill to the west, forming a minor tableland with rounded sides. to the n.n.e. was a perfectly flat plateau. the distance rendered it of a deep blue, and its level sky-line gave the appearance of the horizon upon the ocean, except that there rose two small peaks which stood up slightly above the elevation of the plateau. on all that beautiful land only two small miserable farms were to be seen. yet it seemed to be a paradise on earth--delightful climate, excellent soil, useful woods in the forest, plenty of delicious water. three more streamlets flowing from west to east were encountered at elevations of , ft., , ft. and , ft., with undulating grassy land between of wonderful beauty. having deviated somewhat from our route, we at last descended into a grassy valley--absolutely flat--the best of all we had seen. it had been fenced all round. upon inquiry, i learned that it had been acquired by the redemptionist friars. there is one thing friars certainly know. it is how to select the best land anywhere to settle upon. we had travelled kil. m. that day when we arrived at campinas (elev. , ft. above the sea level)--the usual kind of filthy village with tiny, one-storied houses, more like toys than real liveable habitations. this time the doors and windows were bordered with grey instead of blue. on nearing those villages in central brazil one frequently found an abundance of rough wooden crosses scattered upon the landscape. they marked the spots where individuals had been killed. in the room where i put up in the village, in the _hospedagem_, or rest-house, the floor was besmeared with blood, the result of a recent murder. the shops grew more and more uninteresting as we got farther into the interior. the difficulties of transport were naturally greater, the prices rose by leaps and bounds, as we got farther; the population got poorer and poorer for lack of enterprise. the articles of luxury and vanity, so frequently seen in shops before, were now altogether absent, and only bottles of inferior liquor and beer were sold, matches and candles--that was all. no trade, no industry, no money, existed in those places. if one happened to pay with a five- or a ten-milreis note ( _s._ _d._ or _s._ _d._), one could never obtain change. frequently, unless you wished to leave the change behind, you were obliged to carry away the balance in cheap stearine or beer. i took the stearine. a short distance from the town was a seminary, with four german friars, very fat, very jolly, very industrious. alcides, one of my men, was by way of being a veterinary surgeon. here is how he cured a wounded mule, which, having received a powerful kick from another animal, displayed a gash in. long in her back, and so deep that the entire hand could be inserted and actually disappear into the wound. francisco, another of my men, having duly and firmly tied the animal's legs--a sensible precaution--proceeded with his naked arm to search for _bishus_: anything living is a _bishu_ in brazil, from an elephant to a flea; but in this particular case it was applied to insects, such as _carrapatos_, maggots, or parasites, which might have entered the wound. having done this at considerable length and care, he proceeded to tear off with his nails the sore edges of the laceration, after which he inserted into the gash a pad of cotton-wool soaked in creoline. that was the treatment for the first day. the second day, the wound proceeding satisfactorily, he inserted into it, together with his hand, a whole lemon in which he had made a cut, and squeezed its juice within the raw flesh. the amazing part of it all was that the animal, with an additional bath or two of salt and water, absolutely recovered from the wound and got perfectly well. the redemptionist monks had a fine vineyard adjoining their monastery--the only one of any size and importance we had seen since leaving the railway--and also some lovely orange groves in a walled enclosure. they had built a mill on the bank of the stream. most of that beautiful valley for miles and miles belonged to them. the town of campinas--not to be confounded with campinas of são paulo province--had a population of souls. when we left that place the next morning, again we went across beautiful flat stretches of grassy land--several miles long and broad--regular tablelands, at an elevation of , ft.--most wonderful pasture lands now going absolutely to waste. plentiful streamlets intersected those lovely meadows at a slightly lower elevation--merely a few feet--where the water had eroded itself a channel. those streams were generally bordered by a thick growth of trees and entangled vegetation. we stopped for lunch at the farm of _boa vista_ (belvedere or fine view), so called--according to the usual brazilian way of reasoning--because it was situated in a deep hollow from which you could see nothing at all! another more rational name which this place also possessed was bocca do matto (mouth of the forest), because it truly was at the entrance of a thick forest extending to the north. we went, in fact, from that point through densely wooded country, although the trees were of no great height or size. the ground was swampy and sloppy, most unpleasant for marching, for some nineteen kilometres, until we arrived at goyabeira (elev. , ft.), having covered kil. m. that day--not at all bad marching considering that we could not change animals and we conveyed all our baggage along with us. i saw that day another snake, called by the natives _duas cabecas_ (and tu nou), or double-headed snake, because its marking gives that impression at first sight. after leaving goyabeira the thick growth continued over several ridges, the highest of which was , ft., with streams between at elevations respectively of , and , ft. i noticed in the forest some beautiful paneira trees, with their trunks enlarged near the base--a regular swelling all round. one of the peculiarities of this tree was that it produced a kind of vegetable wool contained within fairly hard capsules. that was indeed a day of surprises for us. as we were proceeding over another hill range between two streams (elev. , ft.), we saw at last some butterflies of a gorgeous lemon yellow, some of a rich orange, others of red and black, great numbers of pure white, and some huge ones of an indescribably beautiful metallic blue colour. there were swarms of them near the water. so unaccustomed were they to see human beings that many settled on my white coat and on my straw hat and came along undisturbed for long distances upon my person. they were so beautiful that i had not the desire to kill them, even for the sake of bringing back a valuable collection. it would have been easy to capture them, as you could touch them several times with your fingers before they would fly away. one butterfly particularly took a great fancy to my left hand, in which i held the reins of my mule, and on which it sat during our marches for several days--much to my inconvenience, for i was afraid of injuring it. it would occasionally fly away and then return. at night while we were camping i transferred it to my straw hat, on which it quietly remained until the next morning. the moment i had mounted my mule, the butterfly would at once fly again to my hand. this great affection was due chiefly, i believe, not to any magnetic attraction, but merely to the delicately scented soap which i used in my morning bath, and which greatly attracted the butterfly. on many occasions on that expedition i had similar experiences with butterflies. for the first time, too, i perceived that day a few _colibris_--tiny humming-birds of wonderful plumage. twenty-three kilometres from goyabeira--after many ups and downs along a deep-channelled, slushy trail, and having crossed over several swampy, troublesome streamlets--we suddenly emerged into a marvellous undulating open plain with lovely grass and numerous fat cattle grazing upon it. in the distance upon the hill-side four or five farm-sheds could be perceived. we had stopped at one farm on the way in hopes of getting food, but they could only sell us some _feijão_--beans soaked in lard--so that it was with some haste that we directed our mules to the more imposing building in expectation of finding there at least some rice and eggs. we hurriedly crossed the plain and then the stream, and halted at the cachoeira grande (grand rapid) farm, , ft. above the sea level. a pure negro was in charge of the place, whose wife was also as black as the ace of spades. curiously enough, they possessed a child much discoloured and with golden hair and blue eyes. such things will happen in the best regulated countries. the black man swore it was his own child, and we took--or, rather, did not take--his word for it. we went on thirteen more kilometres that afternoon, when we were overtaken by a hurricane and torrential rain which drenched us to the marrow of our bones. we halted for the night at the farm of _lagoa formosa_ (beautiful lagoon), , ft. above the sea level. it was on april th that we proceeded to climb the dividing range between the waters flowing south into the paranahyba (afterward called the parana) river, and those flowing north eventually into the amazon. this range of mountains was by some called serra de sta. rita, by others serra dourada. it was not possible to ascertain the real name from the local people, who could tell me the names of no place, or mountain, or stream, and hardly knew the names of their own homes. on a flat expanse some kil. from lagoa formosa we came upon a small lake. we travelled mostly across campos (or prairies), with waters from that point flowing northward. seventeen kilometres farther we entered the neat-looking village of curralhino (elev. , ft.), with two squares and streets actually with names to them. we were from this point on the main route between são paulo and the capital of goyaz, and also met there the telegraph line between goyaz and são paulo. we were getting near the capital of the province. a little more life was noticeable in this settlement than in those we had met before. caravans of mules and horses occasionally passed through, and bullock-carts, with eighteen and twenty oxen, slowly and squeakily crept along. we were going through a region that was more than hilly--almost mountainous--the first of the kind we had encountered since leaving the railway. [illustration: author's caravan about to cross the river corumba.] [illustration: burity palms.] at camp maria alves we were at an elevation of , ft. beautiful crystals were to be found at and near this place. many were enclosed in hard envelopes of yellow lava, which contained besides semi-crystallized matter easily crushed--to be strictly accurate, the imprisoned infinitesimal crystals were easily separated, under gentle pressure. some spherical balls and pellets of lava i picked up, when split contained red baked earth which had evidently been subjected to intense heat. in the centre of these pellets one or more crystals of great clearness were invariably to be found. these pellets must have been expelled with terrific force from a volcanic vent, and must have travelled great distances, for the depression where i found them had a surface of alluvial formation. on april th we again rose over a range where we encountered a good deal of igneous rock and quantities of beautiful crystals. we had a range to the west of us and one higher and more important to the north-east, the latter more broken up than any we had so far seen in the three last provinces crossed. we somehow missed now the lovely pasture lands of the day before, so refreshing to the eye, and the landscape had suddenly become more rugged and barren, except near water. some kil. from the farm maria alves the uru or uruba river (elev. , ft.) flowed north--there merely a picturesque torrent among rocks and overhanging vegetation on both banks. the wonderful effect of erosion was noticeable on the mountain sides to the north of us, where it had left a top terrace with deep corrugations in the lower sides of the mountain. a miserable-looking farmhouse could be seen here and there--quite as miserable as the country in itself was rich. some shaggy policemen, in rags and barefooted, passed us, guarding an ox-cart dragging treasure to the capital. only the oxen and some cows which were about looked at us with interest, and sniffed us--it is wonderful how quick animals are at detecting the presence of strangers--but the people took no notice of us. here and there a tumbled-down tree blocked the way. there were tracts of pasture land. my men were considerably excited on seeing a poisonous snake crawl swiftly towards our mules. it was perhaps an absent-minded or a short-sighted snake, for no sooner did it realize our presence than it quickly veered round to escape. my men killed it. at an elevation of , ft. we met a limpid stream of most delicious water. at that particular spot it flowed south. we were now confronted with a range of actual mountains. the trail took us over wonderful rugged scenery, masses of pillar-like grey rock of granitic formation. on the summit of the pass we were over strata of half-solidified tufa in sheets--or foliated--easily crumbled and finely powdered between one's fingers. the strata were at an angle of °, showing that they had undergone some disturbance. they had been subjected to great heat, for in some places they had been hard baked, which rendered them of a yellowish brown colour. on the left of us--to the west--a great vertical pillar of rock plainly showed the stratification, the continuation of which could be followed on the opposite side of the pass, both in the horizontal strata and those which had been forced up at an angle. looking back from the pass, we obtained a heavenly panorama of wooded hills to the south-east, far, far beyond in the background, and of glorious campos between them and us. with the winter coming on--of course you know that south of the equator they have their winter when we have our summer--beautiful yellowish, reddish and brown tints of the foliage added picturesqueness to the landscape. the pass itself was , ft. above the sea level. there was not much in the way of vegetation, barring a few stunted _sucupira_ trees. the air was exquisitely pure and the water of two streamlets at , ft. delicious and cool. we were marching over quantities of marble fragments and beautiful crystals, which shone like diamonds in the sun. having gone over the pass, we came upon a most extraordinary geological surprise. there seemed to have been in ages long gone by a great subsidence of the region north of us. we were then on the steep edge of what remained of the plateau, and down, down in the depth below was an immense valley in which goyaz city lay. to the west of us--as i stood impressed by that awe-striking scene--we had the irregularly-cut continuation of the edge of the plateau on which we stood, supported as it were on a pillar-like granitic wall of immense height and quite vertical, resting on a gently sloping base down to the bottom of the vast basin below. this great natural wall of gneiss, which contained myriads of crystals and mica schists, shone like silver in the spots where the sun struck it, and with the lovely pure cobalt blue of the distant hills, the deep green of the valley below, and the rich brown and yellow and red tints of the near foreground, made one of the most exquisitely beautiful sights i have ever witnessed. the nearest approach to it in my experience was, perhaps, the eastern escarpment of the abyssinian plateau in africa, where a similar panorama on a much smaller scale could be seen, but not the same geological formation. [illustration: the president of goyaz and his family.] [illustration: giant cactus in the background.] no sooner had i recovered from the strangeness and marvellous beauty of nature's work around me, than i felt a great shock at seeing what men had done in that region. we were at this point on the high road between são paulo, uberaba and goyaz capital. as my animals stumbled down the steep escarpment traces could be seen of what must have been formerly a beautiful paved road, well-drained on both sides with channels, and held up in terraces by stone works where the gradient was steepest. here and there bits still remained, demonstrating how well the road had been made. but, uncared for and abandoned, most of it had been washed away by the heavy rains, which had turned that road into a foaming torrent in wet weather. near habitations, the well-cut slabs with which the road was paved had come convenient to the natives for building purposes. during the time of the emperor pedro ii., i was told, that was a magnificent road, kept in excellent repair. goyaz city lay before us down, down below, in the hollow of the huge depression. its single row of low whitewashed houses of humble architectural pretensions became less and less impressive and less picturesque as one got nearer. i had by that time grown quite accustomed to this optical disillusion, for it was frequently the case with the work of man in brazil. it always needed distance--the greater distance the better--to lend enchantment to it. with a feeling of intense oppression--perhaps due to the stifling air and the lower elevation ( , ft.) at which goyaz city lay--we entered the capital of goyaz. at the sound of our mules upon the pavement, timid men, timid women and children cautiously peeped from each window through the half-closed venetian blinds. we only had to turn round to peep at them, and with terrified squeals the hidden creatures banged and bolted the windows. the sight of a stranger in goyaz was apparently an event. whether we were expected or not, i do not know, but the whole population seemed to be hiding behind the tiny windows to look at us. the few who were caught in the street seemed as if they wanted to bow but had not the courage to do it. indeed, their timidity was intensely amusing. some, more courageous, gave a ghastly grin, displaying rows of irregular teeth in a terrible condition of decay. distances between araguary and goyaz araguary to paranahyba kil. m. = leagues. paranahyba to corumbahyba " " " corumbahyba to caldas " " " caldas to pouso alto " " " pouso alto to s. antonio " " " s. antonio to campinas " " " campinas to goyabeira " " ½ " goyabeira to curralhino " " " curralhino to goyaz " " " --------------------------------- total " " ½ " ================================= chapter vii in the city of goyaz there was no such thing as an hotel in goyaz capital. the nearest approach to it was a filthy rest-house for muleteers, which was, furthermore, already full. against my usual custom--as i never, unless absolutely necessary, make use of the credentials i carry for my private needs--i had, therefore, to apply to the presidente or governor of the province to find some sort of accommodation in the town for my animals, men, and myself. "take off your spurs before you enter!" roughly shouted a sentry at the governor's palace--a huge barn-like structure--just as i was stooping to do that before being asked. "do not stand on the pavement," said the sentry again, anxious to display his authority. being a law-abiding person i shifted to one side. "do not stop under the presidente's window!" cried the policeman angrily once more, digging me in the ribs with his bayonet. i was beginning to be sorry i had not brought an aeroplane with me in order to complete my toilet in the air before entering so sacred a precinct, but patience being one of my chief virtues i transferred myself to the remotest point across the square, where, stork-like, upon one foot at a time i was able--this time undisturbed--to remove both spurs. "take off your hat before entering," again shouted the policeman, as i was still some fifteen yards from the door. i really began to feel rather nervous, with all those orders grunted at me. i wondered at the strange people who must visit the palace to have to be instructed to such an extent before entering. i also stopped for a moment to ponder whether i had taken off all that was necessary to enter a palace where so much etiquette was required. the moment i entered things were different. i was ushered into an ante-room, where i had to go through a short cross-examination by some police officers. then, when they had made sure of my identity, they immediately led me before the presidente. the presidente greeted me with effusion. he was a most polished and charming gentleman from rio de janeiro, had travelled extensively in europe, and could speak french and english. he roared heartily when i told him of my experience outside his palace. "they are all savages here," he told me; "you must not mind. the sentry has orders to keep everybody away from the palace, as people come in the afternoon and squat under my windows to jabber, and i cannot sleep. those orders, i assure you, were not meant for you. you will be my guest all the time you are in the city, and i can accept no excuse." the presidente placed a small house near the palace at my disposal, and insisted on my having all meals with his family--most refined, handsome, exquisitely polite wife and daughters. i presented the credentials i possessed from the minister of agriculture in rio and the brazilian ambassador in london, requesting the presidente to do all in his power to further the success of the expedition--i, of course, paying all expenses. the presidente, like most other brazilians of a certain age, was _blasé_ beyond words. nothing interested him except his family, and life was not worth living. he believed in nothing. he was an atheist because he had not been as successful as he wished in the world, and attributed the fault to god. he cared little about the future of his country. if his country and all his countrymen went to a warmer place than heaven, he would be glad to see them go that way! as for going exploring, mapping unknown regions, studying the country and the people, building roads, railways and telegraphs, it little mattered to him, but it seemed all nonsense. "instead of coming to these wild, deadly regions, why do you not go and spend your money enjoying yourself in paris or vienna?" was his advice to me. "perhaps i need a change occasionally, and i enjoy things all the more by contrast when i return to europe." the presidente was evidently not in good health and spirits. he was a senator of the republic, and a man formerly of great ambitions, which were more or less shattered when he was elected governor of goyaz province, with its population of corpses, and at a salary of £ a month--very little more than i paid my head muleteer--so that little could be expected from the governor of such a province. it was thus that the state of goyaz, one of the naturally richest in brazil--it contained pasture lands unique for their beauty, forests with valuable woods, plenty of water and great navigable rivers draining it both north and south, of which it was sufficient to mention the magnificent araguaya river, the rio tocantins and the paranahyba (or parana)--was instead one of the poorest. in the very heart of brazil, goyaz was geographically and politically the centre of the republic. with an area of , sq. kil. ( , sq. miles), the province had an estimated population of some , souls, or less than one to every square mile. the region forming the present state of goyaz was first explored in by manoel correa, a native of são paulo, and in by another paulista, bartholomeu bueno de silva, who both were prospecting for gold. the latter was successful in locating gold mines and in making friends with the local indians of the goyaz tribe, from whom the province then took its name. some forty-three years later de silva returned to são paulo with ounces of gold. the news of these goldfields quickly attracted a great number of adventurers to goyaz. the country then saw its most prosperous days, especially in and near villa boa, the present city of goyaz, where gold was said to have been plentiful in those days. the enterprising bartholomeu bueno de silva returned to goyaz in as a capitão mor, or grand captain, with the right to dispose of land. in goyaz was recognized as a province of the empire, and subsequently in it became one of the states of the union, with autonomy as regards local affairs under its own constitution approved by the federal constituent assembly in . cattle, horse and mule breeding on a small scale was the chief source of income of that magnificent state--an income which in less indolent hands might be increased ten-thousand-fold or more. its horses and mules found a ready market in the adjacent state of matto grosso and from there went into bolivia, while the states of minas geraes and são paulo were the chief buyers of pigs, _toucinho_ (dried pork fat), dried beef, hides raw and cured, cheese, lard, etc. goyaz prided itself greatly on its horses, which enjoyed a certain fame all over brazil. perhaps they were in a way as good as any produced in the republic. with a little study and care in the breeding they might be greatly improved and rendered as sturdy and good-looking as some horses of asia and northern africa. so far they were far inferior in appearance and endurance to the horses of arabia, turkestan, europe and abyssinia. the most interesting type of the goyaz horse was what is called the _curraleiro_ or "stable horse," bred in the north of the state, especially in the valley of paranan, bordering upon minas and bahia. the curraleiro was also known as _cavallo sertanejo_ or "horse of the jungle"--two most inappropriate names, for it was, accurately speaking, neither one nor the other. the goyaz horse was a typical brazilian horse. it shared many of the characteristics of the people of the province. timidity, laziness, lack of affection and judgment, sulkiness and great stubbornness under training of any kind were its qualities. this was due chiefly, i think, to its inferior intelligence when compared with thoroughbred horses of other nations. the goyaz horse was small, fairly agile, and when well cared for had a handsome shiny coat with luxuriant mane and tail. it was capable of short, noteworthy efforts, but did not possess abnormal endurance. the present curraleiro is a mere degeneration of what must have formerly been an excellent horse. considering the absolute lack of care taken in its breeding, it was certainly remarkable that it proved to be as good a horse as it actually was. judiciously crossed with hungarian, turkestan, arab or abyssinian horses, i think that quite excellent results might be obtained. it must be taken into consideration that great hardships and work of the roughest character were demanded of animals in central brazil. a praiseworthy movement was started some years ago by marechal hermes da fonseca, now president of the republic, to mount the entire brazilian cavalry on national horses. that will perhaps lead some day to a great improvement in the breeding of animals all over the country, and especially in goyaz, which provided the most suitable land for that purpose. the same remarks could, perhaps, in a slightly lesser degree, be applied to the breeding of donkeys and mules. no care whatever was exercised by the breeders in order to improve the breeds. everything was left to luck and chance. the result was that a degenerate type of animal was produced--wonderful indeed, considering the way it was bred, but which might be improved to an immense extent and made into a remarkable animal, in such a propitious climate and with such marvellous pasture lands. with cattle also, it is safe to assert that, since the colonial time, very little fresh foreign blood of any importance has been introduced in breeding--except, perhaps, some inferior types of the indian humped zebu. most of the stock i saw in southern goyaz was intermixed with zebu. the formerly existing bovine races, such as the mocha, coraçu and crioula have now almost altogether disappeared. unlike most other states of brazil, goyaz had no provincial customs duties. with its immense frontier, bordering upon seven different other states, it would be impossible to enforce the collection of payments. no reliable statistics were obtainable as to the amount of exports or imports of the state. even approximately it would be impossible to make a guess as to the actual amount of the resources of the state. sugar-cane and tobacco could be profitably grown in the state. the small quantity of tobacco grown there was of excellent quality. [illustration: the main square of goyaz city, showing prison and public library.] [illustration: some of the baggage and scientific instruments used by the author on his expedition.] the government of goyaz province consisted of three powers: the executive, represented by the president, elected for three years by universal suffrage; the legislature--a chamber of deputies equally elected for three years by suffrage; and a judicial power constituted by the high court of justice, _juges de droit_--law judges--and district judges. to be elected president of goyaz state all that was necessary was to be a brazilian citizen, over thirty years of age, and able to read and write. the same applied to the election of deputies--for whom a residence of only two years in the state was sufficient. the capital of goyaz--situated on the rio vermelho, a tributary of the great araguaya river--had, according to the census of , a population of some , people, but i rather doubt whether it possessed as many as to , souls when i visited it. one could notice indications that goyaz had been in days gone by a flourishing place. there were a number of fine churches, and a large cathedral in course of construction--but since abandoned. some of the buildings, too--the finest was the prison--must have been quite handsome, but were now in a dilapidated condition. it was really heart-breaking to see such a magnificent country go to rack and ruin--a state naturally the richest perhaps in brazil, yet rendered the poorest, deeply steeped in debt, and with the heavy weight of absurdly contracted loans from which it had no hope whatever of recovering under present conditions. they had in the province the most beautiful land in brazil, but it was a land of the dead. people, industries, trade, commerce, everything was dead. formerly, in the time of the emperor and of that great patriot general couto de magalhães, goyaz city could be reached--within a few kilometres--by steam on the beautiful river araguaya, which formed the western boundary of the province, an ideal waterway navigable for , kil.--in goyaz province alone. in the time of the emperor, when brazil was a wild country, steam navigation actually existed up the araguaya river from conceição as far as leopoldina (the port for goyaz city). the river was free from obstacles of any kind, even in the rainy season. there were then three beautiful english-built launches on that service. a fine repairing shop had been erected at leopoldina. but in these days of civilization, order and progress, the steamers have been purposely run aground and left to rot. there was actually a tree growing through the hull of one of those launches when i last heard of them; the machine shop was robbed of all its tools, and the machinery destroyed and abandoned. the presidente told me that the provincial government had eventually bought the wrecks of the launches and the machine shops for £ --and as it cost too much to leave a man in charge everything had since been abandoned. when i visited goyaz there was no sign and no hope of re-establishing steam navigation on that marvellous waterway. the tocantins river, which intersected the province from goyaz city to its most northern point, was also another serviceable stream--but no one used it, except, perhaps, some rare private canoe taking up goods to settlements on its banks. the navigation of the tocantins, when i was in goyaz, extended merely to the port of alcobaça, kil. from para, from which point rapids existed which made steam navigation impossible as far as praia da rainha. the distance of kil. between those two places was eventually to be traversed by a railway, a a concession for which had been granted to the estrada de ferro norte do brazil. in the high tocantins i believe two steam launches were temporarily running as far as porto nacional or perhaps a little higher. undoubtedly the state of goyaz will some day, notwithstanding its apathetic inhabitants, see great changes for the better. the new epoch will begin when the several railways which were in course of construction from various directions enter the province. not one of them had penetrated the province at the time of my visit, although the work of preparing the road had just been begun on goyaz territory, as we have seen, for a few kilometres north of the paranahyba river, on the extension of the mogyana line from são paulo. a second railway line in course of construction was a branch of the western minas railway; and there was a third up the araguaya from para. those railways will certainly revolutionize the country. the inhabitants of goyaz, ultra-conservative in their ideas, were not at all anxious to see a railway reach their capital. in their curious way of reasoning they seemed to think that the railway would make life dearer in the city, that strangers would be coming in great numbers to reap the benefit of their country, and that the younger people who were satisfied to live there--because they could not get away--would all fly to the coast as soon as the railway was established, to enjoy the luxuries of rio and são paulo, of which they had heard, but could so far only dream of. they did not stop to think that the railways will certainly make goyaz the richest country in the world. the financial condition of that beautiful state can perhaps best be shown by quoting the words of the presidente himself in his message to the legislative congress of goyaz on may th, , on assuming the presidency of the province. "on my assuming the government of the province, i ordered the secretary of finance to give an account of the balance existing in the state treasury; and it was verified that up to april th last there existed a sum of rs. , , (£ , sterling), which became reduced to rs. , , (£ , sterling) after the payments made on the st, rd, and th of the present month (may, ). it must be understood that the above-mentioned sum does not represent a balance existing in the treasury, because it includes deposits and guarantees, as well as the deposits of the orphan asylum and of the monte pio. "leaving out the sums left in the treasury on deposit, and which represent in fact a debt of the state, we come to the conclusion that there is no money whatever in the treasury, and that the state '_ainda fica a dever_' (is instead deep in debt). the expenses were vastly higher than the income of the province and whereas the expenses of administration increased daily, the receipts remained stationary." there was a certain humour in the presidente's remarks on crime, when he referred to the difficulties experienced by the chief of police, who received no remuneration. [illustration: the author's six followers.] "it is easy," he said, "to understand the drawbacks resulting for the maintenance of order and the repression of crime, which is daily becoming more common--owing, no doubt, to the facility of entrance, through our unguarded boundaries, of persecuted people or fugitives from our neighbouring states, and of the impunity of criminals due to the benevolence of our juries. the diminution of our police force in so large a state with such difficult communications has had the result that the police force, moved incessantly from one end of the state to the other, never arrives in time to prevent crime! "many criminals have been prosecuted and are now safely guarded in prisons, but unhappily the greater number of criminals are loose all over the state without fear of being prosecuted, and terrorizing the population. bands of gipsies were followed by officers and soldiers, and their attacks on property and individuals were prevented.... in the town of catalão the two armed parties were successfully prevented from violence and '_viessem ás máos_' (coming to blows). at morrinhos armed citizens in a menacing attitude were dispersed by the police ... in other localities other riots or attempts (_sic_) at disorder were immediately repressed, and we can now say that the state enjoys perfect peace, save the municipality of douro, which is threatened by bandits from bahia. they are constantly springing upon the terrified population of the municipality and especially of the town. "... the bandits continue their incursions; murders follow one another in the entire zone between formosa and barreiros, including santa rita and campo largo, the inhabitants of which zone are paralyzed with terror.... our commerce with bahia, as well as relations between private individuals, is thus interrupted." in his message the presidente wisely and frankly disclosed the difficulty of administering justice under existing laws, when juries would absolve proved and confessed murderers wholesale. he endeavoured to stimulate some sense of honour in the officials in charge of the various municipalities, where "_as rendas em geral mal applicadas_" (the revenue generally misapplied) found its way into channels through which it was not intended to pass. a fervent appeal the presidente made to prevent the spread of smallpox. the vaccine which the government sent to various points of the state was not used. curious, indeed, but perfectly true, were his statements regarding the police force. "the officers are zealous and understand their duty. the policemen, notwithstanding all their defects, are being instructed and disciplined. the policemen are in general 'criminals' (_morigerados_). _ha falta de armamento, e o existente não é o melhor._ (there is lack of armament and the existing one is not the best.) the pay is small ... and the body needs reorganization." the academy of law (_academia de direito_) was not satisfactory and did not answer the purpose for which it was established. the lyceum, with its pupils, gave fair results, barring the tolerance in examinations, which, however, did not reach a criminal point (_sic_). it possessed no building of its own, and was badly housed in a private dwelling. public instruction was admittedly defective all over the province. the teachers were almost as ignorant and illiterate as the people who went to learn--and perhaps more so; while the escola normal (normal school) for women was almost altogether unattended. the public works were uncared for--there was not a single new work of art begun in the state. nor could the state boast of a single road or trail or bridge in fair condition. the laws on the possession of land would one day lead to immense difficulties and confusion. the greater part of the land now occupied was in the hands of people who had no legal right whatever to it. the existing laws on mining were equally unsatisfactory, and the presidente rightly remarked that "without facilities and guarantees, capitalists will never venture upon so risky and problematic an enterprise as mining in a state so distant and so difficult of access." he also exhorted the people to re-establish steam navigation on the araguaya river, such as existed in the days of the empire. i was told that a launch had actually been purchased in the united states, but was either waiting at pará for want of an engineer or else had again been sold owing to the impossibility--due to lack of money--of its being transported in sections over the rapids above conceição. the question of boundaries with neighbouring states was an amusing one. according to some rule for which no one can account, the government of goyaz claimed from the state of matto grosso enormous stretches of land on the opposite side of its natural, indisputable geographical western boundary, the main stream araguaya, as well as the isolated settlement of conceição, on the opposite side of the araguaya river, which was undoubtedly in the state of pará. one only had to glance at a map--bad as maps were--to see that in both cases the claim was an absurd one. in the case of conceição it was perfectly ridiculous. the pará government held the place with a military force and occupied the territory with complete jurisdiction. in a more peaceful manner the state of matto grosso was in possession of the entire territory west of the rio grande do araguaya, which the people of goyaz said belonged to them. on the west the araguaya formed a perfect geographical boundary from the southern goyaz boundary--where the araguaya had its birth--as far as the most northern point of the state; whereas, were one to accept the supposed goyaz boundary formed by the rio das mortes--a tributary of lesser volume than the main stream--it would involve an imaginary compound boundary line up the paredão stream, then up the rio barreiros, then an imaginary straight line from north to south across mountainous country, winding its way east until it met the serra dos bahus, then again north-east over undetermined country, then along the rio aporé and eventually joining the paranahyba river. curiously enough, nearly all the brazilian government maps--and all the foreign ones copied, of course, from the brazilian, all remarkable for their inaccuracies--gave the wrong boundary as the correct one! in any case, both the states of matto grosso and pará were in actual occupation of the respective disputed territories, and goyaz was much too poor to afford fighting for them, so that i fear her most unreasonable claims will ever remain unsatisfied. the final blow to the financial status of the province was the loan raised on the banco do brazil of rs. , , (£ , sterling) at an interest of per cent per annum. the presidente counted on the receipts from the exports as well as on economy in administration in order to pay the interest on this sum--a dream which soon became impossible to realize. it was then attempted to float an internal loan of rs. , , (about £ , sterling) at an interest of per cent; but, as the presidente pathetically ended his message to the state congress, "not a single person presented himself to subscribe to the loan." the receipts from the export of cattle from goyaz state amounted in to only rs. , , (or £ , _s._ _d._ sterling). after all expenses were deducted the state of goyaz then showed a deficit of rs. , , (£ , _s._ _d_. sterling). chapter viii fourteen long and weary days--disappointment--criminals as followers it was in the town of goyaz that i had entertained hopes of finding suitable followers to accompany my expedition. the officials in rio de janeiro had given me glowing accounts of the bravery of the people of goyaz. according to them those settlers of the interior were all daredevils, courageous beyond words, and i should have no difficulty whatever in finding plenty of men who, for a consideration, would join the expedition. "they will one and all come with you," a well-known colonel had exclaimed enthusiastically to me in rio--"and they will fight like tigers." i carried the strongest possible--although somewhat curiously worded--credentials from the federal government to the presidente and other officials of goyaz, the letters, which had been handed to me open, stating that the presidente was earnestly requested to do all in his power to help to make the expedition a success. when i presented these documents, i explained clearly to the presidente that all i wished was that he should help me to collect thirty plucky men, whom i would naturally pay, and pay well, out of my own pocket, feed and clothe, during the entire time the expedition lasted, as well as pay all their expenses back and wages up to the day of reaching their original point of departure. "i cannot help you; you will get nobody. besides, i have received an official but confidential message from rio requesting me to do all i can to prevent your going on." such treachery seemed inconceivable to me, and i took no notice of it. i again requested the presidente to endeavour to find me men and animals, as nothing would deter me from going on. if no brazilians came, i said that i would go alone, but that the value of the expedition would naturally suffer, as i should thus have to leave behind all the instruments, cameras, and other impedimenta, which, single-handed, i could not possibly carry. it was my intention to travel north-west from goyaz city as far as the river araguaya. there i wanted to descend the araguaya as far as the tapirapez river--a small tributary on the west side of the araguaya, shown on some of the very incorrect existing maps approximately in lat. ° s., and on others in lat. ° and some minutes s. proceeding westward from that point again, i proposed crossing over to the xingu river, then to the tapajoz, and farther to the madeira river. it was necessary for me to hire or purchase a canoe in order to descend the araguaya river as far as the tapirapez. believing that perhaps i might be able to find men without the assistance of the governor, i tried every possible channel in goyaz. i sent men all round the town offering high pay. i applied to the commanding officer of the federal troops. i applied to the dominican monks, who have more power in goyaz state than all the officials taken together. the father superior of the dominicans shook his head at once and told me that, much as he wished to oblige me, i was asking for something impossible. he was right. the people were so scared of the indians, and of the horrors of camping in the jungle, that no money in the world would ever induce them to move out of their town. "are there no young fellows in the town who will come along for the love of adventure as well as the money they will get?" i asked. "for love! ... love!" said the friar, bursting with laughter. "i do not believe that such a thing exists in brazil." having removed "love or money" from the programme of temptation, there remained little else except patience. in the meantime i endeavoured to hire a canoe. the presidente kindly undertook to do this for me with the help of a well-known colonel, one of the most revered men in the city. "there is only one boat on the araguaya," said the presidente to me. "you cannot build a raft, as all the woods in these regions are too heavy and not one will float. you must hire that boat or nothing." [illustration: view of goyaz city from sta. barbara.] [illustration: author's men packing animals.] the honoured colonel his friend also impressed that point well upon me. "only that boat or nothing." they also added that they had arranged for me to hire that boat for four days, and it would only cost me £ sterling. my distinguished friends had taken ten days to arrange that bargain. it took me ten seconds to disarrange it all. all the more as i had heard that a german traveller, dr. krause, had the previous year gone down the araguaya river, where he had done excellent research work, and had also travelled up the tributary tapirapez, crossing over nearly as far as the xingu river. he had found in that region no indians and the country of little interest. furthermore, on my arrival in goyaz capital i learnt that a brazilian government expedition, under the leadership of dr. pimentel, had already been in goyaz some six months trying to start on a journey down the araguaya, and, if possible, also to go up the tapirapez and other tributaries of that great stream. moreover, the araguaya was perhaps, after the madeira, one of the best known southern tributaries of the amazon. as we have already seen, during the time of dom pedro, the emperor, there was even steam navigation almost all along the course of the upper araguaya as far as leopoldina, the port for goyaz capital. several englishmen and germans and very many brazilians had travelled on that river, where even military posts had at one time been established at intervals on its banks. so that, rather than be imposed upon and travel for hundreds of kilometres in so well-known a region, i decided slightly to alter my route in order to cover ground that was newer and infinitely more interesting and important. the presidente's friend, the highly revered colonel, had also undertaken to purchase a number of horses and mules for me. "the people of goyaz," said he, "are terrible thieves; they will swindle you if you buy them yourself. i will purchase them for you and you will then pay me back the money. by to-morrow morning," he had stated, "i shall have all the horses and mules you require." this was on the day of my arrival in goyaz. twelve days after that date he appeared with a famished, skeleton-like horse--only one--for which he made me pay nearly double what i had myself paid for other excellent animals. i took care after that experience to beware of the "revered and honest men of goyaz." those who behaved honestly were generally those who were described as thieves. everything is reversed in brazil, and i should have known better. let us have a look around the city. mules and horses were grazing in the principal square on a severe slope; the streets were paved in a fashion calculated to dislocate your feet or possibly break them if you happened to be walking out after dark. there was not the slightest semblance of drainage in any part of the town. the people flung out into the streets all that could be flung out, and also a good deal that should not be flung. the dirt was excessive all over the place when the rain did not come to the rescue and wash it all off. the boast of the town was its brilliant illumination--one hundred petroleum lights all told, lighted up until ten p.m. when there was no moon. when there was, or should have been, a moon, as on stormy nights, the municipality economized on the paraffin and the lamps were not lighted. i do not know anything more torturing than returning home every night after my dinner at the palace, walking on the slippery, worn slabs of stone of the pavements, at all angles--some were even vertical--in the middle of the road. you stumbled, slipped, twisted your feet, jamming them in the wide interstices between the slabs. i never could understand why the municipality troubled to have lights at all. they gave no light when they were lighted--not enough to see by them--and they were absolutely of no use to the natives themselves. by eight o'clock p.m. all the people were asleep and barricaded within their homes. yet--can you believe it?--in this mediæval city you would be talked about considerably and would give much offence if you went out of your house in clothes such as you would wear in england in the country. on sundays and during all easter week--when i was there--all the men went out in their frock-coats, top hats of grotesquely antiquated shapes, extra high starched collars, and, above all, patent leather shoes--with the sun scorching overhead. the women were amusing enough in their finery--which had been perhaps the fashion elsewhere fifty or sixty or more years ago. but they believed they were as well-dressed and quite as up-to-date as the smartest women of paris or london. they never let an opportunity pass of telling you so. the most striking building in the principal square of goyaz was the prison. i visited it in the company of the chief of police. the place had been specially cleaned on the occasion of my visit, and that particular day it looked quite neat. i was shown very good food which--at least that day--had been prepared for the prisoners. nearly all the prisoners were murderers. "but the biggest criminals of all," said the chief of police to me, "are not inside this prison; they are outside!" the poor devils inside were mere wretches who had not been able to bribe the judges. curiously enough, petty theft was considered a shame in the province of goyaz, and was occasionally severely punished; whereas murderers were usually set free. i saw a poor negro there who had stolen a handful of beans and had been sent to five years' penal servitude, while others who had killed were merely sentenced to a few months' punishment. in any case, no one in brazil can be sentenced to more than thirty years' detention, no matter how terrible the crime he has committed. the display of police guarding the prison was somewhat excessive. there were fifty policemen to guard fifty prisoners: policemen standing at each door, policemen at each corner of the building, while a swarm of them occupied the front hall. the various common cells were entered by trap doors in the ceiling, of great height, and by a ladder which was let down. thus escape was rendered improbable, the iron bars of the elevated windows being sounded every morning and night for further safety. the sanitary arrangements were of the most primitive kind, a mere bucket in a corner serving the needs of eight or ten men in each chamber. as there was no lunatic asylum in goyaz, insane people were sent to prison and were kept and treated like criminals. i noticed several interesting cases of insanity: it generally took either a religious or a criminal form in brazil. one man, with a ghastly degenerate face, and his neck encircled by a heavy iron collar, was chained to the strong bars of a window. his hands and feet were also chained. the chain at his neck was so short that he could only move a few inches away from the iron bars. he sat crouched like a vicious dog on the window-ledge, howling and spitting at us as we passed. his clothes were torn to shreds; his eyes were sunken and staring, his long, thin, sinewy arms, with hands which hung as if dead, occasionally and unconsciously touching this or that near them. i tried to get close, to talk and examine him; but his fury was so great against the policeman who accompanied me that it was impossible to get near. he was trying to bite like a mad dog, and injured himself in his efforts to get at us. another lunatic, too--loose in a chamber with other prisoners--gave a wonderful exhibition of fury--that time against me, as he was under the impression that i had come there to kill him! he was ready to spring at me when two policemen seized him and drove him back. there was a theatre in goyaz--a rambling shed of no artistic pretensions. the heat inside that building was stifling. when i inquired why there were no windows to ventilate the place i was told that a leading goyaz gentleman, having once travelled to st. petersburg in russia in winter-time, and having seen there a theatre with no windows, eventually returned to his native city, and immediately had all the windows of the theatre walled up, regardless of the fact that what is suitable in a semi-arctic climate is hardly fit for a stifling tropical country. one thing that struck me most in goyaz was the incongruity of the people. with the little literature which found its way so far in the interior, most of the men professed advanced social and religious ideas, the majority making pretence of atheism in a very acute form. "down with faith: down with religion: down with the priests!" was their cry. yet, much to my amazement--i was there in easter week--one evening there was a religious procession through the town. what did i see? all those fierce atheists, with bare, penitent heads stooping low, carrying lighted candles and wooden images of our crucified saviour and the virgin! the procession was extremely picturesque, the entire population, dressed up for the occasion, being out in the streets that night, while all the men, including the policemen and federal soldiers--all bareheaded--walked meekly along in the procession, each carrying a candle. when the procession arrived at the church, the presidente himself--another atheist--respectfully attended the service; then the priest came out and delivered a spirited sermon to the assembled crowds in the square. then you saw those atheists--old and young, civil and military--again kneeling on the hard and irregular paving-stones--some had taken the precaution to spread their handkerchiefs so as not to soil their trousers--and beating their chests and murmuring prayers, and shaking their heads in sign of repentance. such is the world! the prettiest part of the procession was that formed by the young girls, all garbed in immaculate white, and with jet-black hair--masses of it--hanging loose upon their shoulders. the chanting was musical and the whole affair most impressive. i had received somewhat of a shock in the morning on passing the principal church--there were five or six in goyaz. spread out upon the pavement was the life-size wooden figure of our saviour--which had evidently long been stored in a damp cellar--much mildewed and left there in the sun in preparation for the evening performance. the red wig of real hair, with its crown of thorns, had been removed and was drying upon a convenient neighbouring shrub! really, those people of goyaz were an amusing mixture of simplicity and superstition. one great redeeming point of the people of goyaz was that they were extremely charitable. they had erected a huge building as a workhouse. it was entirely supported by charity. a small library had also been established. as i have elsewhere stated, i needed for my expedition no less than thirty men, so that they could, if necessary, carry all my instruments, cameras, provisions, ammunition, etc., where animals could not get through. fourteen long and tedious days elapsed in goyaz. no one could be induced to come. in despair i sent a despatch to the minister of agriculture, asking for the loan of at least four soldiers--whom i should naturally have paid out of my own pocket, as i had duly explained to the presidente, who backed my request. to my regret i received a reply from the minister of war saying that at that moment the government could not possibly spare four soldiers. it must be said that, although the men of goyaz did not shine for their bravery, it was not so with the ladies, several of whom offered, if necessary, to accompany the expedition and do, of course, the work of the men. i believe that they meant it. i have, indeed, the greatest respect and admiration for the noble self-sacrifice of the women of goyaz. devoted mothers and wives, to men who deserved no devotion at all--nearly all the men had concubines--gentle, humble, thoughtful, simple and hard-working, they did all the work in the house. they were a great contrast to the lazy, conceited, vain male portion of the population. certainly, in a population of , people, i met two or three men who deserved respect, but they were the exception. if the men were so timid, it was not altogether their fault; they could not help it. it was enough to look at them to see that no great feats of bravery could be expected of them. they were under-developed, exhausted, eaten up by the most terrible complaint of the blood. the lives in which they merely vegetated were without any mental stimulus. many suffered from goître, others had chests that were pitiful to look at, so under-developed were they; all continually complained, every time you spoke to them, of headache, toothache, backache, or some other ache. they were always dissatisfied with life and with the world at large, and had no energy whatever to try and improve their condition. they were extremely polite; they had a conventional code of good manners, to which, they adhered faithfully--but that was all. [illustration: some of author's pack animals.] at the end of the fourteen days in goyaz i had been able to purchase a good number of mules and horses--at a very high price, as the people would not otherwise part with their quadrupeds. also i had collected all the riding and pack saddles and harness necessary, a sufficient quantity of spare shoes for the animals, a number of large saws, axes, picks and spades, large knives for cutting our way through the forest, and every possible implement necessary on a journey of the kind i was about to undertake. everything was ready--except the men! alcides ferreiro do santos and filippe da costa de britto--the two men lent me by mr. louis schnoor in araguary--upon seeing my plight were at last induced to accompany the expedition at a salary of close upon a pound sterling a day each. at the last moment the presidente came to my rescue. he supplied me with six men. "they are criminals," he said to me, "and they will give you no end of trouble"--a fact fully demonstrated three hours later that same evening, when one of them--an ex-policeman--disappeared for ever with a few pounds sterling i had advanced him in order to purchase clothes. another fellow vanished later, carrying away some lb. of coffee, sugar, knives, and other sundries. so then i had two criminals less. i packed my animals, and was about to depart with the four remaining rascals and the two araguary men--six all told--when a policeman, sent in haste, called me to the palace. the truly good-hearted presidente and his charming family were in a great state of mind. they told me that my men had gone about the town the previous night drinking, and had confided to friends that they were merely coming with me in order to murder and rob me of all i possessed as soon as they had an opportunity. it was an open secret that i carried a very large sum of money upon my person, as after leaving são paulo city it was impossible to obtain money by cashing cheques on letters of credit or other such civilized means, and it was imperative for me to carry several thousand pounds sterling in cash in order to be able to purchase horses, mules, boats, food, and pay the men, as long as the journey should last. when you stop to consider that i had before me the prospect of not replenishing my exchequer for at least one year, or perhaps two years or more, it will be easily understood that if one wants to travel, and travel quickly as i do, there is no other possible way than to carry the money with one in hard cash. the risk was certainly enormous, although no one except myself ever really knew the amount that i actually carried. a large portion of that sum was in brazilian notes, a good deal in english bank-notes, and some four hundred pounds sterling in english gold. as i could trust nobody, that sum, except what i gradually spent, and barring the few moments when i took my daily morning bath, never left my person, even for a few minutes, for the entire period of one year. most of the notes were contained in two bulky leather bags and the gold in a third, attached firmly to a strong belt which day and night--much to my discomfort--encircled my waist. the larger bank-notes, letters of credit, etc., were divided into my various coat, shirt, and trousers pockets. the gold was so heavy that it caused with its friction a large sore on my right hip--a sore which remained there more or less for an entire year. "you cannot start under such conditions," said the presidente appealingly. "i cannot furnish other men. no one will go, notwithstanding the high pay you give them." i thanked the presidente for his exquisite kindness, and for the very generous and thoughtful hospitality he and his delightful family had offered me in goyaz, and which left in my mind the only pleasant moments spent in that dull city. chapter ix the departure--devoured by insects a few minutes later i had again joined my caravan, watched intently, at a respectful distance, by a few astonished natives of goyaz. as soon as all my mules and horses had been packed--they were very heavily laden--i took my departure in a direction north-west by west. the six men mounted on mules came along. i had armed all my followers with the best repeating carbines that are made, as well as with excellent automatic pistols, and the long daggers locally used; but personally i carried no weapons of any kind. having been unsuccessful in obtaining sufficient men from the officials of goyaz, there yet remained for me one last faint hope. it was to try and get a few followers from the indian colony of the salesian friars, a few days' journey west of the araguaya river. on april th, from the height of santa barbara (elev. , ft. above the sea level), a picturesque chapel and graveyard to the west of the city, i bade good-bye for good to goyaz capital (elev. , ft.). one obtained from this point a fine view of the entire city spreading from north to south, at the bottom of the imposing frame of mountains on the south with their extraordinary columnar formation. each natural column, with its mineral composition and crystallization, shone like silver in the bright light. the _ensemble_ from our point of vantage resembled the set of pipes of an immense church organ. high hills stood to the east. in the distance to the south-west the lower country was open with the exception of mountains in the far background. we marched rapidly enough across wooded country until we crossed the rio vermelho (elev. , ft.). my men became very excited and began firing their carbines recklessly. i had handed to them fifty cartridges each, with strict instructions not to fire without my orders. i was some distance off. when i heard the fusillade i immediately galloped to the spot. the men had blazed away nearly all their ammunition, nor would they cease firing when i ordered them until they had exhausted their supply of cartridges in all. why were they firing? because, said they, they had crossed the first water on their journey. my heart absolutely sank into my boots when i realized that it was my fate to travel with such contemptible imbeciles for perhaps a year longer or more, and that was only the first day! oh, what a prospect! we had our first quarrel when the men demanded to have their belts replenished with cartridges for their protection against attack. as i refused to let them have them there was a mutiny, the men declining to go on another yard unless the cartridges were handed to them. we had not been gone more than three hours, and a mutiny already! with a great deal of patience i induced them to go on, which they eventually did with oaths and language somewhat unpleasant. still i held firm. after several ascents and descents and a great many mishaps with our mules, unaccustomed yet to the work, we made camp, having marched kil., on the bank of the rio agapa (elev. , ft.), near which the grazing was fair. two mules escaped during the night, and we could only make a late start the next morning. alcides traced them all the way back to goyaz, where he recovered them. up and down we went, from , ft. to , ft., at which elevation we crossed the rio indio with a beautiful rocky bed the banks of which showed strata of red and grey clay and delicious crystalline water. no fossils of any kind were to be seen anywhere, although i looked hard in search of them all the time. the country was undulating and fairly thickly wooded near streams, otherwise it consisted mostly of campos, at the highest point of which another beautiful panoramic view of the escarpment in the plateau we had left behind could be obtained. the elevation was constantly changing between , ft. and , ft. above the sea level. burity and other palms were plentiful. we crossed that day three streams, the last one the rio uva. in a distance of kil. we saw only a miserable shed, although we passed a site where a ruined house and paddock showed that once there must have been quite an ancient and important farm. yes, indeed, goyaz state had seen better days in the time of the emperor and when slavery was legal. with the present lack of population and the prohibitive prices of labour it was impossible to carry on farming profitably. the landscape was everywhere beautiful, but one never saw a bird, never perceived a butterfly, nor any other animal life of any kind. i was just remarking this fact to alcides when a snake, eight or nine feet long, crossed at a great speed in front of my mule. the mules and horses were rather frightened at first of snakes, and it was amusing to watch how high they stepped when they saw them and tried to escape from them. we were in great luck. a flock of six beautiful red _araras_ (macaws) passed above our heads. they looked perfectly gorgeous as they flapped their wings heavily and shrieked loudly as they sped along. the formation of the soil in that region was interesting enough. under a greyish white surface layer there were thin sedimentary strata of pebbles, deposited evidently by water, then under these a thick stratum-- ft. or more--of warm-coloured red earth. the streams which had cut their way through this geological formation were invariably limpid in the extreme. we were beginning to find beautiful flowers and butterflies again, the latter in great swarms near the water. my caravan of grey and white pack-animals--some fourteen--was quite a picturesque sight as it wound its way down steep hill-sides, the mounted men urging the mules with shouts and lashes from their whips. we experienced difficulty in finding a good camp that night, the grazing being poor and the water scarce when sunset came. it seemed a pity that the most suitable camping places were not always to be found when you wished to halt! we were now at an elevation of , ft. when we proceeded the next morning we found nothing of interest. fairly wooded country alternated with campos, at first rather undulating, then almost flat, until we arrived at the tapirapuana river (elev. , ft.), yards wide and ft. deep, which we crossed without much trouble, in the afternoon, at a spot some kil. distant from our last camp. luxuriant foliage hung over the banks right down into the water, which flowed so slowly--only at the rate of , metres an hour--that it looked almost stagnant, and of a muddy, dirty, greenish colour. we were much troubled by mosquitoes, flies and _carrapatinhos_, the latter a kind of tiny little clinging parasite which swarmed absolutely all over us every time we put our feet on the ground on dismounting from our animals. the irritation was such that you actually drove your nails into your skin in scratching yourself. they could only be driven away by smearing oneself all over with tobacco juice, the local remedy, or with strong carbolic soap, which i generally used, and which worked even more satisfactorily. a tubercular leper came to spend the evening in our camp. he was most repulsive, with his enlarged features, especially the nose, of a ghastly, shiny, unwholesome, greenish white, and pitifully swollen feet and hands. the heat was not unbearable in that region-- ° fahrenheit in the shade, ° in the sun. there was a breeze blowing that day from the north-east, with a velocity of metres a minute by anemometer. a good portion of the following day was wasted trying to recover four animals that had escaped. in order that they might graze properly it was necessary to let them loose. they sometimes strayed away long distances. occasionally they hid in the shade of the _matto_ (forest and shrub), and it was easy to miss them while looking for them. luckily, two of my men--alcides and a man called antonio--were excellent trackers, and sooner or later they were generally able to bring back the animals, which was not at all difficult, as one only had to follow the marks of their hoofs to find where they had gone. we departed late in the afternoon through thick shrub, over marked undulations--in some spots quite steep. from the highest point that day (elev. , ft.) we obtained an extensive view of flat tablelands in the distance to the east, with a low hill-range standing in front of them. it was scenery quite typical of central brazil, with no irregular, striking mountains; but everywhere we had plenty to study in the effects of erosion on that great continent. i tried to make up for time lost by marching at night--a most trying experience, as my men, unaccustomed to the work and frightened at every shadow, let the mules stray in all directions. i unfortunately had to hand over to my followers a few cartridges each, or else they would not come on. every now and then that night they fired recklessly in the dark--much to the danger of beasts and men alike--thinking they had seen an indian, or a leopard, or some other wild animal. i was glad when we arrived in camp and ascertained that no one had been wounded. that night-march demoralized animals and men alike. most of the animals strayed away during the night, as the grazing was bad where we halted. i was compelled to halt for two days in that miserable spot, simply devoured by flies and mosquitoes and _carrapatos_, in order to recover them. if you do not know what a _carrapato_ is, let me tell you. it is an insect of the order of diptera and the genus _mosca pupiparas_, and is technically known as _melophagus ovinus_. its flattened, almost circular body varies in size from the head of an ordinary nail to the section of a good-sized pencil. like the _carrapatinho_--its miniature reproduction--it possesses wonderful clinging powers, its legs with hook attachment actually entering under the skin. its chief delight consists in inserting its head right under your cutaneous tissues, wherefrom it can suck your blood with convenient ease. it is wonderfully adept at this, and while i was asleep, occasionally as many as eight or ten of these brutes were able to settle down comfortably to their work without my noticing them; and some--and it speaks highly for their ability--were even able to enter my skin (in covered parts of the body) in the day-time when i was fully awake, without my detecting them. i believe that previous to inserting the head they must inject some poison which deadens the sensitiveness of the skin. it is only after they have been at work some hours that a slight itching causes their detection. then comes the difficulty of extracting them. if in a rash moment you seize the carrapato by the body and pull, its head becomes separated from its body and remains under your skin, poisoning it badly and eventually causing unpleasant sores. having been taught the proper process of extraction, i, like all my men, carried on my person a large pin. when the carrapato was duly located--it is quite easy to see it, as the large body remains outside--the pin was duly pushed right through its body. the carrapato, thus surprised, at once let go with its clinging legs, which struggled pitifully in the air. then with strong tobacco juice or liquefied carbolic soap, or iodine, you smeared all round the place where the head was still inserted. the unpleasantness of these various beverages immediately persuaded the brute to withdraw its head at once. you could then triumphantly wave the pin and struggling carrapato in the air. you were liberated from the unpleasant visitor. it was not uncommon while you were extracting one--the operation took some little time--for two or three others to find their way into your legs or body. i fortunately possess blood which does not easily get poisoned, and felt no ill effects from the hundreds of these brutes which fed on me during the entire journey; but many people suffer considerably. my men, for instance, had nasty-looking sores produced by the bites of the carrapato. the mules and horses were simply swarming with these insects, which gave them no end of trouble, especially as they selected the tenderest parts of the skin in various localities of the body to settle upon. where an animal had a sore it would soon be swarming with carrapatos near its edge. it would then putrefy, and maggots in hundreds would be produced inside the wound almost within a few hours. there was, near by, an old _moradoria_, a large patch of _muricy_ trees (_byrsonima_), of which various species exist. these were not unlike small olive trees and produced a small sweet fruit quite good to eat. we went for kil. through a forest with beautiful fan palms over ft. high. there was no animal life. we crossed three streamlets, the country between being undulating. between the last two streams we came across rock showing through the alluvial deposits. it was an interesting conglomerate of minute crystals cemented together by hardened clay, the whole forming large blocks. more trouble was in store for us. one of my mules was seriously injured. its spine was so badly strained that it was quite disabled for further work. my cook, who had a slight attack of indigestion, wished to be left there to die, and declined to proceed any farther. with true brazilian reasoning he wished, nevertheless, to be paid off before dying. with true english reasoning i explained to him that money would be of little use to him in the next world. if he really intended to die i would certainly not pay him, but his wages would naturally go on while he was alive, continued the journey, and did the cooking. he quickly returned to life, and to his senses. really, in the entire experiences of my travels i have never come across more pitiable specimens of manhood than those fellows. they absolutely gave me a sickly feeling that i never lost while they were with me, for many many months to come. the animals, too, were almost as bad as the men. they had little endurance, they had no courage, everything seemed to affect them. the worst abyssinian mule, for instance, was, for equal work, vastly superior to the best goyaz mule. it was a useless task to try and train those animals. on my many previous expeditions i had been able to win the affection of my animals, and was able to train them in a few days so that they obeyed with the perfection of soldiers, but in brazil, the last day i had them--after several months that they had been with me--they were just as disobedient and stupid as on the first day. in fact, they never even seemed to recognize us again. they had learnt absolutely nothing, except bad habits. everything seemed to frighten them. one mule, for instance, was afraid of crossing small streams. its legs invariably began to quiver on entering the water, and down would go mule and baggage rolling into the water. all the thrashing in the world could not make it get up. we had to drag the brute bodily across the stream, when it would jump up on its legs again. it was quite futile to try and prevent that animal collapsing every time it had to go across water. so that, on approaching any streamlet, we had to unload it in order at least to prevent the baggage getting soaked. the interior of brazil--even comparatively near a city, as we were still to goyaz--did not compare in civilization with the lowest and poorest countries of central asia or africa. humble countries like persia and beluchistan or abyssinia some ten or fifteen years ago were more advanced than brazil to-day. they had good trails on which a regular postal service was established, there were regular rest-houses on those trails, and horses or camels could easily be hired and exchanged at the different stations, so that one could travel comparatively quickly. it was not so in brazil. even if you wished to take a short journey of a few days from a city, you had to purchase your horses or your mules, and have the riding and pack saddles made for you at a high cost. as we have seen, even in the city of goyaz itself, there did not exist a single hotel, nor did we find a proper rest-house in the kil. between the railway terminus and goyaz capital. nor is there one of these conveniences west between goyaz and cuyaba, the capital of matto grosso. of course there were no hotels because nobody travelled, but it can also be said that many people do not care to travel where there are no hotels. in so humble and poor a country as persia you always could indulge in a delicious bath in every caravanserai, which you found in the remotest spots all over the country. in brazil you have to resort to the streams, where the moment you remove your clothes you are absolutely devoured by mosquitoes, flies and insects of all kinds--a perfect torture, i can assure you. once you were in the water, immersed up to the mouth, it took a brave man to come out again, as millions of mosquitoes and flies and gnats circled angrily and greedily above your head ready for the attack the moment you came out. we were travelling all the time at elevations varying from , ft. at our last camp to , ft. at our present camp, the highest elevation between these two places being on a rocky hillock about ft. higher than those altitudes. our camp was on a streamlet flowing from south to north, of milky water containing lime, which made our tongues and gums smart when we drank it. again on may rd we went through forest all the time, with wonderful palms and many medicinal plants. alcides had an extensive knowledge of the curative qualities of the various plants. various species of the _caroba_ (_bignoniaceæ_), very beneficial, they say, as a blood purifier, especially in the worst of terrible complaints, were plentiful there. giant nettles, the _ortiga_ or _cassausan_, as it is locally called, were also frequently noticeable, especially when we passed too near and were stung all over by them. we had risen to , ft. on the summit of a range called o fogo. from it we had another exquisite view of the mountain range called bucainha, which we had left behind to the east. it had a marked erosion on its north side. on the west side of the pass we found curious small domes as well as pillars and other rocks of columnar formation. we had met during the day many _aricori_ palms, which, i was told, produced a sweet fruit excellent to eat when ripe, in the month of november. after a steep rocky descent we made our camp. we halted earlier than usual. i was sitting outside my tent while my dinner was being cooked. i could not help smiling at the warlike array which had been necessary in order to make a start from goyaz. the camp was a regular armoury. beautiful magazine rifles, now rusty and dirty owing to the carelessness of the men, were lying about on the ground; revolvers and automatic pistols stuck half out of their slings on the men's belts as they walked about the camp; large knives and daggers had been thrown about, and so had the huge, heavy, nickel-plated spurs of the men, with their gigantic spiked wheels. these wheels were as much as two inches in diameter and even more. it was the habit of brazilians to wear the spurs upside down, so that when they got off their mounts they had to remove them or it would have been impossible for them to walk. naturally, worn like that, they were much more effective, and were intended to torment the animals with greater success. i reprimanded the men for keeping their weapons so dirty. one man thereupon sat himself three feet away from me and proceeded to clean his rifle, keeping the muzzle pointed constantly at me. on my suggesting that he might point the weapon in another direction he roughly replied the usual thing: "there is nothing to be afraid of, it is not loaded"--and he proceeded to pull the trigger, the gun pointed straight at me, when i leapt up and snatched it out of his hands. there was a cartridge in the barrel and several cartridges in the magazine. [illustration: author's caravan across the immense prairies of matto grosso.] during the night the fusillade was constant. it was enough for the men to hear a leaf fall. immediately there was an alarm and the rifles were fired. once or twice the bullets came so unpleasantly near me that i suspected they were intended for me. i thanked my stars that my men were bad shots. to make sure of this fact, i one day had a shooting competition. after that i became quite assured that it was sufficient to be at the spot where they aimed to consider myself in absolute safety. it was not so, of course, when they aimed somewhere else. i did not care to take away the cartridges from them altogether, as they would have then imagined that i was afraid of them--an impression which it would have been fatal to let them entertain even for a moment. each man was allowed to replenish his belt each day to the extent of ten cartridges. i have elsewhere referred to the absurd pack-saddles used in brazil, so heavy and unsteady when going over rough country, with the underpads so difficult to adjust that the animals were soon a mass of sores on the back, the sides of the body, on the chest and tail. i had other lighter and more sensible saddles, but i had to discard them as the brazilians would not hear of using them, and i gave up in despair of teaching them how to pack them. i eventually left those saddles behind. the riding-saddles, too, were almost as absurd as the pack-saddles, constructed as they were of innumerable and useless pieces of wood, iron and leather. the stirrups were gaudy, and consisted of a regular shoe of silver or other metal, into which you inserted the greater part of your foot, or else of a much ornamented circular ring. the head-piece and bit were also extremely heavy, clumsy, and highly decorated, for everything must be made for show if it had to be used in brazil. it was not possible to associate in any way or be friendly with my men. they were unpleasant beyond all conception. one could not say a word--no matter how kind--without the prospect of a long argument or a row. it was quite beyond them to be civil, and, like all ignorant people, they always imagined that they could teach others everything--including good manners! they were ridiculously courteous to one another--a muleteer talking to another always addressing him as "sir," and referring to his comrades as his "colleagues." we travelled that day nearly altogether over finely powdered reddish earth of volcanic origin. i had so far not met with a single fossil, not a shell, not a petrified bone of any animal, nor, indeed, impressions on rock of leaves, twigs or other parts of plants. the farther one went on, the more one had proof that that portion at least of the american continent had never been submerged in its entirety. some rocks displayed on the surface peculiar perforations such as would be produced by incessant water dripping over them, but these were caused, i think, merely by water falling over them while they were in a molten state; other rocks were thoroughly polished on the surface, as if sand or other gritty substance had flowed with great force over them, mixed with water--perhaps during a period of volcanic activity and torrential rains. geological research was somewhat difficult for a passing traveller in that region, for everything was smothered in vegetation. only here and there in the cuts of rivers was i able to judge a little better of the actual formation of the land. we camped on the stream agua limpa, which duly deserved its name of "clear water" (elev. , ft.). it flowed south. on may th, going through forest again over a hill (elev. , ft.), we obtained a glorious view of the immense expanse to the west and to the south-west--a great stretch of greenish, long sweeping lines with a plateau in the background. a somewhat taller hill rose at one end of it. we then descended to another deliciously clear river, which deserved as well as the previous one the name of agua limpa (elev. , ft.), but this one flowed north into the rio claro. the land was fine, sparsely wooded all the time, absolutely flat, but getting slightly undulating beyond that stream. it seemed wonderful land for agricultural purposes. after passing the indain river, the bom successo, and another stream, all three flowing south, we swerved more to the north-west, rising up on an elevated spot, from which we obtained another glorious panorama, a high serra to the west, another in the distance to the east, the two extending almost parallel towards the south, where the gap in the horizon line between these ranges was filled by a very distant range showing a conical peak, and to the west of this another in the shape of a dome. it was the grandeur of these panoramas that impressed one most, rather than their monotonous beauty. all the outlines of the scenery of central brazil had, so to speak, been worn smooth by the erosive action of water and wind, so that no fantastically shaped mountains had yet been encountered, no landscape which some great commotion had rendered strangely picturesque. there, only the steady work of uncountable ages showed itself in a most impressive way to those who understood. from a striking pictorial point of view very little remained in one's mind of those wonderful scenes after one had turned one's head away, except, perhaps, their immensity and the deep green tones--the two salient points of the scenery. when we had descended from the pass (elev. , ft.) we came to the rio tres de majo, where a hamlet of three sheds was found. twenty-eight kilometres from our last camp we arrived at the rio rancheria, where stood a miserable farm. both those streams, at an elevation of , ft., flowed into the rio claro to the north. we had the misfortune of halting near the farmhouse, and suffered tortures from the millions of mosquitoes, gnats, carrapatos and carrapatinhos which made that night almost unbearable. i invariably found that carrapatos and carrapatinhos were more plentiful where living people or animals were to be found. near those dirty farmhouses we were simply swarming all over with them. my poor animals, owing to the long marches we had been making, and the terrible pack-saddles, had sore backs and loins, sore chests. yet we could not stop, and the poor things must stand the pain and strain. chapter x fishing--termites--the great araguaya river an amusing incident happened. a cow chewed up the coat of one of my men, which was lying on the ground. in his fury the owner of the coat, on discovering the misdeed, seized his carbine and fired four shots at the cow and four at the farmhouse. none of us could tell where the bullets went. the cow, startled by the shots, gave a few jumps and kicks, then, absolutely uninjured, peacefully continued grazing. the house too remained untouched. amazing shots my men were! across almost flat country we reached the rio claro--"the limpid river" (elev. , ft. above the sea level), metres wide, and flowing along a winding course in a general direction of south-west to north-east. wide beaches of sand and fine gravel were to be seen on the convex or inner curves of its channel. along the banks there was luxuriant vegetation, which hung down and dipped into the water. diamonds were to be found in that river. at low water curious eruptive, highly ferruginous rocks showed in the river bed, some in the shape of spherical balls riddled with perforations, as if they had been in a state of ebullition, others as little pellets of yellow lava, such as i had before encountered between araguary and goyaz, and which suggested the spluttering of molten rock suddenly cooled by contact with cold air or water. we encamped some three kilometres from the rio claro, on the streamlet arejado, where again we were devoured by mosquitoes. although we all had thick mosquito nets, and although we slept wrapped--head and all--in our respective blankets, the brutes managed to find their way in and stung us with incredible vigour. we were fresh blood for them. the irritation caused by their bites was a torment. we were now getting closer to the country where we were to meet the terrible wild indians, the most ferocious and cruel cannibals on earth, according to the accounts heard in goyaz. my men were already beginning to lose heart. with the sleepless night due to the mosquitoes, and the heavy atmosphere caused by a fast-approaching thunderstorm, they were morose in the morning. with the exception of alcides and the negro filippe, the others came insolently forward and refused to go any farther. they shoved the muzzles of their rifles under my nose; they wished to be paid up instantly and go back. with a little patience it was easy to get out of difficulties of that sort, if you possessed the gift of keeping calm. faithful alcides, who had a fiery temper, seized his rifle and was about to fire at them, when i took the weapon from him. "do not shoot them, alcides: these men have been good (_sic_) until now because they were in good health. they are bad now because they are ill. i will cure them." and so saying i felt the pulse and forehead of the astonished rioters. "yes, indeed, these men are very, very ill. they need medicine. alcides, get the castor oil--the large tin." i had two kinds of castor oil: one tasteless--_pour façon de parler_--for my own use and cases of serious illness; another in large tins, of the commonest kind, with an odour that would kill an ox, which i used occasionally for punishment on my men when they were disobedient. alcides, who quickly entered into the spirit of that little joke, immediately produced the deadly tin, collecting upon the ground the four cups belonging to the strikers. taking my instructions, he poured some four ounces of the sickening oil into each cup--and perhaps a little more. i handed a cup to each man and saw that he drank it. they all eventually did so, with comic grimaces and oaths. the men, i must tell you, had great faith in my powers as a medicine man. once or twice before i had already cured them of insignificant ailments, and whenever i told them seriously that they were ill they believed, in their ignorance, that they were really ill. this done, and to put them again in a good temper, i patted them on the back and, handing each of them a fish-hook and a line, sent them all to fish in the river, saying that as they were so ill i would delay my departure until the afternoon. "that pool, over there," some three hundred yards distant, i suggested would be an excellent place for them to fish in. in that direction, as meek as lambs, like so many naughty children they all went, carrying the lines away and some _toucinho_ (lard) for bait. alcides, who was an enthusiastic fisherman, also went off with a line, and had good sport. he reported that the other men lay flat upon their backs most of the time, groaning and moaning, upon the rocks, basking in the sun instead of fishing. the castor oil in any case had the desired effect that the men did not mutiny again for some time. we did not leave camp until p.m. the country was teeming with plants of great medicinal value, such as the _sucupira_, which gave a bean much used in goyaz to relieve stomach troubles; the _algudanzinho_, with its lovely cadmium-yellow cup-shaped flower--a plant which was most plentiful in that region, and the root of which was said to be very beneficial for the worst of venereal complaints; and also the _acaraiba_. many were the handsome wild flowers we came across, principally red and yellow; but to my mind they could bear no comparison with even the ugliest european wild flowers. they were coarse in shape and crude in colour, and in their beauty there was the same difference as there would be between the lovely refined face of an aristocratic woman and that of a handsome massive peasant girl. water was certainly not lacking in that country. we crossed the rio striminho, then the rio stacco flowing from south-west to north-east into a lagoon formed by the rio claro. we camped on the bank of the rio stacco. the water was delicious. [illustration: the araguaya river (looking north).] [illustration: the araguaya (looking south).] the negro filippe killed a wild boar. my men had a great time preparing a huge dinner. they absolutely gorged themselves. personally i never touch pig in any shape or form, as i cannot get over the idea that its meat is poisonous for any thoroughly healthy person. it may, of course, not be so to people who are not absolutely healthy. the very sight and odour of it make me quite ill, and i fully share the idea of mahommedans that the meat--certainly of tame pigs--is most unclean. as we went on we had good sport, my men taking the greatest delight in fishing in the rivers on the banks of which we halted. the travelling was easy over flat country. we made short marches for some days, in order to let the animals recover their lost strength. in the river las almas (elev. , ft.), metres wide and ft. deep, flowing north-west, we caught a beautiful _pintado_ fish--so called because of its spotted appearance. that fish possessed a huge flat head, with long feelers, two on the nose--at the side of the nostrils, to be accurate--two under its lower mandible. the mouth was enormous in comparison with the total length of the fish, and could be opened at an extraordinarily wide angle. inside were most peculiar teeth in sets of twos, while the mouth was lined with thousands of hard, tiny sharp points. the eyes were far back upon the skull. the bony dome of the palate was divided in the centre, and a similar separation was to be observed in the centre of the lower jaw, giving thus a great flexibility to the interior of the mouth. when measured, the length of the head was exactly one-third of the length of the entire fish. other fish, too, were caught that day, called _mandibé_ or _fidalgo_. the aspect of the country was gradually changing. during that day's march we had gone over beautiful open stretches of grassy land with only a few stunted trees upon them. _bosquets_ or tufts of small palms or other trees were to be seen, raised on small mounds, showing how the country was gradually wearing itself down. nearly each tree was raised on a mound of grey clay. some fine specimens of _lexia_ trees, with their peculiarly distorted branches, were to be observed. those great scavengers of brazil, the _urubu_, of which two varieties were to be found--the _urubu commun_ (_cathartes atratus_) and the _urubu rei_ (_cathartes papa_)--a cross between a vulture and a crow, were fairly plentiful now that game was more abundant in the country. they often pierced our ears with their unmusical shrieks. the _urubu_ belonged to the vulture family and was found in all tropical south america. it had black plumage, somewhat shaggy, with reddish legs and feet, and bluish, almost naked, head and neck. like all rapacious birds of its kind, it lived entirely on dead animals and what refuse it could find about the country. near farms these birds were generally to be seen in great numbers. we had a delicious breakfast of fish--really excellent eating--which set everybody in a good humour, and then we proceeded over slight undulations (elev. , to , ft.) through forest until we got to the ponte alto (high bridge) river, so called because..., there is no bridge whatever there! the brazilians are really too delightful in their reasoning; and, mind you, it is not done with a mischievous sense of the ludicrous--indeed no; it is done seriously. the ponte alto stream was, like most of the other watercourses of that region, wonderfully limpid. from that point we were in charming open country, where we could freely breathe the delicious air. occasionally we saw some _angelin_ trees (the _angelino amargoso_ and _angelino pedra_), technically known as _andira vermifuga_ m. and _andira spectabilis_ sald. nearly all the woods we found had a high specific gravity: the two latter, for instance, · and · respectively, and a resistance to crushing of kilos · and kilos. · . _cacti_ of great size were numerous. we were now in a region where termite-hills (ant-hills) were to be seen in great numbers. they stood from to ft. above ground, although occasionally some could be seen nearly double that height. some of the ant-heaps were extraordinary in their architecture, and resembled miniature castles with towers and terraced platforms. whether they had been built so by the ants or worn down to that shape by the pouring rain and wind, was not so easy to tell. the more one saw of the termites, the more one disliked them, for they were the most insidious, destructive little brutes of that region. they were ugly in appearance, with their fat white bodies of a dirty greenish-white colour. nevertheless one could not help having great admiration for those little rascals, which in one night were able to devour the bottom of stout wooden boxes, and in a few hours damaged saddles, clothes, shoes, or any article which happened to be left resting for a little while on the ground. they were even able to make an entire house tumble down in a comparatively short time if the material used in the construction were wood. yes, one hated them; yet, when one knew all about them, one had to spend hours watching their doings with a microscope, it was so interesting. they seemed to have two social classes among them--the labouring class and the warriors. to the labourers was given the heavy task of digging underground channels, the surplus earth of which was thrown up with great force through apertures in the soil until the earth so displaced and amassed formed a high heap, riddled in its interior by hundreds of channels and miniature chambers and apartments. to the warriors--really more like a kind of perfect police service--was entrusted the safety of the colony and principally the protection of the young. white ants have many enemies, especially among the larger ants, which carry on regular wars against them; for although ants and termites--commonly called white ants--have many points in common, yet they belong to totally different orders of insects, as can be easily noticed in their structure and development. the peculiar structure of the enlarged heads of the warrior termites was particularly noticeable. some had a formidable head provided with tentacles and powerful rodent clippers--as well as the peculiar whitish cuirasses in sections of the body. the workers had more normal shapes, the head being better proportioned with the body. it was enough to split one of the heaps and watch the termites at work to learn a lesson of what devotion and duty mean. in the many passages overcrowded with ants--there was never confusion--you saw hundreds of them, either conveying food or building materials to the various quarters. some carried leaves, others carried pieces of wood, seeds, or dead insects. if one was not strong enough to convey its load, others came to its assistance--although they generally seemed to resent the intrusion of others in doing their work. i always noticed that when one was in difficulty and others ran to the rescue there generally ensued what seemed to be a row, and the new arrivals hurriedly left--either disgusted or angry, i could not tell which by their minute expression. then there were extraordinarily fat lady ants, lying flat upon their backs, and with many attendants around them doing massage and general nursing with the greatest possible gentleness and care. if one wanted to see a great commotion one only had to introduce into one of the chambers a larger ant of a different kind. what struck me was that the moment the fray was over the termites at once--if perhaps a little more excitedly--resumed their work. what astonished me more than anything was that they would go on working at all--as if nothing had happened--when i split open one of their dwellings and many of the channels, which must have been normally in the dark--were now exposed to the light. this made me suspect that their vision was either missing altogether or was very defective. nature is a wonderful organizer. the majority of termites--including warriors and workers--were sexless; that was perhaps why they were such good workers, as they had nothing to distract them. the males and females whose duty was merely to propagate and improve the race were provided temporarily with wings, so that they could fly away from the colony and disseminate their love among other winged termites of other colonies. the relation between different colonies was friendly. when their task was accomplished and flight was no more necessary for them, they conveniently and voluntarily shed their wings, leaving merely a small section of the wing root attached to the thorax. the local name for all kinds of termites was _cupim_, but technically they are known in the order of _neoroptera_ as _termes album_. another variety of insect, the _psocus domesticus_, was also as destructive as the _termes album_. we frequently met with plants of _caju_, or _acaju_ or _acajueiro_ (_anacardium occidentale_ l.) on our course. they belonged to the _terebinthaceæ_ group. in a preceding chapter i have already described the red or yellow delicious fruit of this tree. then we found other interesting trees, such as the _oleo_, the tall and handsome _poinna_, and numerous specimens of the small but good-looking palm _pindova_. there were not many flowers in that particular spot, barring perhaps an occasional cluster of white flowers, principally _bocca de carneiro_, said to have properties refreshing for the blood. near a small stream i noticed some lovely, slender, tall _jeguitiba vermelho_ trees (_couratari estrellensis_ raddi), from to ft. high, with branches and clusters of deep green healthy leaves at the summit only. there was a little less monotony in the scenery before us that day, for to the west stood, over a long, slightly undulating line, one peculiar conical hill heavily wooded. in pools of stagnant water were lovely water flowers, and in the neighbourhood of that moisture many handsome _burity_ palms were prominent in the landscape. we had been mounting gently all the time from our last camp. early in the afternoon we reached that magnificent river, the araguaya, over yards wide, although something like between , and , kil., or perhaps more, from its mouth. its lovely placid waters, reflecting with the faithfulness of a mirror the vegetation on the high steep banks as well as the clouds in the sky, made an effective picture. the dead silence, disturbed only by the shouts of my men urging the mules to the water-side, was most impressive, the water flowing so slowly that it almost looked stagnant. not a mountain, not a hill could be perceived, except one low humble range of hills to the south. it was on those hills that the great araguaya had its birth. we crossed the great stream--mules, baggage and all, on three canoes upon which a platform had been erected. once landed on its western bank, we were, notwithstanding local boundary quarrels, in the immense state of matto grosso, the wildest of brazil. chapter xi the _tucano_--fish of the araguaya river--a bad shot--a strange sight i seemed to have no luck on that journey. everything went wrong all the time. everything seemed to stand in my way to prevent my progress. my men were demoralized, my mules and horses in a pitiable condition. i called a halt of two or three days in order that we might shoe the animals again and rearrange the pack-saddles. we had, of course, a good supply of new shoes, but the work of shoeing so many animals was hard, especially as i had to do most of it myself with alcides and filippe, the other men being absolutely useless. add to this a stifling temperature of ° fahrenheit. [illustration: caraja indian of the upper araguaya river.] to make things worse there came a downpour, such as i have seldom seen, and which lasted for two entire days. that was the dry season too! the house in which we had put up--and through the roof of which we could admire the stars at our ease while in bed--was turned into a regular swimming-tank when the rain came. we had a good deal of trouble to keep our things dry, propping them up on improvised stands of stones which we removed from the crumbling walls of the building. fortunately, most of my pack-saddle cases were air- and water-tight, so that the contents could not be injured. the wind blew with great fury--at the rate of metres a minute, to be strictly accurate. there was a humble hamlet at rio grande or porto do castanho, on the matto grosso side, where we had crossed the araguaya river. it was the gloomiest of gloomy places even in glorious weather. imagine it on a wet, windy day. the few tiny one-storied cabins--they could hardly be called houses--had got soaked with the storm, and looked miserable. the inhabitants were busy baling water from inside their dwellings. many tiles of the roofs had been blown away, and those that remained had grown extra dark with the moisture, with merely a bluish tinge from the reflected light of the grey sky upon their shiny surfaces. the solitary palm tree at the end of the oblong square looked pitiful, with its long bladed leaves split and broken by the wind, while the dense foliage along the river banks was now several tones darker and richer than we had seen it before. under usual circumstances the _plaza_--or square--was so high above the river that one could not see the water at all until one went to the edge of the stream, but during flood the river rose as much as ft. and occasionally overflowed the greater portion of the square. the grass of the square--a mere field--alone seemed happy in the damp. half dried and anæmic from the hot sun, it seemed to be quickly coming back to life and vigour in those few hours which had rendered us all miserable. my poor horses and mules, worn and sore, stood dripping and wretched, with quivering knees, in the middle of the square--too miserable to feed, only now and then slashing their long wet tails to right or left to drive away impertinent flies. with the storm the temperature had suddenly descended to °, and everybody was shivering with cold after the oppressive heat before the storm. upon the half-rotted wooden cross which stood in front of the church was perched a vulture--so thin and shaggy and soaked and motionless that you might easily have mistaken it for a stuffed bird. it was the very picture of misery. but everybody was miserable--one could not help it. i was, too--who am not much given to being depressed. while marching or camping in the midst of unspoilt nature, i never felt depressed, no matter what happened, and was absolutely regardless of climatic conditions; but in those miserable settlements--feeble attempts at civilization--i must confess that i used to get low-spirited too, and often thought what an idiot i had been to leave my happy homes in florence and in london, in order to come to these wretched places. after the attempts at baling out the water had proved futile--as there was more coming in than it was possible to fling out--the people in resignation barricaded their doors and windows. not a soul was to be seen or heard anywhere. the place was absolutely dead. even after the storm was over no sign of life could be noticed. the people were all still hiding and trembling in their houses, the comparatively slight but sudden change in the temperature bringing upon most of them attacks of strong malarial fever, which was there prevalent. at last, splashing her little naked feet along the footpath in the grass--now changed into a streamlet--there approached a little girl with a face as black as coal. she looked terrified as she approached the window out of which i was looking. but she overcame her fright and, prettily stretching out her tiny hand, called out "_boa tarde!_" (good afternoon). her father and mother were ill; would i give her some medicine for them? soon after, when the sky had cleared, other patients came along asking for quinine or any medicine i could give them. others wished to have their teeth pulled out. the brazilians of the interior had great trouble with their teeth, which were usually in a state of decay. my own men had wrapped themselves up in their blankets in order to keep warm. they had slept most of the time. they were too cold and lazy even to get up to cook and eat their food. none of the houses possessed a chimney, cooking being done outside; nor, of course, any sanitary arrangements. those of my men who had toothache cried and moaned the whole night, as might be expected of children aged six of any other country. i have seldom seen men more sensitive and frightened at pain or illness. the main structure at porto do castanho (port of the chestnut tree, because there should be a chestnut tree there) was the church, a mere barn, which elsewhere but in central brazil would not be considered good enough for storing hay, still less for the worship of the almighty. not that it was used much for the latter purpose, as there was no priest within several hundred kilometres. the walls of the church were all scraped and dirty, the corners chipped off by passing animals. all the passers-by went and wiped their dirty hands on the walls of the church--perhaps attracted by the whitewash, which none of the other buildings possessed. the shops--there were two--had nothing for sale, except some locally grown tobacco. in one shop i found some small iron nails, which were sold at the equivalent of _d._ each! may th. the drenching rain continued the entire night, the minimum temperature being ° fahrenheit. my poor animals were in a terrible condition the next morning through the damp, the sores having become badly infected. they were in a purulent condition, and a mass of maggots--the terrible _bishus_, which were the pest of brazil. so we had the great job of cleaning them all with a powerful disinfectant as well as washing them with a decoction of warm _barbatimão_ (_stryphnodendron barbatimão_ m.), a wood with a great resistance to crushing (k. · ) and a specific gravity of · . the decoction, which was really very beneficial for wounds and sores of animals, was made with the bark of that tree warmed in water over a fire. another decoction we frequently used was of salt and _carrapicho_ herb, but this was not quite so effective as the former. my men killed a magnificent _tucano_--a large bird with climbing, inquisitive habits. it possessed an enormous yellow bill of singularly light structure, the point of which was black. the lower part of the bill was of a brilliant red, and of a similar red was the rib of the upper part of the bill. the plumage was of a handsome velvety black on the body and tail--quite shiny--while the chest was of a pure white, and the under part of the tail of bright vermilion feathers. white feathers showed at the base of the tail above. the _tucano_ (_ramphastos_) is too well known for me to describe it fully again. it is found all over tropical brazil. there are many different varieties, such as the _ramphastos vitellinus_, _ramphastos ariel_, the _ramphastos cuvieri_, the _pteroglossus beauharnaisii_, or curl-crested tucano, etc., extremely common, especially farther north, near the borders of the amazon. i was sorry when my men killed this beautiful bird. i had watched it for some time, with its inquisitive habits, hopping from branch to branch, peeping its bill into cavities and examining everything that happened below by bending its head attentively, now on one side then on the other. it evidently took intelligent interest in our doings. my men had gone out to do their cooking. the bird watched them with the greatest attention--with jerky movements not unlike those of a magpie. the tucanos have, i believe, been described as being stupid; but on the contrary i think they are extremely clever--quite as clever as many parrots or macaws. i observed how shrewd that particular bird was. it would come quite close to us, and examine with really amazing attention what we were doing as long as we were not taking any notice of it, but the moment a man happened to touch a stone or try to point a rifle at it, it would fly a long distance off, with shrill yelps, and would not return until it was quite sure that we were not noticing its presence. the uses of the enormous bill of the tucano have often been discussed by ornithologists, many of whom believe that the bill is of no use to that bird and nature made in this case a mistake and has not yet had time to rectify it. scientists frequently allege that nature makes mistakes, because many of them have never really understood nature. how could they? they have never been near enough to nature unspoiled. many of them also believe that tucano birds are great fishers, following the notion that many water birds have red or yellow bills of large size. that, too, is another great mistake, for the tucano is eminently a fruit and nut eater, and of course a feeder on worms and insects contained in fruit. the huge bill, attaining the length of six or seven inches, is toothed at the sides in order to be able to saw the stems of fruit. the shape and size of the bill, far from being a mistake of nature, are made so in order to enable that bird to dig holes into the bark of trees and to enable it to crush and chew the many curiously shaped fruits found in certain parts of the brazilian forest. moreover, the bill is also a great protection to the head in going through the dense foliage, where thorns are innumerable and alive with dangerous insects of great size, which can, owing to the length of its beak, be destroyed at a distance from the bird's most vital organs. these birds have received the name _tucano_ from the noise they make, which resembles "_tok-kan_" very sharply pronounced and with a snap at the end of each syllable. the tucanos are good climbers, but not good fliers. in fact, their flight is somewhat clumsy and heavy. they seldom fly long distances. they spend all their time on the higher branches of trees. they are generally to be seen alone or in couples, or perhaps occasionally in flocks of three or four. what spare moments i had in castanho--after the storm was over--i spent on the banks of the river looking at the magnificent stream. looking south, a low hill range could be seen in the distance with a conical summit rising slightly above the range--the serra do cayapo. it was there, as i have said, that the great araguaya had its birth. it was interesting to note that the head waters of the araguaya--flowing north, of course--had their birth within an infinitesimal distance of those of two such immense rivers as the inducassu and the sucuru, flowing into the parana, and also near the somewhat unknown taquary river flowing into the paraguay. it would be possible--although perhaps expensive--by means of raised artificial lakes and locks actually to join at least one of these southern great rivers to the great araguaya, and thus--barring some troublesome rapids--form a continuous waterway from south to north across south america, from buenos ayres, roughly in lat. ° ' south, to pará in lat. ° ' " south. imagine a distance by river extending for ° ' " (or , kil.) in a straight line--as the crow flies--and not less than double that distance if we include the constant turns and deviations in the various connected rivers. easier still and less expensive would be to connect by rail the last two navigable points of those two streams. that will certainly be done some day, when those abandoned regions are eventually populated and properly developed. there were some rocky falls just below porto castanho which prevented navigation as far as the place where we crossed the araguaya--otherwise the river was navigable from those falls as far as conceição. the formation of the clouds over the great araguaya river was peculiar. great clusters of globular clouds generally collected in three distinct strata upon a whitish sky as far as high up upon the sky vault. facing north, the country appeared absolutely flat, and nothing could be seen above the trees as far as the eye or even a telescope could perceive. in that direction the stream, yards wide, flowed through a perfectly straight channel for about one mile. the fishing in the river was excellent. one night we caught a lot of fish. one, a huge _pirarara_ weighing lb., then some _pirahiba_ and a _pintado_, the latter lb. in weight. the _pirarara_ was an extraordinary-looking fish. it had a long head covered entirely with a hard, bony, granular substance, which could only be cracked by a severe blow with an axe. the eyes were prominent and placed quite close to abnormally long antennæ or feelers. the back of the _pirarara_ was bluish black, the centre of the body longitudinally was yellowish, whereas the under part was white. the tail was of a bright vermilion, and the black fins had red edges, which made the huge _pirarara_ a really beautiful fish to look at. [illustration: typical flat-topped plateau of central brazil.] [illustration: one night's fishing on the araguaya.] the _pirahiba_ had a grey back with stripes so faint that they were hardly visible. its head was flat and anchor-shaped. the eyes--very small--were curiously situated on the top of the head instead of at the sides--owing to the fact that the head was really so flat that it had no sides: it was merely a gentle convex curve from one side of the mouth to the other over the skull. the _pirahiba_ too, like most fish of those rivers, possessed long tentacles. its mouth and fins were slightly tinted red. it displayed powerful teeth similarly arranged to those of the _pintado_ fish previously described. then we got some _tubarao_ (or _squalus carcharias_)--a small fish with a long, pointed head like a bird's beak, of the _plagiostomos_ order, and several _mand[~i]_--a small yellow fish with enormous eyes. the _mand[~i]_ had remarkable vitality. seven hours after it had been caught--i had no idea the poor thing was still alive--it gave several leaps in the air, and when i put it in a bucket of water it shortly began to swim as if nothing had happened. there were only two or three very small dug-outs on the araguaya, none of which were capable of carrying more than one or two people. there was no boat there large enough to carry all my men and baggage, had i even at that moment decided to descend that river instead of proceeding west. i took observations for latitude and longitude at porto castanho, as well as boiling-point observations with the hypso-metrical apparatus, the latter in order to get the exact elevation, and also to keep a check on my several aneroids which i used on the journey merely for differential observations. may th, . boiling point, ° f. temperature of the air, ° f. = ft. above the sea level. by aneroid, ft. my mules having had a good rest, i was making ready to start on may th, when one of my men refused to come any farther. he wished to be paid off and go. so he received his pay and went. he would probably end his existence in that filthy little hamlet. he would never have the energy to return to goyaz alone. i was rather glad he had gone, as, a few nights previously, he had fired at me while i was asleep. the bullet had actually made a hole through the canvas of my camp bed. i had fortunately taken the precaution to alter the position of my bed--under my tent--a precaution i took every night, after my men had gone to sleep in their hammocks, some distance outside. the man had evidently aimed where he thought my head was resting. i having turned the bed around, the bullet, fired from the man standing, went just over my ankles, perforating the canvas quite close to them. i naturally came out of my tent to see what was the matter, and saw the man with the rifle in his hand. "why did you shoot?" i inquired, as the man, evidently surprised to see me standing before him, ejaculated disconnected words. "i saw a huge _onça_" (a jaguar) ... "it was there ... i saw its two eyes shining like fire...." "did you kill the _onça_?" "no, it leapt away." i advised the man, patting him paternally on the back, not to startle everybody again. if he should see another _onça_ he had better come to me. i seldom missed when i fired at all--as i had been able to show them a few days before. i did not wish my men to behave like so many timid young girls, as i wished to be able to tell people in europe that brazilians were brave and noble. "firing in such a fashion indiscriminately," i explained to him, "you might have even killed one of your companions! now go to sleep like a good fellow, and do not fire again!" i spoke to the rascal in the gentlest of ways, never for one moment letting him suspect that i knew he had intended that bullet to go through my head. nor did i ever take any of the other men into my confidence. when they asked what the commotion was about, i told them that their companion had fired at a jaguar and the jaguar had leapt away. there is only one effective weapon you can use with scoundrels. it is the greatest calm and kindness. the man, hiding his face in his hands, threw himself upon his hammock and began to sob. he sobbed and sobbed and sobbed until the morning--much to the inconvenience of everybody in camp. at sunrise he had been seized with a severe attack of rheumatism which had contracted a leg badly. it was pitiful to see him walking--but when he was not aware of being looked at he walked as well as anybody else. from that day that fellow never dared look me straight in the face. he avoided riding near me on the march, and in camp was sulky and unpleasant, retiring to a distance and declining to work. he was relieved of the functions of cook. the last time he had produced a meal nearly brought massacre upon him at the hands of the other men. he received his full pay up to date, without uttering a word of thanks. he duly signed a receipt with his thumb-mark, as he was unable to write. when the troop of horses and mules and his companions left, he never spoke a word of farewell to his companions or animals, nor to me. he sat silent and motionless, with his eyes riveted to the ground as if in a trance. some days later we discovered that he had stolen from our store some lbs. of coffee and a large quantity of sugar, as well as a number of other articles which had been useful to us. the sky when we left was overcast, and huge globular clouds, white and grey, hung in great masses, especially half way up the vault of the sky. the country, after crossing the araguaya, was remarkably beautiful, from an agricultural point of view--enormous campos or prairies--over rich alluvial deposits, with scanty stunted trees upon them. plenty of _burity_ palms grew in the lower depressions. my men suffered intensely from the cold at night--the minimum being ° fahr., maximum °, in the afternoon of the th. the temperature had been much lower since we had crossed the great river. the elevation was only , ft. rising slowly over an undulation in the country to , ft., we began to find igneous rock showing through the surface soil, especially on the higher points. _lixia_ (_nephelium litchi_ carab), _caraiba_ and the _laranjeira do campo_ (_citrus vulgaris_), were trees to be seen in that region. we had wonderfully clear sky in the morning. at noon it became slightly clouded, while in the afternoon one-third of the sky was covered. a light breeze blew from the west. some kil. from the araguaya we came to a small miserable farmhouse. after a great deal of bargaining i was able to purchase some extra horses. the people had no idea whatever of the value of money, and named sums at first which would have easily purchased the finest horses on the english turf. they descended in time to more reasonable figures. our life was rendered miserable all day by the millions of _pium_ or gnats that swarmed around us and stung us with incredible fierceness and viciousness. those little brutes left on our skins black marks fully as large as themselves wherever they stung us. the itching was most trying. those marks remained for several weeks, and only disappeared when we perforated them with a needle to let the blood out, or waited long enough for them to become desiccated and the skin re-formed. _pium_ is a word of the tupi and tupinamba indians' language. those tiny insects entered your eyes, leaving behind an odoriferous acid which caused great irritation of the lids. we removed dozens every day from our eyes. fortunately they were easily extracted. they also dashed into your ears, up your nose, and, whenever you opened it, inside your mouth. it was well worth going to matto grosso to enjoy the lovely moonlight nights, only comparable in their luminous splendour to nights of central africa in the middle of the sahara desert, and to those on the high tibetan plateau in asia. the light of the moon was so vivid that one could see almost as well as in the daytime. personally, the crisp cool air (min. ° fahr.) made me feel in most excellent health and spirits, but my men, who had putrid constitutions, were a mass of aches and pains. some cried like children the entire night with toothache, moaning and shrieking like lunatics when the pain became acute; others got internal aches, another had cramp in the legs. i must say that alcides, with all his faults, was the only one who always did his work--not always with common sense, but he did it--and, when ill, never gave exhibitions of pitiful weakness like the others. filippe, the negro, who eventually showed himself to be the bravest brazilian on that expedition, also stood the pain more calmly and with manliness. as i had judged from the first moment i had laid eyes upon them, those were really the only two men who were any good at all. "_il bon dì si vede dal mattino_" (a fine day is seen in the morning), says an ancient and very true italian proverb; truer, perhaps, in its philosophy with individuals than with the weather. many of my men's complaints vanished with the warmth of the sun-- ° fahr. at p.m., with a maximum temperature during the day of ° in the shade. with the beautiful clear sky and a gentle breeze blowing, it was a real delight to march. only a slight whitish mist--always in horizontal streaks--was to be noticed near the earth. the sky, although limpid, was never of a deep blue, but merely of a pale cobalt. the dew was heavy during the night and soaked everything, making the baggage, the tents particularly, heavy for the animals to carry. we still kept at an elevation of , ft., noticing, as we marched on, an isolated range of hills extending from north-east to south-west and showing considerable erosion at its south-westerly terminus. two conical hills--one a broken cone--stood on the summit of a flat plateau, the entire range, as well as the summit of hills, showing eroded slopes with vertical wall-like superior portions. after leaving the stream at the foot of a range , ft. above the sea level, on rising over a low pass i could observe to the north-east of that range great blocks of eruptive rock much perforated, in which were embedded pellets of yellow lava and of red and black baked igneous rock. on examining the north-eastern end of the main part of the range it was apparent that what remained standing before us was merely one half of a circular crater, the other half of which had collapsed or had been blown up by volcanic action. the bottom of the crater was subsequently filled with alluvial deposits. there was there a grassy plain with a few _burity_ palms. in the valley before us was ideal pasture land, which will some day be of great value. we crossed two cols (elev. , ft.) with a beautiful plain between. then we descended into a third lovely valley on the north side of the outer wall of the crater. the grazing was perfect for the animals. clusters of vigorous, healthy _burity_ palms stood in great numbers in the centre and at the sides of the valley. this great valley was bounded by two ridges extending in a northerly direction--two spurs, as it were. the rounded, channelled outer sides of the crater to the north would tend to strengthen the theory that those slopes were formerly a gradual continuation of the present inclined valley. on those slopes of the mountain hardly any vegetation could be noticed, perhaps owing to the fact that hard volcanic rock existed under the thin surface padding of yellowish earth. the valley was buried in red and grey lapilli and ashes, finely broken up marble cubes, and fragments of other forms of crystallized rock. as we proceeded from camp fogasso, the northern slopes of the crater became divided into huge furrows, the vertical upper part of the crater displaying vividly rich red tones. the crater was castellated at the summit, like the walls of a fortress. the geological formation of that portion of the matto grosso plateau interested me greatly. each individual spur, taken separately, showed slopes sometimes abrupt, sometimes well rounded, separated from the next spur of hills by a v-shaped or angular, or else a concave hollow. at the bottom of those hollows one did not find the slopes continuing the line of the crater, but the valley was there absolutely flat and cut the line of the slope sharply. it would almost appear as if a subsidence of the soil had taken place in that particular locality, or else one might speculate whether those abrupt hills had not been the walls of what was once a subterranean volcanic cauldron--the flat valley, in which we were, having been the bottom of that cauldron. what little rock one found in the river bed in this valley showed signs of having been exposed to intense and prolonged heat, and so did the brilliant red summit of the hill range, which was also of the deep red typical of hard-baked rock. [illustration: the paredãozinho.] [illustration: typical scenery of matto grosso.] the scene which i had before me there in matto grosso greatly reminded me of a similar basin i had seen when the great bandaisan mountain in japan was blown up by a volcanic explosion and left merely the bottom part of its gigantic internal cauldron with vertical red walls around it. with the exception of scanty and anæmic grass and a few stunted trees, there was hardly any vegetation noticeable. the fogasso stream, on the bank of which we camped, flowed in an easterly direction into the araguaya. the temperature on the plateau was ideal--min. ° fahr. during the night; max. °. we were at an elevation of , ft. on may th we were travelling along a valley over which must have once risen the continuation of a range which stood to the north of us. there were deep grooves and corrugations in the valley in a direction from south to north between the two sections of the now interrupted range. there we found soil of red, brown and yellow tints, or else great stretches of grey volcanic ashes and earth mixed, as well as sharply angular fragments of igneous rock, which showed that they had not travelled there by rolling on the ground or propelled by water. after this we passed close to another curious spur of mountains on the east--quite isolated and of a red vertical columnar formation. its summit was broken up--much more so than that of the plateau-like range to the south of us which we were following in a parallel line. the highest point of that range, to the south, was wooded, and so were the two conical-topped hills which towered over it. the strata where exposed showed a slight dip to the north. we crossed the range by two low cols at elevations of , ft. and , ft. respectively. on the summit and even lower upon the sides of those cols we found huge boulders of eruptive rock, highly ferruginous. globular lumps, big and small, of spattered smooth-surfaced yellow lava were to be found in myriads; also many spherical pellets of ferruginous, highly-baked rock with innumerable holes produced while in a state of ebullition. some of the ferruginous rocks had pellets of yellow lava firmly imbedded in them, which had evidently penetrated while liquid into the hollows of the ferruginous rock which was already in a semi-solid, or perhaps solidified, condition. at any rate, when it happened the ferruginous rock was already harder than the lava. while i was studying attentively the geological conditions of that region, the sky suddenly became as black as ink to the south, and a heavy shower, which lasted half an hour, drenched us all to the marrow of our bones. then it cleared up, and the sun, supplemented by our natural heat, dried our clothes upon us again as we went on. chapter xii geological speculation--beautiful pasture-land the stars were of extraordinary brilliancy at night; so much so that one could see quite well enough by their light to get about. the atmosphere being extremely clear, they appeared of immense size, the planets shining with dazzling, changing colours which would have filled even the most profane with reverence for their splendour. i drew the attention of my men to the wonderful sight. "they are stars!" they replied contemptuously; "have you never seen stars before?" it was indeed difficult to enter into conversation on any subject with them without having an ardent desire to strangle the lot, they were so ignorantly offensive. i was thankful i had the sense always to go about unarmed, or i am certain some of them would have paid somewhat dearly for their impertinence. i was glad, too, that i never felt the weight of loneliness, as days and days would go by without my saying a word to them, barring perhaps a shout in camp to bring my breakfast, lunch, or dinner. what was even worse than entering into conversation with them was to listen--one could not help it, they shouted so loudly all the time--to the conversation among themselves. we will not refer to the choice language they used, so inexplicably sacrilegious and indecorous that it would have set on edge the teeth of the coarsest specimens of humanity; but the subject--i say subject in the singular, mark you, for alas! there was only one subject--discussed in all its phases perhaps, but only one single subject--assassination. the accounts of different murders, in some of which the men boasted they had taken part, were nightly repeated in their minutest details to the assembled crowd--myself excluded--sitting around the fire, while the _feijão_--beans, so loved by them--were being stewed for hours and hours in a cauldron. there was the story of one murder of which one of the men was particularly proud, in which he reproduced the facial expression as well as the smothered shrieks of the horrified victim. he gave a vivid description of how the blood squirted out like a fountain from the jugular vein of the throat as it was being severed. that story--most graphically narrated, i admit--had taken the fancy of that cruel crowd. almost every evening, during the entire time those men were with me, many long months, i heard that story repeated amid roars of laughter from the company. murder--when applied to others--was evidently for them a great joke! inconsiderate to a degree, they would get up and sing at the top of their voices in the middle of the night and keep everybody awake while the _feijão_ was stewing. it took hours and hours before those awful black beans had boiled sufficiently to be edible, and the man who acted as cook had to sit up the whole night to stir them up and watch them. yes, the position of cook for the camp was not an enviable one, for it meant marching all day and sitting up all night to prepare the _feijão_ for the following day. yet the love they had for their _feijão_--i never ate the beastly stuff myself--was so great that those lazy devils, who could not be induced on any account to do other work, did not mind at all having sleepless nights to watch over the stewing cauldron. with the _feijão_ were placed in the pot large pieces of _toucinho_ (lard). we carried quantities of _feijão_, for without _feijão_ you cannot induce a brazilian to do anything or go anywhere. of the two he would rather sacrifice his life than lose his daily _feijão_. it requires great ability, i believe, to cook _feijão_ properly. i noticed that all my men in a body were ever superintending its preparation. when the cook in the early hours of the morning happened to let the fire go down, or in his drowsiness was not stirring it properly, there were angry shouts from the other men, who, every time they opened one eye in their sleep, invariably gazed towards the beloved cooking-pot. we came to a second range parallel with the one described before and extending from north-east to south-west. again a vertical natural wall was noticeable to the east. this range was subdivided into many sections, almost all of the same size and shape. the end section to the north-east--which made an exception--was about three and a half times the length of any of the others. i observed some deep vertical vents such as are frequently to be seen in the sections of volcanoes that have partly been blown up. these vents were particularly numerous in the north-easterly block, where broad corrugations and some narrow ones--ten in all--were also to be seen. two alternatives could explain the present configuration of that region. there had been either a great volcanic explosion or else a sudden subsidence. personally i was inclined to favour the first hypothesis. i shall explain why. first because the great fissures between the various huge blocks and the grooves carved in those rocks would then at once explain themselves--caused naturally by the violent shock. they had apparently been enlarged in the course of time by erosion of water and wind, and possibly by the friction of the débris of the masses of rock settling down when the stratum was severed. the quantity of débris of shattered rock minutely broken into cubes and other angular forms would suggest that some great shock had occurred. then the usual yellow pellets of polished lava, either globular or pear-shaped, or like an elongated oval ending in a point and well rounded at the other end, would also indicate that these missiles had been flying great distances through the air in a molten state before they had actually dropped. in fact, the flight was so long as absolutely to cool and solidify them before they fell--unless they had fallen in cold water--for they had retained their original form, instead of getting flattened at the heavier end, as could be expected had the lava reached the ground in a half-soft state. large blocks of lava--which naturally took a longer time to cool and a shorter time to reach the earth after their flight through the atmosphere--had, in fact, become flattened on the lower side where they struck the ground. others of a composite globular form had invariably been flattened into a slight curve on the side where they had come in contact with the soil. ovoid rocks as large as a loaf of bread and composed of compressed cinders were to be seen about, which, when easily split open, showed a band of slightly ferruginous matter, very brittle, in a crystallized condition. in the centre of these rocks were invariably found beautiful crystals of great limpidity, easily separated from one another by a slight pressure of the fingers. erosion had evidently since played great part in the present appearance of the country, but to my mind--directly above what is now a valley--there existed at one time a high range of mountains, which was in those days the great dividing line of the waters flowing south and north. one might, of course, also argue that what are the mountains now have been pushed up from underneath above the ground into their present position, but local conditions do not tend to encourage this theory. the strata of red baked rock in the existing mountain side were almost absolutely horizontal, with merely a slight dip to the north. in the northern end of the range the rock showing through the vegetation was white, as if it had been subjected to baking. the western aspect of the first range showed also a vertical summit of red rock with a sloping spur extending to the west. we camped that night on the river prata, which flowed south. elevation, , ft. maximum temperature ° f., minimum ½° f. the formation of the clouds was always interesting. the long horizontal streaks across the sky, which were daily noticeable, took a form that day not unlike the vertebræ of an immense snake, whereas the higher clouds of transparent mist in filaments looked exactly like a huge spider's web. we established our camp under a tall, handsome, slender _xinghi_-tree, the triangular fruit of which, with a light brown, hard skin, was deadly poisonous if eaten. alcides told me that in minas geraes it was much used in the manufacture of soap. this tree was extremely neat-looking, with its clean sinuous branches and its pretty, light green, healthy leaves, of an elongated oval shape. [illustration: volcanic scenery of matto grosso. chapada in foreground.] [illustration: peculiar formation of central plateau.] my men had insisted on bringing dogs away with us for safety in case of attack by indians. they had in fact procured three--i would not care to say how--before our departure from the goyaz province. those dogs were just as faithless and lazy and worthless as the people. they followed us because they got plenty of food, otherwise they had no affection for anybody; and, far from giving an alarm when any person or any animal approached the camp, they were quite unmoved by anything that happened around them during the day or night, except at meal-times. a handsome _onça_ (jaguar) leapt close to camp, and on perceiving us bounded gracefully away--the dogs remaining fast asleep with their noses resting on their respective extended fore-paws. another day during the march a _veado_ (_cervus elaphus_), a deer, sprang in his flight clean over one of the dogs without the dog even noticing him! game was plentiful in that part of the country, and the animals were so unaccustomed to see people, that one could get quite near them. my men went after game in the morning and we did not make an early start, in fact not until . a.m. it was amazing to see the amount of good water that was to be found on the plateau. we crossed a streamlet flowing south (elev. , ft.), and shortly afterwards, upon gently inclined land, we crossed another stream, also flowing south. we were travelling due west along the foot of a curious range which stood to our north and of another of similar characteristics to the south. it seemed quite possible, in fact, even probable, that the two ranges were formerly only one, which had then split, and that we were travelling inside the partially-filled-up fissure between the two divided ranges. the sky-line of the two ranges matched exactly on both sides--first a long hump, then two smaller humps, after that a more even and continuous line. on reaching an elevation of , ft. we were confronted with a splendid view of a flat plateau to the west. by a steep descent we went down ft. to a river (elev. , ft. above the sea level) in a hollow, reached by going through dense tall grass and thick vegetation. a humble wooden cross by the stream marked the spot where a brazilian had been murdered by indians. interesting flows and domes of lava were to be seen near the stream, after which our marching that day was mostly up and down campos with magnificent grazing, the general slope of which was from north to south. at an elevation of , ft., on turning our heads back, we had a general view of the two ranges which had become separated. on one side of the range, a sloping back was noticeable, whereas on the opposite side were almost vertical sides, much grooved, with a terrace about two-thirds up the total elevation, except at the western end, where the terrace was instead exactly half way up, with a minor terrace near the summit. we met and crossed another streamlet, and then rose on our route to , ft., from where another beautiful view of the plateau to the south-west could be obtained, a low hill range with a higher peak in front of it, and the immense green campos at a slanting angle. another fine panoramic view of the two divided ranges was also before us, although from that particular point of vantage it was slightly more difficult to reconstruct their former appearance in one's imagination than from the centre of the valley we had crossed, although even from that point the fact was apparent with a little study. on proceeding down to the river we met some flows of red lava and, upon the top of nearly every undulation, boulders of black eruptive rock showed through, highly ferruginous, as well as much lava in pellets. débris of baked red and black rock were to be found in quantities down the slopes and at the bottom of those undulations, carried there evidently by water. in one or two places, such as near the river at ponte keimada, i smashed some of the larger boulders of yellow lava. here is what i found inside: under an outer coating of lava an inch thick there was a layer of solidified cinders. under that lay a thin layer of lava, then again yet another layer of grey ashes, then lava again. this would indicate that those boulders had gradually reached their present shape partly in revolutions through the air thick with cinders, partly by rolling down or along intermittent stretches of molten lava and cinders during a great eruption, or perhaps during several successive eruptions. personally, i think that it was during various periods of one eruption before the lava had cooled, so that in its sticky state it would easily collect the ashes round it, which it would certainly not do in its polished, solidified state. when we had passed beyond the western end of the two parallel ranges a great change was noticeable in the appearance of the country we were crossing. we missed the long, sweeping, uninterrupted lines of the scenery, and had before our eyes a confused surface of bosses, mounds and short undulations, with thick luxuriant vegetation upon them which prevented my studying carefully their geological formation. the soil, of a rich red colour, showed every indication of being extremely fertile in that particular climate. from the point where we stood, one could well judge the effects of the great volcanic explosion on the back of the range--the one to our left--where a long line of buttresses had formed, as if on that side a subsidence on a large scale had also taken place. it was in any case curious to notice that at the two termini east and west of the two parallel ranges white rock in columnar form was exposed in both ranges in corresponding sites. the slope noticeable on the north side of the southern range could be explained by the tilting of the strata where the separation took place. the angle of the strata clearly demonstrated this fact. millions of mosquitoes and _piums_, _carrapatinhos_ and _carrapatos_ made life unbearable both during the day and night. we never had a moment's respite. the gnats, too, in thick swarms around us were a constant worry--we were all day busy removing them from our eyes and ears. they stung us all over most mercilessly. i was making a botanical collection, which not only contained specimens of the leaves of all the trees we met with, but also of minor plants and various kinds of grass. this involved getting off my mule many times a day. whenever i put my feet on the ground or touched a blade of grass i well knew what was in store for me. at once i became literally covered with _carrapatinhos_, and set to scratch myself so violently that nothing short of digging my nails into my skin seemed to relieve the irritation--and that, mind you, only momentarily. one had to bear it, and wait until one got to camp in the evening before one could disinfect oneself all over. in this world one never gets credit for anything, but i do think that few men under those circumstances would have gone on, as i did, collecting botanical specimens for no reward whatever except my own pleasure, if pleasure it can be called. again we noticed that day wonderful effects of clouds in filaments, one group stretching along the sky in an arc from north to east like the dorsal bone and ribs of an immense fish. we camped on the bank of a stream (elev. , ft.) flowing north-east, which was, i think, the same stream we had met in the morning, and which had described a big turn. my men amused me with their fears. even when in camp they never left their rifles for a moment. when they went only a few yards away, either to fetch water or bring back a mule, they invariably took all their weapons with them--carbines, automatic pistols, and daggers. in order to collect specimens and examine the country, i sometimes strayed away alone for long distances from camp--sometimes for two or three hours at a time--always absolutely unarmed. my men began to be thoroughly frightened of the immunity i possessed from attacks of wild beasts and indians. although i told them that wild beasts never attacked human beings unless attacked first, and that there were no indians about, my men would not believe me. they maintained that i must have some special secret of my own which brought me back alive, and that i must be even bullet-proof. they could never be induced to go alone--even when armed--for more than a few metres from camp. we were having cool nights. minimum ° fahr., maximum ° fahr.--on may th. a mackerel sky of the prettiest design was overhead, like a lovely mosaic of white and blue porcelain, while a band of clear blue encircled us all around above the horizon line. across a forest we continued our journey, rising some ft. to , ft. above the sea level, where we again found campos and forest alternately upon deep masses of fine red sand or else great expanses of grey and black volcanic cinders intermixed in patches. on reaching the highest elevation we actually went over kil. of volcanic sand and ashes, and in one place traversed a patch of shattered débris with cutting edges of eruptive rock, and brilliant red or deep black pebbles. then again we saw masses of the usual ferruginous, much-perforated rocks--many so absolutely spherical as to resemble cannon-balls. to the west we could see before us lovely green undulations--campos--with, in the centre, a curious hump that looked as though due to subterranean pressure. in the distance was visible another of those long flat-topped plateaus typical of brazil, with a headland which, owing, it seemed, chiefly to erosion, had become separated from the main range. it resembled and was parallel with the second range of the split mountains we had just left. some nine kilometres from our last camp we encountered the river das corgo, flowing south (elev. , ft.) over a bed formed by an impressive great flow of solidified red lava covered in some places by deposits of bright red earth. beyond the river we found ourselves again upon yellow sand and ashes. beneath a cirro-cumulus--or mackerel sky--again that day, wonderfully beautiful because of its perfection of design, we were gradually rising over the domed elevation we had previously observed, upon which we found masses of tiny pebbles--what are known to geologists by the italian name of "puzzolana" or _scoriæ_ reduced to a granular condition. farther on, travelling over other undulations, we sank into thick deposits of grey and yellow volcanic scoriæ, such as fine sand, cinders, and lapilli. at the highest point (elev. , ft.) we travelled over deep sediments of sand and ashes mixed together. all those undulations, as a matter of fact, were above great buried flows of red lava, which were invariably exposed to sight in the depressions, particularly in the beds of rivers. being a great lover of good water--to my mind the elixir of life, the great secret of health and strength--i was always enraptured by the deliciousness of the water in the streams we met. it was so crystalline and limpid that one could not resist the temptation of drinking it, even when not thirsty. i always carried slung to my saddle an enamelled tin cup attached to a string so as to be able to procure myself a drink at all the streams without getting off my mount. twelve kilometres from our last camp we came to a watercourse flowing into a big stream at the bottom of the valley. its bed was in overlapping terraces of polished red lava. the green country before us, in great sweeping undulations, reminded one much, in its regularity, of the great waves of the ocean--what sailors call "long seas." where the stream had cut through and left the underlying dome of lava exposed one could easily judge of the thick deposits of sand, ashes and pulverized rock which formed the strata above it. we travelled over more red volcanic sand for some four kilometres, rising to , ft., on which elevation was thick _matto_, or stunted, much entangled forest. then we emerged once more into glorious open country, marching over a stratum ft. thick of whitish tufa and ashes, this stratum lying immediately above one of red volcanic earth. the strata were easily measurable where rivulets had cut deep grooves in the softer superficial strata and had reached the foundation layer of lava. the campos seemed to get more and more beautiful as we went west. what magnificent grazing land! one could imagine on it millions and millions of happy, fat cattle; but no, not one was to be seen anywhere. what a pity to see such wonderful country go to waste! there was everything there, barring, perhaps, easy transport, to make the happiness and fortune of thousands upon thousands of farmers--excellent grazing, fertile soil, good healthy climate and delicious and plentiful water--but the country was absolutely deserted. for miles the beautiful prairies extended, especially to the south-west, where in the distant background loomed a high, flat-topped tableland, interrupted by two deep cuts in its extensive monotonous sky-line. those cuts were near its southern end. to the south stood a long range of wooded hills--also with an absolutely flat sky-line. we ourselves were not higher than , ft. above the sea level. my animals stumbled along over a region of much-broken-up débris; then again travelling was easier, although heavy, over tufa, sand and ashes. on descending to a stream, , ft. above sea level, we slipped terribly on the steep argillaceous slope, and the animals had great difficulty in climbing up on the opposite side, where we made our camp. [illustration: curious domes of lava with upper stratum of earth, sand and ashes.] [illustration: great undulating campos of matto grosso.] the streamlet flowed east into a larger stream, which we also crossed, and which flowed south-west. it seemed to be getting colder at night as we went westward (may th, min. ° fahr.), whereas during the day the temperature was hot--max. ° f. as early as a.m. the thermometer already registered ° in the shade, and not a breath of wind. the elevation was , ft. the sky was in streaky horizontal clouds to the east, and thin misty clouds to the south--cirro-stratus. one of my horses having strayed away a long distance, we only left that camp in the afternoon after the animal had been recovered. we rose quickly over the usual red volcanic sand held down in its place by the vegetation--rather anæmic at that particular spot. higher up we again sank in the white and yellow ashes, with occasional zones covered by small, angular, black-baked débris. ants seemed to flourish happily in that region, for the ant-heaps were innumerable and of great size, several with towers about ft. in height, resembling miniature mediæval castles. having risen--all the time over grey and white ashes--to , ft., we found ourselves again upon open campos with a splendid view of the flat-topped range we had already seen to the north and of another to the south. at the angle where the northern range changed its direction slightly there stood a high prominence of peculiar appearance. the range extended west, where it ended, into a broken cone--as i have already stated quite separated by erosion from the main range. all along the range in the section between the prominence at the angle and the terminal cone could be noticed three distinct level terraces and several intermediate ones--not yet well defined nor continuous along the whole face of the range. about half-way along its length, a semi-cylindrical vertical cut was a striking feature, and appeared from a distance to be the remains of an extinct crater. it may be noted that where that crater was, the range was higher than elsewhere. its summit, with an undulating sky-line, lay to the west of it, no doubt formed by erupted matter. other great vertical furrows were noticeable not far from the crater and to the west of it. the scenery was getting stranger and stranger every day. we began to notice solitary domes and cones in the landscape. that day, in fact, beyond the great campos we had before us a curious little well-rounded dome, standing up by itself upon an absolutely flat surface, at a considerable distance from the flat tableland which stood on one side, and of which formerly it evidently made part. higher mountains, somewhat nearer to us, were on the south-west. we had reached the river corgo fundo (elev. , ft.), along the banks of which the laminæ of red-baked rock could be observed with thin white layers between. above was a lovely green pasture with a tuft of deep green trees, which looked exactly like a bit of a well-kept english park. we mounted up again to , ft., then went down another descent into a large plain with campos, upon which grew merely a few stunted trees. we were still travelling over deep deposits of sand. the range to the north of us extended, to be accurate, from north-east to south-west, and at its south-westerly end possessed a dome not dissimilar to the one already described on our previous day's march. this one was perhaps more rounded and not quite so tall. it rose above the plateau in two well-defined terraces, especially on the north-east side, but was slightly worn and smoothed to the south-west. on the terminal mound--clearly separated from the range by erosion--seven distinct terraces could be counted, with some less defined intermediate ones. in the bed of another stream flowing south--it was impossible to ascertain the names of these streamlets, for there was no one to tell, and none were marked on existing maps--another great flow of red lava was visible. this stream flowed into the rio das garças or barreiros, only metres away--an important watercourse, throwing itself eastward into the rio das mortes, one of the great tributaries of the upper araguaya river. chapter xiii the river barreiros--a country of tablelands the rio barreiros was about metres wide. it was reached through a thick belt, metres in width, of trees and bamboos of large diameter, which lined both its banks. the river flowed swiftly where we crossed it, over a bed of lava and baked rock, red and black, with huge treacherous pits and holes which rendered the job of crossing the stream dangerous for our animals. there were rapids lower down in the terraced mass of rock forming the river bottom. the rock, worn smooth by the water, was extremely slippery. it was only after we had all undressed and taken the baggage safely across on our heads--the river being too deep for the loads to remain on the saddles--that we successfully drove the animals over to the opposite bank. on the banks i collected some specimens of the laminated red rock, which had no great crushing resistance when dry. it could be easily powdered under comparatively light pressure, and scratched with no difficulty with one's nails. it was of various densities of red tones, according to the amount of baking it had undergone. the superposed red strata had a dip northward in some localities. the rock was much fissured, and had either gone through excessive contraction in cooling or else perhaps had been shattered by some earthly commotion--such as must have occurred often in that region in ages gone by, for, if not, how could one account for finding scattered blocks of this red rock resting upon the surface of great stretches--sometimes for or kil.--of uninterrupted sand or ashes which covered such great expanses of that country? in the valleys, near water, _burity_ palms were numerous. overhead the sky was always interesting. the days nearly invariably began with a clear, speckless sky, but, mind you, never of quite so deep a blue as the sky of italy or egypt. the sky of central brazil was always of a whitish cobalt blue. that morning--an exception to prove the rule--we had awakened to a thick mist around us, which enveloped and damped everything. no sooner did the sun rise than the mist was quickly dispelled. in the late morning, about o'clock, clouds began to form high in the sky--not along the horizon, as is generally the case in most countries--and grew in intensity and size during the afternoon. nearly every day at about sunset a peculiar flimsy, almost transparent, streak of mist stretched right across the sky from east to west, either in the shape of a curved line, or, as we had observed as recently as the day before, resembling with its side filaments a gigantic feather or the skeleton of a fish. in the state of goyaz, it may be remembered, we had a more beautiful and complete effect at sunset of many radiating lines, starting from the east and joining again to the west, but here we merely had one single streak dividing the sky in two. when the sun had long disappeared under the horizon, that streak high up in the sky was still lighted by its rays--becoming first golden, then red. the effect was quite weird. my men went during the night on another fishing expedition, but with no luck--partly due to the infamy of our dogs. they used as bait for their large hooks _toucinho_, or pork fat, of which they had started out provided with a huge piece. they walked off a good distance from camp to find a suitable spot. unfortunately, while they were there the dogs ate up all the _toucinho_ and the result was that the men had to return disappointed. there was plenty of game, especially wild pig and _veado_ (deer). alcides had a smattering of botany, which was a great danger to the company. he knew, he thought, the uses, medicinal or otherwise, of all plants, herbs and fruit, wild or not wild. this, in addition to the greediness of the men--who, although actually gorged with food, were always willing to devour anything else they found--led once or twice, as we shall see, to the poisoning of himself and his companions so dangerously as not only to cause terrible internal pains, but to bring them all actually to death's door. i never got poisoned myself, as i generally took good care to watch the effects of those experiments upon my men first. then also in my many years of exploration i had learnt only too well to beware of even the most seductive tropical plants and fruit. notwithstanding all this, alcides was really wonderful at turning out pleasant-tasting beverages from the stewed bark or leaves of various trees, and of these decoctions--in which additional quantities of sugar played an important part--my men and myself drank gallons upon gallons. many of those drinks had powerful astringent qualities and had severe effects upon the bladder, but some were indeed quite good and innocuous. during the night i observed a most perfect lunar halo, the circle, close to the moon, displaying a curious yellowish red outer fringe. since leaving the araguaya we had been bothered a good deal nightly by the heavy dew, which absolutely soaked everything, made all our rifles and axes and iron implements rusty, and the tents and saddles and baggage considerably heavier for the animals to carry, owing to the moisture they had absorbed. in the early morning we began to get thick cold mist, and it was about that time that the minimum temperature was usually registered-- ° fahr. that particular night, may th. we were at quite a low elevation, merely , ft. when we started in the morning we found more sand and volcanic débris over ridges some ft. or so above the level of the river. a torrent, metres wide, flowing swiftly w.s.w. on a red lava bed, was crossed, the mules slipping terribly on the polished rock. more ashes and sand were found as we ascended to an elevation of , ft., from which height we discerned a much-terraced headland to the east and two streams meeting and flowing south where we eventually crossed them. one of those watercourses descended in cascades over laminated successive flows of lava, between which thin layers of white crystallization could be seen. slightly higher, at , ft., we sank again in yellow and grey ashes. across campos we reached another foaming torrent, flowing as usual over a lava bed, but this time in a north-westerly instead of in a southerly direction. that day we met with many watercourses. having risen to , ft., we soon after found another streamlet (elev. , ft.). again a red lava-flow was exposed in its bed and showed heavy upper deposits of grey ashes, with above them a thick layer of yellow-ochre sand ( , ft.). the distances on the journey were measured by a watch, the speed of the animals at the time being naturally taken into consideration. it was not possible to use the usual bicycle wheel with a meter attached, which is used with so much success in the arctic regions or in countries where travelling more or less in a straight line and on a level surface is possible. another limpid stream flowing south-west (elev. , ft.) was reached, then more deep sand and ashes. after that we came to a thick growth of bamboos and brush on reaching the banks of a streamlet winding its way north. travelling up and down, all day and day after day, over those undulations became tedious work--red sand, whitish sand, grey ashes, all the time. [illustration: typical brazilian plateau, showing work of erosion.] [illustration: on the plateau of matto grosso. (alcides in foreground.)] on the west side, on descending the last prominence we at last came to a slight variation in the geological composition of the country. after more white sand and ashes had been passed, we came upon great stretches of greenish grey granite exposed in huge domes and much striated, with parallel grooves on its surface so deep that they almost looked as if they had been incised by a sharp tool. these grooves were, nevertheless, naturally caused by the sharp friction of sand and water, i think, and also by sand blown over those rocks with terrific force by winds of inconceivable vigour. all the way down our descent we travelled over that striated rock. it had become exposed to the air, but must have once been buried under sand and ashes like all the rest of that region. curious vertical cracks were to be noticed in several places, with ramifications from a common centre--evidently caused by the concussion of some huge weight which had fallen from above, perhaps a huge boulder shot out by volcanic action, which had then rolled farther down the incline. the terminal side of the curious range we had on our right appeared not unlike a fortress with its vertical walls standing upon a slanting bastion. at the bottom (elev. , ft.) of the great dome of granite we had travelled upon we crossed a stream flowing south-west, the water of which was quite warm. the high temperature was due, i think, to the heat absorbed by the rock exposed to the sun and communicated to the water flowing over it, rather than to a thermal origin. continuing our journey, we had to the south a great hollow basin in the south-western end of the range, with two hillocks between the range itself and the flat boundary plateau to the south. the highest point of the hill on which we travelled was , ft. above the sea level. every metre we travelled westward became more strangely interesting. we were now upon a conglomerate of bespattered lava-drops encased in a coating of solidified ashes. when we reached the stream we had to go through a dark tunnel of dense vegetation, great ferns, giant palms, creepers with their abundant foliage, and tall trees festooned with liane. having crossed this dark vegetable passage, we emerged once more into lovely open campos. great lumpy globular woolly clouds faced us in the sky to the west. horizontal intermittent white layers were close to the horizon to the east, then three parallel lines of feathery mist to the north-west. in quantity of clouds the sky that day would meteorologically be described as c --which means that four-tenths of the sky vault was covered. one could not help being struck in central brazil by the almost absolute immobility of the clouds. one seldom experienced a strong wind; contrary to what must have taken place there in ages gone by, when that country must have been the very home of terrific air-currents and disturbances on a scale beyond all conception. it was only occasionally that a light breeze--merely in gusts of a few seconds--would refresh one's ears and eyes as one marched on. what was more remarkable still was the sudden change of direction of those spasmodic gusts of wind when they did come. from a river (elev. , ft.) we proceeded over undulations to , ft. there we were treated to an extensive and beautiful view to the west, south-west and north-west. the elevated sky-line formed by the plateau and mountains was quite straight, barring three much eroded mountains standing quite isolated and at a great distance from one another. one of these solitary elevations was to the south-west, another--the castle-like mountain of great height we had already observed--stood due west. then came the long flat line of the plateau but for a gentle convexity at each end. the plateau, dressed in thick forest, stood in the middle distance to the west-south-west. campos of great beauty were prominent on its slopes and in the two hollows in the immediate vicinity. as we wound our way forward we found masses of ferruginous black rock, black débris, and beautiful crystals. the silence of that wonderful landscape was impressive. the tinkling of my mules' neck-bells was the only cheering sound breaking that monotonous solitude--except perhaps the occasional harsh voices of my men urging on the animals with some unrepeatable oath or other. filippe, the negro--to be distinguished from the other filippi in my employ, a mulatto--was mounted on one of my best mules. he carried a regular armoury on his back and round his waist, for not only did he carry his own rifle but also mine, besides a pistol and two large knives. he rode along, slashing with a long whip now at one mule then at another. occasionally he treated us to some of his improvised melodies--not at all bad and quite harmonious, although one got rather tired of the incessant repetitions. filippe was a pure negro, born in brazil from ex-slaves. he had never been in africa. his songs interested me, for although much influenced naturally by modern brazilian and foreign airs he had heard at araguary, still, when he forgot himself and his surroundings, he would relapse unconsciously into the ululations and plaintive notes and rhythm typical of his ancestral land in central africa--that of the banda tribe, which i happened to have visited some years before. i identified him easily by his features, as well as by his music and other characteristics. filippe did not remember his father and mother, nor had he known any other relatives. he had no idea to what tribe he had belonged, he did not know any african language, and he had never to his remembrance knowingly heard african music. it was remarkable under those circumstances that the central african characteristics should recur unconsciously in filippe's music. it showed me that one is born with or without certain racial musical proclivities, dictated by the heart and brain. they cannot be eradicated for many generations, no matter what the place of birth may be or the different surroundings in which the individual may find himself, or the influences which may affect him even early in life. brazil was certainly a great country for tablelands. as we came out again into the open, another great plateau, ending with a spur not unlike the ram of a battleship, loomed in the foreground to the south. yet another plateau of a beautiful pure cobalt, also with another gigantic ram, appeared behind the first, in continuation of the two separated plateaux we have already examined. it was separated from these by a deep cut--a regular cañon--several miles wide, and with sides so sharply defined that it looked like the artificial work of an immense canal. great campos lay before us in the near foreground, from our high point of vantage (elev. , ft.). we were still travelling on a surface of volcanic débris, yellow ashes and sand--forming a mere cap over all those hills, the foundation of which was simply a succession of giant domes of lava. north-west we still had the almost flat sky-line of a plateau rising slightly in two well-defined steps or terraces to a greater height in its northern part. what most attracted me that day was the delightful view of the barreiros valley spreading before us--a view of truly extraordinary grandeur. we rapidly descended, leaving to our left the indian colony of aracy. great granitic and lava slabs, much striated, were seen on our way down to the river (elev. , ft.). the stream was metres wide, and flowed south where we crossed it. there was a handsome white sand beach on the left bank of the river. on the western, or right bank, stood great volcanic cliffs of boiled and broiled rock, interesting for the violent contortions they had undergone during the processes of ebullition, which showed plainly in their present solidified form. the river bed itself was one of the usual lava-flows with huge globular lumps and knots--but all in a solid, uninterrupted mass. we waded chest-deep across the stream, conveyed our baggage and mules to the opposite side, and then we all enjoyed a lovely bath with plenty of lathering soap in the deliciously refreshing waters of the rio barreiros. the river barreiros, which had its birth in the serra furnas corros, to the south-west, entered the rio das garças--there metres wide--a short distance from where we crossed it. the latter river, by far the larger of the two and of a very circuitous course, flowed in a south-easterly direction into the araguaya. the rio das garças, which also had its origin in the furnas corros mountains, had almost a parallel course with the upper barreiros from south-west to north-east, but on meeting the barreiros suddenly swung round at a sharp angle towards the south-east, which direction it more or less followed until it entered the araguaya. we made our camp on the right bank of the barreiros river. my men were in a great state of mind when i told them that perhaps on this river we might find some indians. the cautious way in which they remained as quiet as lambs in camp amused me. i noticed the care with which they cleaned their rifles and replenished their magazines with cartridges. i assured them that there was no danger--in fact, that quite close to this place we should find one of the salesian colonies. chapter xiv the bororo indians while i was reassuring my men an indian appeared, bow and arrows in hand. he stood motionless, looking at us. my men, who had not noticed his coming, were terrified when they turned round and saw him. the indian was a strikingly picturesque figure, with straight, sinewy arms and legs of wonderfully perfect anatomical modelling, well-shaped feet--but not small--and hands. he was not burdened with clothing; in fact, he wore nothing at all, barring a small belt round his waist and a fibre amulet on each arm. the indian deposited his bow and arrows against a tree when some other indians arrived. he stood there as straight and as still as a bronze statue, his head slightly inclined forward in order to screen his searching eagle eyes from the light by the shade of his protruding brow. he folded his arms in a peculiar manner. his left hand was inserted flat under the right arm, the right hand fully spread flat upon his abdomen. the first thing i did was to take a snapshot of him before he moved. then i proceeded to the interesting study of his features. they were indeed a great revelation to me. one single glance at him and his comrades persuaded me that a theory i had long cherished about the aboriginal population of the south american continent was correct, although in contradiction to theories held by other people on the subject. i had always believed--for reasons which i shall fully explain later--that south america must be peopled by tribes of an australoid or papuan type--people who had got there directly from the west or south-west, not by people who had gradually drifted there from the north. some scientists--with no experience of travel--have been greatly misled by the fact that the north american indians are decidedly a mongolian race. therefore they assumed--basing their assumption on incorrect data--that the unknown indians of south america must also be mongolian. this was a mistake, although undoubtedly migrations on a comparatively small scale of indians from north to south america must have taken place, chiefly along the western american coast. those tribes, however, unaccustomed to high mountains, never crossed the andes. whatever types of indians with mongolian characteristics were found settled in south america were to be found to the west of the andes and not to the east. this does not of course mean that in recent years, when roads and railways and steamships have been established, and communication made comparatively easy, individuals or families may not have been conveyed from one coast to the other of the south american continent. but i wish my reader to keep in mind for a moment a clear distinction between the indians of the western coast and the indians of the interior. [illustration: a fine bororo type on a visit to author's camp.] to return to our man: i was greatly impressed by the strongly australoid or papuan nose he possessed--in other words, broad, with the lower part forming a flattened, depressed, somewhat enlarged hook with heavy nostrils. in profile his face was markedly convex, not concave as in mongolian faces. then the glabella or central boss in the supra-orbital region, the nose, the chin, were prominent, the latter broad and well-rounded. the cheek-bones with him and other types of his tribe were prominent forwards, but not unduly broad laterally, so that the face in front view was, roughly speaking, of a long oval, but inclined to be more angular--almost shield-shaped. the lips were medium-sized and firmly closed, such as in more civilized people would denote great determination. his ears were covered up by long jet-black hair, perfectly straight and somewhat coarse in texture, healthy-looking and uniformly scattered upon the scalp. the hair was cut straight horizontally high upon the forehead, which thus showed a considerable slant backward from the brow to the base of the hair. a small pigtail hung behind the head. the hair at the sides was left to grow down so as fully to cover the lobes of the ears, where again it was cut horizontally at the sides and back of the head. the top of the head was of great height, quite unlike a mongolian cranium. the eyes--close to the nose, and of a shiny dark brown--had their long axis nearly in one horizontal plane. they were set rather far back, were well cut, with thick upper eyelids, and placed somewhat high up against the brow ridges so as to leave little room for exposure of the upper lid when open. none of the other indians, who had gradually assembled, wore a particle of clothing, barring a tight conical collar of orange-coloured fibre encircling their genital organs--so tight that it almost cut into the skin. without this solitary article of clothing no indian man will allow himself to be seen by another, less still by a stranger. but with so modest an attire he feels as well-dressed as anybody. i think that this elegant article of fashion must have originated as a sanitary precaution, in order to prevent insects of all kinds, and particularly _carrapatos_, penetrating within--or else i was really at a loss to understand of what other use it could be. they themselves would not say, and only replied that all bororo indian men wore it. the indians who had assembled all belonged to the bororo tribe. on that, as well as on later occasions, i noticed two distinct types among the bororos: one purely papuan or polynesian; the other strongly malay. the characteristics of those two different types showed themselves markedly in every instance. the majority were perhaps of the malay type. i was intensely interested at the astounding resemblance of these people to the piratical tribes of the sulu archipelago in the celebes sea, where, too, one met a considerable amount of mixture of those two types as well as specimens of pure types of the two races. among the bororos many were the individuals--of the malay type--who had the typical malay eye _à fleur de tête_, prominent, almond-shaped, and slightly slanting at the outer angle. the nose--unlike that of papuan types--was flattened in its upper region between the eyes, and somewhat button-like and turned up at the lower part--just the reverse of the papuan types, who had prominent aquiline noses with a high bridge and globular point turned down instead of up. the lips were in no case unduly prominent, nor thick. they were almost invariably kept tightly closed. the form of the palate was highly curious from an anthropological point of view. it was almost rectangular, the angles of the front part being slightly wider than a right angle. the front teeth were of great beauty, and were not set, as in most jaws, on a more or less marked curve, but were almost on a straight line--the incisors being almost absolutely vertical and meeting the side teeth at an angle of about °. the upper teeth overlapped the lower ones. the chin was well developed--square and flattened in the papuan types, but receding, flat and small in the malay types. both types were absolutely hairless on the face and body, which was partly natural and partly due to the tribal custom of pulling out carefully, one by one, each hair they possessed on the upper lip and upon the body--a most painful process. the women--as we shall see--in sign of deep mourning, also plucked out each hair of the scalp. a striking characteristic of the head--in papuan types--was the great breadth of the maximum transverse of the head, and the undue prominence of the supra-orbital ridges. also, the great height of the forehead and its great width in its upper part were typical of the race. the maximum antero-posterior diameter of the skull was equal, in many cases, to the vertical length of the head, taken from the angle of the jaw to the apex of the skull. the ears nearly invariably showed mean, under-developed lobes, but, strangely enough, were otherwise well shaped, with gracefully defined and chiselled curves. they were not unduly large, with a wonderfully well-formed concha, which fact explained why the acoustic properties of their oral organs were perfect. they made full use of this in long-distance signalling by means of acute whistles, of which the bororos had a regular code. the favourite form of earring adopted by the bororos was a brass ring with a metal or shell crescent, not unlike the turkish moon, but i do not think that this ornament was of bororo origin. very likely it was suggested by the cheap jewellery imported into brazil by turkish and syrian traders. they displayed powerful chests, with ribs well covered with flesh and muscle. with their dark yellow skins they were not unlike beautiful bronze torsi. the abdominal region was never unduly enlarged, perhaps owing to the fact that their digestion was good, and also because they took a considerable amount of daily exercise. in standing they kept their shoulders well back, the abdominal region being slightly in front of the chest. the head was usually slightly inclined downwards. the feet of the bororos of the malay type were generally stumpy, but this was not so with the higher papuan types, who, on the contrary, had abnormally long toes and elongated feet, rather flattened. the bororos used their toes almost as much as their fingers, and showed great dexterity in picking up things, or in spinning twine, when their toes did quite as much work as their fingers. the colour of the iris of the bororo eye was brown, with considerable discoloration around its outer periphery, and especially in the upper part, where it was covered by the lid. the eyes were generally kept half closed. the anatomical detail of the body was perfectly balanced. the arms were powerful, but with fine, well-formed wrists--exquisitely chiselled, as were all the attachments of their limbs. they had quite graceful hands, long-fingered--in more ways than one--and wonderfully well-shaped, elongated, convex-faced nails, which would arouse the envy of many a lady of western countries. the webbing between the fingers was infinitesimal, as with most malay races. great refinement of race was also to be noticed in the shape of their legs--marvellously modelled, without an ounce of extra flesh, and with small ankles. the bororos divided themselves into two separate families--the bororo cerados and the bororo tugaregghi. the first descended from baccoron; the second claimed descent from ittibori. baccoron lived where the sun set, in the west; ittibari dwelt in the east. i heard a strange legend in connection with their origin, in which they seemed proud of their descent from the jaguar--which to them represented the type of virility. a male jaguar, they said, had married a bororo woman. a sensible custom existed among the bororos, as among the tuaregs of the sahara desert in africa. the children took the name of the mother and not of the father. the bororos, like the tuaregs, rightly claimed that there could be no mistake as to who the mother of a child was, but that certainty did not always apply to the father. this was decidedly a sensible law among the bororos, who were most inconstant in their affections. they were seldom faithful to their wives--at least, for any length of time. the bororos were not prolific. they frequently indulged in criminal practices in order to dispose of their young--either by strangulation at birth or soon after, or by drugging their women before the birth of the child. the young, when allowed to live, took milk from their mothers until the ages of five or six years. the parents were extremely kind to their children; indeed, they were extraordinarily good-natured and considerate. eight days after birth they perforated the lower lip of male children and inserted a pendant, taking that opportunity to give a name to the child. the lobes of the ears were only perforated at the age of ten or twelve. it was only at the age of about twenty that men were allowed to marry. i found among the bororos an interesting custom which i had seen but once before--in central asia, on the slopes of the himalaya mountains, among the shoka tribesmen. i am referring to the "clubs"--called by the bororos _wai manna ghetgiao_. there the young men and girls went not only with the object of selecting a wife or husband, but also to get thoroughly acquainted and see if the mate selected were suitable or not. the men sat on one side of the club-house--a mere hut--the women on the other. in a way, these clubs prevented hasty marriages, for the men were given plenty of time to study their prospective brides and the girls their future husbands. curiously enough, in the bororo country it was generally the woman who proposed to the man. when the official engagement was made the man proceeded to the hut of his sweetheart and brought a gift of food for her and her mother. if the gifts were accepted there was no other formality to be gone through, and the matrimonial ceremony was indeed of the simplest kind. the man took away the girl to his hut and they were man and wife. the _cuisine_ of the bororos was not attractive to european palate, ears or eyes. one of the favourite dishes of the bororos, served on grand occasions, was the _mingao_, or indian corn chewed up into a paste inside their mouths by women and then displayed before the guests in earthen pots filled with fresh water, in which it was then cooked. the bororos maintained that the sun, _cervado_, and the moon, _ittary_, were two brothers, both being males. they believed in a superior being--the essence of goodness and kindness--a being who will never give pain or hurt anybody; therefore the bororo, who was really at heart a great philosopher, never offered prayers to that superior being. why pray and worry one who will never injure us? they argued. then they believed in a wicked and revengeful devil, the _boppé_, to whom constant attention was paid because by him was caused all the trouble that humans can have. malady, accidents, disaster in love, in hunting or fishing expeditions--for all these the devil _boppé_ was responsible. then they had also another evil spirit--the _aroe taurari_--who, they said, often assumed the appearance of their ancestors in order to come and watch the games of the bororos, such as wrestling and archery. wrestling--in the catch-as-catch-can style--was one of their favourite games. they were very agile at it. their favourite trick was to seize each other across the shoulders, each endeavouring to trip his opponent by a twisted leg round his knee. children in the _aldejas_ were playing at this game all the time. in the bororo wrestling-matches it was sufficient to be thrown down to be the loser, and it was not essential to touch the ground with both shoulder-blades. the only other game i saw among the bororos was the test of strength. it was carried out with a most striking article--a great wheel made of sections, each one foot long, of the trunk of the _burity_ palm tied together by double strings of fibre. the ribbon thus formed by them was rolled so as to make a solid wheel of heavy wood ft. in diameter. the whole was retained in a circular form by a strong belt of vegetable fibre. this great wheel was used by the bororos in their sports, at festivals, for testing the strength of the most powerful men. it was so heavy that few men could lift it at all, the great test being actually to place it on one's head and keep it there for a length of time. [illustration: bororo men, showing lip ornament.] [illustration: bororo men.] the indians of south america, like the indians of north america, revelled in decorating themselves with the feathers of brightly-coloured birds. the red, yellow and blue giant macaws, fairly common in that region, paid dearly for this fashion of the indians. many of those poor birds were kept in captivity and plucked yearly of all their feathers in order to make hair ornaments of beautiful blue and green plumage for the leading musician, who rattled the _bacco_ (a gourd full of pebbles which can make a terrible noise), or else armlets, earrings or necklaces. some of the designs woven with the tiniest feathers of those birds were quite clever, and required delicate handling in their manufacture. ducks, too, supplied many of the feathers for the ornaments of the bororos. their cooking utensils were simple enough--merely a few large earthen bowls, badly baked and unglazed, the largest of which was seldom more than ft. in diameter. they broke easily, being made extremely thin. the bororos made basket-work by plaiting dried palm-leaves, but their most interesting work of all consisted in the really beautifully made fishing nets. nearly all the indians of south america showed remarkable talent and patience at this work. the strings were twisted of a vegetable fibre, extremely resisting, and eminently suitable by its softness and regularity of diameter. whether owing to excitement, indigestion or other causes, the bororos had visions, which they attributed to the _aroe taurari_. in a certain way they were believers in the transmigration of the soul--not generally, but in specific cases. there were certain bororos who, by magic songs, professed to fascinate animals in the forest and were able to catch them. the _barih_ or medicine-man generally, assisted in those incantations. the bororos were remarkable walkers. they were extremely light on their feet and had a springy gait, most graceful to watch. a striking characteristic of these people was that, when standing--unlike nearly every other tribe of savages i have seen--they spread their toes outward instead of keeping both feet parallel. to a lesser extent the feet were held in that position also when walking. the suppleness of their bodies gave them a great advantage in penetrating with ease anywhere in the forest without having to cut their way through. both men and women were passionately fond of dancing, although their dancing had not reached any degree of perfection. with a strip of _burity_ palm upon their shoulders they hopped around, monotonously chanting, with a rhythmic occasional jump, the women following the men. the women possessed considerable endurance. they could carry heavy weights for long distances by means of a fibre headband resting on the forehead. under those circumstances the body was kept slightly inclined forward. children were also carried in a similar fashion in a sling, only--less practically than among many asiatic and african tribes--the bororo children were left to dangle their legs, thereby increasing the difficulty of carrying them, instead of sitting with legs astride across the mother's haunches. i was amazed to see until what age bororo mothers and sisters would carry the young upon their shoulders--certainly children of five or six years of age were being carried about in this fashion, while such hard duties as pounding indian corn, thrashing beans, and hut-building, were attended to. neither in women nor in men was the power of resistance in any way to be compared with that of the tribes of central africa or asia. the indian tribes of brazil impressed one as being strong, because one compared them with their neighbours and masters, the brazilians, who were physically one of the weakest, least-resisting races i have ever seen. when you compared them with some of the healthy savage races elsewhere, the indians did not approach them in endurance and quickness of intellect. do not forget that endurance is greatly due to brain power and self-control. the indian races i saw in brazil seemed to me almost exhausted physically, owing perhaps to constant intermarriage among themselves. the eyesight of the bororos, for instance, was extremely bad. there were many in every _aldeja_ who were almost or absolutely blind. the others were nearly all short-sighted. the bororos removed--pulled out, in fact--their eyelashes one by one, as they believed it improved their sight, especially for seeing at long distances. they all suffered more or less from complaints of the eyes. indeed, i have seldom found races whose members had eyes in such poor condition. conjunctivitis was the most prevalent form of eye disease. ophthalmia was frequently met with. they seemed to have no efficacious method of curing those complaints, and the result was that one found an appalling number of blind or half-blind persons among them--quite out of proportion to the small population. the bororos did not, of course, know of spectacles or any other way of protecting the eyes. even when their eyes were in a normal condition, they nearly all had some defect of vision. squinting was frequently to be noticed among them, and nearly invariably unevenness of the eyes. cataract was common at a comparatively early age, and they knew no remedy for it. an abnormally marked discoloration of the upper part of the iris was constantly to be noticed even in young people. among the healthiest i never saw one man or woman with extraordinary powers of vision such as are most common among savage tribes of asia and africa. the diseased condition of their blood was also perhaps to a certain extent responsible for this. their hearing was good, but not much more acute than with the average european--and infinitely inferior to that of the natives of asia and africa. they suffered considerably from the most terrible of blood complaints, general among them, also from leprosy and various skin troubles. the bororos made considerable use of the _urucu_ plant (_bixa orellana_ l.) which they called _nonoku_, from the fruit of which they obtained a brilliant red colouring matter for tinting their bows and arrows. the shell of the fruit contained a number of shiny seeds, which, when squashed, exuded a vivid red juice. it adhered easily to the skin of the forehead and cheeks, for which purpose the indians also extensively used it. the black paint which the indians used for smearing themselves across the forehead, cheeks, and upon the shoulders, from side to side, was made to stick to the skin and shine by mixing it with a resin. the bororos of the rio barreiros district carried five arrows each with them, but each family of bororos used a special colour and also a different number of arrows, so that no particular rule could be laid down for the entire tribe. the red-tinted arm-band which most men wore was called the _aguasso_. before starting on a hunting expedition of importance the bororos usually indulged in a feast. i took a great number of thumb-marks among them, some of which were remarkable for the precision of the spiral lines from the central point, all over the thumb point. others in the longer thumbs showed a peculiar deviation in the curve at the end, near the point of the thumb. where the lines began to deviate, the triangle formed was filled in by other lines joining those of the spiral at sharp angles. the experiments with the dynamometer in order to measure their strength, the anthropometric measurements with a calliper, and the printing of the thumb-marks, caused the bororos first of all great anxiety, then boisterous amusement. they looked upon it all as utter nonsense--in a way i did not blame them--and repeatedly asked why i did it. i told them that i did it to find out where they came from. "we are not monkeys," said they; "we do not walk on our hands. if that is your object you should look at our foot-marks on the ground, not at the marks of our hands!" with these words, from a tracker's point of view, the local wit set the entire company in shrieks of laughter at his quick repartee. "oh, yes!" said i; "but with the thumb-marks i may perhaps trace, not only where you come from, but also where your great-grandfather, who is now dead, came from." that was too much for them. all had been anxious to make a smudge with smoke-black upon my note-book. now they all refused to do any more thumb-marking, and walked away; but i had fortunately already finished the work i needed from them. the bororos--in fact, most indian tribes of central brazil--knew nothing whatever of navigation. this was chiefly due to the fact that all the woods of central brazil had so high a specific gravity that not one of them would float. hence the impossibility of making rafts, and the greatly increased difficulty in making boats. as for making dug-outs, the indians had neither the patience nor the skill nor the tools to cut them out of solid trees. moreover, there was really no reason why the indians should take up navigation at all when they could do very well without it. they could easily get across the smaller streams without boats, and they were too timid to go and attack inimical tribes on the opposite banks of unfordable rivers. besides, the indians were so few and the territory at their entire disposal so great, that there was no temptation for them to take up exploring, particularly by water. they were all good swimmers. when the river was too deep to ford they merely swam across; or else, if the river were too broad and swift, they improvised a kind of temporary raft with fascines or bundles of dried _burity_ leaves, to which they clung, and which they propelled with their feet. these fascines were quite sufficient to keep them afloat for a short time, enabling them also to convey a certain amount of goods across the water. in other countries, such as in central africa among the shilucks and the nuers of the sobat river (sudan), and the natives on lake tchad, i have seen a similar method adopted in a far more perfected fashion. the shilucks, for instance, cleverly built big boats of fascines--large enough to carry a great number of warriors. such was not the case with the bundles of _burity_ of the indians--which merely served for one or at the most two people at a time, and then only until the bundle became soaked, when it went to the bottom. chapter xv bororo superstitions--the bororo language--bororo music [illustration: bororo indians.] the bororos were superstitious to a degree. they believed in evil spirits. some of these, they said, inhabited the earth; others were invisible and lived "all over the air," to use their expression. the aerial ones were not so bad as those on earth. it was to the latter that their invocations were made--not directly, but through a special individual called the _barih_, a kind of medicine man, who, shouting at the top of his voice while gazing skyward, offered gifts of food, meat, fish and grain to the _boppé_ or spirits invoked. there were two kinds of _barih_: a superior one with abnormal powers, and an inferior one. the _barih_ eventually pretended that the spirit had entered his body. he then began to devour the food himself, in order to appease the hunger of his internal guest and become on friendly terms with him. the wife of the _barih_, who on those occasions stood by his side, was generally asked to partake of the meal, but only after the _barih_ had half chewed the various viands, when he gracefully took them with his fingers from his own mouth and placed them between the expectant lips of his better half. she sometimes accepted them--sometimes not. all according to her appetite, i suppose, and perhaps to the temporary terms on which she was that day with her husband. the bororos, curiously enough, spoke constantly of the hippopotamus--_ajie_, as they called it--and even imitated to perfection the sounds made by that amphibious animal. this was indeed strange, because the hippopotamus did not exist in south america, nor has it ever been known to exist there. the women of the bororos were in perfect terror of the _ajie_, which was supposed to appear sometimes breaking through the earth. personally, i believed that the _ajie_ was a clever ruse of the bororo men, in order to keep their women at home when they went on hunting expeditions. boys were trained to whirl round from the end of a long pole a rectangular, flat piece of wood attached to a long fibre or a string. its violent rotation round the pole, with the revolutions of the tablet around itself at different speeds, reproduced to perfection the sounds of blowing and snorting of the hippopotamus. the whizzing of this device could be heard at astonishing distances. the credulous women were rendered absolutely miserable when they heard the unwelcome sounds of the _ajie_, and, truly believing in its approach, retired quickly to their huts, where, shivering with fright, they cried and implored to have their lives spared. the boy who whirled the magic tablet was, of course, bound to keep the secret of the _ajie_ from the women. let me tell you that one of the chief virtues of the bororo men, old and young, was the fidelity with which they could keep secrets. the youngest children were amazing at keeping secrets even from their own mothers. there were things that bororo women were not allowed to know. boys attended the tribal meetings of men, and had never been known to reveal the secrets there discussed either to their sisters or mothers. when i said it was a virtue, i should have added that that virtue was a mere development of an inborn racial instinct. young and old among the bororo were extremely timid and secretive by nature. they feared everybody--they were afraid of each other. it was sufficient to watch their eyes--ever roaming, ever quickly attracted and pointing sharply at anything moving anywhere around--to be satisfied of the intense suspiciousness of these people. the bororos were restless nomads and could never settle anywhere. they were always on the move--hunting, fishing, and formerly on warlike expeditions with other tribes. they showed great skill with their arrows, which they threw with wonderful accuracy even under conditions of unusual difficulty. when fishing, for instance, they showed remarkable calculating powers when the line of vision became deviated by the surface of the water and made it difficult to judge the exact position of the fish at different depths, quite removed from where the eye saw it. their long arrows had a double-barbed bone head, which was poisoned when fighting men. the bororos were not quarrelsome by nature; on the contrary, they were dignified and gentle. they always avoided fighting. it was only when driven to it, or when hunted down and attacked, that they naturally endeavoured to defend themselves. this has brought upon them the reputation of being barbarous and cruel savages. even among themselves they seldom quarrelled; they never offended one another with words. they had great respect for their elders. at night the men collected in the village. one of them spoke aloud to the crowd, delivering a regular lecture on the events of the day, their hunting or fishing adventures, or tribal affairs. the greatest attention was paid to the orator, and only after his speech was over a warm but orderly discussion followed. when a bororo man was angry with another he would not descend to vulgar language, but he generally armed himself with a bony spike of that deadly fish, the _raja_ (_rhinobates batis_) or _mehro_, as it was called in the bororo language, which he fastened to a wristlet. with it he proceeded in search of his enemy, and on finding him, inflicted a deep scratch upon his arm. this was considered by the bororos the greatest insult a man could offer. women, as in most other countries, quarrelled more than men. not unlike their western sisters, they always--under such circumstances--yelled at the top of their voices, and then resorted to the effective and universal scratching process with their long sharp nails. it will be judged from this that it will not quite do to put down the bororos as being as tame as lambs. indeed, it was sufficient to look at their faces to be at once struck by the cruel expression upon them. they prided themselves greatly on having killed members of rival tribes, and more still upon doing away with brazilians. in the latter case it was pardonable, because until quite recently the brazilians have slaughtered the poor indians of the near interior regions in a merciless way. now, on the contrary, the brazilian government goes perhaps too far the other way in its endeavour to protect the few indians who still remain within the republic. the more accessible tribes, such as the insignificant ones on the araguaya, were having a good time--valuable presents of clothes they did not want, phonographs, sewing machines, fashionable hats, patent leather shoes, automatic pistols and rifles being showered upon them by expensive expeditions specially sent out to them. it no doubt pleased an enthusiastic section of the brazilian public to see a photograph of cannibal indians before they met the expedition, without a stitch of clothing upon their backs--or fronts to be accurate--and by its side another photograph taken half an hour later and labelled "indians civilized and honoured citizens of the republic," in which you saw the same indians, five or six, all dressed up and, it may be added, looking perfectly miserable, in clothes of the latest fashion. it would have been interesting to have taken a third photograph an hour after the second picture had been taken, in order to show how soon civilization--if donning a pair of trousers and shoes and a collar and tie can be called being civilized--can be discarded. [illustration: bororo men. (the aprons are not actually worn.)] the news had spread by word of mouth down the araguaya many months ahead that a brazilian expedition would be sent out with gifts, in order to befriend the indians--supposed to be innumerable: only a few dozens, all counted, in reality. seeing no expedition arrive, the indians--five or six--proceeded to travel some hundreds of miles to go and find it. the expedition for lack of money had remained stuck in a certain town. it was in that town that the valuable photographs were taken. no sooner had they said good-bye to their generous donors than the indians left the city, quickly removed their clothes, which they exchanged for a few drinks of _aguardente_ (fire-water), and, as naked as before, returned to the shores of their beloved river. nevertheless the movement of the brazilian government was extremely praiseworthy and did it great credit. like all movements of that kind it was bound to go to excesses in the beginning, especially in brazil, where people were very generous when they were generous at all. so that so far the fault has been on the right side. it will undoubtedly prevent in the future much severe, even cruel treatment which has been bestowed on the indians. it was only a great pity--a very great pity--that this movement for the protection of the indians had been started when there were few pure indians--almost none--left to protect. according to brazilian statements, the wild indians of central brazil amounted to some fifteen or twenty millions or thereabouts! a few--very few--thousands, perhaps only hundreds, would be nearer the truth. there were no great tribes left in their absolutely wild state anywhere in brazil. there were a few small tribes or families scattered here and there, but it was seldom that these tribes numbered more than twenty or thirty members. if the tribe numbered fifty individuals it was already a large tribe. most of them contained merely six or eight members. so that really, in the population of brazil, these tribes, instead of being the chief factor, were in fact a negligible quantity. it would be rash to make a statement as to the exact number of wild indians in brazil, for in a country so big--larger, as i have already stated, than the united states of america, germany, portugal, and a few other states taken together--and most of which was little known or absolutely unknown--it was not easy to produce an exact census. during my journey, which crossed that immense country in a zigzag from one end to the other in its broader width, and covered all the most important regions of the republic, i became assured that few indeed were the pure indians to be found in central brazil. one went hundreds and hundreds of miles without meeting signs of them; and that in localities where they were supposed to be swarming. the bororos--a few dozens of them, all counted, in two or three different subdivisions--were perhaps the strongest wild tribe in all the immense state of matto grosso. as i have said, i was greatly impressed, from my first contact with the bororos, by the strongly polynesian appearance of some of them. the more specimens i saw of them the more i became convinced that they were of the same race. in fact, more: i began to speculate whether the people of australia and polynesia had migrated here or whether it was just the other way--which theory might also be plausibly upheld--viz. that the people of central south america had migrated to the west, into polynesia and australia. many theories have been expounded of how races always follow certain rules in their migrations, but in my own experience i do not invariably find that those theories are always correct. again, it does not do to rely too much on the resemblance of words in establishing a relationship between two or more races. nor, indeed, can one trust absolutely to the resemblance in the rudimentary ornamentation of articles of use. if you happen to be a student of languages, and have studied dozens of them, you will soon discover how far words will travel across entire continents. they can often be traced back to their origin by the knowledge of intermediate languages through which, with distortions, those words have passed. in central africa i actually heard words of mongolian origin, and not only that, but even traced mongolian characteristics in the type of the ruling classes of natives, as well as in the construction of their language. it is easy to be occasionally misled. i remember on my journey across africa how amazed i was at first at hearing some tonkinese expressions used by the native cannibals. i really could not get over my amazement until i learnt that some years previously a number of tonkinese convicts had been sent up the congo and ubanghi rivers by the french. several of them had lived in that particular village of cannibals for some years. hence the adoption of certain words which had remained in frequent use, whereas the tonkinese individuals had disappeared. i took special care in brazil, when making a vocabulary of the bororo and other indian languages, to select words which i ascertained were purely indian and had not been contaminated either by imported portuguese words or words from any other language. i was much struck by the extraordinary resemblance of many words in the language of the indians of central brazil to the malay language and to languages of malay origin which i had learnt in the philippine islands and the sulu archipelago. for instance: the sun, which is called in malay _mata-ari_, usually abbreviated into _'ari_, was in the bororo language _metiri_, and in the language of the apiacar indians of the arinos-juruena river, _ahra_, which indeed closely resembles the malay word. moreover, the word _ahri_ in the bororo language indicated the _moon_--a most remarkable coincidence. it became slightly distorted into _zahir_ in the apiacar language. water, which is _poba_ in bororo and _üha_ in apiacar, was curiously enough _ühaig_ in the bagobo language (mindanao island), _po-heh_ or _bo-heh_ in the bajao language (mindanao island), _ayer_ in malay, and _uhayeg_ in tiruray (west coast of mindanao island, philippine archipelago). father was _bapa_ in malay, and _pao_ in bororo. many were the words which bore a slight resemblance, as if they had been derived from the same root. _langan_, arm, in malay, was _ankan-na_ or _akkan-na_. ear, in the ilocano language (philippine archipelago) was _cabayag_; _aviyag_ in bororo. hair in ilocano, _b[)o][)o]k_, in manguianes _bohoc_, and in sulu (sulu archipelago) _buhuc_; in bororo it was _akkao_, which might easily be a corruption of the two former words. [illustration: bororo warriors.] [illustration: bororo warriors.] i was greatly interested, even surprised, to find that although those indians lived thousands of miles on every side from the sea, and had never seen it, yet they talked of the _pobbo mae re u_--the immense water; (_pobbo_, water; _mae_, great; _re_, the; _u_, an expression of magnification such as our _oh_). it was also interesting to note that they had specific words for water of streams--words which we do not possess in the english language, complete as our language is--such as down-stream, and up- or against-stream--like the french _en aval_ and _en amont_. the bororo used _tche begki_, down-stream, and _tcheo bugkii_, up-stream. the bororo language was rudimentary in a way, yet most complete--extremely laconic, with innumerable contractions. the construction of sentences and the position of the verb were not unlike those of latin languages. the chief wealth of the bororo language consisted in its nouns. like all savage languages, it was wonderfully rich in botanical and zoological terms. the gender was formed by a suffix, the masculine differing from the feminine. there were in the bororo language three genders, masculine, feminine and neuter. the masculine was formed by adding the words _chireu_, _curi_, or _curireu_, to the noun; the feminine by the suffixes _chireuda_ and _curireuda_. there were many words which were used unaltered for either gender. in the case of animals, the additional words _medo_, male, or _aredo_, female, clearly defined the sex in specific cases where the names would otherwise be ambiguous. inanimate objects had no sex, and were therefore neuter. most nouns had a plural as well as a singular, but there were exceptions to this rule, such as names of certain plants and animals, the sky, the wind, etc.; not to count things which were generally taken collectively, such as flies--_ruque_; macaw or macaws, _nabure_, etc. the plural was made by the suffixes _doghe_ or _maghe_--the _maghe_ being used principally in possessive cases, such as _tori-doghe_, stones; _padje-maghe_, our mothers. exceptions to this rule were the words ending in _bo_, _co_, _go_, or _mo_, to which the suffix _e_ was sufficient to form the plural; whereas in those terminating in _do_ or _no_, _ro_, or other consonants, the _o_ was suppressed and an _e_ placed in its stead. example: _jomo_, otter, _jomoe_, otters; _cuno_, parrot, _cune_, parrots; _apodo_, or tucan (a bird), _apode_, tucans, etc. there were a number of irregular exceptions, such as _aredo_, wife; _areme_, wives; _medo_, man, _ime_, men. perhaps the most curious of plurals was _ore_, sons, the singular of which was _anareghedo_ (son). the words ending in _go_ generally formed the plural with an interchangeable _ghe_. the pronouns were: _imi_ = i _aki_ = thou _ema_ = he or she _sheghi_ or _paghi_ = we _taghi_ = you _emaghi_ = they when immediately before a verb these were abbreviated into _i_ or _it_, _a_ or _ac_, _e_ or _ei_, _pa_ or _pag_, ta or _tag_, _e_ or _et_--i, thou, he or she, we, you, they, according to their preceding a vowel or a consonant. with words beginning with a consonant only the first syllable of the pronoun was used. the verb itself did not vary in the various persons, but it did vary in its tenses by suffixes, sometimes after the pronoun, sometimes after the verb. in the present tense the bororos generally used for the purpose the word _nure_, usually between the pronoun and the verb, with the pronoun occasionally repeated after the _nure_; but in general conversation, which was laconic, the pronoun was frequently suppressed altogether--similarly to the frequent omission of the pronoun in the english telegraphic language. there were various other forms of pronouns, but i could not quite define their absolute use--such as the _tched_ or _tcheghi_, which seemed to include everybody, corresponding to the english _we_ in orations which includes the entire audience, or the whole nation, or even the entire human race. the bororo language was complete enough, the conjugation of verbs being clearly defined into past, present, imperative and future. the past was formed by interpolating between the pronoun and verb the words _re gurai_, generally abbreviated into _re_. the imperative was made chiefly by the accentuation of the words, and was susceptible of inflexion in the second person singular and plural. the future was formed by adding, sometimes after the pronoun, sometimes after the verb, the words _modde_, _uo_, or _ua_. at the end of the second volume, in the appendix, will be found a vocabulary of useful words needed in daily conversation which i collected during my visit to the bororos. i had made a much more complete dictionary of their language, in a book which i kept for the purpose, but unfortunately the book was lost with a great many other things in an accident i had some months later on the arinos river. * * * * * it was not possible to say that the bororos shone in intelligence. it was seldom one found an individual who could count beyond two. everything in the bororo country was reckoned in couples--with the aid of fingers, thumbs, and toes. the learned could thus reach up to twenty, or ten pair--but beyond twenty no bororo dared venture in his calculations. they had no written language, no sculptures or paintings, no carved idols. their artistic talent seemed limited to occasionally incising rudimentary representations of horns, footprints, and line figures on rocks. they showed great skill in the manufacture of their arrows, which were indeed constructed on most scientific lines, and were turned out with wonderful workmanship. the arrows were from to ft. long, and were chiefly remarkable for the intelligent and highly scientific disposition of the two balancing parrot feathers, gently bent into a well-studied spiral curve, so as to produce a rotary movement, united with perfect balance, in the travelling weapon. the arrows were manufactured out of hard, beautifully polished black or white wood, and were provided with a point of bamboo one-third the length of the entire arrow. that bamboo point was tightly fastened to the rod by means of a careful and very precisely made contrivance of split cane fibre. [illustration: bororo children. (the horrors of photography.)] the bororos used various-shaped arrow-heads, some triangular, others flattened on one side with a raised rib on the opposite side, others triangular in section with hollowed longitudinal grooves in each face of the triangle in the pyramid, making the wound inflicted a deadly one. others, more uncommon, possessed a quadruple barbed point of bone. the favourite style of arrows, however, seldom had a point broader in diameter than the stick of the arrow. the music of the bororos--purely vocal--had three different rhythms: one not unlike a slow waltz, most plaintive and melancholy; the second was rather of a loud warlike character, vivacious, with ululations and modulations. the third and most common was a sad melody, not too quick nor too slow, with temporary accelerations to suit words of a more slippery character in their pronunciation, or when sung in a _pianissimo_ tone. the songs of the bororos could be divided into: hunting songs, war songs, love songs, and descriptive songs and recitatives. they were fond of music in itself, and possessed fairly musical ears. they were able to retain and repeat melodies quite foreign to them. their hearing was acute enough to discern, with a little practice, even small intervals, and they could fairly accurately hit a note which was sung to them. they had flexible voices, quite soft and musical, even in conversation. in males, as far as i was able to judge, baritone voices were the most prevalent; in female voices, soprano. their typical songs were chiefly performed in a chorus by men only, although once or twice i heard solos--which, nevertheless, always had a refrain for the chorus. the bororos sang in fair harmony more than in unison, keeping regular time, and with occasional bass notes and noises by way of accompaniment. they possessed no musical instruments of any importance--a most primitive flute, and one or several gourds filled with seeds or pebbles, being, as far as i could trace, the only two musical instruments among them. their songs contained progressions in chromatic intervals. those progressions were not only frequently repeated in the same melody, but some of the favourite ones recurred in several of their melodies. they frequently broke from one key into another, not gradually or with modulations, but very abruptly. there were constant and sudden changes in the _tempo_ of their melodies, accelerations being frequently caused by excitement in the performers, by incidents occurring, by anger or other passions being aroused. they had no set rules--nor, of course, any written music. the melodies were sung according to the temporary feelings of the performers, who occasionally adorned their performances with variations. practically they improvised, if led by a musical talent, as they went along. still, mind you, even when they improvised, the character of the songs was the same, although they may have added so many variations and embellishments to the theme as to make it impossible to identify them. furthermore, no two choruses ever sang the same songs alike, nor did the same chorus sing the same song twice alike. there were in their melodies great changes in the degree of loudness. those changes were generally gradual, although often extremely rapid. [illustration: bororo chief. rattling gourds filled with pebbles, in order to call members of his tribe.] the bororos seemed to be greatly carried away by music, which had upon them quite an intoxicating effect. there were certain high notes and chords in a minor key which had a great attraction for them, and which constantly recurred in their melodies and their lengthy ululations. some of the notes had undoubtedly been suggested by the song of local birds and by sounds of wild animals. the bororos were good imitators of sounds, which they could often reproduce to perfection. they were observant with their ears--much more so than with their eyes. even in conversation the bororos would often repeat, accurately enough, noises they heard around them, such as the crashing of falling trees, of rushing water, of distant thunder, or foreign words which caught their fancy. i was amazed at their excellent memory in that direction. there were no professional musicians in the bororo country in the strict sense of the word, the _barih_ being the only person who might, at a stretch, be put down as one. nor was anybody taught music. they were one and all musicians without knowing it--or at least thought they were--a belief not monopolized by the bororos only. they all sang. they learned to sing gradually by hearing and imitating their elders. i think that with the bororos the steps of their dances had been suggested by the rhythm of the music, and not the other way round. they preferred music to dancing, for which latter exercise they showed little aptitude. although their melodies would appear appallingly melancholy to european ears, it did not follow that they were so to them. on the contrary, some which had a most depressing effect on me--and i felt like throwing at them anything handy but heavy to interrupt the melody--seemed to send the performers into a state of absolute beatitude. they kept up those melodies interminably, repeating constantly the same short theme dozens of times--hundreds, in fact, if nothing happened to stop them. when once they had started on one of those songs it was difficult to switch them on to another. they loved to hear it again and again. the time of their music was "common" time, slightly modified according to the wording of the song. it generally altered into a triple time when the words were of a liquid kind in their pronunciation, and a dual time when sung low and slowly. when singing, especially during ululations, the bororos swung their bodies forward and backward--not unlike the howling dervishes of egypt--uttering occasional high and strident notes. this was generally done before starting _en masse_ on a hunt, when a feast also took place. the women never joined in the songs, but the boys did. even if their voices were not powerful enough to produce lengthy ululations, they spiritedly took part in the violent undulations of the body. the bororos were great lovers of minute detail. so it was that, in their music, strange, weird effects were attempted, wonderfully complicated in detail. bororo singing occasionally took the form of a recitative, with the chorus joining in the refrain--this principally when chanting the merits of a deceased person, or during some calamity in the _aldeja_, or village. [illustration: bororo child showing strong malay characteristics.] the only musical instruments i was able to find in the various settlements of bororos i visited consisted chiefly of single, double, or treble gourds, the latter with perforations at the two ends, used as wind instruments and producing deep bass notes. the single gourd had a cane attachment intended to emit shrill high notes. then there were other dried gourds filled with pebbles which rattled as they were shaken at the end of a long handle to which the gourds were fastened. the cane flutes were slightly more elaborate, with ornaments of rings of black feathers. there was only one rectangular slit in the centre of the flute, so that only one note could be produced--as was the case with most of their rudimentary musical instruments. chapter xvi bororo legends--the religion of the bororos--funeral rites the bororos believed in spirits of the mountains and the forest, which haunted special places in order to do harm to living beings. those spirits came out at night. they stole, ill-treated, and killed. in rocks, said the bororos, dwelt their ancestors in the shape of parrots. the bororos were greatly affected by dreams and nightmares, which they regarded as events that had actually happened and which generally brought bad luck. they were often the communications of evil spirits, or of the souls of ancestors. the bororos had many superstitions regarding animals, which they individualized in their legends, giving them human intelligence--especially the _colibri_ (humming-bird), the macaw, the monkey, the deer, and the leopard. the stars, according to these savages, were all bororo boys. let me give you a strange legend concerning them. "the women of the _aldeia_ had gone to pick indian corn. the men were out hunting. only the old women had remained in the _aldeia_ with the children. with an old woman was her nephew, playing with a bow and arrow. the arrows had perforated sticks, which the boy filled with indian corn. when the boy had arrived home he had asked his grandmother to make a kind of _polenta_ with indian corn. he had invited all the other boys of the _aldeia_ to come and eat. while grandmother was cooking the children played, and among them decided to go to heaven. in the _aldeia_ there lived an old woman and a red macaw. both could speak. the boys, having eaten the _polenta_, cut off the woman's arms, cut out her tongue and eyes, and tore out the tongue of the speaking bird. having done this, they went into the forest, where they found a liana twisted into innumerable steps (in the bororo language, _ippare_, young; _kugure_, multitude; _groiya_, step). they could not speak for fear of drawing attention, nor ask any one for help. they had taken the precaution of setting free all the captive birds in the _aldeia_, and they had flown away, except the _pio duddu_ (the _colibri_), which they took with them into the forest. the boys gave a long liana, like a rope, to the _colibri_, requesting him to fasten it to the top of the highest tree, and another long liana which he must tie to the sky where they all wished to ascend. the _colibri_ tied the vegetable ropes as requested, and all the boys climbed up. "the mothers, missing their children, went to the old woman and the speaking macaw. "'where are our children?' said they in a chorus. "no answer. they were horrified when they perceived the mutilated woman and bird. they rushed out of the hut and saw the children--up--up--high, like tiny spots, climbing up the liana to heaven. the women went to the forest, to the spot where the boys had proceeded on their aerial trip, and showing the breasts that had milked them, entreated them to come down again. the appeal was in vain. the mothers, in despair, then proceeded to follow their children skyward up the liana. "the youthful chieftain of the plot had gone up last. when he perceived the mothers gaining on them, he cut the liana. with a sonorous bump, the mothers dropped in a heap to the ground. that was why the bororo women were resigned to see their sons in heaven, forming the stars, while they--the women themselves--remained the transmigrated souls of their mothers upon earth." the bororos also said that the stars were the houses of deceased children. the bororos believed that the sky vault, or heaven, formed part of the earth, and was inhabited. they proved this by saying that the vulture could be seen flying higher and higher until it disappeared. it went to perch and rest upon trees in heaven. the milky way in the sky--the _kuyedje è 'redduddo_ (literally translated "stars they cinders")--consisted for them merely of the flying cinders from the burning stars. the sun, they stated, was made up entirely of dead _barih_, or medicine-men, who rose daily with red-hot irons before their faces. the _barihs_ prowled about the earth at night, and went to the east in the morning on their return to the sun. the hot irons held by the _barihs_ were merely held in order to warm the people on earth. at sunset the orb of day "came down to the water" beyond the horizon, and from there marched back to the east. the bororos maintained that the heavy and regular footsteps of the sun walking across the earth at night could be heard plainly. [illustration: bororo girls.] [illustration: bororo girls (side view).] the moon, which was masculine to the bororos, was the brother of the sun, and was similarly the home of _barihs_ of minor importance. the legends of the bororos were generally long and somewhat confused. they were the outcome of extremely imaginative and extraordinarily retentive minds. their imagination frequently ran away with them, so that it was not always easy to transcribe the legends so as to render them intelligible to the average reader, unaccustomed to the peculiar way of thinking and reasoning of savages. yet there was generally a certain amount of humorous _vraisemblance_ in their most impossible stories. their morals, it should be remembered, were not quite the same as ours. there were frequently interminable descriptive details which one could on no account reproduce in print, and without them much of the point of the legends would be lost. so that, with the confusion and disorder of ideas of the bororos, their peculiar ways of expression, and the mutilation necessary so as not to shock the public, the legends were hardly worth reproducing. still, i shall give here one or two of the more interesting legends, which can be reproduced almost in their entirety. "the sun and moon (two brothers, according to the bororos) while hunting together began to play with arrows with blunt heads, such as those used by bororos for catching birds alive. they hit each other in fun, but at last the sun shot one arrow with too much force and the moon died from the effects of the wound. the sun, unconcerned, left his dying brother and continued hunting; but afterwards returned with medicinal leaves which he placed on the wound of the moon. according to bororo fashion, he even covered the dying brother entirely with leaves, when he saw his approaching end. when he discovered that the moon was dead he became frightened and left. that is why the moon, which when alive was once as bright as the sun, is now of less splendour. it is because it is dead, and the sun is still alive." the bororos firmly believed that formerly the world was peopled by monkeys. this was rather an interesting legend, as it would point out that the bororos, in any case, were aware that the world was once inhabited by a hairy race, which they called monkeys. it is quite remarkable that a similar legend was found among many of the tribes of the philippine islands and sulu archipelago, and along the coast of the eastern asiatic continent. the bororos stated that they learnt from monkeys how to make a fire. monkeys were their ancestors. the whole world was peopled by monkeys in those days. monkeys made canoes, too. "one day a monkey and a hare went fishing together in a canoe in which they had taken a good supply of indian corn. while the monkey was paddling the hare was eating up all the corn. when the corn had been entirely disposed of, in its irresistible desire to use its incisors, the hare began to gnaw the sides of the canoe. the monkey reprimanded the hare, and warned it that the canoe would sink, and as the hare was not a good swimmer it would probably get drowned, or be eaten by fish which swarmed in the stream. the hare would not listen to the advice, and continued in its work of destruction. a hole was bored in the side of the canoe, which promptly sank. the hare being a slow swimmer--according to bororo notions--was immediately surrounded by swarms of _doviado_ (gold fish) and speedily devoured. the monkey--an excellent swimmer--not only was able to save its life, but, seizing a big fish, dragged it on shore. "a jaguar came along and, licking its paws, asked whether the monkey had killed the fish for its (the jaguar's) dinner. "'yes,' said the monkey. "'where is the fire for cooking it?' replied the jaguar. "the sun was just setting. the monkey suggested that the jaguar should go and collect some dried wood in order to make the fire. the sun was peeping through the branches and foliage of the forest. the jaguar went, and returned with nothing; but in the meantime the monkey, with two pieces of soft wood, had lighted a fire and eaten the fish, leaving a heap of bones. when the jaguar arrived the monkey leapt in a few jumps to the top of a tree. "'come down!' said the jaguar. "'certainly not!' said the monkey. upon which the jaguar requested its friend the wind to shake the tree with all its fury. the wind did, and the monkey dropped into the jaguar's mouth, from which it immediately passed into the digestive organs. the monkey little by little moved its arms in the close quarters in which it found itself, and was able to seize the knife which it carried--in the most approved bororo fashion--slung across its back. armed with it, it split the jaguar's belly and resumed its daily occupation of jumping from tree to tree." i was able to record yet another strange legend on the preservation of fire. "an otter," said the legend, "in days long gone by, had with great difficulty lighted a fire on the bank of a river. the sun first came to warm itself by the fire, and while the otter had gone on one of its aquatic expeditions, the moon arrived too. the sun and moon together, feeling in a mischievous mood, put out the fire with water not extra clean. then they ran for all they were worth. the otter, feeling cold, came out of the water and, to its amazement, found the fire had been extinguished. "'who did it?' cried the furious otter, wishing to kill whoever had put the fire out. while its anger was at its highest the otter perceived a toad, which was accused of extinguishing the fire because its legs were as red as fire. "'do not kill me!' appealed the toad. 'put your feet on my belly.' the request was at once granted. the toad opened its mouth wide, and with the pressure of the otter's paws upon its body a burning coal was ejected from its interior anatomy. the otter spared the toad's life in recognition of its services in preserving the fire. that is why the otter and the toad have been friends ever since." it was not easy to collect legends from the bororos, as only few of them were inclined to speak. the same legend i found had many variations, according to the more or less imaginative mind of the narrator. here is an extraordinary explanation of the origin of lightning. [illustration: bororo women, showing method of carrying children.] [illustration: bororos showing formation of hands.] "a boy had violated his own mother. his father, discovering the misdeed and wishing to punish him severely--in fact, get rid of the boy altogether--sent him to several dangerous places to collect various things for him, such as wild fruit, etc. the son, fearing disaster, went to his grandmother for advice. she in turn called first one bird and then another for their advice. the father had sent his son to fetch some small gourds (_bappo rogo_), which grew floating on or suspended above the water of a lagoon. but the lagoon was filled with the souls of deceased bororos and evil spirits. in the first instance the grandmother begged for the help of the _pio duddo_ (or _colibri_). this obliging bird accompanied the boy to the lagoon and, flying over the water, with its beak cut the twigs of the small gourds, and one by one brought them to the boy, who had wisely remained on dry land in order not to be seized by the evil spirits which lay concealed in the water. when the bird was about to bring the dried gourds back, the seeds which were inside rattled and aroused the evil spirits of the lagoon. up they all sprang--but the _colibri_ was too swift for them, and the gourds were safely delivered to the boy. the boy brought them to his father, who, amazed at seeing his son still alive, sent him next to fetch some large gourds--such as those used by the _barih_ at funerals and in high ceremonies. "the boy went once more to his grandmother, and she this time recommended him to a dove (_metugo_). when the dove and the boy arrived at the lake the dove cut some large gourds, but, unfortunately, in so doing made a noise. the souls and evil spirits of the lake leapt out and dispatched numerous arrows to kill the dove, but, as luck would have it, dove and _bappo_ (gourds) escaped unhurt. the boy handed the large gourds to his astounded father, who could not imagine how the boy had escaped death a second time. "the bororos used in their dances the nails of wild pigs, which they attached to their feet in order to produce a noise something like castanets. that ornament was called a _buttori_. "the father next ordered his son to go and bring back a complete set to form a _buttori_. for some reason or other--according to the legend--the _buttori_ was also found suspended over the lagoon swarming with souls and evil spirits. the grandmother on this occasion advised the son to accept the services of a large, beautifully coloured locust--called by the bororos _mannori_. the _mannori_, however, made so much noise while on its errand that it became riddled with arrows from the angry spirits of the lake. to this day, say the bororos, you can see a lot of white spots all over the body of the _mannori_. each marks the spot of a former wound. but the _mannori_, too, faithfully delivered the foot ornaments to the youth. the youth brought them to his father, who, in amazement and vicious anger, ordered his son to go with him on the mountain to seize the nest of the _cibae_ (vulture). according to the notions of the bororos, the souls of their dead trans-migrate into the bodies of birds and other animals. "the young fellow again paid a visit to his wise grandmother, who was this time greatly upset. she handed him a stick and requested him to insert it at once into the vulture's nest, when they had arrived in the hollow in the rock where the nest was. the boy departed with his father up the precipitous mountain side. when they had nearly reached the nest the father placed a long stick across a precipice and ordered his son to climb on it and seize the nest. the son duly climbed--carrying with him his grandmother's stick. when he had reached the top the father did all he could to shake the son down into the chasm, and even removed the long stick on which he had climbed. but the lucky boy had already inserted his grandmother's stick into the crevasse and remained suspended, while the father--really believing that he had at last succeeded in disposing of his son--gaily returned to the _aldeia_ (village). the son, taking advantage of a liana festooned along the rock, was able to climb to the very summit of the mountain. there, tired and hungry, he improvised a bow and arrow with what materials he could find, and killed some lizards. he ate many, and hung the others to his belt. he went fast asleep. with the heat, the fast decomposing lizards began to smell. the odour attracted several vultures, which began to peck at him, especially in the softer parts behind (for he was sleeping lying on his chest and face, as bororos generally do). the boy was too tired and worn to be awakened. the vultures then seized him by his belt and arms, and, taking to flight, soared down and deposited him at the foot of the mountain. there the boy woke up, famished. his supply of lizards had been eaten by the vultures. he searched for fruit and ate some, but he could not retain his food owing to injuries caused him by the vultures. (here a good portion of the legend has to be suppressed.) "as best he could, the boy went to look for the _aldeia_, but it had vanished. he walked for several days, unable to find traces of his tribe. at last he found the footmarks which they had left upon their passage. he followed them, and came to a fire freshly made, left by the indians. he went on until he identified the footmarks showing where his grandmother had gone. he made sure they were hers by the extra mark of her stick on the ground. with the assistance of a lizard, then of a big bird, then of a rat, then of a butterfly, he discovered the whereabouts of the old lady. he was by then an old man. upon perceiving his grandmother he again became a boy, and hurried on--making a noise so that she might know him again. she asked another nephew--'look and see who is behind!'--the nephew turned round and recognized his eldest brother--who was also his father. the grandmother embraced him tenderly. "the eldest fellow persuaded his grandmother and brother not to return to the _aldeia_ where he had suffered so much from the hands of his father. "'they have made me suffer,' he said, 'and i shall take my revenge. come with me, and we shall all be happy together.' "they went to a beautiful spot. he climbed a mountain, and from there proceeded to produce lightning, thunder and wind, which exterminated the rest of the tribe in the _aldeia_. that is why, when the bororos see lightning, they say that it is someone's vengeance coming upon them." [illustration: bororo women.] [illustration: bororo women.] in the bororo language, lightning was called _boeru goddo_ or "angry people"; thunder was _bai_ _gabe_ when near, and _boya ruru_--or deaf sound--when distant. the bororos related an interesting legend of a great flood or deluge. "one night a bororo went with his bow and arrows to the river in order to fish, at a spot where a cane snare or trap had been made in the stream. he killed a sacred fish. no sooner had he done this than the water immediately began to rise. he was scarcely able to get out of the water and run up the mountain side, lighting his way with the torch of resinous wood he had used in order to attract the fish while fishing. the water kept almost overtaking him, it rose so rapidly. he called out to the bororos of his tribe to make their escape, as the water would soon drown them, but they did not believe him and consequently all except himself perished. when he reached the summit of the mountain he managed to light a big fire just before the rising water was wetting the soles of his feet. he was still shouting in vain to all the bororos to run for their lives. the water was touching his feet, when he thought of a novel expedient. he began to remove the red-hot stones which had lain under the fire and threw them right and left into the water. by rapid evaporation at the contact of the hot missiles, it is to be presumed, as the legend does not say, the water ceased to rise. in fact, the water gradually retired, and the bororo eventually returned to the spot where he had left the tribesmen. all were dead. he went one day into the forest and he found a doe--which had in some mysterious way escaped death--and he took her for his wife. from this strange union were born children who were hornless and quite human, except that they were very hairy. after a few generations the hair entirely disappeared. that was how the bororo race was preserved." that extraordinary legend was, to my mind, a very interesting one--not in itself, but from several facts which in its ignorant language it contained. first of all, the knowledge of the bororos concerning a former hairy race--a hairy race referred to in legends found all over the eastern asiatic coast and on many of the islands in the pacific from the kuriles as far as borneo. then it would clearly suggest a great deluge and flood which most certainly took place in south america in days long gone by, and was indeed quelled by burning stones--not, of course, thrown by the hands of a bororo, from the summit of a mountain, but by a great volcanic eruption spitting fire and molten rocks. as i have stated elsewhere, there was every possible indication in central brazil that torrential rains on an inconceivable scale--naturally followed by unparalleled floods--had taken place, in the company of or followed by volcanic activity on a scale beyond all imagination. one had only to turn one's head round and gaze at the scenery almost anywhere in central brazil, but in matto grosso particularly, to notice to what extent erosion and volcanic activity had done their work. another curious belief of the bororos was worth remembering. they claimed that men and women did not come from monkeys, but that once upon a time monkeys were human and could speak. they lived in huts and slept in hammocks. the bororos possessed no geographical knowledge. beyond their immediate neighbourhood they knew of no other place, and did not in any way realize the shape or size of the earth. they called themselves _orari nogu doghe_--or people who lived where the _pintado_ fish (_orari_ in bororo) was to be found. the bororos spoke of only three other tribes: the _kaiamo doghe_ (the chavantes indians), their bitter enemies; the _ra rai doghe_--the long-legged people--ancient cave-dwellers, once the neighbours of the bororos, but now extinct; and the _baru gi raguddu doghe_--a name better left untranslated--applied to a tribe living in grottoes. in the way of religion the bororos admitted of five different heavens, in the last of which dwelt a superior being--a deity called the _marebba_. marebba's origin was unknown to the bororos. all they knew was that he had a mother and a powerful son. marebba only looked after the men--but he was so occupied that when the _barihs_--through whose mediation it was possible to communicate with him--wished to be heard, they had to shout at the top of their voices in order to attract his attention. only the higher _barihs_ could communicate with him, the lower _barihs_ being merely permitted to communicate with his son. they also believed in the existence of a bad god--an evil spirit called _boppe_. boppe inhabited the mountains, the tree-tops and the "red heaven." there were many _boppe_, male and female, and to them were due all the misfortunes which had afflicted the bororos. some of the _barihs_ maintained that they had actually seen both marebba and some of the _boppes_. they gave wonderful descriptions of them, comparing them in their appearance to human beings. the bororos believed that in any food it was possible to find a _boppe_--there established in order to do evil. therefore, before partaking of meals, especially at festivals, they first presented the _barih_ with fruit, grain, meat and fish in order to appease the anger of the evil spirits. the bororos believed in the transmigration of the soul into animals. they never ate deer, nor jaguar, nor vultures, because they thought that those animals contained the souls of their ancestors. the jaguar, as a rule, contained the soul of women. when a widower wished to marry a second time he must first kill a jaguar in order to free the soul of his first wife from suffering. they also seemed to have an idea that the _arué_, or souls of the dead, might reappear in the world and could be seen by relatives. men and women all became of one sex on leaving this world--all souls being feminine, according to the bororos. [illustration: bororos thrashing indian corn.] [illustration: a bororo blind woman.] the apparition of the souls before their relatives was, of course, merely a clumsily arranged trick of the _barihs_. this is how it was done. they made a circle of branches of trees--in order to keep the audience at a distance--and then erected a large wooden gate, so arranged that when the souls appeared it fell down in order to give them free passage. the souls--generally not more than two together--upon being called by the _barih_, entered the ring with their faces covered and hopping with a special step of their own. they did not respond to prayers or tears, and kept on twirling about within the ring. the body was that of a woman, wearing from the waist down a gown of palm leaves. the face was covered by a mask of vegetable fibre which allowed its owner to see and not be seen. upon the head was worn a cap of wax in which were stuck a great number of arrows, so that it looked just like the back of a disturbed porcupine. naturally those "souls" were merely special girls dressed up for the occasion. but credulous bororo women believed they were actually seeing the souls of their dead relatives. they worked themselves into a great state of excitement. the same implement which was employed by the bororos to reproduce the sound of the _aigi_ or _ajie_ (hippopotamus)--a board some ten inches long and three inches wide attached to a string and revolved from a long pole--was also used by them to announce the departure of souls from this world to the next. the women were ordered to cover their faces or hide altogether inside their huts when these noises were produced. should one be curious enough to inquire into their origin and look, she was generally condemned to death--frequently by starvation. the bacururu--or the coroado indians--believed that, after such an indiscretion, nothing could save the life of a woman. before starting on a hunting or fishing expedition prayers were offered to the souls of the departed, so that they might not interfere with the success of the expedition, and if possible help instead. the funeral rites of the bororos were singular. on the death of a man, a chorus of moans began and tears were shed in profusion, while some one sang for several days the praises of the defunct in a melancholy monotone. the body was covered for two entire days, during which all articles that belonged to the deceased, such as bow and arrows, pots, and musical instruments, were smashed or destroyed. the débris was stored behind a screen in the hut, where subsequently was also kept the hearse in which the body was conveyed to the burial spot. the body, wrapped in a palm-leaf mat, was then interred in a shallow oval grave just outside his hut. a wooden beam was placed directly over the body, and then the hollow was covered over with some six or eight inches of earth. a few branches of trees and some thorns were thrown over it to indicate the spot. for twenty days in the evening and night moans resounded through the air. more tears were shed by the relatives and by the _barih_, who frequently proceeded to the grave to pour water on it. on the twentieth day, while some one set at play the awe-inspiring revolving board, others proceeded to exhume the body--by then in a state of absolute decomposition. the remains were taken to the stream and the bones cleaned with great care. the skull was placed within two inverted hemispherical baskets, whereas all the other bones of the body were heaped into a third concave basket of a larger size. it was on their return--with moans and chanting--to the _bayto_, or meeting-place in the _aldeia_, that the most touching scene ensued. the skull was decorated with a design of coloured feathers, while those present inflicted wounds upon their own bodies, shedding blood upon the basket of remains. the women, moreover, tore one by one each hair from their heads and bodies in sign of mourning. after this the skull and bones were placed within another basket, and were either cremated or thrown to the bottom of a river. the property of the deceased was then set ablaze. i noticed in a hut a skirt made of long palm leaves. it was donned at funerals. there were also several long rudimentary flutes, formed by a cane cylinder with a rounded mouthpiece inserted into another. these flutes, too, were used only on such mournful occasions. the _barih_ received a present from relatives at the death of individuals in the tribe. the family remained in mourning from five to six months. the widow, at the death of her husband, was expected to tear each hair off her scalp, one by one, until her head remained as bald as a billiard-ball. she generally did it. the corpses of women were treated slightly differently. when a woman died she was buried _pro tem._ a feast was given to the tribe. the process of denudation having been given ample time to leave her skeleton clean, her bones were collected, and placed in a special basket and then cremated. the ashes were scattered to the winds, and so were all her clothes, ornaments, chattels, smashed to atoms, and articles of food. even fowls, if she possessed any, were destroyed. usually they were eaten by her friends. the bororos did not possess a sense of honour resembling ours. theft was not considered dishonourable, and was not looked down upon nor condemned by them. if a bororo liked anything belonging to any one else, they could see no reason why he should not appropriate it. that was their simple way of reasoning, and as no police existed among them such theories were easily followed. taking something belonging to a stranger was, in fact, rather encouraged, and in our experience we had to keep a sharp watch when indians came to our camp, as things disappeared quickly. they seldom took the trouble to ask for anything; they just took it and ran away. the measurements of bororo heads in the table on page , taken, as an average, from several of the most characteristic types, will be found of interest, especially when compared with some from papuan and malay tribes of the philippine and sulu archipelagoes with whom they have many points in common. due allowance must be made for the artificial deformation of the cranium in the case of the bororos. i had no end of trouble in obtaining these measurements, as the bororos would not hear of being measured. they were frightened of the nickel-plated calliper i used for the purpose. it was quite beyond them to understand why any one should want to know the length of their noses. in fact, although many, after a lot of coaxing, submitted to have other measurements taken, few of them would let me measure the nose. none at all would permit me to measure the length of their eyes, as they feared i should intentionally blind them. [illustration: bororo children.] [illustration: bororo women.] i met other tribes of bororos as i went along, and i was able to add to the curious information already collected and given in previous chapters. it appeared that at the birth of a child the head, while the skull was still soft, was intentionally compressed and bandaged, especially at the forehead and back, so as to flatten it and produce an abnormal shape of the skull. in many cases only the back of the head was flattened by the application of artificial pressure. the elongation was both upwards and sideways. this deformation was particularly confined to male children. |bororos. | |bilan, island of mindanao philippine archipelago. | | |manobo. | | | |mahommedans west coast of mindanao i. | | | | |guiangas. | | | | | |samal. | | | | | | |bagobos. | | | | | | | |ilocanos. | | | | | | | | |mandayas (gandia). | | | | | | | | | |tirurays. | | | | | | | | | | |mansakas (of panter). | | | | | | | | | | | |yacanes. ----------------------------+--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------- | metre. |metre. |metre. |metre. |metre. |metre. |metre. |metre. |metre. |metre. |metre. |metre. ----------------------------+--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------- vertical maximum length | | | | | | | | | | | | of head | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . bizygomatic breadth | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . maximum breadth of | | | | | | | | | | | | forehead | . | | | | | | | | | | | minimum breadth of forehead | | | | | | | | | | | | at lower part of | | | | | | | | | | | | temples | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . maximum length of cranium | | | | | | | | | | | | (from forehead to | | | | | | | | | | | | back of head) | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | -- | . | . | . | . breadth of skull one inch | | | | | | | | | | | | above ear | . | | | | | | | | | | | maximum breadth of | | | | | | | | | | | | lower jaw | . | . | . | -- | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . length of nose | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . breadth of nose at nostrils | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . distance between eyes | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . length of ear | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . length of mouth | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | -- | . | . | -- | . length of lower jaw from | | | | | | | | | | | | ear to centre of chin | . | | | | | | | | | | | breadth of upper lip | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . breadth of lower lip | . | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------+--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------- n.b.--for further particulars see "the gems of the east," by a. h. savage landor. when twins were born one was killed or else left to die in the sun, as they believed that the other could not live if both were left alive. murder for them, in that instance, was a question of humanity. the bororos had a perfect horror of natural death. they were terrified at the sight of a person dying. therefore when one of their people was about to expire they covered him up and placed him out of sight. if he or she under those circumstances delayed in departing this life, the departure was hastened by suffocation or strangulation. the bororos were too restless, and could not wait too long for anything. they were easily suggestionized. many of them would make excellent subjects for hypnotic experiments. the women particularly were extraordinarily sensitive to animal magnetism. they were much given to hysterical displays. one of the reasons which was given me for hastening the death of moribund bororos was a curious superstition that the sight of a dying person would cause the death of women, particularly if the dying person happened to look in the direction of one woman present. the women believed this so firmly that occasionally--the bororos asserted--women actually became ill and died when they saw a dead person. this, no doubt, may have occurred merely by suggestion. women were never allowed, under ordinary circumstances, to see dead people. when dancing the bororos sprang on one foot and then on the other, always hopping about in a circle. abnormalities and deformities were frequently noticeable among them, such as hare-lip, supernumerary toes and fingers, and hypertrophy of the limbs. abnormalities of the genitals were general owing to tribal customs. one of the evil spirits most feared by the bororos was called _aroi koddo_--or "soul that falls." it was a spirit that came to earth solely for the purpose of punishing the bororos. they said that this spirit was an extremely noisy one and its approach was announced by terrifying sounds. the bororos were frightened of comets and had about them superstitions similar to those of europeans--that is to say, that their appearance caused illness, misfortune and death. solar and lunar eclipses, the bororos stated, were merely the result of anger on the part of evil spirits. "the sun or moon were making faces because they were angry," was their highly astronomical explanation of the phenomenon. the bororos had a firm belief that some of their ancestors lived in the sun, others in the moon; and they said the ancestors caused the sun to make faces when angry. in the sun also lived the head of all the _barihs_, or medicine-men, the intermediary between humans and spirits; whereas in the moon dwelt only those who could invoke the souls of the ancestors. the _barih_ was only capable of communicating with a _barih's_ ancestors. chapter xvii the river das garças--majestic scenery i went to call on the salesian fathers. between my camp and the river das garças, on the right bank of which the colony stood, there was a great dome of red volcanic rock with many loose boulders such as we had seen for the last three days of our journey. the river was swift and deep. the colony was on the opposite side of the water. we shouted until an indian appeared and took us across in a rickety canoe belonging to the friars, which he paddled with the stalk of a palm-leaf. the salesians were remarkable people, and should be an example to many other missionaries. wherever they went they did not trouble much about making converts. they taught the natives instead how to work the soil and how to make all kinds of articles which might or might not be useful to them as they became more civilized. the chief effort of the monks was to teach the natives agriculture, from which--charity always begins at home--the friars themselves were naturally the first to reap the benefit. at the same time the natives learned, and earned, and were made happy. they improved their mode of living and were, with great softness and patience, not only drawn nearer to catholicism but towards white people altogether. the salesians had established on the rio das garças--an enchanting spot--a beautiful farm on which they grew quantities of indian corn, sugar-cane, wheat, and all kinds of vegetables. although i am not a roman catholic, the salesians received me very politely and took the greatest delight in showing me all over the mission. it was interesting to note that everybody was working hard. the father superior himself was busy shaping a big table from a huge plank of hard wood, and nothing could induce him to leave his sweating work--not even to go and have his meals. father colli agostino was detailed to go round and explain everything to me. the salesians had no trouble with the indians, whom they found quite gentle and docile. but they could never be relied upon. one day the entire tribe would come and help to work the soil with great vigour; the next day they would all disappear from the neighbourhood and no one knew where they had gone--sometimes for weeks. they invariably came back, sooner or later, and, what was more, they were always welcomed back. converting them to christianity was a different matter. the salesians had made little headway in that direction. "we are patient people," said father colli; "it will come in time. already the bororos are beginning to join us in the church, where many enjoy singing with us. they are intelligent and soon learn to sing." i purchased, at almost prohibitive prices, many things from the salesians, principally food for my animals and men. of course, in buying one had to realize where we were, which made all the difference in the price. i was glad to pay them the money and obtain the commodities. the salesians told me that while digging to make the foundations for one of their buildings they had found--only ft. under ground--in the sandy soil several earthen pots of great antiquity, in excellent preservation, as well as a fireplace with ashes and charcoal. the sand had evidently accumulated in the valley below there owing to wind and not to water. the frail pottery, imperfectly baked, would have crumbled away quickly in moisture. on may th (min. ° fahr., max. °) we were again off toward the west, travelling over great domes of red lava, the higher portions of which were covered by layers of ashes and red sand. we were at an elevation of , ft. in the deep basin of the rio barreiros and rio das garças, but we soon went over three consecutive ridges, , ft. above the sea level, with delicious campos and a _bosquet_ of trees here and there. in the arc of a circle extending from north-west to south-west we had in front of us a beautiful view. previous to reaching the third ridge, that day, we also had behind us a wonderful panorama of the great plateau described in a previous chapter. on travelling over a fourth elevation we found ourselves upon another immense dome of red volcanic rock, blackened on the surface, as if by fire, and with the peculiar striations we had noticed once or twice before. in this case there were cross striations as well, the direction of one set of parallel marks being from north-west to south-east, of the other set north-east to south-west, thus forming lozenges, each about cm. across. all those lozenges were so regularly cut that the _ensemble_ gave the appearance of a well-made pavement. then i noticed some peculiar great cavities in the rock, like those formed by glacial action. in fact, on a superficial examination, it seemed almost as if that region had first gone through a period of great revolution while in a state of semi-liquefaction owing to intense heat from fire, after which a sudden and intense cooling had taken place and covered the country perhaps even with ice. whether the immense deposits of ashes and sand had been formed before or after the glacial period--if any such period ever existed in that particular region--could be merely a matter of speculation. in many places the sand, ashes, and red earth had almost consolidated into easily friable rock. where the actual rock was not exposed we had campos, campos, campos, stretching as far as the eye could see. far from being monotonous, one had--or at least i had--a delightful sensation in riding across those interminable prairies of beautiful green. one could breathe the pure air with fully expanded lungs, and in that silent, reposeful solitude one felt almost as if the whole world belonged to one. we were not much worried by insects on those great open places; it was only on getting near patches of vegetation and near streams that we suffered from the attacks of those pests. we saw few trees--all stunted and weak--as the padding of earth over the rocky under-strata did not permit their roots to go deep down, and therefore they grew up with difficulty and anæmic. twelve kilometres from the rio barreiros we came to a stream (elev. , ft.). on our left, rising above the inclined campos, was a triple undulation much higher than its neighbours. to the west stood two twin, well-rounded mounds, that my men named at once "the woman's breasts," which they much resembled. we were still marching on deep deposits of ashes, and, higher, upon semi-hardened sandstone. on the northern side the twin hills had a different shape. they ended in a sharply pointed spur. after going over an ochre-coloured sandy region (elev. , ft. above the sea level) we were again on magnificent undulating campos, dotted here and there with dark green shrubs and _bosquets_ to the north, north-west, and north-east. beyond, to the north-east, loomed again in the far distance our mysterious plateau, of a pure cobalt blue where in shadow. as one ran one's eye along its sky-line it was almost flat for more than half its length, then came a slight dip, followed by a terraced dome. then again a straight line followed by a slightly higher and more undulating sky-line with three steps in it, and a conical end at its eastern terminus. the most easterly point of all--the highest--resembled a castle with vertical sides. but of this we have already spoken, at the terminal point of the great divided range we had passed some days previously. the vertical cliffs of the plateau, where lighted by the sun, were of a brilliant red colour. [illustration: isolated conical hills with tower-like rocky formation on summit.] [illustration: the endless campos of matto grosso.] as we approached the twin hills they appeared to be the remains of an ancient crater. they formed, in fact, a crescent with a broken rocky lower section--completing the circle of the crater. i had no time to go and examine carefully, as it would have meant a deviation from my route, but that is how it appeared to me. there were, in fact, extra deep deposits of volcanic ashes at the foot of the descent before we arrived at the river agua emeindada, where we made our camp that night, kil. from the rio barreiros. my men went after game that night. alcides killed a _veado_ (deer), and we all enjoyed the fresh meat for dinner. the clouds (cirro-stratus) were, during the entire day, in horizontal lines and slight globular accumulations, the latter in a row and, taken _en masse_, giving also the impression of lines just above the horizon to the west. at sunset we once more saw the glorious effect of the radiation from the west, only instead of being straight lines there were, that time, feathery filaments which rose in graceful curves overhead, like so many immense ostrich feathers. they joined again in a common centre to the east. my men were complaining all the time of the intense cold at night, and made me feel almost as if i had been responsible for it. they grumbled perpetually. during the early hours of the morning their moans were incessant. they never ceased crying, as hysterical young girls might do, but as one would not expect of men. some of them had toothache--and no wonder, when one looked at their terrible teeth and the way they ate. they devoured pounds of sugar every day--our supply, which should have lasted a year or more, having already almost been exhausted. it was impossible for me alone, with all the astronomical, geological, botanical, geographical, meteorological, photographic, anthropometric, and artistic work--not to mention the writing-up of my copious daily notes--also to keep a constant watch on the supplies. i had handed over that responsibility to alcides. unfortunately, he was the greediest of the lot. every time i warned him not to be so wasteful, as we should find ourselves dying of starvation, he and the others made me feel that i was meanness itself, and that i was only doing it to save money. i never objected to their eating as much as they could--as i have always made it a point on all my expeditions to feed my men on the best food procurable, and give them as much as they could possibly devour. but it pained me to see quantities of good food thrown away daily, as i knew what it would mean to us later on. "we are brazilians," said they, "and like plenty to eat. when there is no more we will go without food. you do not know brazilians, but brazilians can go thirty or forty days without anything to eat!" "all right," said i--"we shall see." forty minutes--and perhaps not so long--had been, so far, the longest time i had seen them cease munching something or other. not satisfied with the lavish food they were supplied with--heaps of it were always thrown to the dogs, after they had positively gorged themselves--yet they would pick up anything on the way: a wild fruit, a scented leaf of a tree, a nut of some kind or other, a _palmito_, a chunk of tobacco--all was inserted in the mouth. it was fortunate that we took enough exercise, or surely they would have all perished of indigestion. in my entire experience i have never seen men eat larger quantities of food and more recklessly than my brazilian followers did. in the morning they were almost paralyzed with rheumatism and internal pains all over the body. frequently those pains inside were accentuated by the experiments they made in eating all kinds of fruit, some of which was poisonous. many a time on our march did we have to halt because one man or another was suddenly taken violently ill. my remedy on those occasions was to shove down their throats the end of a leather strap, which caused immediate vomiting; then when we were in camp i gave them a powerful dose of castor oil. after a few hours they recovered enough to go on. on may st the minimum temperature of the atmosphere was ° fahr., the maximum °, the elevation , ft. at the stream agua emeindata. my men declared again they were half-frozen during the night and would not go on with me, as it was getting colder all the time and they would certainly die. when i told them that it was not cold at all--on the contrary, i considered that temperature quite high--they would not believe me. with the temperature in the sun during the day at °, most of the aches of the men disappeared, and i had little trouble with them until after sunset, when there was generally a considerable drop in the temperature. we went on. we had a volcanic mountain to the left of us--half the crater of a volcano formed of red lava and friable red-baked rock. in the northern and central part of the mountain were masses of lava which had been shot out of the mouth of the volcano and had solidified into all kinds of fantastic forms, some sharply pointed, some red, others black. on the east side of the crater was a dome covered with earth with an underlying flow of lava. then could be observed a circular group of huge rocks, pear-shaped, with sharp points upward. while the volcano was active these rocks had evidently stood on the rim of the then cylindrical crater. the mountain behind those rocks was formed by high accumulations of red volcanic sand, which in time had gradually, by the action of rain and sun, consolidated into soft rock. the plateau extending northward, which was disclosed in all its entirety before me from the elevation of , ft. which we had reached, also seemed to possess an extinct crater shaped like a crescent with steep slopes and two rounded promontories on its side. the sky that day was partly covered by transparent feathery clouds and by dense mist near the horizon line to the east, but was quite clear to the west. as usual, that evening we were again treated to fairly handsome radiating white lines from the sun reaching half way up the sky vault, but this time they were flimsy and not to be compared to the magnificent displays we had observed before. our animals still sank in ochre-coloured sand, or stumbled on conglomerate rocks of spattered lava pellets embedded in sandstone. capping the higher undulations we again found deposits of ashes. [illustration: geometrical pattern on the surface of a flow of lava. (caused by sudden contraction in cooling.)] we travelled for long distances on a ridge at an elevation of , ft. over a thick layer of sand and ashes mixed. then campos spread before us, and upon them here and there grew stunted vegetation, the trees seldom reaching a greater height than ft. from our last high point of vantage the crater with fantastic rocks and its continuation we had observed appeared to form a great basin. a subsidiary vent was also noticeable. farther on our march we found other immense deposits of grey ashes and sand alternately--one great stretch particularly, at an elevation of , ft. water at that spot filtered through from underneath and rendered the slope a grassy meadow of the most refreshing green. we were rising all the time, first going north-west, then due north. at noon we had reached the highest point. from the high point on which we were ( , ft.) we obtained a strange view to the west. above the straight line of the plateau before us rose in the distance a pyramidal, steep-sided, sharply-pointed peak, standing in solitary grandeur upon that elevated plain. why did it stand there alone? was the question one asked oneself--a question one had to ask oneself frequently as we proceeded farther and farther on our journey. we often came upon mountains standing alone, either on the top of table-lands or in the middle of extensive plains. their presence seemed at first unaccountable. again as we journeyed onward the mules' hoofs were injured by treading over large expanses of lava pellets and sharp-edged, cutting, baked fragments of black rock, myriads of which also lay embedded in reddish half-formed rock or buried in layers of yellowish-red earth. to the north was a majestic panorama of the most delicate tones of blue and green, with almost over-powering sweeping lines hardly interrupted by a slight indentation or a prominence rising above the sky-line. only to the north-west in the middle distance was there the gentle undulating line of magnificent campos--most regular in its curves, which spread in a crescent toward the west. the line was interrupted somewhat abruptly by a higher and irregular three-terraced mass, but soon resumed its sweeping and regularly curved undulations beyond. this great crescent almost described a semicircle around the smaller undulations over which we were travelling. we descended to , ft. on facing west we had curious scenery on our left (south). a huge basin had sunk in--evidently by a sudden subsidence which had left on its northern side high vertical cliffs supporting the hill-range that remained standing. the undulating centre and sides of the immense depression formed beautiful campos with an occasional _bosquet_ of forest on the top of hills, and also on the lowest points of the undulations. those _bosquets_ were few and far apart, only to be found where moisture was plentiful. the remains of a high, flat plateau, which had escaped while the rest of the country had subsided, loomed alone in the distance. one of the central hills was crowned by great black volcanic boulders of the same rock which was visible at the southern edge of this great basin, bounded by vertical cliffs--all of the same composition. directly south-west the evenness of the sky-line was again interrupted by two mountains--flat-topped, one not unlike the gabled roof of a house, the other like a cylindrical tower on the top of a high conical hill. we again rose to an elevation of , ft., still travelling on the summit of the plateau bordering the deep depression. we were compelled to describe a curve in our route, and had reached a height of , ft. we perceived to the north-east and east a long, uninterrupted--almost flat--sky-line. we had described a sweeping curve right round the irregular edge of the undulating plateau. we could now look back upon the southern aspect of the vertical black and brown rocky cliff, on the summit of which we had been travelling. the rocky cliffs were particularly precipitous and picturesque in the western portion. interminable campos were still before us. i occasionally picked up interesting plants and flowers for my botanical collection. innumerable in this region were the plants with medicinal properties. the _sentori_ (_centaurea_) for instance--plentiful there, with its sweetly pretty mauve flower--when boiled in water gave a bitter decoction good for fever. we came upon a patch of _landir_ or _landirana_ trees, with luxuriant dark green foliage. they grew near the water, and were by far the tallest and handsomest, cleanest-looking trees i had so far seen in matto grosso. they attained a great height, with extraordinarily dense foliage, especially at the summit, but also lower down at the sides. then _burity_ palms were fairly abundant wherever one met _landir_ trees in groups or tufts. we were now travelling at an elevation of , ft., then soon after at , ft. above the sea level. there was merely stunted vegetation growing upon the red earth and sand. on descending from that high point we came upon extraordinary scenery. to our right (north) was another concave depression with a further subsidence in its central part. due west and north-west, from the spot where we first observed the scene, appeared four curious hemispherical domes forming a quadrangle with three less important ones beyond. in the south-easterly portion of the depression was a great rocky mass, while due north another, and higher, conical mount, much higher than all the others, could be observed. in the eastern part of the depression a wide circle of big volcanic boulders--undoubtedly an extinct crater--was to be seen, with huge masses of spattered yellow lava in large blocks as well as ferruginous rock. that great depression--taken in its entirety--was subdivided into three distinct terraces, counting as third the summit of the plateau. a mighty, deep, impressive chasm, smothered in vegetation, could be observed within the central crater--in the north-east side of the circle. the summit of the plateau, varying in elevation from , ft. to , ft., on which we were travelling was entirely covered by sand and grey ashes. the valley in the depression extended in lovely campos from south-west to north-east--in fact, as far as the giant table-land which stood majestic in the distance. the scene, as we stood on the edge of the plateau, was impressive in its grandeur, in its silence. in the morning the sky was almost entirely covered with transparent clouds in scales like a fish. in the afternoon the sky above changed into horizontal layers of globular clouds, which stood as still as death. leaden black globular accumulations covered one-third of the sky vault, great unshapen masses overhead rendering the air heavy. we marched all that day on a deep layer of ashes. on descending from the plateau we had on our left great clean campos and plentiful _burity_ palms in a slight depression where moisture filtered through. as the caravan was moving along gaily, a _veado_ (deer) gracefully leapt in front and, turning its head back two or three times to look at us, ran before us. filippe, the negro, in his excitement, gave wild yells which set the mules stampeding, while green parrots in couples, scared at the sudden disturbance, flew overhead, adding piercing shrieks to the rapid tinkling of the mules' bells, the rattling of the baggage on the pack-saddles, and the shouts of the men trying to stop the excited mules. all those sudden noises mingled together were quite a change for us, accustomed to a constant deathly silence. before us on the w.n.w.--as we still sank in grey ashes--were two conical hillocks. in the distance, to the west, two small flat-topped plateaux rose above the sky-line, and also two hills shaped not unlike the backs of two whales. on our left we had an immense crack or fissure extending from north-east to south-west between the hill-range on which we travelled and another on the south--both showing huge domes of eruptive rock, apparently extensive flows of red lava subsequently blackened on the surface by weathering. on the opposite side to ours the rock was exposed all along the fissure for a great height, except the surface padding on the summit, where beautiful fresh green grass was in contrast to the deep tones of the rock. on our side we were still struggling in ashes and sand, with striated and much indented boulders of lava showing through. we found many _sicupira_ nuts, of a small, flat and fat oval shape, and a yellow-ochre colour. the shell contained many tiny cells or chambers--just like the section of a beehive. each chamber was full of a bitter oil, said to cure almost any complaint known. on may nd i took observations with the hypsometrical apparatus in order to obtain the correct elevation, and also as a check to the several aneroids i was using for differential altitudes. water boiled at a temperature of ° with a temperature of the atmosphere of ° fahr. this would make the elevation at that spot , ft. above the sea level. the aneroids registered , ft. we came upon two strange rocks, one resembling the head and neck of a much-eroded sphinx--of natural formation--blackened, knobby, and with deep grooves; the other not unlike a giant mushroom. the sphinx-like rock stood upon a pedestal also of rock in several strata. the head was resting on a stratum ft. thick, of a brilliant red, and at a slight dip. under it was a white stratum much cracked, after which came a stratum of white and red blending into each other. this stratum, ft. thick, showed the white more diffused in the upper part than the lower. the lowest stratum of all exposed was of a deep red. near this stood erect another columnar rock of a similar shape, the head and base entirely of red rock. it was eroded on the north-west side to such an extent that it was almost concave in the lower part. this rock, too, showed great cracks and a slight dip north-west in the strata. vertical fissures were noticeable, and seemed caused by concussion. a third rock--flat, with a convex bottom--stood as if on a pivot on the angular point of a pyramidal larger rock, this larger rock in its turn resting over a huge base. there was no mistake as to how those two rocks had got there. they had fallen from above, one on the top of the other. a proof of this lay in the fact that they had arrived with such force that the base had split at the point of contact. as there was no hill above or near those rocks, there was little doubt that they had been flung there by volcanic action. we were in a region of extraordinary interest and surprises. in the plain which extended before us there stood two conical hills in the far north-west, and three other hills, dome-like, each isolated, but in a most perfect alignment with the others, towards the east. close to us were giant domes of rock, the surface of which formed marvellous geometrical designs of such regularity that had they been on a smaller scale one might have suspected them of being the work of human beings; but they were not, as we shall see presently. chapter xviii the salesian fathers--a volcanic zone we arrived at the chief colony of the salesians, sagrado coração de jesus (tachos). there, thanks to the great kindness and hospitality of the fathers, and also owing to the amount of interesting matter i found from a geological and anthropological point of view, i decided to halt for a day or two. the salesians had come to that spot, not by the way i had gone, but by an easier way via buenos aires and the paraguay river, navigable as far as cuyabá, the capital of matto grosso. the friars had done wonderful work in many parts of the state of matto grosso. in fact, what little good in the way of civilization had been done in that state had been done almost entirely by those monks. they had established an excellent college in cuyabá, where all kinds of trades and professions were taught. in the port of corumbá a similar school was established, and then there were the several colonies among the indians, such as the sagrado coração de jesus on the rio barreiro, the immaculada conceição on the rio das garças, the sangradouro colony, and the palmeiras. [illustration: the observatory at the salesian colony. (padre colbacchini in the foreground.)] [illustration: bororo women and children.] as in this work i have limited myself to write on things which have come directly under my observation, i shall not have an opportunity of speaking of the work of the salesians at cuyabá or corumbá--two cities i did not visit--but i feel it my duty to say a few words on the work of sacrifice, love and devotion performed by the friars in those remote regions. in the colony at tachos, situated on a height, there were several neat buildings for the friars and a village for the indians. what interested me most was to see how much of the land around had been converted with success to agricultural purposes. i inspected the buildings where useful trades were taught to the indians of both sexes. weaving-looms and spinning-wheels had been imported at great expense and endless trouble, as well as blacksmiths' and carpenters' tools of all kinds. a delightfully neat garden with european flowers was indeed a great joy to one's eyes, now unaccustomed to so gay and tidy a sight. what pleased me most of all was to notice how devoted to the salesians the indians were, and how happy and well cared for they seemed to be. they had the most humble reverence for the fathers. padre antonio colbacchini, the father superior, an italian, was an extremely intelligent and practical man, one of the hardest workers i have ever met. with a great love for science he had established a small observatory on a high hill at a considerable distance from the mission buildings. the abnegation with which father clemente dorozeski, in charge of the instruments, would get up in the middle of the night and in all weathers go and watch for the minimum temperature--their instruments were primitive, and they did not possess self-registering thermometers--was indeed more than praiseworthy. my readers can easily imagine my surprise when one day padre colbacchini treated me, after dinner, to an orchestral concert of such operas as _il trovatore_, _aïda_, and the _barbiere di seviglia_, played on brass and stringed instruments by indian boys. the bororos showed great fondness for music, and readily learned to play any tune without knowing a single note of music. naturally great patience was required on the part of the teacher in order to obtain a collective melody which would not seriously impair the drum of one's ear. the result was truly marvellous. brass instruments were preferred by the indians. the trombone was the most loved of all. as the indians all possessed powerful lungs, they were well suited for wind instruments. the colony was situated in one of the most picturesque spots of matto grosso. when out for a walk i came upon a great natural wall of rock with immense spurs of lava, the surface of which was cut up into regular geometrical patterns, squares and lozenges. i think that in that particular case the peculiarity was due to the lava having flowed over curved surfaces. in coming in contact with the atmosphere it had cooled more rapidly on the upper face than the under, and in contracting quickly had split at regular intervals, thus forming the geometrical pattern. it was undoubted that we were there in the former centre of inconceivable volcanic activity. in other parts of a great dome of rock i came upon strange holes in the rock--extremely common all over that region--which might at first glance be mistaken for depressions formed by glacial action, but which were not. they were merely moulds of highly ferruginous rock, granular on its surface and not smoothed, as one would expect in the walls of cavities made by the friction of revolving ice and rock. nor did i ever find at the bottom of any of those pits, worn-down, smooth spherical or spheroid rocks, such as are usually found in pits of glacial formation. those pits had been formed by lava and molten iron flowing around easily crumbled blocks of rock, or perhaps by large balls of erupted mud which had dropped on molten lava, that had then solidified round them, while the mud or soft rock had subsequently been dissolved by rain, leaving the mould intact. the latter theory would seem to me the more plausible, as many of those pits showed much indented, raised edges, as if splashing had taken place when the rock now forming the mould was in semi-liquid form. only once or twice did i notice hollows with a suggestion of spiral grooves in their walls; but i think that those had been caused at a more recent date by water flowing in and describing a spiral as it travelled downward in the interior of the vessels. on the hill where the observatory was situated two circular volcanic vents were to be seen. the hill, which had a slope on one side, had evidently been split, as on reaching the top i found that an almost vertical precipice was on the other side. quantities of quartz and crystals were to be found on that hill. all over that region quaintly-shaped rocks were also to be found, some like small cubic or rectangular boxes, others not unlike inkstands, others in hollowed cylinders or spheres. many--and those were the quaintest of all--were of a rectangular shape, which when split disclosed a rectangular hollow inside. these natural boxes were mostly of iron rock, laminated, which had evidently collected when in a liquid state round some soft matter, that had subsequently evaporated or disappeared with the intense heat, leaving empty spaces inside. the laminations were about one-eighth of an inch thick. padre colbacchini told me that some distance off a curious pool of water existed which he called the "electric spring." when you placed your hand in it you received a slight electric shock, while a similar impression to that of an electric current continued to be felt as long as you kept your hand in the water. the mission buildings at tachos were at an elevation of , ft., the observatory, ft. higher. the temperature on may rd was max. °, min. · fahr. from the observatory hill an uncommon sight was before us. seven large and small isolated conical and domed hills stood in perfect alignment from n.n.e. to s.s.w. in two different sets. in that region the prevalent wind was from the e.s.e. during the months of may, june, july and august. in september the wind veered gradually to the north and north-east; whereas during the rainy season winds from the north, north-west and south-east were the most prevalent, especially the north-westerly wind. when the wind came from the north it was generally accompanied by heavy rain. the rainy season in that particular zone of the immense matto grosso state extended from october to the end of april. the rio barreiros flowed in a northerly direction (elev. , ft.) over a bed of red lava, ashes, red earth, and sand. after leaving this river we quickly rose again to an altitude of , ft. upon a first hill, then to , ft. on a second, and , ft. on a third elevation over a great spur of red lava, extending in a graceful curve well into the valley below. exquisite was the view of the great plain below us, with its magnificent campos stretching as far as the eye could see, far away to the horizon line. in the far distance, scattered here and there, rose the peculiar flat-topped isolated mountains before described. again all that day we marched over ashes, red sand, and volcanic débris. the highest point we reached was , ft. a snake dashed across our way among the hoofs of my mule, but no harm was done. near camp bugueirão (elev. , ft.), where we halted, there was a delightful, clear, tiny spring emerging from white volcanic crystallized rock. then more campos over lovely undulations in the country. close by was what the brazilians call a _furnas_ (from the latin _fornus_)--a somewhat misapplied term by which they named any deep hollow or chasm, whether vertical like a precipice or horizontal such as a cave. it was getting slightly less cold during the nights. on may th the fahrenheit thermometer registered a minimum of ° and a maximum temperature of °. owing to the usual trouble of recovering the mules in the morning we only left camp at . a.m., rising over great masses of ferruginous rock, which showed through the deposits of ashes and sand at an elevation of , ft. the immense view of the campos in great undulations was really exquisite to the west and south-west. my mules were then travelling over a strange narrow strip of rock at a height of , ft.--in some places only a few yards across--on the top of vertical walls dividing two deep valleys, one to the south, very extensive, with great lava-flows; another to the north. in the latter valley an immense extinct crater was visible, in three well-defined internal terraces and a deep central depression. upon climbing on the summit of a high conical hill i further discovered that the crater had an elongated shape, the longest diameter being from north to south, the southern and lower part being overlapped by a voluminous flow of lava which also covered a great part of the mountain slope. strange monoliths were numerous, among the many fantastically shaped rocks, and also boulders lying about at all angles. one like a huge table rested on the top of another, upon which it had fallen with great force, as could be seen by the vertical splitting of the rock underneath. the rock above appeared simply broiled--and so were the huge masses of débris, especially of ferruginous rock, which had evidently been ejected by that crater. the entire summit of the crater cone ( , ft. above the sea level) was of hard black baked rock. close by, to the north, was another peculiar oval depression, the highest part of which to the north-west was in four distinct terraces in the interior. the eastern part was more flattened, not unlike a huge soup plate. in the centre was another deep depression--possibly an extinct crater too. this second crater was to the north of the high-domed crater described above. in the near west we had mere undulations over which we gradually travelled, but the country was getting much more disturbed than it had appeared since leaving the araguaya river. due west farther away stood before us a weird-looking plateau with a vertical high wall to the north. to the south it showed three terraces, the two lower ones supported on perpendicular cliffs, whereas a convex slope was between the second and third, or top terrace. to the south-west in the far distance another high plateau could be perceived, also with vertical cliffs to the north, but slanting at its southern end--a shape characteristic of nearly all the isolated mountains of that zone. looking south we perceived great tongues of lava extending from east to west--the eastern point being higher than the western, showing that the lava had flowed there from east to west. then there was also a great sloping grassy slant, possibly over another extensive lava-flow, from the crater we had examined. extending toward the south-west was another tongue of lava of great width when measured from north-west to south-east, the latter (south-east) being its lowest point. on its north-east side this great flow had a high vertical face. between these enormous tongues of lava, east to west and south-east to north-west, was a depression or channel extending as far as a distant high dome in three terraces to the south-west. on our course we came upon more curious flattened eruptive rocks, which had split on falling with great force to earth after having been ejected from a volcano. other parallel ranges could be clearly perceived. to bearings magnetic ° were again to be seen our old friends the two strange gabled-roof and tower mountains. i climbed up on the paredãozinho volcano ( , ft. above the sea level) to examine its extinct crater, subdivided into two distinct large craters and a subsidiary one. one of these craters extended from east to west, and had in one section on its rim a giant dome split into quadrangular and lozenge-shaped sections, not unlike magnified mosaic work. next to it was a great hill with a vertical natural wall overlooking the crater itself. the horizontal strata of this natural wall, each about a foot thick, looked exactly like a wonderful masonry work, so perfectly straight were the strata, and the square and rectangular rocks laid in lines with such extraordinary regularity. this wall stood upon solid masses of rock of immense size--hundreds of feet in height. the lip of the crater on the south side was just like the well-laid pavement of a city, so regularly had the lava cracked in contracting, thus leaving four- and five-sided geometrical figures, all well fitting in with their neighbours. again, in this case, the lava, flowing over a convex surface, had contracted on the surface and caused the wonderful network of grooves. in one section the crater had the appearance of an ancient roman or etruscan amphitheatre with seats in many tiers or steps, separated by vertical cracks--as if cut out into separate blocks of stone. [illustration: strange formation of volcanic rock.] [illustration: volcanic cavities (matto grosso).] on the east side of the greatest portion of one crater--which would seem to have been the most active of all--i found again immense boulders with stratified rock above them resembling masonry work, just the same as and at the same elevation as the layers i had examined in the larger elongated horseshoe crater. in the centre of the smaller crater there flowed a rivulet of crystal-like water most delicious to drink. undoubtedly those eastern rocks were the lip of the crater, for i discovered there two flows of lava in corrugations and network designs such as we had observed on the summit of the greater section. i had great difficulty in climbing up the steep internal walls of the crater, and on the steep slopes with dried grass, which was slippery to a degree. on the top of the crater were great masses of carbonated rock; also patches of lapilli, and red and white sand, plentiful everywhere in that zone. the smaller crater--it seemed to me--must have been a mere safety valve for the larger one. its elevation, it will be noticed, was the same as that of the latter. from the summit of the one on which i was standing i could perceive the other to the e.n.e., forming the eastern boundary of this immense volcanic hollow. the southern part of this great double crater was subdivided into several sections, all in great rocky terraces--quite vertical except in their lower portion, which was sloping and had evidently been filled to a great extent by an accumulation of ashes and erupted refuse. on the side on which i stood, however, the crater had not the diabolical, quite awe-inspiring, appearance of the larger section of the huge volcanic mouth--quite unscaleable by humans in its central section. in the deep cracks in the rock were several small grottoes. i experienced some difficulty and much fatigue in climbing to the top (elev. , ft.) of the extinct volcano, and especially in reaching the lip of the crater, owing to the thick and much entangled scrub with innumerable thorns. our camp was at , ft., in a delightful spot at the junction of two streams, one from the south descending from the volcano, the other from the north. the two rivers united flowed north--i think eventually into the rio das mortes. when we moved out of camp on may th (temperature, minimum °, maximum ° fahr.) i noticed that, after passing the wall-like section of the crater in the northern aspect, there were strata with a dip south in the inner part of the crater. the northern face of this vertical wall showed thick strata cracked into squares and rectangles with a dip in two different directions at an angle. there a draining channel had formed. two rows of circular holes--like port-holes--were to be seen, one directly under the summit, the other one-third down the cliff side. a giant rectangular tower of solid rock stood erect parallel to the great wall. skirting this vertical wall we travelled north-west-by-west, rising gradually to , ft. on a deep layer of red volcanic sand and grey ashes. looking back to the east we had a complete view of the two-tiered plateaux with their vertical northern walls, showing a dip south in their stratification. a crowning mound could also be observed surpassing their height, when we rose still higher to , ft. on the summit of a ledge of cracked lava with a slant west-wards. on the eastern side, where it had crumbled owing to a subsidence, it showed a rounded moulding, whereas on the other side were great waves of lava. the lava had flowed from east to west. after leaving this curious spot we went over undulating red and ochre-coloured sand and more grey ashes. we rose twice to an elevation of , ft. we crossed a streamlet of delicious water flowing north over a red lava bed. then more and more ashes were found all along. a second stream--also flowing north--was then negotiated, also over a red lava bed (elev. , ft.), after which we climbed to , ft., descending soon after to , ft. on the banks of another river flowing north-east. at this spot were two more enormous lava-flows--one on each side of the stream, and extending in a tortuous course from south-west to north-east. the lava had flowed north-east. on rising slowly in deep red sand to an elevation of , ft. we saw two prominent elevations of brilliant red colouring to the south--they, too, with vertical cliffs to the north. to the west loomed two huge twin plateaux separated by an immense crack, also with vertical walls to the north and a slight dip south in the strata forming the various terraces. chapter xix the paredão grande--a cañon--a weird phenomenon--troublesome insects we had reached a spot of most amazing scenery--the paredão grande--a giant hill mass displaying a great crater in its north side. two high cones stood above the immense red-baked wall at its eastern end, where it was in huge blocks stratified in thicknesses varying from to ft. each. in that eastern section the strata were perfectly horizontal. on the western side of the crater was a colossal quadrangular mountain of red-baked rock--a solid mass of granite with a narrow band, slightly discoloured, all along its summit. there--above--we also perceived a slight grassy slope, and above it again a great natural wall in layers ft. thick. from the bottom of the mountain this upper natural wall resembled the defences of a great castle built on the summit of the giant rock. in approaching this strange sight we had gone over extensive deposits of ashes and yellow lava pellets and balls. [illustration: a vertical mass of solid rock of a brilliant red colour.] the elevation at the foot of this immense block was , ft., the summit of the rock ft. higher--so that the reader can easily imagine how impressive this quadrangular block of bright red rock was, several hundred yards in length on each side and metres high. as we reached camp rather early i went to examine the block from all sides. on the southern side alcides and i climbed up to within ft. of the summit, and from that high point obtained a stupendous panoramic view of the great expanse of undulating country to the south and south-east, while it was almost absolutely flat to the west as far as the horizon line. to the south-west were distinguishable some extraordinary-looking cylindrical table-lands--like immense sections of columns--rising well above the horizon line. to the south in the distance a peculiar formation of mountains could be seen--first a separate prismatic mountain like a gabled roof with a well-defined vertical high wall standing all along its longitudinal apex line. parallel to this and to one another were three sets of mountains, with such steep sides that they seemed like gigantic walls standing up on the flat country. behind them was a flat-topped plateau with a small cone rising above it. the sides of the latter plateau formed a steep escarpment. to the south-east was a domed plateau, red in its lower section, green on the top. between this plateau and the last wall-like mountain, several hundred feet in height, stood a conical peak with a natural tower of rock upon it. beyond, to the south-east, could just be perceived two pyramidal mountains, but they were very distant and scarcely visible. the valley itself was greatly furrowed in deep, long channels. due south were dome-like mounds--each of these, mind you, standing out individually upon an almost flat plain. in the north-western corners of the great quadrangular paredão rock i saw a spot where it would have been quite easy to climb up to the summit, as portions of the rock had crumbled down and had left an incline. but i had no object in making the ascent on that side, especially as i had already obtained the view i required from the south side. also because i was heavily laden, carrying cameras, aneroids, a large prismatic compass, and three heavy bags of money slung to the belt round my waist, and did not feel up to the extra and useless exertion. great arches with a span of over metres were to be seen in the lower part of the western wall. to the south there was a huge spur of lava with the geometrical pattern upon its surface we had already observed elsewhere. in this particular case, too, it appeared to me that the peculiar net of surface channels had been formed in coming in contact with the air, and not underground in the boiling cauldron of the volcano when the ebullition of the rock ceased. they were only found at a lower elevation because they had gone down with a great subsidence which had taken place, and in which neither the quadrangular paredão grande, nor the peculiar isolated mountains we had observed from its height, had been affected. they had remained standing when all the rest sank for some six hundred feet and, in places, more. that might perhaps account for the extraordinary shapes of all those mountains, which could not otherwise be explained. [illustration: the paredão grande (matto-grosso).] at the foot of the vertical giant block on the west many domes of lava, channelled in a quadrangular network pattern, and ridges and cones, were found, all with a slope to the west. i had a great struggle in my research work that day, owing to the thick scrub with vicious thorns that tore one's clothes and skin mercilessly. we came upon an immense deep crack in the earth surface--a regular cañon--which extended all along the centre of the great valley. on the opposite side of it were again big domes of lava in corrugated designs, also a gigantic circular crater. many natural crucibles of iron rock, some cylindrical in shape, others oval, others formed not unlike pompeian lamps--while others still were square or rectangular or lozenge-shaped--were to be seen in many spots on the moraine-like tails that extended southward, like the tentacles of an octopus, and in the heaps of much carbonized rock and solidified froth produced by what was once boiling rock. the mounds of froth were usually collected in depressions. the west side of the paredão was decidedly the most interesting of all. its great arches showed that it must have once formed the sides of a great cauldron--the top of which had subsequently collapsed or been blown off. this seemed quite apparent from the discoloration in the rocky cliff some ft. above the arches, which followed the exact line of what must have been the thickness of the vault. the rock in that discoloured section was perfectly smooth, whereas above that it became much cracked vertically in layers, and gave the appearance of a masonry wall. toward the south-western corner there was a prismatic tower. where the peculiar isolated rocks near the tower formed a spur, a dip was noticeable in the flow of the once molten rock, following what must have been at that time the surface soil over the cauldron's roof. a huge triangular crater could be seen, from which started an enormous crack of great length in the lava-flow of the valley to the west. the southern face of that stupendous rocky quadrangle was not quite so vertical as the west and north sides, and was more in tiers or steps of lava--but very steep indeed. it had in its lower part a great spur extending southward. as i have said, alcides and i arrived within ft. of the summit of the great paredão, at an elevation of , ft., the summit being , ft.; but owing to the last ft. being absolutely vertical and the top rock of a crumbling nature, and as my object in wishing to obtain a full view of the country to the south had been attained, i did not think it worth while to court an accident for nothing. it was well after sunset when we were up there, and it would take a long time to return to camp. so we hastened on our return journey. the sunset that night--which we watched from that high point of vantage--was really too stupendous for words, and not unlike an aurora borealis--red, gold and violet lines radiating from the sun like a gorgeous fan and expanding as they approached the summit of the sky vault. the descent was more difficult than the ascent, owing to the slippery nature of the rock. at night, while back in camp, we saw to the w.n.w., quite low on the horizon, a brilliant planet--possibly venus. the stars and planets appeared always wonderfully bright and extraordinarily large on fine nights. whether it was an optical illusion or not i do not know, but the phenomenon, which lasted some hours, was seen by all my men, and appeared also when the planet was seen through a powerful hand telescope. it seemed to discharge powerful intermittent flashes, red and greenish, only toward the earth. those flashes were similar to and more luminous than the tail of a small comet, and of course much shorter--perhaps four to five times the diameter of the planet in their entire length. whether this phenomenon was due to an actual astral disturbance, or to light-signalling to the earth or other planet, it would be difficult--in fact, impossible--to ascertain with the means i had at my command. perhaps it was only an optical illusion caused by refraction and deflected rays of vision, owing to the effect upon the atmosphere of the heated rocky mass by our side and under us--such as is the case in effects of mirage. i am not prepared to express an opinion, and only state what my men and i saw, merely suggesting what seem to me the most plausible explanations. at moments the planet seemed perfectly spherical, with a marvellously definite outline, and then the flashes were shot out especially to the right as one looked at the planet, and downward slightly at an angle, not quite perpendicularly. that night, may th- th, was cold: min. ° fahr. but during the day at a.m. the thermometer already registered ° fahr. the sky, half covered by flimsy transparent mist to the east, and by globular thin clouds, large overhead and of smaller dimensions to the west, developed later in the day into a charming mackerel sky, with two great arches of mist to the south, and delicate horizontal layers of mist near the earth. it was only when we were some distance off that we obtained a full and glorious view of the western side of the paredão. the upper stratum showed a slight dip north, then there was a ledge on which grass seemed to flourish, and below it two parallel strata in a wavy line from north to south. those two strata could be traced again--after a dip--in the range with two cones, separated as we have seen by a deep gap from the great wall-cliffs of the paredão. the indication of what must have been once an enormous dome over a huge cavity or cauldron could be noticed in the western cliff, and also numerous chambers, large and small--at least, judging by the arches in great numbers noticeable in the wall. in other words, you had there the same effect as the one often seen in cities when houses are pulled down and the remains of the various rooms are visible on the remaining side walls. looking north as we left the disturbed region of the paredão grande, we came upon a great valley, with a depression in its centre. we were still travelling on volcanic ochre-coloured sand in deep layers, especially as we rose to an altitude of , ft., overlooking a huge basin. we had then a good general view of the southern aspect of the paredão grande. in its side a huge gap with vertical walls--a vent perhaps--could be noticed, reaching as far as the summit of the mountain. it was interesting to note that all the great cracks in the earth's crust found in that region almost invariably had a direction from north to south, so that the ranges which remained bordering them must have split in a lateral movement east and west. six kilometres from camp through the forest we came upon some singularly delicious green, smooth grassy slopes. in other places were perfectly circular or oval concave basins of volcanic ashes, in the centre of which stood charming groups of _burity_ palms and trees with most luxuriant foliage. these _bosquets_ existed in the hollow of all the basins where profuse infiltrations of moisture caused the luxuriant vegetation. we were at an elevation of , ft. on going down to a stream (elev. , ft.) we encountered great flows of lava. it had flowed in a westerly direction. we were proceeding through enchanting vegetation when we came to a second and a third _cuvette_ or basin adorned with plentiful healthy palms in its central point. as i was admiring the curious sight of these clusters of high vegetation absolutely surrounded by a wide band of lawn--such as one would see in a well-kept english park--a heavy and sudden storm arrived, which in a few seconds drenched us to the marrow of our bones. i have seldom seen or felt drops of water of such weight and size as when the rain began, followed within a few seconds by a downpour in bucketfuls. animals, baggage, and men, dripping all over, went along, rising to , ft. above the sea level, by the side of a conical hill. a huge block of volcanic rock--shot and deposited there evidently from elsewhere--was to be seen near by. eighteen kilometres from our last camp we descended to a streamlet, dividing a grassy basin like the preceding ones. again i noticed here that all divisions between ranges--caused by volcanic or other violent action, and not by erosion--were in a direction from north to south. we had this in the paredão grande, and in the triple division of the top-dyked mountains on the south, and also in the gabled and tower mountains we had observed for some days to the south-west. again during the night i saw to the west the phenomenon of the previous evening repeated--the strange flashes directly under and occasionally to the left of the brilliant planet--that is to say to the right of the person observing it. this was from camp areal, where we suffered terribly during the day from our friends the _pium_, which filled our eyes and ears and stung us all over; and at sunset from the _polvora_ or _polvorinha_ (or powder), so called because of their infinitesimal size--most persistent mosquitoes, so greedy that they preferred to be squashed rather than escape when they were sucking our blood on our hands and faces. fortunately, during the night--with the cold (min. fahr. °)--we had a little respite, and these brutes disappeared, only to return to their attack at sunrise with the warmth of the sun. at a.m. the thermometer already registered a temperature of ° fahr. in the sun--a jump of °, which, notwithstanding mosquitoes and _pium_, my men greatly enjoyed. [illustration: the paredão grande, showing vertical rocks with great arches.] i have never seen men suffer more from the cold than my followers. they were simply paralyzed and frozen at that comparatively high temperature. they moaned and groaned and wept all night, although they slept in their clothes and were tightly wrapped up in heavy blankets. moreover, they had spread a heavy waterproof double tent over the lot of them, as they lay closely packed to one another, covering heads and all, and had arranged a blazing fire enough to roast an ox quite close to them. personally, i was quite happy under a mere shelter tent--open for precaution on all sides, owing to preceding experiences, so that i could see what was going on all around without getting up from my camp bed. i only had a mere thin camel-hair blanket over me. i never slept in my clothes, preferring the comfort of ample silk pyjamas. in the morning i always indulged in my cold shower bath, two large buckets of water being poured by alcides upon my head and back, amid the shivering yells of my trembling companions, who, at a distance, watched the operation, wrapped up to such an extent that merely their eyes were exposed. "he is mad!" i often heard them murmur with chattering teeth. beneath heavy horizontal clouds low in the sky and ball-like cloudlets above, we started off once more from an elevation of , ft. at the camp to proceed over a plateau , ft. high and some kil. broad from east to west. then we descended into another charming _cuvette_ (elev. , ft.), and farther on to a streamlet flowing north, the rio coriseo. we were then travelling over reddish and ochre-coloured volcanic sand, going through stunted and fairly open _matto_ (forest), higher up at , ft. in successive undulations crossing our route at right angles. in one of the depressions (elev. , ft.) was a river--the rio torresino--flowing north. quantities of yellow globular lava pellets and lumpy blocks--evidently ejected by a volcano--were seen. the stream cabeça de boi--forming after the rio macacos (or river of monkeys) a tributary of the rio das mortes, into which flowed all the rivulets we had lately met--was next crossed (elev. , ft.). over more and deep beds of ashes we journeyed at , ft. on the southern edge of a great grassy basin extending from east to west. again a delightful group of palms and healthy trees was in the typical depression. ant-hills were innumerable on all sides. one could not help admiring their architectural lines, which formed all kinds of miniature fortresses and castles. we were worried to death by the _pium_ or _lambe-olhos_ (eye-lickers), as the brazilians call them, which followed us all day in swarms around our heads and hands, entering our mouths, noses, eyes and ears. only for a few moments, when there blew a gust of wind, were we freed from this pest, but they soon returned to their attack with renewed vigour. we rose again to an altitude of , ft. on another great dome of red lava, which had flowed northwards, as could be plainly seen as we ascended on its rounded back. upon it were quantities of crystals and yellow lava pellets and pebbles and carbonated rock, resting on whitish and grey ashes. on the summit, where fully exposed, numerous perforations, cracks and striations were visible in the flow, we were able to observe plainly how the lava in a liquid state had flowed and quickly cooled while other strata of liquid lava flowed over it, one overlapping another like the scales of a fish, and forming so many oval or ovoid bosses with channels between. from that high point we had a perfectly level sky-line all around us, except for the paredão grande and the paredãozinho, then to the e.n.e. of us. at an elevation of , ft. we perceived that day to the e.s.e. a double-towered massive rocky mountain of a brilliant red colour, reminding one of the shape of an egyptian temple, and a lower hill range in undulations behind it to the south, projecting at its sides. we were marching on the northern edge of deep and extensive depressions to the south and south-east of us. domed undulations in progressive steps from north to south were noticeable in the southern portion of the landscape, and from south to north in the northern and much-wooded zone. when we were at an elevation of , ft. we had still red and yellow sand and ashes with stunted and sparse vegetation. upon descending we skirted the southern side of another peculiar oval basin--this time one which possessed a thin strip or row of tall vegetation in perfect alignment in the central line of depression. a deep deposit of grey ashes and sand encircled this _cuvette_. the general longitudinal direction of the oval was from the south, the highest point, to the north, the lowest of the rim. having travelled kil. from areal we made camp on a streamlet flowing north. the company of my men was a great trial to me--a penance i had to bear in silence. what was more, i could not let it appear in the slightest degree that it was a penance to me, if i did not wish to make matters worse. pusillanimity and fear are two qualities which i cannot quite understand nor admit in men. hence, it is well to be imagined what i suffered in being with followers who, with the exception of alcides and filippe the negro, were afraid of everything. one of the men had a toothache. his last tooth in the lower jaw was so badly decayed that merely the outside shell remained. no doubt it gave him great pain. i offered to remove it for him--without a guarantee of painless extraction. the fear of greater pain than he endured--even for a few minutes--was too much for him. he would not hear of parting with what remained of the tooth. result: for twelve consecutive days and nights that fellow cried and moaned incessantly--holding his jaw with both hands while riding a quiet mule, and sobbing _hai, hai, hai, hai!_ all day long at each step of the animal--with variations of _hoi, hoi, hoi, hoi_, when the mule went a little quicker, and significant loud shrieks of _uppeppé, uppeppé, uppeppé_ when the animal began to trot, giving the rider an extra pang. that intense pain invariably stopped at meal-times, and it did not seem to have an appreciable effect on the man's ravenous appetite. my men never let a chance go by to let their companions share to the fullest extent in their sufferings. they had no consideration whatever for other people's feelings. in all the months they were with me they never once showed the slightest trace of thoughtfulness towards me, or indeed even towards any of their comrades. mean to an incredible degree in their nature--and i am certain no one could have been more generous than i was to them in every possible way--they believed that no matter what i did was due to wishing to save money. if i would not allow them to blaze away dozens of cartridges at a rock or a lizard--cartridges were a most expensive luxury in central brazil, and, what was more, could not be replaced--it was because i wished to economize. if one day i ate a smaller tin of sardines because i was not so hungry, remarks flew freely about that i was a miser; if i did not pitch a tent because i preferred, for many reasons, sleeping out in the open on fine nights, it was, according to them, because i wished to spare the tent to sell it again at a higher price when i returned home! they discussed these things in a high voice and in a most offensive way, making my hands itch on many occasions and my blood boil. but i had made up my mind that i would never lose my temper with them, nor my calm; and i never did, trying as it was to keep my promise. with all this meanness of which they were accusing me, these poltroons were clothed in garments such as they had never before possessed in their lives; they were gorging themselves with food such as they had never dreamt of having in their homes, where they had lived like pariah dogs--and huge heaps were thrown daily to the dogs--and they were paid a salary five times higher than they could have possibly earned under brazilian employers. what annoyed me a great deal with these men was the really criminal way in which they--notwithstanding my instructions--always tried to smash my cameras and scientific instruments and to injure anything i possessed. those men were vandals by nature. the more valuable an object was, the greater the pleasure they seemed to take in damaging it. thus another and unnecessary burden was placed upon me in order to save my instruments from destruction, not only from natural accidents but through the infamy of my followers. those fellows seemed to take no pride in anything. even the beautiful and expensive repeating rifles and automatic pistols i had given each man had been reduced to scrap-iron. yet they were so scared of indians that the first time we met some, they handed over to them anything that took their fancy--and which belonged to me, of course--for fear of incurring their ill-favour. during my absence from camp they even gave away to the indians a handsome dog i had, which i never was able to trace again. like all people with a dastardly nature, they could on no account speak the truth--even when it would have been to their advantage. they could never look you straight in the face. hence, full of distrust for everybody, all the responsibility of every kind of work in connection with the expedition fell upon me. i not only had to do my own scientific work, but had to supervise in its minutest detail all the work done by them, and all the time. it was indeed like travelling with a band of mischievous demented people. the mental strain was considerable for me. on that day's march we had passed two crosses erected, the salesians had told me, on the spot where two men had been murdered by passing brazilians--not by indians. their usual way of procedure was to shoot people in the back--never in front--or else when you were asleep. nearly all carried a razor on their person--not to shave with, but in order to cut people's throats as a vengeance, or even under less provocation. this was usually done in a quick way by severing the artery at the neck while the person to be killed was asleep. the brazilians of the interior were almost altogether the descendants of criminal portuguese, who had been exiled to the country, and intermarried with the lowest possible class of african slaves. they seemed to feel strongly their inferiority when facing a european, and imagined--in which they were not far wrong--the contempt with which, although it was covered by the greatest politeness, one looked down upon them. that was perhaps the only excuse one could offer for their vile behaviour, which, according to their low mental qualities, they liked to display in order to prove their independence and superiority. we made our camp in a heavenly spot--barring the devilish _borrachudo_ (mosquitoes)--on the bank of a crystal-like streamlet flowing north (elev. , ft.). we were really fortunate to have excellent and plentiful water all the time. the thermometer went down during the night to a minimum of ° fahr. there were more shivers and moans from my men. only alcides and filippe behaved in a manly way. the others were in terror of attacks from the _onça pintada_ (_felis onça_) or spotted jaguar of brazil, and of the _terrivel tamanduas bandeira_, a toothless pachyderm, with a long and hairy tail, long nails, and powerful arms, the embrace of which is said to be sufficient to kill a man, or even a jaguar, so foolish as to endeavour wrestling with it. it had a long protruding nose or proboscis, which it inserted into ant-heaps. a tongue of abnormal length was further pushed out, and then quickly withdrawn when crammed with attacking ants. ants were its favourite food. although my men talked all the time of the terrible _bandeiras_, we never had the good fortune to receive the fond embraces of one. we had a beautiful sky--perfectly clear--on may th, except perhaps a faint curtain of mist near the horizon to the west. two of my horses had unfortunately strayed; and as the men searched the _matto_ with trembling knees in fear of meeting a _bandeira_ instead of the missing horses, they were not recovered until late in the afternoon, so that we did not depart until p.m. we went up to the top of an undulation (elev. , ft.), on grey ashes as usual in the lower part of the hill, and red volcanic sand on the summit. that afternoon's journey was not unlike tobogganing up and down all the time--at elevations varying from , to , ft.--over domes of sand, ashes, and eruptive rock, and dykes with depressions, some ft. deep or so, and all extending from north to south. we saw some gorgeous red _araras_ or macaws of giant size. they were a beautiful sight as they flew, with their hoarse shrieks, above our heads. at sunset we were travelling along the north edge of a great grassy depression wooded in its central pit--the line of depression and of the central vegetation being from north to south. [illustration: mushroom-shaped rocks of volcanic formation.] [illustration: a great earthquake fissure in the terrestrial crust (matto grosso).] we were treated to a glorious sunset. the entire sky had become of a deep violet colour and indian red, relieved here and there by golden tints, with blue cloudlets of wonderful regularity in a line. curiously enough, the most brilliant colouring was to the east and not to the west, as would have been expected. eventually the entire sky became of a glorious yellow, like a golden cupola--blending into a lovely emerald green in its highest point overhead. again we found ourselves on another large dome of eruptive rock, in some places reduced into fine tobacco-coloured powder, getting somewhat darker in colour where the under stratum was of sand and soft conglomerate easily crumbled under pressure, and containing pellets of black ferruginous rock and grains of iron. large blocks of iron rock were exposed to the air in many places. we arrived at the third salesian colony of st. josé or sangrador, near which was a small settlement of brazilians--a bad lot indeed. one of my best horses was stolen here, and i was never able to recover it. i remained in that unpleasant place for three days, endeavouring to recover the animal, but it was of no avail. the salesians had a handsome property, the agricultural resources of which they were fast developing. sugar-cane, mandioca, rice, beans, and indian corn were raised with success. father antonio malan, inspector-general of the salesians, arrived from the west, via cuyabá. he was an extremely intelligent and enterprising man--who should be congratulated on selecting such excellent sites for the various colonies, as well as for the sensible, businesslike fashion in which the colonies were conducted. they were indeed the only few bright spots where the light of civilization shone in those sadly abandoned regions. here are the meagre entries in my diary for the two following days:-- may th. remained at sangrador in search of missing horse. temperature: min. °; max. ° fahr. perfectly clear sky. may th. obliged to remain one more day at sangrador. horse missing still. all men have gone searching the forest for it. temperature: min. ½° fahr; max. ° fahr. elevation , ft. it was indeed a great treat to be able to converse with so intelligent a gentleman as father malan after the company i had been in since leaving goyaz. father malan was a man with a heart of gold and great courage. under him the salesians will some day continue their good work and spread happiness and culture among the few indians who now remain in matto grosso. what had already been done by the salesians was amazing. no doubt, with their great enterprise, they would certainly continue their good work of civilization and science combined. although the salesians tried hard to induce men to accompany my expedition, their efforts were rewarded with no success; so that i had to be content with the handful of men i had with me. i foresaw disaster from that moment, for thirty was the least number of men i needed to carry out my work properly--and thirty good men at that. instead, i only had six men, two of them extraordinarily plucky but quite uncontrollable; the others absolutely worthless. had i been a wise man i should have turned back. but i am not a wise man, and i never turn back; so that there only remained one thing to do--go on as best i could, come what might. chapter xx wild animals--an immense chasm--interesting cloud effects on may st (thermometer min. °, max. ° fahr.) i decided to abandon the missing horse and proceed on my journey. i suspected, with reason, that the animal had been stolen. it was no use wasting any more time searching for it. we thus bade good-bye for good to the salesians, and left the great basin of the sangrador river (elev. , ft.). we travelled over sparsely wooded country to , ft. tobacco-coloured soil was still under our feet, yellow spattered lava, then again reddish soil, wonderfully rich and fertile, if only it could be cultivated. the country was here peculiar for its many undulations until we arrived on the rim of a large basin, extending from north-west to south-east, of great campos, with stunted vegetation at first, but later with a truly luxuriant growth of vigorous-looking _jtauba preta_ (_oreodaphne hookeriana_ meissn.), with thick deep green foliage. we crossed two streamlets flowing north. on going uphill we travelled on masses of volcanic pellets (elev. , ft.). to the south we could see a number of hills, the sides of which showed the great effects of erosion by wind and water. nearly all those hill ranges extended from east to west. a long depression could be observed cutting them from north to south. that was a fine day for cloud effects, especially along the horizon, where they displayed horizontal lines, while they had great ball-like tops. higher up, to the north-west, was feathery mist turning the sky to a delicate pale blue. a heavy, immense stratum of cloud in four perfectly parallel terraces extended on the arc from west to north. we descended into a _cuvette_ with the usual cluster of vegetation in the centre and campos around. to the south-west of that _cuvette_ was an elongated but well-rounded mountain, extending from east to west, and beyond, to the s.s.w., in the far distance, an almost identical replica of it. we travelled on deep volcanic sand on the west slope of the _cuvette_ and in deep ashes at the bottom until we arrived at the sangradorzinho river, flowing north. june st (thermometer min. ½° fahr.; max. °; elev. , ft.). heavy mist and rain-clouds, heavy and sultry atmosphere. sky almost entirely covered by clouds. owing to trouble among my followers and waiting for one of my men, who had remained behind in a last effort to find the missing horse, we were unable to leave camp until nearly noon. we rose to an elevation of , ft., leaving behind the great _cuvette_, and marching over parallel domes extending from north to south. between those domes in the depressions were sandy _cuvettes_ of verdant grass and the usual central _bosquets_. cinders and sand were still plentiful, with stunted, thin trees growing upon them. several times that day we reached an elevation of , ft. after passing a streamlet flowing north, we kept at that elevation for a considerable distance, after which, having descended ft. ( , ft.), we found ourselves in a most enchanting, oval-shaped _cuvette_ of cinders well covered with fresh verdure, and in its centre from north to south a row of _burity_ palms. that was indeed a day of great surprises in the way of scenery. no sooner had we left that beautiful _cuvette_ than we came to a magnificent flat open valley extending from e.s.e. to w.n.w. in its northern part, where a pool of stagnant water was to be found, were innumerable _burity_ palms. it was evident that during the rainy season that plain (elev. , ft.) must be entirely under water. in many places it was swampy, even at the time of my visit. it was most refreshing to the eyes to see such expanses of lovely green healthy grass. the mules and horses enjoyed it more than we did, neighing to their hearts' content when we emerged into the great verdant meadow. they tore away with their teeth at the delicious grass as they cantered along gaily. some of the enjoyment of the delightful scenery was taken away from me--not only that day, but every day during almost an entire year--owing to the stupid obstinacy of my men. they carried their magazine rifles fully loaded--eight cartridges in each--and while marching insisted on keeping the rifles cocked; they would not hear of keeping them at safety--so that any extra jerk or a twig of a tree catching the trigger might cause the weapons to go off at any moment. this would have mattered little if they had slung their rifles in the usual way, pointing skyward or else towards the earth. but no-one could never induce a brazilian to do things in a sensible way. no, indeed; they must carry their rifles horizontally upon the shoulder, the muzzles of the nearest weapons always pointing at me. it was no use remonstrating, as they might perhaps have misunderstood it as fear. so all i could do was to trust in providence. i could not have done better, for providence indeed watched over me and protected me on that expedition in a most merciful way--for which i am truly grateful. on several occasions--as was to be expected from the careless way in which the weapons were carried--now one rifle then another went off unexpectedly, and i came mighty near being shot. on other occasions the mules had narrow escapes. once a bullet went right through the hat of one of my men, just missing his head. in any case, i beg the reader to realize how pleasant it was to have the muzzle of a loaded rifle, ready to be fired, pointing at you in front for an average of eight to twelve hours a day for several months. i generally rode last in the caravan in order to prevent straggling, and also to see that any baggage which fell off the pack-saddles was recovered. this was unpleasant in more ways than one. first the clouds of dust raised by the animals as we marched over the sand and cinders, which filled my eyes, mouth and nose; then the constant attention to watch for lost baggage--besides the work of writing my notes as we rode along. the sound of the dangling bells of the mules was monotonous to a degree, and so was the aspect of the animals' tails swinging and slashing from one side to the other in order to drive away tormenting flies. occasionally, when stung fiercely by a horse-fly, one or two animals would dash away wildly, tearing off in their career low branches of trees and even altogether knocking down good-sized trees, four or five inches in diameter. this would seem impossible in any other country, but not in brazil, where the majority of the trees were nearly entirely eaten up inside by ants. the roots, owing to the substratum of lava spread horizontally near the surface, offered little resistance to side pressure upon the tree itself, so that frequently even the weight of a man leaning against a tree was sufficient to knock it down. i never shall forget how impressed i was the first time i saw my men cut the way through the forest, slashing down right and left good-sized trees with one swing each of their _falcon_--heavy-bladed knives some ft. long. what terrific strength! i thought, until i happened to lean against a tree, and down went the tree and myself too. upon examination i found that merely the bark remained, with a few filaments inside--the rest of the interior having been entirely devoured by ants. yet some of the top branches seemed still alive, and had leaves. again, even when quite sound, those trees were extremely anæmic and soft, quite watery inside, and could be cut almost as easily as celery. this does not mean that all the trees of brazil were worthless. no, indeed. these remarks apply merely to that particular portion of brazil in which i was then travelling--where, barring the _burity_ palms in the moist lands and marshes, the trees were mostly rickety and dwarfed, with mouldy barks, malformed limbs, and scanty leaves. that is why, when we came to the healthy mass of _burity_ palms and the lovely young grass, one felt just the same as when, after having been through a hospital, one emerges into the fresh air among healthy people. that night we encamped on the heavenly meadow. we felt we had reached paradise. for the first time great flocks of parrots and gorgeously-coloured macaws played about and enlivened the air with their shrill whistles and shrieks, and flew over the palms, gently swung to and fro by the wind. then innumerable _colibris_--the tiny humming-birds, of marvellous iridescent metallic tints--sucked now from one then from another flower while still flying. indeed, that spot seemed the rendez-vous of all the animals of that region. there you found _onças_ (jaguar), _anta_ (a large pachyderm), the _tapirus americanus_, the _tamandua bandeira_, with its worm-like tongue, (or _myrmecophaga jubata_), and plenty of _veado_ (_cervus elaphus_). the footmarks of all those animals were innumerable near the water. the man i had left behind in order to make a further attempt at recovering the lost horse arrived that evening, his search having been unsuccessful. undoubtedly the horse had been stolen. [illustration: strange geometrical pattern of lava over giant volcanic dome.] although the place where we had made camp was a regular paradise to look at--in the day-time--it might have been compared to warmer regions at night. mosquitoes of all sizes and of all degrees of viciousness rose in swarms from the swamp at sunset, and made our life absolutely miserable. to counterbalance the torture we had a wonderful sunset to look at. first the sky, of a golden colour, was intersected by graceful curves dividing it into sections like a melon; then it gradually became overladen with horizontal black and crimson lines to the west, black to the east and overhead. june the nd was my birthday. i am superstitious by nature, and i would have given anything to celebrate it with some lucky event, although i was at a loss to think of anything lucky that could have happened to me there. indeed, i began my new year badly--much worse even than i expected. that was an ill-omen to me. first of all there was a terrible row among my men in camp. they had taken to their rifles. they wanted to shoot the cook. the man deserved punishment, perhaps, but not quite so severe a one. after a great deal of arguing i quieted them and got them to lay down their weapons. the cook's life was spared--worse luck for me. i was sorry for it when i had my breakfast, for cooking more diabolical than his could not be imagined. during breakfast the news came that another horse of my caravan had been lost. so there was the prospect of another day wasted to recover it. my men were unable to trace it, so i resigned myself to the monetary loss and also to the inconvenience its absence would cause us. my men felt the cold intensely during the night, the thermometer being as low as ° fahr. (minimum). during the day the maximum temperature was ° fahr. and ° in the sun. my only consolation that day was watching the innumerable birds and gazing at the magnificent sunset. the latter consisted that evening of three lines forming arches--two black to the west and the third white--stretching across the sky from north to south. from the higher black line radiations spread, subdividing the sky into rectangular designs--of almost equal size. to the east were great globular masses of mist somewhat confused in shape. the water at this camp was bad, the marsh being over a bed of decayed vegetable matter, which rendered the water of a brownish black colour, like strong tea. its taste was foul. by digging a well a few yards from the lagoon i succeeded, however, in obtaining clean and good water, which filtered through the ashes and sand. our camp was at an elevation of , ft. during the night, june nd- rd, the thermometer was higher than usual (min. ° fahr.), but my men felt the cold more than the previous night because of the heavy mist which set in after sunset, followed by a drizzling rain which damped everything. my men were all attacked by fever, which rendered them more irritable and ill-tempered than ever--if possible. we did not leave camp until . a.m., rising again to the summit of the plateau some ft. higher. there we had to describe a wide arc of a circle, as through the trees we perceived on our left an immense chasm, beyond which was a much disturbed landscape of striking ruggedness. we could see a huge circular crater with eroded lips, rising like the chipped edges of a gigantic cup, in the centre of the great volcanic basin. that depression with high vertical walls all round displayed a large gap to the w.n.w. and another to the south-west. twelve kilometres from our last camp--and still marching along the edge of the circle on the summit of the plateau--we came to a grassy _cuvette_, and then to another hollow with a few _burity_ palms. the wall overlooking the great circular depression was perpendicular, of red igneous rock, with projecting spurs ending in conical, much-corrugated hills. the curious opening to the south-west was much broken up in two places with gaps. in the distance beyond were three ranges of hills, the colour of which appeared a pure cobalt blue. the central crater was formed by rugged red walls with spurs on the east and south-east sides. in the bottom was water with trees all round its edge. there were four square holes from which boiling water gurgled like feeble geysers, and three more holes of a more irregular shape. the hill range on which we stood projected well into the centre of the great circular basin. it had on the west side perfectly vertical walls of black igneous rock. its summit was chiefly formed of ferruginous erupted rock thrown up while in a state of ebullition, which had cooled into a conglomerate of minute globular masses, in shape like the bubbles of boiling water. the great circle around us, as we stood on the outermost point of the projecting spur, was most impressive, with its brilliantly coloured red walls. my men killed a _coatí_--a peculiar, long-nosed carnivorous animal, which had characteristics in common with dogs, monkeys, and pigs. there were two kinds of _coatí_ or _guatí_, viz. the _coatí de mundeo_ (_nasua solitaria_), and the _coatí de bando_ (_nasua socialis_). ours was a _nasua solitaria_. it was a beautiful little animal, about the size of a small cat, with a wonderfully soft brown coat on its back, a yellowish red belly and bright yellow chest and throat. the chin was as white as snow. the long tail, ½ ft. long--was in black and yellow rings. it possessed powerful fangs on both the upper and lower jaws, a long, black, gritty or granular tongue, short ears, powerful short fore-paws with long nails--quite dog-like; long thighs extremely strong, short hips and hind legs, with callosity up to the knee--evidently to allow that part of the leg to rest flat upon the ground. the _coatí_ had velvety black eyes of great beauty, well set in its small well-shaped head. it was a wild little fellow, extremely agile, and could kill a dog much larger than itself with comparative ease. we circled the eastern and northern part of the great cauldron, always remaining on the summit of the plateau at elevations varying from , to , ft. we came upon patches of violet-coloured and then tobacco-coloured sand, and also upon quantities of dark brown sand, generally consolidated into easily friable rock. there were the usual deposits of grey ashes over the underlying volcanic rock which peeped through here and there. on june th we were at the cabeçeira koiteh (temperature, min. ° fahr.; max. ° fahr.; elev. , ft.). close to this camp, from an outstretching spur, i obtained another magnificent view. to the e.s.e. stretched from north-east to south-west a flat plateau, and to the east a flat mountainous block with an eroded passage. headlands branched off from the northern side of the ridges in a north-easterly direction. between them were basins thickly wooded in their lower depressions. the north-eastern portion of the flat range was almost vertical, with many angular and sharply pointed spurs projecting from it. in the centre of the greater basin, of which the others were details, a low convex ridge bulged out, with three conical peaks--two of them at the highest point of the curve. between the first and second cone two twin sub-craters were visible--evidently the two twin circles had formed part of the same crater--in the mountain side of the distant range. a third crater was some distance off to the south-west. to the south-west in the background was a lovely view of flat highlands with huge tower-like rocks standing upright upon them. then to the s.s.w. a regular vertical dyke of rock stood on the top of an elongated conical base. the elevation on the summit of the spur from which we obtained this lovely panorama was , ft.--or no more than ft. higher than our camp. we travelled again that same day on the northern edge of the great depression, and met three more _cuvettes_ of grey ashes with an abundant central growth of _buritys_. these were at a general elevation of , ft., the bottom of the depression being ft. lower. on descending from the table-land, through a gap we discerned far away to the south a long flat-topped plateau extending from south-west to north-east and having a precipitous wall-face. we got down to the caxoeirinha stream, where we found an abandoned hut in the eroded hollow of the stream. the water flowed there over a bed of red lava and extremely hard conglomerate rock made up of lava pebbles and solidified ashes. above this at the sides of the stream was a stratum some ft. thick of grey ashes, and above it a stratum ft. thick of red volcanic dust and sand. as we got higher again and i stood on a projecting promontory, another wonderful view spread itself before me. the sun, nearly setting, in glorious white radiations, cast deep blue and violet-coloured shadows upon the great abyss to my right (n.w.) which was a kilometre or more in diameter and more than ft. deep--surely another great crater. it seemed as if a natural wall of rock must have once existed, joining the promontory on which i stood to the great mass of prismatic red volcanic rock to the west of us, and ending in a flat triangle with a wide base. the surface soil on the height of the peninsula was of spattered lava and black broiled rock and pellets. the bottom of the abyss formed two sweeping undulations--the second from the centre much higher than the first--seemingly a great wave of lava vomited by the crater, by which probably the destruction of the wall joining the peninsula had been caused. to the s.s.e. in the distance stood a high mountain range--or rather a great flat-topped plateau of delicious cobalt blue shades, almost losing itself in the sky. to the east, completing the circle, were two other great spurs of red-baked rock, with precipitous, almost vertical, sides and with much-striated buttresses that ended in conical mounds--eroded into that shape by the action of water and wind. to the south, beyond, a sloping table-land with a pronounced dip eastward extended from east to west. it towered over everything, and was shaped like a trapezium. in front of this sloping table-land was another long flat-topped range, stretching from e.s.e. to w.n.w. again in front of this, could be seen an interesting series of prismatic mounds--like parallel barriers. to the s.s.w. rose a large mountainous mass--another plateau. then came a second range, cut into clear pyramids with rectangular bases, and, beyond, a great expanse of lovely green with some large mounds of a similar shape to those already described. two more pyramids were also to be observed far, far in the distance, while others of a slightly less angular shape were noticeable upon the great flat stretch due west. right under us, at the bottom of the precipice, was thick forest covering, zigzag fashion, the two depressions, roughly in a general direction of south-east to north-west. those two depressions drained that immense basin. it was there that the streamlet caxoeirinha had its birth. the caxoeirinha flowed north-west and fell into the ponte de pedra river, which flowed south. those two streams, with a number of others, formed the head-waters of the great s. lourenço river, a formidable tributary of the rio paraguay or paraná. an extraordinary effect of clouds could be seen that day, and a similar occurrence i saw on many other occasions upon the table-lands of matto grosso. the clouds reproduced--upside-down--the configuration of the country directly underneath them. that was due, no doubt, to the air currents diverted by the obstacles on the earth's surface, which caused the masses of mist above to assume similar forms--but of course, as i have said, upside-down. we were still at an elevation of , ft. the temperature during the night went down to ° fahr. my men, as usual, suffered intensely from the cold--at least, judging by the noise they made, the moans and groans and chattering of teeth. they nearly all had violent toothache. alcides, too, apparently went through agony, but he showed a little more manliness than the rest and did not make quite such a pitiful exhibition of himself. it was curious how certain racial characteristics were difficult to suppress in individuals. alcides had some german blood in him--rather far removed. he could not speak german, nor did he know anything about germany. yet german characteristics came out in him constantly. for instance, the uncontrollable desire to write his own name and that of his lady-love on trees and rocks all along our passage. alcides was really very good at calligraphy, and some of his inscriptions and ornamentations were real works of art. many half-hours did we have to waste at the different camps, waiting for alcides to finish up the record of his passage in that country, and many blades of penknives--i had a good supply of them to give as presents to natives--did he render useless in incising the lettering on the trees and stones. [illustration: author's troop of animals wading across a shallow stream.] filippe the negro--who was the best-natured of the lot--had become quite swelled-headed with the big salary he received. arithmetic was not his forte. as he could hardly write, he was trying to work out, with a number of sticks--each representing one day's salary--how much money he had already earned, and how much more he was likely to earn. it evidently seemed to him a large fortune--indeed it was--and his plans of what he would do with all that money in the future were amusing. first of all, the _idée fixe_ in his mind was the purchase of a _mallettinha_, a small trunk with a strong lock, in which to keep his money and his clothes. i took advantage of this to tell filippe--they were all just like spoiled children--that the best place for _mallettinhas_ was manaos, our chief objective on the river amazon, some , kil. away from that point as the crow flew, and about four times, at least, that distance by the way we should travel. many times a day i had to repeat to filippe glowing descriptions of the wonders of the _mallettinhas_, and i got him so enamoured of the _mallettinhas_ to be got at manaos that i made certain that filippe at least would come along and not leave me. i was sure of one thing--that nowhere in the intervening country would he be able to procure himself a little trunk--nor, indeed, could one procure oneself anything else. i supplied my men with ample tobacco. filippe was all day and a great part of the night smoking a pipe. owing to constant quarrels among my men, i had turned him into a cook. when in camp he had to sit hour after hour watching the boiling of the _feijão_. enveloped in clouds of smoke, filippe with his pipe sat in a reverie, dreaming about the _mallettinha_. he was quite a good fellow, and at any rate he did work when ordered. all my men had been given small pocket mirrors--without which no brazilian will travel anywhere. it was amusing to watch them, a hundred times a day, gazing at the reflection of their faces in the glasses. it was nevertheless somewhat trying to one's temper when one ordered a man to do something and then had to watch him for an endless time admiring his own features in the little mirror, and one had to repeat the order half a dozen times before the glass was duly cleaned with his elbow or upon his trousers and set at rest, and the order carelessly obeyed. even alcides--who was far superior to the others in education--could not be kept away from his mirror. while riding he would all the time be gazing at his features instead of looking at the beautiful scenery around us. on leaving camp we again reached the summit of the plateau (elev. , ft.), with its patches of red volcanic earth, violet-coloured sand, and snuff-coloured dust--extremely fine in quality. after crossing a streamlet flowing south, we again continued our journey on the flat plateau, slightly higher at that point, or , ft. we were in the great plain crossed by the ponte de pedra rivulet, flowing southward. once more we obtained a gorgeous view looking south. four parallel ranges stretching roughly from south-east to north-west stood in all their grandeur before us. they were of brilliant red volcanic rock. on the second range, from us, rose a curious square block of rock of gigantic size, resembling a castle with its door and all. in the distance, to the south-west, erosion seemed to have taken place on a great scale in the side of the table-land. the highest point we had so far reached on the plateau on which we were travelling since leaving the araguaya was , ft. there again we found another of the extensive grassy _cuvettes_--the flat bottom of which was only ft. lower than the highest point of the plateau. a luxuriant growth of _burity_ palms and _birero_ trees adorned the centre, the latter very tall and handsome, with smooth white bark and only a dense tuft of dark green foliage at their tops. in the _cuvettes_ i saw, the growth of the tall vegetation invariably ran the long way of the oval. the sky that evening showed great streaks of transparent lines of mist from west to east, the central radiation of these being formed of lines so precisely parallel that they seemed to have been drawn with rule and dividers. directly overhead those lines gradually blended into a more indefinite mass. the radiations did not begin from the vanishing sun on the horizon, nor at the point diametrically opposite on the east, but began to appear only one-tenth up the entire circle of the sky, both west and east. almost globular cloudlets, with the lower section cut off in a horizontal plane--quite typical, as we have seen, of the cloud formation on that central brazilian plateau--crowded the sky, quite low to the north, and also a great many small ball-like clouds which showed with some brilliancy against the blue sky. the sunsets in central brazil were to me always a source of intense joy, interest, and admiration. with certain characteristics which repeated themselves frequently, they always displayed wonderful effects of light and a most peculiar formation of clouds. before reaching camp we passed another oval _cuvette_ with a longitudinal row of trees--so green and tidy as to be just like a portion of a well-kept english park (elev. , ft.). another bit of wonderful scenery, with immense prismatic rocky mountains--really more like dykes--appeared in the distance; and also a vertical walled mountain in the foreground. chapter xxi a beautiful lagoon--strange lunar display--waves of lava--curious grottoes--rock carvings--a beautiful waterfall we camped at the lagoa formosa--or "beautiful lagoon"--a large, verdant, oval-shaped lagoon, entirely covered with grass, only ft. lower than the top of the plateau (elev. , ft.). barring a slight undulation in the land to the north-east of the marsh, the country was there absolutely flat. at night i witnessed a marvellous lunar effect. the half-moon was high up in the sky. soon after sunset two immense concentric arches of mist, with their centres on the horizon to the east, shone like silver rings, their upper edges being lighted by the bluish light of the moon. with the reflection of this in the still waters of the lagoon, the effect was enchanting and intensely picturesque. my men suffered a great deal from the damp--they were always suffering from everything: from the heat of the sun, the rain, the cold, the long marches. that night we had a minimum temperature of ° fahr., the elevation of our camp being , ft. naturally, over the expanse of water the sunrise was wonderful. the sky was well covered by feathery radiations from the north-east, which were intersected by striations shooting skyward from east to west and forming a charming design. the radiations from the north-east reached right across the sky as far as the horizon to the south-west. what astonished me most in matto grosso was the characteristic immobility of the clouds. in the day-time they remained sometimes for hours with hardly any changes or movement. as soon as the sun appeared, rendering the lower sky of a golden yellow and of vivid indian red above, the northern part of the lagoon was enveloped in mist, which rose in angular blocks, vertical on the south side, slanting at a sharp angle on the north. these pointed peaks of mist remained immobile--as if they had been solid--until the sun was well up in the sky. i went once more to gaze at the glorious panorama. in the morning light new and important details were revealed, such as a strange series of dykes of a prismatic shape, of which i could count as many as seven. great transverse depressions or grooves--from s.s.e. to n.n.w., with a dip s.s.e.--could in that light be now plainly detected, and this time two great square castles of rock--instead of one--were disclosed upon the third range of undulations. the high ridge to the south-west displayed a subsidence on a large scale in its central portion, where bare vertical red walls had been left standing on each side. then there were other curious concave depressions or gateways formed in the great table-land--which had for its marked characteristic concave curves on all its slopes. on leaving camp--nearly at noon, after a serious quarrel and fight among my men, which left me worried to death by the petty nonsense and incessant grumbling of my followers--we journeyed at an elevation of , ft., finding shortly after an almost circular _cuvette_ of deep grey cinders, ft. deep (elevation at the bottom , ft.). twelve kilometres farther on we came upon another great depression extending from east to west, with an enormous belt of grassy land. there was the usual cluster of trees and palms in the centre, but larger than usual. to the south were campos--lovely prairies--with sparse and stunted trees--chiefly _goma arabica_ or acacias. the elevation of the upper edge of the _cuvette_ was , ft., that of the bottom , ft. we continued our journey on the top of the plateau, with slight undulations varying in height from to ft. snuff-coloured soil and red sand were invariably noticeable on the higher points, and grey ashes in the lower points, where erosion had caused depressions. then, farther on, the plateau, with an elevation of , ft., was absolutely flat for several kilometres, and showed sparse vegetation and miserable-looking anæmic trees--the thin soil over solid rock affording them inadequate nourishment. eighteen kilometres from our last camp we came upon another oval basin (elev. , ft. above the sea level), extending longitudinally from n.n.e. to s.s.w. on its huge deposits of cinders grew deliciously green, fresh-looking, healthy grass, and a thick clump of _burity_ palms, and _birero_ trees of immense height and thick foliage. those beautiful trees were called by the people of goyaz "_cutibá_" and "_pintahyba_." they were marvellous in their wonderful alignment among the surrounding circle of gorgeous palms. the latter were in their turn screened in their lower part by a belt of low scrub--so that upon looking at that oasis one could hardly realize that it had not been geometrically laid out by the hands of a skilful gardener. on the outer rim of the _cuvette_--away from the moisture--hundreds, in fact, thousands of cones, cylinders and domes, from to ft. high, the work of ants, could be seen, all constructed of bluish grey ashes. we had here a wonderful example, quite sufficient to persuade the most sceptical, of the influence of agglomerations of trees in the formation of clouds. the sky was perfectly clear everywhere except directly above the extensive cluster of trees in the large _cuvette_. quite low down--only a hundred feet or so above the top of the trees--there hung a heavy white cloud. it was a windless day. the cloud ended on all sides exactly where the trees ended, as sharply as if it had been cut with a knife. it looked exactly like a rectangular canopy over the luxuriant vegetation. this appearance was intensified by undulations in the lower part of the cloud, like festoons. in proceeding across the immense circular _cuvette_ i found that the central line of thick vegetation formed an angle. a streamlet of delicious crystal-like water emerged from among the trees. on its bank lay the skeletons of three mules, suggesting a tragedy. on leaving the great _cuvette_ we rose again to the top of the plateau, , ft. above sea level. on descending from a large dome to the west over red volcanic sand and red earth, half consolidated into rock easily friable under slight pressure, we were once more travelling across immense campos in a depression of fine cinders and earth, extending from north to south, at an elevation of , ft. we further traversed two other less important depressions, the deepest being at an elevation of , ft. the jutting headlands of the plateau on which we had travelled were all most precipitous--nearly vertical--and of solid dark red volcanic rock. a magnificent view next confronted us to the south. a huge black square block with a crater was before us, and there appeared what seemed to me to be the remaining sections of a huge volcanic vent and several smaller funnels. the lower lip of the crater formed a terrace. then another wider crater could be perceived in a circular hollow of the spur of the plateau on which we had travelled, and which stretched out into the underlying plain. that spur extended from north-east to south-west, and in it two circular hollows of great size could be noticed, the sides of which were deeply fluted. during the entire march that day we had seen quantities of violet-coloured deposits made up of tiny crystals, carbonized and pulverized rock and ferruginous dust. [illustration: central cluster of trees and palms in a cuvette (matto grosso).] [illustration: a giant wave of lava.] on descending from the summit of the plateau, by a very steep slope, we saw many shrubs of _sapatinho_, a medicinal plant of the genus _euphorbiaceæ_ (euphorbia), growing in the interstices of red igneous rock, and among quantities of débris of marble, crystals, and eruptive pebbles. during the night we had a magnificent lunar display. there was a good deal of moisture in the air, and mist. first of all a gorgeous lunar halo was observed, which later vanished to leave room for a most extraordinary geometrical design upon the partly moon-illuminated clouds and masses of mist. a most perfect luminous equilateral triangle appeared, with its apex downwards to the west and the half-moon in the central point of the base-line of the triangle above. on either side of the apex of the triangle faint concentric circles blended away into the sky near the horizon. later in the night that curious effect disappeared and a multiple lunar rainbow of amazing beauty and perfection was to be admired. in ecstasy at the beautiful sight, and in a moment of forgetfulness, i drew the attention of my men to the wonderful spectacle. "that's the moon!" they answered, with a snarl. talking among themselves, they contemptuously added: "_he_ has never seen the moon before!" and they went on with the never-changing, blood-curdling tales of murders which filled them nightly with delight. the streamlet flowing south, on the bank of which we camped, took its name of sapatinho from the many _sapatinho_ trees which were in the neighbourhood. it was a curious watercourse, which disappeared into a tunnel in the rock, to reappear only farther off out of a hole in a red lava-flow. we had marched until late into the night, and it was not until we arrived and made camp that i noticed that filippe the negro was missing. several hours elapsed, and as he had not turned up i feared that something had happened to him. had he been one of the other men i should have thought it a case of desertion; but filippe was a good fellow, and i had from the beginning felt that he and alcides would be the two faithful men on that expedition. i went back alone a mile or two in the moonlight to try and find him, but with no success. at sunrise i ordered two men to go in search of him. the fellows--who had no mercy whatever even for one another--were loth to go back to look for their companion and his mount. when they eventually started they took a pick each to dig his grave in case they found him dead. fortunately they had only been gone from camp a few minutes when i perceived filippe riding down the steep incline. the minimum temperature was only ° fahr. during the night, but it was so damp that my men felt the cold intensely, especially as there were gusts of a sharp breeze from the north-east. moreover, in the deep hollow with thick grass in which we camped (elev. , ft. above the sea level) we suffered absolute torture from the swarms of _carrapatos_ of all sizes, mosquitoes, and flies. the air and earth were thick with them. the water was dirty and almost undrinkable, as it passed through a lot of decomposing vegetation. i was glad when filippe reappeared and we were able to leave that terrible spot. great undulations were now met with, ft. and more in height. only ½ kil. farther on we came to the presidente stream, flowing south (elev. , ft.) over a bed of ashes, while its banks were formed of thick deposits of finely powdered yellow volcanic sand and dust. we went over a huge dome covered with a stratum of brown sand, exposing on its western side a large wall of igneous rock with much-fissured strata dipping to the north-west. immense isolated rocks showed vertical strata, demonstrating plainly that they had been considerably disturbed at some epoch or other. we were on the bank of another stream (elev. , ft.) flowing south--the capim branco. we were then in another great and deep basin extending from north-west to south-east, in the north-western part of which could be seen on the summit of the rounded hill-tops and spurs an overlapping of rock, evidently produced when in a molten condition. in the south-western part of the slope encircling this great valley there stood another great barrier, formed also by a flow of molten rock curling over itself, as it were, and above this stood angular and pointed shoots of molten stuff of a subsequent origin. large slabs of the latter could be separated easily from the underlying flow. from the summit of that rocky prominence was obtained a lovely panorama of a great plateau, a portion of which had been eroded into a wall (e.n.e.) with three buttresses: another portion was gradually assuming a similar shape. the plateau had a great spur projecting westward. a crater had formed with a broken-up side to the west, leaving the conical-shaped remains of its fragmentary mouth. the plateau ended after describing a sweeping curve--almost a semicircle. in the centre of the immense basin before us were successions of high undulations--like great waves--extending southward in parallel lines (east to west). from the point of vantage on which i stood i could count as many as eight of those huge lines of waves. evidently at some remote period--it would be difficult to say how many thousands of years ago--that was a gigantic mass of molten stuff in commotion. in many places it was apparent that the great waves of molten rock had flowed over and partly overlapped the lower ones. in its higher north-easterly point the basin was wooded. the great basin extended southward. in that direction all the lower ridges with their arched backs showed a depression or dip. on the s.s.w. two more great domes of wonderfully perfect curves were to be observed, and on the south-west stood an isolated gigantic quadrangular mountain of solid rock, with the usual buttresses in the lower portion typical of that region. to the south-east a lovely square-shaped plateau of marvellously graceful lines stood prominent in the centre of the basin. in the same direction, only a few hundred yards off, was a most peculiar angular rock, which looked exactly like the magnified crest of an immense wave. that was just what it had been formerly--the wave, of course, of a gigantic molten mass of rock, set in violent motion by an immeasurable force. it was the terminal point of the great succession of rocky waves which we had skirted to the north in order to arrive at that point, and which extended from the great semicircle we had passed the previous day. [illustration: strange rock-carvings of matto grosso.] at the terminal point of those rocky waves--or wherever the rock was exposed--it was evident that all those undulations had received a similar movement and had formed the great backbone range of rock, fully exposed in the last undulation. i had observed the continuation of this great rock crest the previous day in the basin previous to reaching the capim branco valley. there it crossed the spur on which i was--"observation spur," i shall call it for purposes of identification--almost at right angles. it seemed as if two forces had been acting simultaneously but in different directions, and at various points had come into conflict and eventually had overrun each other. the last great rocky crest at capim branco, when seen in profile, looked like a huge monolith with a slight inclination to the south-east. the formation of the rock itself showed a frothy appearance, such as is common with any liquefied matter while in a state of ebullition. it is quite possible, too, that the great wave of molten matter travelling from north-east to south-west, upon encountering some obstacle, had its run interrupted and had cooled down, while the upper portion of it, from the impetus received, curled over the summit of the arrested solidified rock below. in fact, there was plenty of evidence to show that while the lower stratum cooled down other sheets of lava flowed above it, forming many successive layers. in the eastern part, where they were at an angle of °, these had cracked considerably in cooling. the central part of the great wave was entirely made up of vertically fissured strata. the lower half of the mass of rock showed markedly that it was an anterior wave to the upper. there was a wide gap formed by the volcanic crack between this and the continuation of the undulations to the south-west, which got lower and lower. perhaps before the crack occurred that hill was like the others on the east and west of it, padded with red earth. it must have become barren by the great shock which caused the surface of the earth to divide, and which no doubt shook the surface deposits down. in examining its north-eastern neighbour it could be seen that it actually tumbled over when the subsidence occurred, leaving a gap a few hundred metres wide. a short distance beyond, on the s.s.e., was an interesting table-land sloping to the north-east, on the north side of which could be observed yet one more beautiful semicircular extinct crater. the rim, or lip of lava of this crater, had fissured in such a peculiar way as to give the appearance of a row of rectangular windows. the sections of the crater which remained standing showed two conical buttresses above massive cylindrical bases. from the crater started a huge, deep crack, to ft. deep and to ft. wide, which farther down became the actual bed of the stream. on both sides of this crack was a deep deposit of red earth and sand, the stratum below this being a solid mass of lava. the crater on the north-east side of the mountain had an inclination to the north, but was quite vertical on the south side. beautiful crystals were to be found in abundance on this mound, as well as great quantities of marble chips and crystallized rock in various forms. on the side of this strange mound of rock i found some curious shallow caves, formed by great fissures in the rock. the vertical outer walls of these caves were painted white with lime dissolved in water. there were some puzzling carvings, which interested me greatly. i could not quite make up my mind at first whether those carvings had been made by indians or whether they were the work of escaped negro slaves who had found shelter in those distant caves. in character they appeared to me indian. negroes, as a rule, are not much given to rock-carving in order to record thoughts or events. moreover, those primitive carvings showed strong characteristics of hunting people, such as the indians were. there were conventional attempts at designing human figures--both male and female--by mere lines such as a child would draw: one round dot for the head and one line each for the body, arms, and legs. curiously enough--and this persuaded me that the drawings had been done by indians--none of the figures possessed more than three fingers or toes to any extremity. as we have seen, the indians cannot count beyond three--unlike members of most african tribes, who can all count at least up to five. this, nevertheless, did not apply to representations of footmarks, both human and animal--which were reproduced with admirable fidelity, i think because the actual footprints on the rock itself had been used as a guide before the carving had been made. i saw the representation of a human footmark, the left, with five toes, and the shape of the foot correctly drawn. evidently the artist or a friend had stood on his right foot while applying the left to the side of the rock. when they attempted to draw a human foot on a scale smaller than nature, they limited themselves to carving two lines at a wide angle, to form the heel, and five dots to represent the toes. the most wonderful of those rock carvings were the footprints of the jaguar (_onça_), reproduced with such perfection that it seemed almost as if they had been left there by the animal itself. not so happy were the representations of human heads--one evidently of an indian chief, with an aureole of feathers, showing a painfully distorted vision on the part of the artist. the eyes were formed by two circles in poor alignment, the nose by a vertical line, and the mouth, not under but by the side of the nose, represented by two concentric curves. a figure in a sitting posture was interesting enough--like a t upside down, with a globe for a head and a cross-bar for arms. the hands had three fingers each, but there were only two toes to each foot. it was interesting to note how the sculptors of those images caught, in a rudimentary way, the character of the subjects represented. this was chiefly remarkable in the footprints of birds and other animals, such as deer. they seemed particularly fond of representing deer-horns--sometimes with double lines at an angle. that was possibly to commemorate hunting expeditions. a frequent subject of decoration was a crude representation of the female organ; and one a magnified resemblance, angularly drawn, of an indian male organ garbed in its typical decoration. [illustration: weird lunar effect witnessed by author.] the face of the rock was absolutely covered with drawings, many being mere reproductions of the same design. some were so rudimentary that they were absolutely impossible to identify. one fact was certain, that those carvings had been made by men who were trackers by nature and who observed chiefly what they noticed on the ground, instead of around and above them. thus, there were no representations whatever of foliage or trees, no attempts at reproducing birds, or the sun, the moon, the stars. the most interesting of all, from an ethnological point of view, were the geometrical designs. they closely resembled the incised lines and punch-marks of the australian aborigines, and the patterns common in polynesia. concentric circles--of more or less perfection--were common, some with a central cross of three and four parallel lines. coils seemed beyond the drawing powers of indian artists. ovals, triangles, squares, the egyptian cross (t-shaped), series of detached circles (these generally enclosed within a triangle, quadrangle or lozenge) were frequent. even more frequent were the parallel incised lines, generally used as subsidiary filling or shading of other patterns, such as concentric circles, or sections of triangles or squares. it may be noted that a certain intelligence was displayed by the artist in dividing circles fairly accurately into four and eight sections, the diameters intersecting pretty well in the centre of the circles. one pattern which seemed to take their fancy was that of an oval or a circle with a number of dots inside. in examining the cave closely, inside and outside, i also found upon the wall, which was simply covered with those images, some curious marks resembling the letters h p, a p, and w [symbol: pyramid sign; concentric triangles], which seemed of a more recent date--perhaps left there by some missionary father or native explorer, or by some escaped slave. just below the point where the stream capim branco entered the s. lourenço river (elev. , ft. above the sea level), there was a most beautiful waterfall--the salto floriano peixoto. two minor falls, some ft. high (salto benjamin) were also to be seen under arches of luxuriant vegetation, just above the point of junction of the two streams. the roaring and foaming volume of water of the greater fall rolled over a vertical volcanic rock, about ft. high and ft. wide, with a small terrace half way up its face. the bed of the river--below the fall--was, like all the torrents of that region, of strangely shaped lava blocks. with the dense foliage, the innumerable _caité_, a medicinal plant with huge leaves, the festooned liane and creepers--all most verdant in the sombre green light filtering through the foliage and the moisture of the abundant spray from the fall--it was indeed a magnificent sight. in order to see it, however, one had to suffer a great deal, because in forcing one's way through the dense vegetation one got literally covered with _carrapatos_ and _carrapatinhos_. above the falls, for some hundreds of yards, there were terrific rapids in the river, which flowed over a steep bed of yellow lava in terraces, over steps and over a fourth minor fall some distance off. distances from the araguaya to capim branco kil. metres. araguaya to ponte alto ponte alto to fogaça fogaça to prata prata to ponte queimada ponte queimada to bella vista bella vista to agua quente agua quente to barreiros barreiros to agua emeindada agua emeindada to tachos tachos to bugueirão bugueirão to paredãozinho paredãozinho to paredão grande paredão grande to cabeça de boi cabeça de boi to sangrador sangrador to sangradorzinho sangradorzinho to varzen grande varzen grande to lagõa secca lagõa secca to caxoerinha caxoerinha to ponte de pedra ponte de pedra to lagõa formosa lagõa formosa to xico nunes xico nunes to sapaturo sapaturo to presidente presidente to capim branco ----------- total =========== chapter xxii in search of the highest point of the brazilian plateau--mutiny--great domes--travelling by compass--a gigantic fissure in the earth's crust i made up my mind that i would continue my journey westward no farther, and would now proceed due north in order to explore the most important part of the central plateau--the very heart of brazil--precisely where the great rivers xingu and tapajoz had their birth. i believed that we should there find the highest point of the central brazilian plateau. i expected to find in that region the most interesting portion of my journey--from the geographical, anthropological, and geological points of view. i was greatly disappointed from the anthropological aspect, since i met no one at all; but from the geological and geographical i was certainly well repaid for my trouble, great as the trouble was. we had already ridden to a distance of , kil. from the nearest railway. [illustration: a giant quadrangular block of rock.] [illustration: rock-carvings in matto grosso.] my men mutinied on hearing of my plan, which i had kept concealed from them. they acted in a most abject manner. they tried to compel me to return the way we had come instead of going forward. as i flatly refused, they claimed their pay and wished to leave me there and then. without an instant's hesitation they were handed their pay up to date and told they could go. the men had not quite realized that they would have to walk back some kil. to goyaz, without food and without animals. alcides and filippe the negro had remained faithful, and on that occasion stood by my side. unfortunately, alcides, who had a most violent temper, quarrelled with filippe over some paltry matter and drove him over to the inimical camp. so that there i was--with only one man left. i am not much given to losing heart over anything. alcides showed a strong heart on that occasion. he and i proceeded for three days to rearrange the baggage and mend the saddles, etc., in order that we two alone might take along the entire caravan of animals. i did not at all look forward to the extra work of packing all the animals twice a day, and twice a day unpacking them. the loads weighed about fifty pounds each, and there were some thirty of them. then we should have to hunt for the animals in the morning--a job which meant that one had to ride sometimes for miles to track them and bring them all back to camp. this prospect, on top of the work i had already in hand of writing, taking astronomical and meteorological observations, photography, developing negatives, drawing, collecting and classifying botanical and geological specimens, which occupied all day and the greater part of the night, was a little too much for me. but such was my joy at having got rid of my unpleasant companions that i would have put up with any additional discomfort and inconvenience in order to get on. alcides behaved splendidly on that occasion. june th and th were absolutely wasted. the relief from the mental strain of constantly looking after--and being on my guard against--my companions was great. they were days of great happiness to me. on june th alcides and i were making ready to depart, with all the animals and baggage, when the four mutinous followers and filippe the negro--most penitent--begged to be re-employed. under ordinary circumstances i should certainly never have taken them back; but when one was hundreds of miles from everywhere, and had no possible way of finding a man, one had to be patient and make the best of what one could get. i gave them another chance--principally in order to save what i could of my baggage, most of which i was certain i should have had to abandon had i proceeded alone with alcides. the capim branco river was situated between two undulating ridges of lava. i steered a course of ° bearings magnetic (n.w.), beginning a steep climb at once through the thin forest of the plateau to the north. in many places the mules slid and rolled down the precipitous slope of igneous rock and marble débris, scattering the packs in every direction. it was a wonder they were not killed. we urged the animals on, we pushed and pulled them, we held them with all our might by the bridles when they began to slide. after many narrow escapes we reached the summit--an immense flat stretch of campos with stunted trees and delicious crisp air--quite delightful after the stifling atmosphere of the capim branco basin. the elevation above the sea level was , ft. on the summit of the plateau was a deep stratum of red soil. having marched across the entire width of the plateau, we found, on descending on the opposite side, another series of dome-like mounds of crimson volcanic rock, with hardly any vegetation on them--joined together, and forming many headlands, as it were. beyond an empty space--an opening in the landscape--a great barrier crossed the range of domes almost at right angles. we descended through thick undergrowth, under big _jatoba do matto_ (_hymencæa courbaril_ l.) trees. the _jatoba_ or _jatahy_ wood has a high specific gravity, and is considered one of the woods with the highest resistance to disintegration in brazil--as high as kg. gr. per square centimetre. at , ft. we found a streamlet flowing southward. we were then in a grassy basin--another _cuvette_ with two central tufts of thickly packed trees. we were lucky enough to see some _coco babento_ palms, from which we shook down dates which were excellent, although somewhat troublesome to eat, owing to the innumerable filaments protecting the central large stone. these filaments stuck between one's teeth, and were most difficult to remove. the dates were the size and shape of an ordinary english walnut and extremely oily. it was a real joy to see fine healthy trees again, after the miserable specimens we had seen of late. even there, too, the powerful trees which emerged from the lower entangled scrub and dense foliage were greatly contorted, as if they had gone through a terrific effort in order to push their way through to reach the light and air. liane innumerable and of all sizes hung straight or festooned from the highest trees or coiled in a deadly embrace round their branches like snakes. nor were they the only enemies of trees. large swellings could be noticed around most of the trees, caused by the terrible _cupim_ (_termes album_) or white ants, carrying out their destructive work just under the bark. many indeed were the trees absolutely killed by those industrious little devils. as we marched through the _matto_, using the large knives freely to open our way, we had to make great deviations in our course--now because of a giant _jatoba_ lying dead upon the ground, then to give a wide berth to a group of graceful _akuri_ palms, with their huge spiky leaves. those palms had great bunches of fruit. we were beginning now to find trees with fan-like extensions at the roots and base, such as i had frequently met with in the forests of mindanao island (philippine archipelago), where they were called _caripapa_ and _nonoko_ trees. the _vines_ or _liane_ were getting interesting, some being of great length and of colossal size, twisted round like a ship's cable. we rose again to an elevation of , ft. on emerging from the cool dark forest and its refreshing green light, we found ourselves on another plateau with a slightly arched summit, of beautiful campos. from that height we looked over the immense undulating plain to the south. to the south-east we gazed upon a lower flat-topped plateau bounding the valley which, in great sweeping undulations from south-east to north-west, resembled an ocean with waves of colossal magnitude. we travelled across the slightly domed grassy plateau, and found on it a _cuvette_--only slightly depressed this time, but with the usual central line of tall trees with luxuriant foliage, _burity_ palms and _pintahyba_ trees. there, too, we had a surface stratum of red earth and fine brown dust, with an under stratum of grey ashes. soon after we came to a second _cuvette_, and farther north a third could be perceived. in fact, the summit of that particular table-land was made up of subsidiary domes dividing _cuvette_ from _cuvette_ in succession. in going down to , ft. we found a streamlet flowing northwest into the rio das mortes--or "river of death." we were there on the great divide between the waters flowing south into the s. lourenço and eventually into the paraná, and those flowing north--after thousands of kilometres--into the amazon. this little rivulet was therefore interesting to me, for it was the first one i had met flowing north since leaving the araguaya--although not the first whose waters eventually flowed in a circuitous way into the amazon. that was a day of great domes--all of them with perfect curves. on them the grazing was magnificent. to the north a wonderful green dome, larger than the others (elev. , ft.), would have been splendid for cattle raising. not a sign of life could be seen anywhere. seldom have i seen nature so still and devoid of animal life. what immensity of rich land wasted! it made one's heart bleed to see it. there was everything there to make the fortunes of a hundred thousand farmers--yet there was not a soul! there was good grazing, plenty of water. there were no roads, no trails, it is true, but with a little enterprise it would be easy to make them. with a railway passing through, that now wasted land should become the richest on earth. in a depression (elev. , ft.) we came to a streamlet also flowing north, which had made the soil extremely swampy. we had endless trouble in getting across, the animals sinking and sticking in the black mud up to their necks. one of the mules--more reckless than the others--actually disappeared, baggage and all, while madly struggling to extricate itself from the sucking slush and mud. it took all our efforts combined to save that animal. by the time we had all got across, men, animals, and baggage were a sight worth looking at--all filthy, absolutely smothered in black mud. we rose upon yet another dome, and then descended to the rio manso or rio das mortes, the head-waters of which were not far from there, to the south-west, in the serra da chapada. the river was there only metres wide, but too deep and rapid for the animals to ford, so we had to follow its bank in order to find a suitable spot. the river das mortes flowed, roughly, first in an easterly then in a north-easterly direction, and soon, swollen by innumerable streams, became the most powerful tributary of the araguaya river, which it met almost opposite the centre of the great island of bananal. in fact, one might almost consider the head-waters of the rio das mortes as the secondary sources of the great araguaya. the rio das mortes flowed, at the particular spot where we met it, due north, along the edge of the great dome. the elevation of the top edge was , ft. we camped that night on the riberão do boi, a swift torrent tributary of the rio das mortes (elev. , ft.), having marched kil. that day. the cold was relatively severe during the night--the thermometer registering a minimum of ° fahr. we were travelling entirely by prismatic compass. my men--who had no faith whatever in what they called the _agulha_ (compass)--swore that we were going to sure perdition. "how can that _agulha_," said they, "possibly tell you where we can find beans (_feijão_), lard (_toucinho_), and sugar bricks (_rapadura_)?" "it is the invention of some madman!" said one. "it will bring us to our death," sadly reflected another. "if i had only known that we should be entrusting our lives all the time to that _agulha_," murmured a third, pointing contemptuously to the compass, "i should have never come. oh, my poor mother and wife! and my dear little daughter six months old! oh, shall i ever see them again ... shall i ever see them again?" here followed a stream of bitter tears, wiped with the ragged sleeve of his shirt. i thought that a cold bath would do them all good. i ordered them to take all the animals and baggage across the stream. it was a job of some difficulty, owing to the very swift current. a rough bridge had to be constructed over the most dangerous part. the water was freezingly cold. on leaving the river we at once rose again over another great dome (elev. , ft.), from which we obtained a most glorious view of other grassy domes, smooth-looking and well-rounded, with a fringe of forest in the depressions between. down below we could see the rio das mortes we had left behind. it came at that spot from the south-east, and after describing an angle turned to the north-east. from the north-west, at an elevation of , ft., descended the taperinho, a small tributary which entered the rio das mortes. we went over another domed mount, where i found a spring of most delicious water emerging in a gurgle from the very summit of the dome, at an elevation of , ft. on all sides we had beautiful domed prominences with wonderful grazing land. alcides--careless, like all the others, with his rifle--was nearly killed that day. his rifle went off accidentally, and the bullet went right through the brim of his hat, just grazing his forehead. but we were accustomed to this sort of thing--it had happened so often--and i began to wonder when bullets would really wound or kill somebody. indeed, we had a guardian angel over us. [illustration: a picturesque waterfall on the s. lourenço river.] we had descended into the belt of forest in the depression (elev. , ft.), where a streamlet flowed to the north-east into the rio das mortes. we were travelling in a north-easterly direction, owing to the formation of the country; but finding that it would take me too much away from my intended course i again altered our direction to a course due north. at an elevation of , ft. we went over an extraordinary natural bridge of solidified ashes and earth--a regular tunnel--under which passed a streamlet of delicious water--the puladó stream. the river emerged some distance off from under the tunnel. curiously enough, while the vegetation was quite dense both above and below the natural bridge, there was no vegetation at all along the hundred metres forming the width of the bridge. perhaps that was due to the lack of evaporation in that section, which supplied the trees elsewhere with moisture. we rode over many domes of an elevation of , ft., and then over some that were smaller in diameter but of greater height. in the depressions between we invariably found rows of _burity_ palms amidst other vegetation, and the characteristic heavily foliaged trees. we encamped near a delicious spring of water on the very summit of a dome. the water emerged from a circular hole and was warm--so much so that the next morning, when my fahrenheit thermometer registered an atmospheric temperature of °, steam rose from the water of the spring. around the spring a curious conical mound of white finely powdered matter resembling kaolin had formed. this appeared to me to have formerly been a small geyser. the cone was broken on one side and the water did not come out with great force. a few yards down the slope of the dome another similar white cone was to be seen, with a great mass of granular ash-pellets and tufa, such as are commonly found near geysers or thermal springs. we called that camp cayambola. on the night of june th the minimum temperature was ° fahr., the elevation , ft. the sky was somewhat clouded, the clouds occupying four-tenths of the heavens. at sunrise we observed radiations in the sky--this time, curiously enough, from north-east to south-west, instead of from east to west. the longest and highest semicircle above us was in double filaments, and resembled an immense fish-bone. we were supposed to be then in a country infested by cannibal indians--swarms of them. my men were quite amusing in their fears. four of them were troublesome and insisted on the whole expedition turning back in order to see them safely out of danger. i remembered on those occasions an old italian proverb which said that to "women, lunatics, and children" the wisest thing is always to say "yes." so when they threatened all kinds of things if we did not return i generally answered that we would continue a little farther, then we would see; and from day to day this went on, making forced marches forward all the time--generally of from to kil. daily. the dissatisfaction among my men grew, nevertheless, considerable, and a constant watch had to be kept over them. alcides and filippe the negro showed great courage, and, whatever other failings they may have had, they invariably displayed extraordinary bravery from beginning to end. alcides' principal faults were his great wastefulness and violent temper and pride, which made it most difficult to deal with him. he had been entrusted with the commissariat, as with all my other occupations i could not be bothered to sort out and weigh the food for each man at each meal. alcides would not understand that it was unwise, in a country where absolutely nothing was procurable, to throw away daily little mountains of rice and beans and preserved meat, after the men and our dogs had gorged themselves; and that perhaps it would lead some day to our dying of starvation. in confidence i had told him that we might be several months--perhaps a year--before we should be able to get fresh supplies. a little economy would perhaps save us all from disaster. i wanted everybody to have ample food, but i did not see the use of throwing away daily a larger quantity than the men actually ate. it was true that we still had ample provisions of all kinds for some eight months, but we must be prepared for all emergencies. alcides, who was extremely obstinate, would not hear of this. my remarks only made things worse. the waste from that day doubled, and looking ahead into the future it really broke my heart, as i well saw that we should have hard times in front of us--all because of the lack of common-sense on the part of my followers. on leaving camp we climbed to the summit of another gigantic dome of green pasture land (elev. , ft.). we filled our lungs with the delicious air, slightly stirred by a fresh northerly breeze. geographically, we were at a most important site, for it was from that point that the division of waters took place between those flowing eastward into the araguaya and those flowing westward into the cuyabá river. so that within a distance of a few kilometres we had visited the region--the very heart of brazil--from which the waters parted to flow toward three different points of the compass. from that point we rose still higher to the summit of a great table-land, absolutely flat and waterless for over kil. the soil was red in colour, with slippery dried grass upon it and sparse, stunted vegetation. the trees seldom reached a height of ft. they were mostly _gomarabia_ or _goma arabica_--a sickly-looking acacia; _passanto_ with its huge leaves, _piqui_ or _pequia_ (_aspidosperma sessiliflorum_ and _eburneum_ fr. all.), the fibrous _piteira_ or _poteira_ (_fourcroya gigantea_ vent.), and short _tocun_ or _tucum_ palms (_astrocaryum tucuma_ m.). occasionally one saw a _passanto_ tree slightly taller--perhaps some to ft. high--most anæmic-looking. after having travelled some kil. from our last camp we came to a great expanse of _taquary_, a kind of shrub ft. high with spiky leaves of a wonderful green colour. we gazed upon the superb view of an enormous plateau to the west with deep indentations in its vertical sides. huge spurs or rams of rock stretched out across the deep depression, separating the plateau to the west from the one on which we were standing. both plateaux were of equal height, and had evidently at one time formed one immense flat surface. on our side the plateau showed a huge slip of red volcanic earth, with a lower stratum parallel to it of baked brown rock. under it were white lime and ashes, in sections or drifts. in the centre of the valley formed by the separation of the two sections there remained a formidable crater--extinct, of course--with an arc-shaped wall standing erect in its centre, and other lower walls forming an elongated quadrangular channel from south-east to north-west in the bottom of the crater. two conspicuous monoliths stood up behind the huge lip of the crater to the south-west at the bottom of the valley, and also other remnants of the great convulsion of nature which had once taken place there. [illustration: a cañon of matto grosso.] notwithstanding the constant annoyance of my followers, i really enjoyed my journey over the central plateau. the air was fresh and deliciously crisp and clear. one could see for miles and miles and distinguish the smallest detail in the far-away mountain sides, so pure was the atmosphere. this scene was unlike any in other countries. one could describe an entire circle around oneself, and nowhere did the eye meet a column of smoke rising above ground to indicate the presence of man. not a bird was to be seen or heard, not a footprint upon the ground of any beast or creature of any kind. the silence of that land was most impressive. our voices--as we spoke--sounded astonishingly and abnormally sonorous, in that region which for thousands of years had not been contaminated by sound. it seemed as if the sound-waves, undisturbed by the myriads of sounds which--as is well known--remain floating in the atmosphere in inhabited countries, were heard there in all their full and absolute purity. so much were we all impressed by this fact--my men unconsciously--that all the men began to sing, so pleased they seemed with the powerful vibration of their own voices. to the north-west another lovely sight was before us--another huge plateau in dim greyish blue--barring the horizon. in front of it was one more table-land, more broken up, and sloping on the south side. when we reached the north-east edge of the plateau we were travelling upon, we were treated to a fresh marvellous scene. straight in front of us, on the opposite side of a deep depression--at ° bearings magnetic--there stood one of the characteristic two-tiered table-lands stretching from east to west. below us in the depression was an undulating line from north to south of great bosses or domes of exquisite grassy land, resting upon a kind of spur or peninsula jutting out from our plateau--but at a lower elevation--of which it formed part. a formidable crack in the earth's surface extended from north to south on the east of the chain of domes, whereas to the east again of the giant crack was another row of domed hills, forming--when taken as a mass--an undulating terrace; then a vertical wall, above which rested the sloping side of the plateau on which we stood. it may be observed that the strata in the split vertical wall on our side was absolutely horizontal. on the summit of this rocky stratum lay a deposit, ft. thick, composed of red earth and sand over yellow sandstone and ashes, and, lower, grey ashes compressed and consolidated. the lowest stratum visible on the face of the wall was of bright red-baked rock. the great depression, taken in its entirety, extended from south-east to north-west. the huge crater was to the south-east. to the south-west there was an immense basin. chapter xxiii the jangada river--demented descendants of slaves--appalling degeneration--giant monoliths--the river roncador--gigantic natural gateways--the discovery of fossils we had reached the end of the comparatively flat plateau, which varied in elevation on its summit from , ft. to , ft. above the sea level. we were next faced by a most precipitous descent in order to go down to the jangada river--which eventually flowed into the distant rio cuyaba. there was, of course, no trail of any kind, and the course of the descent before us was not unlike trying to take our animals down the almost vertical wall of a fortress. with picks and spades we cut a narrow path for a short distance in order to start the reluctant beasts down. i recommended the greatest care to my men, but instead of following my instructions they drove the rebellious quadrupeds with their whips in a heap along the path--only a few inches wide--which we had cut. result: collisions among the animals and against the wall, and, next, five mules and baggage rolled down the mountain-side at a vertiginous speed until they had reached the bottom, some hundreds of feet below. antonio, the strong man of the party, who tried to go to the rescue of one of the animals, was also dragged down, and came within an ace of losing his life. he was able to embrace a shrub with all his might just before rolling over the precipice, and we rescued him. we had to waste a great deal of time cutting an improvised way in the mountain side. then we had to unload all the animals and convey the loads down on men's heads. each animal was then with great difficulty and danger led by hand down to the stream. great quantities of beautiful marble and crystals were met with, and masses of lava pellets and ferruginous rock. in the jangada valley we found two hot springs emerging from the side of the plateau from which we had descended. i discovered there two miserable tiny sheds belonging to a family of escaped negro slaves. they had lived seventeen years in that secluded spot. they grew enough indian corn to support them. all the members of the family were pitifully deformed and demented. seldom have i seen such miserable-looking specimens of humanity. one was demented to such an extent that it was impossible to get out of him more than a few disconnected groans. he spent most of his time crouched like an animal, and hardly seemed conscious of what took place round him. another was a deaf and dumb _crétin_; a third possessed a monstrous hare-lip and a deformed jaw; while two women, dried up and skinny, and a child were badly affected by goïtre. for a single family that seemed a melancholy spectacle. [illustration: how author's animals rolled down trailless ravines.] it was really pitiable--everywhere in the interior of brazil--wherever you came across a family, to find that all its members were _crétins_, and deformed to such an extent as to make them absolutely repulsive. frequently i had noticed among the common abnormalities supernumerary fingers and toes. one child at this place, in fact, had six toes to each foot, besides being an idiot, deaf and dumb, and affected by goïtre. the only one of the family who was able to realize what took place was terrified at our approach, and never got over his terror as long as we remained. he suffered from the illusion that everybody wished to murder him. for some reason or other he believed that i had come specially, all the way from my own country, in order to search for him and kill him. all the most considerate words on my part, the showering of presents, had no effect upon him. he sat some way off, watching me attentively all the time, and whenever i moved my hands in any direction he dashed away shrieking, thinking that i should attempt to strangle him--for his mania was death by strangulation. after a while he returned, and in his broken, almost unintelligible language--his tongue was nearly paralyzed and he had difficulty in articulating properly--begged to be spared. those people lived worse than animals--in an appallingly filthy condition, in two miserable, tumble-down sheds, open on all sides, and not more than ft. high. they were reduced to that condition by intermarriage among themselves; brothers with sisters--a most frequent occurrence among the "civilized" of central brazil--and even fathers with daughters and sons with their mothers: a disgusting state of affairs which could not very well be helped in a race and in a climate where the animal qualities were extraordinarily developed while the mental were almost entirely deficient. worse still, i had several cases under observation in which the animal passions had not been limited to closely related human beings, but extended also to animals, principally dogs. the degeneration of those people was indeed beyond all conception. it was caused, first of all, by the effects of the most terrible corruption of their blood, their subsequent impoverishment of blood through intermarriage, the miserable isolated existence which they led on scarce and bad food, the exposure to all kinds of weather, and the absolute lack of thought--almost paralyzing the brain power. it was heart-rending to think that human beings could possibly degenerate to so low a level, and--what was worse--that beings of that kind were extraordinarily prolific; so that, instead of being exterminated--which would be a mercy for the country--they were in a small way on the increase. i camped near the sheds of that "happy family," having gone kil. from the rio das mortes. i felt sad the whole night, watching them unperceived. it upset me so that i was ill for several days. the rio jangada, at an altitude of , ft., was , ft. lower than the top of the plateau. the river flowed west into the cuyabá river. we crossed the stream, a rapid and foaming torrent. we soon began to climb again on the opposite side over sweeping undulations. we waded through two more streamlets flowing west--the second at an elevation of , ft. we were travelling partly among campos on the summit of cones and domes, partly through brush or scrub in the depressions. we struggled on, urging the tired animals, rising gradually to , ft., then to , ft., over soil strewn with volcanic pebbles and scoriæ. during the night the minimum temperature had been ° fahr., but during the day the sun was extremely hot and powerful, and animals and men were sweating freely. we marched northward, then slightly to the north-west, leaving behind, to the south-west of us, two quadrangular table-lands, rising above the undulating line of a depression. shortly after, to the e.n.e., we perceived the section of an extinct crater--the easterly point of its summit being in itself a semicircular subsidiary crater. on one side of the greater crater was a conical depression, at the bottom of which (elev. , ft.) was an extensive bed of lava blocks of great size--hundreds of monolithic rocks standing up like pillars. in fact, they stood all along the side of the crater as well as inside it. surrounding a pyramidal hill a group of those huge pillars looked--to a casual observer--just like the ruins of a tumble-down abbey. three hours' journey from our camp we reached the summit of a dome (elev. , ft.). beyond it was a _cuvette_ with its typical central line of _burity_ palms. to the west we perceived a marvellous view of three immense dykes of red rock--like walls--stretching from south-west to north-east; then two more great perpendicular dykes of granite were disclosed close by. going over domes , ft. and , ft. above the sea level, we obtained a vast and immense view of the _serradão_--wild country--before us, a regular ocean of deep green undulations rising quite high to the south; whereas to the north there extended a long plateau with a deep ravine on its southern aspect. we descended through scrub (elev. , ft.)--what the brazilians call _serradão_--and through a growth of stunted trees (elev. , ft.) to so low an altitude as , ft. going along a rocky cliff, we passed a strange volcanic vent-hole with a pyramid of granite of large proportions on each side of its aperture. we arrived at the roncador, a picturesque torrent flowing over a bed of lava moulded in the strangest possible shapes, hollows, terraces and grottoes. most peculiar were the great concave hollows, circular, oval, and of irregular form, which were innumerable and of all sizes along that extensive flow of lava. [illustration: hideous types characteristic of central brazil. two women (left) and two men (right).] we had travelled kil. that day. that was such a picturesque spot that i made camp on the right bank of the torrent. we were all amazed to find an immense block of rock--resembling in size and form the sphinx of egypt--balanced to a nicety over the edge of a conical rocky hill. it was, of course, the work of nature. why that rock remained there at all and did not tumble down, was more than we could understand. there was also a giant monolith and other strange-looking rocks of great size standing up at all angles close by. on climbing the hill where the sphinx-like rock stood, i discovered a circular crater of great beauty, metres in diameter. the western wall of the crater had been knocked down, but on the eastern inner side, in the central part ft. high, there was a precipitous fall, then a huge smooth inclined plane of lava at an angle of ° overlapping the top, where it had subsequently been subjected either to violent earthquake shocks or other disturbing influences, as it was badly seamed and fissured. many segments had crumbled down, leaving the remaining portion of a most extraordinary shape. in the centre of the crater there stood a huge mass of rock ft. high, which looked like an inclined table--a giant slab cleanly cut at its angles, which protruded at great length outside the base formed by broken-up blocks. on looking west from the summit of the extinct volcano one obtained a marvellous view of the vertical cliffs between which the roncador river flowed. then there was a great table-land extending from north to south, composed of red volcanic rock and white limestone. a separate red quadrangular castle-like structure of immense proportions rose in the middle foreground in the north-west upon a conical green grassy base. add to this wonderful work of nature a magnificent sky of gold and brilliant vermilion, as limpid as limpid could be, and you will perhaps imagine why i could not move from the rock on which i sat gazing at that magnificent, almost awe-inspiring, spectacle. night came on swiftly, as it always does in those latitudes, and i scrambled down the hill, among the sharp, cutting, slippery, shiny rocks, arriving in camp minus a good many patches of skin upon my shins and knuckles. at the point where i crossed the roncador river there were three handsome waterfalls in succession, the central one in two terraces, some ft. high. at the foot of the two-tiered waterfall was a great circular basin which had all the appearance of having been formerly a volcanic vent. the flowing water, which tumbled down with terrific force, had further washed its periphery smooth. the centre of the basin was of immense depth. directly under the fall a spacious grotto was to be seen under a huge projecting rock. the elevation of the stream above the falls was , ft., below the falls , ft. the temperature of the atmosphere was ° fahr., and the minimum temperature during the night ° fahr. the roncador flowed from north-east to south-west as far as the foot of the great plateau we had observed during our march. there, on meeting the great vertical wall, its course was diverted in a northerly direction and then again to the north-west, where the stream eventually fell into the cuyabá river. the rio jangada, on which we had camped the previous day, was a tributary of the roncador, and so was the streamlet called pedra grande, which entered the roncador on its right side. the pedra grande took its name from an immense monolith, worn quite smooth, near its bank. from the roncador we continued on our northerly course. the western view of the "balanced sphinx boulder" was indeed remarkable. it seemed to stand up on a small pivot despite all the laws of gravitation, the heaviest side of the upper rock projecting far out on one side with nothing to balance it on the other. cutting our way easily in the scrub, we rose to , ft. over a flow of red lava (it had flowed in an easterly direction) in several successive strata. the upper stratum was grooved into geometrical patterns, such as we had met before, wherever it showed through the thin layer of red volcanic sand which covered most of it. we were there in a zone of immense natural pillars of rock, some of such great height that they were visible miles off along the range--which extended from south to north, parallel, in fact, to the course we were following. still proceeding due north, we arrived on the summit of a great dome, , ft., from which point we had to alter our course to the north-west, owing to an isolated impassable barrier which we left on our right (north). it had steep slopes but well-rounded terminal points. it extended from n.n.e. to s.s.w., and had a height of some ft. above the flat _serradão_, on which my skeleton-like mules wended their way among the stunted trees, the bells dangling from their necks monotonously tinkling--not the gay, brisk tinkling of animals full of life, as when we had left goyaz, but the weak, mournful sound--ding ... ding ... ding--of tired, worn-out beasts, stumbling along anyhow. occasionally one heard the crashing of broken branches or of trees collapsing at the collision with the packs, or the violent braying of the animals when stung in sensitive parts by an extra-violent fly; otherwise there was silence, the silence of death, all round us. the poor brutes tore mouthfuls of grass, now on one side then on the other, as they went along; but the grazing was poor in the _serradão_, and the animals found only enough to subsist upon. two of them were absolutely disabled, owing to accidents we had had; and, with the animals i had lost, this involved loading extra heavily those still able to carry. the constant collisions against the stunted trees in that trail-less region injured the animals considerably and caused nasty sores and swellings all over their bodies. i saw well that the poor beasts would not last much longer. it was impossible to halt a sufficient time to let them recover in that particular region, with food so scarce--it would have taken them months. in the meantime our provisions were being fast consumed--or rather wasted--and we had thousands of kilometres to go yet. my men never suspected this, or they would have never come on; but i knew only too well. they still insisted on marching with their loaded rifles, fully cocked, resting horizontally upon their shoulders; and as we marched naturally in single file, and as we used cordite cartridges with bullets of high penetration, there was still a prospect of a bullet going through one or more of us. once or twice again a rifle went off unexpectedly by accident. it would have been terrible for any one of a nervous temperament to be travelling with such companions. on previous expeditions i had generally trusted in myself, but on this particular one i was so disgusted that i had made up my mind to trust in providence alone. i did well, for had i done otherwise i might have fared much worse than i did. we went over a pass (elev. , ft.) between two small domes, quite barren but for a scanty growth of short dried grass. we were marching over masses of lava and conglomerate with innumerable marble pellets. we found ourselves within a regular circle of low hills enclosing a shallow depression. subsequently we came to a second and then to a third similar depression. [illustration: author's caravan marching across trailless country.] [illustration: the roncador river.] continuing in a north-westerly direction we again obtained a gorgeous view of the treble _portal_--by which word the brazilians describe a monumental entrance of any kind. that is just what those three immense gaps in the plateau looked like: an immense wall of rock forming a high barrier, with three gigantic natural gateways. after finding a stream of good water on the west side of the plateau we rose again higher, obtaining a splendid bird's-eye view of the picturesque depression we had just crossed. the effects of erosion following those of volcanic activity were evident enough upon the entire landscape. on the west side we had a horseshoe-shaped vertical wall--seemingly containing an extinct crater--and yet another on the north side of the western end of the elongated ellipse which was there formed. with some difficulty we managed to get the animals up to the summit of the plateau (elev. , ft.). from there we obtained a sumptuous view beyond. an immense dyke of brilliant red rock, flat-topped, lay majestically to the west. at its foot the rio pedra grande had its birth, and then flowed westward into the rio roncador. four gigantic flat table-lands stood impressively in a line. three more, equally impressive, loomed in the south-west. other minor ones, quite wall-like--rectangular in vertical section--appeared in the blue distance, while the horizon was barred by a long flat plateau. looking north as we descended from the table-land, we found on our left another extinct crater--semicircular in shape, with several superimposed strata of lava, each about one foot thick, capping its lip, which was broken up into three sections. the valley below that crater formed a _cuvette_, the bottom of which (elev. , ft.) showed deep erosion by water in one or two places. sand covered the lava-flow which had travelled northward. quantities of heavy, spherical, bullet-like blocks of hard-baked rock were scattered all about--evidently shot out of the crater when active. we had travelled kil. from cayambola in three days, and we had reached a spot of slight, well-rounded undulations where grazing was fair. i decided to halt early in the afternoon--more particularly as this spot appeared to me to have been at one time or other submerged--probably it had been a lake bottom. i had, since the beginning of my journey, been searching everywhere for fossils--but in vain. i had not seen the vestiges of a single one. personally, i was persuaded that central brazil could well be geologically classified in the archaic group--the most ancient of the terrestrial crust, and consisting (in brazil) chiefly of gneiss, mica schists and granite, solidified into their present form by intense eruptive phenomena and dissolved--not by immersion in ocean waters, as some suppose, but by deluges of such potentiality as the human mind can hardly conceive. it was quite enough to visit the central plateau of brazil to be persuaded that that continent had never been submerged under a sea; on the contrary, it must have been the oven of the world. the volcanic activity which must have taken place in that part of the world--it was not a separate continent in those days--was quite, as i have said, beyond human conception. this does not mean that at later periods there may not have been temporary lakes--as, for instance, in the spot where we encamped that night--or portions of country which had become flooded, upon the cooling of the earth, and subsequently became drained and dry again. a wonderful surprise awaited me that day. to the north of my camp was a peculiar round mound. i climbed it, and what was my astonishment in the short ascent to find near the summit, among a lot of lava pellets, marble fragments, crystals, and great lumps of iron ore, a number of vertebræ from the tail and spine of a giant reptile! the vertebræ had been disjointed and scattered somewhat about by wind and water--but there they were; the smaller ones on the side of the hill, the larger on the summit--which led me to believe that the animal had crouched on the top of the hill when dying. some of the fossil vertebræ were so large and heavy that i hardly had the strength to lift them up. the bones--petrified--were of a beautiful white. many of them had, unfortunately, become so fractured as to make identification difficult. on following the line of the dorsal vertebræ--somewhat scattered about--i came upon some vertebræ which appeared to me to be cervical vertebræ; and then, behold my joy! in searching around the summit of the mound i perceived the skull. the skull was so big and heavy that i could not carry it away, but i took several photographs and careful drawings of it from all sides. it was curiously shaped--quite unlike any other fossil skull i have seen. the cranial region proper was extremely short, with smallish round orbits rather low down on the side of the head. the skull had an elongated shape: cm. was its total length; cm. its maximum transverse breadth, and cm. at the central and widest part of palate. the skull itself, with an elongated nasal bone, had a flattened point almost like a beak, or more probably like the base of a proboscis. the front part of the nose had unfortunately become fractured and ended with a flattened segment. a marked arch or hump stood prominent upon the nasal bone. the temporal arcades were quite developed, with prominent supra-orbital bosses. the orbital hollows were ½ cm. in diameter, whereas the external nares were ½ cm., the protrusion in front of the nostrils being cm. long. the palate, of great length, had a peculiar complex shape, like a much-elongated u with another smaller u attached to it in the centre of its curve, [symbol]. the skull had been worn down by age and weathering. moreover, one side of the upper part of the cranium had been entirely destroyed--seemingly by having rested on red-hot lava. many of the vertebræ were equally injured. by even a superficial examination it was easy to reconstruct the tragedy which had taken place on that hillock thousands upon thousands of years ago. searching about, i came upon another skull of a huge reptile, and a number of smaller vertebræ than those belonging to the animal above described. the second skull was much flattened, of an elongated shape, very broad, the orbital cavity being high up on the skull--in fact, not unlike the skull of a great serpent. it possessed a long occipital spur, extraordinarily prominent, and fairly well-defined zygomatic arches--but not quite so prominent as in the skull previously discovered. seen from underneath, there seemed to be a circular cavity on the left front, as if it had contained a large fang. this skull, too, was also much damaged on one side, where it had rested on some burning matter--evidently lava or lapilli. the skull measured longitudinally cm. and was cm. broad. seen from underneath it resembled a much elongated lozenge. although i searched a great deal i could not find the lower mandibles of these two skulls, nor loose teeth--but many indeed were the fossilized fragments of bones of other animals strewn all over the hill-top. i found up there quite a sufficient quantity to make the summit of that hill look of a whitish colour. that was why i had been attracted to it at first sight, and had climbed it in order to discover why it was so white. one immense bone--fractured--was the pelvis of the larger animal. nearly all those fossils were in terrible preservation, much damaged by fire and water. some were so eroded as to be quite unidentifiable. most interesting of all to me were two smaller skulls--one of a mammal not unlike a leopard or jaguar, the other of an ape or perhaps a primitive human being. the latter cranium, like all the others, had one side completely destroyed by hot lava, which in this instance had also filled up a considerable portion of the brain-case. the human skull was small and under-developed, no sutures showing; the forehead extremely low and slanting, almost flattened, with the superciliary region and glabella very prominent. one of the orbits (the right) was badly damaged. the left, in perfect preservation, was oval, very deep. the form of the palate was of a broad u-shape--abnormally broad for the size of the head. the upper jaw was fairly high and prominent, whereas the zygomatic arch on the left (the right was destroyed) was not unduly prominent--in fact, rather small and less projecting than the supra-orbital region. of the nasal bone only just a fragment remained. the brain-case was small but well-rounded at the back, where it had comparatively a fairly good breadth behind the auditory meatus. in my anxiety and enthusiasm, i used up, in photographing the first skull i found, the only two photographic plates which remained that day in the camera i had brought with me up there. in order to obtain a fuller view of the skull on the negatives i placed it on a rudimentary stand i constructed with broken branches of a tree. the sun had already set when i discovered the two smaller skulls, and in any case i should not have been able to photograph them that day. well recognizing their immense value, i enveloped them in my coat, which i turned into a kind of sack by tying the sleeves together, and, with a number of vertebræ and a knee-joint i had collected, proceeded to carry the entire load, weighing some sixty pounds, back to camp, a mile away. on my arrival there i met with a good deal of derision from my ignorant men. i was faced with a problem. had i told the men the immense value of those fossils, i feared they might be tempted to steal them and sell them whenever we first reached a civilized spot--which, true enough, might not be for many months; a fact my men did not know and never for one moment realized. if i did not tell them, i should have to stand their silly derision as long as the journey should last--for they openly and loudly argued among themselves the view that i had gone mad, and what better proof could they have than my carrying a heavy load of "ugly stones" as my personal baggage? of the two i came to the conclusion that derision was better than being robbed. so i took no one into my confidence. i merely stored the fossils carefully away in a large leather case, meaning to take them out some day to photograph them as a precaution in case of loss. unfortunately the opportunity never offered itself, for we made forced marches every day, from early morning until dark, and unpacking and repacking were very inconvenient--each package having loops of rope fastened round, in order to be readily attached to the saddles, which took much time and trouble to undo. then the ridicule of my men each time the "ugly stones" were referred to also kept me at first from unduly attracting their attention to them. with the many things i had to occupy my time day and night i ended by forgetting to take the photographs--greatly owing to being almost certain that i should bring the skulls themselves safely back to europe. but the unexpected always happens. we shall see later on how--after having carried those fossils safely for several months--they were, unknown to me, wilfully flung, together with a quantity of provisions, into a deep part of the arinos river by my companions, and they were beyond recovery. greatly to my regret, we left that interesting spot the next morning. a drenching rain prevented my paying a second visit to the two hillocks where the fossil fragments were to be found, but i took the exact position of them, so that any further expedition could locate the spot with great ease. it was interesting to note that a brazilian expedition had discovered some fossil bones of a gigantic animal some kil. south-west of that place, and other remains of a giant animal had been found by another brazilian expedition on the banks of the paranatinga river, some or kil. north-east of our position. we were encamped on the bank of the rio pedra grande--the stream of that name which we had passed that day being merely a tributary. during the night we had observed a double-ringed lunar halo. the moon was almost full. from the horizon directly under the moon were innumerable radiations, not converging toward the moon but, curiously enough, the first two at a tangent to the larger halo, the others at equal intervals on each side. at sunrise, before the rain-storm began, we were treated to wonderful cloud and light effects. the lower portion of the sky, of brilliant yellow and vivid green, was surmounted by golden and red streaks of wonderful vividness. later, over the great natural gateways, the sky formed itself into concentric arches of blazing yellow and red, rendered intensely luminous by contrast with the heavy black clouds which were fast collecting overhead. no sooner was the sun well above the horizon than we came in for a heavy downpour. [illustration: fossil skull of a giant animal discovered by author. (side view.)] [illustration: fossil skull of giant animal. (seen from underneath.)] the temperature had been higher (minimum ° fahr.) than usual during the night, and heavy. the elevation of our camp was , ft. above the sea level. chapter xxiv a swampy valley--impressive scenery--"church rock"--escaping before a forest fire--the rio manso--difficulties of marching across virgin country--beautiful rapids on leaving camp (june th) i noticed that the hills on which i had found the fossils formed a semicircle to the west. rising quickly to an elevation of , ft., we were in sight of two great table-lands which stood to the west. in crossing the river i found a number of other fossils, among which was one that appeared to be the petrified foot of an animal of enormous proportions. we soon crossed the little stream lazinha, which flowed into the pedra grande. as we travelled over two ridges (altitude , ft. and , ft.) separating deep basins, and the weather cleared a little, the view before us of the entire line of natural gateways, with two additional pyramidal and prismatic peaks to the south, became more and more beautiful. there was a strong breeze blowing from the north-east. at an elevation of , ft. we found quantities of marble chips and blocks and great masses of ferruginous, froth-like rock. as we went along we obtained an imposing view to the north of an immense plateau in three terraces, the lower one appearing like the sea--it was so blue--with the brilliant red upper portion rising out of it like a great island. the foreground of dark green, in great undulations, stood out in contrast to the light green of the slopes of the plateau on the top of which we were marching. central brazil was certainly a country of flat sky-lines--so flat that often when the distance became of a pure cobalt blue one had the impression of overlooking an immense ocean, to which the green undulations in sweeping lines in the nearer foreground added the impression of great waves. it was indeed difficult to realize the stupendous magnitude of the scenes we constantly had before us. that day, for instance, the plateau to the north of us stretched across towards the east for ° of the compass from bearings magnetic ° (n.n.w.) to ° (n.n.e.). above the plateau was a strange effect of clouds--a succession of arrow-shaped, nebulous masses. we still came upon basins of grey ashes--_cuvettes_--but in that region these were deeper than those we had observed so far, had luxuriant grass, and in the moist centre the invariable line of _burity_ palm and heavily foliaged trees. travelling on a northerly course, and then to the north-west, we descended, after having marched kil., into a basin (elev. , ft.) where a thick and wide deposit of fine white sand and minute crystals covered the deeper part of the depression. then, farther on, the sand was replaced by the usual deposits of grey ashes which filled the remainder of the basin. a streamlet which had its birth in the centre of the basin flowed north into the rio manso, along one of the many cracks which were to be seen in that region and in the depressions we had previously crossed. we came upon a mighty flow of red and black lava with a somewhat frothy surface. it was in superposed layers from one to six inches deep, with an inclination to the east of °. the flow itself had a direction from west to east. as we were marching by compass, with no trail whatever, we found ourselves entangled in a swampy valley with tall reeds, from which we had some difficulty in extricating ourselves. we eventually had to retrace our steps for six kilometres in order to find an easier way for our animals. after an examination of the country with my telescope from a high spot, i decided to go westward across a flat swampy plain of ashes, sand and water--most troublesome for the mules and horses. they sank deep into the soft ground and frequently rolled over, damaging saddles and baggage. one or two of my men had involuntary baths when the animals' knees gave way under them. as soon as we had emerged from that wearisome marsh the animals and men were so tired--although we had only gone kil. from our last camp, without counting the deviation ( kil. with deviation)--that i had to encamp on the bank of the streamlet fasciná, coming from the west. there we had the laborious task of spreading to dry all the articles that had got wet--including my bedding, tent, and a quantity of my clothing, which was not packed like all the rest in air- and water-tight cases. the stream fasciná flowed into the rio furnas and eventually into the rio manso to the north--the latter a tributary of the cuyabá river. that region had been rich in mangabeira (the _hancornia speciosa_ m.)--a wild lactiferous plant of much value, producing a fruit called the _mangaba_. june th. minimum temperature ° fahr.; elevation , ft. on leaving camp, after a good deal of trouble in recovering our animals in the morning, as they had strayed in all directions, we found ourselves travelling along the edge of a large grassy basin (elev. , ft.) extending from south-east to north-west, with a wonderful growth of _burity_ palms; then upon a second basin (elev. , ft.) with deep deposits of ashes. we climbed higher, to , ft., where we found a third oval _cuvette_ with a surface layer of ashes--merely a continuation of the preceding _cuvette_. we here resumed our northerly course, going through what the brazilians call _chapada_, or high land scantily wooded. to the south-west we had a high plateau with round natural towers of red rock, resembling the walls of a fortress. those red cylindrical towers stood all along the summit of the range--with immense square blocks of grey rock above them in horizontal strata. in the centre of that long range could be perceived a double-tiered crater and several grottoes. in its northern section the range was vertical, with red and yellow rocky walls over ft. high. on the summit of that rocky stratum were other strata with a dip to the south. half way up could be observed a red ledge about ft. thick (also with a dip to the south) all along the entire length of the range. colossal blocks and flows of lava were to be seen yards east of this range. in one place was an immense natural arch--like the work of a skilful mason. at the northern end of the range stood a castle--the work of nature--with three square towers, and between them numerous monoliths or pillars standing on walls of columnar formation. evidently there was a crater in that northern part, the castle-like structure being merely formed by many superposed layers of yellow lava. near the throat of the crater the lava was hard baked and of a bluish red colour. in the lower section the strata were each ft. thick, under a smooth band, absolutely horizontal, ft. in thickness. there were then two top layers, each ft. thick, and four more layers each ft. thick, and slightly wavy. the last ones were somewhat shattered, and displayed large blocks moved out of position--apparently by a volcanic explosion. in going round the northern corner of the range more similar buttresses, like towers, were disclosed--i could count as many as eight--projecting out of the immense vertical block of rock. those buttresses were of brown and bright yellow rock. the range had a general direction from south-east to north-west. great deposits of white sand and ashes were noticeable on the surface. in cuts and in the bed of a streamlet were strata of consolidated ashes in distinct layers one inch thick. the foot of the gigantic rocky mass was at an elevation of , ft. we were on a slanting plane forming a conical basin in continuation of the crater. to the north, where the basin opened, was a great stretch of cobalt blue in the distance, which looked just like a glimpse of the ocean. but it was not; it was the far-away plateau we had seen for some days. we were now entering a region of the most impressive and weird scenery i had ever seen, except, indeed, in the himalaya mountains. directly in front of us towered the morro plumão, a most striking giant block of rock several hundred feet high, standing quite alone, and resembling a church surmounting a mediæval castle--not unlike st. michael's mount, only with land around instead of water. even quite close to it the illusion was perfect. this wonderful natural structure of dark red rock was in perfectly horizontal strata, each ft. thick, separated and clearly defined by whitish lines, which aided to give the illusion of a wonderful work of masonry. "church-rock," as i called it--or "spray-rock" (_plumão_), as my men named it--stood majestically in solitary grandeur in the middle of a great subsidence of the soil. that great subsidence was in turn bordered by immense vertical cliffs of the same rock of which "church-rock" was formed. indeed, it was clear that the soil had given way, leaving only that great rock standing. even my men--for the first time since they had been with me--were deeply impressed by that wonderful spectacle; so much so that they all took off their hats, as brazilians always do in passing churches. we traversed the great depression, which gave us irrefutable evidence of what had taken place in that zone. the great rocky, plateau-like mountain to our left had split and fallen over on the north side, describing an arc of a circle of °. in fact, as we went along, in places where the rock under foot was exposed, we were treading over laminated rock, the stratification of which was vertical, and corresponded exactly to that of the upstanding wall where the stratification was horizontal. behind "church-rock" to the north-west was a massive plateau, beyond which stretched an immense undulating depression with two outstretching spurs from south-west to north-east upon it. "church-rock" was kil. from our last camp. on the north side of "church-rock," close to the conical hill upon which the giant quadrangle of rock rested, was a hump formed by huge blocks, the top one--a colossal one--just balanced, as if it might tumble over at any moment. then on the side could be seen a lava-flow and huge masses of lava which had been shot up with great force and curled over, retaining the frothy appearance of its former state of ebullition. strangely enough, even when seen from the side and from behind (n.n.w. view), "church-rock" retained all the semblance of a castle and church perched up on that high pinnacle. from the n.n.w., besides the castellated towers which surmounted all, there appeared a perfect representation of a gabled roof over the body of the church, as well as the flying buttresses of the walls. behind was a great cylindrical annexe with a semi-spherical superstructure, such as is often to be seen behind roman catholic churches. the illusion was really wonderful. owing to the pools of water not far from "church-rock" we called that spot _caponga de la lagõa_. a few hundred yards beyond "church-rock" we came upon another extraordinary sight: a quadrangular rocky castle--a perfect cube of rock--which stood at a considerable elevation upon a conical base, some distance off the wall-like sides of the plateau. strangely enough, a thin wall of rock, only a few feet thick, quite vertical, of great height and of great length, joined this quadrangular castle to the plateau. that wall had evidently remained standing when the plateau had subsided. the larger plateau along the foot of which we travelled ended in two great domes, one at each angle of its eastern terminus wall. the eastern part of that plateau was flat-topped, whereas the central portion rose into a double pyramid and looked not unlike a giant tent with a porch attachment. it was of a bright yellow colour--apparently sandstone and ashes. the work of erosion had been greater on the eastern face--owing, i think, to the prevalent wind on that side. on looking back upon the great range of rock which ended abruptly near "church-rock" (which, as we have seen, once formed part of it), a great semicircular cavity was disclosed on its western face. the summit of the wall around the cavity rested on an inclined plane, which in its turn rested above a vertical concave wall. the latter wall of rock had conical buttresses at the terminal points. west-north-west of the great wall was an immense depression. only a conical hill rose above its last undulations. the upper edge of that depression was at an altitude of , ft. above the sea level, whereas the top of "church-rock" was fully a thousand feet higher--viz. , ft. [illustration: a grand rock. "church rock."] [illustration: church rock. (side view.)] at the terminus of the first section of the cliff range, interrupted by a great fissure from the second section, another structure in course of formation not unlike "church-rock" could be observed. it had a quadrangular tower surmounting it. there was in the second section of the range a regular quadrangle of rock, with a high tower upon a conical hill, and another castle-like structure surmounting a conical base. the two were most impressive as they stood in their sombre red against the brilliantly blue sky. next to the second section of the range, to the north, was a high mountain of two twin-pointed peaks, shaped like a badly-pitched tent. then came another plateau, much eroded on its south side. beyond was an immense black plateau on three successive tiers--and this one, unlike the others of which it was merely a continuation, had sloping instead of vertical sides. we had a nasty experience that day, which for the moment made us forget the beauty of that wonderful scenery. we were going through high scrub and stunted trees and tall grass, much dried by the intense heat--quite suffocating in the basin with the refraction from the huge rocks. a strong breeze sprang up, and we were delighted--when we saw, fast approaching, a dense black and white cloud rolling, as it were, along the ground. as it got nearer there were such loud crackling and explosions that it seemed like the volleys of musketry in a battle. my horses and mules pricked up their ears, lifting their heads high--sniffing, neighing, and braying. they became restless. before we had time to realize what was the matter, we saw tongues of flames shoot out from the earth. within a few seconds, with the wind which was blowing high, we found ourselves with a barrier of fire close upon us behind and fast gaining upon us. the trees seemed to flare up in a moment like matches or fireworks. a wave of terrific heat took our breath away. we were almost suffocated. there was only one way of escape--in front of us. for to the left we had the impassable barrier of rock; to the right the flames had already gained on us in a semicircle like a claw of fire. we stirred on our animals, lashing them. my men, with their heads wrapped to prevent suffocation from the stifling smoke, were in a great state of excitement. they were about to abandon the animals in order to save their own lives; but alcides, filippe, and i kept the rear, endeavouring to save men, baggage, and animals. the flames gained on us very quickly. they occasionally almost licked our animals. the mules and horses, now fully enveloped in dense, choking smoke, began to stampede, and soon all the animals were galloping away, sniffing, neighing and braying frantically. in their disorderly flight they crashed against trees and tore off branches; stumbled over rocks and rolled over themselves; struggling up on their feet only to resume their mad race for life. for some little time it was all we could do to keep a few yards in front of the flames, the heat of which was roasting our backs and necks. at last, in a desperate effort, we managed to get slightly ahead, and when we descended--some of the animals rolled down--into a deep depression, we found ourselves clear of the smoke. the wind was unfortunately blowing the way we were travelling, but in that depression we were sheltered, and the fire would not travel so fast. our eyes were smarting terribly and we were coughing violently, our parched throats and lungs, filled with the pungent smoke, giving us a feeling of nausea. when we had reached a point of comparative safety we had to readjust all the loads on the pack-saddles, which had almost come undone. it was a wonder to me that in the precipitous flight we had lost nothing. we had unavoidably deviated several kilometres from our course, as the animals were beyond guiding under those circumstances. eventually, after a considerable detour in order to avoid the flames, we went over several undulations--especially a peninsula-like spine of rock rising over a great depression, then between two twin mountains. we emerged on the bank of the rio manso, flowing northward on a pebbly bed. we crossed it where it was one hundred metres wide, but only to ft. deep. there was a thick growth of vegetation--a belt some hundred yards wide--on both banks of the river. the rio manso was there at an altitude above the sea level of , ft. i took observations for longitude, and latitude by double altitudes at that place. (lat. ° ' s; long. ° ' w.) i had to halt there one day in order to give the animals a rest, after the long and reckless march of the previous day--a distance of kil. the source of the rio manso was to the e.s.e. some kil. from the place where we crossed it. where we encamped it received a small streamlet, flowing over a bed of laminated igneous rock and several successive strata of slate, which in some places were in a vertical position, in others at an angle of °. i noticed this vertical foliation and these laminated strata all over the great depression we had crossed in order to reach the rio manso. the rio manso, which flowed into the cuyaba river, was not to be confounded with the rio manso forming the head-waters of the rio das mortes, which eventually threw itself into the river araguaya. owing to one of my animals having strayed away and the difficulty of finding it again in the tall grass and high vegetation, we were not able to leave camp until the afternoon of june th. soon after starting on the march we went through a marvellous arch of thick foliage, creepers, bamboos, and _akurí_ palms, previous to crossing a streamlet metres wide and ft. deep--flowing towards the west. we had no end of trouble near these streamlets, as they flowed between precipitous banks to ft. high. there was no trail. the animals frequently lost their footing over the slippery, steep slope, and rolled down, baggage and all, until they reached the bottom; or else they would sometimes stick half way down against trees and liane, and we had the greatest difficulty in extricating them again. [illustration: quadrangular rocky mountain connected by natural wall of rock with the vertical-sided range in background.] there was a low range extending from north to south along the left bank of the rio manso. from a hill , ft. high above the sea level on the right bank of the river we saw a plateau in four terraces--the third of the line of plateaux we had seen on our preceding march. upon getting higher we perceived to the south, beyond the four-terraced plateau, another plateau with vertical walls, and to the south-west a high double-humped dome--resembling mount vesuvius in italy. evidently one more of the innumerable extinct volcanoes to be seen in that region. the mountainous mass extended in a more confused form farther to the south-west. on our side of the rio manso the country was gently undulating--in fact, it formed many parallel ridges of low, well-rounded hills with occasional deep hollows or basins between. one could not help being particularly struck by the wonderful regularity and strong similarity of the curves on the parallel hill ranges, as if all had been turned out of the same mould. the hill-range we were on was , ft. above the sea level. the others--excepting one or two--were lower. there was an absolutely flat horizon line to the north, with no mountain range in sight. the country opening up before us was from that point almost entirely made up of campos, with _chapada_ or growths of trees principally near streams in the valleys. we crossed a watercourse metres wide and ft. deep at an elevation of , ft. we called it the palmeira, owing to the many palms upon its banks. here grew many great _caja_ or _cajazeiro_ trees (of the genus anacardiaceæ), the largest and tallest trees i had yet seen in brazil, and _garappa_ or _garabu_ (of the genus terebinthaceæ) trees--very interesting on account of their peculiar winged roots. they resembled the _nonoko_, which were characteristic of the polynesian islands and philippine archipelago, only the brazilian ones never attained proportions so large. with endless trouble we had gone kil. we had come to streams, where again, owing to the precipitous descents on the slippery high banks, several mules fell over and rolled down into the stream. one mule, particularly, had become very nervous on approaching those places. foreseeing the punishment which would be meted out, its knees invariably began to tremble and give way, and it let itself roll down purposely, every time we came to those difficult passages. once down at the bottom, with baggage often immersed deep in water, we had the greatest difficulty in making the wretched animal get up again, and we frequently had to drag it bodily up the opposite slope by means of ropes. i have never seen an animal stand more beating than that brute did. although i am most kind to animals, i must say for my men that this particular mule often drove us all to absolute despair. dragging the dead weight of an animal up a steep slope, , , or even ft. high--we were only seven men--was no joke at all. when you had to repeat the operation several times a day, it was somewhat trying. once the brute had been dragged up to the top it would quickly get up on its legs, and marched well while on fairly good ground. but in moments of danger it was one of the most pusillanimous animals i have ever possessed. i had given strict orders that in places of that kind the more timid animals were to be unloaded, and the loads conveyed across on men's backs. my orders were always disobeyed. the result generally was that not only did the men have to carry the loads eventually, but we had to carry the animals as well. endless time and energy were thus wasted. that is what happens to people who try to save themselves trouble. at sundown, after having witnessed a glorious view of the valley to the north, we descended rapidly amidst luxuriant vegetation of tall bamboos, _akurí_ palms, and festooned liane, until we reached the palmeira river, flowing from north to south. having crossed it, we continued for ½ kil. through dense vegetation, and then recrossed it at a spot where it passed within enormous fissures in colossal masses of highly polished yellow lava. after solidification these masses of lava had been subjected to violent commotion, as their stratification was nearly in a vertical position. wherever possible i took observations for latitude and longitude, in order to ascertain my exact position; an -in. sextant, mercurial artificial horizon and chronometers being used for the purpose. it is not easy to describe the torture i had to go through when taking those tedious astronomical observations. the glass roof of the artificial horizon had unfortunately got broken. i had to use a great deal of ingenuity in order to screen the mercury from the wind so as to obtain a well-defined reflection. no sooner was i getting a perfect contact of the sun's image and its reflection than some huge fly or other insect would begin to promenade on the mercury, disturbing its surface. butterflies were even more troublesome, as they left upon the mercury--by the luminosity of which they were greatly attracted--sediments of multi-coloured powder and down from their wings and bodies. the mercury had to be carefully re-filtered before work could proceed. then, what was worse, when both your hands were occupied--one holding the sextant, the other gently screwing the vernier--hundreds of mosquitoes, taking advantage of your helpless condition, buzzed round and settled on your nose, ears, neck, eyelids and forehead, stinging you for all they were worth. swarms of bees--a dwarf kind, with body in yellow and black stripes; fortunately these did not sting--also placidly roamed upon every available patch of skin with a provoking tickling. a great number of them settled along the edges of the eyelids, attracted by the sheen of the retina of the eye, into which they gazed with great interest. others, more inquisitive, would explore the inside of your ears; while millions--actually millions--of _pium_, the tiny gnats--more impertinent than all the others taken together--dashed with great force up your nose, into your eyes, into your mouth, and far into your ears, and were most troublesome to remove. your ankles and knees and wherever the skin was soft were itching terribly with _carrapatinhos_, and before you got through with your work you were also swarming all over with ants of all sizes--careering all over your body and inflicting painful bites whenever you placed your hand upon your clothes to arrest their progress. when you had endured the torture long enough, and had managed to take a satisfactory solar observation, you generally had to remove all your clothes in order to get rid of the unpleasant parasites--and you then had a good hour's hard work cut out for you. [illustration: quadrangular rocky mountain showing rocky wall connecting it with the neighbouring range.] [illustration: author's caravan in the heart of matto grosso.] we continued our march northward, the temperature in the sun being ° fahr. the minimum temperature had been ° fahr. during the night of june th, and ° on june th. we crossed the piraputanga river, flowing into the rio manso, and then passed over a magnificent flow of yellow, red and black lava, the cambayuvah river, a tributary of the palmeira. the cambayuvah flowed through a great volcanic crack ft. high, the sides of the crack showing much-fissured strata in a vertical position. a smaller streamlet entered the cambayuvah where we crossed it. wonderfully beautiful, indeed, were the rapids among brilliantly coloured red and yellow rocks, the water winding its way among high upstanding pillars and sharp blades of laminated rock. a beautiful waterfall tumbled over with a great noise into a pool, scooped out of an immense block of such hardened rock that even the force of that violent stream seemed to have had but little erosive effect upon it. the edges of it were as sharp as possible, instead of being worn smooth and rounded by the constant rapid flow of water. the rock had been hard baked, and was of a shiny black colour, almost as shiny as crystal. at the bottom of those picturesque rapids was a circular volcanic vent, the periphery of which had been blackened by the action of fire. the cambayuvah followed a general course of south-east to north-west. we camped near that enchanting spot--most picturesque, but terrible for my animals, as the grazing was poor. my mules, when let free at the end of the march, stood helpless around the camp, looking reproachfully at us, and making no effort to go far afield in order to get something to eat. the poor things were quite exhausted. i saw well that they could not last much longer. my men were constantly worrying me, and saying that we were going to sure perdition. they had become painfully home-sick, and had they not been dead-tired too--more so, perhaps, than the mules and horses--i should have expected great trouble from them. as it was, to lead on those men with persuasion and kindness was an exhausting mental effort for me. once or twice the suggestion was made that if i did not agree to go back the way we had come i might perhaps get killed and they would return alone. when i enquired whether any of them could find their way back alone, they said "no"; so i suggested that perhaps it would be to their advantage to let me live. i might eventually see them out of that difficulty. in all my travels i have seldom come across men more helpless at finding their way about, or realizing in which direction they had travelled. barring alcides, none of them had any more idea whether we had travelled south, north, east, or west of goyaz, than the man in the moon. naturally i did not exert myself to enlighten them unduly, for there lay my great and only hold over them. i had fully realized that i was travelling with an itinerant lunatic asylum, and i treated my men accordingly. no matter what they did or said, i always managed to have things my own way. never by violence, or by a persuasive flow of language--the means used by the average mortal. no, indeed; but by mere gentleness and kindness; very often by absolute silence. few people realize the force of silence on momentous occasions; but of course few people know how to remain silently silent--if i may so express it--in moments when their life is seriously at stake. silence is indeed the greatest force a man can use, if he knows how to use it. it is certainly invaluable in exploring, when naturally one is not always thrown into contact with the best of people. the animals strayed away during the night, and it took all the best part of four hours to recover them in the morning. instinct is a wonderful thing. they had all travelled to a place where, over undulating country, fairly open campos, slightly wooded with stunted trees, were to be found, and where they could obtain something to eat. when we crossed those campos after our departure from camp, foliated rock showed through the surface soil in many spots, in strata either displaced and left vertical--in many cases at an angle of °--or in its original horizontal plane. elsewhere dips in all kinds of directions showed that there must have been a good deal of commotion in that region when that part of the country subsided and formed the basin we were then crossing. the typical feature of all those undulations was their arched backs. we were at a low elevation--only , ft. above the sea level. we were travelling over immense quantities of marble pebbles and volcanic débris. we there made the acquaintance of the _gramadin_, a plant with curved spikes, which seldom attained a height of more than one inch above the ground. it was terribly poisonous if touched. we went over three successive ridges (elev. , ft.). on the summit of each ridge we found a profusion of marble débris and even large blocks immaculately white or else yellow--probably rendered of the latter colour by contact with iron, plentiful in that region. on the summit of the sixth ridge (elev. , ft.), that day, we came upon large sheets of foliated rock--again almost absolutely vertical in its stratification--and great masses of thin slate plates or foliations extending from east to west. farther on, from a high point, , ft. above the sea level, we could gaze once more upon a gorgeous panoramic view of the marvellous scenery we had left behind--the great plateaux of rock as red as fire, and "church-rock" looming high against the sky. we kept on rising upon various undulations--that day's march was one of continuous ascents and descents. at , ft. we found more masses of vertically foliated slate, ashes consolidated into easily-friable sheets, and large quantities of beautiful marble. to the north and north-east we had delightful scenery, the _pao d'arco_ trees in full bloom, of a reddish-purple colour, adding greatly to the vivid colour-scheme of that view, with its cobalt blue of the distant mountains and the veronese green of the campos in the foreground. nearly all the ridges we had crossed which extended from north-east to south-west were well rounded--fairly well padded with sediments of earth, sand and ashes. [illustration: a giant dome of lava.] [illustration: campos and chapada of matto grosso.] we descended to , ft. (above the sea level) through thin forest, in a valley where bamboo was abundant as well as _gamelleira_ trees with their winged roots of great size. the _gamelleira_ was somewhat larger than the _garappa_ or _garabu_. we found in that valley a beautiful grove of _akurí_ palms, the palms being to ft. high. in going through--cutting our way with _falcons_--long heavy-bladed knives specially made for cutting through forests--we were much worried by spiders' webs of great size, from which we had trouble in extricating our heads and hands as we went along. there were thousands of those webs at the entrance of the forest, and we dragged them all along on our passage. with their viscous properties they clung to us, and we could only shake them off with difficulty. most interesting of all was the _cepa d'agua_--a powerful liana, four inches in diameter, festooned from the highest branches of trees, and which when cut ejected most delicious cool water. then there was a tree called by the brazilians "_mulher pobre_," or "poor woman's tree"--do you know why?--because from its juice it was possible to make soap, which saved the expense of buying it. there was a roundabout way of reasoning for you. eighteen kilometres from our last camp we came to a rapid streamlet of the most limpid water, the rio mazagan (elev. , ft. above the sea level), four metres wide and four inches deep. when we drank it it nearly made us ill, so foul was its taste of sulphur and lead. the treacherous stream flowed into the cuyabá river. there were many _tamburi_ trees of great proportions, handsome trees with clean, healthy white bark and minute leaves--at the summit of the tree only. in the forest, although the taller trees were generally far apart, none of them had branches or leaves lower than to ft. from the ground. the _angico_ or _angicu_ (_piptadenia rigida_ benth.), which was quite plentiful, was also a good-looking tree of appreciable height and circumference. upon emerging from the beautiful forest, quite clear underneath with only a few ferns, we crossed great campos--"_campina grande_," as my brazilians called them. skirting the forest in a northerly direction, we went over a low hill range with delightful clear campos and patches of forest. we crossed another streamlet of foul-tasting water--with a strong flavour apparently of lead. in the great undulating valley we left behind--as we now altered our course slightly to the north-west--was prominent a double-humped hill which rose higher than any other except in the north-west portion of the landscape. there a high chain of hills could be seen. when we crossed over the second ridge (elev. , ft.), strewn with yellow lava pellets, at the end of extensive campos we obtained an imposing view to the north. an elevated flat-topped table-land of great magnitude rose in front of us--a perfectly straight line against the sky, but terminating abruptly with three gigantic steps, with a subsidiary one upon the second step, at its western end. this plateau stood out, a brilliant mass of cobalt blue with great projecting spurs, like a half-section of a cone surmounted by a semi-cylindrical tower along the southern wall of the plateau. then a strange hill mass of four distinct composite domed heights with minor peaks stood between the plateau and us--and extended, like most of the other ranges, from south-east to north-west. chapter xxv the blue mountains--the cuyabá river--inaccurate maps--a rebellion in camp--infamy of author's followers--the lagõa dos veados and the seven lakes--falling back on diamantino--another mutiny--slavery--descending from the tableland we had gone kil. in four days' marching since leaving the rio manso. we were only a few kilometres from the serra azul, or blue mountains--truly mountains of the most vivid and purest cobalt blue i had ever seen--quite a wonderful spectacle. we made our camp in a prairie with good grazing for our animals. although we were at a comparatively low elevation-- , ft. above the sea level--the minimum temperature of the atmosphere was ° fahr. during the night. on leaving camp--still proceeding north--we descended to , ft. into a lovely stretch of magnificent grass with a lagoon. the level of the water was low, as we were then at the end of the dry season. on the flat grassy land were curious semi-spherical mounds, to metres in diameter and from to ft. high. on each of these mounds were a few stunted trees. no trees whatever existed except upon these small mounds, the explanation being, i think, that the mounds had formed around the trees while these were growing, and not that the trees had grown upon the mounds. as we were getting nearer, the serra azul to the north was most impressive. i think that it was partly due to the bluish foliage of the vegetation upon it that the range, even close by, appeared of so vivid a blue, and also to the deep blue shadows cast by the spurs which projected, some to the south-east, others due south--that is, it will be understood, on the southern face of the range. thick deposits of cinders lay in the valley. on approaching an intermediate and lower range we cut our way through scrub--chiefly of _sciadera_ trees, seldom growing to a greater height than ft. the domed hills showed through the grass great blocks of volcanic rock, while at the foot of the hills could be noticed huge boulders of consolidated ashes with veins of crystals and marble. there, too, the stratification was vertical. there was lamination in some of the rock, but not in the granite blocks nor in the blocks of marble, which appeared to have been subjected to enormous heat. some of the rock had been in a state of absolute ebullition. [illustration: marvellous scenery of the central brazilian plateau.] [illustration: "church rock" standing in the centre.] at the spot where we crossed the range--starting our ascent from an elevation of , ft.--were immense holes, vents and cracks in the earth's crust. as we rose slightly higher among many chains of low hills, we were upon a horizontal stratum of laminated granite. higher still we passed a semicircular hill composed of immense blocks of granite. in the centre of the semicircle was a great round hole, ft. in diameter--an extinct crater. farther on, ascending upon an inclined plane, we came to another similar semicircle--not of rock that time, but of red earth and cinders. when we reached the highest point (elev. , ft.) of the divide we had to our left huge pinnacles and pillars of rock of the most fantastic shapes, monoliths from to ft. high, and rocks hollowed by the action of fire. big boulders, which had become perfectly rounded by having been shot through the air and revolved at a great speed while in a half-solid condition, were to be seen scattered all over the inclined planes of the saddle of the divide. giant cacti grew in abundance in the interstices between rocks. although most of the rocks were blackened outside, by chipping off the outer surface one found that they contained inside beautiful white marble or else greyish granite. the latter was striated with thin layers--not more than a quarter or half an inch thick--of crystallized matter, forming veins in the blocks or dividing two strata. everywhere could be noticed remarkable perforations of all sizes in the rocks, great spherical or ovoid hollows, or cylindrical tubular channels. in the ground were many volcanic vents with lips baked by fire. on our right, a kilometre or so farther on, after having gone through an extensive stretch of red sand and lapilli, we came across three hills, the central one of which had the appearance of a cylindrical tower of masonry with windows and doors. it was a wonderful freak of nature. under this huge tower were several caves and grottoes. descending upon the opposite side of the range, at an elevation of , ft. we found the dry bed of a streamlet, which flowed in a northerly direction when it did flow at all. on emerging from the wide hill mass--about kil. across--we found ourselves among a lot of _burity_ palms on the western spur of the serra azul. when we were actually upon them, the blue mountains lost their blue appearance and were more of a greyish green, owing to the vegetation which covered most of their slopes. the range was formed of three distinct terraces, the lower one being of greater height than the two upper ones. a number of low hill ranges starting from the main range branched off like spurs towards the south. the uppermost terrace of the main range was supported on a high vertical wall of red rock. on meeting the rio coralzinho we skirted it for some distance through the forest, then marched among a great many domes, small and large; after which we crossed a wonderful field of huge monoliths, superposed boulders, and rocks of all kinds of fantastic shapes. we had marched kil. that day. we encamped on the river piraputangas--a tributary on the left side of the cuyabá grande river--the cuyabá grande being in its turn a tributary on the right of the cuyabá river. the cuyabá river described almost an arc of a circle--in fact, quite a semicircle--its birth taking place in the serra azul. where we crossed it we were only a short distance to the west from its point of origin. where we had made our camp we were in a large grassy plain about six kilometres long and nearly two kilometres wide. the rainy season was fast approaching. we came in for a regular downpour during the night, accompanied by high wind, which knocked down all our tents, as the pegs would not hold in the soft, moist ground. we had a busy time endeavouring to protect the baggage. we all were absolutely soaked. the minimum temperature was ° fahr. in the morning, after the wind had abated and the rain had stopped, we were enveloped in thick fog. we had descended to so low an altitude as ft. above the sea level on the north side of the serra azul--the lowest elevation we had been at for some considerable time. we had descended altogether from the highest part of the great central brazilian plateau. from that point all the waters would be flowing to the north-east or north. we were, in fact, within a stone's throw--to be more accurate, within the radius of a few kilometres--of the birthplace of the rio novo, the head-waters of the river arinos, of the rio verde (green river), and of the several sources of the rio s. manoel or das tres barras, or paranatinga; and not distant from the sources of the great xingu river. the serra azul, extending from west to east, was interesting geographically, not only because it marked the northern terminus of the highest terrace of the great central plateau, but also because from it or near it rose two of the greatest rivers of central brazil--the xingu and the arinos (tapajoz), the latter the most central and important river of brazil, crossing the entire republic from south to north, as far as the amazon. on june st we crossed the piraputangas (elev. ft. above the sea level), where, owing to the steep banks, we had much difficulty in taking mules and baggage to the opposite side. we then proceeded across another large plain, skirting the spurs of the serra azul. nine kilometres from camp we came to a stream metres wide, which flowed from north-east to south-west. it had an average depth of ½ ft. it was, i think, the cuyabá grande. it was not easy to identify those rivers, as the existing maps of that country were absolutely worthless, most of them being filled in with fancy mountains and rivers, which either did not exist at all or were sometimes hundreds of kilometres out of their position. there were frequently mistakes of two, three, and more degrees in the latitudes and longitudes even of important places. as for the tributary rivers, of which merely the mouths were known and named, they had supplied good material for the imagination of more or less artistic cartographers in order to fill in the rest of their course. even the german map and the american maps of the international bureau of american republics, which were the two best, were extremely inaccurate in their representation of that region. for instance, the latter map--and nearly all the other maps--placed the serra azul some or kil. south of its actual position. the german map was some kil. out. the serra azul could be seen from a great distance, and had been marked approximately and not by actual observations on the spot. nor, of course, had the tributaries of the cuyabá been explored or even seen except at their mouths; hence their imaginary courses. [illustration: a street of diamantino.] [illustration: the dogs of the expedition.] considering how the maps of those regions had been got together, it was really wonderful that, with all their blunders, they gave as much information as they did. unhappy, nevertheless, would be the poor traveller who relied on those maps in making a journey across the country. for instance, if you expected to come upon a certain river in one day and did not get there until after ten or fifteen days' hard marching; if you expected to find a mountain range--nearly as high as the himalayas or at least as high as the andes, according to the deep shading on the maps--and found instead an interminable flat plain; and if you saw on your map rivers marked navigable, and found rapids instead, in comparison with which the terrible ones of niagara are mere child's play, you would certainly become rather sceptical of prettily-drawn maps. on most of the maps of brazil one saw marked to the east of the araguaya, in the goyaz province, an immense range with no less a name than cordilheira geral la serra do estrondo--or "general range of the mountains of noise." they were marked as the most prominent range in brazil--quite as high as the andes of peru, bolivia, and chili; whereas, as a matter of fact, i was told on good authority that they were mere low hills, where there were any hills at all. to come to great geographical mistakes which came under my direct observation, i found a very palpable one in the head-waters of the cuyabá river, which had their source to the north of the serra azul and not to the south, as marked on many maps, including the brazilian official maps. we had to our left the serra das pedra--"range of rocks"--an extraordinarily rocky range, which was crossed almost at right angles by the chapadão das porcas. we marched through a wonderful growth of palmeiras, some of the palms being as much as ft. high. _buritys_ were innumerable along a small stream--the rio estivado--flowing south-west into the cubayá river. there were great quantities of _mangabeira_ trees. we proceeded northward along a _chapada_--a capital brazilian name which denotes a locality that is neither a forest nor a prairie. the _chapada_ had scanty trees and scrub, but not enough to make it into a forest. we were marching over low hills with surface deposits of sand and cinders. we gradually reached an elevation of , ft. some kil. from camp, and shortly after--and only ft. lower--entered a refreshing grove of giant _palmeiras_ and _buritys_ along the rio das porcas, flowing westward. there, north of the stream, we went across more clean campos, , metres wide, bounded to the north by the thickly-wooded hill-range keboh, extending before us from east to west. we crossed this range in the centre, during a strong gale from the south-west. the wind cleared the sky, that had been overcast and had made the atmosphere heavy. again that afternoon, when the wind ceased, i noticed the peculiar striations in the sky--not in straight lines that time, but in great and most regular curves converging to the west. the valley got narrower as we went along. two twin conical hills ended the northern extremity of the range (south-east to north-west) which we had on our left--a great mass of granite blocks in the centre of the plain rising higher and higher into regular domes. the plain itself, on an incline, showed two swellings of great magnitude, the one to our right about ft. higher than the plain, the elevation of which was , ft. on the west side of those two swellings was a confused mass of huge blocks of granite--of all sizes and shapes--which to all appearances had been shot up from underneath by some internal force. they were outwardly much blackened by the action of fire, but internally were of a grey tint. a little farther we were encircled by basaltic columns of great height, many of them fractured, forming a fantastic sky-line. some resembled the spires of a cathedral; groups of others had the appearance of the ruins of an ancient fortress; others stood up like giant obelisks; while accumulations of others formed more or less regular pyramids. after leaving that strange basin, we were once more travelling across patches of clean _chapada_ and dirty _chapada_--according to the soil and quantity of moisture; then over arid campos spreading for kil. without one single drop of water. at sundown, after having gone over several undulations varying from to ft. above the sea level, we went over a hill slightly higher-- ft.--with a summit of ashes, red earth, and yellow lava pellets, as well as great sheets of foliated lava. under a most wonderful effect of light to the west--three superposed horizontal bands of luminous yellow, violet and brilliant vermilion, over the deep cobalt mountain range in the distance--we arrived, my men being thirsty and tired, at a little rivulet. we had marched kil. that day. my men felt the cold intensely during the night--the minimum temperature was ° fahr., with a high, cutting wind. yet we were at a low elevation, merely ft. above the sea level. there were, as usual, moans and groans all night, more toothache and rheumatic pains and bones aching in the morning. the discontent among my men had reached a trying point. they worried me continuously to such an extent--indeed, as never in my life i had been worried before--that i was within an ace of breaking my vow of never losing my patience and calm. in my long experience of exploring i have always had to deal with the most troublesome types of men imaginable, but never with any quite so unpleasant as those i had in brazil. when, the next morning, i ordered them to pack the animals in order to proceed on our journey, there was an unpleasant scene approaching mutiny. they knocked things about and refused to go on. then they sat, rifles in hand, a little way off, grumbling and grunting, with vicious expressions upon their faces. they were going to do wonderful things--they were indeed! i overheard them. one man came forward--the spokesman. the men claimed their money up to date since the last payment made to them--only a fortnight before. they all wished to go. "certainly," was my immediate reply. without a moment's hesitation they were each handed over their full pay, and without giving the slightest attention to them, alcides, who had remained faithful, and i--poor filippe had been dragged against himself into the plot--collected all the animals and packed them. without one look or word--as if they had not existed--i started off the troop of animals and got on my saddle to depart last. with the corner of my eye i kept a watch on them--as with men of that kind the chief danger was when you had your back turned. i had gone only a few yards when i heard some one sobbing behind my mule. as i turned round, the two outstretched hands of filippe were handing me back the sum of money i had paid a few moments before. he was begging me to keep it safely for him. then two more hands urged me to take back for safe keeping the wages they had just received. the faces of the owners of those hands were too comic for words: the cheeks shining with abundant tears that streamed down, the eyes red and swollen, the mouths stretched in nervous strain from ear to ear. behind came two more men, looking as mournful as if they were being led to execution. they all begged to be re-employed. i let them follow--on foot--for several kilometres without saying a word--struggling through the heavy marching painfully and wading across chest-deep in the streams. we crossed the riberão chabo or guebo, metres wide and ft. deep, at an elevation of ft., then shortly after we waded through another stream flowing south, with a zone of wonderful _palmeiras_ along its banks. we then emerged into a magnificent plain with a barrier of low hills to the north-west. six kilometres farther we waded across the planchão stream, metres wide and in. deep. marching on horseback was delightful, the maximum temperature being only ° fahr. in the shade. another stream, flowing from north to south, the planchãonzinho, whose foul water was quite disgusting to drink, although beautifully limpid, was then negotiated. i was delighted at meeting with so many streams, for there was nothing my men hated more than to get into the water. they felt very sorry for themselves, to be struggling along as best they could, following the animals like humble sheep instead of being comfortably mounted on quadrupeds. we travelled a considerable distance through campos, but owing to some baggage which had been lost we eventually had to retrace our steps as far as the planchãonzinho river, on the banks of which we encamped. this was unfortunate, as the water had a sickening flavour and made even our coffee and tea taste like poison. misfortunes never come alone. in overhauling my baggage i discovered, to my dismay, that my men--in order to force me to go back the way we had come--had gradually thrown away most of the provisions, which should have lasted us some six to seven months longer. we had only sufficient food to last us a few days. the men confessed their misdeed. the country provided absolutely nothing to eat, and i had to face the problem of either dying of starvation or falling back on some place where we could purchase fresh provisions. it was out of the question--unless one wished to commit suicide and a quintuple murder--to endeavour to push on towards my goal, manaos on the amazon, some , kil. distant as the crow flies, or at least , to , kil. travelling, with possible deviations, without some of which it was not possible to travel. we could certainly not fall back on our point of departure, the terminus of the railway at araguary, , kil. distant; nor on goyaz, the last city we had seen, , kil. away--so that the only way to escape death was to fall back on the ancient settlement of diamantino, the farthest village in central brazil, a place once established by the first portuguese settlers of brazil while in search of diamonds. diamantino was practically in the very centre of the thicker part of south america, without counting patagonia. it was almost equidistant--roughly speaking, some , kil. as the crow flies--from pernambuco on the atlantic coast to the east, callao (lima) in peru on the pacific coast to the west, georgetown in british guyana to the north, and buenos ayres in the argentine republic. although so far in the interior and almost inaccessible from the north, east, and west, diamantino could be reached comparatively easily from the south, travelling by river up the parana, paraguay, and the cuyabá rivers, as far as rosario--thence by trail to diamantino. i had heard that the place was once flourishing, but had since become almost totally abandoned. i thought that perhaps i might be able to purchase sufficient provisions to get along; and--hope being one of my everlasting good qualities--i also dreamt that perhaps i might there get fresh men. it was indeed with a bleeding heart--when i had reached a point some kil. north of the serra azul--that i had to alter my course, which had been practically due north, into a south-westerly direction, and endeavour to find diamantino. my men were delighted at the prospect of seeing human beings again. we had met no one for some weeks. we made terrific marches daily in order to reach that village before the food gave out altogether. the nights were cold-- ° fahr. being the minimum at our camp on june rd. we crossed a small range of hills over a pass ft. above the sea level, and found ourselves in a spacious _cuvette_ with the usual central line of _buritys_ and thick vegetation (elev. ft.). soaring over our heads were a number of _gavião caboclo_ (_hetorospidias meridionalis_), a kind of falcon, rending the air with their unmusical shrieks. [illustration: matto-grosso girl, a mixture of portuguese, indian and negro blood.] [illustration: brazilian child, a mixture of portuguese and negro.] after leaving the _cuvette_ we began to ascend the estivado range, very steep and rocky. near the summit we struggled through a field of great igneous boulders, chiefly upright pillars of granite and white marble. upon the pass (elev. , ft.) was a circular depression some metres in diameter, perfectly flat-bottomed and grassy. it was surrounded by cones from to ft. high. on the south-east side of the range--very steep--was abundant rock, whereas to the north-west side was a padding of brown earth on a gentle incline divided into terraces. here and there pointed noses of volcanic blocks, similar to those we had found on the opposite side of the range, showed through. we went across a depression where water dripping down the mountain-side had remained stagnant, rendering that spot almost impassable. the animals sank chest-deep into slush, crashing through the thick and much-entangled growth of live and fallen bamboos. more campos, fairly wide, were found beyond this, and great stretches of foliated slate and sandstone in strata turned over into a vertical position, and quantities of débris. then again we cut our way through a cool growth of bamboos, handsome _palmeiras_ and _akuri_ palms; after which we emerged into campos once more, rising gradually to an elevation of , ft. upon an undulating terrace of the second section of the estivado range. pulling and pushing the mules and horses over a lot of boulders and up a steep incline, we reached the highest point of the range on our route-- , ft. above the sea level. again the stratification of red and grey rock in layers from ins. to ft. thick, standing vertically, showed what a geological commotion there must have been in those regions. the summit of the range, extending from north to south, appeared like the teeth of a saw, so broken up was it into repeated undulations. on the west side of the range we found a gentle slope of clear campos with merely a few stunted trees upon them. before us to the west stood high the level sky-line of a table-land, showing perfectly straight parallel strata of rock extending all along its face, but slightly undulated near the summit of the range. otherwise its grassy slopes were quite undisturbed in their virgin smoothness. in the distance to the north of our course was a great lagoon--the lagõa dos veados, "lagoon of the deer"--a most important point in south america, for it was there that the great arinos (tapajoz) river rose. the lagoon-- kil. long and less than kil. wide--had no visible outlet, but some hundreds of metres away a spring came out of the earth, forming the rio preto (black river). the rio preto, soon joined by the rio novo which we had seen descending from the serra azul, formed the arinos river and could certainly be considered the head-waters of that immense tributary of the amazon. a short distance south of diamantino were the sete lagoas, or seven lakes--as a matter of fact, they numbered more than seven--circular pools only a few yards in diameter but extraordinarily deep, evidently of volcanic origin, and filled with water at a later time. around their edges a remarkably luxuriant growth of _buritys_ could be admired. a great valley extending south with a central ridge could be distinguished. on it was the meeting-place of the rio diamantino and the rio do ouro (river of gold), which, with the sete lagoas, formed another most important point of south america, for it was there that the great paraguay or parana river rose. it was thus interesting to note that within almost a stone's throw rose two of the most powerful rivers of south america--one flowing due north into the amazon, the other almost due south as far as buenos ayres and montevideo, where it entered the atlantic ocean. a great confusion is made on most maps between those lagoons and the actual birth-places of those important streams. the ancient jesuits and friars had a fair idea of geography. i have in my possession a remarkable work in italian published in rome in by father john joseph of s. teresa--a barefooted carmelite. it is entitled _the history of the wars in the kingdom of brazil between the crown of portugal and the republic of holland_. the book contains a number of extraordinary maps of brazil. those of the principal harbours give a splendid idea of the places represented. the coastline of the continent is indicated with fair accuracy. it is curious to note that the author of that book and the cartographer place the sources of the amazon and of the river plate in the same spot, as descending on opposite sides of a range extending from east to west--a range which does not exist, unless it was intended to represent the central brazilian plateau. "the river s. francisco," father john joseph goes on to state, "has also its birth in the spot where the amazon is born, but this is not sure." the cartographer, in fact, places the head-waters of that river close to the head-waters of the amazon, and makes them flow through a large lagoon in the heart of brazil--evidently the great "lagõa dos veados" or else the "sete lagoas" to which reference has previously been made in this chapter. "the rio grande (rio parana, paraguay), one of the most celebrated in brazil," proceeds the carmelite father, "is born already swollen by plentiful waters (_sic_) in the interior of terra firma! near its sources it forms a lagoon leagues in circumference." all this is, of course, geographically wrong. the rio s. francisco has its birth far to the south-east in minas geraes, some hundreds of kilometres distant from that lagoon and several thousand from the real source of the amazon. also the friar must have mistaken--evidently from information received--the sources of the arinos for the sources of the amazon, which are really located some ° of longitude west. it is nevertheless curious that so far back as the existence of the lagoon should be known at all--perhaps they had heard of it from the adventurous paulista bandeirantes--and that they should have placed it nearly in its proper latitude and longitude on their maps. apparently father john joseph was not aware of the existence of the great araguaya and xingu rivers. having compiled his map from information, he confused those rivers into the s. francisco river. upon descending from the serra into the valley we soon came to a large forest with a luxuriant edge of _peroba_ (a word originating, i believe, from the words _ipe_ and _roba_ in the _tupi_ language), which was known in four different varieties: viz. the _peroba amarella_ (yellow), _parda_ (brown), _revessa_ (knotty), and _rosa_ (rose-coloured), technically named: _aspidosperma polyneuron_ m. arg., _aspidosperma leucomelum_ warmg, _aspidosperma sp._, _aspidosperma dasycarpon_ a. then there were also plentiful _garabu_ and other tall trees. before getting to the edge of the forest i noticed among the rocks some beautiful specimens of the _apita_ cactus, ft. and more in height, in appearance not unlike giant artichokes. near its beginning, where it was metres wide and in. deep, we crossed the estivado river, which with a group of other streamlets may share the honour of being one of the sources of the arinos. it flowed in a north-westerly direction. we were pushing on for all we were worth, for we had come to the end of our food. up and down we went over a troublesome series of great elongated ridges--like parallel dunes--the highest elevation on them being , ft., the depressions , ft. we came to a sweetly pretty streamlet, the mollah, flowing north into the paraguay river, and shortly afterwards to the caitté and the corisho (elev. , ft.). they were the three real and true sources of the paraguay, within a short distance of the seven lakes. we had marched kil. that day over rough country. my animals were quite exhausted. yet early next morning we pushed on once more over transverse undulations and across grassy _cuvettes_, slightly conical, with circular pools of water in the centre and a florid growth of bamboos in the lowest point of the _cuvettes_. we ascended over more dyke-like obstructions on our way (elev. , ft.) and descended once more into a vast basin of campos with stunted trees. at its lowest point there was from north-east to south-west a line of magnificent tall trees. the forest was so dense there that when we entered it we were quite in the dark, as if going through a tunnel. there were fine specimens of various kinds of the _jua_ or _juaz_ or _jurubeba_ (solanum), a medicinal plant to ft. high with enormous dentate leaves--shaped not unlike a vine leaf--possessing upright spikes on their dorsal or mid-rib and on the veins of the leaf. then there was plentiful "_cepa de pappo_," a common liana like a huge boa-constrictor winding its way in a spiral up the tallest trees. i saw some of those liane in. in diameter, with a smooth whitish bark. the soil at the bottom of the valley ( , ft. above sea level) was mostly composed of cinders, but up the slopes white sand was predominant, mixed with ashes. we travelled over a lava flow which formed the bed of the river macucu, flowing eastward. guided by the noise, we found a most beautiful waterfall, ft. high, over an extinct circular crater with vertical walls. we kept on rising over a gentle incline, and having reached an elevation of , ft. we found ourselves suddenly on the upper edge of a great crescent-shaped depression extending in a semicircle from north-east to south-west. its walls were one-tiered to the west, with a flat table-land on their summit, but were divided into two terraces in the northern part where ranges of hills rose on the plateau. we had a rapid, steep descent among great rectangular blocks of conglomerate (white marble pebbles embedded in iron rock), great sheets of lava, and sediments of red earth, solidified in places into half-formed rock. i noticed extensive lava flows which had run towards the west; then we came upon extraordinary quantities of loose white marble pebbles and chips. we made our way down upon a kind of spur of red lava, frightfully slippery for my animals. the poor beasts were quite worn out with fatigue. from the round dome of the headland we perceived to the south a second great circle of flat-topped heights. the immense flow of red lava on which we were radiated terrific heat which it had absorbed from the sun's rays. my dogs, being nearer the ground than we were, had great difficulty in breathing. their heads and tails hung low, and their tongues dangled fully out of their mouths. they stumbled along panting pitifully. even we on our mounts felt nearly suffocated by the stifling heat from the sun above and the lava below. the dogs were amusing enough, curling down quickly to rest wherever a mangy shrub gave the slightest suspicion of a shade. the men, more stupid always than beasts, were sweating and swearing freely, and thumped mercilessly on the rumps of the tired animals with the butts and muzzles of their rifles in order to urge them along. the very sound of the mules' neck-bells seemed tired and worn; its brisk tinkling of our days of vigour had given room to a monotonous and feeble, almost dead, ding ... dong, at long intervals--well suggesting the exhaustion of the poor animals, which were just able to drag along. the slightest obstacle--a loose stone, a step in the lava, and now one animal, then another, would collapse and roll down, and we had to dismount and help them up on their feet again--quite a hard job, i can tell you, when the animals were nearly dead and would not get up again. as we went along more and more headlands of the great plateau appeared before us to the west. we still went on descending on the top of the long spur of lava. when not too busy with our animals--and quite out of breath with the heat and stifling air from the heated rock--i sometimes glanced at the glorious panorama on both sides of us. when we had proceeded farther i ascertained that there were really two crescents contained side by side within a larger crescent. under us to the south a vast undulating plain stretched as far as the eye could see towards the south-west and west. on describing a revolution upon your heels your eye met the other end of the larger crescent plateau to the north-west. the serra do tombador extended in a south-westerly direction from north of diamantino to s. luiz de caceres, to the west of the paraguay river. the height of the spur on which we were was , ft. above the sea level. we had come in a great circle on the upper edge. a trail could be seen crossing the great undulating valley below us. it passed at the western terminus of the spur we were on. evidently that was the trail connecting diamantino with cuyabá (the capital of matto grosso) via rosario. the sight of a trail was most exhilarating to my men. suddenly and quite unexpectedly we came upon a few wretched, tumble-down houses--if one may call them so--smothered in vegetation which grew everywhere. my animals themselves seemed astonished at the unusual sight. the horses neighed and the mules brayed loudly. masonry work perhaps suggested to them more substantial meals. down a precipitous ravine, over large boulders and stumbling into big holes, into which the mules disappeared for a few seconds at a time ... there was the main street of diamantino. the village--the local people called it "a city"--was the very picture of misery, yet to us it seemed as if we had dropped into the middle of london or paris. there were a few resident traders, two or three brazilians, two italians, and a turk. all were most hospitable and kind. the chief industry of the place was rubber, which found its way to the coast via the paraguay river. formerly diamantino was a flourishing place because diamonds were found in abundance. even now they can be found along the river, but the difficulty of access, even by the easiest way, and the great expense of living there have gradually depopulated the place, which was quite in an abandoned state when i was there. here are some of the minimum prices which the rubber collectors had to pay for articles of necessity: beans, _s._ _d._ to _s._ per litre,[ ] or about _s._ a pound; rice, _s._ per litre; flour, _s._ _d._ per litre, about _s._ a pound; sugar, _s._ per kilo ( pounds), rapadura, or sugar block, _s._ per small cake; tobacco, _s._ per metre of twist; salt, _s._ _d._ to _s._ per litre; coffee, _s._ _d._ per kilo; lard, _s._ _d._ per kilo; purified lard in tins, _s._ to _s._ per kilos. bars of the commonest laundry soap, _s._ each bar; chickens _s._ to _s._ each; eggs, _s._ to _s._ a dozen; small tins or sardines (containing five sardines) of the most inferior kind, _s._ to _s._ a tin; a one-pound tin of the commonest french salt butter, _s._ a genial banquet was offered me on my arrival. the school-mistress was set to prepare an excellent and plentiful meal. the mayor and all the notabilities of the place in their sunday clothing came to fetch me at the house of the firm of orlando bros., where i had been most hospitably sheltered, and where i had been requested to wait for them. at the appointed time they arrived--in frock-coats, and each carrying an umbrella. "is it raining?" i inquired in my astonishment at seeing the array of articles which i had not seen for several months--especially as a few minutes before i had been outside and it was a lovely starlit night. "oh no, indeed, it is not raining; we carry the umbrellas in due honour to you!" they replied in a chorus, accompanied by a grand bow. this was such an extraordinary compliment that it really took me some time before i could grasp the meaning of it. it seemed that according to the social rules of diamantino, matto grosso, no one could be considered fully dressed unless carrying an umbrella. rain or shine, the people of diamantino carried their umbrellas on grand occasions. after that one of the gentlemen pulled out of his pocket a long slip of paper and proceeded to read a speech of welcome. i answered in a few humble words. another gentleman--there were eight altogether--produced another slip which he duly read in a sonorous voice. again i replied as best i could. then, as i was getting really anxious lest some one else should be speechifying again, the mayor of the place offered me his arm, and followed in a most respectful manner by the others, we adjourned to the schoolroom, where the feast was spread upon the table. more speeches when we entered the room, more speeches before we sat down, speeches in the middle of dinner, speeches after dinner. unaware of what was coming, i had exhausted all the compliments i could think of in my first speech, and i had to tax my poor brain considerably to reply with grace--especially as i had to speak in portuguese--to the many charming things which my thoughtful hosts said. the banquet went off well. it is difficult to imagine more considerate, kindly people than those exiles in that far-away spot. i took careful and repeated astronomical observations for latitude and longitude in order to establish the exact position of that settlement. lat. ° '· s.; long. ° ' w. i purchased all the food i could possibly collect--enough to last us some six months, which cost me a small fortune--as i intended to push out of the place and proceed northward at once. four of my men became badly intoxicated upon our arrival. there was another mutiny. they again claimed their pay up to date and wished to leave me. at once they received their money. it was such a relief to me when they went off, even for a few hours, that i was always glad to give them the money and have a short mental rest while they kept away. unfortunately it was impossible to obtain a single extra man in diamantino. labour was scarce, and the few labourers in existence were in absolute slavery. indeed, slavery existed--it exists to-day--in all central brazil, just as it did before slavery was abolished. only in the old days of legal slavery it was limited to negroes; now the slaves are negroes, mulattoes, white people, even some europeans. i have seen with my own eyes a german gentleman of refinement in that humble condition. in the present condition of things the slave, in the first instance, sells himself or is sold by his family. there were indeed few, if any, of the labouring classes in matto grosso and goyaz provinces who were free men or women. all were owned by somebody, and if you wished to employ them--especially to take them away from a village or a city--you had to purchase them from their owners. that meant that if you intended to employ a man--even for a few days--you had to disburse a purchase sum equivalent to two or three hundred pounds sterling, sometimes more. in the following way it was made impossible for the slaves to become free again. taking advantage of the poverty and vanity of those people, loans of money were offered them in the first instance, and also luxuries in the way of tinned food, clothing, revolvers and rifles. when once they had accepted, and could not repay the sum or value of the articles received, they became the property of the lender, who took good care to increase the debt constantly by supplying cheap articles to them at fifty times their actual cost. the _seringueiro_, or rubber collector, had a _caderneta_, or booklet and the master a _livro maestro_, or account book, in which often double the quantity of articles actually received by the rubber collector were entered. the debt thus increased by leaps and bounds, and in a short time a labourer owed his master, two, three hundred pounds. the rubber collectors tried hard to repay the debt in rubber, which they sold to their masters at a low rate; but it was always easy for the masters to keep the men in debt. it must be said for the masters that their slaves were not in any way ill-treated; on the contrary--except that a man was seldom given the slightest chance of redeeming himself--they were indeed treated as well as circumstances permitted. labour, it must be remembered, was so scarce and valuable--it was almost an impossibility to obtain labour in central brazil--that it was the care of the master not to lose a labourer. much is to be said for the honour of even the worst types of brazilians. although many of them would not think twice of murdering or robbing a stranger of all he possessed, they were seldom known to defraud their owners by escaping. a man who ran away from his owner was looked down upon by the entire community. again, it must be stated that the chances of escape, in those distant regions, were indeed very remote. an escaped slave with no money could not go very far and he would soon die of starvation. i must confess that, although i tried hard to discover a way by which labour could be obtained and retained in brazil with the existing laws, i could not find one practicable except that used by the brazilians, viz. slavery. the people of diamantino tried hard to induce one or two men to accompany me--and i was willing to buy them out and eventually would have set them free altogether at the end of the expedition--but they were all so terrified of the indians if they left the "city" that they preferred to remain slaves. alcides had gone round to look for a barber. there was only one in diamantino, and he was in prison for the murder of his wife, or for some other such trifling matter. armed with a pair of my scissors, alcides went to the prison to have his hair cut. once there he took the opportunity to explain to the prisoner that it could be arranged to procure his escape if he were willing to join the expedition. the barber--who had not inquired which way we should be travelling--jumped at the idea. this necessitated having my hair cut too--rather a trial with scissors that did not cut--in order to arrange matters further in detail. with a special permission from the local authorities the barber was let out accompanied by two policemen--the only two in the place--in order that he might reduce my hair by half its length or more. while i underwent actual torture in having my hair clipped--as the prisoner's hands were trembling with excitement, and my ears had various narrow escapes--alcides, who, when he wished, had very persuasive manners, induced not only the prisoner, but the two policemen--all three--to escape and join the expedition. i must say that i did not at all look forward to the prospect of my three new companions; but we were in terrible want of hands. i had visions that my expedition would be entirely wrecked. there was a limit to human endurance and we could not perform miracles. we still had thousands of kilometres to travel over most difficult and dangerous country. besides, i reflected, after all, i might only be performing an act of kindness by relieving the town of the expense and trouble of keeping its only prisoner, not to speak of the police force. all was satisfactorily arranged, when the prisoner inquired where we were going. you should have seen his face when i told him. "no, no, no!" he quickly replied. "no, no, no, no!" and he waved my scissors in the air. "i will not come! i will remain in prison all my life rather than be eaten up by cannibals! no, no, no, no ... no, no, no, no...!" he went on muttering at intervals as he gave the last clipping touches to my hair. he hastened through his job, received his pay in silence, and asked the policemen to take him back quickly to the prison. when the chains, which had temporarily been removed, were put again around his wrists, he departed shaking his head and muttering again--"no, no, no, no...!" the wise policemen, too, said that naturally, as their prisoner would not escape, they were obliged to remain and keep guard over him ... it was not through lack of courage that they would not come; it was because of their duty! of course, alcides was sadly disappointed, but i was delighted, when it all fell through. i owe the success of my expeditions to the fact that, no matter what happens, i never will stop anywhere. it is quite fatal, on expeditions of that kind, to stop for any length of time. if you do, the fatigue, the worry, and illness make it generally impossible to start again--all things which you do not feel quite so much as long as you can keep moving. many a disaster in exploring expeditions could easily have been avoided, had the people known this secret of successful travelling. push on at all costs--until, of course, you are actually dead. with my reduced party of two men (alcides and filippe) i had to arrange matters differently, and decided to abandon part of my baggage--all things, in fact, which were not absolutely necessary, taking only food, instruments for scientific observations, cameras and photographic plates. alcides and filippe--who by then had become most adventurous--and i were about to start on july st, and were making things ready, when two of my deserters returned and begged me to take them along again. they had found living at their own cost rather expensive, and had realized that it would have been an impossibility for them to get out of that place again with the funds at their disposal. each meal had cost them a small fortune. animals were extremely expensive, and it was then the wrong season for launches to come up the river as far as rosario, the nearest port to the south. "we will come with you," said they, in a sudden outburst of devotion. "we will come. we are brave men. you have always been good and generous to us. we are sorry for what we have done. order us and we will kill anybody you like for you!" brazilians of that class have only one idea in their heads--killing, killing, killing! that was more devotion than i demanded. in order to spare alcides and filippe, and myself--as the work thrown upon us would have indeed been beyond our possible strength--i re-employed the two men on the express condition that they should murder no one while they were with me. at noon of july st, accompanied by a mounted escort of honour of the leading citizens with the mayor at their head, i left diamantino (elev. , ft.), travelling north-east. we ascended to the summit of a table-land--the first terrace of which was at an elevation of , ft., the higher at , ft. the last words i had heard from a venerable old man as i rode out of diamantino still rang in my ears. "you are going to sure death--good-bye!..." on reaching the top of the plateau the courteous friends who had accompanied me also bade me an affectionate farewell. i could see by their faces and their manner that they were saying good-bye to one they believed a doomed man. "if by chance you come out alive," said the mayor, in a tentative way, "we should like to have news of you." on dismal occasions of that kind the sky is always gloomy and black and there is always drizzling rain. so that day, too, the weather did not fail to add to our depressed spirits. on leaving our friends we started to plunge once more into the unknown. on reaching the top edge of the plateau we witnessed a wonderful sight, rendered more poetic by the slight vagueness of a veil of mist. to the south of diamantino was the serra tombador, extending as far as s. luiz de caceres, about kil. as the crow flies to the south-west. then below us was the lagõa dos veados with no outlet, and close by the head-waters of the rio preto (a tributary of the arinos). the serra do tombador was parallel nearly all along with the river paraguay. owing to departing so late in the day from diamantino, and the time we had wasted on the way with social compliments, we were only able to go kil. that afternoon. we halted near the shed of a _seringueiro_ (rubber collector), at an elevation of , ft., close to the chapesà, a streamlet flowing into the agua fria (cold water), which in its turn threw itself into the rio preto. it was muggy and warm during the night--min. ° fahr.--with swarms of mosquitoes. we were glad to leave the next morning, following a north-westerly course across a wonderfully beautiful meadow with circular groups of trees and a long belt of vegetation along the stream. it was then that i made my first acquaintance in brazil with the _seringueira_ (_syphonia elastica_ or _hevea brasiliensis_), which was fairly plentiful in that region. as we shall see, that rubber tree, producing the best rubber known, became more and more common as we proceeded north. in the cuts of rivers, soft red volcanic rock was exposed, with a surface layer of white sand and grey ashes in the flat meadow. the padding of earth was thin. except close to rivers and in extinct craters where the accumulations of earth and cinders were often deeper with a good supply of moisture from underneath, the trees were feeble and anæmic. there again i was amazed to find how unstable and weak most trees were. one could knock them down with a mere hard push--as the roots had no hold in the ground, where they spread horizontally almost on the surface, owing to the rock underneath which prevented their penetrating farther than the thin upper layer of earth, sand, and ashes. if you happened to lean against a tree or in. in diameter, it was not uncommon to see the tree tumble down and you too. the wood also of those trees was very brittle and watery, with no power of resistance worth mentioning. many were the streamlets which flowed into the rio preto at elevations from , to , ft., viz. the burity comprido, the bujui, the grinko, the pomba, the corgo do campo, the riberão grande, and the stiva. many of those streamlets had beautiful beds of white marble pebbles, which made their cool and clear water look and taste perfectly delicious. others, with soft black mud bottoms--especially in _cuvettes_--were extremely troublesome to cross. on the banks of those streams were marvellous _pacobeira_ palms--a kind of giant banana palm, attaining a height of to ft., with a stem, ovoid in section, of great length, and from which shot out paddle-like leaves of immense size and of a gorgeous green, to ft. long and ft. wide. on july rd we went through thick, dirty, low scrub and forest, except along streams, the banks of which were lined with tall anæmic trees inch in diameter with a mere bunch of leaves from branches at the summit. we again met with several _cuvettes_--very grassy, with the usual florid growth of trees in the centre. those depressions were , ft. above the sea level. from many of the trees hung huge globes, like tumours. they were nests of _cupim_, the destructive white ants (_termes album_), of which there were swarms everywhere in that region. in one night they ate up the bottoms of most of my wooden boxes and rendered many of our possessions useless. they ate up our clothes, injured our saddles by eating the stitching--anything that was not of metal, glass, or polished leather was destroyed by those little devils. we were beginning to descend gradually on the northern side of the table-land. after crossing a pass , ft. above the sea level we arrived on a lagoon to our left. shortly after we reached the left bank of the arinos river, separated there from the lagoon by a narrow tongue of high land--some ft. high--between the two waters. it was thus that on july th we encamped on that great tributary of the amazon. we were still thousands of kilometres away from its mouth. my animals were quite exhausted and were unable to continue. moreover, the forest near this great river--already, so near its birthplace, over metres wide--would have made their coming along quite impossible, as the grazing was getting scarce, and would be scarcer still as we went on north. then as the river arinos took me in the direction in which i intended to travel, i had made up my mind to abandon the animals at that spot and attempt to navigate the river--diabolical as its reputation was. we had now travelled on horseback some , kil. from the last railway station, of which about kil. were over absolutely unknown country. rough as the travelling had been, it was mere child's play compared with the experiences we had to endure from that day on. [illustration: map showing author's route.] [illustration: map showing the arinos and arinos-juruena rivers.] footnotes: [footnote : a litre is a cube the sides of which are - / in.] end of vol. i _printed by hazell, watson & viney ltd., london and aylesbury._ [illustration: the mouth of the putamayo river.] across unknown south america by a. henry savage-landor with maps, coloured plates, and illustrations from photographs by the author _in two volumes_ vol. ii hodder and stoughton london new york toronto _printed in _ _copyright in the united states of america by a. henry savage-landor_ contents vol. ii chapter i the river arinos--a rickety canoe--mapping the river--the _siphonia elastica_--rubber and its collection--an enormously rich country--a german in slavery pp. - chapter ii hoisting the british flag--an escaped slave--a dilemma--benedicto--the _lutra brasiliensis_--the seringueiros--a marvellous river--rapids pp. - chapter iii dangerous navigation--eddies--whirlpools--an extraordinary creature--the man x--pedro de toledo island--an interesting rodent pp. - chapter iv _oleo pardo_ trees--beautiful palms--the river bottom--swarms of butterflies--millions of bees--a continuous torture pp. - chapter v great islands--the trinchão fish--a fisherman's paradise--alastor island--plentiful rubber--the civilized man's idea of the tropical forest--the war-cries of the indians--swarms of bees and butterflies pp. - chapter vi the _tapirus americanus_--striking scenery--the _mate_ tree--photography in camp--brazilian way of reasoning--a new christopher columbus--the selection of our camps--beautiful fruit--a large tributary pp. - chapter vii ideal islands--immense _figueira_ trees--the "spider monkey"--great variety of fish in the arinos--the rocky gateway into diabolical waters--shooting dangerous rapids--cutting a way through the forest--a nasty rapid--plentiful fish pp. - chapter viii magnificent basins--innumerable rapids--narrow escapes--the destructive sauba ants--disobedient followers--a range of mountains--inquisitive monkeys--luck in fishing--rocky barriers--venus pp. - chapter ix dogs--macaws--crocodiles--a serious accident: men flung into a whirlpool--the loss of provisions and valuable baggage--more dangerous rapids--wonderful scenery--dangerous work--on the edge of a waterfall--a risky experience--bravery of author's brazilian followers--a high wind from the north-east--a big lake pp. - chapter x the point of junction of the arinos and juruena rivers--elfrida landor island--terrible days of navigation--immense islands--an old indian camp--a fight between a dog and an _ariranha_--george rex island--a huge _sucuriú_ snake pp. - chapter xi a family of _ariranhas_--attacked by them--three nasty rapids--beautiful sand beaches--exciting experiences--going down a thundering cataract--alcides' narrow escape--a night's work in the midst of a foaming rapid in order to rescue the half-submerged canoe--filippe's courage--visited by a snake ft. long pp. - chapter xii a tiny globular cloudlet warning us--tossed in a merciless manner--saved by providence--vicious waters--a diabolical spot--a highly dangerous crossing--a terrible channel--more bad rapids--on the verge of a fatal drop down a waterfall--saved in time--a magnificent sight--the august falls--a mutiny--the canoe, weighing , lb., taken across the forest over a hill-range pp. - chapter xiii a double whirlpool--incessant rapids of great magnitude--a dangerous channel--nothing to eat--another disaster pp. - chapter xiv in the hands of providence--a mutiny--another mutiny--foodless--hard and dangerous work--a near approach to hades--making an artificial channel among thousands of boulders--an awe-inspiring scene--the fall of s. simão--a revolt pp. - chapter xv mutiny and threats--wasted efforts--awful waters--the canoe escapes in a violent rapid--another mutiny--the canoe recovered--an appalling vortex--the fall of s. simão--cutting an artificial channel in the rocks pp. - chapter xvi at death's door--mundurucu indians--all author's followers poisoned by wild fruit--anxious moments--seringueiros--a dying jewish trader--the mori brothers--a new hat--where the tres barras meets the arinos-juruena--the canoe abandoned pp. - chapter xvii a fiscal agency--former atrocities--the apiacar indians--plentiful rubber--unexploited regions--precious fossils thrown away by author's followers--a terrific storm--author's canoe dashed to pieces--the mount st. benedicto pp. - chapter xviii starting across the virgin forest--cutting the way incessantly--a rugged, rocky plateau--author's men throw away the supplies of food--attacked by fever--marching by compass--poisoned--author's men break down--author proceeds across forest endeavouring to reach the madeira river--a dramatic scene pp. - chapter xix benedicto and filippe show courage--confronted with a mountainous country--steep ravines--no food--painful marches--starving--ammunition rendered useless by moisture--the "pros" and "cons" of smoking--a faint hope--a forged tin which should have contained anchovies--curious effects of starvation upon the brain--where money is of no avail--why there was nothing to eat in the forest--the sauba ants--sniffed by a jaguar--filippe tries to commit suicide pp. - chapter xx benedicto and the honey--constantly collapsing from exhaustion--a strange accident--finding a river--people's mistaken ideas--sixteen days of starvation--an abandoned hut--repairing a broken-down canoe--canoe founders--a raft constructed of glass pp. - chapter xxi the launching of the glass raft--accidents--the raft sinking--saved--our first solid meal--its consequences--the canuma and secundury rivers--marching back across the forest to the relief of the men left behind--a strange mishap--a curious case of telepathy pp. - chapter xxii baggage saved--the journey down the tapajoz river--colonel brazil--wrecked--from itaituba to the amazon--benedicto and the man x are discharged pp. - chapter xxiii santarem to belem (pará)--the amazon--from belem to manaos--the madeira-mamore railway pp. - chapter xxiv attacked by beri-beri--a journey up the madeira river to the relief of filippe the negro and recovery of valuable baggage left with him--filippe paid off--a journey up the river solimões--iquitos pp. - chapter xxv from iquitos to the foot of the andes up the rivers ucayalli, pachitea and pichis--the cashibos or "vampire indians" pp. - chapter xxvi across the andes--the end of the trans-continental journey pp. - chapter xxvii the peruvian corporation railway--the land of the incas--lake titicaca--bolivia--chile--the argentine--a last narrow escape--back in england pp. - appendix some of the principal plants of brazil--mammals--birds--fish-- reptiles--vocabularies pp. - index pp. - list of illustrations vol. ii the mouth of the putamayo river (_coloured plate_) _frontispiece_ page rubber tree showing incisions and the collar and tin cup for the collection of the latex coagulating rubber into a ball balls of rubber outside a seringueiro's hut method of pressing rubber into cakes, the alum process of coagulation being used the upper arinos river the arinos river above the rapids the first rocks in the arinos river enormous globular rocks typical of the arinos river a rocky barrier in the river a picturesque double waterfall on the arinos river an island of the arinos river vegetation on an island in the river arinos preparing the canoe to descend a rapid a cataract on the arinos river a rapid on the arinos river taking the canoe through a narrow channel a formidable vortex going down a violent rapid in a narrow channel the result of half an hour's fishing on the arinos-juruena leading the canoe down a rapid by rope characteristic rocky barrier across the arinos river (author's sextant in foreground) whirlpool at end of rapid in shallow water fishing on the arinos: a jahu fish of the arinos river a fine cataract on the arinos-juruena river preparing the canoe prior to descending a rapid a nasty rapid a giant central wave emerging from a narrow channel a dangerous rapid taking the canoe and part of the baggage down a narrow passage among rocks the canoe being led down a rapid crocodile about to attack one of the dogs of the expedition. photographed by author at a distance of three metres (rio arinos-juruena) terrifying rapid shot by author and his men in their canoe author's men shooting a crocodile a cataract in the river arinos author's canoe among great volcanic rocks preparing to descend a rapid a cataract in the arinos river lake formed where the arinos and juruena rivers meet going through a rapid author's canoe going down a cataract the immense waves encountered by author in emerging from the channel, in the rapid of the inferno. (the canoe with its occupants shot up vertically in the air) a giant sucurÍ snake with entire deer contained in its digestive organs an easy rapid going through a narrow channel a dangerous vortex preparing the canoe to go down a rapid a narrow passage in the arinos river treble vortex. (the water revolved in three different directions in succession) at the august falls author and his men in water up to their necks for an entire night endeavouring to save their canoe, which in shooting a rapid had become stuck between rocks _(coloured plate_) the salto augusto from above the upper terrace of the august waterfall interesting geological formation below the salto augusto the salto augusto (upper terrace) foliated rock below the august falls the wooden railway constructed by author in order to take the canoe overland for two and a half kilometres at the august falls formation of rock below the august falls photograph showing the road cut by author across the forest in order to take the heavy canoe overland conveying the canoe across the forest on improvised railway and rollers pushing the canoe uphill through the forest. (notice men with heads wrapped owing to torturing insects) conveying the canoe, weighing , lb., over a hill range--the descent author's canoe being made to travel across the forest distant view showing both falls at the salto augusto launching the canoe after its journey over a hill range a most dangerous rapid navigated by author and his men letting the canoe jump a rapid artificial canal made by author and his men in order to take their canoe along where the river was impassable rapid through which author took his canoe conveying the canoe by hand down a rapid canoe being taken along an artificial canal made by author and his men a moment of suspense: author and his men in their canoe going through a narrow channel between vertical walls of rock. the water forced through from three large arms of the river joining at that point formed a high and dangerous central wave (_coloured plate_) conveying the canoe through the forest. (notice the side of the canoe split and stuffed with pieces of cloth) leading the empty canoe down a dangerous channel. (photographed a few seconds before the rope snapped and canoe escaped) the s. simÃo waterfall the huge canoe being taken through a small artificial canal made in the rocks by the author and his men mundurucu indians author taking astronomical observations on a sandy beach of the river arinos-juruena where the rivers arinos-juruena and s. manoel meet josÉ maracati, chief of the mundurucus, tapajoz apiacar boy apiacar indian apiacar women mundurucu women apiacar children raft constructed by the author in order to navigate the canuma river with his two companions of starvation (_coloured plate_) canoe made of the bark of the burity palm indians of the madeira river caripuna indians indian idols of the putumayo district trading boats landing balls of rubber, river tapajoz itaituba a trading boat on the tapajoz river the s.s. "commandante macedo" colonel r. p. brazil and his charming wife where the madeira-mamore railway begins madeira-mamore railway, showing cut through tropical forest bolivian rubber at abuna station on the madeira-mamore railway the inauguration train on the madeira-mamore railway wreck of the "mamoria" in the calderÃo of the solimÕes river indians of the putumayo district. (dr. rey de castro, peruvian consul at manaos in the centre of photograph) a street in iquitos the launch "rimac" on the ucayalli river a trail in the andes campas indian children campas old woman and her son campas indian woman campas woman campas man, woman and child the ucayalli river the launch on which author travelled almost to the foot of the andes campas family wading across a stream a farmhouse on the andes on the andes: an elevated trail overlooking a foaming torrent. (see arch cut in rock) la mercedes the avenue of eucalypti near the town of tarma (andes) on the andes a street of tarma the market-place, tarma the highest point where author crossed the andes before reaching the railway at oroya oroya oroya, the highest railway station in the world in the andes at , feet above the sea level the highest point of the oroya railway: the galera tunnel the oroya railway (a great spring emerging from the mountain-side) beautiful scenery on the peruvian corporation railway to cuzco, peru a. b. leguia, the president of the peruvian republic the american observatory, arequipa, and mount misti, peru on the peruvian corporation railway on the way to cuzco a beautiful example of ancient spanish wood-carving, peru wonderful example of old spanish wood-carving, peru on the way to cuzco: railway bridge partly carried away by swollen river great sand dunes along the peruvian corporation railway to cuzco inca bath or fountain cuzco: llamas in foreground a famous inca wall, cuzco. (the various rocks fit so perfectly that no mortar was used to keep them in place) inca three-walled fortress of sacsayhuaman, cuzco the inca temple of the sun, with spanish superstructure inca doorway, cuzco inca steps carved in a dome of rock, cuzco. (fortress noticeable in the distance) the "round table" of the incas entrance to inca subterranean passages inca place of amusement: a toboggan slide of rock an inca grave, bolivia inca remains near cuzco where a stone fight took place in the inca country. (notice the innumerable rocks which have been thrown down the hill from the high inca structure) entrance to inca subterranean passages the great inca ruins of viraccocha, in tinta (cuzco) inca pottery, weapons and ornaments of gold and copper inca towers of sillistayni, puÑo (lake titicaca) an inca statue, bolivia lake titicaca guaqui, the port for la paz on lake titicaca on the andes llamas in bolivia borax deposits, bolivia chapter i the river arinos--a rickety canoe--mapping the river--the _siphonia elastica_--rubber and its collection--an enormously rich country--a german in slavery we struck the river arinos at a point called porto velho. there were at that place the miserable sheds of three _seringueiros_ (rubber-collectors). i had made for that particular spot because i had heard that a big canoe carved out of the trunk of a tree probably existed there. i was told that the canoe was large enough to carry many people. it had been constructed, it seemed, some ten years previously by a rubber-collecting expedition which came to grief, was abandoned, and had since been taken possession of by seringueiros. i had purchased it on chance from its last owner for rs. , . with accessories i gave about rs. , , or roughly, £ . it was the only canoe upon that river. i considered myself lucky, when i arrived at porto velho, to find that the canoe actually existed at all. there she was, floating more or less gracefully upon the water. she had a total length of ft., was ½ ft. wide, and had been roughly scooped out of a giant tree which was not quite straight. her lines, therefore, were not as elegant as might have been expected. for instance, her starboard and port sides were not absolutely straight lines, but described curves--in fact, the port side almost an angle. that gave the canoe an original appearance, which to my practical mind at once suggested great difficulty of steering. her sides, coarsely cut with an axe, were from to in. thick; her bottom from in. to ft. thick. the two extremities were solid blocks, so that her weight--she was carved out of unusually heavy wood--was altogether over , lb. when i went down to the water to examine my purchase i found that the vessel was in a pitiful condition and needed sound repairing before she could proceed on a long journey. she was sufficiently good for crossing the stream--that was all she was used for by the seringueiros--but it would be a different matter to go down rapids for some thousands of kilometres. it took all the strength of my men, the seringueiros, and myself combined to pull the canoe out of the water upon the beach and to turn her over. we worked hard for two days with saws and hammers, knives, tar and wadding, in order to stop up a gigantic crack which extended from one end of the canoe to the other under her bottom. although the crack did not go right through, i could well imagine that a hard knock against a rock might be quite sufficient to split the canoe in two. we scraped her and cleaned her; we overhauled and strengthened her thoroughly; we cut rough seats inside, and built an elevated deck upon which the baggage might be comparatively safe from moisture. we were proud of our work when we launched her. wiping the dripping perspiration from our foreheads, necks and arms, we looked just as if we had come out of a bath, we sweated so in our efforts to push her back into the water, the heat near the water, screened as it was from the breeze by the high banks and trees, being suffocating! we gazed at her--the queen of the arinos river. she looked lovely in our eyes. on her stern i fixed the steering gear, a huge paddle ft. long; and upon a neatly-made staff, which i had cut myself, i hoisted the british flag, which had hitherto flown over my tent. it was, i think, the first time the british flag had waved over that river. the canoe was baptized the "elfrida," after my sister's name. it will be remembered that only four men remained with me. not one of them had ever been in a canoe before--except to be ferried across a river, perhaps--not one had the slightest idea of navigation, and it followed, of course, that not one had ever used a paddle or steered a canoe. as the river had never been surveyed, it was my intention to make an accurate map of its entire course as far as its junction with the tres barras, several thousand kils. away, from which point i imagined the river must be slightly better known. therefore, as i should be busy all day long with the prismatic compass and watch, constantly taking notes of the direction of the stream and the distances covered (checked almost daily by astronomical observations) i should not be able to take an active part in the navigation. the canoe was undermanned. imagine her length-- ft.--with only two men to paddle. a third man was stationed on her bow to punt when possible and be on the look-out for rocks; while alcides, whom i had promoted to the rank of quartermaster, was in charge of the steering. i had taken the precaution to make a number of extra paddles. we carried a large quantity of fishing-lines with hooks of all sizes, and cartridges of dynamite. the river was most placid and beautiful, and the water wonderfully clear. unlike rivers elsewhere, the arinos did not show a branch or a twig floating on its waters, not a leaf on its mirror-like surface. that did not mean that branches of trees--sometimes even whole trees--did not fall into the river, but, as i have stated already, the specific gravity of woods in that part of brazil was so heavy that none floated. hence the ever-clean surface of all the streams. we were then in a region of truly beautiful forest, with _figueira_ (_ficus_ of various kinds), trees of immense size, and numerous large _cambará_. the bark of the latter--reddish in colour--when stewed in boiling water, gave a refreshing decoction not unlike tea and quite good to drink. most interesting of all the trees was, however, the seringueira (_siphonia elastica_), which was extraordinarily plentiful in belts or zones along the courses of rivers in that region. as is well known, the seringueira, which grows wild in the forest there, is one of the most valuable lactiferous plants in the world. its latex, properly coagulated, forms the best quality of rubber known. [illustration: rubber tree showing incisions and the collar and tin cup for the collection of the latex.] [illustration: coagulating rubber into a ball.] there are, of course, many latex-giving plants of the _euphorbiæ_, _artocarpæ_ and _lobeliæ_ families, but no other are perhaps such abundant givers of latex as the brazilian seringueira (of the _euphorbiæ_ family), a tree plentiful not only in matto grosso on all the head-waters and courses of the rivers flowing into the amazon, but also abundant in the provinces of para and the amazon. in less quantities the seringueira is also to be found in ceará, rio grande do norte and maranhão. the seringueira prevailed chiefly near the water, in swampy places, or in places inundated when the river was high. never was the tree to be found at a distance away from water. the height of the seringueira varies from ft. to ft. its diameter is seldom more than in. its leaf is composed of three elongated leaflets, smooth-edged and complete in themselves. the seed is smooth-skinned, and of a reddish tone. the fruit consists of a well-rounded wooden capsule enclosing three cells which contain white oily almonds not disagreeable to eat. from the almonds an oil of a light red colour, not unlike the colour of old port wine, can be extracted. that oil can be substituted for linseed oil, and has the further advantage of not desiccating so quickly. mixed with copal and turpentine it gives a handsome varnish. it can be used advantageously in the manufacture of printing-ink and soap. so that every part of the seringueira can be put to some use or other. among the other more important trees which produce rubber may be mentioned the _siphonia brevifoglia_, the _siphonia brasiliensis_, _siphonia rhytidocarpa_, and the _siphonia lutea_, all found chiefly in the state of para. in other parts of brazil grow the _ficus anthelmintica_, the _ficus doliaria_ (or _gameilleira_), the _ficus elastica_, _ficus indica_, _ficus religiosa_, _ficus radula_, _ficus elliptica_, _ficus prinoides_, the _plumeria phagedenica_, the _plumeria drastica_, the _sorveira_ or _collophora utilis_, and the _mangabeira_ or _harncornia speciosa_. at present we shall be chiefly interested in the seringueira (_siphonia elastica_). the collection of the latex from the seringueira and the subsequent process of coagulation were simple enough. a seringueiro, or rubber-collector, started from his hut early every morning carrying with him a small steel axe or pick, the head of which was in. long and shaped like a bird's beak; a tin bucket, and some _barro_--soft clay which had been soaked in water. he walked along the _estrada_ or track which he had cleared for himself, leading from one rubber tree to the next. there may be twenty, thirty, fifty or more rubber trees that have been tapped on one estrada, according to the district and the activity of the seringueiro. in the case of a new tree a collar of the fibre of burity palm was in the first instance nailed with pegs of hard wood round the stem, not horizontally, but at an angle: sometimes, when necessary, in a spiral. in other cases a similar band of clay was made to encircle the tree. these collars served as channels, compelling the latex, as it exuded from cuts made in the tree, to flow into a small tin cup suspended at the lowest point of the collar. the incisions were never made lower than or ft. from the ground. they must not penetrate deeper than the entire thickness of the bark of the tree, and they must on no account touch or wound the actual wood, or the tree would suffer greatly--even die. in some regions the incisions were made longitudinally, in others transversely. the operation was repeated by the seringueiro each time on every rubber tree as he went along the estrada, the latex flowing freely enough into the tin cup after each fresh incision had been made. the seringueiro thus tapped each tree on his way out along the estrada, which in some cases may be several miles long; in other cases, where rubber trees were plentiful, only a few hundred yards in length. on his return journey the seringueiro emptied each small tin cup--by that time filled with latex--into the large bucket which invariably accompanied him on his daily round. rubber-trees possess in a way at least one characteristic of cows. the more milk or latex one judiciously extracts from them, the more they give, up to a certain point. but, indeed, such a thing is known as exhausting a tree in a short time. a good seringueiro usually gives the trees a rest from the time they are in bloom until the fruit is mature. in some regions even a much longer respite is given to the trees--generally during the entire rainy season. in some localities, too, in order to let the latex flow more freely, a vertical incision is made above and meeting a horizontal one. at intervals oblique incisions are cut next to the vertical ones, but in matto grosso i never saw that complicated system of incisions adopted--only vertical incisions parallel to one another at a distance of · m. ( - / in.) being made there, and in rows one above another. some of the trees had actually hundreds of those cuts--many, of course, healed. each cut only exudes latex for a comparatively short time, merely an hour or so. during the first month after a tree is tapped, the supply of latex is generally plentiful; the second month it gives less; less still the third month. on an average twenty trees give about one litre of latex a day. three litres of latex are necessary in order to obtain one litre of rubber. at the head-waters of the arinos river trees gave from to arobas ( to kils.) of fine rubber in the first month, and about arobas ( kils.) of _sarnambé_ (second quality with impurities). one aroba is kils. the latex of the seringueira in the arinos region was of a beautiful white, quite liquid, and with a pungent, almost sickening, odour. when a new tree was tapped, the lower towards the ground the incisions were made the better. if after considerable tapping the tree did not yield much, it was advisable to incise the tree higher up. in that region the trees exuded latex more abundantly when they began to have new leaves in october. late in the dry season the latex flowed less freely. when the weather was windy all the latex seemed to contract to the summit of the trees and hardly flowed at all from the incisions. when it rained, on the contrary, it flowed freely, but was spoilt by being mixed with water; so that a good seringueiro must know well not only where and how, but also when to tap the trees, in order to get good results. [illustration: balls of rubber outside a seringueiro's hut.] [illustration: method of pressing rubber into cakes. the alum process of coagulation being used.] several ways were employed in order to coagulate the latex. the simplest was the one used in matto grosso. the latex was poured into a rectangular wooden mould, · m. long ( ft.), · m. wide ( ½ ft.), and · m. deep (about in.). upon the latex was placed a solution of alum and warm water. then coagulation took place. in order to compress the coagulating latex into solid cakes, a primitive lever arrangement was used--merely a heavy wooden bar, one end of which was inserted into the cavity of a tree, above the wooden mould, while at the other end of the bar heavy logs of wood were suspended. one night was sufficient for the latex to coagulate thoroughly and be properly compressed into cakes, weighing each about ½ kils. the cakes were lifted out by belts of liane which had been previously laid into the moulds. the discoverer of the method of coagulating rubber with alum was henry s. strauss. he also found that by keeping the latex in hermetically sealed vessels it could be preserved in a liquid state. the same result could be obtained with ammonia. in the amazon and para provinces a different process was used. the latex was coagulated by placing it near the fire. the heat evaporated the aqueous part and coagulated the vegetable albumen. in order to make what was called a _garrafa_, or large ball of rubber--some weighed , , kils. and more--a small ball of latex was made to coagulate round a horizontal bar of wood. that ball was gradually increased in circumference by smearing it over with more latex, which became gradually coagulated and dried by the heat and smoke produced by the burning of certain woods, and of the oily seeds of the _urucuri_ palm, technically known as the _attalea excelsa_. in this process the rubber did not remain white, as with the alum process; in fact, it became dark brown, almost black, owing, of course, to the smoke. locally, the smoking process was said to be the better of the two, for the coagulation with alum took away somewhat from the elasticity of the rubber. interesting was the _sorveira_ (_collophora utilis_), a tree which gave latex that was quite delicious to drink, but could not be coagulated. the trees, to any untrained person, closely resembled the seringueira, only the leaves were more minute and differently shaped. it must be remembered that nearly all the trees of the brazilian forest had leaves only at a very great height above the ground, and it was not always easy to see their shape, especially when close to other trees where the foliage got interwoven into an almost solid mass. we frequently enjoyed the sweet milk of the _sorveira_--it tasted slightly of fresh walnuts with sugar on them. it was unsafe to drink too much of it, as it had injurious effects upon one's digestive organs. there was there also the _leiteiro_ (or producer of milk), a smaller tree, and the liana _macaco_, which both produced abundant milk, but in neither case had a way, so far, been found to coagulate it. the two days spent at porto velho were interesting. the four men who had remained with me behaved fairly well, principally owing to the prospect, that, in drifting down stream, they would not have to work, and would be saved the heavy trouble of grooming, packing and unpacking the animals, and the tedious job every morning of riding miles through the country in order to recover those that had strayed away during the night. "thank heaven!" exclaimed antonio, as he gazed at the canoe, "we shall not have to hunt for her every morning!" "yes," answered filippe, "no more pack-saddles to fix, no more leading the animals to drink. she"--pointing to the canoe--"can drink all the time if she likes...." filippe was a prophet. the canoe did "drink" all the time, much to our concern. little did my men suspect before we started that they would have the hardest time of their lives--so hard, indeed, that it was amazing humans could endure it at all. one of the three seringueiros at porto velho interested me greatly. he was a tall, gentlemanly, refined person, who seldom uttered a word. i noticed that he avoided meeting me, and, although extremely civil, seemed afraid to enter into conversation. the little shed he had built himself ( ft. by ft., and ft. high) was extraordinarily neat, and open on all sides--quite unlike the sheds brazilian rubber collectors build themselves. from my tent i watched him. the man got up before sunrise every day, going at once to the river for a swim. humming some sort of a song, he would then go through a series of gymnastic exercises, interrupted by sonorous slaps upon different parts of his anatomy to kill impertinent mosquitoes, of which there were swarms on the arinos river. that done, he would assume a suit of working-clothes, and, returning to his shed, would pick up his tools and noiselessly depart, so as not to disturb our sleep! at sunset, when he returned, he immediately proceeded to the river to have another swim and to get rid of the many insects which always collected upon one's person in going through the forest. then he put on a clean suit of clothes, and, saluting us from a distance, went to his shed to rest. i was certain the man was not a brazilian, but as curiosity is not one of my chief characteristics i took no special notice of him. this brought him round to my tent one evening. the man was a german by birth, of a good family and excellent education. he could speak german, english, french, spanish and portuguese to perfection, and was well versed in the literature of those languages. he had evidently drifted about for many years in many parts of south america in search of a fortune, in the argentine, in uruguay, and had ended by becoming a slave in brazil. yes, the poor old man was a voluntary slave. he had borrowed from his employer and was unable to repay. he was therefore a slave in the true sense of the word, as his employer could, according to local custom, sell him to any one he chose. [illustration: the upper arinos river.] [illustration: the arinos river above the rapids.] i was terribly upset to see a european in such a position, and, what was worse, i was not in a position to help. nor indeed was help asked for or wanted. the old fellow bore the burden bravely, and said he had never been happier in his life. supposing he were made to return to his own country--from which he had been absent so many years--he philosophically argued, what could he be, with no money and no friends, but a most unhappy man? all his relatives and friends must have died; the habits he had acquired in the wilds were not suitable for european cities; he was too old to change them. the german was an extraordinarily fine type of a man, honest, straightforward, brave. he spoke in the kindest and fairest way of his master. he had sold himself because of necessity. it was now a matter of honour, and he would remain a slave until it was possible to repay the purchase money--some four hundred pounds sterling, if i remember rightly--which he never expected to be able to repay at all. the german told me some interesting things about the immediate neighbourhood of the camp. the indians of the cayapo tribe, who lived close by, did not interfere with the seringueiros. he had been there several years in succession, and he had never seen an indian. the seringueiros only went to collect rubber during some three or four months each year, after which time they returned to the distant towns south as far as cuyabá and corumbá. at the beginning of the rainy season, when the time came for them to retire, the indians generally began to remind the seringueiros that it was time to go, by placing obstacles on the estrada, by removing cups or even the collars from the rubber trees. but so far in that region, although footmarks of indians and other signs of them had been noticed, not one individual had been actually seen. their voices were frequently heard in the distance singing war songs. "hark!" said the german to me, "do you hear them?" i listened attentively. far, far down the river a faint chorus of voices could just be heard--intermittent sounds of "huá ... huá ... huá ... huá." in the stillness of the night the sound could be distinguished clearly. it went on until sunrise, when it gradually died out. there was a big lagoon to the west of porto velho, formed by the river at high water. the lagoon dried up during the dry season. it was separated from the river only by a narrow tongue of land, ft. high. i took careful and repeated observations for latitude, longitude, and altitude, the latter by a boiling-point thermometer, from our point of departure at the headwaters of the arinos river. the elevation of the river was there , ft. by aneroid, , ft. by the hypsometrical apparatus. the latitude was ° '· south; the longitude ° ' west of greenwich. we were having beautiful, clear skies. only on july th at sunset a solitary streak of mist extended to the summit of the sky. i had two plans in my mind when i decided to descend the arinos river. one was to abandon that river at the point where it met the juruena river and strike across country westward until the madeira-mamore railway was met. the other plan--even more difficult--was to continue down the river as far as its junction with the tres barras, from which place i would strike across the virgin forest as far as the madeira river. i had not the faintest idea how i could realize either plan with the ridiculously meagre resources at my disposal. i had money enough, but unfortunately that was one of the few spots on earth where money was of little use. again i trusted in providence to come to our help. both plans involved thousands of kilometres of navigation of a diabolical river, in an almost uncontrollable canoe, with an insufficient and absolutely incapable crew. then would come the crossing of the virgin forest on foot, for some hundreds of kilometres--nobody knew how many. the least number of men necessary in order to be able to carry provisions sufficient to execute either plan was thirty. i only had four. yet i started. the second plan was successfully carried out, but necessarily at the cost almost of all our lives, and with sufferings unimaginable. chapter ii hoisting the british flag--an escaped slave--a dilemma--benedicto--the _lutra brasiliensis_--the seringueiros--a marvellous river--rapids on july th we packed the canoe with our baggage and dogs. the british flag was hoisted at the stern of the canoe, and with tender embraces from the seringueiros, whose eyes were wet with tears--they imagined that we were going to certain death--we pulled out of porto velho at seven minutes to eleven o'clock a.m. "we will pray with all our hearts that you may reach the end of your journey safely!... beware of the rapids; they are terrible.... be careful because the canoe does not steer true.... do not let the canoe knock too hard against rocks, or she may split in two!... good-bye!... good-bye!" with those encouraging remarks from the seringueiros, who were sobbing bitterly, we drifted with the current, antonio and filippe the negro paddling in the style generally adopted for scooping soup with a spoon out of a dish. i had provided the canoe with a number of improvised paddles we had cut ourselves. there were no two of equal size, shape, or weight. we had chopped them with an axe from sections of a tree. they were originally all intended to be the same, but what we intended to have and what we got were two different matters, as the five of us each worked on a separate paddle. the seringueiros stood on the high bank, waving their arms in the air. one of them blew plaintive sounds on one of the horns used by them for calling their companions while in the forest. those horns could be heard enormous distances. filippe the white man, who was not paddling, fired back a salute of ten shots. there was nothing my men loved more than to waste ammunition. fortunately we had plenty. the average width of the river was there from to metres, with a fairly swift current. it was lucky that ours was the only boat on that river, for indeed we needed all that breadth of water in our snake-like navigation. i remonstrated with alcides, who was at the helm, and advised him to keep the nose of the canoe straight ahead, as we were coming to a _corrideira_ or small rapid. alcides, who could never be told anything, became enraged at my words of warning, and also at the derision of the other men, as we were drifting side on and he could not straighten her course. just as we were entering the rapid, in his fury alcides, in disgust, let go the steering-gear, which he said was useless. we were seized by the current and swung round with some violence, dashing along, scraping the bottom of the canoe on rocks, and bumping now on one side, now on the other, until eventually we were dashed violently over a lot of submerged trees, where the bank had been eroded by the current and there had been a landslide. the canoe nearly capsized, the three dogs and some top baggage being thrown out into the water by the impact. we got stuck so hard among the branches of the trees that we all had to remove our lower garments and get into the water trying to get the canoe off. my men used pretty language. that small accident was lucky for us. the shouts of my men attracted to the bank a passing man. half-scared, a wild figure of a mulatto with long, unkempt hair and beard, his body covered by what must have once been a suit of clothes, stood gazing at us, clutching a double-barrelled gun in his hands. "is there a revolution in matto grosso?" he inquired when i caught sight of him. "why do you fly the red flag?" "that is not the flag of revolution, that is the flag of peace. it is the english flag." "the english flag! the english flag!" he exclaimed, running down the slope of the river bank. "you are english!... oh, sir, take me with you! i entreat you take me with you! i am an escaped slave.... i owe my master much money.... i can never repay it.... i am a seringueiro. my estrada is some miles down the river. i have been there alone suffering for months. i had no more food, nothing. there is very little fish in the river. the life is too terrible. i can stand it no more. if you do not take me with you i shall kill myself." i tried to persuade the strange figure to return to his master--the master lived in comfort in the city of cuyabá. "if you chose to borrow money and sell yourself, it was only right that you should repay your debt." that was the only way i could look at it. but the man would not hear of it. if i did not take him he would kill himself--there, before me, he repeated; that was all. so difficult a dilemma to solve--at so inconvenient a moment, when we were as busy as busy could be, trying to disentangle the canoe--was rather tiresome. the strange man, having laid his gun upon the ground, helped us with all his might in our work. when the canoe got off, the strange man, gun and all, jumped clumsily into her and nearly capsized her a second time. he implored me with tears in his eyes to take him along. he would work day and night; he would present me with his double-barrelled gun (an old muzzle-loader); he did not want pay--he only wanted to get freed from his master, who, he said, robbed and ill-treated him. "do you swear upon all that is most sacred that you have made up your mind not to go back to your master?" "yes. if you say 'no' to me, i shall kill myself now." benedicto--that was his name--spoke with quiet determination. "very good, benedicto. you can remain. what is more, you shall receive from this moment the same pay as the other men. you can keep your old gun, too." benedicto embraced and kissed my hands, then my feet. the poor man's joy was so great that it was really worth living to see that such moments of happiness could be procured in a man's lifetime. benedicto was a free man again, and for the first time in his life was earning genuine money! he was handed a paddle, and he paddled away for all he was worth, splashing with water those in front and behind him. he was in a state of great excitement, tears flowing freely down his cheeks and beard, and dripping on to his knees as he sat in the bottom of the canoe. he sobbed to his heart's content, and kept on splashing us all over with his paddle. we were all so touched by that pathetic scene that we preferred getting wet to remonstrating. fortunately the river was placid enough under the _corrideira_. when things had quieted down a little, i taught benedicto and the others how to paddle properly, and alcides how to steer straight. i had then five men. that improved matters greatly, as four could paddle while the fifth was steering. the arinos river flowed from porto velho in a south-westerly, then in a due westerly direction, then north, then again west, from which last point it doubled, as it were, and proceeded east and south-east, returning to within quite a short distance of our original point of departure. we sounded our horn, and immediately heard in reply the horn of the seringueiros at porto velho. judging by the sound, the distance could not have been more than a few hundred metres, although we had travelled some six thousand metres down stream. [illustration: the first rocks in the arinos river.] [illustration: enormous globular rocks typical of the arinos river.] for the first time i noticed swallows flying swiftly over the river, close to the water. another easy _corrideira_ was encountered. when we had been out several hours my men were already beginning to get into the right way of paddling, and alcides was commencing to understand the capricious mysteries of the steering-gear. on account of my men's inexperience--and due credit being given to the current--we went at the rate of kils. an hour. innumerable were the rubber trees all along the banks. occasionally small sand beaches were met with. here and there a fallen giant tree obstructed part of the river. families of _ariranhas_ (_lutra brasiliensis_) played in the water. the pretty little animals--not unlike otters--raised their heads above water, and, hissing loudly, frequently came to attack the canoe. they were extraordinarily brave. they were greatly attracted by the vivid red of the british flag, which in their imagination suggested blood. they became wildly excited when i waved the flag at them, and when i placed it near the water they would charge the canoe--so much so that two or three times my men were able to kill them by striking them on the head with the heavy wooden paddles. the river was at its lowest when i descended it, which made it all the more difficult for us, as we were treated to innumerable small rapids which would otherwise have been entirely covered over with water. a great island ( m. long) of pebbles and beautiful crystals was passed in the centre of the stream, which there formed two channels; one entirely blocked by fallen trees and accumulated rolling material, the other, m. wide, very deep and swift. the banks of the river were about ft. high, generally of red earth, with a stratum of white sand above. the vegetation was luxuriant and extraordinarily tidy along the summit of the banks. the water was quite crystal-like, it was so clear. all the time our nostrils were fully expanded to inhale the delicious scent of the forest, which closely resembled that of jessamine. masses of violet-coloured convolvuli were festooned from the trees. that was a great treat for me, after the months i had gone through when my entire days were spent eating up dust raised in clouds by the troop of animals marching in front of me. when you came to survey a river it was really amazing what zigzags water could make in cutting its way through a country. from north-west the arinos veered south-west, and from south-west to north-east. by one o'clock we were in a spacious basin, m. in diameter, close to which a small tributary, m. wide, entered the arinos on the left bank. farther down on the right bank were neat beaches of white and red sand. we stopped for a few moments at a seringueiro's shed. the poor fellow--a negro--was in a pitiable condition from malarial fever. those martyrs of labour were much to be pitied, and also admired. there, hundreds of miles away from everybody, they stayed, abandoned in the forest until the agents of their masters who had dropped them there found it convenient to come and fetch them back again. if they came back at all and never failed, it was not, you can be sure, for the interest they took in human life, but because of the quantity of valuable rubber which they expected would be collected before their return. those poor creatures had no possible way of escape, except under extraordinary circumstances. they were conveyed to their stations overland by means of pack animals, which at once were sent back and did not return until the end of the collecting season. even then, if the seringueiro wanted to get away, he was frequently compelled to purchase an animal from his employer at three or four times its actual value--that is to say, perhaps sixty or eighty pounds sterling. so that the more a man worked or earned the more he became indebted to his master. like all men who have lived a great deal in exile and solitude, the seringueiros--nearly all blacks or mulattos--were extraordinarily generous. they always wanted to give you all they possessed--which was next to nothing, but meant a fortune to them. they would deprive themselves of anything if they thought they could give the slightest pleasure. we left the seringueiro. i feared the poor man could not live long in his broken-down condition. he was most grateful for some medicine and provisions i left with him. his farewell to us was in so melancholy a voice, as he tried to lift himself out of an improvised bamboo couch, that for days it rang in my ears, and before my eyes constantly remained his skeleton-like, sunken features as he waved his farewell and fell back exhausted. behind a narrow barrier of sand, about ft. high, as we proceeded down stream in a north-westerly direction, was a large lagoon. the river was really too beautiful for words, the clear green water reflecting with precision in deeper tones the view before us. only when its course was disturbed and diverted by a sharp rock or by the branches of a fallen and dying tree, the successive angular ridges of the troubled water shone like polished silver in parallel lines from the reflected light of the sun, just like a huge luminous skeleton of a fish. the trees were truly wonderful along the river--tall and healthy, with dense deep green foliage. but nature seemed absolutely asleep. barring the few swallows we had seen soon after our departure, and the _ariranhas_, we went the whole day without hearing the song of a bird, or the howling of a wild animal. we did hear a noise resembling the bark of a dog--so much did it resemble it that my dogs barked back. but it came not from a dog at all. the peculiar noise was made by a large bird. [illustration: a rocky barrier in the river.] [illustration: a picturesque double waterfall on the arinos river.] after passing a handsome beach of white sand on our left, the river described sharp angles, west, north-west, north-east, then north. there were rapids, fairly strong, although not dangerous in any way. the river was forced through a channel m. wide, in which the current was very strong. to make things worse, a giant tree had fallen and obstructed much of the passage, compelling us to negotiate the rapid in its worst part. a large bay, m. in diameter, opened out below that point. farther came a perfectly straight stretch of water for , m. halfway down that stretch, to the right, we passed the mouth of the agua clara, a charming rivulet of crystalline water, m. wide. a conglomerate stratum of alluvial formation, composed of well-rounded pebbles held together by red earth, and crumbling easily under pressure of the fingers, showed through in many places. the beaches of handsome, fine white sand were most interesting. the forest was getting thin on both sides. in fact, late in the afternoon we had open country on the left bank--only a few trees being visible near the water's edge, and an occasional giant _jatobá_ (_hymencoea courbaril_ l.), the latter chiefly on the right bank. the right bank was sparsely wooded, and at one time we had open campos on both sides of us. a streamlet m. wide entered the arinos on the left. we got to one point where the river proved treacherous, although apparently almost tranquil on the surface. the brazilians have an excellent name for such places--_rebojo_, or a curve formed by sudden deviation of a current. if we had not been careful in going across such places, it would have been easy for the canoe to have been turned over and sucked under. patches of thick forest were met on either bank, and in those patches numerous indeed were the rubber trees. in the afternoon we saw chiefly campos and _chapada_, or thin scrub. considering all, we did well--chiefly owing to the strong current--on our first day of navigation. we had gone some kils. when we halted at sunset, at the junction of the very deep streamlet quarustera with the arinos. the elevation of our camp, ft. above the river, was , ft. the nights were cool enough--minimum ° fahr. on the night of june th-- th. there was a thick haze over the river in the morning, and as we did not know what we might be coming upon suddenly we did not make a start until . . after crossing a large and shallow bay the stream was forced into a channel m. wide. there was open country--campos--on the right bank. a curious isolated volcanic boulder split in two was then observed in the stream, while the banks were of alluvially deposited conglomerate. from that spot luxuriant forest was on the right bank once more, while open country was on the left. upon examination i found that the thick forest was merely a band or zone near the water--behind was open country. farther, the river went through a neck m. wide where the current was very swift. the banks almost all along were from to ft. high. slender _tucuma_ or _tucuman_ palms were to be seen, which had stems only to in. in diameter, but were to ft. high, and had a ball-like tuft of leaves at the top. we then came upon open country (_chapada_) on both sides, and went over small _corrideiras_, which we got to like, as we travelled along on them at a greater speed than in the still waters, with a minimum of exertion. the river seemed to be getting narrower all the time that day, and, of course, deeper. in many spots it went through a channel not more than m. wide. we heard--but not for long--the cackling of the _jacu_ (_penelope cristata_), a handsome gallinaceous bird. the _jacu_ made most delicious eating. then that day flocks of small green parrots flew over our heads on several occasions. _ariranhas_ gave us once more a good deal of amusement and sport. it was seldom one found such cheeky and inquisitive animals. they would pop their heads out of the water quite close to the canoe and sniff and grind their teeth at us. they had beautiful little heads--something between a cat and a seal--with lovely, but wicked, black eyes of wonderful luminosity. they had a perfect craving for blood. the brazilians have strange tales about them--not exactly fit for publication. the sand beaches were not so frequent as we advanced on our journey. we noticed instead extensive beaches of gravel. another tributary stream, m. wide at its mouth, entered the arinos from the east. there was heavy forest there with plenty of rubber-trees on the right bank, whereas the country was open on the left bank. farther down, the banks became low, so that the slightest rise in the river would inundate the country. the forest was particularly thick, and the rubber trees plentiful, along a stretch of , m. of river in a perfectly straight line. the river was getting more and more beautiful at every turn. we emerged into a bay m. in diameter. great blocks of conglomerate were strewn about. a great spur projected to the centre of the bay. the richness in rubber of that region was amazing. wonderful giant trees, heavily laden with dark green foliage, were reflected in deeper tones in the water of the river--there almost stagnant because held up by some obstacle lower down. innumerable festoons of creepers hung down from those trees. the stream was there m. wide, and beautiful that day in great stretches of , m., , m., , m., , m., , m., and , m.--in a perfectly straight line. the forest was occasionally interrupted on one side or the other by great expanses of _chapada_. immense _bacabeira_ palms, to ft. high, were numerous, most graceful to look at, with their ten or eleven huge compound leaves placed like an open fan. yellow filaments of some length hung in a cluster where the petiole of the leaves met. we arrived at a _pedreria_--an accumulation of rocks--extending almost right across the stream, and which was the cause of the placidity of the waters above it. there were two channels--one to bearings magnetic °, the other to °--on either side of a central island. we followed the first and larger channel. the island, which had a most luxuriant growth of trees upon it, was subdivided into two by a channel m. wide at its south-eastern end. for purposes of identification i named all the islands we saw. the larger of these two i called esmeralda island. in order to establish its exact position i landed and took observations for latitude and longitude. lat. ° '· s.; long. ° ' w. [illustration: an island of the arinos river.] [illustration: vegetation on an island in the river arinos.] we were then at an elevation of , ft. the temperature in the shade was ° fahr. and ° in the sun. six-tenths of the sky was covered with thick globular clouds, which made the air heavy, although the temperature was not excessively high. it must be remembered that we in the canoe were in the sun all the time and suffered a good deal in the morning and afternoon, when the sun was not high, by the refraction of the sun's rays from the water. the refracted light was so powerful that it interfered a good deal with the navigation. the river looked like a molten surface of boiling silver, which absolutely blinded us at times, and made it impossible to see what was ahead in the water. esmeralda island was formerly joined at its most south-westerly point to the western bank of the river. from that point the river described an arc of a circle as far as bearings magnetic ° (n.n.e.). we negotiated successfully two small rapids with large volcanic rocks just under the surface of the water. we just escaped going over one of them, which would have certainly capsized the canoe. as it was we merely scraped the side of the canoe against it. the left bank, which had crumbled down, showed strata of conglomerate and yellow sand, with upper alluvial deposits of a light grey colour. we were travelling due north in a straight line of , m. when we came upon the entrance of a lakelet on the west side of an islet. a huge fish--some ft. in length--unaccustomed to the unusual sight of human beings, played about under our canoe for some time, much to the excitement of my men. birds of superb metallic blue, vivid yellow, and iridescent plumage played about among the trees. on the left bank farther down was a great growth of high bamboos, then again forest with plenty of vigorous rubber trees. again small and fairly swift rapids were encountered in a turn of the river from bearings magnetic ° to °. a tributary stream which came from the south entered the arinos on its left bank. then we came to another island forming two channels--one (n.w.) m. wide, with some rough-looking rapids; the other channel (n.), larger and shallower, divided in its turn in two by a mound of yellow gravel. alcides, who steered, had an idea that in going down rapids you should always send the canoe over places where the water broke and foamed, which meant rocks underneath, and not keep her in the centre of the channel where the water was deeper. this idea was, i think, suggested by his inability to swim, and the hope that if we got wrecked he could touch bottom with his feet, so that his life might be in comparative safety. i tried to argue the point with him, but it was no use. it invariably led to such unpleasantness that once more i decided to trust in providence, as long as we went forward. i had just shouted to alcides to keep in the centre of the channel. of course he disobeyed. we were caught in the strong current. one moment later there was a violent bump which knocked us all off our seats and sent us sprawling in the bottom of the canoe. we had stuck fast between two rocks. the canoe, being of such great length, vibrated to and fro with the current forcing it at the side. laden as she was with baggage, in a few moments she became filled with water, and it was only after working hard for the best part of an hour that we were able to extricate ourselves from our position. we had hardly finished baling the water out on resuming our course than, , m. farther, we came to more rapids, then m. beyond yet other rapids. the forest was fairly thick all along on both banks, with innumerable healthy rubber trees. although the forest seemed impenetrable at first sight, i always found that it was easy enough to go through it if one knew how. quite close to the water naturally the vegetation was somewhat entangled. in many places were extensive patches of bamboos of considerable height; but there is a way of disentangling the most confused growth, if you happen to understand how those plants and liane grow and get twisted. any one with a keen sense of observation should experience no difficulty whatever in going through the densest forest anywhere in the world--even without using a knife--although, of course, the latter is useful when you wish to keep up a certain speed in your marching. eleven kilometres and a half from the last rapids--having travelled north-west, south-west, east, and even due south, so winding was the course of the river--we came to a tributary stream m. wide, on the left side of the arinos. eight kilometres farther we passed the inlet--then dry--of a small lagoon fed by the stream. the river banks, where eroded by the water, showed a lower layer of reddish-brown rock with a bright red ferruginous stratum above it. the top layer, ft. thick, seemed formed of lime and alluvial deposits. we emerged into a large basin m. across, with a charming little island in the centre forming two channels with fairly strong rapids. we followed the channel on the right. at that point the river folded over itself into a great elbow. a cliff, ft. high, towered on one side in brilliant red and yellow. the lower half of the strata was perfectly horizontal; the upper half at an angle of ° to the lower. the vivid colouring was intensified by contrast with a beautiful beach of immaculate white sand on the left side of the great elbow. i observed a wonderful double lunar halo on the night of july - , the outer circle in successive tints of most delicate yellow, orange, pale blue and white--the yellow being nearest the centre. chapter iii dangerous navigation--eddies--whirlpools--an extraordinary creature--the man x.--pedro de toledo island--an interesting rodent we were rather proud of ourselves, as we had gone kils. on july th, paddling away--barring the interval for lunch--from . in the morning until . at night. the night was fairly cold--minimum ° fahr.; the elevation , ft. where i made camp at the elbow of the stream (on the left bank) there were innumerable rubber trees. a similar wealth of _siphonia elastica_ appeared to be on the opposite bank, where the forest was luxuriant. on july th we began our journey by going down rapids. then after some , m. of fairly smooth navigation we crossed a basin m. wide, where we encountered strong eddies--most unpleasant, as they swerved the canoe about in a way that was alarming. lower down a swift _corrideira_ and more eddies gave us some trouble. a beautiful _ariranha_ peeped out of the water close to the canoe, spitting angrily at us. it was attracted by the blood-red of the english flag, which it evidently wanted to bite. my men fired and wounded it; but so vicious were those little otters, and so great their craving for blood, that it still came on to within a foot or two of the canoe, when my men killed it. the river was there compressed into a deep channel, m. wide, with a strong current, after which it split into two arms--one north-west, m. wide; the other north-east, m. broad. the island thus formed between the two arms was , m. long. we called it ariranha island. a streamlet m. wide entered the arinos on the right bank. where the banks were free from vegetation an undulating stratum of red earth was exposed, directly above which was a stratum from to ft. thick of a brilliant yellow colour. above that rested the usual grey alluvial deposits from to ft. thick. from a direction due west the stream suddenly turned north, between high banks. a strong _corrideira_ was found before the stream divided itself into three arms--two of those arms flowing north-east, the other north-west. we followed the latter--a channel m. wide, with a high bank of gravel on its left side. where those arms met again--some m. farther--a basin m. in diameter was formed. a hill ft. high, covered with dense vegetation, faced us to the north. it was quite an unusual sight in such flat country. the stream took a sharp turn at that spot--it positively doubled. strong eddies were encountered. the greatest care should have been taken in going over places of that kind, but "care" was a word i had absolutely scratched out of my vocabulary as useless in my journey across brazil. how and why we ever got across those places with the crew i had on board, would indeed be beyond me to explain--unless, as on preceding occasions, it was due to the unceasing protection of a guardian angel. after crossing a circular basin m. in diameter, the river became suddenly squeezed into a channel m. wide, much strewn with rocks. a somewhat troublesome rapid had to be negotiated there, rendered more difficult by the recent fall, across the best part of the stream, of a giant tree. the branches which stuck out of the water formed a regular barrier and waved to and fro with the violent pressure of the water. before we could realize where we were, alcides steered us straight into the branches and foliage of the fallen tree. as we were travelling at an accelerated speed with the strong current, all our hats were scraped off our heads, and, what was worse, our scalps, faces, and arms had patches of skin torn off as we crashed among the branches. it took us some time before we were able to disentangle ourselves, resume navigation, and recover as we went along the various headgear floating independently down the stream. another little tributary, m. wide, entered the arinos on the left side. no sooner had we freed ourselves from the rapids than we were in a circle m. across, with nasty-looking eddies, which swung the undermanned canoe now to one side, then violently to the other, in a dangerous way. we could not have struck a worse time for navigating the river. it was then the end of the dry season and the water at its lowest, so that every possible obstacle that could be found in that river stood to impede our progress. this would not have been the case at high water when navigation in that portion of the stream would have been comparatively smooth and easy. we were thanking our stars that we had passed the vicious eddies safely, when we were confronted by more rapids, with treacherous submerged rocks. yet another basin, m. wide, was crossed, with large blocks of black rock showing through on the left bank. more rapids were met--quite easy to negotiate. the sky was half covered with feathery radiations from the south. to the north another hill, ft. high, eroded by water, stood on the left bank of the stream, where red volcanic rock was also visible in a stratum ft. thick, covered by a thick layer of yellow earth. strong rapids came next. we had had so much luck in the descent of the rapids--which, bad as they were, really were so far quite unimportant as compared to what we were to find later--that my men began to be quite adventurous. saving trifling mishaps, we were getting on well. the tributaries of the arinos we had seen so far that day were small streamlets m. wide on the right; another, m. wide--a limpid stream--coming from the south-west on the left. several springs of clear water filtered through the left bank. in the centre of the river was an extensive bank of gravel held up by blocks of volcanic rock. [illustration: preparing the canoe to descend a rapid.] [illustration: a cataract on the arinos river.] in a basin m. wide rose a pretty island. rapids were found in the channels, of which the western was wider and more free from obstacles. for one entire kilometre there were strong eddies and rapids in succession; then came , m. of fairly easy travelling. the river for , m. had been flowing almost in a straight line due north, with slight variations of a few degrees to the north-east and once to the north-west. plenty of _tucum_ or _tucuma_ palms adorned the right bank; whereas on the left bank was fairly open country. again, after some more rapids, the river was squeezed into a neck only m. wide, gradually widening to some m., where whirlpools and eddies of considerable magnitude were formed. on several occasions the canoe was caught in them and swerved right round, describing one or more circles upon herself. two islets were passed, then a tributary m. wide coming from the east on the right side of us. a great number of submerged rocks close to the surface formed a ridge m. in length all along the centre of the stream. in a wonderful stretch , m. long in a perfectly straight line north, the river was from to m. wide. a small tributary rivulet entered it on the west. at the end of that long stretch a wall, ft. high, of brilliantly yellow rock in its lower part, with ft. of vivid red rock above, diverted the stream almost at a right angle toward the west. rapids and eddies were encountered after passing an obstruction of accumulated gravel in the centre of the river, there m. wide. giant trees, not unlike weeping willows, bent over the river, their streamers touching the water. a rocky barrier extended as far as the centre of the stream, leaving only one safe passage on the left side close to the bank. the stream was at that point m. broad, and of great beauty, in a straight line north for , m. my men were beginning to paddle a little better, and we were travelling at a considerable speed with the current. we had glorious weather, and although the heat was great our travelling was perfectly delightful. in the daytime we were not worried much by insects. the canoe now and then stuck fast in shallow places or upon rocks, but we all jumped gaily into the water and pushed her along until she floated again. those baths in the deliciously clear water were quite refreshing. we generally jumped in clothes and all, and left it to the sun to dry the garments upon our backs and legs. i usually wore pyjamas while travelling in the canoe, as they were more comfortable than other clothes and dried quicker when we came out of the water again. many sharp successive turns were met next in the course of the river, which then showed stunted vegetation on the right bank and thick forest on the left. a high natural wall, ft. high, of bright cadmium yellow for ft. in its lower part, of vivid red for ft. above that, and darker red above, barred our way in front (north). on its summit were peculiar white-barked slender trees--so white that they looked almost as if they had been painted, but of course they had not. the entire centre of the river, forming there an extensive basin, was blocked by a high bank of gravel, leaving merely narrow channels close to the banks. the high wall deflected the stream from ° to bearings magnetic °. a range of hills some ft. high then appeared before us, extending from n.n.w. to s.s.e. we went over a stony place which obstructed almost the entire river, except a narrow channel close to the banks. that was followed by rapids. some kil. m. farther, a hill range to the north switched the stream sharply from north to north-west, which direction it kept with a mere deviation of ° for , m. the stream was then metres wide nearly all along, and of amazing beauty. yet another stony place disturbed the placidity of the transparent crystal-like water. at the end of that wonderful stretch of river came another great vertical wall, on the left side--of most brilliant colouring, a stratum of vivid red ft. deep with thin bright horizontal yellow streaks, and an upper stratum ft. thick of a similar dazzling yellow. the northern portion of the cliff differed in colouring, and had a brown lower stratum ft. thick, followed upwards by a yellow stratum ft. thick, and a red stratum--a most brilliant vermilion-- ft. thick. above was a pink layer ft. thick and a summit deposit of brown earth ft. deep. there again the river was shifted by that obstacle from b.m. ° to due north. a charming island--which i baptized bridget island-- m. long and m. wide, absolutely smothered in vegetation, was found there. it had an extensive spur of yellow sand and gravel. the right bank was sparsely wooded with open country behind. two channels were found, one flowing north-west, m. wide, the other north-east, m. broad. we followed the latter, where the rapids seemed less fearsome than in the broader channel. at the end of bridget island another island, m. long, was found, which we called lucky island. this second island was m. down stream from the first, and was situated at the junction of the river dos patos ("river of ducks") with the river arinos on the right side of the latter stream. we were amazed to see opposite the island on the right bank a fishing tackle and some clothes. as we had already gone kil. m. that day, having kept an average speed of kil. m. an hour, and the sun was about to set, we decided to halt on "lucky island" for the night. we were busy preparing our dinner when a strange figure appeared on the right bank, rifle in hand. his astonishment at seeing us was no greater than ours at seeing him. "who were we?" "where did we come from?" "what did we want there?" "where were we going?" all those questions having been duly answered, i sent my canoe over to ferry the fellow across. he was one of the queerest men i have ever met. his eyes constantly roamed about like those of a wild feline animal. he never kept still a moment, springing up unexpectedly to his feet when he was sitting down, and squatting himself down when he had been standing up. all the time he was handling his rifle--a very handsome one--and with rapid movements watched intently now one then another of our party. he seemed in a state of great nervous strain and excitement. he appeared to be a first or second cross of indians and negroes--quite young, some twenty-four years of age. he had very little clothing upon his person, which showed limbs of extraordinary muscular strength. seldom is it given to one to see so cruel a face, seldom were criminal characteristics so clearly marked on any one's countenance and in the formation of the skull. a man with a face like that could be capable of any crime. his conversation supplied ample further testimony that his physiognomy had not deceived me. i had so far thought that my men were the coarsest, the most brutal individuals i had ever met, but they were not in it at all with the strange figure we had before us. the conversation of my men had seemed to me disgustingly vulgar, but it now appeared the acme of refinement when the new man opened his mouth to talk. good gracious me! what extraordinary oaths--what perversion of ideas--what foaming hatred for the creator, our saviour, all the saints imaginable, and humanity in general! evidently the poor man had a screw loose somewhere within his brain-case. i gave him some tobacco, a quantity of which i carried for my men. without a word of acknowledgment he seized it, and, with paper my men gave him, proceeded to make himself a cigarette. "i am tired of this life," said he, as he rolled the tobacco. "i am a slave. i owe my master conto milreis (£ ). he sold me this rifle, and some cartridges, and i cannot repay him. i am rotting away with fever. i am dying of starvation, i am going mad in this place.... i have no more food, and have been unable for three days to catch fish. do not let me die here. take me with you. i will give you my rifle, this ring"--a cheap ring which he proceeded to take from his finger--"i shall work hard and require no pay if you will save me from death." i told him that he had better consider his position seriously before doing anything rash. we should not be leaving until the next morning. the man, whom we shall call x, as i do not wish to divulge his real name, sat up the entire night talking to my men. his excitement was great--at least, judging by the loudness of his voice. during those long sleepless hours--with all of them shouting at the top of their voices it was impossible to sleep--i overheard the entire history of his life. what a life! i prayed my stars that x would change his mind and decide to stay where he was, for though i needed extra men badly i feared that his company would not be a welcome addition to our party, bad as it was. like all men who have lived much in seclusion, he possessed marvellous vitality and magnetism. my men were simply hypnotised by the remarkable tales of his deeds, or rather misdeeds. long before we were ready to start, x went to seat himself in the canoe to make sure we should not leave him behind. when i asked him to reconsider once more what he was doing, which was not fair to his master, no matter how bad he may have been, x positively refused to remain there. "if you do not want me to come," he said with determination, "you will have to fling me into the water and keep my head under until i am drowned." that was rather a trying dilemma. much as i disapprove of slavery, i did not like the idea of taking matters into my own hands and freeing other people's slaves; yet it was impossible to refuse assistance to a suffering man when he asked for it. in any case i had no wish to be responsible for his death. "x," i said to him, "you have quite made up your mind to go with us?" "yes." "will you promise faithfully that you will work and give no trouble?" "may my old father and mother be struck by lightning this moment if i shall give you trouble!" was his reply. "very good, x. you can keep your rifle and cartridges and your ring"--he had just deposited them at my feet--"they are your own property. i do not want them. you shall receive the same salary as the other men from this day as long as you do your work satisfactorily." x jumped out of the canoe to embrace me. on his brutal face was for a moment an expression of gratitude ... he rested his head upon my shoulder and sobbed for many minutes. with a crew of six men, things were a little better for us. four could paddle while one steered, and the sixth stood on the prow with a long pole punting, or on the look-out for dangerous obstacles. x paddled with such vigour that alcides at the helm had the greatest difficulty in keeping the canoe straight. it had a good effect on the other men, who also paddled away with all their might, and we were speeding along with the strong current almost as fast as a steam launch. the minimum temperature during the night (july th- th) had been ° fahr. the elevation above the sea level of lucky island was , ft. the river dos patos came from the s.s.e., then bent to the east where its sources were. lucky island was m. in length. the river had an average width of m. as we went along my men sang gaily, particularly x, who seemed like a bird let out of its cage, so happy did he feel at being a free man again. his répertoire was not of the choicest kind, but what was lacking in quality was made up in quantity. for some hours we were treated to a vocal concert, x's solos sending my men into fits of merriment. his wit--of the crudest kind--was sometimes funny. this great gaiety seemed most weird in that region where silence reigned supreme always. the voices seemed to travel immense distances, echoed from one side to the other of the river. words were reproduced with great clearness by the echo two or three times over. especially when we had forest on both sides of the stream was the echo particularly perfect. quantities of rubber trees--absolutely going to waste--were to be seen now on one side, then on the other, of the river where the banks were wooded. [illustration: a rapid on the arinos river.] [illustration: taking the canoe through a narrow channel.] another most beautiful island, m. long and m. wide--pedro de toledo island--was passed. it had a channel m. wide in a north-westerly direction, another, which we followed, m. broad, north-east. on emerging from this channel at the end of the island we were in a basin m. in diameter. some kils. farther, another great basin was crossed--very shallow, only ft. deep--with a gravel bottom. the current was swift. then, kils. beyond, yet another basin, metres wide, ½ ft. deep, with strong eddies, was crossed. the river, which had so far kept more or less in a northerly direction, at that point actually swung round in two consecutive angles from ° north to due south, in which direction it flowed for , m. an immaculately white beach was on the right of us, on which we duly stranded. it was quite enough for alcides to see an obstacle of any kind in the river for him to send the canoe right over it. i seized that opportunity to land and commence a most interesting collection of the innumerable minute sand plants which were to be found on those beaches. where the river turned north once more there stood a hill ft. high, the lower half of which was of red volcanic rock, the upper half of yellow earth. along the water's edge a thick and florid growth of bamboo could be seen in many places, while on the edge of the forest hung myriads of purple convolvuli. for hundreds of kilometres the arinos was indeed one of the most ideally beautiful rivers i have ever seen. its banks of alluvial formation, to ft. high, had _chapada_ on their tops. farther on the _chapada_ gave way once more to dense forest with plentiful rubber trees. another basin, m. in diameter, was met with, after which we entered a channel from to m. wide, through which the stream was compressed. a pretty little islet of gravel, m. long, m. wide, and rising ft. above the water, had a tuft of trees growing on it, and a spur, also of gravel, extending westward for more than another m. the river in that section flowed in a w.n.w. direction for , m. we soon after came to a shallow basin ( ft. deep) m. wide, in which eddies were strong and troublesome. there were many pointed rocks scattered about in its bed of gravel, as well as three parallel rocky barriers right across the basin. a rivulet m. wide at the mouth entered the arinos on the right side, while on the left side we had an island m. long, leaving two channels, one m. wide, the other m. a tiny streamlet flowed into the main stream on the left. banks, regular dunes of gravel, were formed where the river broadened into basins. we came to a basin m. wide and extremely shallow. three channels--w.n.w., n.w., and n.n.e.--were formed in the river by two islands, each m. long--the two sisters islands--which were in the centre. we found the n.n.e. channel the best. where the river narrowed again to a width of m. huge rocks stood in the centre. from that point for some m. we went over a succession of gravel banks and nasty rocks forming barriers across the stream. small streamlets entered the arinos, one on the left, the other on the right. a cluster of high rocks was on the right bank. on both sides were extensive white sand beaches. the river soon widened to m. in a basin with an islet ft. high, and a cluster of trees on its north-east side. another island ft. high, m. long--mosquito island--with a spit of gravel to the south, was near it. rubber trees were most plentiful on the right bank where the forest was thick, whereas on the left bank was _chapada_. huge gorgeous butterflies with black-striped brown wings and velvety bodies flew in great numbers around the canoe. some settled on my hat, hands, and on the sleeves of my white shirt. they were so unaccustomed to see human beings that when touched they did not attempt to fly away. the river was getting more and more wonderful every hour as we went along--in great straight lines of , m., , m., , m., , m., , m., in length. some ducks rose from the water only a few yards in front of the canoe. the man who was behind me fired with his carbine close to my head. the bullet grazed my right ear. it was a trifle trying to be travelling with such careless sportsmen, but the best thing was to say nothing and go on. a big island--passos island-- m. long, preceded by a smaller islet m. long--passos junior i.--was subsequently passed, where the river formed a channel (n.w.) m. wide and a minor one (w.) m. the river there changed from a westerly course to w.s.w. once more we had before us a great wall of red rock which at first seemed to bar our way. in the lower section of the wall was a cave eroded by water and extending some way back. it was too low to be entered by the canoe. the lower stratum of the wall was at an angle--in other words, had a dip of °--while the stratum above it, ft. in thickness, intersected by a yellow band, was perfectly horizontal. on the left side of this high natural wall was a charming waterfall of limpid water. farther on a great land-slip displayed for a length of m. brilliant red earth over a stratum ft. thick of white chalk. the river, which described a number of turns, was bordered on the left side by a hill range covered with handsome trees. the ardour of my men for rowing had already passed away. they smoked and sang the whole time, and let the current--fortunately strong--carry us along. whenever i remonstrated they scooped the water carelessly with their paddles for a few minutes. as is the case with individuals mentally deficient, everything seemed to distract them. one moment it was the flight of a _jacutinga_--a handsome black gallinaceous bird with a white crest. another moment it was the jump of an inquisitive fish. many _mergulhão commun_ (_podiceps americanus_), wonderfully graceful, velvety black birds with long beaks, flew about unconcerned from tree to tree. whenever anything moved about anywhere, the paddles were abandoned, the rifles were seized, and there was a regular fusillade. the men seldom hit anything, although on many occasions, with the unsteady canoe, we all of us had narrow escapes. one day the man in front of me fired a shot at a bird--but so close to my head, not more than one foot away, that the concussion blinded me for several seconds. on other occasions the rifles went off when they were not expected to. i had ceased to give orders of any kind about the careful use of the weapons. it was time and lung-power absolutely wasted, and only made things worse. after floating down a beautiful stretch of , m., two more islands were reached within a great circle over m. wide. a small tributary entered the arinos on the right bank. another island, m. long, was seen farther down, at the end of which, where two channels met again, violent eddies were produced by the meeting of the two strong currents. immense quantities of _siphonia elastica_ were there to be seen on both sides of the stream in the forest, which was getting more and more luxuriant as we proceeded on our journey farther north. many wild banana palms (_bananeira do matto_) were to be seen here and there along the lovely, deliciously clean river, with its extraordinarily tidy banks. another great basin, m. in diameter, was met, with three islands and two gravel beaches in its centre. the two principal islands--paolo and francesca--were each m. long and m. wide. we now made the acquaintance of the _capivara_ (_hydrochoerus capibara_), a rodent which we found common farther down in those waters. it was a stupid animal. when fired at several times by my men it remained perfectly still, gazing at its enemies. it was only when a bullet hit the ground too near that it would move away, surprised more than concerned. after going down a _corrideira_ (small rapid) we encountered thousands of white and lemon-yellow butterflies. on islets of red earth swarms of them were basking in the sun--which was getting hotter and hotter as we got farther north. again we were soon after faced by a high natural wall of brilliant yellow and red colouring. in its western part it showed a white stratum ft. thick upon a layer of yellow lava of an equal thickness. a stratum of lighter yellow was nearest the surface of the water, while above was a thick layer of grey earth. on the right side, at this point, a tributary streamlet flowed into the arinos. the basin formed by the crescent-shaped wall was perfectly circular. when the river emerged from it, it folded back from ° b.m. to °. owing to the steepness of the banks we experienced difficulty in finding a suitable camping place for the night. eventually at sunset we had to clear with our big knives a patch in the dirty forest on the edge of the stream. i never liked to camp out of sight of the canoe in case anything happened during the night--an attack, a flood, a forest fire, or anybody trying to steal or get away with the canoe; the danger from my own men being quite as great as from any enemy i could have found. i well knew that if we lost that canoe we were done for entirely. there was a great falling off in the distance covered that day owing to the laziness of my men. we had only gone kil. m.--or kil. m. less than the previous day, when we had travelled less hours and gone easily over a distance of kil. m. chapter iv _oleo pardo_ trees--beautiful palms--the river bottom--swarms of butterflies--millions of bees--a continuous torture the night of july th was cool--minimum temperature ° f. when we departed at . in the morning the river was extremely tortuous at first--in one place actually veering from north to due south. on the right side of us was a lake divided by a low bank, to ft. high, from the river by which it was fed. the entrance into the lake was narrow. we had hardly gone kil. when we found ourselves in a great basin m. long, m. wide, with one large island--nellie island-- m. in length, and several other small islets in its centre. another lagoon was shortly after reached on the right bank, its inlet being m. wide. the waters of the arinos were, at this point, of a leaden placidity. we seemed to travel slowly now that the current did not help us. the river was again compressed into a deep channel m. wide. before us loomed a cliff ft. high, reflected with irreproachable faithfulness in the almost still waters of the stream. there was not a breath of wind to disturb the mirror-like surface, nor to cool our sweating brows in the stifling heat of the broiling sun. the lower to ft. of the cliff was red, the upper light yellow--almost white. where we reached this rocky wall there was a circle m. in diameter, with a low, thickly-wooded triangular island, m. long, m. wide--eleonora island. the north-eastern passage was shallow, with a stony bottom. we followed the northern channel along the vertical wall. on leaving the island we came to a stretch , m. long of beautiful water flowing due north, with ideally fascinating banks embellished by dense vegetation--neat, clean, and healthy--of the richest green. after crossing a bay, m. wide, with volcanic rocks showing through on both banks and in the river bed, the stream was squeezed through a rocky neck m. wide, and spread again immediately afterwards to its normal width of m. we were beginning to find big rocks more frequently, many in the river channel--a bad sign for us, for i feared we might soon encounter rapids. wonderful _oleo pardo_ trees (_myrocarpus frondosus_ fr. all.), with their octopus-like branches hanging down to the water, were fairly common in that region. there were two kinds of _oleo_ trees in brazil--the brown or _oleo pardo_ and the red or _oleo vermelho_, the latter technically known as _myrospermum erytroxylon_ fr. all. we subsequently entered a basin m. wide which contained a circular island m. in diameter--horus island. eight hundred metres farther we came to another large circular bay with a large globular mass of lava on its left side. the current was very swift over a nasty rocky bottom. the canoe was suddenly flung by the current between an accumulation of rocks and an island, and, as we found it impossible to turn, floated down at an uncomfortable speed through a narrow channel, dodging as best we could the many ugly rocks just below the surface of the water. at the end of this channel we encountered violent eddies forming wide circles of most treacherous water--although on the surface it looked placid enough. the tributary sumidoro, m. wide at its mouth, entered the arinos from the west-south-west at this point. its water was deliciously clear. a little way off to the left we could hear the noise of a waterfall on the sumidoro, before it joined the arinos. the river, after the meeting of this important tributary, became even more exquisitely beautiful than before. rocks strewn about added to the picturesqueness of the landscape as well as to the dangers of navigation, while springs of crystalline water, cool and quite delicious to drink, descended here and there from the banks. the river had an average width of m. in this part, and was much strewn with broken-up volcanic boulders, especially on the left bank. on the right bank was a beach of immaculate white sand. for m. we went over a great stony place with shallow water. we had to be careful, but all the same many times did we bump with great force and get stuck upon submerged rocks--which we could not see owing to the blinding, glittering refraction of the sun upon the troubled waters. a tributary m. wide, coming from the north-east, entered the arinos on the right bank. a great number of rubber trees were to be seen on the right bank, where the forest was luxuriant; but not on the left bank, where the growth of trees was scanty. _carandá_ or _burity_ or _tucuman_ palms were plentiful along the water's edge near the spot where a small rivulet entered the arinos on the left bank. two thousand metres farther down we came upon denuded country, low, and liable to inundation when the river rose. farther on were campos and open country, with the exception of a thin row of trees immediately along the river. on the left we had luxuriant forest, wonderfully healthy, neat and clean. the stream was there beautiful-- to m. wide. when we had gone kils. m. more the entire channel became strewn with rocks and mounds only ft. below the surface of the water, and not unlike parallel small dunes of sand with a deposit of gravel upon them. for m. the river was obstructed and navigation rendered somewhat troublesome. where the river turned from bearings magnetic ° to ° (due n.) we went over a nasty stony place with a strong _corrideira_ above it, and we were confronted with a rocky barrier almost the entire width across the stream. we kept on the west side, the only way where it was possible to get the canoe through. a little farther another _corrideira_, stronger than the first, obliged us to find a passage on the east side of the river--which bore upon its bank _campos_ and _chapada_. curious mounds of white sand and gravel were visible in the centre of the river, and also near the left bank below the second _corrideira_; then we came to parallel ridges of white sand and gravel right across the river bottom at an angle of ° in relation to the general direction of the stream. two tributaries, one m. wide on the left bank, the other m. wide on the right side (the latter coming from the north-east), swelled the arinos from that point. the width of the stream was now increased to m., the water being shallow. the bed of the river was ever changing, and supplied me with constant interest. it was adorned with strangely precise triangles of beautiful white sand exposed through a layer of gravel which covered most of the river bottom. a thickly-wooded hill range, ft. high and extending from w.s.w. to e.n.e., stood to the north of us. its slopes, eroded by the water, had caused a landslip, leaving bare vertical red rock for half the height of the hill-range and two much eroded spurs of bright yellow and white earth extending into the stream. the river at that point turned from north to east. open country was again on our right after leaving the hill range, and lowlands liable to inundation. soon afterwards, however, higher land appeared with banks ft. high. swarms of small white butterflies played upon the banks on the edge of the water. sand and gravel mounds were numerous in the centre of the channel, with occasional basins of shallow water with _corrideiras_ upon them. for instance, in one of those places for m. the river was only from to ft. deep, and we had to drag the long heavy canoe, which drew ft. of water, along the undulating gravel bed. in fact, we spent a good deal of our time every day in the water, pushing or pulling along the canoe over innumerable obstacles, her great length making it difficult to navigate her properly through the many shallow and tortuous passages. in a circular basin, m. in diameter, beyond that point we encountered strong eddies near the left bank. on the north side big rocks emerged from the water and a _corrideira_ was formed. an island m. long and two other islets were separated from the mainland by two channels, one m. wide and only in. deep--the other m. wide and ft. deep. the right bank was there ft. high. fifteen hundred metres farther down we entered another basin m. in diameter, with an island m. long and eight dry beaches of gravel. my men were greatly excited in trying to capture a _capivara_ they had wounded. we actually got the animal on board, but my men were so timid in going near it that it jumped overboard again and made its escape. the right bank, which had been high, was now reduced to only ft. above the water; whereas the left bank rose to a height of ft. a rivulet m. wide coming from the west had cut its way through the latter bank. the main river was getting more and more magnificent at every turn. i should have enjoyed the journey very much had it not been for the constant attention i had to pay to my men, who left their paddles and steering gear at every moment in order to fire recklessly at birds or _ariranhas_ or _capivaras_, much to the danger of everybody on board. they would blaze away with their repeating rifles--and bullet cartridges, of course--at parrots and even _colibri_ birds or metres off. they said the rifles were bad because they could never hit anything! i had ceased scolding them. they made me positively ill with pity, i was only praying for our supply of cartridges to come to an end soon, so that if we were to die at all it might not be through being pierced by one of our own bullets. the river had been flowing, with slight deviations, northwards. we came to an enchanting island m. wide, with thick vegetation upon it and fine rocks. the river in that portion flowed practically north in great stretches of , and , m. another large and beautiful island, m. long and wide--ghislaine island--was passed, and we admired the gorgeous vegetation upon it. below the island the river was m. wide and very shallow--not more than from to ft. in depth. we halted at sunset, having gone that day kil. m. during the night of july th my men suffered a great deal from cold, the thermometer being as low as ° fahrenheit. in the morning there was a thick fog over the river--so thick that we had to delay our departure until eight o'clock, as we could not see more than two or three metres ahead. two kilometres beyond we came to a rivulet, m. wide, on the left bank, and soon after to a small _corrideira_ with a navigable channel in the centre. three hundred metres farther down we passed another tributary on the right bank. there was open country with sparse stunted trees on the left of us, thick forest with plenty of rubber trees on the right. i noticed several good specimens of the _pao dolce_--a tree with a curious cluster of yellow flowers not unlike the flower of wistaria upside down. not only was the _pao dolce_ pretty to look at, but a most refreshing beverage could be made from a decoction of its leaves. the course of the river was winding, with basins and rapids of no great importance. another tributary m. wide was reached on the left bank, and soon after another tiny streamlet entered the arinos from the same side. i had a narrow escape. one of the men, who was sitting behind me in the canoe, saw an _ariranha_ (_lutra brasiliensis_) put its head out of the water only ten metres in front of the canoe. in his great hurry to kill the beautiful animal he seized his rifle and emptied the eight shots out of his magazine, firing the first three shots close to my head on the left side, the other five just as close on the other side. the muzzle of his rifle was so near my ear that the noise deafened me for several minutes and my hair was almost singed off. the _ariranha_, needless to say, escaped unhurt, and luckily so did i. we went over a long strip of shallow water from to ft. deep. we now had open country on the right bank, with a small streamlet finding its way into the arinos on that side. the river was flowing again in long straight stretches-- , m., , m., , m. in length. in the portions where the banks were thickly wooded innumerable rubber trees were to be seen. in the centre of a basin m. wide we found another island, m. long and m. wide, absolutely smothered in vegetation and with a handsome gravel spit at its southern end. two kilometres farther another basin, m. broad, appeared. an amazing quantity of rubber trees was to be seen round that basin. near the water we also found fine specimens of the _mate_ (_ilex paraguayensis_ st. hil.), with its wax-like leaves, much used in certain parts of south america for making a kind of tea. for close upon kils. the river flowed--with slight deviations--almost always due north, and with its limpid waters was of extraordinary beauty. the country was open on the right side of us. we saw that day two white _urubú_ (_cathartes_). the brazilians have a curious superstition about them. they say that if you write with a quill taken from the wing of one of these birds any business which you may be transacting will go well; in fact, anything you may wish to do and which you set down on paper with one of these quills and ink is sure to turn out successfully. that day i again suffered much, while taking astronomical observations, from the millions of bees and other insects which settled in swarms upon my hands and face and stung me all over. we were then in lat. ° '· s., long. ° ' w. the temperature in the sun was not unbearable--merely ° fahr. in the afternoon, after we had enjoyed an excellent lunch of fish, tinned provisions, and rice--my men also enjoying their _feijao_ (boiled beans)--we continued our journey. the river for , m. displayed first clean _campos_ and _chapada_ on the left bank and dense forest on the right, then _campos_ on the right bank and a belt of forest along the river on the left. the _campos_ were particularly neat in that region--merely a few _burity_ and _tucum_ palms flourishing on the edge of the water. in other localities a thick growth of beautiful bamboos interspersed with gigantic palms lined the banks. where the river turned due east we came to fairly strong rapids. the water was shallow with mounds of gravel, and we bumped about a great deal. eventually we all had to get into the water and push the canoe along for greater comfort. the river next formed a huge basin, m. long and m. wide. a small tributary flowed into the arinos in the crescent-shaped bank on the right. that bank had a height of ft. on its summit quantities of _siphonia elastica_ were to be admired. farther down it was on the left side that the river had high banks, some ft. high. we went over a charming little _corrideira_. strong eddies were encountered on emerging from the rapids. where the right bank became lower--only ft.--_chapada_ replaced the forest. the left bank was but ft. above the level of the river, and the low country beyond (south) was naturally liable to inundation. for , m. the left bank was never higher than ft. the right bank also suddenly became very low in that region. where the river turned from ° b.m. to ° b.m., there was a basin m. broad with low banks. an island--lydia island-- m. in circumference, rose within this basin on the north side and was luxuriantly wooded. we found that day beautiful beaches of gravel, mostly on the right side. then strong rapids and _corrideiras_; below these more clean-looking gravel beaches--this time on the left--were visible, and an extensive island of gravel close to the right bank. for , m. the gorgeous stream flowed almost in a direct line northward, with dense forest and a wealthy growth of rubber trees on both sides. wonderful _figueira_ trees with their spotless white branches embellished the landscape. on the left a tributary of some size entered the arinos from the south-east in two arms with an island between; the largest arm was m. wide, the smaller m. then another stream entered the arinos on the right side. we were again confronted by a large basin enclosed on the north by a crescent-shaped wall ft. high, at the foot of which at the level of the river was a quantity of débris of yellow rock. the river at that spot turned sharply from ° b.m. (n.n.e.) to ° b.m.--that is to say, almost north-west. the width of the arinos at this point was from to m. towards sunset we came to a beautiful island m. long. we cleared a sufficiently large space in the dense and gorgeous vegetation to make our camp for the night. chapter v great islands--the trinchão fish--a fisherman's paradise--alastor island--plentiful rubber--the civilized man's idea of the tropical forest--the war-cries of the indians--swarms of bees and butterflies we had another cool night on july th--minimum temperature ° f. it was very damp, and in the morning we had, as on the previous day, a thick mist which prevented our starting until it cleared up, at . a.m. the mist rose in columns and square blocks over the warmish water of the river. the right bank of the arinos was ft. high. we had gone some , m. from our camp when we came to a magnificent island, m. long and m. wide--griselda island--which divided the stream into two channels. all the islands we had seen of late showed on the up-stream side a more or less extensive spit of beautifully coloured gravel and glittering crystals. the latter shone in the sun with such iridescent luminosity that it gave those islands a fairy-like appearance. we encountered troublesome eddies which swung the canoe about, and in one case actually spun her completely round in a most alarming manner, tearing out of alcides' hands the steering gear, which we had some trouble in recovering. there were many handsome large-leafed _pacová_, somewhat resembling banana palms; also quantities of _siphonia elastica_, although these were not quite so plentiful as farther south nor the trees so high. a tiny brook of delicious water descended into the arinos from the left bank. ten thousand five hundred metres farther down from griselda island we came to another island, m. long and m. broad--negrino island--with the usual spit of gravel and beautiful crystals on the south side. this island was ft. high above the water, with some trees on it, but not such luxuriant vegetation as on most of the other islands we had seen. a stream m. wide at the mouth, coming from the n.n.w., entered the arinos on the right side. the main river had a direction of ° b.m.--that is to say, virtually north-west. great volcanic slabs of rock and sand-banks were now reached. the sun was not extraordinarily hot-- ° f. at noon. the country on either side was open--chiefly _chapada_. beautiful gravel beaches were now seen, extending half-way across the river, particularly from the left side. another tributary m. wide coming from the n.n.e. was passed on our right, and beyond this a thick forest with rubber trees was visible, while _chapada_ continued on the left. round a big basin m. in diameter, containing shallow water from to ft. deep, stood a mass of gigantic trees with verdant healthy foliage, and innumerable abnormally tall _burity_ palms, over ft. high, and _tucum_ (_astrocaryum tucuma_)--also of immense size. many huge _trinchão_ fish followed our canoe for some time, gazing curiously at us. they came so impudently near that my men actually hit them on the head with their paddles. one more streamlet entered the arinos on the right side just before we reached a big basin, m. in diameter, with wonderful gravel beaches in regular little mounds stretching half-way across the basin. another little tributary (on the right side) came next, , m. farther down stream. the vegetation was there so dense and so entangled that we could find nowhere a suitable spot on which to land for our midday halt. about noon, however, _chapada_ and open country again appeared on the right bank for a distance of some , m. [illustration: a formidable vortex.] [illustration: going down a violent rapid in a narrow channel.] there we indulged in a plentiful lunch, the country round being as still as death. not a sign could be seen anywhere of a human being; not a column of smoke indicating the presence of man rose anywhere in the clear sky. nowhere did we meet disturbed vegetation; nowhere did we notice a trail or a passage through the vegetation coming to the water; nowhere did we meet abandoned camps or any signs whatever that human beings had ever lived there. there was no animal life of fair size on the surface; no parrots, no monkeys, no mammals of any kind--only millions of insects, which made one's life a burden. it was not so with the river, which was swarming with innocent fish, only too ready to be killed and supply us with excellent meals. the reason, of course, that the river was so full of fish, and that the fish displayed such delightful simplicity, was because there were there no human beings. soon after leaving camp--all the happier for an excellent lunch--we came once more to thick, beautiful, clean forest on both sides. again rubber was plentiful, and absolutely untouched by the collector's hand. the river was getting amazingly beautiful, m. wide all along, the water like a faultless silver mirror irreproachably reflecting each leaf, each branch of the motionless trees on both banks. there was not a breath of wind to disturb the tranquillity of that deliciously restful scene. yet one more gorgeous island--alastor island-- m. long and to m. wide, was seen. it was preceded on the south-east side by innumerable gravel mounds just emerging above the water surface, then by a magnificent gravel beach with numberless beautiful crystals. on the left bank a tributary m. wide entered the arinos from the south-west. the river was getting more and more entrancing at every turn. profuse blossoms of the most gorgeous yellow shone resplendent in all their beauty against the background of dark green foliage. the entire edge of the forest was festooned with daintily-leafed creepers and with myriads of convolvuli of the purest amethyst colour. there was poetry in the scene--frequently disturbed, perhaps, by the inconceivable oaths of the man to whom was entrusted the heavy task of baling out the water from the canoe, which leaked badly. she was fissured from end to end, and we had no effective means of preventing the water coming in; in fact, if the baling were not done quickly and continuously with a bucket, the water soon gained and reached the platform on which we had placed the baggage. our feet, of course, were in water all day long. we did not mind that so much. in fact, our feet got so soaked with moisture that we could peel off the skin in big patches with the greatest ease. after travelling across a basin m. broad, we came to a _corrideira_ with shallow water. we dashed with great speed sideways over a bank of gravel, and nearly turned turtle. the gravel was banked up against the lee side of the canoe, and with a strong current pushing her we had the greatest trouble to pull her off again. there was a great deal of rubber, particularly on the left bank, while on the right, _chapada_ was again observed. the river was so wonderfully tidy that, had it not been for its great breadth, one would have felt as if going through a watercourse in england. from the east came a little tributary, m. wide, on the right bank. another beautiful island, m. long and m. wide--helena island--a most enchanting place, preceded by the usual gravel mounds and beach, was passed in the afternoon. small streamlets entered the main stream, one on each side--one kils. beyond helena island, the other one a little farther. the river maintained its average width of m. nearly all the time. late in the afternoon we passed on the left bank a hill ft. high, belonging to a range that extended from e.s.e. to w.n.w. at an angle to the river, which there flowed in a direction almost north. there was plenty of rubber of excellent quality near the water. shortly after leaving this range we came to a lagoon, then to open campos behind a thin row of stunted trees on the left bank. the lagoon was situated at a point where the river described a curve from north to ° b.m. two small streamlets entered the arinos on the right. we made camp near a small lagoon in the forest shortly after sunset. the distance we had travelled during the last two days was kil. m. on july th, and kil. m. on july th, or altogether kil. m. to anybody accustomed to travelling in equatorial countries it seems amazing, on returning to civilization, to find what curious notions people have of the tropical forest. even in the case of writers of distinction i could quote many passages which are painfully ridiculous. one of the greatest modern italian writers, for instance--who, by the way, in one of his latest novels, copied almost word for word many pages from my books--added the poetic touch that in the tropical forest flowers were found so large that they could not be picked, and fruit so enormous that no human tooth could bite it! again, the majority of people believe that it is impossible to go through the forest without cutting your way all the time--the "cutting a way through" meaning to most people the constant chopping down of trees of all sizes, undergrowth, bamboos, _liane_, and other creepers. as a matter of fact, any experienced traveller has much less trouble in going through the forest than people imagine. this is not the case with people unacquainted with the forest, or with people whose sense of observation is not much developed. one can go sometimes for miles through the dense forest without once using knives at all; although necessarily a knife must be carried, as there are places where a cut from its blade will make passing through more comfortable. this is particularly true of the brazilian forest. the forests of that country, especially in the central region where i was then travelling, were wonderfully clean, when once you entered them, although, when seen from the river, they appeared impenetrable. near the water, owing to the moisture, there was frequently a thick but narrow belt--only a few metres wide--of dense growth. beyond it, when you were in the forest itself, nothing grew under the trees, and the ground was just as clean as the best kept english park. one could walk in comfort without the slightest trouble, an occasional well-applied blow with the heavy-bladed knife disentangling in a second an interfering _liana_ which might stand in one's way. it must not be forgotten that you can get under or over _liane_, or shift them on one side, without ever having the trouble of severing them. it is only occasionally, when they are entangled, that it saves time to cut them. barring an occasional thick belt along the amazon river, it is almost safe to assert that an experienced man can travel, alone, anywhere in the forests of brazil without carrying a penknife. this is not the case, of course, when you are travelling with a caravan and with baggage, when a sufficiently large passage has to be opened. in africa the equatorial forests are incomparably more difficult to traverse than the brazilian forests, and those who assert the brazilian forests to be impenetrable only say so because they do not know what they are talking about. even when it comes to actually chopping down trees in the brazilian forests, one blow with the axe or with the knife will easily cut down a fair-sized tree. as i have already stated elsewhere, most of the brazilian forest trees have no resistance whatever. they are full of water, and, with a judicious blow, can be cut almost as easily as celery. many are the trees also, the inside of which near the ground has been eaten up entirely by ants, and it was not uncommon when you leant heavily against a tree that you and the tree tumbled down. ants do not seem to attack lactiferous trees, such as those producing rubber, which therefore flourished in that particular region. most of the trees in that particular part of the forest were small in diameter, and only had branches or leaves at a very great height. that was why the forests in brazil looked so extraordinarily clean beneath, in contrast to the equatorial forest in such countries as central africa or the philippine islands. the wonderful cleanliness of the river, to which i have so often alluded, was a great contrast to the masses of floating decomposing vegetation which is always to be seen in the african rivers. the minimum temperature during the night of july th was ° fahr. during that night we were suddenly roused by our dogs barking furiously. we heard strange noises, as if people were trying to run away quickly through the forest. indians had, much to our surprise, come quite close to our camp, and had it not been for the alarm given by the dogs we should most likely have been attacked by them. in the morning we heard in the distance their war-cries and piercing ululations, which rent the air. judging merely by the noise they made, there must have been from thirty to fifty of them. my men were greatly excited over this experience. these indians belonged, i think, to the tapanhonas tribe. we left our camp at . in the morning. as the river was there in an almost straight line for kil., we continued hearing--more and more faintly, of course, as we went on--for some distance the excited yells of the indians. the left bank, through which a streamlet cut its way into the arinos, was fairly open with _chapada_. an island, m. wide and m. long--julia island--was next seen. it had an extensive beach of gravel at its southern end, and the island itself was covered with dense and very beautiful vegetation. another streamlet m. wide entered the arinos opposite the island from the left side. farther on another streamlet, m. wide at the mouth, and coming from the north, flowed into the main stream on the right side. three and a half kilometres farther another tributary streamlet, also m. wide, was met on the right. we there saw _chapada_ on both banks as we went along, with merely a thin edge of trees along the river. where the river described a graceful elbow, a charming tongue of land, with deliciously green grass upon it, was most refreshing to the eyes. a river m. wide at the mouth was met a little way beyond on the left side. we noticed opposite that place a beautiful spot for making a camp, but it was not a convenient hour for us, and so we went along. about , m. farther down a long narrow island ( m. long, m. wide)--gemma island--heavily wooded, was passed and admired. it had the usual gravel spit on its southern or up-stream point, the river in that particular spot flowing due north in a perfectly straight line for , m. the island stood in the centre of a basin m. broad. there were _campos_ and _chapada_ on the left bank. we landed on the island, and found most beautifully clean forest, nice and cool in the greenish dim light which penetrated through the dense masses of foliage. particularly noticeable for their beauty were the handsome large mimosas. on the right bank of the river was forest with plenty of rubber trees, but occasionally even on that side patches of what the brazilians call _serradão_ (close forest) were met with. a hill range ft. high formed a crescent from west to north-west on the left side of the stream. a kilometre and a half farther forest was to be seen on the left side of the river; whereas on the right was _chapada_ and _campos_, quite open. a picturesque rocky island, m. in diameter, in laminated horizontal and rich brown volcanic rock, rose ft. above the water in the centre of the stream. from that spot for kil. i noticed _chapada_ on the right bank; then after that was beautiful dense forest on both sides, with innumerable vigorous rubber trees. the river there was m. wide and had shallow water with strong _corrideiras_ over enormous parallel transverse dunes of sand and gravel which formed the bottom. islets of gravel were exposed, especially near the left bank and in the centre, leaving only a more or less navigable channel near the right bank. we ran aground many a time along the m. of shallow water, varying from in. to ft. deep. we emerged into a large basin m. wide where eddies of no great strength were formed. on the edge of the beautiful basin we halted for our lunch, and to take the usual astronomical observations at local noon. we were in lat. ° '· s.; long. ° ' w. i do not know if i have ever seen such swarms of bees and butterflies as i saw at that place. they seemed to swoop down upon us in myriads from all sides. taking the solar observations with the sextant and artificial horizon, i endured positive torture with the hundreds of bees which settled on my forehead, nose and hands; while thousands of mosquitoes and ants stung my legs, arms and face in those spots where it was not possible to wrap myself up with towels. it will be noticed in most of the photographs which were taken along the river, and some of which illustrate this book, that all my men have their heads wrapped up. this was done as a protection against the tantalizing insects. the temperature was warm; that day, for instance, was ° f. in the sun and ° in the shade. we left again at . , my men being--for a change--in a good mood, owing to the amusing time we always had fishing. we had been making excellent progress during the last two or three days. the strange man x enlivened our journey with diabolical songs and with crude wit, which sent his companions into fits of laughter. when they were in a merry mood or excited, i noticed that they paddled along much quicker and better, so i did not try to put a check to the abominable language which would have jarred the feelings of any one not born and bred in the interior of brazil. it was quite interesting to me to find in that region so much _chapada_ and open country, as i had fully expected to find thick forest all along. what struck me particularly on the arinos, and which i could not very well explain, was that nearly invariably, when you had thick forest on one side of the stream, you had open country on the other, and only seldom noticed either forest or campos on both sides of the stream at the same time. after passing _chapada_ on the left bank we came to a great many rocks just above water. a river m. wide entered the arinos on the right side, and there was to be seen an immense quantity of beautiful rubber trees--as yet untouched by human being. the river kept its width of m. after going along _chapada_ on the left bank for some kil., we came to magnificent forest--this time on both sides--with a luxuriant growth of rubber trees. the scene, in its wonderful quietude, was most impressive. it made one's heart bleed to think that such rich land should lie unknown and unexploited in these enlightened and enterprising days of the twentieth century. the sky above us was always interesting, with its typical filaments of mist, their lengthy radiations faintly marked upon the vivid blue of the sky vault and making a centre in the north. these radiations were in appearance not unlike giant ostrich feathers. they were formed, i think, over the great streams which flowed northwards into the amazon. we were troubled that day with numerous eddies and shallow water, owing to the great width of the river. innumerable mounds of gravel rose in the centre of the stream up to a few inches below the water level. another hill range, ft. high, met that day was crescent-shaped, the arc of a circle thus described being from south-east by east to north-east. the hill range on the north-east side of us was eroded, exposing a red vertical wall ft. high. a small river m. wide coming from the east entered the arinos on the right bank. for , m. from that point the stream had an average width of m., and was really magnificent with the wonderful cleanliness of the water--not the slightest impurity, not a speck of wood or a leaf floating upon its surface. fourteen kilometres of heavenly navigation--barring x's language and the comments of his companions--and we came to an ideal triangular island, , m. long, m. wide at its broadest point, with the usual extensive gravel spit at its southern end--victor emmanuel island. the vegetation upon it was too gorgeous for words, but there was no animal life except insects. four kilometres farther a basin m. in diameter and from to ft. deep was crossed, in which a strong _corrideira_ was met. the navigable channel was in the centre of the basin. a stream m. wide, of most beautiful crystalline water, which had its origin from the south-west, threw itself into the arinos on the left side, some , m. below the basin. from this point for kil. the river flowed with a slight deviation of ° in a northerly direction. the left bank of the river was now quite open, with patches of _chapada_ and somewhat taller but still stunted vegetation beyond; a thin row of tall trees lined the river side. on the right bank was luxuriant forest, and again plenty of beautiful rubber trees. two islets of gravel were next seen. we were experiencing great difficulty in getting suitable camping places at the right time when we needed them. by . , having come across a spot which seemed suitable, we halted, having gone that day kil. m. chapter vi the _tapirus americanus_--striking scenery--the _mate_ tree--photography in camp--brazilian way of reasoning--a new christopher columbus--the selection of our camps--beautiful fruit--a large tributary we were still at an elevation of , ft. the water was almost stagnant, and was evidently being held up by some obstacle. i feared that we should soon encounter nasty rapids. watching the sky, i was generally able to foretell what was ahead of us in the river. in fact, a pretty mackerel sky, particularly to the north-west, showed me that the water of our river must be breaking up considerably, either in rapids or waterfalls, in order to produce sufficient moisture in the air to cause the accumulation of those cloudlets. i always noticed that wherever there were heavy rapids farther down clouds of more or less magnitude formed directly above them at a comparatively low elevation, and remained there owing to the perfect stillness of the air. on the night of july th the cold was felt intensely by my men, the thermometer actually showing a minimum of ° f. during the night my men had a great excitement. a large pachyderm, an _anta_ (_tapirus americanus_) inquisitively came in the midst of our camp. it was evidently as much astonished at seeing us as we were in discovering its presence. my men had been firing their cartridges away during the day at rocks, at fish in the river, and so on, so that when their rifles were really needed the magazines were all empty, and gave the _anta_ plenty of time to hop away gracefully into the darkness of the forest. i had given orders to them to keep watch all night, as a precaution against an attack from the indians, but my orders were, as usual, disobeyed. personally, i took the first watch every night, sitting up till a.m., which time i occupied in writing up my notes, working out computations of astronomical observations, classifying the botanical and geological specimens collected during the day, and replenishing my cameras with new plates. my men had eaten up all the supply of beans (_feijao_) i had purchased at diamantino, and therefore even the cook could not be kept awake during the night. the first rubber collector i had picked up when coming down the arinos was now our cook, and diabolical indeed was his _cuisine_. several times already his life had been in danger from the angry attacks of his companions, the quantities of pepper he sprinkled on everything he cooked causing us all to cough sometimes for half-hours at a time. he was very fond of pepper himself, and could not understand why none of us liked it. during the night we still had a mackerel sky, covering one-third of the sky vault, and a clear triangle of mist, the apex of which was to the west, extending towards the east, close upon the horizon line. when we left in the morning at . , we had _chapada_ and _campos_ on the right bank and forest on the other side. we had gone some ½ kil. from our camp when we came to a hill range, ft. high, on the right bank, encircling the river with its thickly wooded slopes. there was a tributary m. wide, a most beautiful stream, on the right bank. it came from ° b.m. its water was deliciously clear. where it entered the arinos it had deposited a bank of crystals and marble pebbles--yellow, red, and white--which in the dazzling sun shone with great brilliancy at the bottom of the river. numberless rubber trees were to be seen at that spot on the banks of the arinos, and also on those of this new important tributary. two kilometres farther, where the arinos was m. wide, it looked just like a big lake of stagnant water. the country was quite open on the left side, first _chapada_, then _campos_. by . a.m. we had a most wonderful display of clouds and radiations of what looked like so many mares' tales from the w.s.w. the river at that point flowed for kil. in a direction due south. we came to a basin m. across with a spit of white sand on the north-west side. in this basin was an island--nattalì island-- m. long, m. wide, ft. above water, with a fine beach of sand and gravel on the south side. gravel mounds were innumerable in the centre of this stream. after we had gone some kil. farther down my men shot an _ariranha_. they had a belief that these _ariranhas_ would easily kill a man in the water. as we have already seen, they certainly had a great craving for blood and were always brave in attacking. my men called them "water leopards." in fact, the head of the _ariranha_ was not unlike the head of a cat or a leopard. although shot through the body two or three times, the _ariranha_ actually came thrice to the attack of the canoe--so that my men were able to seize it by the tail and pull it inside the canoe while it was in a dying condition. sixteen kilometres farther down we came to another beautiful tributary with delightfully clear water, m. wide where it met the arinos. one hundred metres lower down another little tributary, only m. wide, also on the right bank, joined our stream. the first tributary seemed to come from the north-east. at the mouth of this tributary was a spot which would have made a lovely halting place, but as it was too early in the day we reluctantly went on in a north-westerly direction, first for kil., then north-east for kil., passing through a large basin m. wide, containing two islets, then passing charming sand-beaches, and farther on another tributary, m. wide, on the left of us, also with deliciously clear water. when we proceeded on our journey after lunch we found big rocks more frequent in the stream, and went over a field of great boulders just under the surface of the water that stretched half-way across the shallow river. eight kilometres from our halting-place we came to an extensive stony place with a strong rapid. one kilometre beyond, a small tributary flowed into the arinos from the left side. on the left side we had a red and brilliant yellow bank ft. high, part of a small range of hills which turned the river from n.n.w. to n.n.e. another small tributary m. wide was seen on the left side. then, kil. farther on, another tributary, also m. wide, and also on the left side, came from the south-west. three thousand six hundred metres beyond this, we entered a basin m. wide with an island m. long, including its gravel spit. three more islands were seen a little way beyond--meraud, tanis, and loel islands, meraud being the largest. another island was on the left of the river, leaving a passage m. wide on its west side. the group of islands was of alluvial formation with deposits of gravel below. the river in that region was too beautiful for words. the foliage of the thick heavy forest on both sides was densely green, the banks most tidy, and running in an almost straight line for , m. during all that distance the stream was m. wide, and its speckless water reflected with marvellous definition each leaf and branch against the background of deep green. neat gravel banks occurred frequently in the shallow water. some m. down this long straight stretch of river a tributary m. wide, coming from ° b.m., threw itself into the arinos. strong eddies were formed, as many rocks were strewn in the centre of the stream. one kilometre farther a conglomerate mass of granite and yellow and red lava, with impurities embedded in it, emerged just above the water in the centre of the stream. another streamlet, m. wide, and of wonderfully limpid water, joined the arinos on the right side. it came from the north-east. then another little streamlet was seen on the left side. at the end of kil., where the river made a wide angle from ° b.m. to ° b.m., and another straight line of , m. stretched in front of us, we beheld a huge submerged bank of sharp volcanic conglomerate rock. in fact, we unexpectedly almost ran into it. had we done so at the rate at which we were travelling, our canoe would certainly have been smashed to pieces against the sharp-edged fractured rock--just as sharp at the angles as the blades of knives. where the river turned once more from ° b.m. to ° b.m. another small tributary appeared on the right bank, and there a lot of handsome _mate_ trees (_ilex paraguayensis_) seemed to flourish, and were certainly pretty to look at. farther down we again came to _chapada_ on the left bank and heavy foliaged forest with a certain number of rubber trees on the right bank. the left bank, where it described a great sweeping circle, was low and sandy, some ft. above the level of the river. only a thin fringe of low trees grew there on the edge of the water. six kilometres from the last tributary on the right bank another streamlet, m. wide, coming from the s.s.w., cut its way through the left bank. two thousand five hundred metres farther on another tributary m. wide--a deliciously beautiful stream--flowed gracefully into the arinos on the right side from the north-east. we made our camp at the junction of the two streams. the camp was extremely bad. it was already late in the evening and we could find no other suitable spot. we had gone that day kils. i was quite satisfied with the progress we had made during the last few days. during the evening i made an excursion on foot along the tributary river to the north-east for several kilometres, but i found nothing of particular interest. during the night we received another visit from an _anta_, but the pachyderm again escaped before my men had time to kill it. we heard cries of indians in the distance. my men were in a great state of mind for fear we should be attacked. i sat up the entire night in order to be ready in case of emergency. i took that opportunity of computing and checking many of the astronomical observations i had taken, and developing a great number of photographic glass plates. in my experience i have found that the fears people have of spoiling negatives unless one is shut up in an absolutely dark room are quite exaggerated. on that particular occasion, for instance, and on many previous and subsequent occasions, i developed the glass plates--and i think with satisfactory results--out in the open, with merely the fly-leaf of the tent sheltering me overhead so as not to have the direct rays of the stars shining upon the photographic plates. indeed, there was light enough coming in around the tent for me to see quite plainly what was going on outside. i simply covered up the developing trays as an extra precaution, and seldom--in fact, never--spoiled a negative in process of development. i also found developing tanks quite serviceable when a great number of negatives had to be developed quickly. the red lamp necessary for photographic work was invariably a great nuisance. i do not believe that a compact, practical dark-room lamp has yet been invented which is really serviceable to an explorer. if it is a candle lamp the candle melts quickly in those hot countries, producing an extra large flame which generally cracks the red glass, and makes so much smoke that the upper aperture becomes blocked and puts the light out when you happen to be at the most crucial point of your work. the oil lanterns would be better, were it not for the difficulty and messy nuisance of carrying and re-filling the lamp each time with oil. electric lights, which are the only practical ones, of course are out of the question when you have to be away for a year or a year and a half, the storage batteries getting damaged easily by damp and the innumerable accidents which you have when exploring. the greatest care had to be used in repacking the developed glass plates. i owe to the care i took of them that i was able to bring back excellent negatives out of glass plates exposed. the night was a little warmer than usual on july th--minimum ° f. there was a heavy mist over the river when we rose in the morning, and we had to delay our departure until . a.m. when the mist began to rise it hung about in beautiful curves converging to a common radiating centre to the west. during the night i had noticed a weird lunar effect--a perfect cross of immense proportions intersecting the crescent moon, which had a radiating halo surrounding it. four thousand metres from our camp we came to a tributary m. wide on the left side of the river. it came from the w.s.w. near this a streamlet m. wide entered the arinos on the right side, and another streamlet of equal size farther down on the left bank. there was fairly thin forest on both sides as we went on, kilometre after kilometre, the water of the river being almost stagnant in that part and heavy to paddle along. five hundred metres down the straight stretch of river, , m. long, we came to another charming affluent, m. wide, coming from the e.s.e. farther on, another tributary m. wide entered the arinos on the left side, and formed a shallow bank of gravel extending half-way across the stream. [illustration: the result of half an hour's fishing on the arinos-juruena.] as i have stated elsewhere, the mentality of brazilians was somewhat difficult to understand by people of any other nation. they did everything the wrong way, according to our notions. i had been worried a great deal, the reader may remember, at the most unpractical way in which my men loaded the animals when i had my caravan of mules and horses. i had been more than amazed at brazilian ideas of architecture, sculpture, painting and music. i had on many occasions been dumbfounded at their ideas of honour and truthfulness. now once more i was sickly amused--i had by then ceased to be amazed or dumbfounded or angry--at the way my men daily packed the baggage in the canoe. the baggage was naturally taken out of the canoe every night when we made our camp, for the canoe leaked so badly that when we arrived anywhere and halted we had to beach her, or else, where this was not possible, we found her in the morning almost entirely submerged. naturally we invariably selected shallow places where we could bale the water out and float her again. returning to the baggage: the men every morning insisted on loading the canoe in front, where the four men were situated paddling, and the three dogs of the expedition were also accommodated. i sat in the centre of the canoe, and alcides at the helm naturally stood in the stern. the man whose incessant daily occupation it was to bale out the water of course had to be with the group of four men in the bow, since, the canoe being so heavily weighted at that end, the water found its way down there. now, loading the canoe in such a fashion, at the bow, had the double drawback of causing a greater resistance against the water, and therefore nearly doubling the work of the men in paddling. then again, when we ran aground or struck a rock, the impact was more severe on the canoe--not to speak of the difficulty of getting her off again. the steering, too, was also much more difficult with the stern of the canoe so far out of the water. i pointed out the mistake to my men, but it was no use arguing, and they refused to follow my advice. like all ignorant people, they thought they knew everything better than anybody else, and as, in a way, they were the chief sufferers for their own conceit, i thought i would avoid unpleasantness and let them do things their own way as long as we kept going forward on our journey. alcides, too, who by now had become imbued with the idea that he was as good a navigator as christopher columbus or vasco da gama, had the strangest notions of navigation. he never avoided grounding the canoe on every bank he saw; he never avoided dashing the canoe into every rock which stood or did not stand in our way. i never could understand exactly why he did that, except for the mischievous pleasure he derived from giving the men who were sitting at the other end of the canoe a violent bump, which often rolled them over altogether. when we left goyaz my men insisted on purchasing life-belts in case we should be travelling by water. as only one of the goyaz men could swim, i had gladly given them the money to purchase those articles. on our first day of navigation the men amused me very much, as they all appeared garbed in their life-belts, as if we had been going to the rescue of a stranded ship in a tempest. i laughed heartily at the sight. the intense heat of the sun made the heavy cork belts so uncomfortable for them, that they discarded them when they saw that the canoe would actually float on the water, and packed them away inside a wooden box, which they then screwed down tight. the belts remained in that box most of the time, except one day when a man put one on, as i had given him instructions to go some way off in the centre of the stream where the current was rather swift. by misadventure he lost his footing, and had we not been quick in going to his rescue he certainly would have been drowned. we tested the life-belts, and i found that not only would they not float after they had been a minute or two in the water, but they became so heavy when soaked with moisture that they would have dragged to the bottom even a fair swimmer. they were evidently old discarded ship belts. the cork, enclosed in a canvas cover, had got decomposed and pulverized, and therefore rendered useless. as we are referring to the strange ways of looking at things by different nations, i might as well include the endless arguments i had with my men in selecting our camps. i naturally always selected the cleanest spots with a flat ground, so that the tents could be pitched satisfactorily without extra trouble, where there was little vegetation, and where the water was good. my men always quarrelled over this, and insisted on stopping in the filthiest places, either where some trees, rotted away, had fallen down, where the vegetation on the edge of the river needed cutting, and where the ground had to be levelled before i could pitch my camp bed. they always preferred sleeping under the stifling vegetation to where there was an open space and we had the clear sky over us. they all slept in hammocks--the favourite resting arrangement of the brazilian--to my mind the most uncomfortable and absurd fashion of resting, especially in tropical regions. first of all, it is almost an impossibility to assume a perfectly horizontal position for your entire body, except--if you are an expert--diagonally; then there is always a certain amount of swing and you are likely to tumble over at any moment; you can never keep the blankets in position, and you expose your entire body to the stings of the mosquitoes, flies and other insects, and of the ants which crawl into your hammock by hundreds from the trees in which they swarm. it was not uncommon when we camped to hear during the night a crash, followed immediately after by oaths. the tree to which one of the hammocks had been fastened had suddenly broken and let the man down with a bump. then again, the mischievous ants took the greatest delight during the night in cutting the strings of the hammocks, and on several occasions my followers had nasty falls. yet the brazilians swear by hammocks. another stream m. wide, coming from the north, entered the arinos on the right bank. a number of _ariranhas_, attracted by the vivid red of the british flag which was flying at the stern of the canoe, followed us for some time and came courageously to the attack, showing their teeth fiercely at us and snarling frantically. entire families of those delightful little creatures were seen, and they invariably gave us a similar hearty greeting. they followed us sometimes for hundreds and hundreds of metres, and became most excited when i took the flag and waved it at them, and sometimes placed it near the water in order to drive them frantic. we now had most beautiful forest on both sides. a stream m. wide joined the arinos on the left side from the west, forming a charming little waterfall as it entered the main stream. a little farther on the right was another streamlet, coming from the south-east. generally, as in this case, when we reached tributary streams of any importance, gravel banks extended and blocked a great part of, sometimes even half, the main stream. a picturesque stream, m. wide, coming from the north-east, was then reached on the right side. it flowed through a rocky gate. five or six kilometres farther on a tiny streamlet dribbled into the arinos, and also another, m. wide, on the left bank. at noon that day the sky was extraordinarily interesting. from the north-west extended a wonderful succession of loop coils of transparent mist, giving the sky the appearance of a peacock's extended tail. just before we halted for lunch we came to a charming streamlet of delicious water, m. wide, on the right bank. the days were getting warmer as we advanced farther north. it was hot work sitting in the sun-- ° f. that day--to take observations for latitude and longitude. in the shade the thermometer registered ° f. lat. ° '· s.; long. ° ' w. after lunch, ½ kil. from our camp, we passed on the left bank a delightful tributary coming from the w.s.w. its mouth was m. wide, and poured forth waters of the most beautiful emerald green. five hundred metres farther down another large tributary, m. wide, coming from the north-east, was observed on the right bank. farther still, the river formed a large basin m. wide. lovely forest flourished round the sweeping curve of the basin. there was simply a solid mass of marvellously fresh foliage, with hardly a break through which, it seemed, a human being could pass. in that particular part the leaves came right down to the water, but there was no reason to suppose that they grew equally low inland. the stream, which was m. broad, showed farther on an immense bank of gravel m. long, which rose above the surface in the shape of two long islands--one m., the other m. in length. we felt the heat considerably going down the river, as we were always in the sun in the centre of the stream, with a temperature seldom less than ° f. especially where thick forest was on both sides of us, there seemed to be no air close to the water. when we came to patches of chapada and open country we could breathe a little better. several were the tributary streamlets to which we came that afternoon. first we saw one rivulet, m. wide, on the right bank, then kil. m. farther on another affluent, m. wide, coming from the north-east, also on the right bank; then , m. farther a rivulet ½ m. wide, coming from the south-west (left bank); then , m. farther a charming stream, m. wide, coming from the north, and meeting with the arinos near an extensive stony place with shallow and troublesome water. strong eddies formed at that spot. one more streamlet, m. wide, was reached that day on the right. it came from the north-east. the river had that day flowed almost continuously in directions varying from north-west to north, barring two sections where its course had been ° east of north. after passing the last tributary the river described a sweeping curve, gradually turning so far back as to flow in a south-westerly ( ° b.m.) direction. there was there shallow water with gravel banks in the centre of the stream. curiously enough, we did not notice so much rubber close to the river in that region, but in an excursion a short distance from the water we came upon _siphonia elastica_ trees, not only along the arinos but also along the tributaries. we halted that day at sunset, having gone kil. m.; which, although much less than the previous days, was still fair going for us. chapter vii ideal islands--immense _figueira_ trees--the "spider monkey"--great variety of fish in the arinos--the rocky gateway into diabolical waters--shooting dangerous rapids--cutting a way through the forest--a nasty rapid--plentiful fish the night of july th was heavy, the thermometer registering a minimum temperature of °f. we had great fun fishing during the early hours of the night. in the morning we had hundreds of pounds of fish spread upon the bank of the river, with many excellent specimens of the _motimchun_ fish--so called, i believe, because of its noisy and rebellious habits. the sky was overladen with clouds, and the west showed radiations of light. we had gone , m. from our camp when we came to a tributary stream on the left side coming from the south. four thousand four hundred metres farther on, a hill-range ft. high, with heavy forest upon it, encircled a sweeping curve on the left of us to the west and north-west. the cliff of this range, eroded by the river, showed rock of a vivid red right up to its highest point, laminated in perfectly horizontal layers, each ft. thick. farther on a great basin m. wide and of great beauty had formed. [illustration: leading the canoe down a rapid by rope.] [illustration: characteristic rocky barrier across the arinos river. (author's sextant in foreground.)] some kil. beyond a beautiful beach of white sand was noticeable on the left bank. we were always glad to see these beaches, as we frequently found on them quantities of tortoise eggs--most delicious to eat. an island--gabriella island-- m. long divided the river into two channels, the larger one of which-- m. wide--we followed; the other being but m. broad and much strewn with rocks. the river, from the point where we met the sand beach, flowed in a s.s.w. direction for , m., when it gradually resumed its course northward. the island, thickly wooded, was extremely beautiful, with trees of great size upon it. quantities of _ariranhas_ were to be found near this island, and they came straight for us with their mouths open, shrieking wildly and snarling and spitting like cats. i was always amazed at their bravery, as they came right on while being shot at by my men, the reports of the rifles enraging them to absolute frenzy. shortly after we came to another most beautiful, oval-shaped island, m. long--maude island--in a basin extending from east to west for a breadth of not less than m. another island--vera island-- m. long and of an elongated shape, was seen in the same basin. it also had luxuriant vegetation upon it, whereas, curiously enough, the banks on either side of the great basin showed _chapada_ with stunted trees. farther on, where a small tributary entered the arinos on the left side, the country seemed quite open beyond the narrow fringe of trees along the water. another streamlet m. wide flowed into the arinos from the north-east on the right bank. the main river there was of a width of m. another great island--luiz schnoor island--also most beautiful, like the others, was next seen. we halted on it for our midday meal, and to take the usual astronomical observations. the sky had, by that time, become beautifully clear, of a dense cobalt blue, and i was able to take twenty-three sights of the sun. i generally took a great many sights with the sextant and artificial horizon, in order to define the latitude and longitude with greater accuracy. we were then in lat. ° '· s.; long. ° ' w. gorgeous _gamelleira_ or _figueira_ trees (_ficus_) were to be seen on that island, standing high up upon arches formed by vigorous roots. in a way the lower part of those _figueiras_ resembled a huge octopus, the branches being extremely contorted as they clung to the ground in order to support the weight of the giant tree of which they made part. one could easily walk under the tree among the roots and still have six or eight feet of space left above one's head. as i went round to explore the island while my men were cooking the dinner, i discovered a small lake in the centre of the island--a most poetic spot, with its neat, delightful vegetation all round it reflected as in a mirror in the golden waters which reproduced in a deeper tone the rich sunset tints of the sky above. i sat myself down to look at the beautiful scene. the poetry vanished at once. there were millions of ants which swarmed all over me the moment i sat down upon the ground, and bit me with such fury that i had to remove my clothes in the greatest haste and jump into the water. that raised a cloud of mosquitoes, which made it most uncomfortable for me when i came out again and was busy searching for ants in my clothes. my men killed a beautiful long-armed spider monkey. i was sorry, as i had watched the wonderful jumps of this animal from one tree to another. using the impetus of the swing which they could obtain from the immense length of their arms, as well as the swing of the branch on which they were hanging, they could fly enormous distances through the air. the span from hand to hand in proportion to the size of the body was really amazing. luiz schnoor island was m. long. plenty of rubber trees were to be seen on the right bank of the river after passing this great island, especially where the river described a large sweeping curve towards the north-east. farther on, close to the right bank, an island m. long and ft. high, of yellow sand and gravel, showed brilliantly with its vivid colouring upon the blue waters of the river. for identification' sake i named it gravel island on the map i was making of the river. i seemed to be in fairyland--but for the company of my men--as i floated down the stream, there m. wide. we had gone hardly kil. when we came to another ideal island--margherita island-- m. long and m. wide, with magnificent trees upon it. a small stream joined the arinos on the left side. lower down stream we had thin forest on both sides, with some remarkable _oleo_ trees, with their minute grey leaves and the branches, laden with red berries, drooping--weeping-willow-like--right down in the water. next we came to sand and gravel banks with islets ft. high emerging from the water in the centre of the river, all those little islets displaying verdant grass on their southern side and pure white sand on the northern side. the river was at that point flowing in a n.n.e. direction. then came a long straight line of , m. of river flowing to ° b.m. about half-way through this long stretch the stream divided into two large arms, one in direct continuation of the above bearings, the other in a curve, encircling an island , m. broad. the basin--as still as a lake--in which this island was situated was not less than , m. across. the island--charles landor island--was , m. in length. it had plenty of rubber trees upon it, and plenty were to be seen also on the banks. we went some or kil. farther that night, and at five o'clock we halted, having made poor progress that day--only kil. immense quantities of fish could be seen in the river. no sooner had we made camp than we got out lines and hooks of all sizes, which we baited with pieces of _toucinho_. one end of the bigger lines we made fast to trees, as the fish we often caught were so powerful that on several occasions they had dragged us into the water and we lost not only the fish but the line as well. we had great sport that night and caught quantities of _trahira_ (_macradon trahira_)--not unlike a giant salmon and quite as good to eat; and also some _surubim_ (_platystoma lima_), a large fish belonging to the herring family. the surubim was flat-headed, and not unlike the pintado fish which i have described in a previous chapter. it had thin scales over the body, and an abnormally powerful lower jaw, with vicious-looking, sharply-pointed teeth on the edge of the upper and lower lip. these curiously situated teeth were far apart, and so firmly inserted in the hard lips that it took a violent blow to remove them. although after a few minutes we had killed fish enough to last us--had we been able to preserve it--for some weeks, my men sat up the greater part of the night hauling quantities to the bank. the excitement each time a fish or lb. in weight was hauled out of the water was considerable. the wild yells and exquisite language whenever one of my men was dragged into the water kept me awake the entire night. we left that camp at . on july th, the minimum temperature having been ° f. during the night. heavy globular clouds covered the entire sky. we were then in a region extraordinarily rich in rubber; quantities of _siphonia elastica_ trees were to be seen. it made one's heart bleed to think that nobody was there to collect the riches of that wonderful land. the river flowed in short sections from north-west to north-north-east, barring a long stretch of , m., when we came to a great basin m. wide, with two large islands in it; the eastern island--orlando island--being m. wide, the western--elizabeth chimay island-- m. broad and not less than m. long. south of both these islands were islets of gravel m. each in diameter. nine thousand five hundred metres below these islands an important tributary, m. wide, flowed into the arinos from the right bank. it came from the south-east. close to the left bank, from which it had been separated by the current, leaving a channel only m. wide, another island--isabel island-- m. long was found. shortly afterwards we came to a big equilateral-triangular island--armida island--fully kil. a side. albert island, next to it, was of a narrow elongated shape. from the beginning of armida island the river flowed for , m. in a direct line to ° b.m. four large rocks in a cluster stood in the centre of the stream at the north-north-westerly end of the island. then we had another stretch of , m., during which the river was squeezed through a narrow neck, m. wide, between low rocks. immediately afterwards we emerged into a bay m. broad, with three islets on one side of it. they were rather dry and somewhat mean-looking. i called them faith, hope, and charity islands. after that the river was m. wide. a deposit of gravel some m. long was exposed on the right side beyond the last island of the group. three kilometres farther we halted for an hour or so, just time enough for me to take the latitude and longitude and for our lunch to be cooked. the usual torture had to be endured from the innumerable insects. the heat was also terrible-- ° f. in the sun, ° in the shade. lat. ° '· s.; long. ° ' w. when we left, we saw , m. beyond our halting place, beside a great heap of rocks on the left side of the river, a rivulet, m. wide, entering the arinos on the left. from that spot the river was contracted from a width of m. to one of only m. naturally the water was of great depth and the current swift. two great volcanic rocks stuck out in the centre of the stream, and two extensive heaps of volcanic rock stood on the right side of us, the rocks being at all angles in a confused mass. where these rocks were--a spot which my men called the "porteira" or gateway--the river turned sharply from ° b.m. to ° b.m. the water seemed almost stagnant there, and we had to make a great effort to get on. it seemed as if there had been an undercurrent pushing us back. the water was surely held up by some obstacle, and i feared we had at last reached the extensive rapids which i had expected for some days. rocks were to be seen in abundance all along, and three more sets of giant boulders were reached, one after the other, in the centre of the river, there only m. broad. strange heaps of broken-up boulders of immense size were to be seen on the right bank; then farther on more great heaps in confusion on the left bank. a tiny rivulet found its way among the rocks on the right side. the channel was much strewn with dangerous submerged rocks. i thought i would take the navigation into my own hands for a little while, and found a comparatively easy channel on the left side of the river close to the bank. as i had expected, the rumbling noise of troubled waters was getting louder and louder, and the whitish mist which rose above the horizon line was an unmistakable sign that we had come to a dangerous spot. soon after, in fact, we arrived at a large circular basin, some m. in diameter, with rocks in the centre of it. two clusters of magnificent rocks, ft. high, towered on the left side of the river. then came a long row of rocks, also gigantic, and a sandy beach which had accumulated against them. a little farther another great mass of rocks in disorder stood up against the now once more fierce current. we made our way tentatively along what seemed to us the safest channel, to ° b.m., and with trepidation shot the rapids, which were quite fearsome. i must say for my men that by now they had acquired a certain amount of courage--courage, like all things, being a matter of training after all. we went down at a terrific speed amidst the splashing waters, shaving dangerous rocks and escaping collision by miracle. when we got to the bottom of the rapid we were shot into the whirlpool, which we might have avoided with ease had alcides obeyed the orders i shouted to him. when i had shot the rapids before in other countries, i had always avoided getting into the centre of the whirlpool; but alcides, who had never navigated a river before, held the contrary idea, and always insisted on steering the canoe right into the centre of those dangerous rotating waters. [illustration: whirlpool at end of rapid.] [illustration: in shallow water.] it was sufficient to remonstrate as i did, for alcides to do a thing over and over again with the persistency of a mule, in order to maintain what he thought was his _amour-propre_. as it was, on that occasion, the canoe swerved round with such force that she nearly turned over, and got so filled with water that we had to struggle out of the difficulty as best we could and beach her, or she would have sunk. at that point an island m. long and m. wide divided the river into two channels. the western channel had a small island of white sand and many rocks on its southern side. pretty yellow flowers grew wherever a little earth had accumulated upon the rocks. after going , m. we found a great basin m. wide with a rocky island and barrier right across it. farther on innumerable rocks of all sizes could be seen on the left bank; and , m. beyond these, where a solid rock rose in the centre of the stream, eddies of wonderful power were produced in the stream. we glanced at a magnificent island of rock on the left side as we sped along swiftly with the current; but we were so busy with the difficult navigation, and expecting accidents at any moment--what else could i expect with the disobedient, unpractical, obstinate crew i had with me?--that i had not much time to admire the picturesqueness of the scenery. i had quite foreseen that it was impossible to avoid disaster sooner or later, so that all i could do was to think of which would be the best way to minimize its effects, when it did come. in the great circular basin which was formed in the river there was a passage to the west, which i did not like at all, so i ordered my men to follow the passage to the north-east. we met there violent eddies which knocked the canoe about in a most alarming manner soon after we had descended a short rapid of some steepness. our baggage was simply soaked owing to the amount of water we had shipped on various occasions during the day. we saw ahead of us, only a short distance off, a rapid of some magnitude. we decided to halt at four o'clock in order that we might go and explore on foot along the bank and see whether the canoe could be navigated down, or if we had better unload her and let her down with ropes. we cut a space in the forest, which was there thick, in order to make our camp. we spread all our things to dry during the night. the air was stifling--we had a minimum temperature of ° f. (july th). i took the accurate elevation of the camp with the hypsometrical apparatus, water boiling at that spot at °· , with the temperature of the air ° f.; altitude , ft. above sea level. i also took observations for latitude and longitude: lat. ° '· s.; long. ° ' w. we had to remain the entire morning in order to cut a way through the forest and take part of the most valuable baggage on men's backs until a point below the rapids was reached. we named that place camp jahu, as we caught there several enormous fish of that name. in a reconnaissance we made we found that from camp jahu we had to take the canoe along among innumerable rocks scattered in the only navigable channel on the north side of a basin m. wide, with a large island m. wide--sarah island--on the southern side of the bay, and another smaller island almost in the centre of the basin. there was a drop ft. high--a regular step--in a barrier of sharply-pointed rocks. we had some two hours' hard work in order to get the canoe safely down. the rocks were so close together that we could not find a passage large enough for the canoe, and we actually had to pull her out of the water over some rocks and then let her down gently on the other side. after leaving that great _pedraria_ there was a clear basin m. wide, ending where two enormous heaps of rock formed a giant gateway. an island, m. wide--rebecca island--was found near the left cluster of rocks. another small island had formed close to the right of the river. we descended by the north-easterly passage, only m. wide, where the current was extremely swift but the rapid comparatively easy to negotiate. we then followed the channel flowing to ° b.m., and after passing innumerable rocks made our camp again before coming to a large rapid which we heard rumbling in that direction. we had worked hard all that day, and all the progress we had made by sunset was a distance of , m.--or a little more than one mile. alcides, antonio and i immediately proceeded to cut a trail through the forest from that point down to the end of the rapid, , m. farther down. then we proceeded to take all the baggage upon our shoulders--a task which occupied several hours. i was greatly surprised to find that the men did this willingly enough, although they were unaccustomed to carrying and the loads were heavy. they laughed heartily at one another as they struggled under the heavy weights, or trod upon thorns, or were jerked about with knocking against trees--the passage we had cut being necessarily not spacious. i had not seen my men so jolly for a long time--in fact, i do not remember ever having seen them so jolly. i was in hopes that this state of affairs might last, as it was certainly not pleasant to be travelling in such usually morose company. during the night we caught an immense jahu, weighing over lb., as well as some lb. of smaller fish. as the bank of the stream was rather high and steep, we had a great deal of trouble to land the larger fish safely. some of my men had exciting experiences, one man falling into the water on receiving a powerful blow from the tail of the struggling jahu. the scene was a comic one, the terror of the man being amusing to watch. we carried a great quantity of salt; with it my men set out to preserve the best portions of the fish we had caught--a precaution of which i fully approved. i noticed that whenever we came across rocky places the number of insects increased to an enormous extent, especially mosquitoes and gnats. i think it was due principally to the fact that in those rocks many cavities were found which got filled with stagnant water which eventually became putrefied. the place where we halted we called abelha camp, because of the millions of bees which worried us to death there, not to speak of the swarms of flies, mosquitoes and ants, and myriads of butterflies which came to settle in swarms upon us. it was indeed curious to note the wonderful tameness of the latter, as they had never seen a human being before. [illustration: fishing on the arinos: a jahu.] [illustration: fish of the arinos river.] there was a nasty-looking rapid close to the camp. we had to let the empty canoe down carefully by means of ropes, my men on that particular occasion donning their lifebelts again, although they walked on dry land when they were taking the canoe along. when i asked them why they put them on, they said that perhaps the canoe might drag them into the water and they had no wish to get drowned. we left that camp late in the afternoon--at three o'clock--having wasted the entire morning conveying the canoe to a spot of safety and then carrying all the baggage along overland. after having gone some kil. farther we came to another rapid and a _pedraria_ with nasty rocks right across the channel, the only passage i could see possible for our canoe being in the centre of the stream. that channel was only a few metres wide, and had in the centre of it a large rock just under the surface, which flung the water up in the air. we just managed to shoot that rapid safely, although with trembling hearts. farther down, rocks innumerable, rising only two or three feet above water, spread half-way across the channel from the right side. then rapids and strong eddies were encountered. for m. the river showed foliated rock strewn all along on both banks, and great volcanic boulders of a more rounded shape. the foliation showed a dip westward of °. we were delighted when we discovered in that region many _solveira_ or _sorveira_ trees, or milk trees, exuding when incised milk most delicious to drink. then there were plenty of _figueiras_ or _gameilleiras_ and wild bananas. we wasted much time extracting milk from the _solveiras_ and eating wild fruit. monkeys were to be seen in that part. they seemed most astonished on perceiving us, and came quite close, gazing at us in the most inquisitive manner. we felt that we had come to a real heaven on earth, except for the river, which could have given points to the river styx of infernal fame. when we returned to the canoe we found obstructions of all kinds in the stream. small rapid succeeded small rapid. rocky islets and scattered rocks rendered navigation complicated. where the river turned sharply to the n.n.e. another dangerous rapid was reached, with rocks scattered all over the channel, some just submerged. we tried to shoot that rapid on the east side, but we got badly stuck on a submerged rock, and once more the canoe filled with water. it took us the best part of an hour to extricate ourselves from our uncomfortable position. a beautiful island m. long and m. wide--maria island--was then reached. it had a long spur of white sand at its south-easterly end, and pretty vegetation upon it. strange domes of rock were near by, one particular dome of great size showing a spit of white sand m. long, on its north-westerly side. many other islets of rock rose above the water along the bank of the larger island, while rapids of some magnitude existed at the end of the island. we hardly ever came to a stretch of placid water. no sooner had we left the last rapid than, the river turning sharply at that point, we went over a strong _corrideira_, so strewn with obstacles that in the terrific current we had a narrow escape of having our unmanageable, long canoe smashed against one of the innumerable rocks. as we went on at a great speed i had just time to notice rocks of all sizes and shapes along both banks, and strange rocks in the middle of the river, one or two of them with stunted trees growing in fissures which had become filled with earth. another island, m. long--martia island--with a picturesque spur of rock at its south-easterly end, was next reached as we were going swiftly down a _corrideira_ in the channel to the right which we were following. after the _corrideira_, as i was busy writing a description of the landscape, i was thrown off my seat. my men also had a similar experience, the canoe nearly turning turtle and becoming filled with water. alcides had steered us right into the centre of a whirlpool. these unexpected baths were not much to my taste--not so much for the discomfort they caused my person, as for the trouble they gave me in protecting my notebooks and instruments. also, in these accidents we lost a considerable amount of our supply of salt, which melted away in the water, and the supply of flour and rice suffered from these unnecessary immersions. a channel m. wide separated martia island from a second island--camilla island-- m. long, which must once certainly have formed part of it, but which had been separated by the eroding waters of the stream. both islands were wooded, and were extremely pretty. great heaps of rock, m. in diameter and even more, occupied the centre of the stream after we had passed the last island. we had only gone kil. m. that day, so difficult had been the navigation. during the night in less than one hour we caught two large _jahu_, one huge _pacu_ (_prochilodus argentius_), the latter shaped like a sole, but of a much greater size, and with brilliant red patches on its body--a most delicately-tasting fish to eat--and a number of large _trahira_ (_machrodon trahira_), also called by the brazilians _rubaffo_ because of the noise they make in the water. altogether over lb. of fish were got out of the water in less than sixty minutes. we found many _jenipapeiros_ (or _genipapeiro_) trees, from the stewed bark of which we made excellent tea. its fruit was good to eat, and we used it for making sweets. during the night of july th the minimum temperature was ° f. we started off gaily enough in the morning, passing first a great boulder, m. in diameter, sticking right out of the water; then an island m. long contained in a basin m. wide. we left the island--ruby island--which was m. long, on our left, and went down a channel with strong eddies and whirlpools. looking back at the eastern channel, we were glad we had not followed it, as it was extremely rocky. [illustration: a fine cataract on the arinos-juruena river.] the river was contracting in narrow necks and expanding into large basins, another of these being m. broad. a strong rapid existed here, owing to the barrier formed across the stream by a central island of rock and other boulders. after that came a basin m. wide, with three islands--teffe i., nair i., rock i.--in its western part. the central and eastern passages were difficult owing to the quantity of rocks which stood in the way, so we took the canoe down the channel from s.s.w. to n.n.e., which was also extremely bad, and where we had to let her down with the greatest care by means of ropes, the baggage having been previously unloaded. even then the canoe got filled with water. that involved a great loss of time and waste of energy, so that we had to halt longer than usual in the middle of the day. our halting place was most picturesque, situated on volcanic rocks of great beauty, and overlooking a canal cut into the rocks, with strong and foaming rapids from east to west. strong eddies formed at the end of the rapids. after leaving the camp and negotiating the rapids, we came to an island m. long--magda island--separated by a rocky narrow channel from another island, m. long, west of it. after the last rapid we were in a basin m. wide and , m. long. strong _corrideiras_ or rapids occurred all the time, and rocks alone or in groups standing wherever they were not wanted. farther on we came to another big basin, , m. wide, with a square island on its western side. the island--eva island--was m. broad and of course of an equal length. another island, triangular in shape, m. long--rose island--was then observed, after we had gone over some strong rapids in the passage on the east side of it. the river was flowing in a northerly direction, and shortly afterwards formed two channels--one north-west, the other south-west--which soon joined again. a beautiful bank of white sand m. long and ft. high stretched along the edge of the water on the left side of us. soon afterwards we entered an immense basin, , m. broad with a large island--may island--on its western side. one kilometre farther the island ended at a place where a lot of rocks stood out of the water. a little lower down other rocks spread right across the river in two parallel lines, forming very strong rapids, which were shot, our canoe coming within an ace of turning over. the basin which followed was extremely rocky, with strong whirlpools, most troublesome to negotiate. another island of irregular shape, m. long and m. wide--rita island--was found in a large basin, , m. broad, where we came to strong rapids and violent eddies and whirlpools, the latter most dangerous-looking. the water revolved with such force that it formed in the centre of each vortex holes from one to two feet in diameter. the channel flowing north on the left side of the river seemed the better of the two, but it was strewn with rocks against which we had many collisions, owing to the strong current, the unmanageable canoe and the disobedient crew. another island m. long--eloisa island--was to the north-east of rita island. fifteen hundred metres farther on another _corrideira_ occurred. a small tributary entered the arinos on the right side. we were then travelling in a n.n.e. direction, the river being in a straight line for some , m., in the course of which we came to a small island on the left side; then to a great island, , m. long--albert rex island--with beautiful forest upon it. there were two other islets in this channel, one a mere cluster of rocks, the other, north-east of the first and m. in diameter--belgium island--having pretty vegetation upon it. a fourth and fifth--laeken island, m. in length, and elizabeth r. island, , m. in length--were separated by a narrow channel. the latter had most gorgeous vegetation upon it; so tidy was everything in the thick forest, and the ground under it so clean that you might have imagined yourself in an english park. those islands were really too beautiful for words. not being a poet, i cannot find appropriate language to describe their wonderful charm. the river had a tendency to flow toward the west, and even for kil. in a south-westerly direction. it had a width of m. a small island m. in diameter, chiefly formed of accumulated rounded rocks which had rolled down and deposits of gravel, had formed in the centre of the stream. beyond it a charming little island, m. long--germaine island--was found, on which we made our camp. it had an extensive gravel beach, on which i found beautiful crystals and pebbles of wonderfully coloured marble. chapter viii magnificent basins--innumerable rapids--narrow escapes--the destructive sauba ants--disobedient followers--a range of mountains--inquisitive monkeys--luck in fishing--rocky barriers--venus we left at a.m. on july th, the minimum temperature during the night having been ° f. we had hardly gone ½ kil. when we came to another island, m. long--mabel island--quite as beautiful as the one on which we had camped. small rapids were encountered where we just managed to avoid dangerous submerged rocks close to the right bank, near the entrance of a basin m. wide. all those basins were really magnificent to look at. this one, for instance, displayed a lovely island--noailles island-- m. long, and m. wide on its left side. picturesque rocks of a vivid red colour peeped out of the water and broke the current, the spray that rose in the air forming pretty rainbows. there was a channel there, m. wide, after passing the last island. then came one more great basin m. wide, and yet another pretty island, with a rocky spur. [illustration: preparing the canoe prior to descending a rapid.] [illustration: a nasty rapid.] we followed a course of ° b.m. on the left side of the island--margie island--which was m. long, and had a number of subsidiary islands formed by picturesque groups of rock. we then came to one more great basin, with an immense quantity of rock in its western part. many of the boulders showed a foliation in their strata with a dip of ° east. the accumulation of boulders formed a formidable barrier before we reached an island most beautiful to gaze upon, so luxuriant was the vegetation on it. this particular island was m. long; next to it was another m. long; then, joined to this by a link of high rocks to the south-east, was a third, also of considerable beauty. so charming were these islands that i called the group the three graces islands. the river turned due west from that point in a channel of continuous rapids and violent eddies for some , m. we went down, the canoe being knocked about in a most alarming way on one or two occasions, and shipping so much water as to reach almost up to our knees inside it. it was fortunate that all my photographic plates, note-books and instruments were in water-tight boxes, or they certainly would have been damaged beyond saving. this was not the case with my clothes, shoes, and bedding, which had now been wet for many days with no possibility of drying them, as we were travelling all day long and every day, and during the night the heavy dew prevented them from getting dry. why we did not get rheumatism i do not know, as not only did we wear wet things all day long, but we slept in blankets soaked with moisture. the moment i dreaded most was that in which we emerged from the rapid into the whirlpool which always followed, and in which the canoe swerved with such terrific force that it was all we could do to hold on and not be flung clean out of her--owing, of course, to the centrifugal force as she revolved quickly. making a survey of the river was getting to be a complicated and serious job, what with the numberless islands we encountered, the continuous rapids, and the constant changes of direction. i was busy writing, as fast as i could--only interrupted momentarily by involuntary shower-baths--prismatic compass and watch in hand all the time, the latter in order to measure the distances as accurately as possible. we had now come to another group of islands in a line in the centre of the river. they had been at one time evidently all one, which had subsequently been eroded into five separate islands and an extensive bank of gravel and sand. taken in succession from south to north, there was first an oblong island, thickly wooded, m. long--nina island--having on its western side an elongated bank of sand and gravel; then, where a barrier of rocks stretched transversely across the stream and where extremely bad rapids occurred--three of them in succession, each worse than the last--was another island--providence island-- , m. in length. when we reached any rapid we had to be quick in judging which was the best channel to follow, as the current was so strong that we had not sufficient strength to pull back against it. i generally selected the channel, my men by this time having gained sufficient confidence in my judgment, since so far we had had no serious mishap. but i foresaw that we should soon have an accident, as they were getting foolhardy, and in their ignorance attributed the wonderful luck we had had entirely to their own skill in navigation. on that particular occasion we had hardly time to recover from shooting the first rapid with the velocity of an arrow, and were wet all over with the splash of the water, when we came to the second and third rapids, where the channel was so narrow and rocks were scattered so near the surface, that it was really a marvel to me how we got through without capsizing. the men in their excitement were shrieking wildly as we dashed through the foaming waters, and there were also yells of positive terror from the man ahead, who with a long pole in hand tried to save the canoe from dashing now upon one rock then upon another. below the rapids the three other islands were dora island, m. long; edna island, m. long; and lucia island, m. long. the river was flowing in a westerly and south-westerly direction, the banks showing a quantity of rubber trees all along. a tiny islet m. long had been eroded from the right bank, just above a strong _corrideira_, easily identifiable by later travellers who may visit it, since a huge rock stands there in the centre of the river. on the left side of the river foliated rock ft. high was exposed for the length of kil. dense forest was to be seen on both sides of the river all along the rapids. two more islands, each m. in diameter--romeo and juliet islands--close to each other, were then seen on one side of the main channel, which was m. wide. from this point the river actually flowed in a s.s.w. direction ( ° b.m.), and for , m. we had to negotiate strong and troublesome rapids with variations of shallow water, usually with a bottom of sharp rocks. the water in many of those places, coming with great force, hit the bottom and was thrown up again in high waves which swamped our canoe each time we went through them. in one place we got stuck on a rock in the middle of the foaming waters, and had a hard job to get the canoe off again and prevent her sinking when we had done so. where the river turned for another kil. m. more to the west, another elongated island rose on the left side of the stream. the island--laurita island--was only m. broad, but had a total length of , m. more rapids and shallow water above a bottom of red volcanic débris were found. a small tributary m. wide at the mouth entered the arinos on the left bank, not far from the spot where a rocky rugged island rose in the centre of the stream. i halted at . in order to take the usual observations for latitude and longitude and soundings of the river. the stream, which was m. broad, below some rapids, showed a depth of ft. the entire way across. farther down, where it contracted to m. in breadth, it showed a depth of ft. in the centre with a maximum depth of ft. to the right and left of it, gradually decreasing to ft., ft., ft., and ft. as it neared the banks. lat. ° '· s.; long. ° ' w. [illustration: a giant central wave emerging from a narrow channel.] when we resumed our journey after lunch, we came to another thickly wooded island, , m. long, m. wide--j. carlos rodriguez island--with a cluster of huge rocks on its southern end. we had a few minutes of comparatively easy navigation, the river being extraordinarily beautiful in straight stretches of , m., , m., and , m., to °, °, and ° (n.) bearings magnetic. in the first , m. we came upon another strong rapid over a barrier of rocks which extended right across the stream. beyond the rapids the usual troublesome whirlpools occurred. a polished dome of rock ft. high emerged in mid-stream. then another charming island--nona island--with a spit of white sand at its southern end rose gracefully out of the river. it had a breadth of m. and a length of m. more _corrideiras_ and eddies had to be gone over that day. we seemed to be spending our entire time trying to avoid--not always successfully--collisions with dangerous rocks. we came to another beautiful island, m. long and m. wide--emma island--screened at its southern end by high-domed volcanic rocks, and soon after to a rocky island on our right, separated by a narrow channel from a larger and thickly wooded island, m. long and m. wide--georgia island. the rapids seemed to be getting worse and worse as we went down the stream. after passing these three islands we came to a most dangerous spot, the rapids there being strewn all over with nasty-looking rocks which did not seem to leave a clear passage anywhere in a straight line. after m. of anxious travelling we encountered more rapids and troublesome eddies. we had by that time got accustomed to the danger, and even felt travelling dull and stupid when we came to a few metres of placid water. as we were going down a stretch of , m. to ° b.m. we found the centre of the river blocked by great masses of rock; then, a little farther, rocks occupied the left of the river. we went through a narrow passage between those high rocks, finding ourselves carried away helplessly into a rapid of alarming swiftness, which subsequently shot us into a terrific whirlpool. alcides was steering us right into the centre of the terrifying rotating waters, when i jumped up and, seizing the steering gear out of his hands, was just able to avoid disaster. as it was, the canoe switched off at a tangent with a heavy list to port, leapt out of the water like a flying fish, and when she dropped again into the water was carried off at a great speed, with a heavy list on and filling fast. i do not know why she did not capsize altogether. we then had rocks on the left side, rocks on the right side; a barrier of many rocks across the entire stream, with a thickly wooded island, m. wide and m. long--lilian island--on the left side. there were a great many scattered rocks at the northern end of the island, where a small rapid was found. then we were confronted by , m. of river in a straight line. we had gone but , m. along that stretch when we came to a lovely rectangular island, with a spit of rock extending for m. eastward, and separated by a narrow channel from the island itself. the island--susan island--was m. broad and m. long, with its fore-part of gravel as usual. it was in a basin m. wide. the river turned to the w.s.w., and was there placid enough, although the current was swift. where the river flowed once more in a more northerly direction we found rocks and two tiny wooded islands on the left side of the stream, one m., the other m. long. there a _corrideira_ occurred soon after we had negotiated a dangerous rapid--dangerous because of the number of intricate rocks which forced the canoe to describe a snake-like dance like a double s, bumping and swerving with such force from the restless waters underneath, that it was all we could do to prevent her turning over. in a basin m. wide which was further crossed, we admired a picturesque rocky island of a beautiful emerald green colour in the centre of the stream. an immense barrier of rock was on the north-east side of this basin. before we halted, absolutely worn out by the heavy work of the day, we descended another troublesome rapid--fortunately that time with no mishaps of any kind. at five o'clock we made our camp in the only spot we could find that was suitable; but no sooner had we landed than we were fiercely attacked by millions of _sauba_ or _carregadores_ ants which gave us a lively time during the entire night. those ants, which were there absolutely in millions, were from in. to ¼ in. in length, and possessed powerful clippers on the head with which they bit us, giving intense pain. when you had thousands of them climbing up your legs and over your body, and dropping upon you from the tree branches which were alive with them, and clinging to you with all their might once they had got you with their clippers, you began to think what a fool you had been to leave your happy home in england. as i shall have an opportunity of speaking at greater length of the _saubas_ later in this volume, i shall leave them now, merely mentioning that during the entire night we were unable to sleep owing to those brutes. and that was not all: we had many of our clothes, shoes, and other articles entirely destroyed by them. we called that place camp carregador. the nights had become by then quite stifling and damp, the minimum temperature on july st being ° f. no sooner had we started on our journey that day than we came to rapids. a lot of rocks stood everywhere in the stream. the river after that flowed in a snake-like fashion for , m. in a general direction n.n.e., and was there comparatively free from serious obstacles. we came to a triangular island m. long--ada island--separated from a second island by a channel m. wide. this second island--hugo island--formed an isosceles triangle of m. each side. these two islands were evidently at one time joined together, forming a lozenge-shaped island, and had been eroded in the centre by the back-wash of the stream at the spot where it formed an angle. where the river turned from ° b.m. to ° b.m., it was much strewn with sharp cutting rocks. we were thrown with great violence on one of these and very nearly capsized. great heaps of volcanic boulders were now seen on the right side of the channel, and one island m. long--nora island--with a few shrubs on it. [illustration: a dangerous rapid.] [illustration: taking the canoe and part of the baggage down a narrow passage among rocks.] a great heap of rock was fixed in the centre of the stream, forming a kind of spur, beyond which a regular barrier of rock spread from south-west to north-east right across the stream. we had difficulty in finding a suitable passage, but eventually got through close to the right bank in a small _corrideira_, easily recognizable by subsequent travellers, as by the side of it was a rocky hill of a conical shape ft. high with a tuft of trees on its summit. on both banks of the stream rubber trees were plentiful. for , m. the river had been proceeding in a perfectly straight line to the n.n.w. my work was extremely tiring, as not only was my time employed surveying the river carefully and writing up plentiful notes, but also i had to control the navigation as much as i could and be ready for any emergency, owing to the capricious nature of my men and their unbounded disobedience. orders could not be given direct, as they were always disobeyed, so that to obtain what i wished i generally had to give the contrary order. for instance, if i wanted to avoid a rock i ordered alcides to run the canoe on to the rock; if i wanted to shoot a rapid i ordered them to take the canoe down with ropes, and so on. innumerable rocks were now encountered all the time. in places regular great tables or platforms of polished rock were to be seen under the surface in the clear water. a wonderful group of gigantic rocks was then reached, with a most charming island peeping through behind. we came to an island m. long and m. wide--anna island--where two more barriers of rock were found right across the stream. beyond, a bank m. long of deliciously white sand was observed, where some kil. of placid navigation was gone through; but no sooner had we covered that short distance than strong eddies were again met with at the point where the river expanded to a somewhat greater width. after going almost due west for a short distance the river gradually swung round to due north, a most beautiful view opening before us as we got round the sweeping curve. for , m. the river now ran in a perfectly straight line, with its beautiful clear water flowing over a rocky bed. in the far distance loomed the first range of mountains we had seen since leaving the serra azul. i had got so tired of gazing at a flat horizon line that the sight of the range gave me unbounded pleasure. but i had not much time to gaze upon the scenery, for rocks of all sizes and shapes were strewn all along the channel. two small islets, each m. long, were passed on the right bank. then came more picturesque groups of rock on the right and on the left of us as we paddled gaily along, and refreshing accumulations of pure white sand. farther on, an island m. wide and m. long, with a southerly crown of huge boulders--corona island--was to be seen close to the right bank. some thousand metres before we got to the end of the long stretch, yet another elongated island m. long lay close to the left bank. the island was thickly wooded. from that spot a basin fully , m. broad spread out. the easterly portion was a mass of rock, exposed a few feet above the surface. these rocks extended right across the basin as far as an island m. long--josephine island. the vegetation was indescribably beautiful in that part. immense quantities of rubber trees stood majestically, so far unknown and untouched in the luxuriant forest. eight distinct groups of rocks were found on the right-hand side of the river where it flowed for , m. in a n.n.w. direction. i took forty-two sights of the sun that day in order to determine the exact latitude and longitude. lat. ° '· s.; long. ° ' w. when we left again in the afternoon the river, there m. broad, was enchantingly beautiful, absolutely clear of obstacles as far as we could see. there was a stretch of , m. of placid waters, and we imagined that we had come to the end of our trouble. monkeys played gaily among the trees, evidently taking the greatest interest in the canoe. they followed us for long distances, jumping from tree to tree, shrieking with excitement and gazing at us with keen interest. we in the canoe suffered perfect torture from the millions of bees, gnats, and mosquitoes, which settled on us in absolute swarms and stung us for all they were worth. the lips, eyelids, nose and ears seemed to be their favourite spots for drawing blood--perhaps because the remainder of the face and neck was already a mass of stings and the skin had got hardened and parched by the broiling sun. the temperature was warm-- ° f. in the shade, and ° in the sun. at the end of the , m. another great mass of rocks was found extending from south to north right across the stream. fortunately we found a channel sufficiently large for navigating our canoe exactly in the centre of the river. after turning to the w.n.w. we found a charming little rocky islet with a solitary tree upon it, and kil. farther a larger island m. long and m. wide in the shape of a triangle--sylvia island. this island was separated by a channel m. wide from an immense island--guanabara island-- , m. long. the channel we followed, the river there flowing to the s.s.w., was m. wide. great masses of rock were visible on the left side. where the river flowed in a more westerly direction rocks formed a barrier right across from south-east to north-west. then the river once more flowed in a s.s.w. direction through a perfectly beautiful channel. a lovely sand and gravel beach extended from north-east to south-west at the turn of the river where the great guanabara island ended. some m. farther on a huge dome of rock like a spherical balloon was to be seen, with two smaller rocks by its side. a basin m. wide was then found with an islet of sand m. long on the left side, and a low islet of gravel partly wooded on the right side of the channel. these preceded another accumulation of sand and gravel m. long with a few trees upon it, which was succeeded by a mass of rocks just before reaching a fair-sized island. another great spherical rock was seen before entering the channel between the island and the left bank. in the extensive bay great boulders of indescribable beauty were visible. [illustration: the canoe being led down a rapid.] several _capivaras_ were basking in the sun on the top of the boulders, and were fired at many times by my men as they stood up to gaze at us in astonishment before they made up their minds to jump into the water and escape. close to those rocks an island--teresa island-- m. long was next admired. strong rapids had to be gone through in a great barrier of rocks at the end of this island. then no sooner were we thanking our stars that we had negotiated that portion of our journey safely than we were among a lot of globular boulders, some ft. high. for m. we had a placid time, the water of the stream being so beautifully green, so transparent, that we could see the bottom quite clearly. our happiness did not last long. we had more rapids and a great rocky bank spreading from south-east to north-west right across the stream, and forming in one portion an island. we went down another strong rapid between great and dangerously situated rocks and a large island. then came another wonderful group of high domed rocks, one of the great domes displaying a sharp northern spur like the ram of a battleship. next to it were three cylindrical rocks, just like towers, one of which leant over the dome. yet another rapid was shot through with no misadventure, and when we came to the end of a large island , m. long and m. wide--priscilla island--preceded by a smaller islet of sand and gravel, we arrived at a direct stretch of , m. of river, flowing to the west. another rocky islet with an accumulation of sand and a lot of scattered rocks by its side, then a high island, were passed on our right, and farther on we found another great group of globular rocks at the point where daphne island, m. in length, began. i hardly had time to map out the numberless rocks and islands we met before we came upon others. there again we saw three more islands in succession--mars island, m. long and m. wide; jupiter island, m. long; and a third and smaller one, separated from the second by a channel strewn with huge boulders. to the n.n.w., at ° b.m., we saw a hill ft. high, some distance from the stream. innumerable rocks again occurred in the centre of the channel, and then we came to an extensive triangular island--barretos island--the base of which was m. its left side was , m. long, its eastern or right side about , m. a hill range some ft. high was looming before us to the north-east. the second island--antonio prado island--had a total length of , m. with an average width of m. on this magnificent island we halted at five o'clock in the afternoon, and i took altitude observations with the hypsometrical apparatus: , ft. above the sea level. we were again lucky in fishing that evening. we caught six _trahiras_, several _pacus_, and two young _jahus_--altogether some lb. in weight. my men had wasted so much food, and so much had been spoiled by constant immersions--many of the tinned meats had been altogether spoiled by the tins having got rusty and gradually perforated--that i was beginning to feel rather anxious in case our journey should last longer than i expected. unfortunately, we had lost most of our salt, and we had no way of preserving the fish, which we had to leave on the banks, absolutely wasted. in order, however, to show how lazy my men were, it is enough to say that, rather than take the slight trouble of placing some pieces of the excellent fish on board the canoe instead of trusting entirely to the luck we might have in fishing the next evening, they had to go the entire day without food. for some reason or other we could not get a single fish to bite, and we did not find a single bird or monkey to shoot. i was rather interested to observe, in looking over my notes, that nearly all the rocky barriers we had met stretching across the river extended from south-east to north-west. i believe that similar barriers stretched in the same direction in the other southern tributaries of the amazon, the xingu and the madeira rivers, but, curiously enough, this was not the case with the river araguaya. we had made our camp that particular night on a lovely beach of white sand, which i found perfectly delicious, but which my men hated, as there were no trees on which they could hang their hammocks. they did not like to go into the luxuriant forest of the beautiful island, as they were afraid to go too far away from me, and i did not wish to go too far away from the canoe, which we had beached on the gravel bank, in case the river should rise suddenly or something should happen to make her float away. as i have said, i never, during the entire journey, let that canoe go out of my sight for one single moment. the men, therefore, went into the forest to cut big poles, which they afterwards planted with much exertion, in the sand near my camp-bed. some amusing scenes happened during the night, when the poles gradually gave way with the weight of the men in the hammocks, and, tumbling down altogether, gave them severe blows on their heads and bodies. [illustration: crocodile about to attack one of the dogs of the expedition. photographed by author at a distance of three metres (rio arinos-juruena).] the stars were simply magnificent in brilliancy as i lay on my camp-bed. one particularly, to ° b.m. n.w.--the planet venus--was extraordinarily brilliant, appearing six times as big as any other planet visible that night. it threw off radiations of wonderful luminosity, quite strong enough to illuminate with a whitish light a great circular surface of the sky around it. in the morning, before we left, alcides--who loved carving names and inscriptions on every tree and stone--duly incised the name of antonio prado, with which i baptized the island in honour of the greatest brazilian living, upon a giant _figueira_ tree on the southern edge of the extensive beach of sand and gravel. chapter ix dogs--macaws--crocodiles--a serious accident--men flung into a whirlpool--the loss of provisions and valuable baggage--more dangerous rapids--wonderful scenery--dangerous work--on the edge of a waterfall--a risky experience--bravery of author's brazilian followers--a high wind from the north-east--a big lake the night was heavy and damp. all our things were soaked in the morning with the dew which had fallen. we were enveloped in a thick mist when we woke up. it became a dense fog when the sun rose, and did not clear up until the sun was fairly high above the horizon. the minimum temperature during the night had been ° f. (july nd). we were unable to leave until eight o'clock, as the river was dangerous enough when we could see where we were going, and it would have been rather foolish to add one more risk to our travelling in the fog. my men were extremely irritable and morose that morning, and even our dogs were most troublesome. we had had a great deal of trouble with the dogs; they were as disobedient and untrainable as the men. nearly every morning we had to waste a considerable time in getting the animals back into the canoe. when we were ready to start they generally dashed away into the forest and the men had to go and fetch them and bring them back. that particular morning one dog--the best we had--escaped, and my men searched for more than an hour, but were unable to find him. in trying to run after him they got their feet full of thorns, and they became so enraged that they decided to abandon the dog on the island. i called him for more than half an hour, trying to save his life, but the animal refused to come. so, much to my sorrow, we had to pull out without him, and undoubtedly the poor beast eventually must have died of starvation, as there was no food whatever to be obtained in the forest on the island. the dogs were quite amusing to watch while in the canoe, their terror when we shot rapids being quite manifest. they were an additional source of danger to us, for once or twice while shooting rapids strewn with rocks they would jump out of the canoe on to the rocks as we were shaving past them, and we lost much time on several occasions in order to rescue them. in going through the forest the poor animals had suffered much from the attacks of ants and all kinds of insects, many parasites having got inside their ears and where the skin was softer under their legs, causing terrible sores. they never got fond of anybody, no matter how well they were treated. in fact, unlike all other dogs of any other country, they never seemed even to recognize any of us. alcides had become the owner of the abandoned dog in a peculiar way at the beginning of our journey, when travelling with my caravan of mules. the dog was going along with a man travelling in the opposite direction to ours. alcides, who at the time was eating some bread, whistled to the dog, and from that moment the animal left his master and came along with us. perhaps brazilian dogs do not give affection because they never receive any. they were so timid that when you lifted your hand to caress them they would dash away yelling, with their tails between their legs, as if you had been about to strike them. i tried time after time to make friends with them--and i am generally quick at making friends with animals--but i gave up in despair the hope of gaining the slightest affection from those dogs. when we came to the end of the island we found another great barrier of foliated rock extending from east to west, m. across. the basin showed, moreover, three sets of giant rocks on the left side. in the north-easterly part where the river narrowed again there stood a range of hills ft. high, extending from west to east, and parallel to the rocky barrier across the basin. a streamlet m. wide coming from the south-west entered the arinos from the left bank. the hill range which stood along the right bank of the river showed a rocky formation of a greyish colour right up to its summit, and was, in fact, a mere great rocky barrier with only a few trees growing in interstices which had been filled with earth and sand. the southern aspect of the range was an almost vertical wall. the river was proceeding mostly in a westerly and north-westerly direction for long stretches of , m., , m., , m., until we came to an equilateral-triangular island, m. each side--erminia island. a small channel not more than m. across separated this from an irregularly-shaped island, m. long--niobe island. after this came a low island of sand and gravel ft. high and m. long, with merely a few trees upon it, whereas the other two islands were covered with dense and most beautiful vegetation. the main channel of the river was m. wide. _araras_ (macaws) of great size and of a beautiful vermilion colour flew overhead, shrieking wildly at the sight of us. we began to find a great many _jacarés_ (_caiman fissipis_) or crocodiles. i saw one sleeping placidly on an islet of gravel. i landed and photographed it, subsequently waking it with a start by throwing a stone at it. my men, who were following cautiously behind me, opened a fusillade and killed it. it was really amusing to watch the astonishment of the few animals and birds we met in that deserted part of brazil, as none of them had seen a human being. they evidently did not know what to make of us. they generally looked with curiosity and surprise, and my men could fire shot after shot before they would attempt to run, or, if they were birds, fly away. there were in that region some fine specimens of the _cigana_ (_opisthocomus cristatus_) and of the _jacú_ (_penelope cristata_). the _cigana_ was beautiful to look at, with brown and yellow stripes, not unlike a pheasant, and a tuft of bright yellow feathers on the head. all of a sudden we came upon great numbers of these birds, and they supplied us with good meals. [illustration: terrifying rapid shot by author and his men in their canoe.] there were again plenty of rubber trees in the forest, plenty of fish in the river. the climate was not too hot--merely ° f. in the shade, ° in the sun--the insects not too troublesome; so that it seemed to us a paradise on earth. we had now before us a great expanse of , m. of straight river to ° b.m., with two parallel ranges of hills extending from west to east. the second range was the higher of the two--some ft., whereas the first was only ft. high. what i took to be a great river coming from ° b.m. (n.e.), m. wide, joined the arinos from the right side; but i was puzzled whether this was not a mere arm of the arinos. in the quick survey i was making, and with the many things which occupied my mind at every moment, the river being moreover so wide, it was impossible, single-handed, to survey everything carefully on every side. therefore this may have been a mere arm of the arinos which i mistook for a tributary. it was not possible for me to deviate from my course every moment to go and ascertain problematic details, but it will be quite easy for subsequent travellers to clear up this point now that attention has been drawn to it. an island, , m. long--olivia island--was found at the point where the main arm of the river flowed in a direction of ° b.m., and where to the north-west, north, and north-east, three hill ranges were before us--one ft. high, extending from south-west to north-east on the left side of the river; another thickly wooded hill from west to east, also ft. high; and yet another one, the highest of all, behind it from s.s.w. to n.n.e., on the right bank. the river was m. wide, and its water almost stagnant. another barrier of rock held up the stream. we came to an island m. long, m. wide--sabrina island--on the left side of the stream, which showed a beautiful spit of white sand at its southern end. i halted on the bank where the island began in order to take observations for latitude and longitude, and as the day was a very clear one i took forty-eight consecutive sights of the sun with the sextant. lat. ° '· s.; long. ° ' w. while i was busy observing the sun i thought i heard curious noises in the forest just behind me. the dogs all of a sudden jumped up, barking furiously, and i heard the sounds of what seemed an escaping person dashing away through the thick growth near the stream. my men were greatly excited, saying it was an indian who had come quite close to me, and was about to shoot an arrow while i was busy with my sextant and chronometers. all through lunch they sat with their loaded rifles next to them, in case we might be attacked. the river now flowed in a straight line for , m. in a north-westerly direction. half-way along was a large triangular island--pandora island; then farther on the left another island, , m. long--sibyl island. the river was of extraordinary beauty in that region. the tall range of hills to the north-west of us showed beautiful cobalt-blue tones against the whitish and grey sky; while the dark green foliage of the trees and the yellow blooms of the _oleo pardo_ trees visible here and there, the immaculate white sandy beach along the water line, together with the brilliantly red and yellow rocks which stood out of the crystalline emerald water, formed indeed a beautiful scene for the painter's brush. it did not do to be poetically inclined when travelling on the arinos. i had hardly time to realize how beautiful that scene was when we found ourselves confronted by another big barrier of rocks, through which we went over a swift _corrideira_. a basin was formed, m. wide, with an extensive island of rock on the right side of it. then we suddenly came to a terrible-looking rapid at an incline so steep that i foresaw trouble in store for us. there was no way of stopping anywhere, as the current was swiftly taking us down. "we are lost!" shouted one man. "jesus maria santissima!" "paddle away! paddle away, for heaven's sake!" i shouted, as i knew that speed alone could save us from disaster. down went the canoe at an angle of ° in the foaming and twisting waters of the rapid. where the water curled right over itself the heavy canoe was lifted up in the air like a feather, and as i turned round to shout to alcides to steer straight ahead i saw his expanded eyes looking in terror at the terrific whirlpool which was facing us at the bottom of the rapid. "no! no!" cried alcides. "straight--straight! for god's sake, straight!" shouted i; and as i saw the canoe swerve to the right i again shouted to alcides to steer straight in order to avoid the dangerous part of the whirlpool. alcides would not steer straight, but steered us instead on the right for the very centre of the whirlpool. no sooner did the prow of the canoe enter the circle of the rotating water, which formed a deep concave hollow or m. in diameter, than, dipping her nose in the water, she was flung right up into the air, revolving on herself. baggage and men all tumbled over, two men being thrown with terrific force clean out of the canoe. a lot of baggage disappeared into the whirlpool. the canoe, although filled with water, righted herself and spun round helplessly at an alarming speed. the impact had been so violent that the men, in tumbling over, had lost all the paddles except one. we heard the cries of the two men in the water, and i saw them struggle in order to keep themselves afloat. i gave a sigh of relief that the two men--already a long distance from us--were, by a great stroke of luck, the only two who could swim. i urged them to have courage and we would come to their rescue, although for a moment i could not think how we should do it, as we had only one paddle left and the steering gear had got torn away from its socket, although alcides with great courage had managed to save it. i ordered my men to paddle with their hands and with the large oar which was used for steering. we were tossed about in a terrific manner, the men and canoe going round and round the whirlpool in an absolutely helpless fashion. [illustration: author's men shooting a crocodile.] what distressed me more than anything was when i saw the two men getting nearer and nearer the centre, although they made a desperate struggle to swim away from it. in our effort to get to them by using the steering oar, the canoe, for some reason or other, swung round upon herself two or three times, and i saw with gladness the men gradually getting nearer. it was a moment of joy when i saw antonio, who was a powerful swimmer, within only a few feet of the canoe. his face was ghastly, with an expression of terror upon it. he was quite exhausted, and was shouting pitifully for help. the man x was a few yards farther off. the canoe suddenly swung round, going right against antonio, who grasped the side of the boat and proceeded in such haste to climb on board that he came within an ace of capsizing her. a few moments later we were alongside of x, but he was so exhausted that he had not the strength to climb up. we seized him and with great difficulty lifted him inside the canoe. we continued to go round and round the vortex in a helpless fashion, endeavouring with the steering oar to get out of that perilous position. as i gazed around i saw my camp bed and bedding, which were enclosed in a water-tight canvas bag, still floating close to the centre of the whirlpool. alas! a moment later they were sucked down. most of our cooking utensils which were loose in the canoe had been washed overboard. two of our casseroles were floating gracefully in a circle round the whirlpool. it is curious how people's mentality will work on such occasions. after we had been some minutes endeavouring to get away from the centre of the whirlpool, one of my men, who had recovered from the fright, saw the cooking pans, which were about to disappear. his first impulse was to shout that we must go and get them! it was with some relief that we were able to extricate ourselves, and eventually reached the outer edge of the whirlpool, where the water changed direction, and the canoe was swung violently, entering a patch of comparatively placid water. paddling with our hands we slowly reached the bank, and nearly an hour later--it having taken us all that time to go about m.--we baled the water out of the canoe and proceeded to examine the amount of our loss. nearly all the cooking utensils, as i have said, had disappeared; two boxes of tinned provisions had gone overboard and were lost for ever; a bag of flour and a bag of rice had vanished in those terrible waters; a package containing a great part of my clothes had also gone for ever, as well as some of the clothing of my men. what was worse than all for me, my camp-bed and all my bedding were lost, which would compel me in the future to sleep either on the ground--which was practically impossible in that region owing to the number of ants and other insects--or else do as i did, sleep on four wooden packing-boxes, which i placed in a line. they made a most uneven and hard bed, as i had, of course, no mattress and no covering of any kind. a despatch-box, with some money, a lot of important official letters and other documents, were lost, and also my mercurial artificial horizon and one of my chronometers. a number of other things of less importance were also gone and quite beyond recovery. we worked hard all that afternoon and the greater part of the night in shaping new paddles out of trees we had cut down with the axes, which were fortunately not lost. the new paddles were even more primitive and clumsy than those we had before. we dried what remained of our baggage in the sun during the afternoon. the beautiful sandy beach on which we had landed looked very gay with all the articles i had spread out from some of my trunks, including a dress-suit which i hung on a young palm, and other such articles, which looked rather incongruous in that particular region. all the white linen clothes i possessed had gone, and there only remained some good serge clothes which i had kept for my arrival in civilized places again. my water-tight boxes had been knocked about so much that they had got injured and let in a good deal of moisture. one of my valuable cameras was badly damaged in the accident, and one of my sextants was soaked to such an extent that it took me the best part of two hours to clean it all up again. i saved the negatives which were in the damaged camera by developing them at once during the night while they were still wet. my men were greatly excited over the accident, especially the two who had fallen into the water. in a way i was glad it had happened, as i was in hopes it might be a good lesson to them and they might be a little more careful in the future. had alcides obeyed my orders we should have gone through safely. i pointed that out to him, but it was no use; even then he maintained that in order to be safe you must steer right into the whirlpool and not out of it--which really made me begin to feel rather nervous, as i fully expected, as we went along, to find worse rapids than those we had negotiated so far, since we still had to get down from , ft. or so to the sea level. we halted for the remainder of the day. i spent a miserable night sleeping on the packing-boxes, now that my bed had gone for ever. i did not deserve that bit of ill-luck, for indeed my camp-bed was the only thing i possessed which gave me a little comfort. after working hard all day and the greater part of the night, a few hours spent lying down flat on the stretched canvas of the bed were most enjoyable; although never, throughout the entire journey, was i able to sleep soundly, as i always had to be on the alert, never knowing what might happen. [illustration: a cataract in the river arinos.] [illustration: author's canoe among great volcanic rocks.] the night of july nd was fairly cool, the minimum temperature being ° f. when we proceeded on our journey in the morning we passed an island , m. long--arabella island. the river was now flowing due west. again we came upon rocks in the centre and upon the right side of the river, with a strong _corrideira_ and with dangerous submerged rocks close to the surface. there was an islet m. long on the right side in a basin m. broad. a hill ft. high stood on the left side of the stream, while a hill range ft. high was now visible to the w.n.w. we had little time to admire the beautiful scenery, for we soon found ourselves upon another great barrier with a terrible-looking rapid. i asked my men if they preferred to shoot it, as the exertion of loading and unloading the canoe was certainly heavy. "no, no, no, no!" they all cried in a chorus. we therefore unloaded the canoe, and with considerable trouble and waste of time we led her down the rapid by means of ropes. even led in that fashion with the greatest care, the canoe was entirely filled with water. islets of rock of considerable beauty rose from the river on the right-hand side. as we got a little way farther, slightly more to the north-west, another hill range, perhaps a little higher than the one we had already observed, began to disclose itself to the north-west, on the right side of the river. as we advanced i further ascertained that the first range extended in a general direction from south-west to north-east. the river had actually eroded its way through this range. strong rapids were again met with at that point, the channel being strewn with innumerable sharp-edged rocks, most unpleasant if you were to come in contact with them. a small islet with a picturesque spur of rock on the north side was here seen; then a larger island, m. long--evelina island--also on the left side. the river flowed for , m. in a n.n.w. direction, and at the end of that distance a rectangular island, m. long and m. wide--eileen island--embellished it. like most of the islands in that particular portion of the river it had a beautiful spur of rock on its eastern side, preceded by a little islet also of rock. we passed to the left of this island. it was separated by a channel m. wide from another narrow island, m. to the west of it--diana island. just before getting to a third range extending from south-west to north-east, and, like the other two, about ft. high, we came upon a long barrier of rock spreading diagonally for about , m. from south-west to north-east. a long narrow island ( m. long)--bertha island--began from that point close to the right bank, and another had been separated by the water from the bank itself. a tributary m. wide was observed on the left side. we kept close to the left bank and passed on our right an island m. long--sophia island. so numerous were the islands following one another that i was beginning to have great difficulty in supplying sufficient names for them all. more rapids were reached, and were of terrific force--especially in the centre of the river. it took me some little time to find a suitable passage, but at last i found a channel m. wide through which i got the canoe among innumerable rocks. we went over a great _filare_--by which word the italians cleverly define an extensive alignment in the stratum--of rock of extreme hardness which had evidently been fractured in some violent commotion of the earth, and had left sharp edges which cut just like knives close to the surface of the water. this rocky obstacle extended as usual from south-east to north-west. a tiny streamlet entered the river on the left not far from the hill range on that same side. the trees in that particular region had a most peculiar appearance: their high, perfectly straight stems, quite free from branches or leaves up to their very summit, looked like so many columns, mostly of a whitish colour. many, however, were encircled, others absolutely smothered with creepers. the scenery was really beautiful; it was like travelling through fairyland. in the centre of the basin m. wide to which we next came was an island, m. in diameter--gingillo island--and to the south-west of it a small islet with an extensive beach and accumulation of rocks in a northerly direction. on the southern side of the river a sand beach, interspersed with rocks, spread almost across, as far as the latter island. i took astronomical sights in order to get the exact latitude and longitude (lat. ° '· s.; long. ° ' w.), and to check the time of the second chronometer, which still remained in my possession. we had made poor progress that day as far as the distance went--only kil. m. we had come to some nasty rapids, which at first looked quite impassable by water, some of the waves shooting up so high in the air as to make it out of the question for any canoe to go through. there was another extensive _filare_ of rock, so beautifully polished that it looked almost as if it had been varnished over. it was evidently an ancient flow of lava, with great holes in it here and there. the flow spread from south-west to north-east, was of a brilliant shining yellow, and most beautiful to look at. i had to make my camp on the rocks near this rapid, where we unloaded the canoe in order to take her down by means of ropes by the eastern channel--very narrow and very unpleasant, but it was the only one possible. it was all we could do to hold the canoe as she tobogganed down the incline, and we had some nasty falls on the slippery rock trying to hold her. we had a dangerous bit of work to do the moment we had descended the rapid, for we had then to navigate the canoe right across the basin, where whirlpools of some magnitude were formed, directly over a waterfall of some height and pouring down great volumes of water with a terrific roar on the north-east side of the basin; then along the really terrifying rapid on the south-west side. it was necessary to do that, as i had observed that it was only on the opposite side of the river that we could possibly take the canoe down, and no other course was open to us than to go across that dangerous spot. we had to be smart about it, or we certainly should have perished. my men behaved splendidly. we had reloaded the canoe. the quarter of an hour or so which it took us to cross that basin was somewhat exciting, as we struggled through the various whirlpools, the current all the time dragging us closer and closer to the waterfall, while my men were paddling with all their might and alcides was steering right against the current in order to prevent the fatal leap. i urged the men on, and they paddled and paddled away, their eyes fixed on the fall which was by that time only a few metres away from us. they were exhausted in the frantic effort, and their paddles seemed to have no effect in propelling the canoe. the men, who were always talkative, were now silent; only the man x exclaimed, as we were only eight or ten metres from the fall: "good-bye, father and mother! i shall never see you again!" the other men gave a ghastly grin. [illustration: preparing to descend a rapid.] [illustration: a cataract in the arinos river.] "go on! row! row!--for god's sake row!" i shouted to them, as i saw they had given themselves up for lost. "row!" i shouted once more; and as if the strength had suddenly come back to them they made a frantic effort. the canoe went a little faster for a minute or two--just enough for us to clear the waterfall and to drift alongside some rocks which stood in the centre of the stream. we were saved. my men were so exhausted that we had to rest there for some time before we could proceed to cross the dreadful rapid down the other portion of the barrier. i was glad we had had that experience, because it showed me that after all it was possible to make brave men of men who were absolutely pusillanimous before. when i mentioned that we still had to go over the other dangerous part, they said, much to my delight: "we are brazilians--we are afraid of nothing! we will come with you." and what is more, they did. they smoked a few cigarettes. i had always supplied them with ample tobacco in order to keep them in a good temper. then when i gave the order to start they jumped gaily into the canoe, shouting again: "we are brazilians! we are afraid of nothing!" so we began negotiating the second portion of that nasty crossing. there is nothing i admire more than courage. my men went up in my estimation that day at least a hundred per cent. the second part of our crossing was just as dangerous as the first part--perhaps more so. the men, however, behaved splendidly, and rowed with such vigour that we got through safely and quickly above the most difficult portion, and eventually landed upon a mass of rocks on the opposite side of the stream. there we had a busy time, as we had once more to unload the canoe, cut a way through the forest in order to convey the baggage overland to a spot about half a mile farther down stream; then we had to come back to take the canoe by means of ropes down the rapid itself. it was necessary for one of us to be inside the canoe in order to steer her while being led down. alcides, who was indeed an extraordinarily brave man, would not hand over his job to anybody else, and insisted on being allowed to steer the canoe. it was with great reluctance that i allowed him, as he could not swim. when we proceeded to let the canoe down by the small western channel, the foaming waters and high waves rolling back upon themselves with great force were most troublesome to negotiate. the canoe was repeatedly lifted right out of the water, and gave us holding the ropes such violent jerks that we were flung in all directions. when i got up again, still holding on to the rope, alcides had disappeared. he had been pitched clean out of the canoe. fortunately, a moment later i saw that he was clinging to the steering gear, which we had made extra fast in order that it might stand the great strain. we managed to pull the canoe and alcides close to the rocks. eventually we all had to go into the water up to our necks and lead the canoe by hand with the greatest care in the swift current for the remaining distance. once or twice we were nearly overpowered by the current, and we were glad when, nearly two hours later, our job was finished, and, absolutely exhausted, we made camp for the night on the rocks. the men were so excited that during the entire night they sat up commenting on the experience of the day. their remarks were quite amusing, especially their imitations of the rush of the water, the bumping of the canoe, and alcides' sudden disappearance and narrow escape from drowning. the waterfall and rapids spread across the river at that spot for some m. during the night of july th the thermometer showed a minimum temperature of ° f. i noticed a small streamlet m. wide on the left bank, and to the w.s.w. a conical hill rising over a gently sloping undulating range ft. above the river level--that is to say, about , ft. above the sea level. a strong wind sprang up, which caught us sideways and produced such high waves breaking over the canoe, and so severe a motion, that my men became ill. we had to stop, until the wind abated, on a small charming island. as we were approaching the island alcides sent us right over a rock which was sticking some ft. above water. the bottom of the canoe was so scraped in the violent collision that a good deal of the stuffing with which we had filled the longitudinal crack was torn off, and she quickly filled with water. when we halted more garments had to be destroyed in order to fill up the aperture to the best of our ability. when the storm was over we continued our journey, going over some rapids in quite a novel way. the men were quarrelling among themselves and had stopped paddling, the paddles being waved in the air in a threatening way as they spoke violently to one another. alcides had also left the steering gear, and in his fury against the other men had seized his rifle in order to give force to his words. we were approaching the rapid. i advised them to continue their quarrel after we had gone through, but they would not listen to me. the prow of the canoe, just as we were about to enter the rapid, was caught in a rock, and the canoe swung right round, so that we shot the rapid floating down stern first. we shipped a lot of water, the refreshing bath somewhat cooling the excitement of my men, who, realizing the danger when we entered the whirlpool, took to paddling again. i discovered from their conversation during the night that my men were imbued with the idea that i had a guardian angel attending my person, and that no matter what happened while they were with me they would have no mishap. the river gradually turned northwards again. i noticed on the right side a hill-range ft. high, extending from south-west to north-east. the wind came up again, tossing the canoe about considerably. my men once more became seasick owing to the rolling. the new paddles we had made from fresh wood after our accident in the rapids did not prove much of a success, the wood splitting badly. we had to keep the various pieces together by tying them with string. i could not help laughing when i looked at my men paddling. one paddle had a quadrangular blade; another formed an elongated oval; a third had originally been circular but was then reduced to the shape of a half-moon, the other half having been washed away. [illustration: lake formed where the arinos and juruena rivers meet.] [illustration: going through a rapid.] for , m. the river had flowed due west, then it turned to ° b.m. two large islands in succession--one m. long and m. wide--pericles island; the second of an equal width to the first, and m. long--aspasia island--were seen. a high wind from the north-east and east continued the entire day, and broke into occasional severe gusts that were most troublesome to us. heavy rain-clouds hung over our heads. my men felt cold and shivery and quite miserable in the choppy waters, which made them extremely ill. their faces were green and yellow, their eyes had a pitiful expression in them. they looked as if they were all being led to execution. the temperature of the atmosphere was only ° f. shortly before sunset, after a beautiful stretch of river of , m. to ° b.m. (n.n.w.), followed by one of , m. ° farther to the north, we came to an immense basin--a regular lake-- , m. long, , m. wide, with two lovely islands in its northerly part. it was there that the great river juruena, coming from the south-west, joined the arinos. we had the greatest difficulty in crossing the big, deep lake, because of the high wind which was blowing at the time. the waves were high and caught us on one side; the rolling was so heavy that on many occasions we shipped a great deal of water and nearly capsized. when we got into the centre of the lake the wind increased in fury. my men were very ill and much scared--for we had a great expanse of water on all sides and we could not bale the water out of the canoe fast enough, so quickly was she filling. i urged on the men all the time and took an extra paddle myself to encourage them. we made slow progress, the men suffering greatly. i had to wait for their convenience every few moments when they were badly indisposed. we tossed about for the best part of two hours, until at last we reached the opposite side of the lake. in a hurry to land, alcides threw the canoe over some rocks on which the water was breaking with fury. however, the water was shallow at that point. we jumped out, and eventually, trembling with cold, we beached the canoe on a most beautiful island, where we made our camp for the night. chapter x the point of junction of the arinos and juruena rivers--elfrida landor island--terrible days of navigation--immense islands--an old indian camp--a fight between a dog and an _ariranha_--george rex island--a huge _sucuriú_ snake the spot where the two great rivers met was most impressive, especially from the island on which we stood, directly opposite the entrance of the two streams. the immense lake was spread before us, and beyond were the two great rivers meeting at an angle. great walls of verdant forest lined all the banks and islands before us. curiously enough, both in the arinos and in the juruena two long narrow islands appeared parallel to the banks of each stream. the islands resembled each other in size. the juruena had two islands near its mouth, one narrow and long, the other in the shape of a quadrangle. the arinos also showed a long and narrow island at its mouth, and another ending in a point. it was my intention to take soundings right across the mouth of the arinos and also across the mouth of the juruena, but unluckily, owing to the strong easterly wind which prevailed that day, it was quite impossible for me to attempt such a task at the mouth of the arinos, and equally impossible was it to proceed back across the lake to the mouth of the juruena to measure the volume of water which came out of that river. without any attempt at mathematical accuracy i should say that the two rivers carried an almost equal volume of water. where we landed there were two separate islands, one of which i named after my sister--the elfrida landor island; the other one, next to it, i named francesco island. the elfrida landor island--really most beautiful to look at--was m. long; francesco island was , m. in length but not quite so broad. there was a most picturesque channel m. wide, with marvellous rocks forming a barrier across it, on the right side of the river, between francesco island and the right bank. the main part of the stream, however, flowed in a much larger channel between the left bank and elfrida landor island. the joint arinos-juruena river had now a total width of m., and flowed in a direction of ° bearings magnetic. i took accurate observations with the hypsometrical apparatus in order to determine the exact elevation of that important spot: water boiled at the junction of the juruena and arinos at °· ¾, while the temperature of the air was ° f.; in other words the elevation of the place was ft. above the sea level. [illustration: author's canoe going down a cataract.] i also took observations there for latitude and longitude. lat. ° '· s.; long. ° ' w. the juruena entered the lake from bearings magnetic ° (w.s.w.), the arinos from bearings magnetic ° (e.s.e.). the minimum temperature during the night on elfrida island was ° f. my men suffered a great deal from the cold, as they had got badly chilled with the wet and the high wind during the day. most of them complained of severe rheumatic pains and violent toothache. they could not understand why i did not have any pains of any kind--and to tell the truth, neither could i, after all we had gone through of late. when we left elfrida landor island on july th we had a beautiful stretch of river , m. long in a straight line, but with a good many rocks strewn in the channel. the men paddled unwillingly, as they said they were aching all over; but the current was strong and we were going along fairly quickly. my men said that we must now have come to the end of all the rapids. i did not care to disillusion them, although i suspected that we still had hard days in store. we had not proceeded very far when a rumbling noise warned us that we were approaching danger. there was a rapid on the east side of the river, but it left a fairly easy passage on the west. a little farther, however, we came to a very bad rapid, and had to unload the canoe, which we were obliged to let down carefully with ropes. my men, who felt feverish and irritable, owing to our previous day's experience, were greatly upset at this new obstacle facing us. the river was m. wide at this part. the rocks on which we trod when we took the canoe down were so sharp that they cut our feet. it was not possible to wear shoes, as when we had them on we slipped on the rock and had no hold upon the ropes. my men, in their state of weakness, had not sufficient strength to hold the canoe, and the moment she entered the swift current she escaped, dragging one man into the rapid. i jumped into the water after him, and just managed to grab him before he was swept away altogether in the terrific current. we were all drenched, and as the wind blew with great violence that day, and there was no sun to warm us up, we felt the cold very much. the canoe was thrown mercilessly now against one rock, then against another; but, as luck would have it, after she had made several pirouettes, we, running all the time with our bleeding feet on the sharp rocks along the bank, were eventually able to recapture her at the end of the rapid. then came the job of going back to fetch all the baggage and bring it down, baling the water out of the canoe, and starting off once more. my men were tired; they said they could stand the work no more, and they wanted to remain there and die. it took much persuasion to make them come on. i succeeded principally by giving them a good example, carrying down most of the loads that day myself from the upper end of the rapid to the lower--a distance of several hundred metres. i was getting tired, too, of carrying the heavy loads, but i never let my men see it; that would have been fatal. the river was divided into two channels by a group of islands which must at one time have been one great triangular one, subsequently worn by parallel and transverse channels into seven islands. the first, most southerly, was m. broad, m. long, and of a triangular shape. the three immediately behind this, and of irregular shapes, had an average length of some m.; whereas the last group of three, all of elongated shapes, had a length of m. each. i was getting to the end of the list of names for all those islands, and i was at a loss to find seven names all of a sudden, so i called the group the seven sisters islands. at the end of the group the river narrowed to m. in width between a long island to the west and the right bank, and flowed due north for , m. in a direct line--indeed a most beautiful sight. fifteen hundred metres down that distance a great barrier of columnar or cylindrical rocks stuck out of the water from w.s.w. to e.n.e. north of those rocks on the left side, upon the island, not less than , m. long--lunghissima island--was a beautiful yellow sand beach m. long, which formed a separate islet with trees upon its northerly half. numerous rocks obstructed the east side (right) of the river. farther on, another lovely sandy islet m. long had formed behind a number of rocks, and was of a clean, beautiful yellowish white, with a few shrubs and trees growing upon it. all those sand beaches were extremely interesting to me. i invariably landed upon them. i had made a wonderful collection of all the minute plants and delightful miniature flowers which grew upon these beaches--an immense variety, indeed, but of such small dimensions and of such delicate tints that it required sometimes a great strain of eyesight to see them at all. some were really most beautiful. i spent a good deal of time and patience in collecting, pressing, and classifying those dainty little sand-plants, and i was beginning to flatter myself that i had formed a complete collection. at the spot where lunghissima island came to an end a large triangular island was to be seen on the left of us. a great barrier of rocks stretched across the stream, a prominent cluster of picturesque boulders forming a powerful spur which cut the current at the southern part of the triangle of land. although the thermometer marked ° in the sun my men complained of the intense cold, partly because they all had fever, partly also because the wind was extremely strong that day and caused waves of some size in the stream, which dashed against the canoe and splashed us all over. again my men were seasick that day, and got furious with me as i could not help laughing at their plight. with a slight deviation of ° to the west came another stretch of , m. in a straight line. a two-humped range of hills now loomed before us to the north-west. we had gone along the side of another elongated island , metres in length--yolanda island. when we came to the end of this great island, two other islands parallel to each other were disclosed to the west of us, one , m. long--carmela island--the other m.--stella island. the first had a pretty island m. long--hilda island--next to it on the east side. we halted at the end of yolanda island and there took observations for latitude and longitude, thirty-one consecutive sights of the sun being taken. lat. ° '· s; long. ° ' w. [illustration: the immense waves encountered by author in emerging from the channel in the rapid of the inferno. (the canoe with its occupants shot up vertically in the air.)] when we resumed our journey four more islets were visible and a barrier of rock from north-west to south-east again stretching right across the stream. just beyond lay romola island, , m. long and equally broad. at the end of the island we found a channel m. wide, separating it from two neighbours on the east; in fact, much to my dismay, we found ourselves in a regular maze of islands and rocks, and my time was fully employed keeping an account of and measuring them. a crescent-shaped island--urania island-- , m. in length, with most wonderful vegetation upon it, was now on our left. that region was extraordinarily rich in rubber. the channel which we had followed was strewn all over with rocks. another island, m. long--caterina island--followed. the current in the arinos-juruena river had a speed of m. a minute. the river in places where no islands lay had a width of m. the water was most beautifully clear, of a lovely emerald green, with a wonderful white sand bottom clearly visible although the river had considerable depth in many places. yet another island, m. long--una island--came in sight to the right of us; then another between two companions, forming almost a circle round the central isle. the river now formed a basin not less than m. wide with innumerable rocks at the entrance. we went on kilometre after kilometre, spending our time in avoiding unpleasant rocks, when again we came first to fairly strong rapids, then to an extremely dangerous rapid, which we shot, as we were carried away into it before we had time to realize where we were. we had the greatest difficulty in extricating ourselves from the many terrifying whirlpools at the end of the rapid, in a great basin m. wide. we found a most beautiful halting place on a natural terrace of volcanic rock some ft. above the river, with a dome of rock in the centre. i met signs of indians close to the river. evidently a tribe had once halted there, but apparently many years before our arrival. i discovered their fireplaces, several carved pieces of wood, and some fragments of rudimentary pottery in the neighbourhood of this picturesque spot. in exploring round the place i also found some almost entirely obliterated indications of several ancient trails which had been made by the indians in the forest. looking toward bearings magnetic °, and also in the opposite direction to the south, most gorgeous river scenes were before us. this was by far the most beautiful spot i had come across on the river so far. i therefore named the huge island on which i stood george rex island. i gave alcides orders to carve the name on a tree, but as he was an anarchist he refused to do it, excusing himself by saying that he had injured his hand. at that camp we caught over lb. of fish in less than half an hour--three _jahus_ among the number, each weighing over lb. then we also captured two _cachorra_ or dog fish, which possessed vicious-looking molars of great length, not unlike those of a big dog. each of these fish weighed over lb. then we got eight _trahiras_, some lb. each in weight. with the little salt which remained we preserved some of the fish, as we were now getting very short of food. however, we had excellent meals most of the time on the river, frying the fish with fat which we extracted from the fish itself. during the night of july th we had a minimum temperature of ° f., but as we had had plenty to eat the previous evening--in fact, too much--we did not feel the cold quite so severely. _ariranhas_ in large families were plentiful near that spot, and came close several times, grinding their teeth at us, especially when we were slaughtering the fish on the bank. we kept watch during the entire night, as on that occasion they were truly vicious. our dogs, for a change, became quite sportive. one of them, named negrino, got furious with the _ariranhas_, and, driven mad by their unmusical noises, actually jumped into the stream to go to their attack. in a moment he had quantities of _ariranhas_ upon him, and was bitten savagely, one ear being nearly torn off. he endeavoured to beat a retreat, but by that time he was in mid-stream and struggling for dear life against his enemies. we put out in the canoe at once and went to his rescue, eventually getting him on board in an exhausted condition, and bleeding terribly all over. we enjoyed a hearty breakfast of boiled and fried fish before leaving camp at o'clock in the morning. we were sorry to leave the beautiful camp--the best we had had since we had been on the river arinos. there were before us two great channels. the one flowing east was the larger of the two, fully m. wide and , m. long in a straight line. as we were paddling along we passed on our left a triangular island the southern side of which was , m. long, the south-east side m.--angela island. where the river deviated to ° b.m. a perfectly straight stretch of , m. was before us--a most beautiful sight. two parallel islands, only m. wide, one m. the other m. long, were on the right of us, in the part of the river where george rex island, which was still to the right of us, described a graceful semicircle. fifteen hundred metres farther down george rex island came to an end with a beautiful spit of sand m. long. just beyond, still on our right, another island, m. long--rosalinda island--was passed, also with a lovely spit of sand m. in extent. the river at this place had a total width of m. at a point , m. down the straight stretch due east we came to three parallel elongated islands, two of them m. long, the third , m. in length, all three on the right of us as we floated down. a barrier of rocks extended right across the stream from north-west to south-east, at a spot where on our left side, at b.m. °, a hill range extended northwards. with a slight deviation of ° eastward ( ° b.m.) another beautiful stretch of , m. was before us. more islands, more clusters of picturesque rocks were passed. first came a group of two islands, the larger m. long--vanessa island; then a beautiful clean sand-spit m. long, almost in mid-stream, preceded a group of three parallel islands--philomela island, m. long, portia island, m. and psyche island, , m. beyond these were two more islands, one triangular in shape in the centre of the stream--rhea island--some m. long, with a strong _corrideira_ at its north-easterly terminus. [illustration: a giant sucurí snake with entire deer contained in its digestive organs.] a most gorgeous sand-bank of great length now lay on our left, while on the right we had two small islets, one m. long, another, beyond it, m. long. a tributary entered the arinos-juruena at that spot on the right side. where the river turned again due east for , m., another set of parallel islands with a chain of hills beyond them on the right bank was to be seen. the hill range extended from north-west to south-east. all these ranges, with a backbone of rock underneath, formed, as it were, the ribs which held up the central plateau of brazil. we were now in a region of wonderful accumulations of sand; nearly all the islands showed a sand-spit of great length on the up-stream side. great islands occurred once more: paulina island, , m. long, on our left; another, m. long--olivia island--on our right; and a third--clara island--just beyond it. a long tail of rocks followed, and the channel was strewn with dangerous rocks where the river had cut its way through the range of hills. what must have been formerly an immense island which had become cut up into three was now on the left of us as we followed the central channel in an easterly direction. the first of these was comparatively small; the next--tristan island--was , m. long; the third--isolda island-- , m. long. all were of extraordinary beauty. rubber trees were to be seen, but not in such great numbers as we had found farther up the stream. evidently the soil was somewhat too rocky and not sufficiently moist for their healthy growth. from due east the river suddenly turned to due north, diverted by the great rib of rock which had formerly made part of the hill range we had now on our right. we had a good deal of trouble here, as difficult rapids were encountered, and sharp, cutting rocks, collision with which would have been fatal for us. our canoe, after the many bumps we had already experienced, gave alarming signs that she might split in two longitudinally at any moment. for , m. the river flowed in a northerly direction. great domes of granite and immense boulders were scattered near the left bank, and rocks of all sizes and shapes emerged from the water all over the basin, which was m. across. another barrier of rock stretched from north-east to south-east and formed a high drop in the river. we had to unload the canoe once more upon some rocks in mid-stream, then let her gently down the step of foaming waters by ropes. we were then in a magnificent basin , m. wide, with a great cluster of impressive rocks on the right side, in front of two enchantingly beautiful islands--melisande island, m. long, pelleas island, m. long--on the left. whenever i was gazing enraptured at the heavenly scenery alcides always managed to send the canoe on to some rock, which quickly brought me back, not to earth but to water. his principle in life was always to do the worst thing and then you knew that nothing worse could happen--a topsy-turvy philosophy for which we all had to suffer. emerging from the basin, we had two channels before us, one to the n.n.e., the other n.n.w. gigantic palm trees such as we had seen along the river arinos were now to be seen all along the banks of the river. we saw in the water not far from us a large _sucuriú_ snake (_eunictes murinus_), fully in. in diameter. it peeped its head out of the water to gaze curiously into our canoe, and caused some excitement among my men. another immense barrier of rocks with most troublesome rapids extended from south-west to north-east right across the stream. that seemed a great place for snakes, especially in the narrow and tortuous channel which we followed, between a great island--victor emmanuel island--and the left bank. we were going along fairly gaily when i saw a huge snake--another _sucuriú_--floating upon the water among the foliage and branches of a fallen tree. the section of the body which i could perceive measured fully ½ ft. in diameter, and i must say that for one moment--we were only about ft. away from it--i was somewhat surprised, as my quickly calculating mind constructed in my imagination a snake at least ft. long. my men immediately took to their rifles, and were about to open a fusillade, but i stopped them, not caring to disturb the sleep of so gigantic a reptile. it was with some relief that, as the canoe floated quietly a little farther, i perceived the head of the snake resting gracefully in a sound slumber upon a branch of the tree out of the water. the head was of more normal proportions. we landed a little distance away as quietly as possible, my men trembling all over with excitement and fear in case the reptile should wake up. then all together they opened a fusillade until a bullet actually struck the snake and it wriggled about. there was a stampede of all my men through the foliage and plants which grew along the stream. the snake was dead. when they had made quite sure that life was extinct my men returned and pulled the snake out of the water. although the section we had seen floating was so big, the rest of the body was not more than in. in diameter. the snake had eaten an entire _veado_ (deer), and that was the cause of the great swelling of the central part of its body. the shape of the devoured animal could be seen plainly inside it. the photograph of the reptile which i took is given in one of the illustrations of this book. the light was not good for photographic purposes, as it was late in the afternoon and the snake, which after all was only ft. in. long, lay under the shadow of the foliage, which made photography rather difficult. as i was trying to get a second photograph my men proceeded with their knives to open the snake and see what was inside. the terrific odour which ensued when they did so made us violently ill, causing desperate vomiting. i have seen it stated, in some books which have been published about south america, that snakes of incredible length are believed to exist on that continent. undoubtedly the notion has been suggested by the fact that inexperienced travellers have seen immensely broad traces of snakes along the soft ground near rivers. measuring the diameter of those trails they came to the conclusion that the snake was to ft. long, and without taking further trouble to ascertain they stated they had actually seen a snake of that length. whereas, as a matter of fact, as in the case i have described, the immense diameter of the snake was merely in the section which enclosed some big animal which had been swallowed. [illustration: an easy rapid.] [illustration: going through a narrow channel.] chapter xi a family of _ariranhas_--attacked by them--three nasty rapids--beautiful sand beaches--exciting experiences--going down a thundering cataract--alcides' narrow escape--a night's work in the midst of a foaming rapid in order to rescue the half-submerged canoe--filippe's courage--visited by a snake ft. long we camped some hundred metres away from the spot where we had killed the _sucuriú_. it was getting late. my men did not sleep a wink the whole night, as they thought perhaps the mate of the snake might come and pay us a visit. we had a lively time the entire night, as we had made our camp over the home of a family of _ariranhas_. they had their young in a small grotto in the bank, and we heard them all night squealing for their mothers, who were grinding their teeth and shrieking furiously a little way off from the bank, not daring to enter their homes while we were near. they were, i think, more frightened of the fire which my men had made than they were of us. there were twenty or thirty of them, and they made so much noise during the night that it was quite out of the question to rest. the vegetation was very thick, the damp considerable, and the air quite stifling, with a minimum temperature of ° f. occasionally, when the air moved at all, we could smell our friend the dissected _sucuriú_. we were glad to leave at eight o'clock the next morning; we seldom could make an earlier start, owing to the slowness of my men in getting their breakfast and mine ready, and reloading the canoe, as all the baggage was taken out every night. where we had made camp, victor emmanuel island came to an end, the length of the island being some kil. we had great fun just before leaving, the _ariranhas_ coming boldly to attack us as we were getting into the canoe. our dogs, which had been squealing and growling the whole night at the unmusical shrieks of the _ariranhas_, now jumped into the water, and there was a fierce fight between them and the amphibious animals. my men, as usual, fired a great many shots. eventually we recovered our dogs and started off once more on our journey. the river flowed from that point at first mostly in a north-easterly direction and in a somewhat winding course; then gradually tended toward the north-west. in the western part of a large basin , m. broad were two islands and innumerable rocks. then, farther on, one more long rocky barrier extended from north-west to south-east in the north-western part of the basin. once more did we have to let the canoe down the terrific rapids by means of ropes. where the river turned to the north-west it was m. wide and most beautiful. a great many islands were seen, and innumerable rocks barred the entrance of the channel at the end of the basin above described. soon after, however, we entered another basin , m. wide, with more islands and rapids fairly easy to negotiate. once more did the river turn due north for , m., after we had gone over another swift and most troublesome rapid, where we had to unload our baggage and take the canoe down carefully with ropes. after that we entered a long channel strewn with rocks. we had not gone far when another strong rapid was encountered, over another great barrier of rock. no sooner had we negotiated that difficult passage than another great barrier of rock, also from south-west to north-east, had to be gone over through a troublesome rapid. my men were getting tired of exploring, and were perplexed, because the more dangers we surmounted the greater seemed the dangers confronting us. they were beginning to lose the nerve they had temporarily acquired, and were now so scared at the vicious waters that they tried to keep the canoe all the time close to the banks or islands, the river being so deep that they thought this was the best way of saving their lives in case we had a bad accident. the current was extraordinarily swift, and to make things worse a strong north-easterly wind blew with great fury, driving us back and producing such high waves that our canoe was constantly filled with water. the result of keeping so close to the bank, and having our heads continually brushed by the foliage which overhung the stream, was that each time we came in contact with the branch of a tree thousands of ants would drop on to the canoe and upon us, and would bite us furiously. this was most trying--an additional torture to that we had to endure of being stung all over by other insects which followed the canoe in swarms. we had not gone much farther along when within , m. we came to three nasty rapids in succession, over barriers of great rocks intersected by interesting veins of quartz. from that point the river was fairly straight for kil. we had that morning encountered five troublesome rapids, which had given us endless work. when we halted we were simply ravenous. we were fortunate enough to get plenty of fish for lunch, and while my men were enjoying a hearty feast i took the usual astronomical observations, eaten all over as i was by mosquitoes and _piums_, while bees innumerable had settled on my face and arms. the latitude was ° '· s.; the longitude ° ' w. the bees had a most peculiar pungent odour, which they seemed to leave on one's skin when they had walked on it. we kept our heads wrapped up in towels; but even then we suffered a great deal. [illustration: a dangerous vortex.] [illustration: preparing the canoe to go down a rapid.] when we started in the afternoon we continued to travel in a direction of ° b.m., and came to a large basin, easily identifiable by subsequent travellers by three extensive domes of granite on the right side, two of them actually on the bank of the stream at the entrance of the basin. where an elongated island, , m. long--oriana island--beside which we had travelled, ended on our left, we saw another island that continued half-way down the basin, here some , m. wide. the second island--diana island--was fully , m. in length. in the centre of this great basin was a triangular island--pomona island-- , m. long and with a base of , m. a tributary was visible on the right bank, just opposite a great dome of granite with an appendix of sand and gravel which stood in the middle of the channel. after we had travelled for , m., a basin some , m. wide opened again, with a small island, m. long, in the centre--m. adams island. this charming islet had a picturesque headland of rock on the south side, and a long spur, also of rock, to the north. we made our camp here. the river was really marvellously beautiful at this point, the vegetation all round being vigorous and healthy, with a great wealth of rubber trees, while the huge volcanic rocks strewn about added much to the picturesqueness of the scene. it was warm during the night (minimum temperature ° f.), and we were treated to a most tormenting concert of mosquitoes. they swarmed positively in millions around us. with my bed and bedding which i had lost in the rapids i had unfortunately also lost my mosquito net, and i now was suffering greatly from the stings of all the troublesome insects. my bones were aching all over from sleeping on the uneven packing-cases placed in a row which now formed my bed. it took too much time and trouble to unfasten the straps and buckles which kept the boxes tightly closed, and they did not add to the comfort when one lay spread on them. when we left in the morning of july th, going along a beautiful stretch of close upon kil. in great expanses from , to , m. long, we passed first of all an elongated quadrangular island , m. long; then farther on great masses of volcanic rock. at the end of that stretch the river divided into two channels separated by an equilateral-triangular island, the side of which was , m.--minerva island. another island, also of great beauty, and with a considerable number of rubber trees upon it, was found a little farther, and there a bar of sand spread beneath shallow water right across the stream. we had gone , m. that morning. when we found a most beautiful beach of lovely sand we could not resist the temptation of halting on it to prepare our lunch. our surprise was great when we set foot on the beach to hear shrill whistles beneath us. the beach was formed of whistling--or singing--sand. the reason the sand was musical was because some large insects had bored thousands of holes of great depth into its moistened mass, which allowed the holes to retain their form. when the sand was trodden the pressure drove the warmish air contained in those holes with great force through the contracted apertures and caused a sharp whistling and occasionally quite melodious notes. i again took observations for latitude and longitude at this place, but i was beginning to find the work too heavy--not the observing in itself, but the computing of all the observations, at which i was not particularly quick. (lat. ° ' s.; long. ° ' w.) also, the great care which i had to take of the chronometer under most difficult circumstances was a trial to me, considering the numberless things i had to look after. the only little comfort i had on that journey had been my camp bed, on which i could, if not sleep soundly, at least rest my weary bones for a few hours at night. that had now gone, and i was beginning to feel the strain of the hard work, constant mental exertion, and the total lack of rest. we had passed a great number of islands in the morning: one , m. long--melusine island; another m.--janus island; a third , m.--midas island--by the side of which was another enormous island, some , m. in length--miranda island. then little islets and m. long, and another big island, , m. from end to end--a. masõ island. most beautiful sandy beaches were now constantly seen, mostly, like the one on which we had landed, composed of singing sand. (some of those beaches were and m. long.) the beach on which we had landed for lunch was at the southern end of a great island, , m. long, which i named queen mary island. we left again that afternoon, travelling fairly speedily, chiefly in w.n.w. and s.s.w. directions, varying from ° b.m. to ° b.m. when we came to the end of queen mary island, after passing some really remarkable beaches on which we found a great many turtles' eggs, we came to a large basin, , m. across, with numberless rocks scattered on the north and south sides of it. the river there flowed due west; in fact, those rocks formed a kind of corona all around the great circle. a crescent-shaped island, , m. long--giselle island--was next passed. the channel through which we went was full of dangerous rocks, and had a width of m. soon after another basin , m. broad was reached, with a formidable barrier of islets and rocks spreading from south to north. the river there flowed in a perfectly straight course for kil. to ° b.m. a most extraordinary-looking islet with a circular terrace of rock on the east side of it, which was passed in mid-stream, was surrounded by a giant crown of pyramidal rocks of great height emerging in sharp points from the water. we had gone but , m. of that distance when we came to an island on the right side with a gorgeous spit, also of musical sand, m. long. the island itself was only m. long including the sand-spit--kuvera island. we were then in an immense basin with leaden waters as still as those of a pond. we made our camp in a most picturesque spot, an immense beach forming innumerable indentations, really like small dunes of sand deposited by water. the accurate elevation of that place was, according to the observations taken with the hypsometrical apparatus, feet, water boiling at that spot at ° ¾, and the temperature of the atmosphere being ½° f. the indented beach, not unlike a giant double-comb, was at the beginning of a great island which i named james dewar island, in honour of the great discoverer of liquid air. the minimum temperature during the night of july th was ° f. since we had come to the enormous sand accumulations along the stream the troublesome insects which worried us day and night seemed to have doubled or trebled in numbers, and we suffered positive torture from them, especially when we landed anywhere. [illustration: a narrow passage in the arinos river.] [illustration: treble vortex. (the water revolved in three different directions in succession.)] we left fairly early in the morning, finding soon afterwards a group of sharply pointed rocks, some above the surface of the stream, some--most dangerous--just under the surface. another basin, , m. broad, was crossed, which contained two islets and a number of rocks forming a barrier from south-west to north-east. two kilometres farther along another immense barrier of rocks and numberless islets obstructed the river from south-west to north-east, so that for a little time we could not see which way the stream flowed out of it at all. sharply-pointed rocks, ugly and fearsome-looking, stood up everywhere. when eventually we did perceive a channel, down which we went, we found terrifying rapids followed by fearful eddies and a most alarming whirlpool. i could not measure the exact width of the basin there, as there was a regular maze of islands and i could not well see from the canoe where the banks exactly were. a great island, , m. long--normand island--presently divided the river into two great channels, the north-easterly one of which we followed, finding more fearsome rapids and strong eddies, which knocked the canoe and us about in a dangerous manner. i was greatly concerned in going down all those rapids, as the canoe was now in a pitiable condition. we had no way of repairing her, and i was afraid that, with the strain of the terrific current, if we had banged too hard against a rock, she might have split in two. i was not so anxious for myself as i was for my men, who would certainly have been drowned, as four of them could not swim. also, after all the trouble i had taken to make valuable botanical collections and a unique collection of photographs, i was most anxious to bring them all back safely. i was particularly anxious to bring back to europe the wonderful fossils i had collected on the plateau of matto grosso, which i had long ago packed in one of the cases that were fortunately among the things saved from the previous disasters. my men had invariably grumbled at having to carry that particular heavy box, when we had to unload the canoe and take the baggage on our heads or shoulders at the many rapids we had encountered. they had never once missed an occasion to remonstrate and swear at the absurdity of having to sweat to carry "those blessed stones," or "the devil's own stones," as they called them. we had gone but a few thousand metres when we once more came to another great barrier, with two islands, stretching, like most of the others, from south-west to north-east. the only point at which we could take the canoe down was in the rapid in the very centre of the stream--a nasty-looking place, i can assure you--followed by a whirlpool of such proportions as would have frightened most humans. i must say for my men that they showed a great deal of courage that day. whether it was because they did not quite realize the danger, or whether it was because they had got accustomed to it by then, i do not know; but the fact remains that when i ordered them to go down that terrifying place they obeyed without saying a word. we had to exercise the greatest care, having to jump out on small rocks which stuck up in the middle of the rapid in order to arrest the almost uncontrollable speed of the canoe. had they missed their footing while jumping on those rocks and holding the ropes attached to the canoe, the men would certainly have lost their lives, as it was out of the question to save anybody in those diabolical waters. therefore, when you considered the terrific speed at which the canoe was travelling, and that the men must have known that a mistake in judging the distance would have meant utter destruction, you could not but admire them for their really amazing self-confidence. on many occasions, indeed, i had to do the same thing myself, but i must say i never liked it much; although i was in a better position than they were, as i am a good swimmer--not that a swimmer would have much chance in those waters. a number of islets were seen below the rapids and whirlpool. from that point we discerned on the right bank an elongated hill, ft. high. slightly beyond, preceded by a great mass of rock, was another island m. long, dividing the stream in two. two other islands, one m. long--leda island--the other one medea island, of greater length but much narrower, were disclosed behind it. then came another great barrier of rocks extending from south-west to north-east, and more rapids to be negotiated. a series of elongated islets and sand-banks occurred in the basin which followed, , m. wide. beautiful sand-beaches had formed on either side of that lovely bay. the river then narrowed again to a width of m., and we saw a long flat island of sand, m. long and m. wide, enclosed by rocks in the centre of the stream. we continued our journey, after the usual halt for taking astronomical observations, and had before us a small hill ft. high at bearings magnetic °. we came to a series of most dangerous rapids with terrific whirlpools, especially after the first and second rapid. another great barrier of rocks with huge boulders spread across the stream from south-west to north-east. an isolated hill was to be seen on the left bank where this barrier was found. a strange coffin-shaped boulder of immense size was then reached on the right side of the stream, just after we had passed a delightful sand-spit m. long enclosed within a stockade of pillar-like rocks. from this point we had , m. of clear navigation to ° b.m. it seemed heavenly to us to be in smooth waters again, and my men flattered themselves that we had now come to the end of the rapids altogether. but we soon arrived at innumerable rocks in a confused mass right across the stream, between which the river flowed with great force in a contracted neck. we passed between two islands, each m. long, at the end of which was a rapid. an island , m. long was there formed--bomfin island. dangerous rapids occurred half-way down its length on the right; then followed a mass of square columnar pillars of rock not unlike basalt. that was all very beautiful to look at, but we had endless trouble in extricating our canoe from among the numberless impedimenta which obstructed navigation. [illustration: at the august falls.] another most beautiful island, m. long--jessica island--was passed just before getting to really formidable rapids, down which we had the greatest difficulty in letting the canoe, even by the judicious use of ropes. the navigable channel of the river--if navigable it could be called--swerved from north-west to due north. in a basin of immense size were a number of islands from to m. in length, and enormous boulders with cataracts of great height between. the roar made by the water falling over was so great that it resembled thunder. the difference of height between the top and the bottom of the rapid was not less than ft. the water in the channel we followed went over a great slope of lava above which numerous boulders had accumulated. my men became perplexed when they saw the formidable rush of water, but before we had time to do anything we were swept away at such a speed that for one moment i really believed we were lost. my men laughed hysterically, and in that laugh i joined when we came out at the other end still alive. we had shaved several rocks so closely that great patches of the stopping in the side of the canoe had been torn off altogether, and we were filling fast with water. our merriment did not last long, for in a few moments we had drifted on to another and worse rapid, much more terrific than the one we had just gone over. we just managed to hold the canoe on the upper edge of the foaming stream, trying to get the ropes ready in order to let her down. we were in mid stream, not less than m. away from the right bank. we unloaded a portion of the baggage on the rocks and proceeded to let the canoe down with ropes--a most dangerous job in that particular rapid, because at the end of the rush of water stood up many rocks, which drove the water back again and eventually switched it off, curling over itself at a very sharp angle on one side and on the other. a diabolic-looking whirlpool of great depth formed on the other side of those rocks. i fully realized that the strength of us seven men was hardly sufficient to hold the canoe, particularly as all of us were immersed waist-deep and could scarcely keep our footing in that great rush of water. it was only with the greatest care that we could possibly accomplish the feat, and of this i warned my men. in fact, the moment the canoe came down at an angle on the steep incline she gave such a mighty jerk that my men, with the exception of alcides, let go the ropes. some of them had the skin taken clean off their fingers. i saw the canoe give a great leap. to my horror, a moment after the canoe had passed me down the rapid--i was holding one of the ropes at the lower part of the rapid--i saw alcides, who bravely had never let the rope go, being carried away in the current. i just managed to grab him as he was about to be drawn into the vortex, where most certainly he would have lost his life. i lost my footing too, and we were both thrown against a rock, which i grabbed with one hand while still holding on to alcides. there we remained powerless for several minutes, swallowing a good deal of water, which went right over our heads with the resistance we made against the current, until filippe the negro--with wonderful courage, since he was no swimmer--came to our rescue. alcides was undoubtedly a brave man, but he certainly had a beastly temper. no sooner had he recovered from the accident than i heard some of the other men tell him that he had had a narrow escape and would have died had i not gone to his rescue. shouting aloud so that i could hear his remark, he said to the men: "oh, the englishman only came to my rescue because there was no danger for him, as he could swim, or else he would not have done it." [illustration: author and his men in water up to their necks for an entire night endeavouring to save their canoe, which in shooting a rapid had become stuck between rocks.] there was no time to lose, and certainly no time for argument. the canoe had most unluckily got stuck at the bottom of the rapid between two rocks, her fore-part being absolutely submerged. the vibration was such in the after-portion which stuck out of the water that i thought any moment she might break in two. all my men behaved that day with marvellous courage--particularly filippe, who, much delighted by the words of praise i gave him when he risked his life in coming to our rescue, now offered to risk his life once more in endeavouring to seize one of the ropes which had got loose and was dangling from the canoe in the foaming waters. we tied filippe with a rope which we removed from one of the packing-cases we had previously landed, and let him down the rapid until he was thrown violently against the canoe. there the plucky fellow was able to get inside and recover the ropes, which he, after repeated attempts, flung on to us. we pulled and pulled for several hours, but the canoe was so jammed between the rocks, and the current was so strong, that we were not able to get her off. night had come on, and we were still waist-deep in the water and trembling with cold, trying to save the canoe. she would not move in any direction. it was with some concern that i had seen several articles which had been loose in the canoe being washed out into the water and disappearing in the whirlpool. then came a worse accident still. while trying to unload two heavy cases of provisions--a ticklish job--the men lost their footing in the current and one after the other the packing-cases also disappeared in the whirlpool. all these disasters following one another within a few hours were rather trying to us, the loss of the provisions particularly giving me a great shock, as i realized now that we had practically nothing else left to eat except what we could find by shooting or fishing. when the canoe had been made lighter we succeeded by constantly jerking her in moving her slightly, and eventually, at two o'clock in the morning--the accident having occurred at half-past four in the afternoon--we were able to release her and bring her to safety along the bank. a great hole had been opened in the side of the canoe where she had struck the rock, and we had to beach her in order to keep her afloat till the morning. then came the heavy task of taking all the baggage from the rocks in the centre of the stream along the great barrier of sharp cutting stones as far as the bank. [illustration: the salto augusto from above.] we were prostrate with fatigue when we had accomplished all the work. i lay down on the ground to rest; my men fortunately had saved their hammocks, as they were the first things they always took care to save whenever there was a calamity. not once during the whole journey did my men offer me one of their hammocks when they saw me sleeping with great discomfort on packing-cases or on the ground. certainly i was too proud to ask them for any favour. i had hardly gone to sleep when i thought i heard a curious noise by my side, as of something dragging along the ground. i immediately jumped up, and saw a huge snake some ft. long inquisitively looking at me, only half a metre away. i do not know which of us two was more surprised. the snake with sinuous grace moved away from me with gradually accelerated speed, and, passing right under the hammocks of my men, disappeared in the forest behind. taking all things into consideration, that was a night worth remembering. what was worst of all was the fact that, with the excitement and the fatigue, i had forgotten to wind the chronometer at the usual hour of seven o'clock in the evening, and when i woke up startled in the morning, remembering the fact, i found the chronometer had stopped altogether. that was the greatest blow of all, after all the trouble i had taken to keep the greenwich mean time for my observations of longitude. the mishap was not irreparable, as i got the time fairly accurately by using the previous observations at local noon and working out the difference with greenwich mean time. so many had been the obstacles we had found that day that, before reaching the rapid where we had the disaster, we had made a progress of kil. m.--poor work indeed as compared to the wonderful distances we had been able to cover on the first days of our navigation of the arinos river. considering all, however, it was really marvellous that we could cover even that distance, short as it was. chapter xii a tiny globular cloudlet warning us--tossed in a merciless manner--saved by providence--vicious waters--a diabolical spot--a highly dangerous crossing--a terrible channel--more bad rapids--on the verge of a fatal drop down a waterfall--saved in time--a magnificent sight--the august falls--a mutiny--the canoe, weighing , lb., taken across the forest over a hill-range the thermometer that night, july th, showed a minimum of ° f. we repaired the large hole (about ft. in diameter) in the side of the canoe by stuffing it with a pair of my pyjamas, while one or two shirts which i still had left were torn to shreds in order to fill up the huge crack which went from one end of the canoe almost to the other, and which had become opened again in scraping rocks in the rapid. we did not leave that camp until o'clock a.m. an isolated hill was visible on the left bank. we had gone some , m. when we came to another fairly strong rapid. my men were quarrelling among themselves. alcides, who was fond of gesticulating on such occasions, let the steering gear go in order to give more force to his words by waving his hands in the air, regardless of the danger which was in front of us, with the result that the canoe turned a pirouette upon herself and down the rapid we went backwards. the river flowed from that place in an easterly direction for some , m., where a great basin was formed, strewn with rocks and islets and having two large islands in its eastern part. the basin in its widest part had a width of , m. then from that point the river went to ° b.m. for a distance of , m. a strong north-easterly wind was blowing against us, keeping us back and making our work unduly hard. great waves tossed us about and made my men seasick, while we got splashed incessantly, the moisture we absorbed being each time quickly evaporated by the fierce wind. we felt cold and shivery and not particularly happy after the experience of the previous night. benedicto, who had been entrusted during the journey with the baling out of the canoe, was beginning to find his job too much for him--a job which he had volunteered to do at first when the canoe was not leaking. he now said he wanted to paddle and not bale out the water any more. although we used a big bucket for that purpose, benedicto had all his work cut out for him in keeping the canoe only half full of water. several times i remonstrated with him that day, as while i was sitting behind him with the wind blowing hard, he flung most of the water on me instead of back into the stream. i had observed for the last few days a little globular white cloudlet to the north, just above the horizon. every day that cloudlet was to be seen in the very same position, where it remained motionless most of the day upon the otherwise beautifully clear blue sky. that was an indication to me that we must be nearing a great fall of water or an immense rapid, which caused the evaporation of the water to produce it. many were the islands we passed that day, some as much as m. in length. one island, particularly, was picturesque to a degree, with an impressive crown of rock on its westerly side. the river was there some , m. wide--perhaps even more, as i could not quite see how far the bank was to the left of us owing to some islands which stood in the way. a barrier of islands describing a crescent then stood before us, the largest island of that group being m. wide and several kilometres long--belinda island. i did not measure the exact length of this island, as we got into great trouble there in some strong rapids, and i had to leave my notebooks for a moment in order to assist poor benedicto in baling out the water so that we could keep afloat. when our course turned to ° b.m. we came into full view of a high range to the north of us which spread from north-west to south-east. the river had cut its way right through it. we reached a great basin again, , m. broad like its predecessor, with four beautiful islands abreast, and a number of other islands varying from to m. in length behind them, in the centre, while rocks innumerable were scattered about. there was a rapid once more, with a nasty succession of strong whirlpools formed by the deviation of the swift waters encountering the many rocks. [illustration: the upper terrace of the august waterfall.] beyond the rapids we got a full view of the range before us, which extended from ° b.m. to °. we had hardly recovered from negotiating those eddies when we were confronted by yet another strong rapid, impossible to navigate, where we had to let the canoe down by means of ropes. the river here was most picturesque, in great straight stretches from , to , m. in length. some , m. farther down we came to a very bad rapid. my men were extremely tired of unloading and reloading the canoe all the time with the heavy baggage which still remained. they became most ill-tempered when this new rapid appeared before us, blaming me, as it were, for the rapid being there. i told them that if they did not care to unload all they had to do was to shoot the rapid. they quarrelled among themselves. when we got near it my men became terrified. alcides, who was at the steering gear, mentioned the fact that we should all be drowned in a few moments. he became perplexed when we entered the rapid, which tossed the canoe about in a merciless manner. in one place, where the water, driven through with great force along a narrow channel, formed a central wave of great height, the canoe stood up almost vertically on her stern. baggage and men all slid down in a heap. the next thing i saw, when the canoe righted herself, was that we were going down the rapid sideways and at a really vertiginous pace. we managed to clear by a mere hair's-breadth two great rocks which stood in the way. had we struck a rock on that particular occasion we certainly should have all been killed. as luck would have it, before we knew what was happening we were shot into the whirlpool under the rapid, and there we turned round upon ourselves three or four times before my men had recovered from the amazement of finding themselves still alive, and had begun to paddle again after i had told them to do so for the twentieth time. filippe the negro exclaimed: "as long as we come with you, sir, we shall never be killed, but you let us go very near death sometimes!" then they discussed among themselves, saying that i must have some particular mascotte which i carried upon my person and which prevented disaster. the range which was before us to the north-west developed itself into a flat-topped hill mass about ft. above the level of the river. another rapid, fairly violent, was reached some distance beyond, my men this time offering at once, of their own accord, to unload the canoe and take her down carefully with ropes. i pretended not to care, as i wanted to give them a lesson, and said we had better shoot it, as we had done the previous one. "no, no, no, no!" they all said in a chorus; "there is such a thing as tempting providence!" as we got farther down i could perceive that the range extended much farther than i had seen earlier in the day; in fact, from the w.n.w. it spread as far as e.s.e. below the last rapid was an island of great beauty--babin island-- , m. long. the river beyond that island formed two arms, one on each side of a triangular island located in the opening formed in the hill range by the river, where another strong rapid--in fact, a regular small waterfall--was to be found. it was very difficult to keep count of all the islands which we constantly passed--many elongated, others triangular, others rectangular, others of all kinds of irregular shapes. in my note-books i endeavoured to map out the entire course of the river as well as i could, and i think that, considering the amount of other work i had to do and the difficulties encountered all the time, the map i made to the scale of one centimetre to a kilometre is as accurate as it could possibly be made with the means at my command. in places where i was uncertain i have left blanks in the map, and have not gone in for the usual method of certain geographers of filling up the space with all kinds of shadings in order to make it look pretty. we had gone that day kil., the current having been very strong all the time, which made up for the loss of time in dealing with the many rapids. i took altitude observations with the hypsometrical apparatus, water boiling at that spot at ° ½, the temperature of the air being ° f. the minimum temperature during the night of july th was ° f. we began our journey the next morning by going down a bad rapid and across an awe-inspiring whirlpool. there again we had to lead the empty canoe down with ropes, and even so we had difficulty in getting her through safely. we were in a region of immense volcanic domes composed of eroded rock, with many small perforations and large holes or ft. in diameter, highly polished inside as if they had been varnished. those rocks were similar to those i had met in the higher part of the plateau of matto grosso. some of the holes in the rock had been enlarged to a great extent by the water of the river revolving inside them. after we had passed the great whirlpool we found many curious mounds of sand ft. high among great masses of lava and eruptive rock. those mounds were formed by musical sand such as we had met before. we called it in this particular place "moaning sand," as instead of whistling as usual it produced a wailing sound like the cry of a hungry puppy. on the right side of the stream we came to an important tributary m. wide; m. lower down another strong rapid was reached. i was greatly amused to see how my men now invariably pulled up the canoe when we perceived a rapid and unloaded her, carefully taking her down with ropes. one man, nevertheless, had to be in the canoe to steer her. alcides always volunteered to take the job. [illustration: interesting geological formation below the salto augusto.] two hundred metres below this rapid the river turned a sharp corner. there we met one of the most dangerous rapids and whirlpool i have ever seen. it was quite awe-inspiring to look at those vicious waters, the water in the vortex being raised like a wall two or three feet higher than the greatest waves of the rapid by the force with which it revolved. the entire river--which, as we have seen, was in some places , m. wide--was now squeezed through a narrow cut in the hill range, two great arms of water joining directly above that spot. the water was naturally forced through that small opening at an incredible pace. the high vertical rocks at the side of the small channel which was there formed made it extremely difficult to take the canoe down by ropes, especially as the summit of those rocks was much cut up, and we, above, could not keep pace with the canoe as she floated swiftly down the rapid. by fastening together a lot of ropes which we had removed from round the different packages we just managed to make them long enough to undertake the dangerous task. the hill range, a section of which could be seen at that spot, clearly showed that it was made up of gigantic blocks piled on the top of one another up to a height of ft. at high water the river level must reach--as was evident by the erosion and other signs upon those rocks--nearly to the summit of the range; in fact, when i climbed to the top i found plenty of débris among the rocks, undoubtedly left there by the stream. on the north side the range was made up entirely of gigantic slabs of lava some ft. thick and lying at an angle of ° with a dip northward. on the south side of the range i had found, instead, great boulders which had evidently travelled there and were much eroded. it can easily be understood that when the water rose it must be held up by the hill range, and form a big lake. we wasted an entire day trying to find a way to take the canoe over the hills, as we did not dare risk sending her down by water. my men were positively disheartened and on the verge of revolt, as they contended that it was all my fault that i had taken them to a diabolical place like that. i plainly told them that if i gave them such high wages it was because i knew there was a great deal of risk, as i had explained to them at the beginning of the expedition, and i expected them to do some hard work in return. "but," said the philosopher of the party, "what is the use of money to us if after working hard for months and months we are going to be killed?" i told them that that was not the moment to argue, but to act; if they followed my orders closely, perhaps we might all escape alive. alcides, who was certainly a hard worker, although not always in the right direction, had a nasty accident that day and cut his foot badly on the sharp rocks. he was practically incapacitated for work, as he could only stand on one leg, the other leg being contracted with the really ghastly injury. this was ill-luck, as our strength combined was not sufficient for the work we had to do, and now the loss of one man--the best of my followers--was an extra trial at the most inopportune moment. the canoe, too, was in a wretched condition after all the many accidents we had had, and we possessed no more tar, and could spare no more clothes, to stop up the leakages which were now plentiful all over her bottom. the day of july st was thus absolutely lost. i was on the verge of abandoning the canoe there altogether and attempting to get down along the banks of the river on foot--which would have been almost suicidal, as we never could have reached a place of safety. night came. at sunset we had the usual concert of mosquitoes, all kinds of insects and frogs, in such innumerable quantities that the din made by them collectively was so loud as to resemble the sound of an iron foundry or a battle-ship in course of construction, the sounds produced by the millions of nocturnal singers being quite metallic and reproducing exactly the sound of hammers driving rivets into the steel plates of a ship. whether it was done purposely or accidentally i do not know, but those little water creatures of the arinos seemed to keep excellent time, their vigour also being most enviable. on august st we had a minimum temperature of ° f. during the night. i still saw that it was out of the question to endeavour to take the canoe over the immense boulders and over the hill range. one faint hope, involving very great danger, loomed in my mind. if we could only cross the river just above the fearsome channel we could perhaps on the other side take down the canoe by water. this plan required great smartness, as, had we miscalculated the speed of the river and the rate at which we could travel across that dangerous water, it would surely mean certain death. i spoke to my men about it. they said they were ready to go. i explained to them that they must paddle their hardest and not give way for a second until we had got diagonally across the fairly still waters only a few yards above the awful channel. should we by misfortune be dragged into that channel by the current we might as well say good-bye to the world. when we started on that job we risked everything. my men behaved splendidly that day. they paddled and paddled for all they were worth, to get across the hundred metres or so, and took the best part of half an hour in the formidable current. for a moment, when the canoe was in the centre where the current was strongest and we were making no headway, i saw a bad look-out for us. i urged them on with shouts of "_rema! rema!_" (row! row!) and at last, in a desperate effort, the canoe once more moved forward. it was a relief indeed when men and baggage were safely landed on the opposite side. all were so exhausted that for a couple of hours it was out of the question to resume work. i occupied that time in taking observations for altitude and longitude, tortured to death as usual by the innumerable bees and _piums_. (lat. ° '· s.; long. ° ' w.) the temperature in the sun was ° f. the red and black volcanic rocks radiated such heat that we were nearly stifled in the enclosed basin which was formed by the hill range. in the afternoon we began with the second part of the dangerous task of endeavouring to take the canoe through the current in a north-easterly direction. the channel in that cut was m. long and only m. wide. the rock was laminated in layers ft. thick, which had been subsequently baked into a solid mass. the lower portion, of beautiful black and quite shiny, threw up by contrast the vivid red colour of the upper part. [illustration: the salto augusto (upper terrace).] we had an exciting time when we started the canoe with ropes down that rapid. we ran with bare feet upon the sharp broiling rocks. we could not possibly stand on them with our shoes on. we ran along for all we were worth, in order to prevent the canoe escaping. we climbed up and down great cuts from to ft. high in the rock, never letting go the ropes. our agility that day was remarkable. even poor alcides, whose foot i had wrapped up with a piece of my shirt, was coming along pluckily, regardless of the pain which he certainly suffered. once or twice, when we remained slightly behind in that awful race, the canoe nearly pulled us into the water from our high point on the rocks some to ft. above. those m. of channel seemed miles long to us. eventually, the canoe was brought out safely at the other end. with bleeding feet and hands we returned once more to our point of departure in order to convey all our baggage upon our backs. after two or three journeys backwards and forwards we were able to proceed a short distance down the river, where we could find a suitable camping-place to rest our weary bones for the night. on leaving the rapids the river took a direction of ° b.m. there was a high hill to the east and another, equally high, to the west. the chain of hills seen from the north showed much erosion in the centre, where the rock was exposed underneath. on the south side the upper portion of the hill range consisted of a vertical rocky cliff in strata each ft. thick. another cut, more unpleasant even than ours, had been made by the river in that same range to the north-east of that through which we had taken the canoe. an island of rock rose between those cuts. a few hundred metres below the mouth of that ugly channel we found an extensive beach, on which we made our camp for the night. the minimum temperature during the night of august nd was ° f. when we landed the men were proceeding to cut down the foliage on the edge of the forest, so as to be able to hang their hammocks, when they became greatly excited on discovering several nests of _maribondos_ (hornets), graceful cones of a parchment-like material enclosing a number of superposed discs from one to three inches in diameter and about a quarter of an inch apart. each disc had a perforation in order to let the dwellers in those little homes pass from one chamber to another from the highest of the cone down to the lowest in the apex. when we left at . in the morning and had gone but , m., the river suddenly described a sharp angle and at that point went through a narrow neck. afterwards it widened once more to an average breadth of m., which it kept for a distance of kil. in a straight line, the channel being there quite clear of rocks and the water beautifully smooth. the river was indeed lovely in that part. i had a little more time there to look round at the scenery on either side of us. i noticed that rubber was still to be found, but in small quantities in that region. rubber trees were only to be seen every now and then. looking back to the south and south-west on the range of hills we had left behind, i could see that it extended far to the north-west. the highest part of it, however, seemed to be near the point where we had negotiated the dangerous rapid. we had gone no more than , m., when we came to another bad rapid over a barrier of rock across the river from north-east to south-west. a tributary m. wide at the mouth occurred on the right just before this rapid. beautiful trees of great height, with yellow ball-like blooms, enlivened the scenery as we went along. we had little time to appreciate the beauty of the vegetation--we were too busy with the river. no sooner had we got through one rapid than we came to another alarming one, with a sudden drop of over ft. and enormous volumes of water pouring over it. this rapid described an arc of a circle, forming an awe-inspiring whirlpool below the actual fall. we had some trouble in finding a place where we could get the canoe through. eventually, with water up to our necks, we let her gradually down the high step in the middle of the river, we standing with great difficulty on submerged rocks. we had then to make several journeys backwards and forwards to convey the various loads to the canoe after we had brought her to a place of safety, our baggage having been left on rocks in mid-stream. this was extremely risky work, for the current was powerful and the water reached in some places up to our necks. i was anxious for the men who could not swim, as i was afraid any moment they might be washed away, and not only should i lose them but also the valuable instruments, photographic plates, etc., which they were conveying across. again that day i had seen since the early morning our friend the little white solitary cloudlet, standing out motionless against the otherwise speckless blue sky. not only that, but on that particular day i could just perceive, directly under that cloudlet, a faint column of white mist connecting it vertically with the ground. i knew by that sign that we could not be far off a big waterfall; in fact, i could hear a distant rumble which made me suspect that we were much nearer than we supposed. the river was flowing to ° b.m. two other rapids--most violent--were reached within a short distance of each other; then, shortly beyond these obstacles, where the river described a graceful turn, we had before us a great surprise. we heard a loud roar like thunder; it had been getting louder and louder, and grew quite deafening when we turned round the corner. behold! we had no more scenery upon the horizon before us on the river, but the sky came right down to the water. great clouds of mist rose up in quick succession in graceful circles. there was an island in the centre of the stream; then to the left of the island the sky again came right down to the water. there a curious effect was to be seen, a high pointed cone of water shooting up skyward with terrific force, then rolling upon itself only to give way to another cone of water succeeding it. [illustration: foliated rock below the august falls.] my men were terrified when they suddenly realized the danger which was only a few hundred metres in front of us. there was a mighty waterfall. when my men got excited it was generally troublesome, because they always disagreed and started quarrelling and insulting one another. some of them wanted to land at once, for fear of being dragged down the fall. alcides--who wanted to show his bravery on all occasions--said there was no danger at all and we could go in the canoe right as far as the edge of the fall. the others naturally got somewhat scared at so foolhardy a project. personally i did not like to say a word in the matter, for fear they should think that i was afraid. i saw with some concern that alcides--whose mind, i believe, was not quite right owing to the hardships we had endured of late--was steering us right for the centre of the waterfall. i told him that it would be preferable to land on the edge of the waterfall rather than go over it, as it was a little too high for the canoe to tumble over. i calculated the height of the fall from to ft., and i was not far wrong, for when i took accurate measurements i found the actual height was ft. we were beginning to drift very speedily with the current, when alcides, realizing the danger, steered us toward the right bank. the men paddled for their lives so as to land as quickly as possible, as we were now less than a hundred metres from the portentous jump. the current was terrific, and the canoe was floating sideways nearer and nearer the awful chasm. the coast line on the right, was almost vertical, and there was no place where we could hold on to anything and land. so down floated the canoe, my men horror-stricken. once or twice they were able to seize a creeping vine hanging down the steep bank, endeavouring to stop the canoe's headlong career. but the creepers gave way and crashed down upon us, nearly turning over the canoe at the moment just before they snapped. so down, down we went, until we were now only a few metres from the fatal drop, and i saw no way of arresting the canoe. "estamos perdidos!" (we are lost!) shouted the men. "not yet! not yet!" i exclaimed, as i perceived two rocks just sticking out of the water. "make for the rocks!" i shouted to alcides, and just as we shaved past them i jumped quickly on one of the rocks, holding the canoe, while two of the men also jumped out quickly and held fast to the boat--just in time. we were only or m. from the place where the water curled over and rolled down the fall. there was no time for arguing or scolding. upon those rocks my men, who were fond of talking, started a brisk war of words, saying that they would never continue the journey if alcides were allowed to steer again. alcides, on the other hand, whose only aim in life was to fight everybody and everything, invited all the other men to a duel with their rifles. i told them they could have the duel after we had finished the journey and not before. we must take the ropes, climb up to the top of the bank, and, first of all, we must tow the canoe back to a place of safety. after a great deal of shouting, angry words and oaths, absolutely deadened by the thundering roar of the waterfall, they took out the ropes and eventually towed the canoe back. as soon as that was done i went with my camera to gaze at the beautiful sight and photograph it from different points--a job which was not easy, as the waterfall was so encased between vertical rocky walls (foliated in horizontal strata, which varied in thickness from a quarter of an inch to one foot) that it was impossible to get far enough back to obtain a full view of it. that fall, called the august fall, was indeed a grand sight. as i have already said, it was divided into two separate falls, between which was an island with a great spur of rock forming a wall between the two cascades. the water flowed over that wall in graceful steps. the fall on the right side of which i stood was in two immense horseshoe-shaped terraces. the continuation of those terraces on each side of the great flow of water formed tiers of red and black volcanic rock lying in horizontal strata so regular as to be not unlike a gigantic etruscan amphitheatre. the upper tier of the fall on the right formed an arc not less than m. in periphery. the lower crescent formed an arc m. in length. upon this lower terrace the rebounding waters were thrown up with great force into the air--the spray forming numerous rainbows in the sun--only to drop down once more in most contorted, diabolical curves, boiling and roaring in their endeavour to force their way through that positive inferno. as the water came down in great volumes over those two crescents it met once more in the centre in a mighty clash, being flung up at a tremendous height in the air. i do not know that i have ever seen such a fearsome sight, or that i have ever seen water rush with such force anywhere before. it seemed a pity that there was no one to harness that waterfall and use the enormous power it could generate. on the left side of the river also the waterfall made an amphitheatre of rock somewhat smaller than the right fall. down below, at the foot of this, it formed huge masses of white foam, above which profuse spray rose up like a heavy mist. just beyond was disclosed a diabolical whirlpool, far beyond words to describe, which extended--as white as snow with the amount of foam it carried, twisting and retwisting in a thousand circles on the surface--for over m. from the lower step of the waterfall. i measured the height of the fall with a string. the exact height of the upper terrace was m. cm.; the height of the lower terrace, m. cm.--or a total height of m. cm. i also took the differential height with the several aneroids i possessed, and the elevation with the boiling-point thermometers above the fall and below, with a result of ft. for the actual height of the fall. [illustration: the wooden railway constructed by author in order to take the canoe overland for two and a half kilometres at the august falls.] [illustration: formation of rock below the august falls.] one fact was certain, and that was that the canoe could not possibly go down by water. there was only one way to get out of that difficulty; that was by taking the canoe overland until we could find a navigable spot in the river down below. to make things worse, there was a hill range on the right bank of the river, on which we were. i must find a way to make the canoe go over that hill range--that was all. the canoe, i might remind the reader, was ft. long and ½ ft. wide, of heavy solid wood, her bottom being over a foot thick, her sides from to in. in thickness, her stern and prow, roughly carved out, of great thickness also. i calculated her weight at over , lb., which was well under her actual weight. i spoke to my men, and told them that we must take the canoe over the hill range. they had been very morose since our arrival at that spot, as they expected me to give ourselves up for lost when we came to what they believed to be an insuperable obstacle. they mutinied at once and took to their rifles, saying that they would not follow a lunatic any farther, a man who asked them to take a canoe over a hill. "do you not know," said one of them to me, with a fierce grin of contempt upon his face, "that canoes are made for the water and not to travel over mountains?" "do you not know," shouted alcides, shaking his fist, "that it would take a hundred strong men to lift that canoe one inch above the water?--and we, including you, are only seven men, tired and worn.... you believe that because you are english you can do what you like. you will next ask the moon to come and row in our canoe so that we may get along! you have gone insane." "yes, he is mad!" they all said in a chorus. "we want the balance of our pay and we will leave you at once. give us our money and we will go--we want to go." i told them that they could have their money as soon as the canoe had gone over the hill and down the other side, and certainly not before. they could shoot me if they liked, but that would not help them very much, as i knew the way to get on and they did not. if they shot me they would perhaps die of starvation themselves soon. i agreed that it was a beautiful spot to die in, and perhaps they could hasten their departure by jumping into the fall, and thus end all the hardships, and, at least, arguments. after those words, which i had spoken with gentleness, i turned, and--for the first time since they had been with me--in a stern tone of voice i ordered filippe and antonio to take their big knives and proceed to cut down ten or twelve of the straightest trees they could find. they refused. i quietly walked to the rifle which i generally used for shooting game, and inserted in it a clip of five cartridges. i cocked the rifle, and, placing my watch before me on a stone, gave the men five minutes to decide whether they would cut the trees or be shot. i also said that if any of them moved their rifles they would have a bullet put through them. filippe and antonio dropped their rifles on the ground, reluctantly took the knives and walked away, i pointing out to them the tall trees which i wanted cut. i then ordered alcides to take one of the axes and cut thirty rollers, each about ft. long. the men were silent and yellow-faced with rage. the trees in that region were easily cut down. after a few minutes down came a tree with a crash, and shortly after another. i walked to the men and patted them on the back, assuring them again that if they obeyed my orders we should soon proceed on our journey and should certainly arrive safely at a point where they could return home and be happy. alcides thereupon turned round asking me whether i intended them to cut down the entire forest and then request them to pierce a tunnel through the hill range--or perhaps i might want the whole hill range flattened down for my convenience! i paid no attention, but ordered him to cut sixty rollers instead of thirty. i had to keep a sharp watch on my men that day, and i had fully decided, if any disobedience took place, i would shoot them. i think they thoroughly realized that, because they carried out all my instructions to the letter. when that job was done i explored the district carefully, in order to discover which was the easiest point over which the canoe could be made to climb the hill range. having found a way which i thought suitable, i myself took one of the large knives, and ordered the other men to come with me with all the implements we could use in order to clear a sufficiently wide road through which the canoe could pass. this work lasted many hours, and was certainly trying. on august rd we worked the entire day, from sunrise until seven in the evening, cutting a way through the forest. then, when we had done that, i constructed, with the longer trees we had cut down, a small railway from the water, where the canoe was. i used the rollers on these rails made of the smoothest trees i could find. when my men grasped the idea--of which they had never dreamed--they became very excited and in a good humour. they worked extremely hard. it was a portentous effort to get the canoe on to the first roller, but once we had got her on the first and second and third rollers, and were able to lift her stern out of the water with levers and pieces of wood we gradually placed under her, she began to move along on the rollers with comparative ease. we moved the rails in front as we went along, and all went well until we got to the foot of the hill. there the trouble began: first of all because it was difficult to keep the rollers in position on the rails; then also because the moment we started to push the canoe up the hill she would slide back almost as far as, and sometimes farther than, we had pushed her up. by a judicious use of ropes which we made fast to trees on either side, and by a careful study of the laws of leverage, we managed to push up the canoe a few inches at a time. we had some narrow escapes once or twice, when the ropes, under the excessive strain, snapped, and the canoe slid down again, dragging us with her. one tree, to which one of the ropes was fastened, broke, and in its fall just missed killing a man. when once we had begun pushing the canoe up that hill we could not leave her for a moment, as she would at once proceed to slide back on the rollers. fourteen hours' incessant hard work saw us and the canoe on the top of the hill. from there we had before us a very steep descent of some ft., the first ft. almost vertical. my men all looked at me in a most inquisitive way in order to find out how i should manage to hold the canoe when we let her down that steep incline. i had fastened some pieces of wood vertically at her stern, which, by scraping on the ground, would hold her to a certain extent. then, with all the ropes we possessed we made her fast to the trees as we went along, and let her slide gently, the weight of the canoe being such that deep grooves were actually cut into the trees as the ropes unwound themselves. [illustration: photograph showing the road cut by author across the forest in order to take the heavy canoe overland.] we were only half-way down that incline when one tree broke. the canoe gave a leap on one side, knocking down antonio and the man x, the jerk immediately after breaking another tree on the opposite side. off went the canoe down the hill in her mad career, knocking some of us down, dragging the others, who were holding on to her. two or three men were badly thrown about, but fortunately no broken bones were recorded. the canoe by that time had, in great leaps, reached nearly the bottom of the hill, but had got so jammed between a rock and a big tree that it required several hours' hard work with our axes and knives in order to disentangle her. the shock, however, had been too great for the rickety canoe. i became anxious, for i feared she might split in two at any time, and i had no way of repairing her properly. when we got to the water again i patched her up as best i could with improvised nails which i made from pieces of hard wood. with great yells of excitement from my men we launched her once more in the river. my men boasted how clever they had been to take the heavy canoe over the hill. there was really nothing brazilians could not do when they wished! those forty hours of steady hard work out of the forty-eight hours we had stopped at the falls had seen us over that obstacle, and we were now ready to proceed once more by water. we had suffered a great deal during those terrible hours from the bees, mosquitoes, hornets, _piums_, ants, and all kinds of other insects which stung us all over. a glance at the photographs which illustrate this volume, of the canoe being taken across the forest, will show all my men--i, naturally, not appearing, as i was taking the photographs--with their heads wrapped up in towels, notwithstanding the great heat, in order to avoid the unbearable torture as much as possible. the minimum temperature during the night of august rd had been ° f.; during the night of august th ° f. during the day the temperature was ° f. in the shade, but the air was quite stifling, as the sky was overcast with heavy clouds. i took careful observations for latitude and longitude in order to fix exactly the position of the great falls. the latitude was ° '· s.; the longitude ° ' w. the whirlpool and eddies which extended for , m. below the great fall were formidable. never in my life have i seen waters so diabolical. they filled one absolutely with terror as one looked at them. the river flowed there to bearings magnetic °; then to ° b.m. for , m., where it was comparatively smooth. to the south-east of us was a hill range fully ft. high. what appeared to me to be a small tributary seemed to enter the river on the left, but my men were so tired that i did not cross over to the other side in order to make certain. on looking behind us i could see that the hill range at the fall extended from north-west to south-east, while another smaller hill range, only ft. above the level of the river, stretched from north to south on the left of the stream. the river was m. wide. we went no more than , m. that day. chapter xiii a double whirlpool--incessant rapids of great magnitude--a dangerous channel--nothing to eat--another disaster we had halted on a lovely island--adelaide island--with a rocky and sandy extension. the night of august th had been stifling, with a minimum temperature of ° f. i found my work too much for me now. there was too much to observe on all sides. we were travelling quickly with the swift current. a hill range from east to west, ft. high, ran along the left bank. farther, where the river went to the north-east for , m., laminated rock like slate showed through the left bank, especially in a semicircular indentation which had been eroded by the water. there a strong whirlpool had formed. another great stretch of river, , m., was now before us, with a small hill ft. high on the right bank. the river next formed a circular basin with three islets and a barrier m. across. we were now in a region where, fortunately for us, _castanheiro_ trees (_vulgo._ the "para chestnut") were to be found. fish was scarce in the river. now that we had almost superhuman work to accomplish, our meals were extremely scanty owing to the loss of our provisions, and we had not sufficient food to keep up our strength. as we went on i saw to the north-east of us another hill-range ft. high, extending from north-west to south-east, like most of the ranges found in that region. where a prominent headland stood on the left side, with a hill ft. high upon it, the river turned to ° b.m. the hill was made up of foliated rock lying in strata that varied from one inch to one foot in thickness. on the right side of the stream great cubic blocks of rock rested on the polished curves of a huge dome of granite. a quantity of débris stretched from south to north right across the basin, and caused a deviation in the stream. [illustration: conveying the canoe across the forest on an improvised railway and rollers.] a terrific rapid with a sheer drop of ft. was situated here. a double whirlpool of great magnitude was formed at the bottom of the rapid, the water revolving with such force that the concavity was gradually depressed for some ft. and had a great hole in each centre. we shot that rapid. as alcides on that occasion followed my instructions, the canoe shot past between the two whirlpools, and although even then she nearly capsized, we were able to continue, my men shrieking with merriment at what they now believed to be their invulnerability. we dodged the unpleasant eddies while we floated with great speed in the strong current. the river, which had contracted that day to m., now expanded once more into a large basin , m. wide and , m. long, with most troublesome eddies as we went through it. the river described a great turn from n.n.e. to ° b.m. or due south. to add to the pleasures of our existence, we came in for a heavy rain-storm that day, with deafening thunder and blinding lightning. notwithstanding the great discomfort it caused us, it pleased me very much because of the wonderful effects of light it produced on the river. where the stream, in a course which had wriggled like a snake, turned once more due north to ° b.m., it divided itself into two small channels. high waves were produced where the water, pushed by the wind, was forced against the rapid. there was a good drop in the level of the river at that rapid, and it was a nasty place indeed for us to go through. we got tossed about, splashed all over, but we came out of it all the same, amid the wildly excited yells of my men. they were beginning to think that they were the greatest navigators that had ever lived, and they never let an opportunity pass of reminding each other of that fact. i halted in the middle of the day to take the usual observations for latitude and longitude (lat. ° '· s.; long. ° ' w.), but i was interrupted in my work by another heavy rain-storm, which came and drenched us once more. after that dense clouds as black as ink covered the entire sky for the whole afternoon. we were now in the rainy season. terrific gusts preceded these rain-storms, and were most troublesome to us. after negotiating the bad rapids, the river went through a basin of boulders of broken foliated rock. there were three small channels. then beyond, the entire river was forced through a rocky channel from to m. wide, the water rushing through with incredible force on a steep gradient until half-way down the channel, where it actually ran uphill for m. or so, so great was the impetus it had received on its rapid descent to that point. you can well imagine what a pleasant job it was for us to convey the canoe along with ropes over so delightful a spot. owing to our insufficient food, our strength had greatly diminished. the ropes we had used on the many rapids were now half-rotted and tied up in innumerable knots. moreover, the banks of sharp cutting rock were of great height, and our ropes were not long enough to be used separately, so that we decided to use only one long rope made up of all the ropes we possessed tied together. to make matters more difficult, the channel was not perfectly straight, but described two or three sharp corners, where the water was thrown with much vigour in one direction, then, being driven off immediately at a different angle, curled over itself, producing mountains of foaming water forty or fifty feet in height, and leaving great depressions near the inner corner. we cut down some long poles, and i placed one man with a big pole on guard at each corner close to the water, in order to push the canoe away toward the middle of the stream in case she came too near those dangerous points. that channel was some m. long. when we were ready we let the canoe go, all spare hands holding fast to the rope, running and scrambling up and down and along the high rocky cliff, the canoe giving us violent jerks when the direction of the current was changed. with much alarm we saw her spring up in the air like a flying-fish on one or two occasions. we ran along like mad, out of breath and sweating, trying to keep ahead of the canoe. the two men with poles also ran along after the danger points were passed, so as to shove her along when she came too near other dangerous rocks. after a race of great excitement, we all, with bleeding feet and hands--the palms of our hands actually blistered by the rope which slid through our tightly closed fists--were eventually able to pull the canoe safely on shore below the rapid. in that mad flight i found time to pull out the camera for one second and take a snapshot of the canoe in the middle of the rapid. the photograph is reproduced among the illustrations of this volume. my men were so tired that it was impossible to go on. moreover we had before us the second section of that formidable rapid, and we could not negotiate this without emptying the canoe, which was full of water, and readjusting the rope. we spent the night of august th on those rocks, the minimum temperature being ° f. when we went on with our dangerous work the next morning we had the greatest difficulty in saving the canoe, as in entering the whirlpool she was swamped, and it was all we could do to pull her back towards the bank before she foundered altogether. the actual drop in that rapid was not less than ft. vertically. we just managed to rest her on a submerged rock until we were able to bale some of the water out. that canoe was really wonderful in a way. my men patted her on the prow as if she had been an animal, and said she was a good canoe. indeed she was, but in her old age she felt the strain of that exciting journey. every time i looked at her i did not know how much longer she might last. whatever may be said of them, my men must be given credit for their courage in going along in that canoe. i do not believe that there are six other men in brazil--or perhaps in any other country--who would have ventured to go across even the most placid pond in a similar craft. after the rapids came a great basin , m. long, m. wide. there the river described an angle from ° b.m. to ° b.m., and we perceived two parallel ranges before us to the n.n.e., the farther one much higher than the one nearer. some kil. beyond was yet another rapid, but not so troublesome a one this time. the river there diverged from north-east to a direction due west. a hill range, from to ft. high, extended from w.s.w. to e.n.e. an isolated hill, ft. high, could be seen to the e.n.e. we suffered agony that day from regular clouds of _borrachudos_, terrible little sand mosquitoes which made life an absolute burden in that region. our faces, arms, and legs were a mass of ink-black marks left by the stings of those vicious brutes. particularly when our hands were occupied in holding the canoe going down rapids, or busy with dangerous jobs, did swarms of those little rascals attack us with indomitable fury. [illustration: pushing the canoe uphill through the forest. (notice men with heads wrapped owing to torturing insects.)] another basin was met, m. wide, quite shallow, and with rapids over a barrier of rock extending across it from south-west to north-east. that barrier was most interesting, because in many places great lava-flows were visible; in other places masses of ferruginous rock could be observed, with most extraordinary patterns upon them--triangles, rectangles, trapeziums, and all kinds of other angular geometrical patterns, such as we had met before on the high plateau of matto grosso. we stopped in the middle of the day on an island , m. long, from which we obtained a fine view of the hill range looming before us from w.s.w. to e.n.e. on the right bank. i was having great trouble with my chronometer, which the many jerks, falls, and baths did not seem to improve. i checked it whenever i could by observations of local time and by other watches which i carried. but all my instruments were beginning to feel the effects of that journey very much. the wonder to me was that they had got so far in as good condition as they were, considering all we had gone through. our lunch was speedy, as we had nothing to eat. the moment i had finished my observations for latitude and longitude we started off once more, my men keeping their eyes all the time on the forest on the look-out for nut-trees, the river that day giving us no fish at all. within ten minutes we had shot two powerful rapids, and in one place went over a dangerous submerged wall of rock extending across the river from e.s.e. to w.n.w. the men--very hungry--were extremely quarrelsome that day and insulting to one another. the canoe went broadside down a rapid we met, the men gesticulating instead of paddling along as they should have done. with a great bump we stuck with a heavy list to starboard on a rock in the middle of the rapid, and presently the canoe was filled with water. had we not stuck fast on that rock we certainly should have capsized. the water was baled out in due course, the canoe was floated once more. soon afterwards another strong rapid, with a _pedraria_ extending right across the stream from s.s.w. to n.n.e., gave us endless trouble. i warned alcides to get us alongside some rocks in order that we might let the canoe down with ropes, as the rapid, with a sheer drop of over ft., looked too dangerous for us to shoot it. but alcides was furious with the other men, and in order to punish them steered the canoe into the most dangerous part of the rapid. a second later the canoe, at an angle of °, was swept away down the foaming current along the slant of the rapid, which extended there for about m. the channel was a most intricate one, with rocks scattered all over it, so that it was absolutely impossible for the canoe, with her great length, to go through without having an accident. as we shaved a big rock in the middle of the rapid, and i saw the canoe steering straight for another big rock in front, i knew disaster was imminent, and leapt out on the rock. so frequently was it necessary for me to do so, that i had become quite an expert at jumping, and had acquired almost the agility of a monkey. alcides, too, seeing the danger, also tried to follow my example, but unfortunately missed his footing and was swept away by the current. i just managed to seize him before he disappeared for good, and dragged him safely on to the rock. in the meantime the canoe had swung with great vigour and struck the big rock sideways, smashing her side and filling at once with water. all the baggage was swamped; only a portion of the canoe aft remained above the water, many of our things being washed away altogether. there she stuck, fortunately for us. with considerable danger we managed to undo the ropes which were fastened to her stern. after several hours of hard work--and of extreme peril for the men who could not swim, as we had to work all the time with the water up to our necks in a powerful current, which made it most difficult to keep our footing--we succeeded in pulling her off and taking her alongside the bank. that disaster was rather a serious one for us, as it injured many of my instruments, particularly the aneroids; but i considered myself fortunate in managing to save all the photographs and notebooks as well as the instruments for taking astronomical observations, which were kept in airtight cases. i lost my favourite pair of shoes, which were by my side in the canoe when i jumped out. as it so frequently happened that we had to jump into the water--in fact, we spent more time in the water than out--i had adopted as a costume my pyjamas, under which i always wore the belt with the heavy packages of money. the paper money--a very considerable sum--had with the many baths become a solid mass. i could not well spread the banknotes out in the sun to dry, as i did not wish my men to know how much i possessed; so that for many, many weeks i had around my waist those heavy leather wallets soaked in water, my natural heat not being quite sufficient to dry them. we had worked in the stream until nearly midnight. we had nothing to eat when we had finished our work, and the result was that the next morning my men were still tired. two of my cameras were by my side when the canoe was swamped, one containing eighteen plates, the other twelve, all of which had been exposed. the cameras, being heavy, remained at the bottom of the canoe and were saved, but the bath did not do them good. i did not want to lose the plates, so there was only one course to follow, and that was to develop them while they were still wet. while my men slept i sat up a good portion of the night developing all those plates--quite successfully too--and trying to clean and fix up the cameras again for use the next day. one of my other cameras had been destroyed previously by one of my men, who sat on it, and of course smashed it to pieces. another camera, which was still in excellent condition, having been in an air-tight case, was rather too big to be used for the work in going down the rapids. during the night of august th the minimum temperature was ° f. [illustration: conveying the canoe, weighing , lb., over a hill range--the descent.] i worked the entire morning with alcides, trying to mend the poor canoe. the hole which had been made in her side was so big that alcides could insert his head into it with great ease. it was not until two o'clock in the afternoon that we started once more. along the river, which flowed in that particular section to the south-west, was a hill range on the north-west. the range rose ft. above the level of the river. we had gone only some , m. when we came to another bad rapid stretching across the river from south-east to north-west. we were in a hilly region, hills being visible all along the stream. soon afterwards we came to another powerful fall over a vertical rocky wall extending from north-west to south-east. such redoubtable waves were produced there by the force of the water shooting over and then rebounding upwards, that we had to use the greatest care in letting down the unloaded canoe. at one moment she was more than two-thirds out of the water, only her stern resting on the top of the fall, the rest projecting outward in the air for some moments until she dropped down again. since the day we had taken the canoe over the hill range at the august falls, i had doubled my men's salaries--although their original salaries were already many times higher than they would receive from brazilian employers. i fully recognized that the work was hard, and i wished to encourage them in every possible way. next, the river went through a narrow gorge, only m. wide, where the current was mighty strong. high volcanic rocks stood on the right side of us. when we emerged from the narrow neck, which measured some m. in length, we found powerful whirlpools. farther on the river once more went through a bad narrow passage, to m. wide, with a succession of rapids--extremely unpleasant--for a length of m. my men were in great form that day, and we shot one rapid after another in fine style, alcides--for a change--being amenable to reason and following my instructions, which carried us through that dangerous section without mishap. the stream uruguatos entered the arinos just above the latter rapids. that day was indeed a trying one for us. another narrow channel, m. wide, was reached, along the m. length of which we proceeded with great caution. then a big basin spread out before us, where the current and eddies were terrific. the bottom of the river was mostly rocky, with great holes and depressions which caused the water to rotate in all directions. in some places amidst the foaming waters could be seen great circles of leaden-looking water, as still as oil. it was in a similar place in the niagara whirlpool that the famous swimmer, captain webb, disappeared for ever. we saw thousands of those places on the arinos. the line of the banks on both sides was extremely rocky. in front of us we had a hill with extensive campos on its northerly slope. then we came to the next rapid. we had endless trouble in this rapid, followed by a second one, practically a continuation of the first. for , m. the navigation was extremely dangerous. we unloaded and reloaded the canoe dozens of times that day, although the work of taking the baggage over on our heads was not so troublesome now, as we had very little baggage left. but if we had not much, it was still the heaviest cases which remained. all together they weighed between five and six hundred pounds. the river ran beside a range of hills on the left side. when we halted, exhausted, late at night we had travelled that day the meagre distance of , m. my men killed two large spider monkeys, which supplied them with a meal. i could not touch them, as the monkeys looked too human for words. it made me positively ill to see one of my men biting with great gusto at an arm and hand which had been roasted on the flames, and which looked exactly like a portion of a human corpse. the smell, too, of the roasted monkeys was similar to the odour of roasted human beings--which i knew well, as i had on several previous occasions been at rough cremations of people in japan, in the himahlya (or himalayas), and in africa. chapter xiv in the hands of providence--a mutiny--another mutiny--foodless--hard and dangerous work--a near approach to hades--making an artificial channel among thousands of boulders--an awe-inspiring scene--the fall of s. simão--a revolt we all slept soundly that night, i taking good care to fasten the canoe well, so that we should not find her gone next morning. we had a minimum temperature of ° f. on the night of august th. in the morning my men killed another big monkey, with the most human face i have ever seen on a quadruman--just like a negro's countenance. it came very near us in its curiosity to see what we were doing, and, though shot at several times, remained there watching us, as it had never heard the report of a rifle before. when it fell down it put its hand on the wound across its chest and cried just like a child. i moved away while my men banged it on the head to finish it off. [illustration: author's canoe being made to travel across the forest.] after a hearty breakfast on the part of my men--my own being limited to a small box of sardines, some twenty or thirty boxes still remaining in my supply of provisions--we resumed our journey down the troublesome rapid. we had to do that with ropes, alcides, with his extraordinary way of thinking, actually going to the trouble of shifting a big rock out of the water, which took him the best part of an hour, rather than let the canoe go round it--in absolutely placid waters in that particular spot. i let him do it rather than have a quarrel, as i firmly believed that in consequence of the great hardships his brain had slightly lost its balance. after that, strong eddies were again experienced at first, but, for some , m. beyond, the water looked beautiful and as placid as possible. the river was now flowing mostly in a northerly direction or with slight deviations, chiefly to the east. we came to a most wonderful island with a spur of lava on its southern side, in the shape of a dome, and highly glazed. on each side of that island was a waterfall of some beauty. the eastern channel was only m. wide, and the water fell over a wall of rock some ft. high. where this wall projected above the foaming water the shiny black carbonized rock showed a number of small grottoes in its horizontal strata, and a number of funnels like volcanic vents. the north-westerly and broader channel had three successive rapids, the central one some ½ ft. high, with a terrific current rushing over it, and awe-inspiring whirlpools between the successive rapids. we took the canoe down by the central channel, and when we got to the higher step, shoved her along until she overhung the fall--as we had done the previous day--and then let her drop down with a bump. it was a difficult job to hold her when once she had dropped down, as the waves below were very high and tossed her about in a merciless manner. my men had by this time become a little more amenable to reason, and in moments of suspense or danger always awaited my orders. once more did we eventually pack in the canoe what remained of the baggage; once more did we start--that time across a large basin , m. broad, with hills on the east side of us on the right bank. on the right of us, on leaving the basin, we had a beautiful island, m. long--ariadne island--with a fine sand-spit at its southern end, and gorgeous vegetation upon it. barring a few boxes of sardines, we had no more provisions of any kind, as all the food had been wasted, or lost in our various accidents. when i look back upon that journey, i am amazed to think how providence did help us all along. that day my men were clamouring for food, and were most unpleasant, putting the entire blame upon me and not upon their own lack of common-sense. they refused to go on. we pulled up along some rocks, baking hot from the sun, which simply roasted our naked feet when we trod upon them. some of the men took to their rifles and said they had had quite enough of exploring. the more we went down that river the worse things seemed to get. they would not go a metre farther. they claimed the balance of their salaries at once--i always paid them punctually every month--and said they would start on foot and try to get somewhere, if god would help them. i agreed to pay them their salaries and let them go, taking a few minutes to distribute the money, as i wished to go to a secluded spot, not caring to undo the large packages of banknotes before them. i was walking along the rocks, saying to my men that i would be back in a few minutes, when a huge _cachorra_, or dog-fish, weighing some thirty pounds, leapt out of the water and fell on the rocks, wriggling and bounding convulsively. i called the men, who hastily arrived, and with the butts of their rifles killed the fish. while they were busy dissecting it, alcides, who had not taken part in the quarrel, but had gone to the forest some little way off, hearing the noise, reappeared with a huge monkey he had killed. i left the men to prepare an excellent and plentiful meal while i retired to a distant spot to count out their salaries. when i returned and handed them the money--after their appetites had been fully satisfied, and they had left next to nothing for me--they said i could keep the money, as they did not want it; they were sorry for what they had said, and would go on wherever i ordered them to go. they said that i certainly must have a guardian angel watching over me, and they were sure that as long as they were in my company they would never die of starvation. "i have never seen anything like it!" exclaimed the man x, who was the humorist of the party. "we want food and cannot get it, and there _el senhor_ strolls a few yards away from us and a huge fish jumps almost into his arms in order to be eaten." i never cared to let them know of my own surprise at the extraordinary occurrence. i was rather pleased that day, because my men, in an outburst of friendliness, said they knew that if ever we did die of starvation it would not be my fault, because had they been careful we would still have had three or four months' supply of provisions left. they themselves said how foolish they had been; the provisions we carried had only lasted us thirty days. nearly three weeks before i had warned alcides to economize, and the result was that, instead of sorting out food twice a day to the men, he sorted it out four times a day and in double quantities. [illustration: distant view showing both falls at the salto augusto.] [illustration: launching the canoe after its journey over a hill range.] that day we were really in great luck. we had the good fortune to find a _bacopari_ tree simply laden with delicious yellow fruit, not unlike unripe cherries, and we absolutely feasted on them. to show how unpractical my men were, it is sufficient to tell that, unlike any other human beings on the face of the globe when under a fruit-tree, they did not proceed to shake the cherries down by throwing sticks or by climbing up the tree. no, indeed; but they cut down the huge tree, which required about an hour and a half of very hard work. anyhow, we got the cherries, and that was the principal thing. we continued our journey over a small rapid with a low hill range spreading from west to east on the left bank. the river here was m. wide. a hill range from to ft. high was also to be seen on the right bank, running parallel with that on the left. five or six kilometres farther another high range of a gorgeous cobalt-blue colour and extending from south-west to north-east, stood in front of us. the river in that stretch was most beautiful, and was m. wide. a charming little island m. long was reflected in the water, which looked as still as oil in that particular part, although it actually ran swiftly. although that scene was of great placidity, we believed there was more danger ahead of us, for we could hear in the distance the loud roar of another rapid or waterfall. judging by the noise we knew it must be a big one. soon afterwards we reached the rapid. we had the greatest difficulty in approaching this, owing to the strong current we encountered in a small channel we followed near the right bank. the rapid was m. wide and m. long, with a drop of from to ft. although we expected trouble at that spot, we shot the rapid with comparative ease, but we were badly knocked about, and shipped a considerable amount of water in the high waves thrown violently against the rocks. we camped that night near the rapid, having travelled in the day kil. we made our camp in the forest, and we experienced stifling heat, the minimum temperature (august th) being ° f., with heavy rain which came down upon us through the foliage in regular bucketfuls. we had nothing to eat in the evening. in the morning our breakfast consisted of two sardines each. we went on in a half-hearted way, my men grumbling all the time, and looking out for birds or monkeys. seven thousand five hundred metres from our camp we came to a waterfall, where we had endless trouble. the principal channel led to ° b.m., but the river split up into innumerable channels among islands, islets and rocks that formed a regular maze. the river was in that particular spot , m. wide, and contained great masses of volcanic rock, much fissured, and having great holes in them. this mass of rock extended from north-east to south-west. there were large cracks, where the mass had split, and had subsequently been eroded by the rush of water. the rock had cutting edges everywhere like those of razors. with endless difficulty we had managed to drag the canoe along nearly to the bottom of that dangerous place, when we were suddenly confronted by a drop of ft. with a terrific rush of water over it. it was impossible for us to negotiate that point, for below was a whirlpool absolutely impassable. we had therefore the tiresome work of dragging back the canoe for some m. up the rapid once more, in order that we might find a more suitable channel. to make things more lively for us, a violent thunderstorm broke out, soaking all our baggage but making little difference to us, as we were soaked already. we had spent that entire day in the water, struggling to take the canoe down the rapid and up once more. by eight o'clock at night we were still working, endeavouring to save the canoe. we had had no lunch, and now had no dinner. my men felt perfectly miserable, and in their speech did not exactly bless the day they had started with me on that expedition. we had worked hard, and had only covered a distance of , m. in twelve hours. at sunset, while the storm was raging, we beheld a most wonderful effect of light to the west, very much like a gorgeous aurora borealis. the sky, of intense vermilion, was streaked with beautiful radiations of the brightest lemon-yellow, which showed out vividly against the heavy black clouds directly above our heads. the river reflected the red tints, so that we appeared to be working in a river of blood. as we had nothing to eat, i thought i would spend my time in taking the correct elevation of that place with the boiling-point thermometers. the man x, the humorist of the party, remarked that if i were killed and went to heaven or some other place, the first thing i should do would be to take the exact elevation with what he called "the little boiling stove" (the hypsometrical apparatus). we had a minimum temperature of ° f. during the night of august th. next morning i sent my men to reconnoitre, in order to see if they could get some edible fruit. as they stayed away a long time i knew they had found something. in fact, they came back quite in a good humour, as they had found some _jacoba_ or _jacuba_ trees, with abundant fruit on them, most delicious to eat. in the meantime i had gone exploring the rapids endeavouring to find a more suitable channel. eventually, on the east side of the stream, i found a place where we could take the canoe down. there too was a fall of ft., down which we let the canoe with considerable difficulty; then it had to pass over a number of smaller terraces and down winding channels, where we sweated for some hours before we got through our work. innumerable channels separated by sand-mounds to ft. high had formed along that rapid and also through the vertical wall of cutting volcanic rock which formed a barrier across the stream. below the fall were two long sand-banks, one with some _burity_ palms upon it. the river flowed ° west of north for some , m. we had gone but , m. of that distance when we came to another rocky barrier, spreading from south-west to north-east, on approaching which we heard the thundering roaring of another rapid. on the left bank we had a hill range all along. the noise of the rapid got louder and louder, and we were soon confronted by a terrifying rush of water at a spot where three arms of the river met with such force that the clashing waters shot up in the air, forming a wave some or ft. high with a foaming crest. the backwash from this great wave was so violent against the rocky banks of the river--very narrow there--that it was quite impossible for the canoe, even empty, to be let down by means of ropes. my men were in absolute despair, for the farther we went the more insurmountable became the obstacles which confronted us. they said they had agreed to go on a journey of exploration, but surely i was taking them direct to hades--if we had not got there already. i could not well contradict them, for certainly that particular spot was the nearest possible approach to it. it does not do ever to lose courage. while my men, in the lowest state of depression, sat on the volcanic rocks, i went about exploring on the right bank until i found a place where the river had eroded a channel but had afterwards filled it with an immense accumulation of rocks. if we could only move those rocks away--several hundreds of them--i saw that it would be possible to push the canoe along the channel which would thus be formed. the work would require a great deal of hard labour. [illustration: a most dangerous rapid navigated by author and his men.] you should have seen the faces of my men when i took them to the spot and asked them to remove all the big boulders. in order to set them a good example, i myself started moving the rocks about, the smaller ones for preference. we worked and worked hour after hour, jamming our fingers and feet all the time as we pushed the rocks to one side and the other of the little channel, only ft. wide, which we were making. the language of my men was pretty enough, but as long as they worked i had to put up with it. alcides, who was really a great worker, and whose principal fault was that he would never save himself, worked with tremendous vigour that day. somehow or other the men seemed to think the work hard. when we had taken the canoe safely to the end of the rapid through the channel we had cleared, i went back to the top of the rapid to gaze once more on the wonderful sight where the two principal channels met. the water dashed against a rock in the centre with most impressive fury. on returning to the bottom of the rapid where i had left the canoe, another most impressive sight was to be seen. in the vertiginous waters emerging from the channel high waves--most unpleasant-looking and in the greatest confusion--clashed against one another for a distance of over m. below the rapid. my men would not camp that night near the rapid, which they said was the devil's home, so during the night we went kil. down the stream, where, simply worn out, we made our camp. we never could get any fish from the stream now. we had gone only , m. that day. i reckoned that, travelling at that rate, i should perhaps reach my goal, manaos, in five or six years' time--and all the provisions i had left for seven men, all counted, were now eight tins of sardines. we had a minimum temperature of ° f. on the night of august th. we had halted just above another big and beautiful waterfall, ft. high, and of immense width. the great rush of water curled over a gigantic dome of volcanic rock with many big holes and fissures. the waterfall was followed by a ghastly rapid m. long. it was impossible to go over the fall, and the only way left us--a most dangerous one--was to let the canoe down a small channel to m. wide, cut among the vertical rocks on the right side of the waterfall. the water in the channel flowed in steeply sloping cascades. the channel twisted round abruptly in two or three places, and in one spot went through a rocky neck m. wide, where the force of the current was so great that i was really perplexed as to how we could take the canoe down without getting her smashed to atoms. providence came to my help again. in looking round i discovered an ancient channel, now almost dry and strewn with innumerable rocks, by which it might be possible to take the canoe overland until we could find a smooth place in the water below the rapid. on further exploring that channel, as i was quick enough in noticing its possibilities, i found at the end of it what the brazilians call a _recanto_--that is to say, a backwater which the river had there formed, and which would be a great help to us in floating the canoe once more. this plan involved a great deal of hard work, as not only had we to shift many large rocks out of their position, but we had to construct a railway with felled trees and rollers upon them. we could not get perfectly horizontal rails, so that the effort of moving the canoe along inch by inch with levers was trying, especially as we had had insufficient food for many days and our strength was fast failing. to make matters worse, alcides that day broke out in revolt. he had, like many ignorant people, the misfortune of believing that he knew everything better than anybody else. i had given him instructions to place the rails and rollers in a certain position, so that the canoe could be shifted over some unpleasant rocks. he, however, insisted on placing the rollers in the wrong place and on using the levers in the wrong spots, so that they not only did not act helpfully, but actually had the contrary effect on the canoe from that which we wanted to obtain. i remonstrated, and showed the men once more how to do it. they agreed with me, except alcides, who became enraged to such an extent that his eyes bulged out of their orbits in his fury. he brandished one of the big levers in the air, and, shouting at the top of his voice, proceeded to give a long harangue stating that araguary--his native town--produced greater men than england or any other country, and inciting the other men to open revolt against me. this was a serious affair and most unexpected, as so far i had counted on alcides to stand by me, no matter what happened. the other men were undecided. although they were always ready to revolt, they had more confidence in the brain of an englishman than in that of an araguary man. alcides suggested that they should take possession of the canoe and everything, and that i should be left on the rocks. he shouted to the men to take the canoe along, and he himself pushed with all his might, the canoe not budging the tenth part of an inch. i sat down on a rock. i merely said that the canoe would not move until i wished it to move. this statement i made because i saw that in their stupidity they had placed some pieces of wood under the canoe which acted as wedges instead of rollers; one piece in particular--a roller which had split in two--could not possibly move along the rough wooden rails. the men pushed and worked with all their might for over three hours, the canoe remaining still like a solid rock. at last they came to me and asked me to show them how to move it. i placed the rollers where they would be effective, removing the wedges which were impeding her journey, and with very little effort the canoe moved along. with wild yells of excitement the men proclaimed this a miracle, always excepting alcides, who, with a fierce expression on his face, stood now on one side, fondling his rifle. the other men chaffed him, and even insulted him, saying that he had made them struggle for nothing, as he did not know what he was about. when the rails and the rollers were placed right the canoe slid along the distance which remained to be covered, and eventually glided gracefully once more into the water. [illustration: letting the canoe jump a rapid.] it was too bad that alcides--one of the bravest of men--should possess such a mean mind and such an ungrateful nature. twice i had saved his life when he came within an ace of perishing in dangerous rapids, but never had he given thanks to me--never had he shown the slightest sign of recognition. never, during the entire time he was in my employ, did he--or any of my other men--say "good morning" to me when we rose, or "good night" when we retired to sleep. two or three nights before this last adventure, during a heavy rainstorm, i had deprived myself of my own tent in order to shelter him and the other men, while i myself got drenched. "he only does it," said he, "because he needs to keep us alive to do the work, or else he would not do it." i only received offensive words for any kindnesses i showered on him and the others. it is seldom one could find a man with a more unpractical mind. he spent most of his energy working uselessly--and, mind you, very hard indeed--for nothing, but he could never be made to apply his strength in a sensible way. if i asked him to cut me a tooth-pick, he would proceed to cut down one of the largest trees in the neighbourhood and work for an hour or two until he had reduced a big section of it into the needed article. he wasted hours daily, and ruined all our axes and cutlery into the bargain, in scraping flat surfaces on rocks and on the hardest trees, on which he subsequently engraved his name and that of his lady-love whom he had left behind. he was really marvellous at calligraphy, and could certainly write the best hand of any man i have ever known. he quarrelled all the time with all the other men, and to enforce his words was constantly producing his automatic pistol fully loaded or else his rifle. when i first employed him i had the misfortune to send him on some messages to two or three people, with the result that those former friends became my bitterest enemies, as he had insulted them. he was one of the men who cannot open their mouths without offending. wasteful to an incredible degree, his only ambition was to show how much he could spend--especially when he was spending other people's money--a most trying thing for me when we were, months before, near any shop. when you mentioned anything to him he immediately said that it was impossible to do it, no matter how simple the matter was. he spent hours looking at himself in a small pocket mirror he carried on his person, and would grumble for long hours over the stings of mosquitoes and gnats which had dared to spoil his features. he used violent language against the impudent rocks which had injured his feet. his brutality to men and beasts alike was most hurtful to me. he once abandoned his favourite dog on an island, simply because he had kicked it viciously the day before and the dog would not respond to his calls and enter the canoe. he now proposed to kill the other dogs, as he said they had finished their work as watch-dogs, since we never came across any indians, and it was no use taking them along. chapter xv mutiny and threats--wasted efforts--awful waters--the canoe escapes in a violent rapid--another mutiny--the canoe recovered--an appalling vortex--the fall of s. simão--cutting an artificial channel in the rocks brazilians of a low class are unfortunately easily led by words. alcides, who could not get over his bad temper, once more incited the men to revolt. while i was busy taking altitude observations with the hypsometrical apparatus i kept my eye on them, as i saw plainly that i was coming in for trouble. unfortunately for us another bad part of the rapid had to be negotiated, and the only way possible was to take the canoe overland once more. with alcides at their head, all the men were now in open rebellion, and absolutely refused to work. "very good," i said to them. "if you do not like to take the canoe along we shall stay here. i like this spot very much, as it is most picturesque." the men filled the magazines of their rifles with cartridges, and then came threateningly toward me, shoving the muzzles right in my face. "you must give us food," said they. "we want to eat, and we want to be taken back to our country." i advised them to take a walk in the forest and see if they could shoot something there, for if they shot me, one fact was certain, and that was that they would never see their happy homes again. two of the men turned away in order to go after game, but the man x levelled his rifle at my head and demanded his money, as he wished to leave at once. the contract i had with him was different from that i had with the other men. i had agreed to pay him on reaching the nearest point of civilization, where i would let him loose again. i therefore said that i would most certainly pay him the very minute he had fulfilled his contract. i paid no more attention to his threat, although i heard the click of the hammer of his rifle being cocked. i told him to get some wood to make a fire, as i wished to make myself a cup of chocolate. in unpacking some of my instruments i had made a great discovery--a box of chocolate, which had strayed into a package by mistake. x seemed undecided whether to shoot or not. i made no attempt to take the rifle out of his hand, as that would have been fatal. after a few moments he sat down on a rock a few yards away, his rifle resting on his knees and pointing in my direction, while i myself collected some small pieces of wood and proceeded to make the fire. [illustration: artificial canal made by author and his men in order to take their canoe along where the river was impassable.] filippe the negro, who had his eye on the box of chocolate, came and helped to blow the flame. we got some water and boiled it in a large tin cup. while we were doing that i heard rifles being fired in the forest, and presently antonio returned with some fine _jacu_ (_penelope cristata_) he had shot. the entire morning of august th was absolutely wasted, owing to the conduct of my men. even after they had had a good meal, not a particle of which they offered me--not that i asked them for it--they were still in a riotous mood. as was my habit when i had anything to eat, i always shared it in equal parts with them: when the chocolate was ready--notwithstanding their behaviour--i asked them for their cups, and each one received his share of that delicious beverage. as usual also, i sorted out that day the customary allowance of tobacco to each man, which i had been fortunate enough to save in our accidents. when i offered the chocolate to alcides, he handed his cup to filippe to bring to me, and when it was handed back to him he flung it away saying he would prefer to die rather than drink the filthy english stuff. matters were a little critical. a great number of rollers were required and a number of wooden rails. curiously enough, the man x, who had been the most violent that day, was the only one who came to thank me for the chocolate, and offered to work, the others all refusing to move. he and i cut down three or four trees, when the other men--ashamed of themselves--took the axes and proceeded to work also. but instead of cutting down trees which were straight they cut down the knottiest trees they could find, and made rollers which were absolutely useless. it was their silly way of wasting the little energy they had left. the result was that they had to do the work over again and cut other trees and other rollers. eventually we succeeded in pushing the canoe over the rocks until we were some m. from the water again. with some effort we succeeded in shoving her along m. out of those m. there only remained the last m.--unfortunately uphill, which made our effort a little greater. here the men again stopped work and refused to give that last push to get the canoe over those rocks and then into the water. once more they said they would shoot me and then proceed through the forest on foot. matters looked bad indeed. those m., with a sharp angle upward, made an insurmountable obstacle which i could not negotiate alone. with the corner of my eye i saw the rifles of my men levelled at me. there was only one way out of that difficulty--to give my men a little excitement. "very good!" i said to them. "if we have not the strength to move the canoe over those rocks, we certainly have the courage to shoot the rapid." i said i had never yet known a brazilian who failed when it came to courage, and i was sure they would not fail, as i had already seen how brave they had been. flattery always answers. "come along, boys! we will take the canoe back into the rapid." in a moment they had deposited their rifles on the rocks and they were all helping me to push the canoe back the way we had come. the rapid in that particular part was devilish--not unlike the narrow channel we had gone through some time before. the passage, with high rocks on either side, was tortuous, and threw the water with great force from one side to the other, producing high waves in the centre in such confusion that it was quite terrifying to look at them. when my men looked at those awful waters, they suggested that perhaps we had better let the canoe down with ropes. i had quite made up my mind that we should lose the canoe for certain in that spot; and had we gone down in her ourselves we should undoubtedly have lost our lives as well. when we started taking her down with ropes--our ropes were all rotted by that time, and had no strength whatever--the canoe was tossed about in a merciless manner. i recommended my men as they ran along to beware of the ropes catching on the cutting edges of the high rocks. no sooner had the canoe started down the swift current than one of the ropes at once caught on a rock and snapped. the men who held the other rope were unable to hold it, and let it go. i saw the canoe give three or four leaps in the centre of the channel and then disappear altogether. that was a sad moment for me. but as my eye roamed along the foaming waters, what was my surprise when i saw the canoe shoot out of the water in a vertical position at the end of the rapid and waterfall! that was the greatest piece of luck i had on that journey. by being flung out of the water with such force she naturally emptied herself of all the water she contained, and i next saw her floating, going round and round the whirlpool at the bottom of the rapid. the next problem was how to recover the canoe, as she happened to be on the opposite side of the stream. there for more than two hours we watched her going round and round, while we sat on the rocks, absolutely speechless. eventually we saw her gradually come out of the whirlpool and drift slowly in the _recanto_ or backwater on the opposite shore some m. away, revolving slowly around herself. my men were perplexed. they now said they would all leave me at once and proceed on foot. under no circumstances whatever would they accompany me any more. they must have their pay and go. so after a few minutes i paid the salaries of all the men, excepting the man x. to my surprise the men, instead of going, remained seated a little way off. i had a plan in my head of swimming across the river below the whirlpool, where the water was placid although of great width, but i could not very well place myself in such an awkward position as to leave on the river bank the large sums of money which i carried on my person. i certainly could not swim across such a long distance, and in such a current, with the heavy bags of coin and banknotes round my waist. i feared--in fact, felt certain--that in the mood in which my men were that day, the moment i entered the water and was quite helpless they would fire at me and get away with everything i possessed. i knew that they would never dare to do it unless they could catch me in a helpless condition. [illustration: rapid through which author took his canoe.] i called antonio--who was an excellent swimmer--and said that i offered a reward of £ to any men who swam across and recovered the canoe. antonio reflected deeply for some time, then consented to go if another man went with him. for nearly an hour he confabulated with filippe the white man, who was also a splendid swimmer. it was with some relief that i saw the two eventually enter the water, after a paddle had been tied with long strings round each of their waists in order that they might be able to bring the canoe back. at the point where they started the river was m. wide. although seemingly placid the current was strong. they drifted down some m.--i with my telescope keeping a sharp watch on the canoe, which was still going round and round, and was now once more almost entirely filled with water. no sooner had the men, quite exhausted, reached the opposite bank than the canoe, which had been in that spot for some hours, for some reason or other started out and proceeded to float down stream in the very centre of the river. filippe the negro and i at once started on a chase on our side of the water, in case she came near enough to seize her. i shouted and signalled to the men on the opposite bank to swim across once more to try and catch her in mid-stream. as luck would have it, after a chase of several kilometres, over cutting rocks and great banks of sand in which we sank up to our knees--while the naked men with their paddles ran as fast as they could on the opposite bank--the canoe drifted close to the other bank once more, and the men were able to board her. it was a great relief to me when at last the canoe was brought over to our side and we towed her back so as to get the baggage on board and proceed on our journey. each of the two men who had rescued the canoe at once received the reward i had offered, and filippe the negro, who had shown willingness in recovering the boat, also received a handsome present. the entire day of august th had been spent in going those few hundred metres of the rapid. our camp that evening was but m. from that of the day before. the minimum temperature of august th had been ° f., whereas during the night of august th it was ° f. that little adventure had pulled the men together somewhat. i spoke in great praise of the courage that antonio and filippe had shown in swimming across the stream. the river was smooth for a little distance, when we proceeded once more with our navigation; but soon it became narrow--only to m. wide--with strong eddies in its deep channel between rocky sides. some magnificent sand beaches to ft. high were observed, particularly on the right bank, not far from a tributary m. wide which entered the main river on the left side. lower down, the river described a sharp turn, and there we met another most dangerous rapid. it was entered by a passage m. wide, after which a circular basin of rock--evidently an ancient crater-- m. in diameter appeared; then the water flowed out with terrific force by a channel only m. wide. the stream produced prodigious eddies in the circular basin. waves of great height were dashed to and fro from one side to the other of the narrow channel, between high rocks on either side. the water flowed first in a direction e.s.e. for m., then turned off suddenly to due east for a distance of m. that spot was most difficult for us to go through. soon after, the river turned due north and broadened to a width of m. for some , m. a great basin was crossed, with submerged rocks, forming counter currents of great power and most unpleasant whirlpools. i observed with some concern a stupendous vortex m. in diameter and with a deep central depression. the water revolved with such velocity and force that it formed a series of high-crested white waves running one after another at a terrifying speed around its periphery. the water was raised around the vortex certainly or ft. above the level of the river--owing to the opposition between the rotating water and the current. we gave that vortex as wide a berth as we could; it really frightened one to be near it, although there was no particular danger unless we got right into it. a charming island was passed soon after, on which, as well as on the left bank, were innumerable rubber trees, but there were none on the right, where _chapada_ was to be seen. we had in front of us a hill range ft. high. as we went farther we were in a channel between high rocks strewn about along both banks in fragments of great size; then we were once again in a circular basin with high vertical rocks--perhaps another extinct crater. we were here in a region of volcanic formation. no sooner had we passed this basin than we came upon another bad rapid, m. long, which divided itself into two channels, after going through a narrow passage not more than m. wide, where we got tossed about in a most alarming manner, being once or twice nearly dashed to pieces against the rocky sides. we had had so much trouble with the rapids that day that by sunset we had only gone kil. m. since we had come to that volcanic region we had found rocks with great holes in which stagnant water lay. myriads of insects--regular clouds of them--worried us nearly to death. [illustration: conveying the canoe by hand down a rapid.] on august th we started early, the minimum temperature having been ° f. during the night. after leaving the rapid we came to a great basin , m. across. a most beautiful sand beach m. long was to be seen on the left side, below a vertical cliff of great beauty, ft. high. another great sand beach was to be seen on the right of the river, where it described a sharp turn to ° b.m. then the river dashed through a passage of rocks only m. broad, and emerged once more into another great basin with many indentations in its rocky coast. some kil. beyond, another basin was found, with more rocks strewn on and near its eastern bank, and a number of rocky islets. a high hill range with vertical cliffs stood on the west side and ended abruptly at the end of the basin. low hills ran all along the river on the left side. the river had an average width here of m., and flowed mostly in directions between north-west and north-east. we went down all the time on troubled waters, with rocky banks and innumerable obstacles all the way. we went through another terrible and most intricate rapid--the labyrinth--and passed through a channel only m. wide between high rocky banks. then, after that, for , m. we had fair and smooth navigation, with a range of flat-topped hills ft. high, extending from w.s.w. to e.n.e., in front of us to the north-west. here there was a regular maze of channels, all more or less bad. we did not follow the principal one, which was strewn with rocks, but a smaller one, at the end of which, unfortunately, we found a barrier of rocks which we could not surmount. we had all the trouble of dragging the canoe back up the rapid until we could turn her round into another channel. we arrived at the waterfall of s. simão, where we went through numerous channels, following the right bank as much as we could, until we arrived at a gigantic staircase of rock, down which the water divided itself into little channels. we took all the baggage over the rocks on the right bank--a very heavy task, as we had to climb up and down big boulders with sharp edges. we slipped many times with the loads we were carrying, and many, indeed, were the patches of skin we left behind in that particular place. we had a great deal of trouble in finding a place where we could take the canoe down. eventually we had to go right across the stream over the waterfall and land on an island of rock in the centre of the river, where i had seen with my telescope that we might perhaps find a suitable passage for the canoe. crossing the river diagonally just above the fall was risky work, and although we described a big arc up the stream, we only just managed to make the island before we were borne down by the current. the horseshoe-shaped waterfall was about m. across and some ft. high. when the river is full it must be beautiful, for the east side, which was then absolutely dry, is covered entirely by water, which must form a wonderful series of cascades. when the river is in flood, the waterfall, extending from north-west to south-east, has a total width of , m. there were some picturesque bits of rugged foliated rock over that great staircase, and huge cracks through which the water gurgled and foamed--those fissures formed not by the erosion of water but by volcanic action, perhaps by an earthquake. the large fall to the north-west, over which the water flows in every season, had on one side of it a steep incline, down which we took the canoe until we came to a drop about ft. high. we halted for the night just above that high drop, spending a most miserable night, being simply devoured by insects. the minimum temperature during the night of august th was ° f. my men were in a beastly temper in the morning, when we had to proceed, as on previous occasions, to make an artificial channel by moving innumerable boulders of all sizes. it was a heavy task, for we hardly had any strength left, our meals having been most irregular of late. a channel was not so easily made in that particular spot, as there were some boulders which we could not possibly move, and the canoe must be made to go over them. we had only been working for a few minutes, when again there was a riot among my men; again they took to their rifles and said they would leave me and the canoe there. worse luck, the canoe got stuck hard on a rock, and the men could not move her. i cut down some rollers and some levers of the hardest woods i could find in the forest near there, and when once i had set to work a little more intelligently than they did, i had no difficulty in moving the canoe along. eventually, with my men swearing at me the whole time, the canoe was safely at the foot of the waterfall. we were in great luck that day, for we found plenty of wild fruit--very nutritious--and we killed one or two large birds. my men grumbled all the time, saying that they were dying of starvation, no meal being a meal at all in brazil unless accompanied by a small mountain of _feijão_ (black beans). i had a few boxes of sardines left, but i reserved those for extreme occasions which might yet come. at the bottom of the fall was an immense basin, , m. wide and , m. long from north to south. the temperature was stifling that day-- ° f. in the shade, and the sky overladen with clouds. fourteen kilometres by river below the s. simão came another waterfall, that of all saints. observations with the hypsometrical apparatus gave an elevation of ft. above the level of the sea. we halted above the rapid on a beautiful beach. a curious thing happened. antonio in jumping into the water out of the canoe felt something sharp under his foot. in looking down he saw a magnificent sword. on taking it out of the water we found that it was an old sword of the time of the emperor pedro ii. a fight must have taken place there between a brazilian expedition and the mundurucu indians, who at that time were to be found, i believe, in that region. presumably the expedition had been attacked at that spot while trying to land. the sword was in excellent preservation. [illustration: canoe being taken along an artificial canal made by author and his men.] chapter xvi at death's door--mundurucu indians--all author's followers poisoned by wild fruit--anxious moments--seringueiros--a dying jewish trader--the mori brothers--a new hat--where the tres barras meets the arinos-juruena--the canoe abandoned we had a minimum temperature on the night of august th of ° f. we descended the all saints rapid and fall, m. in length, with no great difficulty, although with a certain amount of hard work. a large basin was below it, in the eastern part of which was a charming island. innumerable rubber trees (_siphonia elastica_) were to be seen in that region. we found the south-east passage the best in descending that rapid; but, although comparatively easy, we had to use the greatest care, as my canoe was by now falling to pieces, and a hard knock against a rock would be fatal. at the eastern end of the basin was a narrow channel between high rocks, where the current was extremely strong. a cluster of high vertical columnar rocks was seen. the three channels into which the river had been divided joined again in that basin, and were forced through a passage between high vertical rocky walls not more than m. apart. the water naturally was much troubled in being forced from different sides through that narrow passage, and i knew that there must be danger. we pulled up the canoe along some rocks or m. from the entrance of the channel, and i instructed two men to land and go and explore, to see what was in the channel. the top rocks in that particular spot formed innumerable little points, quite sharp, and it was painful to walk on them with bare feet. antonio and white filippe, who had been instructed to go and reconnoitre, went a short distance away, where they sat themselves down behind some rocks, comfortably smoking cigarettes. after twenty minutes or so they returned and said they had gone all along the channel, and there was absolutely smooth water and no danger whatever. i was not well satisfied with their answer, but they swore they had inspected the channel thoroughly, and there was no danger. so i ordered them to enter the boat once more, and we started off. no sooner had we turned the corner round the high rocky cliffs and entered the narrow gorge than we were confronted by a huge central wave some ft. high in the channel. it was formed by the clashing waters, coming from three different directions, meeting at that spot and trying to push through simultaneously. before we knew where we were the canoe actually flew up in the air, in an almost vertical position, to the top of that enormous wave. [illustration: a moment of suspense. author and his men in their canoe going through a narrow channel between vertical walls of rock. the water forced through from three large arms of the river joining at that point formed a high and dangerous central wave.] baggage, men, and dogs slid down in confusion, the canoe gliding back into the water and progressing as swift as an arrow down the channel. the next moment we were on the point of being dashed against the high rocky cliff on our right. to my amazement, and just as i was expecting the impact, the canoe only gracefully shaved the rock, the backwash which took place along the rocks shifting us once more toward the middle of the stream. once again the great rush of water shot us up in the air, above the central wave, and this time the canoe bucked and rode down on the other side of that foaming mass of water. my men were terrified. "rema! rema! (row! row!) for heaven's sake!" i shouted to the perplexed men, as i tried to instil into them a little courage, when within me i really thought we were lost. as i shouted those words i saw to my horror two of the paddles washed away, and as i quickly measured with my eye the length of the channel i perceived that we still had some m. more of that kind of navigation before we should shoot out of that dangerous place. up and down we went several times on that high central wave; several times did we again shave the rocks on either side of the narrow channel. we were quite helpless, my men in chorus yelling "we are lost! we are lost!" alcides bravely stuck to the helm for some time, but the force of the water was so great that he was knocked down into the canoe and had to let go. when we reached the point where the narrow passage came to an end, the waters looked so diabolical that when my men shouted "we are lost! we are lost!" i could not help saying "yes, we are!" i held on to the canoe desperately, as we were banged about for a few seconds in a way that nearly stunned us, the waves striking me in the face with such force that it took me some moments to recover. when i did i found that we were already out of the channel and in the whirlpool, the canoe full of water but fortunately saved. i lose most things in the world, but i never lose my patience nor my sense of humour. i could not help laughing when i looked at the expression on the faces of my dogs--an expression of terror and astonishment, as they looked first at the place from which we had emerged and then at me, which i am sure would have meant in words: "good gracious! where in the world are you taking us?" we had to halt as soon as convenient in order to cut some new paddles. it took my men some hours to recover from the effects of that experience. as is generally the case after a violent emotion, a great deal of merriment was produced, my men for the rest of the day talking about the incident and reproducing in a realistic way the sounds of the rushing water and the impact of the waves against the canoe. we found after that a great basin , m. long, , m. broad, from west to east, with a lovely sand beach , m. long on its eastern side. [illustration: conveying the canoe through the forest. (notice the side of the canoe split and stuffed with pieces of cloth.)] at last--after all that time without meeting a soul--i came across a small tribe of mundurucus--six of them all counted. they had their _aldeja_, or village, on the right side of the stream. their chief rejoiced in the name of joão. they were tiny little fellows, the tallest only ft. in height. if you had met them anywhere else than in central brazil you would have mistaken them for japanese, so exactly like them were they in appearance. their faces were of a very dark yellow, almost black, with perfectly straight hair, just like the japanese or their near cousins, the tagalos of the philippine islands. the mundurucus were mild and gentle, soft-spoken and shy. they had all adopted brazilian clothes. the hut of the chief was extremely clean and neat inside, the few utensils that were visible being kept in a tidy manner. joão spoke a little portuguese. from him i was able to buy a quantity of _farinha_, which came in useful to us, although i had to pay an exorbitant price for it--£ sterling for each litres or thereabouts--that is to say, about ½ pecks in english measure. the price of _farinha_ on the coast would be less than four shillings for that quantity. what interested me most among the mundurucus was their strange ornamentations. the angular pattern was a great favourite with them, especially angles side by side, and the cross--which i think had been suggested, however, by their contact with catholic missionaries farther down the river. the rudimentary figures which they carved--merely lines for the body, legs and arms, and a dot for the head--were extraordinary because they represented the body and limbs covered with hair, done simply by minor parallel lines. i asked the mundurucus why they represented human beings with hair, whereas they themselves were hairless on the body and face. they said it was because in ancient times all the people were hairy like monkeys. i was strongly impressed by the difference in type between those indians and the bororos, and also by the great difference in their language. when later on i came in contact with the apiacars, another tribe of indians living on the tapajoz river, and closely allied to the mundurucus, i discovered that their language bore a certain resemblance, curiously enough, to that of the maya indians of yucatan in central america. i had been so busy taking notes of all i had seen in the _aldeja_, that when we started once more down the river i did not at first miss my best dog, negrino, of whom i had got very fond. we had gone some or kil. down the river when i discovered that my men had given it away to the indians while i was occupied studying the geological formation of that part of the country. it was impossible to go back all those kilometres against the current to recover the poor dog. although it gave me a great deal of pain i never for one moment let the men see it, as i knew that it was in order to hurt me that they had disposed of negrino. it is never right or useful to take revenge, for if you wait long enough you are always avenged by providence. that afternoon my men saw some wild chestnuts on a tree, and they insisted on landing to pick them. they knocked down the tree, as usual, to get the chestnuts, although it was fully ft. in diameter. they picked a great many of the wild chestnuts and proceeded to eat them--alcides, much to my amazement, actually offering me one. i asked them if they knew what they were eating, as i quickly observed when the tree fell down that not a single chestnut had been touched by birds or monkeys. i have always noticed in equatorial countries that if you never touch fruit that monkeys do not eat you will seldom get poisoned. my men said that they had never seen the fruit before, but as it looked pretty they were going to eat it, and a lot of it. so they stopped some time cracking the nuts and eating them with great delight. when we got back to the canoe we had only gone a short distance when filippe the negro was seized with violent pains in his inside. his eyes had become sunken, his lips were quivering, and in a moment he was seized with cramps all over the body--so much so that he collapsed. we had to halt on a small island of rock, where we took filippe out and i had him laid flat on his chest, he being just like a corpse. i inserted a leather strap into his throat in order to cause immediate vomiting, then i unpacked some of the castor oil which still remained in my possession--we never seemed to lose the beastly stuff--and gave him a dose powerful enough to kill an ox. the other men were laughing all the time, saying that they felt no pain at all; but their boast did not last long, for a few moments later, while i was watching poor filippe, antonio and the man x threw themselves down on the rocks, rolling over and contorting themselves, evidently in most excruciating pain. the same treatment was applied to them in turn, and i watched with great concern three men out of the six spread out helpless, and in such a dreadful condition that i really doubted whether they would be alive in another hour. i considered myself fortunate that the other three had not been poisoned. half an hour later--it was impossible to move on with the three men lying helpless on the rocks--filippe the white man and benedicto also collapsed. again the same treatment once more. alcides looked at the other men with an air of contempt and said: "they are rotten fellows! they cannot eat anything without getting poisoned. i feel no pain at all; the fruit has done me no harm." when i turned round to look at his face it had turned a lemon-yellow colour, which i did not quite like, but i did not mention the fact to him, and went about from one dejected man to another to try and bring them back to life again. filippe the negro opened his eyes for a moment. "i am dying!" he said. "good-bye, sir! please give all my money to my sweetheart in araguary." i noted her name and address in my book, for i really thought filippe was about to expire. the moans and groans all round me were most funereal, and the odour unbearable, the nuts having formed a chemical combination in their insides which made their breath most offensive. the heat in the sun was oppressive on those volcanic rocks. my bare feet were absolutely scorched as i walked on them. not many minutes later alcides was rolling himself upon the rocks in intense pain. when i rushed to him to apply my favourite method he rebelled, refusing the treatment. "very good," i said to him; "will you live or will you die?" [illustration: leading the empty canoe down a dangerous channel. (photographed a few seconds before the rope snapped and canoe escaped.)] "i prefer to die," said he, and proceeded to moan and groan, and also to dictate the name and address of his sweetheart in araguary for me to pay to her the money which belonged to him. in a way i was sorry to see my men suffering so much. i was already thinking of how i could get out of that difficult dilemma. if they had all died it would have been out of the question for me to work the huge canoe alone going down such dangerous rapids. some four hours were spent in deepest reflection, a little distance off from my men. i had done my best, and i could do no more for them. i returned every little while to see how they were progressing, but for the first three hours they were in so pitiful a condition that i really thought they could not possibly recover. when alcides was almost unconscious i applied to him also the remedy i had used for the other men. it was only after some five hours or so that filippe the negro began to feel a little better. gradually one after another the men, half-dazed, were able to get up, swaying about as if badly intoxicated. they said they saw all the things in front of them moving up and down. evidently the poison had affected their vision and also their hearing, as they said they could only hear me faintly when i spoke to them. late in the evening i persuaded them to get once more into the canoe, as it was not possible to camp on those rocks. we floated down--fortunately for us the river was placid for some kil., and we let the current do most of the work--i steering while all my men lay flat in the bottom of the canoe. we passed along two or three beautiful islands with quantities of rubber upon them. my men felt very bad the entire night, but by the next morning they were a little better, although in a most exhausted condition. we had a minimum temperature of ° f. during the night of august th. we had some luck that evening, for we came to the hut of a _seringueiro_, a negro, and his wife, who had cut down a portion of the forest near their hut and cultivated some _mandioca_. their amazement at seeing us appear was curious to watch, especially when they looked at our canoe--held together with pieces of rope and stopped up with pieces of our garments. those poor people, stranded there without a possibility of getting away, were extremely kind. my men heard with delight that we should find no rapids of great importance from that point down stream, and that we might find a few other _seringueiros_ on our way. i was able to buy from the _seringueiro_ a quantity of food, my men being overjoyed at the prospect of eating _feijão_ again with their meals. naturally the expense of taking food so far up the river was very great, and i was glad indeed to pay the exorbitant price which the _seringueiro_ asked of £ sterling for each kilos of _farinha_; _feijão_ at _s._ a pound; sugar at _s._ a pound--the prices which the _seringueiros_ themselves had to pay for those commodities from the rare trading boats which once a year reached that farthermost point. we started down stream once more, passing a tributary stream, m. wide, on the left bank. we had only gone kil. when to our great joy we met two trading-boats owned by a brazilian jew, who was on board in a critical condition from malarial fever. although in a dying state, he had not lost his racial commercial ability. it was most interesting to watch his expiring countenance while trying to strike the best bargain possible. he sold me sixty candles for _s._, eight biscuits for the equivalent of _s._ _d._, and a quantity of dried meat at _s._ a pound. he looked askance at us, as he could not make out who we were, what we were doing up that river, where we could have come from. at last he signed to me that he had something to whisper in my ear. he asked me if i was a runaway cashier from a bank! i told him that if i had been a runaway cashier i would certainly not come and spend my money on the arinos-juruena river. the sight of human beings again--if that term could be applied indiscriminately to all we had met so far--had greatly excited my men. some kil. farther, the river being smooth but swift, we came to a basin m. broad, where the river described a turn toward the north-east. we came upon a large clearing on the hill-side on the left bank. there we saw the remains of two or three huts which had been destroyed by fire. we perceived one or two people, and we landed. we found that it was the shed of an enterprising peruvian trader who had established himself there in order to collect rubber. only a few days before we arrived a great fire had taken place, which had destroyed nearly all he possessed; but--fortunately for us--they had saved a few things, and i was able to purchase a quantity of rice, biscuits, dried meat, beans, _farinha_, condensed milk, _banho_ (liquid lard in tins), and a number of other things, such as clothes, shirts, rope, nails, axes, etc., which we needed badly. the peruvian trader--of the brothers mori's firm--must have had a handsome store indeed at that place, a quantity of jewellery, rifles, pistols, etc., all badly injured by the fire, being seen strewn on the ground as we walked about. the peruvians are wonderful traders, most remarkable people for exploring unknown regions and carrying on commerce to the most distant points where human beings are found. that particular peruvian firm had foreseen that that region will some day develop to a great extent, and they had therefore established their store at the most distant point where it was possible to navigate the river without extraordinary dangers. the prices charged by the peruvian, even when circumstances might have led him to put a high price on the goods he sold me, were far lower than those of the jew in his dying moments. the river was there , m. wide, and of amazing beauty, flowing to ° b.m. n.n.e. for , m. in a direct line. we had gone kil. that day, and we had had so many things happen to us, we felt so rich and happy with our new purchases and with the prospect that our trials were nearly over, that when night came we had a grand meal, and slept soundly notwithstanding the swarms of mosquitoes which buzzed around us. [illustration: the s. simão waterfall.] during the night of august th the minimum temperature was ° f. during the day the temperature of the air was not much warmer--only ° f. in the shade with a nice breeze, while ° f. were registered in the sun. we halted for one day in order to repair the canoe, as it was all we could do to keep her afloat, she was leaking so badly. poor benedicto, who had spent the last few weeks baling out the water, swore that the moment he could leave the expedition he certainly would, since he felt he should turn into a fish soon, as he had not been dry one second for the last two months. the minimum temperature during the night of august th was ° f. when we proceeded down the river we came upon most beautiful sand beaches, one as much as m. long. quantities of most delicious tortoise eggs were to be found. furthermore, we killed some giant tortoises. altogether we felt that all of a sudden we had dropped from a regular inferno into a heaven on earth. my men were paddling away with great vigour and were making rapid progress, the river flowing almost all the time northward, with deviations of a few degrees toward the east, in stretches from , to , m. in length. we crossed an immense basin , m. broad with most gorgeous sand beaches. their formation in small dunes, occasionally with an edge like the teeth of a double comb, was most interesting. once or twice we came to musical sands such as we had found before. everywhere on those beaches i noticed the wonderful miniature sand plants, of which i made a complete collection. as we went down we came to one or two _seringueiros_' huts, and to a store belonging to our friend the dying jew, who rejoiced in the name of moses. as he had taken all the stuff with him in the trading boat in order to exchange it for rubber from the collectors, he had left nothing in the store except a cheap straw hat. as my hat by that time had lost most of its brim, and the top of it had got loose and was moving up and down in the breeze, i thought i would not lose the opportunity of getting new headgear. so the purchase was made there and then, and thus fashionably attired i started once more down stream. we passed on the way most impressive sand banks and beaches-- , , and one , m. long. the river in some spots was , m. wide. a great island , m. in length--bertino miranda island--was then passed, with a beautiful spit of sand ft. high at its southern end. hillocks were visible first on the left bank, then on the right. other elongated sand accumulations of great length were found beyond the big island, one a huge tail of sand extending towards the north for , m. beyond those accumulations the river was not less than m. across, and there an immense beach of really extraordinary beauty ran on the right side for a length of ½ kil. on that beach we halted for lunch. in the afternoon we continued, between banks on either side of alluvial formation, principally silts and clay, light grey in colour or white. in fact, the soil in the section directly below the higher terrace of the great central plateau of matto grosso, was formed by extensive alluvial accumulations which had made an immense terrace extending right across all central brazil from west to east, roughly speaking from the madeira river to the araguaya and beyond. after we had gone some kil. in a straight line from our camp to ° b.m., we perceived a headland with a hill upon it ft. high. we had been greatly troubled in the afternoon for the last two days by heavy showers of rain and gusts of a north-westerly wind. once or twice we got entangled in channels among the many islands, and had to retrace our course, but we went on until late in the evening, my men believing firmly that we had now reached civilization again and that the journey would be over in a few days. i did not care to disillusion them. late at night we camped on a magnificent beach, , m. long, at the end of araujo island, , m. in length. we had gone that day, august th, kil. m. my men hung their hammocks on the edge of the forest. that camp was extremely damp and unhealthy. when we woke up the next morning all my followers were attacked by fever and were shivering with cold. we left at . a.m. under a limpid sky of gorgeous cobalt blue. we passed two islands--one m. long (leda island), the other , m. (leander island). when we had gone but , m. we arrived at one of the most beautiful bits of river scenery i have ever gazed upon--the spot where the immense s. manoel river or tres barras or paranatinga met the arinos-juruena. the latter river at that spot described a sharp turn from ° b.m. to ° b.m. we perceived a range of hills before us to the north. close to the bank gradually appeared a large shed with a clearing near it on a high headland some ft. above the level of the river where the stream turned. on the left bank, before we arrived at the meeting-place of those two giant streams, we found a tributary, the bararati, m. broad. the s. manoel river showed in its centre an elongated island stretching in an e.n.e. direction. where the arinos-juruena met the s. manoel it was , m. wide, the s. manoel being m. wide at the point of junction. no sooner had we turned to ° b.m. than we perceived on our left the _collectoria_ of s. manoel, with two or three neat buildings. several astonished people rushed down to the water as they saw the canoe approaching. when i landed the brazilian official in charge of that place and his assistants embraced me tenderly and took me inside their house. when i told them how we had come down the river, tears streamed down their cheeks, so horrified were they. "did you come in that log of wood?" said the collector, pointing to my canoe. i said i had. "good gracious me!" he exclaimed. "i will not let you go another yard in that dangerous conveyance. i will confiscate it, as i need a trough for my pigs and it will just do for that purpose, and not for navigating a dangerous river like this. if you want to go on by river i will supply you with a good boat." [illustration: the huge canoe being taken through a small artificial canal made in the rocks by the author and his men.] that was the last time i put my foot inside my canoe. i removed for good the british flag which had flown daily at her stern, and it gave me quite a _serrement de coeur_ when i patted the poor canoe on her nose and said good-bye to her for ever. notwithstanding her miserable appearance she had done really remarkable work. chapter xvii a fiscal agency--former atrocities--the apiacar indians--plentiful rubber--unexploited regions--precious fossils thrown away by author's followers--a terrific storm--author's canoe dashed to pieces--the mount s. benedicto the state of matto grosso had recently established a fiscal agency at the junction of the two rivers in order to collect the tax on the rubber exported from that region. the fiscal agent, mr. josé sotero barretto, and his assistant, mr. julio vieira nery, were intelligent and polished gentlemen. their predecessor was not like them. his barbarity, not only to the apiacar indians but also to the brazilians in his employ, was almost incredible. for no reason whatever he killed men right and left, until one day as he was getting out of his canoe one of his men shot him in the back. so much has been said of late of atrocities in the putumayo region that perhaps one may be allowed to say that the putumayo region is not the only place where atrocities have occurred. to any one not acquainted with those regions it is difficult to understand why those atrocities take place at all. curiously enough, they are due to a large extent to medicine. those regions are all extremely malarial. the people who are ordered there are afraid of being infected long before they start on their journey. they begin taking preventive quinine and arsenic, which renders them most irritable and ill-tempered; the solitude preys upon them, and they add to the poisoning from medicine the evil effects of excessive drinking. add again to this that few men can manage to be brave for a long period of time, and that the brain gradually becomes unbalanced, and you have the reason why murders are committed wholesale in a stupid effort chiefly to preserve oneself. the apiacar indians, i was told, were formerly much more numerous in that region than at present. most of them had been killed off, and their women stolen. when mr. barretto arrived at the _collectoria_ he had great trouble in persuading the indians to come near him; but he has been so extremely kind to them that now the entire tribe--some twenty people--have established themselves at the _collectoria_ itself, where they are given work to do as police, rubber collectors, and agriculturists combined. mr. barretto and his assistant were much respected and loved by the natives. unlike his predecessor, he treated them with the greatest consideration and generosity. mr. barretto furnished me with an interesting table showing the amount of production and export of rubber from that district for the year . from this table it appears that from may rd to december st , kil. of the finest quality rubber, , kil. of _sernamby_ (or scrap rubber), , kil. of _caoutchouc_, and , kil. of _sernamby caoutchouc_--altogether a total of , kil.--passed through the _collectoria_ on the matto grosso side, which does not include the opposite side of the river, belonging to the province of para, where another _collectoria_ has been established. that quantity of rubber had been collected by some eighty people, all told, including the local indians. [illustration: mundurucu indians.] [illustration: mundurucu indians.] it was impossible to get labour up that river. the few _seringueiros_, chiefly negroes who were there in absolute slavery, had been led and established by their masters up the river, with no chance of getting away. their masters came, of course, every year to bring down the rubber that had been collected. twenty times the quantity could easily be brought down to the coast if labour were obtainable. not only was the juruena river itself almost absolutely untouched commercially--as we have seen, we did not meet a soul during the fifty days we navigated it--but even important tributaries close to s. manoel, such as the euphrasia, the são thomé, the são florencio, the misericordia, and others, were absolutely desert regions, although the quantity of rubber to be found along those streams must be immense. the difficulty of transport, even on the tapajoz--from the junction of the two rivers the juruena took the name of tapajoz river--was very great, although the many rapids there encountered were mere child's play in comparison with those we had met with up above. in them, nevertheless, many lives were lost and many valuable cargoes disappeared for ever yearly. the rubber itself was not always lost when boats were wrecked, as rubber floats, and some of it was generally recovered. the expense of a journey up that river was enormous; it took forty to sixty days from the mouth of the tapajoz to reach the _collectoria_ of s. manoel. thus, on an average the cost of freight on each kilo (about lb.) of rubber between those two points alone was not less than sevenpence or eightpence. as the river tapajoz is extremely tortuous and troublesome, i think that some day, in order to exploit that region fully, it will be found necessary to cut a road through the forest from s. manoel to one of the tributaries of the madeira, such as the river secundury-canuma, from which the rubber could be taken down to the amazon in a few days. from the point of junction of the river tres barras or s. manoel and the juruena, the river was fairly well known. it was partly in order to ascertain whether the project of the road from s. manoel to the madeira were feasible, that i decided to leave the river and cross the forest due west as far as the madeira river. i spent two or three most delightful days enjoying the generous hospitality of mr. barretto. i was able to purchase from him a quantity of provisions, enough to last us some three months, and consisting of tinned food, rice, beans, _farinha_, sugar, coffee, and dried meat. mr. barretto kindly arranged to send his assistant, mr. julio nery, and three apiacar indians in order to help me along during the first two or three days of our journey into the forest. as i should be travelling on foot from that point across virgin forest, and we should have to carry whatever baggage we had, it was necessary for me to abandon all the things which were not of absolute importance, so as to make the loads as light as possible. i left behind at s. manoel a tent, some of my rifles, a quantity of cartridges, etc., the only articles i took along with me besides provisions being my cameras, instruments, the photographic plates already exposed, with some two hundred plates for further work, and the geological and botanical collections, which by that time had got to be valuable. as i was unpacking the different cases in order to sort out the baggage, i came to the box where i expected to find the precious fossil human skull and the vertebræ i had discovered in matto grosso. to my horror the fossils were to be found nowhere. i asked alcides and the other men, and pressed them for an answer. i received a terrible blow indeed when they confessed that nearly a month before, one night while i was asleep, they had taken the valuable possessions and had flung them into the river. their excuse was that the loads were heavy enough in carting baggage along the rapids, and they would not be burdened with what they called "stupid stones." this last bit of infamy turned me so much against my men that i could not bear the sight of them. it will be easily understood that when you go to such great expense and risk as i did in obtaining valuable material, and had obtained it, to be deprived of it through the ignorance and meanness of one's own men, who were treated with the greatest generosity from beginning to end, was certainly most exasperating. in a half-hearted way i packed up all the other things and made ready to continue the journey. the contempt i had for my men from that day, nevertheless, made it quite painful to me to be in their company. at s. manoel the men gave me no end of trouble. benedicto refused to go on any longer. the other men wanted to halt there for a month in order to recuperate their strength. filippe the negro was drunk, and slept all the time we were there. i know too well that on expeditions it is fatal to halt anywhere; therefore i was anxious to push on at once. the night before our departure mr. barretto gave a grand dinner-party in my honour, long speeches being read out by him and his assistant, when we sat down on rough wooden benches and packing-cases to a most elaborate meal of fried fish, grilled fish, boiled fish, tortoise eggs--quantities of them--stewed pork and roast pork. a whole sucking-pig adorned the table. the greatest happiness reigned that night at table, and i owe a deep debt of gratitude to mr. barretto for his exquisite kindness during the two or three days i was his guest. my men were also asked to the banquet, and had a good fill. but i felt extremely sad, quite broken-hearted, over the loss of the fossils, and i could really enjoy nothing notwithstanding outward appearances. after dinner, when my men had retired, mr. barretto and his assistant expressed great surprise at my not having been murdered by my followers before then. they said that in their whole experience they had never come across such impossible creatures. they could not understand how the governor of goyaz could possibly let me start in such company. they seemed most anxious for me, as some of my men had evidently, while drunk, spoken at the _collectoria_ and said things which had greatly upset and frightened the fiscal agent. three days after my arrival in s. manoel i was ready to depart, having conceived a plan to go some kil. farther by river to a point from where i would strike due west across the forest as far as the madeira river. i was just about to go on board the boat placed at my disposal by mr. barretto, when a terrific storm broke out, with lightning and thunder, and a howling wind which blew with fury, raising high waves in the river--very wide at that point. it was a wonderful spectacle, with the river in commotion and the dazzling flashes of lightning across the inky sky. amidst it i saw my faithful canoe being dashed mercilessly by the waves time after time against some sharp rocks, until she broke in two and foundered. i was sorry to see her disappear, for she had served me well. when after a couple of hours the storm cleared, i took my departure, on august th. during my stay at s. manoel i had taken observations for latitude ( ° '· s.), longitude ( ° ' w.), and elevation ( ft. a.s.l. on the river, ft. at the _collectoria_). [illustration: author taking astronomical observations on a sandy beach of the river arinos-juruena.] just across the river, at the mouth of the tres barras, was the _collectoria_ for the state of pará. the pará _seringueiros_ worked on the rio tres barras and its tributaries on its right side--that is to say, the annipirí, the igarapé preto, the cururu, and another (nameless) stream. there were, perhaps, altogether some eighty or a hundred _seringueiros_, all told, working in that immense region on the pará side. in the year , , kil. of rubber were collected by those few _seringueiros_, and in the year a slightly larger amount was sent down the river from that point. the pará fiscal agency was only established there on december th, . the _collectoria_ was situated in a most beautiful spot on a high point overlooking the mouth of the tres barras, and directly facing the juruena-arinos. on the juruena previous to reaching s. manoel on the left side was a stream in which gold was to be found. amid the affectionate farewells of mr. barretto i left s. manoel in a beautiful boat belonging to the fiscal agent. the effects of light on the water were wonderful after the storm. the river, immensely wide, flowed in a n.n.w. direction, then due north in great straight stretches from to kil. in length. as we had left late in the afternoon we were not able to go far. we passed some beautiful islands, one particularly of immense length, with an extensive sandy beach at its southern end. after going some kil. we came to a great barrier of rocks extending across the river from south-west to north-east. some distance below those rocks a great sand-bank spread half-way across the stream. we halted for the night at the _fazenda_ of colonel gregorio, a _seringueiro_ from whom i expected to get an indian who knew the forest well and who could be of some assistance to me in going across it. the house of col. gregorio--a mere big shed--was a regular armoury, a great many rifles of all ages, sizes, and shapes adorning the walls; then there were fishing spears and harpoons, vicious-looking knives and axes. in the principal room was a large altar with a carved figure of the virgin standing with joined hands before lighted candles and a bottle of green peppermint. the latter was not an offering to the sacred image, but it was placed on the revered spot so that none of gregorio's men should touch it. enormous balls of rubber filled the greater portion of the floor, waiting to be taken down the river. with great trouble the indian--a man called miguel--was induced to accompany me; also a young boy, who, at a salary of _s._ a day, agreed to act as carrier. it was not until late in the afternoon on august th that we left the _fazenda_ in order to proceed down the stream. we passed the tributary river roncador on the left side, with its beautiful high waterfall a short distance before it enters the tapajoz. we came soon afterwards to the island of s. benedicto, south of which on the left bank was the hill of the veado, ft. high. directly in front of the island, also on the left bank, was the mount of s. benedicto, where legends say an image of that saint exists carved out by nature in the high rocky cliff. as we passed under the hill our crew fired several volleys in honour of the saint; then we landed and i climbed up to go and see the wonderful image. many candles had been burnt on a platform of rock on the cliff side, and the sailors who came up with me brought a new supply of stearine and set them ablaze on that natural altar. the men pointed out to me the figure of the saint, but with all the best intentions in the world i could see no resemblance whatever to a human being. "there it is! there it is!" they shouted, as i twisted my head one way and the other to see if i could find a point of view from which i could see the saint. the men knelt down and prayed fervently for some minutes, as they believed it was necessary to pay these signs of respect in order to ensure a good journey down the river. some went as far as to tear off pieces of their garments and leave them on the rocky platform as offerings. the eastern face of the s. benedicto mount was a vertical wall ft. high in horizontal strata of a deep grey colour, and some m. in length along the river. we had wasted so much time, and the men rowed so badly, that we made poor progress. we only went kil. that day. we halted for the night near a _seringueiro's_ hut at the small rapid of meia carga, or half-charge rapid, because at low water the boats have to be half unloaded in order to get over that spot. the minimum temperature during the night was ° f. we slept in the boat, and were simply devoured by mosquitoes. the chief of the indians who had been lent me by the fiscal agent became seriously ill during the night with a severe attack of fever. all my men, with no exception, also became ill, and were shivering with cold, owing to fever. the chief of the police, luiz perreira da silva, who had been placed by mr. barretto in charge of the indians who were to accompany me, in jumping from the boat that night on to the shore hurt his foot, the pain caused by that slight injury giving him also a severe attack of fever. so that of the entire crew there remained only two men in good health--viz. mr. julio nery and myself. amid moans and groans we got the boat under way at . the next morning, the men paddling in a half-hearted manner. as the current was strong we drifted down fairly quickly in a northerly direction, the river there being in a perfectly straight line for some , m. the width of the river was , m. behind a little island on the left side, and approached through a circle of dangerous rocks, was the hut of a _seringueiro_ called albuquerque, a man in the employ of colonel brazil, the greatest rubber trader on the river tapajoz. we landed at that point and made preparations so that i could start at once on the journey on foot across the virgin forest. the loads the men were to carry were not heavy--merely from to lb. each--the heaviest load being the one i carried, so as to give a good example to my men. we had ample provisions to last us, with a little economy, three months. when the moment arrived to depart there was not one man who could stand up on his legs; the policeman with his injured foot could not even land from the boat, as it gave him so much pain. the chief of the indians was so ill with the fever and the medicine he had taken that he really looked as if he might not survive. the other indians refused to leave their chief; while the indian miguel, whom i had employed subsequently, flatly refused to come along. much time was wasted talking, mr. nery, a fluent speaker, haranguing the men, who lay around helpless, holding their heads between their hands or rolling themselves on the ground. it is extraordinary how many ailments fright can produce. [illustration: where the rivers arinos-juruena and s. manoel meet.] [illustration: josé maracati, chief of the mundurucus, tapajoz.] the accounts of the forest which i had heard in the neighbourhood were most conflicting. it was really impossible to tell beforehand what the crossing overland between the tapajoz and the madeira river would be like. in order to encourage my own men i had once more increased their pay for the extra hard work i required of them on that occasion, and i promised them each a further present of money if they succeeded in carrying all the loads safely as far as the madeira river. they had agreed to do the work, but unfortunately they were the most unpractical men i have ever come across, and insisted on carrying the loads in a way which made it impossible for them to carry them for any long distance. for instance, one man insisted on carrying a heavy wooden packing-case slung on one side of the body just over the hip, in the fashion in which italians carry barrel-organs in the streets of cities; another man suspended a case on his back by a strap which went round his neck, so that after a few minutes he was absolutely strangled; while filippe the negro let his load hang so low that it would certainly cause a bad sore on his spine. i tried to teach them, but it was no use, as it only led to a row. absolutely disgusted with the whole crowd of them, late that afternoon of august th i made ready to start on our difficult journey. chapter xviii starting across the virgin forest--cutting the way incessantly--a rugged, rocky plateau--author's men throw away the supplies of food--attacked by fever--marching by compass--poisoned--author's men break down--author proceeds across forest endeavouring to reach the madeira river--a dramatic scene by three o'clock in the afternoon i had been able to induce the indian miguel, his friend the carrier, and three other apiacar indians to come along with us for a few days in order to carry the heavier packages as far as possible into the forest, so that i could spare my men. it was some relief to me--although i saw plainly that we should surely have disaster sooner or later--when one after the other my men took up their loads and started off. i gave them the correct direction with the compass, almost due west; in fact, to make it easier for them i told them that afternoon to travel in the direction of the sun. with filippe the negro at the head my own men started off at a rapid pace, the others following, while i was at the tail of the procession in order to see that no stragglers remained behind. for a short distance we found an old _picada_ which went practically in the direction we wanted, so my men followed it, only cutting when necessary the vegetation which had grown up here and there. i had only gone a few hundred metres when i saw the ground a little way off our track covered with some white substance. with my usual curiosity i went to see what it was, and found to my disgust a large quantity of rice which had evidently been scattered about there a few moments before. a few yards farther was another patch of white upon the ground, as if it had snowed. a whole sack of flour had been emptied and scattered about in such a way that it could not be recovered. i well knew what was happening. my men were throwing away everything in order to make the loads lighter. so relieved of the weight, they had got far ahead, while the apiacar indians who had remained behind were behaving in so strange a fashion that i had to stay in charge of them, so that they should not escape with the boxes of instruments and collections which they were carrying for me. we went that afternoon some kil. through fairly clean forest, barring a few obstacles such as huge, ancient, fallen trees, the insides of which were all rotted away or eaten up by ants. in one of the cavities of those trees i found another quantity of food which had been hidden by my men. hampered by the indians, who were giving me no end of trouble as they refused to carry their loads, it took me some little time to catch up with my other men. when i did i found them all seated, smacking their lips. they were filling their mouths as fast as they could with handfuls of sugar. when i reprimanded them there was an unpleasant row. they said they were not beasts of burden, that men were not made to carry, and that therefore they had thrown away all the food. under no circumstance would they carry loads any farther. a great deal of tact and persuasion were required. alcides had discarded nearly all the stuff he carried, and was one of the chief offenders on that occasion. matters looked bad. we camped that night near a little streamlet at the point where it had its birth. we still had plenty of food left, notwithstanding what they had thrown away. i warned them that if they threw away any more we should certainly all die of starvation. during the night one of the indians ran away carrying with him a quantity of our provisions. on august th i once more proceeded on the march westward, this time with no _picada_ at all to follow, but cutting our way all the time through the forest. mr. julio nery, who had been sent with me, was an enthusiastic and brave man, but in trying to help made us waste a great deal of energy and time. after marching eight hours we had only gone kil. in the right direction, having made many deviations in order to find what he called a more suitable way. we travelled occasionally over thickly wooded, slightly undulating country, but generally the land was flat. [illustration: apiacar boy.] [illustration: apiacar indian.] in the afternoon, when we arrived at the foot of a small hill, we were caught in a drenching storm, the foliage letting the water down upon us in profusion. the walking became heavy. in order to make the loads lighter, my men had removed from the packages the waterproof coverings i had made for them from waterproof sheets. the result was that in that storm nearly our entire supply of salt--some lb. of it--was lost. the powdered sugar, too, suffered considerably, and became a solid sticky mass. we arrived at a stream m. broad flowing from north to south, where we had to halt, as my men said they were absolutely exhausted and could not go another step. the water of that stream was simply delicious. we killed a monkey, which my men ate eagerly for dinner. on august th we left that stream at eight o'clock. we were confronted by a succession of steep hills with vertical rocks of immense size, on the summit of which were great slabs also of rock, not unlike angular roofs of houses. it was most difficult, i confess, for my men to take the loads up and down those giant rocks, especially as there were many fallen trees among them and the rocks themselves were extremely slippery. it would not do to repeat in these pages the language of my men as they scrambled up and rolled down the numerous rocks--falling so clumsily that they always managed to injure themselves more or less. i was sorry for my loads, especially the instruments, which got knocked about in a pitiful way. we came across three distinct hill ranges of that type, over which we had to travel, the highest point being some ft. above the level of the tapajoz river. the last bit in particular of that hilly region was diabolically steep, with loose rocks which gave us no end of trouble. a beautiful little streamlet flowing east descended in cascades among those huge rocks. eventually we reached the summit of the plateau, a huge flat expanse of dark red volcanic rock. my men were so tired that we had to camp on that elevation. nothing but a few shrubs grew in the interstices of that great table of rock, which extended for several kilometres to the north. the barrier of rock, a spur of the great central plateau, was very interesting from a geological point of view. on august th we again marched westward, cutting our way through the forest, and found two streamlets--one flowing south, the other north. late in the afternoon we arrived at a spot where there was another great mass of rock, most troublesome for us. my men were discontented, saying that when they agreed to march through the forest they had not agreed to march over rocks--as if i had placed these there on purpose to annoy them. they were extremely morose. i knew by their manner that i had fresh trouble in store. in the centre of that second immense table of rock i found a few pools of putrid rain-water in cavities. my men wanted to halt there, but i induced them to march along in hopes of finding a stream at the bottom of the tableland. unluckily we went on and on until the evening and we found no more water at all. only a torrential shower came upon us during the night, and we were able to fill our cups with water to quench our thirst. men and baggage got soaked in that storm. the loads were much heavier to carry the next morning. on august th, when i called the men in order to make a start, two of them were attacked severely by fever, their temperature being °. they seemed to be in agony, and had no strength left. mr. julio nery said that his duties called him back to his post, and he must return with the indians under his charge. he accompanied me up to lunch-time, when we all together had a hearty meal. after lunch i gave mr. nery and his men ample provisions to return to the river tapajoz, where the boat was awaiting them. not only that, but i presented mr. nery with a handsome rifle and a watch, in remembrance of his politeness to me. in order that he might have a pleasant journey back i also gave him the few tins of delicacies which i had brought for myself, the only four tins of condensed milk i had been able to obtain in s. manoel, and a few tins of sardines which had remained from my provisions i had taken over from england, and which he liked very much. it was a great trial to me to see how my men wasted food all the time. when i examined the loads once more i found that nearly the entire supply of flour, _farinha_, rice, lard, and much of the tinned stuff had been thrown away. we had been marching four and a half days, and out of the three months' provisions we only had food enough left to last us a few days. with my reduced party of my six original men, the indian miguel and his friend the carrier--eight altogether--i started once more in a westerly direction, opening a _picada_--that is to say, cutting our way through the forest. we crossed two streamlets flowing north. after that we came upon a most troublesome patch of swampy land with high reeds in it, the leaves of which cut our hands like razors when we forced our way through them, struggling in mud and slush up to our knees, sometimes as high as our waists. a streamlet flowing north formed the marsh in that low place. the moment we had got out of the marsh the men threw themselves down and said they could go no farther. i pointed out to them that that spot was most unhealthy, and tried to persuade them to go some distance from that pestilential place. but they would not listen to reason, and there they would stay. although i had offered them every possible inducement to come on--their original high pay had been practically trebled as long as the hard work should last--and i had treated them with the greatest consideration, yet they refused to come any farther. they said they had decided to go back. in examining my loads i found that they had abandoned my sextant and other instruments in the forest, and it was only after a great deal of talking that i could induce the man x to go back with me to recover them, for which service he received an immediate present of one pound sterling. as luck would have it, that evening my men shot a plump _jaho_ (_crypturus notivagus_) and a large _mutum_ (_crax pinima_), two enormous birds, most excellent to eat. [illustration: apiacar women.] [illustration: apiacar women.] that camp was stifling, the moisture being excessive, and the miasma rising from the putrid water poisoning my men in a disastrous way. the drinking-water, too, from that swamp was full of germs of all sizes, so big that with the naked eye you could see hundreds of them in your cup. we could not boil the water because all our matches had got wet. we wasted hundreds of them in trying to light a fire, but with no success. flint and steel also proved useless, because the wood was also soaking wet and would not ignite. august st was a painful day for me. two of the men were badly laid up with fever, the others were most obnoxious. i had endless trouble in making them take up their loads and start once more. the man x said he would take the load which contained my instruments, but he would certainly leave it, as soon as he had an opportunity, concealed in a spot where it could not be found again. i told him in plain words that if he carried out his intention i would shoot him dead, and i would from that moment do the same to any other man who rebelled. i was surprised to find that the lot of them took their loads upon their shoulders and proceeded to march along as quietly as possible. the brazilian forest was--unlike the equatorial forest of africa--comparatively clean underneath, there being very little undergrowth. it was quite easy to cut one's way through if one knew how. there was a great art in cutting one's way through the forest. if you happened to know the way trees grew or liane were suspended, it was easy enough to cut them with one sharp blow of the large knives. but if you did not happen to know the formation of the trees and you struck them the wrong way, you had to hit them many times before you knocked them down. the same thing and worse happened with liane, which could be severed easily with one stroke if it were applied the right way, but which wound round and entangled you in a merciless manner if hit at a wrong angle. no observant person, however, experiences trouble in marching through the brazilian forest, and if not hindered by impossible followers it would be quite easy to march long distances daily in any part of the forest without much inconvenience. this statement only applies to the actual marching, and does not at all mean that you had not to go through severe sufferings and endless trials of other kinds. unless you were careful where you were sitting, you found yourself spiked by thorns of great length which were strewn all over the forest hidden under the thick carpet of discarded foliage from the trees. not only that, but the moment you sat down your body was simply invaded by swarms of ants of all sizes and degrees of viciousness, which proceeded to bite you all over with considerable vigour. there were not many mosquitoes where the forest was dense, but there were millions--in fact, milliards--of bees, which rendered your life absolutely unbearable, as they clung to your face, hands and clothes. fortunately, they did not sting, but clinging with their claws upon your skin they produced such an irritation that you were nearly driven mad by it. then there were fetid bugs of huge size, the sickening odour of which when they touched you had quite a nauseating effect. they seemed to have a particular fondness for settling upon your lips or entering your mouth. when by mishap you swallowed them, their taste was something too appalling. once or twice while i was eating i had the misfortune to crack one or two under my teeth. i had the bad taste of them in my mouth for hours after. when we halted for lunch my men were in a shocking condition. i could not quite understand what had happened. most of them seemed to suffer from violent internal inflammation accompanied by high fever. in order to make things as easy as possible for them i once more rearranged the loads that afternoon, abandoning six hundred rifle cartridges, several tins of hyposulphite of soda, other chemicals, all the developing trays, etc., for my photographic work, and a number of valuable trinkets i had collected. much to my sorrow i had also to abandon the geological collection, which was too heavy to be carried any farther. then i had to abandon all the books which were necessary for working out my astronomical observations, such as norrie's _navigation_ and _the nautical almanac_, and all possible articles which were not absolutely necessary. after i had gone to the great trouble of unpacking everything in order to make the loads lighter, i was surprised to discover, a few minutes later, that the men had appropriated most of the stuff and shoved it back in their loads--in order, perhaps, to sell it when they got to manaos. i said nothing, as it suited me very well. i should have gladly repurchased the things from them on the way. one man opened a tin of powdered hyposulphite and, believing it to be powdered sugar, proceeded to pour it down his throat. had i the bad habit of making puns, i should say that i just saved him in time from being "fixed" for good. as it was he swallowed some, and became very ill indeed for some hours. we luckily killed a big _mutum_ and two monkeys before leaving that camp, but my men were so ill that they left them on the ground, saying they had not the strength to carry them so that we might eat them for dinner. well knowing what was in store for us, i proceeded to carry the huge bird (much larger than a big turkey) and one of the monkeys (as big as a child three years old) upon my shoulders. it was all i could do to struggle along under the heavy load, as i already carried upon my person some lb. in weight of gold, silver, other moneys, and instruments, while on my shoulders hung a weight of some lb. add to that the big bird and the monkey, and altogether the weight was certainly not less than lb. i was simply smothered under it. we suffered a good deal that day from lack of water and from the intense heat. there seemed to be no air in the forest, and our breathing was heavy. each time a man fell down and refused to go on i had to put down my load, go to his assistance and persuade him to get up again. it was a most trying experience. after going some eight hours without finding a drop of water, our throats absolutely parched with thirst, we luckily came upon some _solveira_ trees, which, when incised, exuded most excellent milk--only, of course, it dropped down tantalizingly slowly, while we were cruelly thirsty, especially my men in their feverish state. it was curious to see them all clinging to the tree with their mouths applied to the wounds in order to suck the milk. [illustration: mundurucu women.] [illustration: apiacar children.] some way farther on we came across some rubber trees--which fact made us joyful, as we knew water would then be near. in fact, a kilometre beyond, water of a deep reddish yellow colour was found in a streamlet m. wide, flowing north. we halted on the western bank. we had been cutting through the forest the entire day. my men were simply exhausted. i, too, was glad when i put down the bird and the monkey--particularly as they had a pungent odour, quite typical of wild animals of brazil, which affected my nose for some hours afterwards. also they were covered with parasites, which caused violent itching on my neck and shoulders, on which they had been resting. i had marched all the time, compass in hand, next to the man who with the large knife opened the way through the forest. we had travelled all day--cutting, cutting all the time--and by the evening we had gone about kil.--that is to say, at the rate of a little over kil. an hour. the yellow water of the stream--it looked just like strong tea, and tasted of everything in the world except water--had not a beneficial effect upon my men. for some reason of their own the men, who seldom took a bath in the clean rivers, insisted on bathing in those coloured waters, which, i might also add, were just then almost stagnant in that particular section of the stream. personally, i had taken out a large cup full of water before they had gone to bathe, and avoided drinking again; but my men drank that water, made dirtier by their immersion and the use of soap--my soap, too! the next morning all had excruciating headaches. their legs dangled, and they did not seem to be able to stand on them. only the indian--miguel--seemed to have any strength left. he was a nasty-looking individual, always sulky and pensive as if under some great weight upon his conscience. miguel and i walked in front, he with a big knife opening the way in the forest for the others to come behind. just before leaving camp on september st i had gone some distance up the yellow stream in order to get a last drink in case we found no other water that day. the indian, who was supposed to know the forest well, knew nothing whatever, and always misled me whenever i asked for information. a few minutes after we had left, i was seized with violent shivers, my teeth chattered, and i felt quite as frozen as if i had suddenly dropped in the arctic regions. evidently i had been poisoned by the water. i collapsed under my load, and for some moments i could not get up again. although i had spent all my time and energy helping everybody else to get up when in difficulty, not one of my men came near me to unfasten the loads from my shoulders or help me to get up on my legs again. they merely squatted a little way off when they saw that i had collapsed, and proceeded to roll up their cigarettes and smoke. true, i did not let my men suspect that i was very ill. after a few minutes i struggled up once more under my heavy load and asked the men to come along. i had been seized with such a violent attack of fever that my strength seemed to have vanished all of a sudden, my limbs quivering in a most alarming way. i carried a clinical thermometer on my person. my temperature was ° f. from ten o'clock in the morning until three in the afternoon the attack of fever was so acute that several times i fell down. my men, who were in a pitiable condition that day, collapsed, now one, now another, although their loads were less than half the weight of mine, each man carrying about lb. we marched until four o'clock that afternoon, but only covered a distance of kil. in that entire day. two of the men had abandoned their loads altogether, as they could not carry them any farther. what vexed me considerably was that they had discarded my valuable things in preference to leaving the great weight of rubbish of their own which they insisted on carrying, such as looking-glasses, combs, brushes, a number of old clothes in shreds, and the heavy hammocks, which weighed not less than lb. each. we found water in a streamlet which formed a marsh. there my men insisted on making camp. it was a most unhealthy spot. ill as i was, i endeavoured to induce them to come on a little farther and see if we could improve on that halting-place. miguel, the indian, who had slightly scratched his finger, now refused to cut the _picada_ any longer, as he said the pain was intense. it was only by giving him a present of money that i had succeeded in leading the man on until we reached the marsh. curiously enough, the man x, who was the champion rascal of the crowd, proved himself that day to be the best of the whole lot. he even went back with me to try and recover some of the most important things from the loads which the men had abandoned some kil. before we had made our camp. as we stumbled along we could not even lean against the trees to have a little rest, as most of them had thousands of horizontal thorns of great length sticking out all around them. innumerable thorns were upon the ground. our feet were full of them. i looked all the time where i was putting my feet, but sometimes the thorns were hidden under masses of dried foliage, and they were so long and so strong that they went clean through the sides of my shoes. the last blow came to me that evening, when my men informed me that we had no food whatever left. all that remained of our three months' provisions were six tins of sardines and one tin of anchovies. that was all. my men made no secret of having thrown away everything as we came along. the sugar, for which they had a perfect craving, they had eaten, consuming in the last two days the entire supply of lb., which had remained until then. it was then that i understood the cause of the internal inflammation from which they all suffered. they were greatly excited, and demanded the balance of their money, not wishing to come on any more; they wanted to fall back on the river tapajoz and go home. there was a riot. they threatened to shoot me if i insisted on their coming on. just then a big black monkey appeared upon a tree, inquisitively watching our doings. the man x shot it. a moment later a big _jaho_ was brought down, also by the man x, who was the best shot of the party. my men were never too ill to eat. they immediately proceeded to skin the poor monkey and pluck the feathers from the bird, in order to prepare a hearty meal. but they complained that they had no _feijão_, and no coffee after their dinner. when we started a few days before we had a supply of lb. of coffee. feasting on the meat did not seem to be a good remedy for internal inflammation and fever. the next morning my men were really in a precarious condition. i saw that it was out of the question for them to continue. personally, i would certainly not go back. i came to an understanding with them that i would leave sufficient ammunition for them to shoot with, as there seemed to be plenty of game in that particular part of the forest. we would divide equally what provisions we had--that is to say, three tins of sardines for each party. i would also give them sufficient money for one of them, or two, to fall back on the river and purchase provisions for the entire party. i made them promise that they should remain in charge of my baggage, most of which i would leave with them at that spot, while i, with two men, would go right across the forest as far as the madeira river, where i would endeavour to get fresh men and new provisions. the men agreed to this. as i could not trust any of them, i took the precaution to take along with me all my notebooks and the maps i had made of the entire region we had crossed, four hundred glass negatives which i had taken and developed, a number of unexposed plates, a small camera, my chronometer, one aneroid, a sextant, a prismatic compass, one other compass, and a number of other things which were absolutely necessary. the rest of the baggage i left at that spot. i begged the men to take special care of the packages. all i asked of them was to prop them up on stones so that the termites and ants should not destroy my possessions, and to make a shed with palm leaves so as to protect the packages as much as possible from the rain. the men promised to do all this faithfully. we drew lots as to who were to be the two to accompany me on the difficult errand across the virgin forest. fate selected filippe the negro and benedicto, both terribly ill. we had no idea whatever what the distance would be between that point and the madeira river. it might take us a few days to get there; it might take us some months. all the provisions we of the advance party should have to depend upon were the three tins of sardines and the tin of anchovies--the latter had remained in our possession when we tossed up as to which of the two parties should have it. the indian miguel was induced at the last moment to come also, and with him came the carrier his friend. early on september nd i was ready to start, and roused poor filippe and benedicto, who were in a shocking state. without a word of farewell from the men we left behind, and for whom we were about to sacrifice our lives perhaps, we started on our dangerous mission. the indian miguel and myself walked in front, cutting the way all the time, while i held my compass in hand so as to keep the correct direction west. considering all, we marched fairly well. it was curious to note how difficult it was for men to travel in a straight line while cutting a way through the forest. i noticed that the indian, when cutting his way through, using the knife in his right hand, would gradually veer to the right, so that if you let him go long enough he would describe a regular circle and come back to his original starting-point. if he cut the way with the left hand, the tendency would be to keep to the left all the time until he had described a circle that way. that was not characteristic of that man only, but of nearly all the men i met in brazil when making a _picada_. it was therefore necessary to keep constant watch with the compass so that the deviation should be as small as possible during the march. we had gone but a short distance from camp when we came to a streamlet of the most delicious water. i had suffered a great deal from thirst the day before. we had been so poisoned by the yellow water of the stream that i did not like to try more experiments at the marsh where my men insisted on making camp. so that now i really enjoyed a good drink of the limpid water. that day we found too much water. on going kil. farther, about kil. from camp, we found another wider and equally delicious streamlet, m. wide. all the streams we met flowed in a northerly direction. we walked and walked the entire day, until p.m., covering a distance of kil. the indian miguel worried me the whole day, saying that cutting the _picada_ was heavy work and he could not go on, as his finger was hurting him, and the pay he received--£ sterling a day--was too small for the work he had to do. i had to keep constant watch on him, as he was a man of a slippery nature, and i did not know what he might do from one moment to another. also he said we were simply committing suicide by trying to go through the virgin forest, as we should meet thousands of indians who would attack us, and we had no chance of escape. i needed this man and his companion to carry my sextant and the unexposed photographic plates, some two hundred of them, which were of considerable weight. that night, when we made camp, miguel shot a fine _jacú_ (_penelope cristata_), and we had a meal. soon after a regular downpour came upon us, making us feel most uncomfortable. at about eight o'clock, however, the rain stopped. with a great deal of trouble we were able to light a fire, while the wet leaves of the trees kept on dropping water on us and making a peculiar rustling noise on the carpet of dead foliage on the ground. by the light of that fire a weird and almost tragic scene took place. miguel came up to me, and said in a dramatic tone that for the sake of his wife and children i must let him go back, as we were marching to sure death. if i did not let him go back ... here he took his forehead between his hands--"god help me!" he said, and he burst into tears. he said he did not wish for his pay, as he had not fulfilled his contract. whatever he had on his person he was willing to give me if i would only let him go back. i said i wished him to keep all his possessions, and as he did not wish to go along with me i would certainly let him go back the next morning. he would then also receive the pay according to the time he had been with me. miguel went back near the fire, where he cried for some time. accustomed to deal with brazilians, i perceived that miguel thought my promises too good to be true. when leaving the last camp i had improvised for myself a kind of hammock with some straps and a waterproof canvas sheet which i had cut out of one of my tents. i was lying in that hammock thinking, when i saw miguel get up, and, screening his eyes with his hand, look fixedly my way. i pretended to be asleep. miguel--who, by the way, was a christian--took the dagger from his waist and walking to a large tree scratched a cross upon its bark. then, sticking the knife with force into the tree, he clasped his hands over its handle, and bent his head over it, muttering some prayers. twice--perhaps thinking he was being observed--he turned round towards me, and when he did so the expression on his face, lighted by the flickering flame, was really ghastly. he prayed for some ten minutes, then, with the dagger in his hand, he walked cautiously towards my hammock. he was within metres of me when i jumped up, seizing filippe's rifle, which i had placed by my side in the hammock. with the butt i struck the indian a violent blow in the chest. he stumbled back, dropped his knife and went down on his knees touching my feet with his trembling hands and begging my pardon. again came more sobs and tears; again more entreaties to be discharged. i got up and confiscated his rifle and all his cartridges, as well as the knife, then sent him to his hammock to sleep. the next morning i would see what i could do. i saw clearly that it was no use taking on a man like that, who added to my other trials somewhat of a mental strain. the next morning, before sunrise, we were up again. i gave miguel and his friend their full salaries up to date and sent them back. i handed him his rifle and cartridges, which were his own possessions, but i kept the knife as a memento. even when treating men generously in brazil you had always to beware of treachery. i told miguel and his friend to walk straight ahead and not turn round. i warned miguel not to unsling his rifle from his shoulders until he had walked half a league. if he did while still in sight of me i would put a bullet through him. i said it and i meant it. chapter xix benedicto and filippe show courage--confronted with a mountainous country--steep ravines--no food--painful marches--starving--ammunition rendered useless by moisture--the "pros" and "cons" of smoking--a faint hope--a forged tin which should have contained anchovies--curious effects of starvation upon the brain--where money is of no avail--why there was nothing to eat in the forest--the sauba ants--sniffed by a jaguar--filippe tries to commit suicide. the departure of those two men added much to our troubles. i had to abandon at that spot all the unused photographic plates, my sextant and a large prismatic compass, half the supply of cartridges we had taken with us, a pair of extra shoes, and a number of other things. with our reduced loads we made an early start, filippe that day behaving very bravely. "never mind," said he; "if all the others are afraid, i am not. i will follow you anywhere. after all, nothing can happen to us worse than death. you have always behaved kindly to me, and i will never abandon you." both filippe and benedicto were still poorly, but the violent exertion of the previous day had done them good and their condition seemed to have slightly improved. we started once more across the virgin forest, directing our steps due west. filippe this time undertook to open the _picada_, while i, compass in hand, marched directly behind him, benedicto following me. filippe, who was unaccustomed to go through the forest, was even worse than miguel for keeping the correct direction. if i had let him go, he would have described circle after circle upon himself instead of going in a straight line. from that point our march across the forest became tragic. perhaps i can do nothing better than reproduce almost word by word the entries in my diary. we ate that morning what little there remained of the _mutum_ we had shot the previous evening. little we knew then that we were not to taste fresh meat again for nearly a month from that date. during september rd we made fairly good progress, cutting our way through incessantly. we went that day kil. we had no lunch, and it was only in the evening that we opened the last of the three small boxes of sardines, our entire dinner consisting of three and a half sardines each. on september th we were confronted, soon after our departure, with a mountainous country with deep ravines and furrows, most trying for us owing to their steepness. we went over five ranges of hills from to ft. in height, and we crossed five streamlets in the depressions between those successive ranges. filippe was again suffering greatly from an attack of fever, and i had to support him all the time, as he had the greatest difficulty in walking. benedicto had that day been entrusted with the big knife for cutting the _picada_. we went some kil. that day, with nothing whatever to eat, as we had already finished the three boxes of sardines, and i was reserving the box of anchovies for the moment when we could stand hunger no longer. on september th we had another very terrible march over broken country, hilly for a good portion of the distance, but quite level in some parts. the man benedicto, who was a great eater, now collapsed altogether, saying that he could no longer carry his load and could not go on any farther without food. the entire day our eyes had roamed in all directions, trying to discover some wild fruit which was edible, or some animal we might shoot, but there was the silence of death all around us. not a branch, not a leaf was moved by a living thing; no fruit of any kind was to be seen anywhere. our appetite was keen, and it certainly had one good effect--it stopped filippe's fever and, in fact, cured it altogether. the two men were tormenting me the whole day, saying they had no faith in the compass: how could a brass box--that is what they called it--tell us where we could find _feijão_? it was beyond them to understand it. they bemoaned themselves incessantly, swearing at the day they had been persuaded to come along with me and leave their happy homes in order to die of starvation in the forest with a mad englishman! and why did we go across the forest at all, where there was no trail, when we could have gone down by the river on a trading boat? on september th it was all i could do to wake up my men. when they did wake, they would not get up, for they said the only object in getting up was to eat, and as there was nothing to eat there was no use in getting up. they wanted to remain there and die. i had to use a great deal of gentle persuasion, and even told them a big story--that my _agulha_ or needle (the compass) was telling me that morning that there was plenty of _feijão_ ahead of us. we struggled on kilometre after kilometre, one or another of us collapsing under our loads every few hundred metres. we went over very hilly country, crossing eight hill ranges that day with steep ravines between. in fact, all that country must once have been a low tableland which had been fissured and then eroded by water, leaving large cracks. at the bottom of each we found brooks and streamlets of delicious water. of the eight rivulets found that day one only was fairly large. it fell in little cascades over rock. we could see no fish in its waters. the forest was fairly clean underneath, and we had no great difficulty in getting through, a cut every now and then with the knife being sufficient to make a passage for us. i had by that time entirely given up the idea of opening a regular _picada_, over which i could eventually take the men and baggage i had left behind. we found that day a palm with a bunch of small nuts which benedicto called _coco do matto_; he said they were delicious to eat, so we proceeded to cut down the tall palm tree. when we came to split open the small _cocos_ our disappointment was great, for they merely contained water. there was nothing whatever to eat inside the hard shells. we spent some two hours that evening cracking the _cocos_--some two hundred of them--each nut about the size of a cherry. they were extremely hard to crack, and our expectant eyes were disappointed two hundred times in succession as we opened every one and found nothing whatever to eat in them. we were beginning to feel extremely weak, with a continuous feeling of emptiness in our insides. personally, i felt no actual pain. the mental strain, perhaps, was the most trying thing for me, for i had no idea when we might find food. i was beginning to feel more than ever the responsibility of taking those poor fellows there to suffer for my sake. on their side they certainly never let one moment go by during the day or night without reminding me of the fact. on september th i had the greatest difficulty in getting the men out of their hammocks. they were so exhausted that i could not rouse them. we had had a terrific storm during the night, which had added misery to our other sufferings. innumerable ants were now causing us a lot of damage. filippe's coat, which had dropped out of his hammock, was found in the morning entirely destroyed. those miniature demons also cut the string to which i had suspended my shoes in mid-air, and no sooner had they fallen to the ground than the ants started on their mischievous work. when i woke up in the morning all that remained of my shoes were the two leather soles, the upper part having been completely destroyed. going through the forest, where thorns of all sizes were innumerable, another torture was now in store for me. with pieces of string i turned the soles of the shoes into primitive sandals; but when i started on the march i found that they hurt me much more than if i walked barefooted. after marching a couple of kilometres, my renovated foot-gear hurt me so much in going up and down the steep ravines that i took off the sandals altogether and flung them away. that day we went over eleven successive hill ranges and crossed as many little streamlets between them. my men were terribly downhearted. we had with us a mauser and two hundred cartridges, but although we did nothing all day long but look for something to kill we never heard a sound of a living animal. only one day at the beginning of our fast did i see a big _mutum_--larger than a big turkey. the bird had never seen a human being, and sat placidly perched on the branch of a tree, looking at us with curiosity, singing gaily. i tried to fire with the mauser at the bird, which was only about seven or eight metres away, but cartridge after cartridge missed fire. i certainly spent not less than twenty minutes constantly replenishing the magazine, and not a single cartridge went off. they had evidently absorbed so much moisture on our many accidents in the river and in the heavy rain-storms we had had of late, that they had become useless. while i was pointing the gun the bird apparently took the greatest interest in my doings, looked at me, stooping down gracefully each time that the rifle missed fire, singing dainty notes almost as if it were laughing at me. the funny part of it all was that we eventually had to go away disappointed, leaving the bird perched on that very same branch. as the days went by and we could find nothing to eat, my two men lost their courage entirely. they now refused to suffer any longer. they said they had not the strength to go back, so they wanted to lie down and die. many times a day did i have to lift them up again and persuade them gently to come on another few hundred metres or so. perhaps then we might find the great river madeira, where we should certainly meet traders from whom we could get food. filippe the negro was a great smoker. he had brought some tobacco with him, and he had so far smoked all the time. he said that as long as he had a cigarette in his mouth he did not feel the pangs of hunger quite so much. since my return to civilization i have been constantly told by smokers that if i had been a smoker too i might have suffered less than i did. now let me tell you what happened to smoker filippe when his tobacco came to an end on that painful march. filippe became a raving lunatic, and in a fit of passion was about to stick right through his heart the large knife with which we cut our way through the forest. i had quite a struggle in order to get the knife away from him, and an additional strain was placed upon my mind by keeping a constant watch on the knife so that it could not be used for suicidal purposes. poor benedicto, who was of a less violent nature, from morning to night implored to be killed. the two together moaned and groaned incessantly, and accused me a hundred times a day of taking them there on purpose to die. they certainly made me feel the full and heavy weight of our tragic position. the mental strain of leading along those two poor fellows was indeed much more trying to me than the actual lack of food. in order to save as much as possible of the baggage we carried, i promised filippe and benedicto a considerable present of money if they were able to take the stuff until we reached the madeira river. late in the afternoon of september th, as we were on a high point above the last range of hills met that day, a large panorama opened before us, which we could just see between the trees and foliage of the forest. to obtain a full view of the scenery it was necessary to climb up a tree. i knew well that we could not yet have reached the river we were looking for, but perhaps we were not far from some large tributary of the madeira, such as the secundury. climbing up trees in the brazilian forest was easier said than done, even when you possessed your full strength. so many were the ants of all sizes which attacked you with fury the moment you embraced the tree, that it was not easy to get up more than a few feet. when we drew lots as to whom of us should climb the tree, benedicto was the one selected by fate. benedicto was certainly born under an unlucky star; when anything nasty or unpleasant happened to anybody it was always to poor benedicto. after a lot of pressing he proceeded to go up the tree, uttering piercing yells as every moment great _sauba_ ants bit his arms, legs or body. he was brave enough, and slowly continued his way up until he reached a height of some ft. above the ground, from which eminence he gave us the interesting news that there were some high hills standing before us to the west, while to the north-west was a great flat surface covered by dense forest. no sooner had benedicto supplied us with this information from his high point of vantage than we heard an agonising yell and saw him spread flat on the ground, having made a record descent. filippe and i, although suffering considerably, were in fits of laughter at benedicto, who did not laugh at all, but pawed himself all over, saying he must have broken some bones. when i proceeded to examine him i found upon his body over a hundred _sauba_ ants clinging to his skin with their powerful clippers. aching all over, poor benedicto got up once more. i put the load upon his back and we resumed our journey, making a precipitous descent almost _à pic_ down the hill side. our knees were so weak that we fell many times and rolled down long distances on that steep incline. at last we got to the bottom, rejoicing in our hearts that we had no more hills to climb, as i had made up my mind that i would now march slightly to the north-west, so as to avoid the hilly region which benedicto had discovered to the west. my men had an idea that the great river we were looking for must be in that plain. for a few hours they seemed to have regained their courage. we heard some piercing shrieks, and we at once proceeded in their direction, as we knew they came from monkeys. in fact we found an enormously high tree, some ft. in diameter. up on its summit some beautiful yellow fruit stared us in the face. four tiny monkeys were busy eating the fruit. benedicto, who had by that time become very religious, joined his hands and offered prayers to the virgin that the monkeys might drop some fruit down, but they went on eating while we gazed at them from below. we tried to fire at them with the mauser, but again not a single cartridge went off. eventually the monkeys dropped down the empty shells of the fruit they had eaten. with our ravenous appetite we rushed for them and with our teeth scraped off the few grains of sweet substance which remained attached to the inside of the shells. we waited and waited under that tree for a long time, filippe now joining also in the prayers. each time a shell dropped our palates rejoiced for a few moments at the infinitesimal taste we got from the discarded shells. it was out of the question to climb up such a big tree or to cut it down, as we had no strength left. we went on until sunset; my men once more having lost heart. brazilians lose heart very easily. at the sight of small hills before them, a steep descent, or a deep river to cross, they would lie down and say they wanted to remain there and die. filippe and benedicto did not carry more than lb. each of my own baggage, but their hammocks weighed some lb. each, so that their loads weighed altogether about lb. we went on, crossing five more streamlets that afternoon, of which one, m. wide, had beautifully limpid water. we nevertheless went on, until eventually after sunset we had to camp near a stream of filthy water. we did not mind that so much, because, contrary to the popular idea that while you are starving you require a great deal of water, i found that during those days of starvation both my men and myself hardly ever touched water at all. personally i am accustomed to drink only with my meals, and as i had no meals at all i never had the slightest wish to drink. my men, however, who while on the river, for instance, when we had plenty of food, drank perhaps twenty times a day from the stream, now that they were starving only seldom touched the water, and when they did, only in very small quantities. i do not suppose that my men during the entire period of starvation drank on an average more than a wineglass of water a day. personally i know that i never drank more than half a tumbler or less in the twenty-four hours during that time. under normal circumstances i drink about a quart of water a day. the water, i may say, was plentiful all the time, and, barring a few occasions, such as on that particular night, most excellent. as we had now been four entire days without eating anything at all, i thought it was high time to open the valuable tin of anchovies--the only one in our possession. we had a terrible disappointment when i opened the tin. i had purchased it in s. manoel from mr. barretto. to our great distress we discovered that instead of food it contained merely some salt and a piece of slate. this was a great blow to us. the box was a brazilian counterfeit of a tin of anchovies. how disheartening to discover the fraud at so inopportune a moment! i had reserved the tin until the last as i did not like the look of it from the outside. we kept the salt--which was of the coarsest description. on september th we were slightly more fortunate, as the country was flatter. i was steering a course of ° b.m. (n.w.). i found that farther south we would have encountered too mountainous a country. we crossed several streamlets, the largest m. wide, all of which flowed south. we had no particular adventure that day, and considering all things, we marched fairly well--some kil. towards the evening we camped on a hill. when we got there we were so exhausted that we made our camp on the summit, although there was no water near. on september th, after marching for half an hour we arrived at a stream m. wide, which i took at first to be the river secundury, a tributary of the madeira river. near the banks of that stream we found indications that human beings had visited that spot--perhaps the indians we had heard so much about. the marks we found, however, were, i estimated, about one year old. although these signs should have given us a little courage to go on, we were so famished and exhausted that my men sat down on the river bank and would not proceed. by that time we had got accustomed even to the fierce bites of the ants. we had no more strength to defend ourselves. in vain we strained our eyes all the time in search of wild fruit. in the river we saw plenty of fish; we had a fishing-line with us, but no bait whatever that we could use. there are, of course, no worms underground where ants are so numerous. we could not make snares in the river, as it was much too deep. so we sat with covetous eyes, watching the fish go by. it was most tantalising, and made us ten times more hungry than ever to be so near food and not be able to get it. it is curious how hunger works on your brain. i am not at all a glutton, and never think of food under ordinary circumstances. but while i was starving i could see before me from morning till night, in my imagination, all kinds of delicacies--caviare, russian soups, macaroni au gratin, all kinds of refreshing ice-creams, and plum pudding. curiously enough, some days i had a perfect craving for one particular thing, and would have given anything i possessed in the world to obtain a morsel of it. the next day i did not care for that at all, in my imagination, but wanted something else very badly. the three things which i mostly craved for while i was starving were caviare, galantine of chicken, and ice-cream--the latter particularly. people say that with money you can do anything you like in the world. i had at that time on my person some £ , sterling, of which £ , was in actual cash. if anybody had placed before me a morsel of any food i would gladly have given the entire sum to have it. but no, indeed; no such luck! how many times during those days did i vividly dream of delightful dinner and supper parties at the savoy, the carlton, or the ritz, in london, paris, and new york! how many times did i think of the delicious meals i had had when a boy in the home of my dear father and mother! i could reconstruct in my imagination all those meals, and thought what an idiot i was to have come there out of my own free will to suffer like that. my own dreams were constantly interrupted by benedicto and filippe, who also had similar dreams of the wonderful meals they had had in their own houses, and the wonderful ways in which their _feijãozinho_--a term of endearment used by them for their beloved beans--had been cooked at home by their sweethearts or their temporary wives. "why did we leave our _feijãozinho_"--and here they smacked their lips--"to come and die in this rotten country?" all day i heard them talk of _feijãozinho_, _feijãozinho_, until i was wearied to distraction by that word--particularly as, even when starving, i had no desire whatever to eat the beastly stuff. the negro filippe and benedicto were really brave in a way. i tried to induce them all the time to march as much as we could, so as to get somewhere; but every few moments they sat or fell down, and much valuable time was wasted. in a way it was amusing to watch them--poor benedicto particularly, who every few minutes would take out a little pocket looking-glass to gaze at his countenance. "am i not thin?" he would ask me a dozen times a day. "i have never been so thin before. if i had not come with you i should not be so thin. it is all because we have no food that i am so thin.... if i had not met you i would never have been so thin!"--and so on all day. i reminded him that when we were travelling on the river he had complained of baling the water out of the canoe and preferred to travel overland; now that we were travelling overland he had a new complaint to make. it was quite unreasonable. he was not the only one to get thin; we were all getting thin. benedicto greatly objected to carry the lb. weight of glass negatives, but he did not mind at all carrying a lot of useless things of his own, which weighed an extra lb. or so! since my return i have been constantly asked why, when we were starving, we did not eat the grass in the forest; why we did not feed on the leaves or roots of the trees? if we could find no fruit, why did not we eat monkeys or birds or other animals? why did not we dig for worms and feed on them? as i have already stated, there were no worms in the forest because of the ants, which allow no insect to be underground near the surface. as for the grass, it takes no very intelligent person to see that it cannot exist under the trees of the tropical forest. if a few blades of grass are to be found on the edge of streamlets it does not follow that you can eat them. that grass is usually poisonous. the same may be said of the leaves and roots of trees, even admitting that you could reach the former--which is not the case, as the leaves are usually at a great height upon the trees, and when you are starving you have not the strength to climb up. it also follows that where there is no edible fruit there can be no birds or monkeys, as animals generally have enough sense not to settle where there is nothing to eat. again, even allowing that some rare trees, the fruit of which was edible, were to be found, it does not do to lose sight of the fact that you may be passing under that tree at the season when it is not bearing fruit, as fruit-trees, even in tropical countries, do not always bear fruit at a time to suit the convenience of the passing traveller. as i have said, the country we were traversing was there hilly and rocky, and we were cutting across the headwaters of numerous tributaries, first of the tapajoz river, then of the madeira river--the tiny watercourses, most of them only a few inches wide, descending in numerous successive small cascades over rocks--therefore no fish was to be found. when we did find it in the big rivers we had no way to catch it. it then again follows, concerning the country between great rivers, that where there is no fish, no game, no fruit, no vegetables, and no possible way of cultivating the land, there can be no inhabitants. that was why the great brazilian forest in that region was uninhabited by human beings. it was rather pathetic, looking back on those days, to think of the small cooking pot i carried during that time of starvation in hopes that we might find something to cook. its weight was not great, but it was a cumbersome thing to carry, as it dangled about and caught in all the vegetation. as the days went by and our strength got less and less every hour, i decided not to cut the forest any more, but to go through without that extra exertion. as i could not trust my men with the big knife, i had to carry it myself, as occasionally it had to be used--especially near streams, where the vegetation was always more or less entangled. that evening (september th) we had halted at sunset--simply dead with fatigue and exhaustion. the _sauba_ ants had cut nearly all the strings of filippe's hammock; while he was resting peacefully on it the remainder of the strings broke, and he had a bad fall. he was so exhausted that he remained lying on the ground, swarming all over with ants and moaning the whole time, having no strength to repair the hammock. when filippe eventually fell into a sound slumber i had a curious experience in the middle of the night. i was sleeping in my improvised hammock, when i felt two paws resting on my body and something sniffing in my face. when i opened my eyes i found a jaguar, standing up on its hind paws, staring me straight in the face. the moment i moved, the astonished animal, which had evidently never seen a human being before, leapt away and disappeared. i find that people have strange ideas about wild animals. it is far from true that wild beasts are vicious. i have always found them as gentle as possible. although i have seen nearly every wild beast that it is possible for man to see in the world, i have never once been attacked by them, although on dozens of occasions i have come into close contact with them. i invariably found all wild animals--except the african buffalo--quite timid and almost gentle, unless, of course, they have been worried or wounded. these remarks do not apply to wild animals in captivity. on september th--that was the seventh day of our involuntary fast--we had another dreary march, again without a morsel of food. my men were so downhearted that i really thought they would not last much longer. hunger was playing on them in a curious way. they said that they could hear voices all round them and people firing rifles. i could hear nothing at all. i well knew that their minds were beginning to go, and that it was a pure hallucination. benedicto and filippe, who originally were both atheists of an advanced type, had now become extremely religious, and were muttering fervent prayers all the time. they made a vow that if we escaped alive they would each give £ sterling out of their pay to have a big mass celebrated in the first church they saw. they spoke in a disconnected way, and looked about in a dazed condition, alternating hysterical laughter with abundant tears. after filippe's tobacco had come to an end he had become most dejected, all the time wishing to commit suicide. "what is the use of more suffering?" he exclaimed fifty times a day. "let me die quickly, as i can stand the pain no more!" then all of a sudden his eyes would shine, he would prick up his ears, crying: "we are near people!--we are near people! i can hear voices! let us fire three shots" (the signal all over central brazil of an approaching stranger or of help required), "so that people can come to our assistance!" that was much easier said than done, because none of our cartridges would go off. we had one box of matches left. we had taken several boxes of them, but filippe had used them all in lighting his cigarettes, and we had only one left, which i guarded with much care. to please my men we lighted a big fire, and in it we placed a number of cartridges so that they should explode. in fact some of them actually did explode, and my men strained their ears in order to discover responding sounds. but no sounds came, although they imagined they could hear all kinds of noises. at this place i abandoned the few cartridges we had, as they were absolutely useless. they were mauser cartridges which i had bought in rio de janeiro, and it is quite possible that they were counterfeits. taking things all round, my men behaved very well, but these were moments of the greatest anxiety for me, and i myself was praying fervently to god to get us out of that difficulty. my strength was failing more and more daily, and although i was suffering no actual pain, yet the weakness was simply appalling. it was all i could do to stand up on my legs. what was worse for me was that my head was still in good working order, and i fully realised our position all the time. the country we were travelling over was fairly hilly, up and down most of the time, over no great elevations. we passed two large tributaries of the main stream we had found before, and a number of minor ones. the main stream was strewn with fallen trees, and was not navigable during the dry season. the erosion of the banks by the water had caused so many trees to fall down across it that no canoe could possibly go through. i noticed in one or two places along the river traces of human beings having been there some years before. in the afternoon we again wasted much energy in knocking down two palm-trees on the summit of which were great bunches of _coco do matto_. again we had a bitter disappointment. one after the other we split the nuts open, but they merely contained water inside shells that were much harder to crack than wood. my craving for food was such that in despair i took two or three _sauba_ ants and proceeded to eat them. when i ground them under my teeth their taste was so acidly bitter that it made me quite ill. not only that, but one _sauba_ bit my tongue so badly that it swelled up to a great size, and remained like that for several days. the entire genus of the sauba (_oecodonia cephalotes_) ant is typical of tropical south america. the largest sauba is about an inch long, and possesses powerful scissor-like clippers, with which it can destroy any material, such as leather, cloth, paper or leaves, in a very short time. their method of work is to cut up everything into circles. i remember one day dropping on the ground a pair of thick gloves. when i went to pick them up i found them reduced to a heap of innumerable little discs--each as large as a sixpenny coin. it is with those powerful clippers that the saubas, having climbed in swarms up a tree, proceed to despoil it of its foliage. the work is done in a systematic way, each ant quickly severing one leaf and carrying it down, banner-like, vertically above its head, tightly held between its strong mandibles. it is this habit of the saubas which has brought upon them the brazilian name of _carregadores_, or carriers. one sees everywhere in that country long processions of those destructive insects, each individual marching along quickly with its green vegetable banner, sometimes eight or ten times its own size and weight. in many cases the saubas working aloft cut the leaves and drop them on the ground, where other carriers are waiting to convey them away. so numerous are the saubas that in the forest one can hear distinctly the incessant rustling sound of their clippers at work. the saubas use the leaves in order to construct thatched waterproof roofs over the domes and turrets at the entrances of their extensive subterranean galleries, which would otherwise become flooded during the torrential rains prevalent in those latitudes. the roofs are constructed with wonderful skill, each leaf being held in its place by granules of earth. the galleries, of immense length and much ramified, are often as much as to cm. in diameter. the entrances to them are usually kept blocked, and are only opened when necessary. above ground the saubas make wonderful wide roads, thousands of which can be seen everywhere in the forest, and upon which endless processions go by day and night. the workers of the saubas can be divided into three orders not very clearly defined, as units of intermediate grades are constantly met. the largest of those workers possess extraordinarily massive, double-humped heads, highly polished in the case of members which are visible on the surface, and dull and hairy in the giant fellows which spend their lives within the subterranean passages. these hairy saubas display a single frontal eye--not found in any of the other saubas, and, as far as i know, in no other kind of ant. they never come to the surface except when attacks are made upon the galleries. great excitement is shown in the colonies when the winged ants, of extra large size--especially the females--start out on their errand of propagating the race. the workers with polished heads--fierce-looking brutes--do very little actual work, but seem to be the superiors and protectors of the smaller workers. in every case the body of all orders of saubas is solidly built, with the thorax and head protected by spikes. much as i disliked the saubas for the endless trouble and suffering they inflicted upon me, i could not help admiring their marvellous industry and energy. no agriculture is possible where the saubas are to be found, and even where they do not exist in central brazil, if agriculture were started they would soon invade the territory and destroy everything in a short time. foreign plants do not escape. no way has been found yet of extirpating them. chapter xx benedicto and the honey--constantly collapsing from exhaustion--a strange accident--finding a river--people's mistaken ideas--sixteen days of starvation--an abandoned hut--repairing a broken-down canoe--canoe founders--a raft constructed of glass on september th we had another terrible march, the forest being very dense and much entangled along the stream. we had great trouble in getting through, as there were many palms and ferns, and we had no more strength to cut down our way. we came to a big tree, which was hollow inside up to a great height, and round which were millions of bees. benedicto, who was a great connoisseur in such matters, said that high up inside the tree there must be honey. the bees round that tree were unfortunately stinging bees. we drew lots as to who should go inside the tree to get the honey. it fell to benedicto. we took off most of our clothes and wrapped up his head and legs so that he might proceed to the attack. the job was not an easy one, for in the first reconnaissance he made with his head inside the tree he discovered that the honey must be not less than ft. above the ground, and it was necessary to climb up to that height inside the tree before he could get it. in order to hasten matters--as benedicto was reluctant in carrying out the job--i tried my hand at it, but i was stung badly by hundreds of bees behind my head, on my eyelids, on my arms and legs. when i came out of the tree i was simply covered with angry bees, which stung me all over. so i told benedicto that, as fate had called upon him to do the work, he had better do it. benedicto was certainly very plucky that day. all of a sudden he dashed inside the tree and proceeded to climb up. we heard wild screams for some minutes; evidently the bees were protecting their home well. while filippe and i were seated outside, smiling faintly at poor benedicto's plight, he reappeared. we hardly recognized him when he emerged from the tree, so badly stung and swollen was his face, notwithstanding the protection he had over it. all he brought back was a small piece of the honeycomb about as large as a florin. what little honey there was inside was quite putrid, but we divided it into three equal parts and devoured it ravenously, bees and all. a moment later all three of us were seized with vomiting, so that the meagre meal was worse than nothing to us. we were then in a region of innumerable liane, which hung from the trees and caught our feet and heads, and wound themselves round us when we tried to shift them from their position. nearly all the trees in that part had long and powerful spikes. then near water there were huge palms close together, the sharp-edged leaves of which cut our hands, faces and legs as we pushed our way through. a violent storm broke out in the afternoon. the rain was torrential, making our march extremely difficult. it was just like marching under a heavy shower-bath. the rain lasted for some three hours. we crossed one large stream flowing west into the secundury, and also two other good-sized streamlets. we had a miserable night, drenched as we were and unable to light a fire, the box of matches having got wet and the entire forest being soaked by the torrential storm. during the night another storm arrived and poured regular buckets of water upon us. on september th we drowsily got up from our hammocks in a dejected state. by that time we had lost all hope of finding food, and no longer took the trouble to look round for anything to eat. we went on a few hundred metres at a time, now benedicto fainting from exhaustion, then filippe, then myself. while one or another was unconscious much time was wasted. marching under those conditions was horrible, as either one or other of us collapsed every few hundred metres. another violent storm broke out, and we all lay on the ground helpless, the skin of our hands and feet getting shrivelled up with the moisture. my feet were much swollen owing to the innumerable thorns which had got into them while walking barefooted. it was most painful to march, as i was not accustomed to walk without shoes. we went only ten kilometres on september th. we crossed two small rivers and one large, flowing west and south, evidently into the secundury. on september th we had another painful march, my men struggling along, stumbling and falling every little while. they were dreadfully depressed. towards the evening we came to a big tree, at the foot of which we found some discarded shells, such as we had once seen before, of fruit eaten by monkeys. my men and i tried to scrape with our teeth some of the sweet substance which still adhered to the shells. we saw some of the fruit, which was fit to eat, at a great height upon the tree, but we had not the strength to climb up or cut down that enormous tree. all the visions of good meals which i had had until then had now vanished altogether on that tenth day of fasting, and i experienced a sickly feeling in my inside which gave me an absolute dislike for food of any kind. my head was beginning to sway, and i had difficulty in collecting my ideas. my memory seemed to be gone all of a sudden. i could no longer remember in what country i was travelling, nor could i remember anything distinctly. only some lucid intervals came every now and then, in which i realised our tragic position; but those did not last long, all i could remember being that i must go to the west. i could not remember why nor where i intended to come out. everything seemed to be against us. we were there during the height of the rainy season. towards sunset rain came down once more in bucketfuls and lasted the entire night, the water dripping from our hammocks as it would from a small cascade. we were soaked, and shivering, although the temperature was not low. i had my maximum and minimum thermometers with me, but my exhaustion was such that i had not the strength to unpack them every night and morning and set them. we crossed two streamlets flowing west. benedicto and filippe were in such a bad way that it was breaking my heart to look at them. every time they fell down in a faint i never knew whether it was for the last time that they had closed their eyes. when i felt their hearts with my hand they beat so faintly that once or twice i really thought they were dead. that day i myself fainted, and fell with the left side of my face resting on the ground. when i recovered consciousness some time later, i touched my face, which was hurting me, and found that nearly the whole skin of my cheek had been eaten up by small ants, the lower lid of the eye having suffered particularly. a nasty sore remained on my face for some two months after that experience, the bites of those ants being very poisonous. bad as they were, there is no doubt that to a great extent we owed our salvation to those terrible ants. had it not been for them and the incessant torture they inflicted on us when we fell down upon the ground, we should have perhaps lain there and never got up again. i offered benedicto and filippe a large reward if they continued marching without abandoning the precious loads. brazilians have a great greed for money, and for it they will do many things which they would not do otherwise. on september th we made another most painful march of kil., again up and down high hills, some as much as ft. above the level land of that country, and all with steep, indeed, almost vertical, sides, extremely difficult for us to climb in our exhausted condition. we saw several streamlets flowing west. when evening came we had before us a high hill, which we ascended. when we reached the top we just lay upon the ground like so many corpses, and, ants, or no ants biting us, we had not the energy to get up again. once more did the rain come down in torrents that night, and to a certain extent washed the ants from our bodies. my surprise was really great the next morning when i woke up. i felt myself fading away fast. every time i closed my eyes i expected never to open them again. on september th we made another trying march, collapsing under our loads every few hundred metres. my men were constantly looking for something to eat in all directions, but could find nothing. benedicto and filippe were now all the time contemplating suicide. the mental strain of perpetually keeping an eye on them was great. we were sitting down, too tired to get up, when filippe amazed me considerably by the following words, which he spoke in a kind of reverie: "it would be very easy," he said, "now that you have no more strength yourself, for us two to get the big knife and cut your throat. we know that you have a big, big sum of money upon you, and if we robbed you we would be rich for ever. but we do not want to do it. it would not be much use to us, as we could not get out of the forest alone. i believe we shall all die together, and all that money will go to waste." filippe said this in quite a good-natured manner. the two poor fellows were so depressed that one had to forgive them for anything they said. as the river seemed to describe a big loop, i had left it three days before, seeing plainly by the conformation of the country that we should strike it again sooner or later. we were marching once more by compass. my men, who had no faith whatever in the magnetic needle, were again almost paralysed with fear that we might not encounter the stream again. a thousand times a day they accused me of foolishness in leaving the river, as they said it would have been better to follow its tortuous course--notwithstanding the trouble we had in following it, owing to the dense vegetation near the water--rather than strike once more across country. they were beginning to lose heart altogether, when i told them i could see by the vegetation that we were once more near the water. anybody accustomed as i am to marching through the forest could tell easily by the appearance of the vegetation some miles before actually getting to a stream. i reassured my companions, saying that within a few hours we should certainly meet the "big water" again. in fact, not more than half an hour afterwards we suddenly found ourselves once more on the large stream--at that point metres wide. my men were so amazed and delighted that they embraced me and sobbed over my shoulders for some time. from that moment their admiration for the compass was unbounded; they expected me to find anything with it. with gladdened hearts we followed the stream again, benedicto and filippe shouting at the top of their voices for help in case anybody were near. but they called and called in vain. we listened, but not a sound could be heard, except perhaps that of a crashing tree in the forest--a sound very familiar when marching across brazil. the right bank of the secundury river was high, not less than from to ft., and extremely steep, formed of alluvial deposits with a thick surface layer of decayed vegetation, making a soft carpet. two small tributary streams had cut deep grooves in the soft earth. in our weak condition we had the greatest trouble in going down the almost vertical banks and climbing up again on the other side. on september th we followed the river once more, crossing three tributaries, the largest of which was m. wide. the forest was beautifully clean underneath, just like a well-kept park. the stems of the trees were as clean as possible up to a great height, the foliage forming a regular roof over us through which little light and only exhausted air penetrated. although we could find nothing whatever to eat, my men were not so depressed that day, as they expected to find some living people sooner or later. i did not like to disappoint them, although the fact that we could find no signs of human creatures having recently gone through that region showed me plainly that we were yet far away from salvation. another formidable rainstorm came down upon us in the morning, the water descending in regular sheets. we were so exhausted that we did not care for anything any more. whether we got wet or dry was quite immaterial to us. i was so conscious of my utmost exhaustion that i felt i could not now last much longer under that heavy strain. every fifty or a hundred metres i collapsed under my load, and had the greatest struggle to get up on my feet again. those marches were most tragic, my men being, if possible, in a worse condition than me, they, too, collapsing every few steps. thus in a day we each collapsed dozens of times. that was the thirteenth day we had had no food whatever, barring perhaps a grain of salt from the fraudulent anchovy tin, which i had preserved in a piece of paper. i felt no actual pain, only great emptiness in my inside, and a curious feeling of nausea, with no wish whatever to eat or to drink. although water was plentiful we hardly touched it at all--only a few drops to moisten our feverish lips. that fact interested me greatly, as it was absolutely contrary to people's notions of what happens when you are starving. all i experienced was indescribable exhaustion. i felt myself gradually extinguishing like a burnt-out lamp. benedicto and filippe had dreadful nightmares during the night, and occasionally gave frantic yells. that night filippe all of a sudden startled us crying out for help; a moment later he collapsed in a faint. when he recovered i asked him what was the matter; he said in a dazed way that there were people all round us bringing plenty of food to us--an hallucination which was soon dispelled when he returned to his senses. on september th we had another painful march without finding a grain of food to eat. again we started our day with a severe thunderstorm, the water coming down upon us in bucketfuls. benedicto and filippe were fervently praying the almighty to strike them down by lightning so as to end the daily torture. the strain of leading those fellows on was getting almost too much for me. the greatest gentleness had to be employed, as an angry word would have finished them altogether, and they would have laid down to die. the rain came down in such torrents that day, and we were so soaked, that we had to halt, we three huddling together to try and protect ourselves under the waterproof sheet which i used at night as a hammock. when we went on i noticed a cut in a tree which had been made some years before. i soon discovered the tracks which had been followed by the person who had made that cut, and soon after i discovered another mark of a knife upon another rubber tree. evidently somebody had been there prospecting. we followed the ancient track for some distance in a most winding way--those marks, i judged, having been made about four years before. my men were depressed to the utmost degree when, on following the track of the stranger, we discovered the spot on the river where he had evidently once more got into his canoe and gone. one more hope of salvation shattered! curiously enough, upon that fourteenth day of starving my strength got up again to a certain extent, although i still had no wish whatever to eat; but my head began to swim with a strange sensation as if the trees of the forest were tumbling down upon me. the impression was so vivid that several times i fell in trying to avoid what i thought was a tree falling upon me. the swaying of my head seemed to get worse and worse all that day, until the unpleasant sensation of the forest closing in and overwhelming me became intolerable. in the evening we came in for another storm, the rain being torrential through nearly the entire night. during the day i had had the optical illusion of trees falling upon me. during the night i had the real thing. the upper part of the tree to which i had tied my hammock came down with a terrific crash during a heavy gust of wind, and just missed my head by a few inches. as it was it tore down my hammock with me inside it, and i received a bump that i shall not forget in a hurry. we certainly seemed to have no luck whatever on that fateful expedition! aching all over, soaked right through, water dripping down my hands, nose and hair like so many little fountains, i proceeded to tie my hammock to another tree, while poor filippe and benedicto, who had been caught in the foliage and branches of the falling tree, were trying to disentangle themselves from their unpleasant position. the tree had fallen because it had been eaten up internally by ants. when it came down upon us they simply swarmed over us, and bit us all over for all they were worth. i have no wish whatever to have another such miserable night. on september th we lost the whole morning owing to the torrential rain which continued. we had not the strength to go on. now that filippe and benedicto had absolute faith in my compass, i had again left the river where it described a big turn toward the south-west, and it was not until two o'clock that afternoon that i struck the big stream once more and we followed its right bank. to our great delight we came to a small clearing where some years before _mandioca_ had been cultivated. we threw down our loads at once and proceeded to search for roots. to our great joy we found one small root, about as big as a small carrot. we made a fire. oh! the anxiety in lighting up that fire, as we only had eight matches left, and they had got damp. filippe, who was the expert in striking matches, was entrusted with the job. alas! he struck and struck time after time the first match against the box until its head was worn off altogether, and no flame was produced. with some anxiety we watched the second match having a similar fate. the men said that the root we had found was of wild _mandioca_, and if we ate it raw we should certainly all die, but if roasted properly over a flame it lost some of its poisonous qualities. we all had our eyes fixed on that root, and felt the happiest of mortals, as if the most expensive banquet had all of a sudden been placed before us. it was a great relief when filippe struck the third match and it actually produced a flame. we lighted a fire, roasting the valuable root upon it. benedicto, who was the culinary expert, roasted the root until it was nearly carbonized, and by the time he took it out of the flame we had each of us left for our share a section of its fibrous core not larger than a well-smoked cigarette stump. we devoured that luxurious meal in haste. it tasted as bitter as aloes. no sooner had i eaten it than i felt extremely ill, my men also experiencing a similar sensation. benedicto was the first one to vomit painfully and cough violently; then came my turn, then filippe's. so our first meal was not much of a success. the little strength we had seemed now to have disappeared altogether. we lay helpless upon the bank of the river, unable to move. once or twice filippe shouted for help, thinking that our voices might be heard, but no answer ever came to our cries. eventually we proceeded once more along the right bank of the river, when we perceived on the opposite bank an abandoned hut. the river at that point was m. wide, from to ft. deep, with a fairly strong current. we decided to cross over and see if perhaps by chance some food had been abandoned in the hut. it was already evening, and we were so exhausted that we did not dare to cross the stream, especially as filippe and benedicto could not swim. the next day, september th, we proceeded to ford the stream, having scarcely the strength to keep erect, especially in the middle of the river with the water up to our necks. we were carrying our loads on our heads, so that they should not get wetter than possible. my negatives were fortunately in air-tight cases, or else they certainly would have been destroyed altogether on that disastrous march across the forest. we got safely to the other side. the bank was very high. a broken-down canoe had been left on the shore. we worked many hours trying to mend her so that we could proceed down the river. but we wasted the entire day, working feverishly for six or seven hours, trying to stop up great holes as big as my fist, one sleeve of my coat being used for the purpose, and replacing a plank at her stern which was missing. when we at length summoned our last atom of strength to launch her, she immediately filled with water and went to the bottom like a piece of lead. that was the end of the canoe. we had not the strength to float her again. building a raft was impossible, as no wood was found that floated. in reconnoitring round the hut, to our great joy we discovered some _caju_ and some _guyaba_ trees; also some more roots of _mandioca_ now become wild. that was our sixteenth day of fasting, and it can well be imagined how quickly we devoured what little unripe fruit was hanging from the trees. once more we tried the experiment of cooking the _mandioca_ roots. we had now only five matches left. it was curious to note with what care we prepared dried wood and leaves so that no chance would be lost in getting a flame. fortunately the first match struck did its work well, and we soon had a big fire inside the hut, on which we roasted the _mandioca_. as i have explained elsewhere, the fruit of the _caju_ has an outward nut which has highly caustic properties, and is deadly poisonous to eat uncooked but quite edible when roasted. after eating all the fruit we kept those nuts and put them on the fire; in the evening we sat down to what seemed to us a luxuriant meal. we had not patience to wait for the _caju_ nuts to be properly roasted. when i ate them my nose, lips, tongue and fingers became badly burned by their caustic juice. no sooner had we eaten that meal than we all became violently ill. i dropped down unconscious, rejecting everything and quantities of blood besides. i must have been unconscious many hours, after which i slept soundly till the sun was well up in the sky, when i found myself resting on the ground with a pool of blood by my side. poor filippe and benedicto were also in a bad way. on the front of that hut on a piece of board was written "el paraiso" (paradise), the name of that place. it was not exactly my idea of heaven. our first meals were worse than no meals at all. we felt in such a plight that we lay helpless upon the floor of the hut, quite unable to move, so exhausted were we. in turning my head around i discovered ten large demijohns, some ½ ft. high and about ft. in diameter, of thick green glass. they were the usual demijohns--_garaffons_, as they are called--used all over brazil for "fire-water." i at once conceived the idea of using them as floats in the construction of a raft. my men grinned contemptuously at the idea when i mentioned it to them. they said that all was over. it was no use trying to get away. the almighty wanted us to die, and we must only lie there and await our end, which was not far off. benedicto struggled to his knees and prayed to the almighty and the virgin, sobbing bitterly all the time. i struggled up on my feet and proceeded to carry the big vessels to the river bank, where i intended to construct the raft. the effort to take each heavy bottle those few metres seemed almost beyond me in my exhausted state. at last i proceeded to strip the floor of the hut, which had been made with split _assahy_ palms (_euterpe oleracea_ l.), in order that i might make a frame to which i could fasten the bottles. with a great deal of persuasion i got filippe and benedicto to help me. the long pieces of _assahy_ were too heavy for our purpose, and we had the additional trouble of splitting each piece into four. it was most trying work in our worn-out condition. then we had to go into the forest and collect some small liane, so that we could tie the pieces together, as we had no nails and no rope. on september th, again without food--for we had eaten up all the fruit the previous day--we worked from morning till night in building the raft. unfortunately, benedicto stumbled against one of the bottles, which was on the edge of the river; it rolled down the steep bank and floated quickly down stream, and we saw it disappear, unable to go and recover it. so only nine bottles were left. [illustration: raft constructed by the author in order to navigate the canuma river with his two companions of starvation.] i made the raft of a triangular shape, with two parallel diagonal rows of three bottles each at a distance of ft. apart; then one set of two bottles. one single _garaffon_ formed the bow of the raft. naturally i stopped up the necks of the bottles, so that no water should get inside. while i was constructing the raft i was all the time wondering whether it would have a sufficient floating capacity to carry us three men and our baggage. when the raft was finished we placed two parallel pieces of _assahy_ from one end to the other, on which we could sit astride, with our legs dangling in the water. the lassitude with which we did our work and tore down part of the hut in order to build that raft, our only way of salvation, was too pitiful to watch. we absolutely had no strength at all. when we pulled the liane to fasten together the different pieces of palm wood we were more exhausted than if we had lifted a weight of lb. as it was, we could not fasten the pieces of wood properly, and when the raft was finished it was indeed a shaky affair. by sunset on september th the raft--strengthened by sundry knots all over--was ready to be launched. i was more proud of her than if i had built a dreadnought. there we all sat by the side of her, my men looking at her in a sceptical way, saying that it was just as well, perhaps, to try and die drowned instead of dying of starvation. we took a last glance around to see if we could discover some other fruit or something to eat, but we found nothing. we postponed the launching of our vessel--which i named the _victory_--until the next morning, as had she perchance had an accident that night--accidents at night seem so much worse than in the daytime--it would have been too severe a blow for us, from which we never could have recovered. my feet were in such a terrible condition--so full of thorns, so swollen with numberless _jiggers_ which had bored channels under my nails and under the soles--that i really felt i could not walk another step. if that raft did not float i knew that we were lost for good. the entire night i could not sleep, speculating on whether the raft would float or not. as far as i could judge, she seemed to me to have just capacity enough to keep afloat with all of us on board. chapter xxi the launching of the glass raft--accidents--the raft sinking--saved--our first solid meal--its consequences--the canuma and secundury rivers--marching back across the forest to the relief of the men left behind--a strange mishap--a curious case of telepathy on september st my men had a great discussion. their courage failed altogether, as they said they had never before seen a boat of that kind, made of glass bottles, and that, even allowing that she would float at all, if we struck a rock where should we be? they declared that, tired as they were, they preferred to go on struggling on foot through the forest rather than get drowned. with his peculiar reasoning, benedicto said that it was bad enough to die of starvation, but to die of starvation and get drowned as well was too much for him! it was decided that we should first of all try whether the raft would bear our weight or not. if she did, we would sail in her. if she did not, i would navigate her and they might go on foot. it was a moment of great excitement and suspense when we launched the _victory_. you should have seen the faces of benedicto and filippe when she floated on the water as gracefully as a duck. i got on her, and with a punting pole went half-way across the river and back again. filippe and benedicto, who had hardly recovered from their astonishment, professed that it was the cleverest thing they had ever seen, and no brazilian ever would have had such a brilliant idea. they were now anxious to get on board. first filippe came and sat himself in front of me, and i saw with some concern the raft sink down considerably into the water. when benedicto also entered, the framework of our vessel absolutely disappeared under water and only the short necks of the bottles showed above the surface. as we sat astride on the narrow longitudinal platform we were knee-deep in water. we took another small trip in mid-stream, and then decided that we would put the baggage on board and start at once on our journey down the river. i went back for the baggage and rolled it all up in the waterproof hammock, then fastened it with pieces of liane to the stern of the raft. filippe and benedicto fastened their own things also. having made ourselves some primitive-looking paddles with the bottom of a small empty barrel we had found, which we attached to two sticks, we made ready to start. [illustration: canoe made of the bark of the burity palm.] [illustration: indians of the madeira river.] filippe and i had already got on board, when benedicto appeared with a huge punting pole he had cut himself in case we might need it. he was excited over the prospect of having no more walking to do. when he got near he jumped on board so clumsily that the already too heavily laden raft turned over and we were all flung into the water--there ft. deep. when i came to the surface again i just managed to pull the craft ashore and then proceeded to save benedicto and filippe, who were struggling in the water, which was too deep for them. this mishap was unfortunate. my chronometer got full of water and stopped; the aneroids, the camera, all were injured beyond repair. much to my distress, i also discovered that the watertight cases, which had been knocked about so much of late, had let the water through before i had time to turn the raft the right way up and pull out of the water the baggage which was fastened to it. the four hundred developed negatives had all got soaked. my note-books, too, were drenched through. another heavy task was before me now, in order to save all that valuable material. it was to spread everything to dry thoroughly in the wind before it could be packed again. filippe and benedicto were so scared that on no account, they said, would they go on board that raft again. the accident occurred at about nine o'clock in the morning; by one or two o'clock in the afternoon everything was dry and carefully repacked. we decided to make a fresh start. my feet were so swollen, and with hardly a patch of skin left on them, that i could walk no more. it was agreed that filippe and benedicto should go on walking along the left bank as much as possible, while i alone, with the baggage, navigated the river. we would keep in touch by occasional shouts. i got along pretty well, floating down with the current; but paddling and punting were most difficult, the raft being almost impossible to steer. on several occasions i had narrow escapes, just avoiding striking dangerous rocks--particularly going down a small _corrideira_. after i had gone about two kilometres i was so exhausted that i called to filippe to come on board again. eventually--and i must say that i admired his courage--he came on board, and the two of us proceeded quite well down the stream, one paddling, the other punting. we got into a small rapid, where the current was strong. we were unfortunately thrown violently against some rocks, the central bottles of our raft receiving a hard knock. one of them cracked badly. i was quite perplexed when my eye caught sight of the radiations in the glass caused by the impact. then my ear began to notice the sound of the trickling of water getting inside the bottle. with positive concern, as the _garaffon_ was gradually filling, i saw the raft getting a bad list to port. the broken _garaffon_ was behind filippe's back, and he could not see it. he was constantly asking me whether something had gone wrong, as he seemed to feel the water getting higher and higher up his body. "is the ship not sinking?" he asked every two minutes. "i now have water up to my waist." "no, no, filippe! go on. it is all right!" were the words with which i kept on urging him. the cracked bottle had got almost entirely filled with water, and we had such a bad list that the steering became most difficult. two or three times again we were thrown by the current against other rocks, and another bottle had a similar fate. "we are sinking, are we not?" shouted filippe. "no, no!" said i. "go on!" as i said those words it suddenly seemed to me that i heard voices in the distance. was it benedicto calling to us? filippe and i listened. surely there was somebody singing! we fancied we heard several voices. had benedicto met somebody in the forest? "benedicto! benedicto!" we shouted out to him. "have you found men?" "no!" came the answer from benedicto. all of a sudden filippe, whose eyes had been scanning the river in front of him, gave a violent jerk which nearly capsized the raft, exclaiming: "look! look! there is a canoe!" "it is a rock," said i, as i screened my eye to look on the dazzling water, upon which the sun glittered so that it was almost impossible to perceive anything. but, sure enough, as i strained my eyes a second time, i saw something move, and a moment later i heard voices quite distinctly. filippe's joy and mine was intense when we perceived that not only one boat, but two--three canoes were approaching. we had already travelled some eight kilometres on our raft when we came close to the boats we had observed. their crews stood up in them, rifles in hand, as we floated down. i shouted that we were friends. eventually they came to our help, their amazement being curious to watch as they got near us--they being unable to understand how we could float down the river merely by sitting on the surface. by that time the raft was almost altogether submerged. when they took us on board, and a portion of the raft came to the surface again, the amusement of those crews was intense. i explained who we were. the strangers could not do enough for us. in a moment they unloaded the baggage from our craft and put it on board their boats. they halted near the right bank, and on hearing of our pitiful plight immediately proceeded to cook a meal for us. the people belonged to the rubber-collecting expedition of a trader named dom pedro nunes, who went only once every year with a fleet of boats up to the headwaters of that river in order to bring back rubber. the expedition--the only one that ever went up that river at all--took eight or ten months on the journey there and back. it was really an amazing bit of luck that we should owe our salvation to meeting that expedition in an almost miraculous way, brought about by an extraordinary series of fortunate coincidences. had we not constructed that raft--had we not been on board at that moment--we should have missed the expedition and certainly should have died. had we been following the bank of the river on foot, we never could have seen the boats nor heard them, as the banks were extremely high, and it was never possible to keep close to the stream when marching in the forest; we always had to keep some hundred metres or so from the water in order to avoid the thick vegetation on the edge of the stream. in fact, benedicto, who was walking in the forest along the stream, had gone past the boats and had neither heard nor seen them. when we shouted out to him he was already a long distance off, a boat sent out to him by dom pedro nunes having to travel nearly m. before it could get up to him and bring him back. the trader and his men treated us with tender care. we were practically naked when they met us, my attire consisting of the leather belt with the bags of money round my waist, and a small portion of the sleeveless coat, all torn to pieces. dom pedro nunes immediately gave me some clothes, while his men gave garments to filippe and benedicto. several men rushed about collecting wood, and in a moment a large flame was blazing. the sight of proper food brought back our appetites as by magic. our ravenous eyes gazed on several big pieces of _anta_ (_tapirus americanus_) meat, through which a stick had been passed, being broiled over the flame. we three starving men did not take our eyes off that meat for a second until the man who was cooking it removed the stick and said the meat was ready. we pounced upon it like so many famished tigers. the meat was so hot that, as we tore away at the large pieces with our teeth, our lips, noses, and fingers were absolutely burned by the broiling fat. dom pedro nunes gently put his hand in front of me, saying "do not eat so quickly; it is bad for you." but i pushed him away with what vigour i had left. i could have killed anybody who had stood between that piece of meat and me. i tore at it lustily with my teeth, until there was nothing left of it. by that time a large bag of _farinha_ had been spread before us. we grabbed handfuls of it, shoving them into our mouths as fast as we could. the sensation of eating--normal food--after such a long fast was a delightful one. but only for a few moments. pedro nunes was just handing me a cup of coffee when i dropped down unconscious, rejecting everything with a quantity of blood besides. when i recovered consciousness, pedro nunes said i had been unconscious for a long time. they all thought i was dead. i felt almost unbearable pain in my inside, and a lassitude as if life were about to be extinguished altogether. it was evidently the reaction, after eating too quickly--and i should like to meet the healthy man who would not eat quickly under those circumstances--and also the relaxation from the inconceivable strain of so many weeks of mental worry. i well remember how pedro nunes and his men, when standing around us just as we began eating that first solid meal, had tears streaming down their cheeks while watching us in our dreadful plight. once more pedro nunes--one of the most kindly men i have ever met--sobbed bitterly when he asked me to take off my clothes and change them for the newer ones he had given me. i removed from my pocket the contents: my chronometer, a notebook, and a number of _caju_ seeds which i had collected, and which, caustic or not caustic, would have been our only food until we should have certainly perished. we heard from pedro nunes that it would have taken us at least six or seven days' steady walking before we could get to the first house of rubber collectors. in our exhausted condition we could have never got there. as for the damaged raft, it could not have floated more than a few hours longer--perhaps not so long. from the spot where i met pedro nunes--quite close to the junction of the canuma river with the madeira river--going down by river it would have been possible to reach manaos in two or three days. dom pedro nunes, however, with his expedition, could not return, nor sell me a boat, nor lend me men; so that i thought my best plan was to go back with him up the river canuma and then the secundury river, especially when i heard from the trader that the latter river came from the south-east--which made me think that perhaps i might find a spot at its most south-easterly point where the distance would not be great to travel once more across the forest, back to my men whom i had left near the tapajoz. pedro nunes declined to receive payment for the clothes he had given me and my men, so i presented him with the mauser i possessed, which he greatly appreciated; while i gave the crew which had rescued us a present of £ sterling in brazilian money. it was most touching to see how some of the rubber collectors employed by pedro nunes deprived themselves of tins of jam to present them to us, and also of other articles which were useful to them in order to make us a little more comfortable. i purchased from pedro nunes a quantity of provisions--all of an inferior kind, but they were the best i could get. among them were six tins of condensed milk, all he possessed, for which i paid at the rate of ten shillings each--the regular price in that neighbourhood. those tins of milk were a great joy to benedicto, filippe and myself. although the pain was violent when we ate anything, the craving for food was now quite insatiable, and we could not resist the temptation of eating whatever came under our hands. late in the afternoon of that same day we started up the river with pedro nunes and his fleet of boats. in the evening, when we camped, the kindness of the trader and his men towards us was most pathetic. drenching rain fell during the night. on september nd we made an early start. pedro nunes went away in a small boat, as he wanted to go and explore a small tributary of the secundury. the expedition travelled up the main stream at a great pace, with the many men who were rowing and punting. filippe, benedicto and i suffered horrible internal pains that day owing to our careless eating the previous afternoon. [illustration: caripuna indians.] [illustration: indian idols of the putumayo district.] i was greatly worried by the man who had been left in charge of the expedition--a man of extreme kindness, but an incessant talker. he spoke so loudly, repeating the same things over and over again, that in my weak state, and accustomed as we were to the deathly silence of the forest, it tired me inexpressibly. his conversation consisted entirely of accusing everybody he knew of being robbers and assassins, and in long descriptions, with numberless figures, to show how he had been robbed of small sums of money by various people he had met in his lifetime. i presented him with £ sterling, hoping that he would keep quiet, as that seemed to be the entire sum of which he had been robbed by his relatives and friends; also because on seeing our wretched condition, he had presented me with an enormous pair of shoes, about six sizes too large for me. when i walked in them, especially up and down the steep banks, i lost now one shoe, now the other, so big were they. but i was grateful to him, as he would not take payment for them, and they saved my feet to a certain extent--when i could keep them on--from the thorns, which were numerous in that region. the prolonged immersion in the water the day before, while we were navigating the raft, and the subsequent rest, had caused my feet to swell enormously, my ankles being about three times their normal size, so swollen were they. i experienced an unbearable pain in my heart, with continuous heart-burning and sudden throbbings, succeeded by spells of exhaustion. giddiness in my head was constant, and i was so weak that it was all i could do to move. even the exertion of shifting from one side to the other of the boat on which i was travelling was enough to make me almost collapse with fatigue. we travelled great distances, going on all day and the greater part of the night, with relays of men, on september nd and rd. the secundury was a stream with an average width of m. and in many places quite deep. it had a great many little springs and streamlets flowing into it between steep cuts in its high embankments, which were of alluvial formation mingled with decayed vegetation. the banks almost all along were from to ft. high. we came across a large tributary on the right side of the river. it was evidently the stream to which we had first come on our disastrous march across the forest, and which i had mistaken for the secundury. beyond this river we came across some small rapids, of no importance and quite easy to negotiate by the large boats, although in one or two cases tow-ropes had to be used by the men who had landed in order to pull the boats through. on september rd we passed some easy _corrideiras_. i had slept almost that entire day on the roof of the boat, in the sun. it did me good. late in the evening, at about seven o'clock, we arrived at a trader's hut, called são josé, which was in the charge of a squinting mulatto--a most peculiar fellow. on september th i stayed at the trader's house, spending the whole day drying thoroughly in the sun my notebooks and negatives and repacking them, so that i could leave them at that spot until i could fetch them again. my idea was to walk from that place across the forest once more back to our original point of departure near the tapajoz river, where i had left the remainder of my party and the main part of my baggage. a runaway _seringueiro_ was induced to accompany me on that errand, while another man remained with faithful filippe in charge of my valuable possessions. i left with them supplies for three months, which i had purchased from pedro nunes' expedition. on september th i went a short distance farther up the river to its most south-easterly point. from there, with two men and provisions for thirty days, bidding goodbye to the men who had saved our lives, we started, still in a weak and exhausted condition, on our march back to the men we had left behind. we only carried food supplies with us. i had left everything else on the secundury river. marching was indeed painful, as i had absolutely no strength, and was in a high fever. i stumbled along in excruciating pain, now losing one shoe, now the other, when they caught in some liana. there were a great many fallen trees in that part of the forest, which gave us no end of trouble, when, exhausted as benedicto and i were, we had to climb over them or else squeeze under. so great was my anxiety, however, to get back that, notwithstanding the pain, i marched along, following the new man, who was in good condition. we went kil. that day. the forest near the secundury river was at first overgrown with dense vegetation, which gave us a good deal of work and extra exertion; but after that, when we got some distance from the water, the forest was fairly clean, except of course for the fallen trees. we found troublesome ravines of great height where streamlets had cut their way through. in going down one of those difficult ravines i had an accident which might have been fatal. the ravine, the sides of which were almost vertical, was very narrow--only about m. across. we let ourselves down, holding on to liane. when we reached the bottom we found a tiny brook winding its way between great round boulders, and leaving a space about ft. wide for the water. i proceeded up on the other side, and i had got up to a height of some ft. in order to go up this steep incline i had placed one foot against a small tree while i was pulling myself up by a liana. unluckily, the liana suddenly gave way. the weight of the load which i had on my shoulders made me lose my balance, so that my body described an entire semicircle. i dropped down head first from that height on the rocks below. [illustration: trading boats landing balls of rubber, river tapajoz.] providence once more looked after me on that occasion. on the flight down i already imagined myself dead; but no--my head entered the cavity between the two rocks against which my shoulders and the load became jammed, while my legs were struggling up in mid-air. i was forced so hard against the two side rocks that i could not possibly extricate myself. it was only when benedicto and the new man came to my help and pulled me out that we were able to resume our journey--i much shaken and somewhat aching, but otherwise none the worse for that unpleasant fall. on september th my two men were already complaining of their loads. they said they could not go on any more--the man in good health and full of strength rebelling more than poor benedicto, who was in a weak condition. so that we might march quickly i decided to abandon one bag of flour and eight tins of salt butter. with the lighter loads we marched comparatively well, and went kil. that day with no particular experience worth noticing. on september th we started once more quite early, after a hearty breakfast--notwithstanding the pain which i always had whenever i ate, especially a stabbing pain in my heart which was almost unbearable at times. we crossed several streamlets, one fairly large, all of which flowed into the secundury. rain, which came down in torrents, greatly interfered with our march that day, the new man i had employed worrying me all the time, saying that he did not like to march in wet clothes. benedicto and i could not help laughing at him, as we had not been dry one moment since the beginning of july, and we were now at the end of september. wet or not wet, i made the man come along. finding the forest comparatively clean, we covered another kil. that day. we had a most miserable night, rain coming down in sheets upon us. i was suffering from high fever, chiefly from exhaustion and the effects of over-eating, most injurious to my internal arrangements, which had got dried up during the long sixteen days' fast. i shivered with cold the entire night. when we got up the next morning, dripping all over, with water still pouring down in bucketfuls upon us from above, benedicto said that if it went on much longer like that he should surely turn into a fish. he looked comical, with water streaming down from his hair, his ears, nose and coat. the trousers which our friend pedro nunes had given me were made of cheap calico, printed in little checks. they were of the kind that was usually sold to the _seringueiros_, and looked pretty when they were new. but they were a little too small, and had evidently not been shrunk before they were made. with the great moisture that night they shrank so badly all of a sudden that they split in four or five different places. i had no way of mending them. as we went on--on september th--we encountered a great deal of entangled vegetation, many liane and thorns, which completely finished up my lower garments. my coat also, which was of similar material, was beginning to give signs of wear and tear, the sewing of the sleeves and at the back having burst everywhere. we were going over almost level ground that day, across forest sparsely wooded and with much undergrowth of palms and ferns. we had drenching rain the entire day. my trousers were in shreds, dangling and catching in everything. when we had gone some eight or ten kilometres they were such a trouble to me that i discarded them altogether. the coat, too, was getting to be more of a nuisance than a protection. owing to the incessant rain we were only able to march kil. that day. on september th we again started off, marching due east. we had slightly better weather, and were fortunate enough to shoot two monkeys, a _coati_, and a _jacú_, the new man possessing a rifle of his own, for which i had bought cartridges from our friend pedro nunes. we had, therefore, that day, a good meal of meat; but what terrible pain we felt when we devoured the tough pieces of those animals, which we had broiled over a big flame! notwithstanding the pain, however, we had an irresistible and insatiable craving for food. that day we made a good march of kil. on september th the marching was comparatively easy, through fairly clean forest, so that we had to use our knife very little in order to open our way. we crossed a small _campo_ with a good deal of rock upon it, and as our strength was gradually coming back we struggled along, covering a distance of kil. between seven o'clock in the morning and seven in the evening. i was anxious to push on as fast as we possibly could, notwithstanding the grumblings of my men, for now that we had abandoned half of our supplies of food i did not want to have, if i could help it, another experience of starvation. on october st we had more trouble cutting our way through, as we again found great ferns and palms, especially near streamlets of water, and quantities of fallen trees, which made us continually deviate from our direction. the forest was indeed dirty and much entangled in that section, and thus made our march painful, liane catching my feet and head all the time, tearing my ears and nose--especially when the man who walked in front of me let them go suddenly and they swung right in my face. thorns dug big grooves into my legs, arms and hands. to make matters worse, the high fever seemed to exhaust me terribly. worse luck, a huge boil, as big as an egg, developed under my left knee, while another of equal size appeared on my right ankle, already much swollen and aching. the huge shoes given me by the trader--of the cheapest manufacture--had already fallen to pieces. i had turned the soles of them into sandals, held up by numerous bits of string, which cut my toes and ankles very badly every time i knocked my feet against a tree or stone. my feet were full of thorns, so numerous that i had not the energy to remove them. the left leg was absolutely stiff with the big boil, and i could not bend it. limping along, stumbling all the time in intense pain--the boils being prevented from coming to maturity owing to the constant cold moisture--i really had as painful a time as one could imagine on those long marches back. on october nd we had to cut our way through all the time, still marching due east. we encountered two high hill ranges, which gave us a lot to do as in our weak condition we proceeded to climb them. we had eaten more food than we should have done, and the result was that we now had none left, except a tin of _guyabada_ (sweet cheese). i had become almost as improvident as the brazilians when it came to food, as i could not resist the temptation, and instead of the usual three meals a day we were munching food all the time. [illustration: itaituba.] the strong fever was wearing me out. the dissatisfaction of my men because we had no more food--it was their own fault, for they had insisted on leaving most of it behind--and their constant grumbling were tiring me to death. we killed a small bird in the evening. by the time we had broiled it over a flame it satisfied but little our ravenous appetites. on october rd we reached quantities of boulders and rocks, which showed me that we were once more approaching the extensive rocky table-land i had seen on our outward journey. as we climbed up higher and higher we came to an elevated streamlet of limpid water running in a channel carved out of the solid rock. it took us over two hours' steady marching, going perhaps some ½ miles an hour, to cross the summit of that high rocky tableland. then we descended through _chapada_ and found ourselves among a lot of ravines, on the slope of one of which we halted for the night. there we killed two large monkeys, which we proceeded to broil and eat. i never liked the idea of eating monkeys, as i could not get over the feeling that i was eating a child, they looked so human. the hands and arms particularly, after they had been roasted over the fire, looked too human for words. on october th we climbed a steep and rocky hill, crossing on its summit another section of the rocky plateau, a regular dome of grey volcanic rock. then, descending from this second tableland on its eastern side, we had to struggle and stumble through most rugged country, where i found an extinct circular crater some ft. in diameter and ft. deep, with a vent at an angle in its bottom going apparently to a great depth. near that spot was also a strange giant natural gateway of rock. the descent was steep, and most trying for us among the great boulders over which we had to climb on our hands and feet. when we got to the bottom of this elevated country, the forest we found had quite a different aspect, which suggested to me the approach of the big river. we found there plenty of wild fruit, particularly some small black berries--called in brazilian _pattaõa_--quite good to eat; also some most palatable tiny red cherries. we wasted a good deal of time picking up the fruit instead of marching, my men complaining all day long of an empty stomach. they would not take my advice to march quickly, so that we might then get plenty of food on the river. during the last few days, as i knew we must have been near the camp where i had left my men in charge of my baggage, we had constantly been firing sets of three shots--the agreed signal--in order to locate the exact spot where they were. but we had received no answer. failing that, it was impossible to locate them exactly in the virgin forest, unless we had plenty of time and strength at our disposal. i made sure, by the appearance of the forest, that we were now not far off from the stream. in fact, on october th, when we had marched some distance, much to my delight as i walked ahead of my men, who were busy picking up berries as they struggled along, i recognized a little streamlet on which i had made my camp the first night i had started out on our disastrous journey across the forest. my men, when i mentioned the fact, were sceptical and said it could not possibly be, as we must still be a long distance from the tapajoz. but we had only gone a few hundred metres farther when i came upon my old camp. there an empty sardine-tin of a special mark which i carried was lying on the ground. i think that that spoke pretty well for the accuracy with which i could march across the forest by compass. i knew that at that spot we were only kil. from the river. we indulged there in the last tin of the sweet _guyabada_, which i had kept for an emergency. after that we metaphorically flew through the forest, so fast did we march--if stumbling along constantly and even occasionally falling can be called flying. even at that last moment, when our hearts were rejoiced, our progress was impeded by a thunderstorm, which broke out with such force that we had to halt for nearly two hours until it slightly abated. the wind howled among the trees, which shook and waved to and fro, some crashing down, so that, with the thunder and lightning and the rush of the water, it seemed a regular pandemonium. "the devil is angry with us," said benedicto the philosopher. "he does not want us to get back." my impatience to get quickly to the river was so great that i could not wait for the storm to be over. in the drenching rain we continued our tramp. my sandals had given way altogether in the quick march that day, and i was once more walking with bare feet. marching so quickly, one did not always have time to detect thorns. that day my feet were indeed in a pitiable condition. the last trial of all was yet to be added, when we had come to within m. of the river. the _seringueiro_, from whose hut we had started on our way out, had evidently since our departure set the forest on fire in order to make a _roça_ so as to cultivate the land. hundreds of carbonized trees had fallen down in all directions; others had been cut down. so that for those last two or three hundred metres we had to get over or under those burned trees and struggle through their blackened boughs, the stumps of which drove holes into and scratched big patches of skin from my legs, arms and face. where the skin was not taken off altogether it was smeared all over with the black from the burnt trees. we did not look unlike nigger minstrels, with the exception that we were also bleeding all over. [illustration: a trading boat on the tapajoz river.] [illustration: the s.s. "commandante macedo."] what had remained of my poor coat had been torn to shreds, so that all i possessed now in the way of clothing was a shirt. as the _seringueiro_ had a wife i could not well appear in that condition before her when we had reached the hut. hiding behind a tree, we shouted for the _seringueiro_ to come to our assistance. benedicto, who was not so bashful, and whose costume was not much better than mine, proceeded to the house. a few minutes later, as i peeped from behind my tree, i had a moment of great joy. i had been wondering during the last few days whether my men had died in the forest, or what could have become of them, as we had not received an answer to our signals. there i saw alcides rush out of the house and run toward me. his cheeks streamed with tears. "senhor! senhor!" he sobbed, embracing me. antonio, who followed behind, came up and shook hands, merely saying "good morning!" "where is white filippe? where is the man x?" i hastily inquired, in order to make sure that they were still alive. "they are fishing on the river." alcides called out to them: "come quickly! 'el senhor' has returned!" white filippe immediately ran up, but the man x shouted back that he was busy fishing; he would come up later. alcides was much upset on seeing my plight. he ran immediately into the hut and got me some clothes from the _seringueiro_, which i put on before entering the house. the _seringueiro_ was kindness itself to me, most thoughtful and hospitable. he prepared some food for us at once. that was a day of joy and sadness combined. i found that all my men were safe, but that they had abandoned all my baggage and all my collections in the forest. they believed that i had been assassinated by indians or that i had died of starvation. alcides cried like a child for some time. he and the others were ill with fever. those men i had left in charge of my baggage at the camp in the forest had remained at that camp for seven days after my departure. believing that i was never coming back, three of them had abandoned everything there, and even their companion antonio, who was in a dying condition and was unable to walk. they had proceeded quickly to the tapajoz, where they had found plenty to eat. two or three days later antonio had become better; he had shot some monkeys and birds, and had been able to keep alive. had it not been for the kind-hearted _seringueiro_, albuquerque, who had started out to rescue antonio, the poor devil would have certainly died there, abandoned by everybody. i heard stories that day which pained me a great deal. when my men believed that i was lost in the forest the man x had proposed to his companions to follow the _picada_ i had cut in order to find my body and rob me of all the money which he knew i carried. "if he is alive," he had said to his companions, "we will cut his throat once for all, and we will divide the money amongst ourselves." it was with some difficulty that alcides had prevented him from smashing all my baggage open, as he wished to divide the contents with his companions. alcides was an honest man. he had stood up against that rascal. after a severe fight it had been decided that the baggage should be left intact in the forest until such authorities as could be sent up from the fiscal agency could visit the spot and take charge of my things. it was then that i understood why the man x was now ashamed to face me, and did not come to greet me after i had nearly sacrificed my life to save him and his companions. albuquerque, the _seringueiro_, had also been considerate enough to lift my baggage upon stones and then cover it up with palm leaves, so that it should be preserved as much as possible from moisture and ants. during the month they had been back on the tapajoz the man x had once taken a journey alone to the spot where the baggage and antonio had been left, hoping to find his companion dead and so rob him of the money which he knew he had in his possession--the pay he had received from me. here is another charming incident. nearly dead with fatigue, i lay helpless in a hammock which the _seringueiro_ had hung for me. he and his wife had gone out to look after their new plantation, and only my men remained loafing about. the river was some m. from the hut, and one had to go down a steep bank to reach the water. my throat was parched from the high fever, so i called antonio, who was near me, to give me a glass of water. antonio never budged, but called to white filippe, some way off, to bring the water. filippe called to the man x, repeating my order to him. the man x continued fishing without taking the slightest notice. so that, exhausted as i was, i had to struggle down to the river myself, as those men, for whom i had almost died, reciprocated my sacrifice in so graceful a fashion. i think that i might as well mention here a curious case of telepathy which occurred during those terrible days of starvation. naturally, when one has before one the prospect of leaving this world at any moment, and one is working under a severe mental strain, one generally thinks deeply of one's beloved parents and relatives. thus my father, mother and sister were before me all the time in my imagination. sometimes when i was half-dazed i could see them so vividly that i could almost believe they were so close that i could touch them. i never thought that i should see them again, in reality, although i never actually lost hope of doing so; but i was thinking incessantly of them, and of the anxiety i was causing them, as i had had no possible way of communicating with them for months and months. there would be nothing extraordinary in that, but the amazing part of it all was that my parents and my sister--who had no idea whatever that i was exploring, as i always take the greatest care not to let them know--actually during that time of starvation saw me in their imagination lying unconscious in the forest, dying of hunger, swarming all over with ants and surrounded by crocodiles. when i reached rio de janeiro in april of the following year i found there a number of letters which had been written to me by my parents and my sister during the month of september, in which they told me of those constant visions repeating themselves daily, especially between the dates of september th and september th. those letters were written long before anybody knew that i had ever suffered from starvation in the forest. it is quite remarkable that, except the crocodiles--which, of course, were not to be found in the forest--they reproduced the conditions with wonderful faithfulness, the telepathic connection having in that case been established vividly at a distance of several thousand miles. [illustration: colonel r. p. brazil and his charming wife.] chapter xxii baggage saved--the journey down the tapajoz river--colonel brazil--wrecked--from itaituba to the amazon--benedicto and the man x are discharged october th and th i spent inside a hammock. i was in such a high fever and so absolutely exhausted that i believed i should never be able to pull through. albuquerque and his wife were kindness itself to me, and looked after me most tenderly. while i had been away a trading boat had passed. that boat would be on its way down the river again in a few days. i thought i would take advantage of this to go down as far as the mouth of the tapajoz on the amazon in her. on the evening of october th, benedicto, who was a great glutton, prepared a huge bowl of the _mamão_ fruit stewed and sweetened with quantities of sugar. i had obtained from albuquerque some tins of shrimps, lobster and salmon, butter and jam--all condemned stuff from some ship--and i gave all my men a feast. benedicto brought me some of the sweet he had prepared, and it looked so tempting that, ill as i was, i ate a quantity of it. after dinner i persuaded my men to go back to the forest to recover the baggage they had abandoned there. tempted by a present of money i offered them if they would bring it back safely, they all agreed to go. on october th, however, when the men were to start, the man x had a severe colic. he rolled himself on the ground in great pain, and refused to go. the strong fever had finished me to such an extent that i did not think i should last many hours longer. albuquerque and his wife stood by my hammock watching me, albuquerque shaking his head compassionately, asking me if i wanted to write a last word to my family, which he would send down by the trading boat when she arrived. i well remember hearing his voice faintly, as i was in a half-dazed condition. i had not the strength to answer. as he walked out of the room he said to his wife: "poor fellow! he will not be alive in another hour!" albuquerque was a most thoughtful brazilian, intelligent and well-educated, quite superior for the position he occupied there. i was still alive on october th, much to the surprise of everybody, and feeling much better. there was a great slaughter of chickens, albuquerque saying that i needed chicken broth badly; in fact, that day i drank cup after cup, and it seemed to give me a little strength. although those chickens had a local value of about £ sterling each, albuquerque would not hear of my paying for them. i knew what inconvenience it would be for him to slaughter them in that fashion, as he could not replace them perhaps for several months. good news came that day, when albuquerque's wife entered the room saying that some trading boats were coming up the river--she could see them a long way off, just getting over the capueras falls. i decided to go up in one of those boats as far as the fiscal agency at s. manoel, where i could obtain fresh clothes and provisions. remaining still inside a house i felt was killing me. the boats did not arrive that evening. the next day, october th, rain came down in sheets, so that we could not see more than a few metres in front of us, and the wind was howling with fury. on october th, when the boats approached, albuquerque took me up in a small canoe to them on the other side of the wide stream. it was the trading fleet of don eulogio mori, a peruvian trader, who at once offered all possible assistance and undertook to convey me up stream with pleasure. mr. mori, a most enterprising man, who was in charge of the expedition, was a frank, open and jolly gentleman, most charmingly thoughtful and civil. he and his brother had the second largest rubber-trading business on the upper tapajoz river. he was amazed when i got on board and told him who i was, as the news had already spread down the river that i had been murdered by my own men in the forest. in fact, during my absence, when alcides had travelled up to the fiscal agency to inform them of what was happening, he had been detained there for some days and accused with his companions of having murdered me. as we went up the stream once more we passed mount s. benedicto, with its foliated rock in grey and red strata. volleys were fired in honour of the saint; more candles were deposited on the platform of rock. when we halted for lunch, one of the crew died of yellow fever. after lunch a grave was dug and the corpse duly deposited in it. we had not gone far when the trading boats of colonel brazil, under the care of mr. joão pinto, came in sight on their way down the river. therefore i abandoned the idea of going up to s. manoel, as, had i not taken the opportunity of going down with mr. pinto, i might have had to wait up the river some two or three months before i had another opportunity. again i met with the greatest kindness on the part of mr. pinto when i transhipped from the peruvian boats. in a few hours, travelling rapidly down stream, i was once more at albuquerque's hut, where mr. pinto most kindly offered to halt one day in order that i might wait for the men who had gone in search of my baggage in the forest. [illustration: where the madeira-mamore railway begins.] [illustration: madeira-mamore railway, showing cut through tropical forest.] next day, october th, as i was in great suspense lest the men should not arrive in time--mr. pinto being pressed to get quickly down the river with some thousands of kilos of rubber he had purchased--my men eventually arrived with part of the baggage. they had abandoned the rest in the forest, including my valuable botanical collection, which had taken me so many months of careful labour. alcides said that the termites had played havoc with all my things. the wooden boxes had been almost entirely destroyed, as well as most of the contents. i was glad, nevertheless, to get back what i did, the man benedicto on that occasion behaving splendidly--even going back to the spot where the tragic scene had taken place with the indian miguel on our outward journey and recovering some of my instruments which i had abandoned there. in the afternoon of october th i bade goodbye to albuquerque, and gave him a present of £ sterling, as he would not accept payment for the hospitality he had offered me. with a powerful crew of men we sped down the river quickly. in a couple of hours we had already arrived at the rapids of the capueras. after passing the island of pombas before entering the rapids, we encountered the first rapid of sirgar torta; then the second rapid of baunilla--named after the vanilla plant. the third rapid of the capueras group was called chafaris; then the fourth was the campinho. we went along the banks of the beautiful island of antas, after which we halted at the house of josé maracati, a mundurucu chieftain, with thirty indians under him. a delegate of the para province in charge of the indians--a man of strong malay characteristics and evidently of indian parentage--received us, and gave me much information about the local rubber industry. he told me that the best rubber found in that region was the kind locally called _seringa preta_, a black rubber which was coagulated with the smoke of the _coco de palmeira_. he calculated that rubber trees gave about kilos of rubber a day. the _seringa preta_ exuded latex all the year round, even during the rainy season. there was in that region also another kind of rubber tree--the _itauba_--but it was of inferior quality, as the latex was too liquid, like reddish milk, quite weak, and with little elasticity. a few trees of the _castanha do para_ were also found in that region, producing the well-known nut which has rendered brazil famous in england. _solveira_ trees were also plentiful all over that district, and gave latex which was good to drink; while another tree, called the _amapá_, exuded latex somewhat thinner than that of the _solveira_, which was supposed to be beneficial in cases of consumption or tuberculosis. very interesting were the different liane in the forest there, particularly the _cepa de agua_, which when cut gave most delicious fresh water to drink. the _titica_ was a smaller liana, which was most troublesome when you went through the forest, as it generally caught you and twisted round your feet as it lay for long distances along the ground. another wild fruit which was abundant there was the _pajurá_, dark in colour, soft-skinned, most palatable and quite nourishing, but which gave an insatiable thirst after you had eaten it. we resumed our journey among a lot of islands, traversing the cabeceira de piquarana. the main rapid was formidable enough, although nothing in comparison with the rapids we had gone over on the arinos-juruena river. there was a barrier of rock extending from w.s.w. to e.n.e. across the river, which was there , metres broad and of great beauty, with hillocks on either side and some small islets in mid-stream. soon afterwards we came to another barrier of rock, extending from north to south. it was called the bigua. there was an island of the same name, the name being taken from an aquatic bird which is plentiful there. the traders talked a great deal of the dangers of those rapids, and they were certainly dangerous because of the innumerable submerged rocks; but after the fierceness of those we had encountered before they seemed child's play to us. the river there followed a direction of b.m. °. we spent the night of october th- th at the _seringueiro's_ farm of boa vista, most beautifully situated where the river described a big curve. in its crudeness the hospitality of those exiles was quite charming. they hardly ever spoke; they just laid things before you--all they possessed--and were overcome with surprise when you thanked them for it or when you offered payment. there was a project of constructing a cart-road for some kil. along the bank, in order to avoid the rapids which occurred there in the river. although those rapids were not impressive to look at, they were strewn with submerged rocks just under the surface, which were very dangerous for the large trading boats. if that road were constructed a great deal of time would be saved, especially in ascending the river, when sometimes the trading boats took as long as a week or ten days to get over that particular rapid. the first rapid we saw after we left boa vista was the vira sebo rapid, slightly worse than the following ones. i was getting a little better, living on the roof of the trading boat, thoughtfully looked after by mr. joão pinto and the other employés of col. brazil. i was able to drink quantities of condensed milk, and my strength seemed to be slowly coming back. [illustration: bolivian rubber at abuna station on the madeira-mamore railway.] [illustration: the inauguration train on the madeira-mamore railway.] the river had many islets as we proceeded on our journey, with wooded hillocks some to ft. high in long successive undulations along the river banks. the coast-line was generally of rocky volcanic formation, with accumulations of boulders in many places right across the stream. after passing the rapids we were travelling through a region of extensive and beautiful sand-beaches, with hardly any rock showing through anywhere. the country on each side was almost altogether flat, merely an occasional hill being visible here and there. on october th we came in for a howling storm of wind and rain, waves being produced in the river as high as those that occur in the sea. we tossed about considerably and shipped a lot of water. more immense sand-beaches were passed, and then we came to a region of domed rocks showing along the river bank. at all the _baracãos_, or trading sheds where the _seringueiros_ bought their supplies, the same rubbish was for sale: condemned, quite uneatable ship biscuits sold at _s._ a kilo; epsom salts at the rate of £ sterling a kilo; putrid tinned meat at the rate of _s._ a tin; -lb. tins of the commonest french salt butter fetched the price of _s._ each. the conversation at all those halting-places where the trading boats stopped was dull beyond words, the local scandal--there was plenty of it always--having little interest for me. at one place we were met by a charming girl dressed up in all her finery, singing harmonious songs to the accompaniment of her guitar. so great was her desire to be heard that she kept on the music incessantly during the whole time we stopped--some three hours--although nobody paid the slightest attention to it after the first song or two. farther down the river, there m. wide, hills and undulations were to be seen on each side. at sunset that day we arrived at s. isabel or castanho, where i had the pleasure of meeting the greatest man upon that river--col. r. e. brazil, a man of immense strength of will and enterprise. he went under the name, which he well deserved, of the "king of the tapajoz"; for it was he who indeed held the key of that river, nearly the entire commerce on that great waterway being, directly or indirectly, in his hands. october th was spent at s. isabel, where a great fleet of boats was waiting to be loaded with thousands upon thousands of kilos of magnificent rubber. both col. brazil and his employés treated me with great deference, and made preparations to get a boat ready at once for me to continue my journey down the stream. in fact, col. brazil, who would not hear of my paying for being conveyed down stream, insisted upon my being his guest, and declared that he himself would take me to a point where i might be able to get a steamer. when all the boats were ready, at p.m. on october th, we proceeded on our journey down the tapajoz by a small channel on the right side of the river, in order to visit some of the trading sheds belonging to col. brazil, especially those at the mouth of the crepore river, which was m. wide where it entered the tapajoz on the right side. the scenery was beautiful, the hills getting higher as we proceeded north, some of the islands we passed also being of great height and forming picturesque scenes, especially against the gorgeous tints of the sky at sunset. i was interested in observing the wonderful regularity of the sky-line along the forest. it looked as if the trees had been trimmed artificially in a perfectly straight line. the fleet which col. brazil was taking down the river consisted of eight large boats. i was much impressed by the force of mind of col. brazil, together with his great charm and thoughtfulness when not at work. his men were in mortal fear of him, and trembled all over when he spoke to them. no serious obstacle to navigation was encountered as we proceeded on our journey, although rocks were plentiful, great red domes and boulders galore showing through the water and along the coast-line. whitish vertical cliffs were noticeable along the higher hills. the most impressive things i saw in that part of the river were the extensive beaches of beautiful reddish sand extending for hundreds and hundreds of metres at a time. those beaches were often to ft. high. the river was most interesting, especially near the beach of curassá, with crato in the distance; then the great meadow of "mission nova" extending in a north-westerly direction on the left bank, along the tributary of the same name. in the same direction extended also the rocky barrier at the beginning of the mangabel rapid. the rapid was formed by a rocky barrier extending from north-west to south-east. we had hilly and undulating country all the way along, and the river wound about a great deal. col. brazil was steering the first boat of the fleet carefully as we went through the tortuous channel, the entire fleet following us in good order. picturesque islands of truly tropical appearance were to be seen, covered with tall burity palms, to ft. high, with narrow channels between. the heavy clouds which had collected to the north suggested an approaching storm, but, as luck would have it, the sky cleared at sunset. as we wound our way among the many rocks reflected in the now still waters of that vast river, the scene was really beautiful. the channel through which col. brazil navigated his boat was only m. wide, with dangerous submerged rocks. mangabel, taken as a whole, was an immense basin, , to , m. broad from west to east, interspersed with elongated, rounded and flattened rocks. it was indeed a most picturesque sight, especially when all the trading boats were winding their way at sunset descending the various rapids. after going through a great channel, we went along a large fissure from south-east to north-west, still in the mangabel rapid. the rock of that region was highly ferruginous. that fissure was of great depth, and absolutely free from rocks in the channel itself. when we emerged from the fissure we were confronted to the east on the right bank by two enormous hemispherical domes ft. high, grassy but absolutely without a tree. the rocky formation of the hills was apparent a little farther down stream, when going along the great eastern channel of the river. on the left bank we had hills with _campos_ on their summit. all the hills i noticed in that region had rounded backs. i greatly admired the bearing of col. brazil as we dashed down at a terrific speed through the most intricate channel in the rapid, strewn with sharp rocks. had we touched one of those rocks it would have meant the destruction of the boat, the loss of all the valuable cargo and most of the crew, as the majority of them could not swim. there were three passages there, called respectively the casson, near the left bank; the dos ananas, in the centre; and the channel da terra preta, which we followed, on the right. at lua nova, the end of the mangabel rapid, the river turned in a sweeping curve to the north, the rocks getting fewer and fewer until eventually the river became quite clear of them, with only high hills along both banks. lua nova was a little settlement of five houses and a shed, some of them whitewashed, with doors and windows painted green. a small plantation of indian corn, sugar-cane, and _mandioca_ had been made, the soil being extremely fertile at that spot. we enjoyed a magnificent view to the west and north-north-west, the river there forming an elbow. [illustration: wreck of the "mamoria" in the calderão of the solimões river.] [illustration: indians of the putumayo district. (dr. rey de castro, peruvian consul at manaos, in the centre of photograph.)] close by, on leaving that place, we found on our right lage's point, where the rocky formation suddenly ended, and with it the dangers of the mangabel rapids. here there was a basin , m. wide, with extensive sand-beaches of great beauty. after passing the last row of rocks, extending from west to east, the entire river bottom was of clean yellow sand, so that the water appeared as limpid as crystal, while a few moments before it looked of a dirty yellow--not because it was really dirty, but because of the reflection from the rocky river bottom. from praia formosa, which we then saw on our left side, the river was once more strewn with rocks, but not in such quantities as at mangabel. high hills could be seen all along, which seemed as if they had been formed by alluvial deposits left there when the drainage from the high matto grosso plateau proceeded down toward the north in a disorderly fashion, until it found its way into the great fissures in the earth's crust which now form the beds of those great arteries, the xingu, the tapajoz, and the madeira rivers. i noticed that all the hills and undulations ran from south to north or from north-west to south-east, the southern slope being generally more elongated. after passing on our left the trading sheds of sobradinho and s. vicente, with their corrugated iron roofs--looking to us the most civilized things we had ever seen--we approached the montanha, where another rapid had to be negotiated. during the night i was sleeping inside the cabin of the boat, which col. brazil had placed at my disposal, and where i had all the baggage which i had saved from the forest. in the middle of the night all of a sudden the boat sank in or ft. of water. it was all i could do to scramble out of the cabin. the boat had sprung a great leak as big as a man's hand, which had been stopped up, and which had suddenly opened--hence the misfortune. this sudden immersion in cold water gave me another bad attack of fever, as i had to sit the entire night in wet pyjamas while the crews of all the other boats were summoned in order to raise the boat once more, a work which lasted several hours. next morning when we departed col. brazil lent me some of his clothes, while all my things were spread on the roofs of the various boats to dry in the sun, i never shall forget col. brazil's amusement and that of his men when i unpacked some of the boxes, which had once been watertight, and pulled out a dress-suit, frock-coat, and other such stylish garments, now all wet and muddy, and some twenty pairs of shoes, all in a terrible condition, mildewed and soaked with the moisture they had absorbed in the forest and during the last immersion. near the tributary montanha, on the left side of the main stream, were two small rapids. a rich rubber-producing land was situated a day and a half's journey along that tributary. the best way to reach it was from a place called el frances, one of the most charming spots i saw on the lower tapajoz river. the central hill at montanha was ft. high, the hills around it from to ft. high. farther down we came to the rio jamanchin, a tributary on the right side of the tapajoz, which entered the river where great sand-shallows occupied nearly half the width of the stream. col. brazil was the happy possessor of immense concessions on that tributary stream--in fact as far as the tocantins river, a tributary on the left side of the jamanchin. he had already made a mule trail across that region in order to get over the difficulty of the troublesome rapids which are to be found there, such as those of portão, cahy, and apuhy. the mineral wealth was also considerable, according to the accounts i heard; while undoubtedly the production of rubber could not be better. this was the spot at which the river tapajoz came nearest to its eastern neighbour the river xingu. the _seringueiros_ on the latter river constantly cross over, following the jamanchin in order to go down to the amazon by the tapajoz. rubber collectors have found their way high up on the xingu river--much farther up than on the river tapajoz. on october th we went down first the limão rapid, and then the burbure rapid. the river was beautiful all along, with low hills on both sides. we eventually arrived at pimental, a fiendishly hot, steamy, unhealthy place, where across a streamlet was a station for the transhipment of rubber. the place was on low ground, which became inundated at high water. another station was built some m. off on high ground, which was used as a winter station. the second station was at the beginning of an excellent mule track which col. brazil had cut as far as a place lower down the river called bella vista, a distance of some kil. he had imported at much expense a number of mules for the service. all the rubber was conveyed from that spot on mule-back, as between pimental and bella vista was a dangerous rapid, on which many boats had been lost. in the company of col. brazil i rode over that distance, in intense pain owing to the weak state in which i was. when we came to the river again, over great deposits of sand we saw a number of crocodiles basking in the sun. bella vista consisted of four neat double-storied grey houses, two large white buildings, and some temporary constructions of mud with palm-leaf roofs, all of them situated on a high bank. the place was at the entrance of a wide channel, dry and sandy. when this was filled by the stream at high water a long island was formed. bella vista was a great point for us, for there we should meet steam navigation again, col. brazil having purchased a handsome steamer which performed the service between that place and belem (para). [illustration: a street in iquitos.] [illustration: the launch "rimac" on the ucayalli river.] i broke down altogether while there, and was nursed with the tenderest care by the family of mr. lage, who was in charge of that trading station. it is difficult to imagine more kind-hearted, generous people than these exiles in those deadly regions. all the employés at the station were in a pitiable condition, suffering from malarial fever. when the steamer _commandante macedo_ arrived--she only came once a month in order to bring down the rubber--i went in her to the first town we had seen since leaving diamantino, a place called itaituba. it seemed to us as if we had dropped into london or paris again, although the place merely consisted of a few red-roofed houses, the walls of which were gaily coloured, bright yellow, green, or white. palm trees of great size showed here and there beyond the row of buildings as we approached the place on its high site. prominent along the river front were magnificently vigorous mango trees, with luxuriant foliage. a brick and stone church, unfinished, was visible, with a great pile of bricks in front waiting in vain for money and labour to complete it. the grand square, with its pretty _intendencia_ coloured bright blue, formed the end, on the west, of that most important "town" on the tapajoz. in the centre of the square was a well-executed bust of correa. the most prominent feature of the place, however, was the elevated landing-stage, some ft. above the level of the river at low water, erected there for loading and unloading when the river rose. the town was divided by three longitudinal avenues, the central one also with rows of magnificent mango trees, which indeed seemed to flourish at that place. i was particularly struck by the wonderful tidiness and cleanliness, the good drainage of the streets, and the upkeep of the different houses, of which the people seemed proud. everybody was well off, owing to the rubber industry, which had brought much wealth to the place. col. brazil and his family have dedicated much time and energy to embellishing the town, and no doubt some day, when itaituba is connected with proper telegraphic and postal services, it will become an important city, being the key, as it were, of the tapajoz river. on november th i bade good-bye to my good friend col. brazil, whose guest i had been since leaving the forest, and for whose thoughtful hospitality i feel deeply grateful. i presented him with my best rifle, a very handsome weapon, which had accompanied me on several previous journeys, and which was the only valuable thing remaining in my possession. it was a new sensation for me to be steaming down comfortably on a beautifully-kept steamer, as spick-and-span as a private yacht. her captain and co-proprietor with col. brazil was captain macedo, a man who had spent much time in europe, and was one of the most polished gentlemen i met in brazil. now that my work was practically over, it was a great relief to me to be basking in a cane chair upon the deck, looking at the wonderful scenery opening up before me as we went on. we passed a lovely sand-beach, capitary, then the immense bay of boin, and farther on the great rocks of surucuá. then came in sight the headland called punta de cururu, with the serra of the same name upon it. once or twice the ship stopped at different sheds in order to take up merchandise, but we only halted long enough to get the cargo on board, and once more we proceeded gaily down stream. it was wonderful how one appreciated civilized ways of locomotion after travelling for months and months, as we had done, in the manner of prehistoric man. in the evening, while we were sitting at dinner, there was a big bump. we had run aground somewhat heavily on a sand-dune. the captain rather frightened me as he said that on a previous occasion they had stuck on a sand-bank for several days before they could get off. as luck would have it that night, partly by the aid of a steel cable several hundred metres long, which had been fastened to a number of big trees on the shore, partly by her own power, we were able to back out and get her free. only six hours were wasted. the tide, which reaches a long way up the tapajoz river when the latter is low, helped us a great deal. at high tide the level of the water is raised more than one foot. it seemed amazing that the tide of the ocean could extend its influence by forcing the water back so far up the amazon and its tributaries. although the steamer on which i was did not draw much water, being built specially for river navigation, careful soundings had to be taken continually. i well recollect the cries of the man at the lead. when the man cried out "_una braça!_" (one fathom), there was great excitement on board, and we had to slow down to half speed or dead slow. in the distance on the left bank in the haze could be distinguished high hills, at the foot of which white ribbon-like streaks were visible along the water. the barros do tapayuna, a sand and mud bar, extremely shallow, extended from the elongated island of the same name right across the stream, there about kil. wide. that spot was also called the _garganta_, or throat of the tapajoz, because at low water it was impossible to get through, and it was necessary to unload the steamer, the navigation being extremely difficult. "_dos braças!_" (two fathoms) cried the lead man. "one and a half fathom!" he cried next, as we went over the shallowest part of that sand-bar. although shallow, that part of the river was not dangerous, because the bottom was of soft mud; not so, however, farther on, where the shallow channel was strewn with plentiful rocks. captain macedo had sensibly placed buoys and marks all over the most dangerous places, so as to minimize the dangers of navigation. the river was magnificent farther down, where we passed a great quadrangular rock of deep indian red, looking exactly like an immense square tower. then vertical rocks were to be seen all along the right bank; while on the left bank, when we crossed over to the other side of the river, were immense beaches of beautiful sand. above them were great stretches of the most wonderful grass, upon which thousands of cattle could graze--but not one animal was to be seen. [illustration: a trail in the andes.] it was rather interesting to note that the formation of the right bank was exactly the same as that of the paredão grande we had seen in matto grosso. vertical sides in great rectangles were noticeable, intersected by passages--regular cañons--where small huts could be seen at the foot of the picturesque rocks, especially at places where small streamlets entered the tapajoz. i was told that little lakes had formed beyond those frontal rocky masses, the entrances to which were blocked at low water by sand-bars. beyond that row of vertical red rocks was a more or less confused mass of hills, some dome-like, others of a more elongated form, but still with a well-rounded sky-line. the water of the stream had now changed colour altogether, and had become of a deep green. islets could be seen far, far away to the left side of the river, mere white dots and lines along the water-line, most of them having white sand-beaches around them; while on the right bank the great red walls in sections continued for many miles. as we neared the mouth of the tapajoz, the river had the immense width of kil. on the right, after going through the passagem dos surucué, we passed the mountain of jaguarary, which stood prominent along a flat elevation on the right bank. we halted in the afternoon at a picturesque little place called prainha--prettier than any i had seen so far, because of its frontage battlement, with its numerous staircases to allow the people of the various houses to go down to the water. a tiny church stood farther back on a prominence. late at night we arrived at santarem, at the junction of the tapajoz river with the amazon. at that spot the man x and poor benedicto insisted on leaving me, so they received their full pay, and benedicto a very handsome present of money; after which they disembarked. as the sum i paid benedicto was a considerable one, so that he might be well off for the rest of his days, i warned him not to waste it in buying all kinds of absurd things. we halted at santarem for several hours. what was not my astonishment, just before we departed, to find that benedicto had gone into a store and had spent over £ sterling in buying innumerable tins of jam--in fact, he had bought up the entire supply which was in the store! when i asked him what he did that for, he said he was very fond of jam. with his friends and a number of people he had quickly collected round him, they opened tin after tin, ravenously devouring the contents, so that within a short time he would have none left. brazilians of all classes are hopelessly improvident. chapter xxiii santarem to belem (pará)--the amazon--from belem to manaos--the madeira-mamore railway santarem was an old settlement of no great interest. it had a few relatively fine ancient buildings and many ugly new ones. early on november th the steamer proceeded on her way to belem (pará). on leaving santarem we first emerged into the great amazon river, a regular sea of fresh water, where we tossed about in a strong north-easterly gale. unless one knew, one never could have imagined oneself on a river, as the stream was so wide at that point that the opposite bank could not be seen at all. things were a little better when we entered the channel of monte alegre. on that channel was the little town of the same name, half of the buildings being along the water's edge, the other half on the summit of a low hill near by. there is a sulphur spring there with wonderful medicinal properties, and coal is also said to be found. a colony of spaniards had been imported to work, but they were dissatisfied and had left. tobacco, made up into fusiform sticks ft. long and tied into bundles, was exported from that place in considerable quantities; the inhabitants were also engaged in breeding cattle, growing indian corn, and drying fish--the _pirarucú_ (_vastres gigas_), a salmonoid vulgarly called the cod-fish of the amazon. a big trade was done in that dried fish all over that region. in the full moon of a glorious night we could discern to the north a mountain region with elevations of over , ft. between those mountains--the serra de almerin--and ourselves, lay a long flat island, the vegetation on which was, for that particular region, comparatively sparse. that island of mud had formed during the last fifteen or twenty years, and was at the time of my visit several kilometres in length. it was called the pesqueiro. islands have a way of forming in a very short time in the amazon, while others change their shape or disappear altogether. on november th we were facing the principal outlet of the amazon to the north-east. that main estuary is, however, not as navigable as the one south of it, through which most of the big ships pass. an archipelago had formed at that spot. the fortress of matapa, very ancient, stood on the largest outlet. we went through the channel called the itoquara. another, the tajapurozinho, was to the south, forming a boundary on that side of the large island, which we skirted to the north in the itoquara channel. the beautiful island of uruttahi was now in sight, to the north of the largest outlet. like all other islands in that neighbourhood, it was flat and of alluvial formation. in order to avoid the open waters, where the small ship upon which i was tossed about considerably, we kept to the smaller channels between the islands, going first through the channel of limão and after that through the tajapuru. it was practically the same course as the itoquara, which was called by different names in different parts. it was narrow and tortuous, and required great skill in the navigation of it; but it was extraordinarily deep--so deep that all the big ocean steamers entering the amazon followed this channel in preference to the main outlet of the river, which is not navigable owing to many sandbanks. we were there in a regular maze of islands, composed mostly of mud and of recent formation, not more than one or two feet above the water. for brazil, they were fairly thickly inhabited, miserable huts being visible every few hundred metres or so. on our right as we went through we had a luxuriant growth of _mirichi_ palms, some of great height and close together--a regular forest of them. at the first glance as you looked at those islands, it seemed as if all along the coast-line a low palisade had been erected. it was indeed a natural palisade of _aninga_, an aquatic plant growing in profusion on the edge of mud-banks. the _aninga_ is said to contain a powerful poison, the touch of which produces violent itching. all the houses and huts on those islands necessarily had to be built on high piles, as the country was constantly inundated, the tide rising and falling some three feet in that particular channel. [illustration: campas indian children.] as we neared the mouth of the river, with para as our objective, we first saw the lighthouse of buyussu in the immense bay which takes its name from the little town of coralhina. both this town and that of boa vista were on the left side of us, on the great island of marajo. on the right the island of oya was visible, and the island of araras. between the light of buyussu and the island of oya opened the great bay of melgasso. considering the amount of navigation that went through, it was amazing to see how badly lighted that river was--the two lights, such as the one at buyussu, and the one at mandy, at the entrance of the bay of marajo, being no bigger than and not so brilliant as the ordinary street oil-lamp in an english or french village. i understand that all ships navigating the amazon have to pay a large tax on each journey for the maintenance of the lighthouses on that immense waterway. it is quite criminal that no proper lights are constructed in order to protect the safety of the passengers and the valuable cargoes which go by that important water route. more picturesque than most of the scenery i had so far witnessed on the amazon was the narrow foro da jararaca. from the lamp-post--it cannot in all honesty be called a lighthouse--of mandy, we made for the other lamp-post of capin; and from this for the third lamp-post of arrozal, navigation being most difficult in that part. from there we steered direct for the farol de cutijuba, a light somewhat more respectable than the others at the entrance of the barra of pará. after going through the bay of coralhina we did not follow the great channel that was before us, but skirted the island of concepção to the left, passing between it and paketta island. after that island we found ourselves in the bay of jappelin, so named after a bird of that region, which builds an elongated nest. having passed the cutijuba island, and then the taxipa island on our left, in the early morning we entered between the islands of arabiranga and jararakinha. the larger vessels generally follow a course outside on the east of this island before entering the large bay of marajo. we could plainly see that we were approaching a large city, for quantities of little sailing boats were now visible on the water. signs of civilization were beginning to appear on the island of arabiranga. a brick and tile kiln, which supplied belem (pará) with most of its building materials, had been established there. alongside the island could be seen a lot of steamers belonging to the amazon river company. beyond was the bay of guajara, with the city and many ocean steamers looming in the distance. on november th we steamed into the bay, and there stood the city of belem (pará) before us, while the noise of the town began to get louder and louder as we approached the dock. that sound was welcome to me in a way, and at the same time worrying, after the dead silence i had been accustomed to for the last many months. a swarm of robber-porters invaded the steamer the moment we came alongside the pier. the bustle, the loud shouting, the pushing, seemed most irritating. ill as i was, for a few moments i almost contemplated the idea of turning back toward the virgin forest. the heat was oppressive, the bells of the tramways jangled all the time, the rattle of the mediæval carriages on the cobble-stones of the pavement was distressing. things were not pleasanter when i put up in the best hotel, where the best room i could get was not unlike a coal-cellar. we will not speak of the food. those aspiring efforts at semi-civilization were to my mind ten times worse than no civilization at all. had it not been for the extreme kindness of my friend commandante macedo, of mr. ross, the manager of the london and brazilian bank, and of the british consul, i would have left the place that same day. at belem i dismissed alcides, antonio, and white filippe, paying their full passage by sea and railway and full wages up to the day of their arrival at their respective homes. they had certainly many faults, and had not behaved well to me; but i am given to weigh matters justly, and there was no doubt that those men had endured terrific hardships and, willingly or unwillingly, had carried through quite a herculean task. i therefore not only paid them the high wages upon which i had agreed, but i gave each a handsome present of money. the three men duly signed receipts and unsolicited certificates, in which they declared that during the entire journey they had been treated by me in a generous manner and with every possible thoughtfulness and consideration. as they had not been able to spend a single penny since we had left diamantino they had accumulated a considerable sum of cash. i warned them, as i had done with benedicto, to be careful and not waste their money. they went out for a walk. some hours later they returned, dressed up in wonderful costumes with fancy silk ties, patent leather shoes, gold chains and watches, and gaudy scarf-pins. in a few hours they had wasted away nearly the entire sum i had paid out to them. everything was extremely expensive in pará--certainly three or four times the price which things would fetch in london or new york. two days later white filippe and antonio embarked for rio de janeiro, with hardly a word of farewell to me. alcides refused to travel on the same steamer with his companions, and left by a later one. the city of pará is much too well known for me to enter into a long description of it. since its discovery in the year , when vincente yanes pinzon cast anchor in the marañon or amazon, belem has become a beautiful city. as everybody knows, it is the capital of the pará province, which has an area of , , sq. kil. geographically, belem could not be situated in a better position, and is bound some day to become the most flourishing city of the brazilian republic. it is undoubtedly the key to the great amazon river, although it is not actually at the mouth of the amazon, but kil. from the ocean. through it is bound to pass the trade not only of that riverine portion of brazil, but also of peru and bolivia. [illustration: campas old woman and her son.] belem (pará) is mostly known to europeans as the nest of yellow fever. during the last few years it has been freed absolutely from that scourge, the cases of yellow fever being now few and far between, owing to the wonderful progress made by hygiene and the praiseworthy efforts made by the province to keep the city in a healthy condition. the population of pará is , inhabitants. many spacious and handsome edifices, such as the government buildings and the professional institutes, do great credit to the city; while the peace theatre is one of the finest in brazil. many private mansions are of some architectural beauty, and some of the new avenues and the municipal gardens are handsome. the slaughter-house, the iron market, etc., are quite up to date, and the city even boasts of a crematorium. my object in coming to belem (pará) was merely to see my men safely on board on their return to the minas geraes and goyaz provinces; also to buy some new cameras and instruments, so that i could start on the second part of my expedition, following the entire course of the amazon almost up to its source, then cross over the andes and reach the pacific ocean. my english friends in pará tried to dissuade me from attempting the journey, as i was in a pitiful condition. what was worse, civilization, instead of making me feel better, was smashing me up altogether. every day i was getting weaker and weaker, and more exhausted. i had hardly strength to walk about, less still to go up or down stairs. beri-beri commenced to develop in my right foot, and added to my other trials. the english consul told me it was absolute folly to try and proceed on such a long journey in such an exhausted state. having bought fresh clothes and cameras for my new expedition, i left pará on november th at noon on the excellent ship _anthony_ of the booth line, on my way up the amazon to manaos. i will not attempt here to give a description of that amazing river the amazon--amazing because it is very big and not because it is beautiful, for indeed i do not believe that in all my travels i have ever seen a river quite so ugly and uninteresting as the amazon. first of all, it is so big that you seldom see both sides of the river at a time; its waters are muddy and filthy; its climate is damp, oppressive and unhealthy; its vegetation, when you are near enough the banks to see it, is entangled, half-rotted, and smelly. all along one's nostrils are offended by the fetid odour of mud and decayed vegetable matter. people in europe seem imbued with the idea that, as you go along the amazon, you must be attracted by the great number of birds of beautiful plumage, insects and butterflies of all sizes and amazing colours. occasionally, especially in the early morning and at sunset, one does notice perhaps a flock of green paroquets with yellow foreheads, notable for their peculiar, clumsy, rapid wing-flapping flight and their harsh shrieks when settling on the trees. occasionally, too, one may see a family of larger parrots dashing across the sky; but, indeed, birds in the lower amazon are not plentiful by any means, nor, indeed, is their plumage particularly attractive, most birds, except the parrots, being small and very soberly tinted. as for the melodious songs of birds which civilized people always imagine in the equatorial forest--the song that will set you dreaming while you are basking under palm trees--the actual traveller will find the greatest disappointment of all in that respect. with one or two exceptions, such as the _troglodytes fuscus_, a small brown wren which emits sweet musical notes, most birds of the amazon have grating voices and harsh piercing whistles, or monotonous deep repetitions of two or three funereal notes which are more apt to drive you insane than to fascinate you. among the most unmusical singers of the lower amazon may be counted the several families of finches and fly-catchers, and the local thrushes, which feed on ants. similar disappointment awaits one in regard to the vegetation. people imagine brazil a land of beautiful flowers, the forest made up of immense trees with luxuriant foliage, overladen with parasitic orchids--eternally in bloom, of course, in the dreamy minds of the untravelled, and just waiting to be picked and to be placed in one's buttonhole. the sky, naturally, over such a forest, could only be swarming with birds of all sizes, with plumage of the richest colours and hues; and what else could such a luxuriant country have in the way of butterflies and insects than some which resemble precious gems in the iridescent tones of their wings and bodies? that is what people imagine. the following is what you really see. the trees, overcrowded everywhere, far from being gigantic, are, instead, mean-looking and anæmic--not unlike the pallid, overgrown youth of the over-populated slums of a great city. orchids? yes, there are plenty of orchids about, but you never see them unless you go on a special search for them with a high ladder or some other such means of climbing high trees. in any case, you would not detect them unless you had the eye of an expert. it is well not to forget that in tropical climates, as in temperate zones, plants are not always in bloom when you happen to be passing. as for the butterflies, you seldom see any at all in the actual forest. perhaps one of the most common birds of the amazon is a kind of grey-eyed, noisy, mimicking magpie, locally called _guache_ or _japim_ or _jappelin_ (_cassicus icterranotus_), quite amusing with its energetic movements, its observant habits, its familiar interest in everything and everybody, and its facility for reproducing correctly enough sounds which momentarily attract its attention. the wonderful activity of its slender body, clothed in velvety black, neatly-groomed yellow feathers, and its charming wickedness make it, perhaps, one of the most attractive birds near towns and settlements on the river. it builds elongated nests which are to in. in length, the entrance to which is in the lower portion. they are suspended from the branches of trees. as i have said, the large bay near the mouth of the amazon has been named in honour of this bird. [illustration: campas indian woman.] another bird of great interest is the _araruna_ (or _macrocerus hyacinthinus_), a magnificent macaw of great size, which is perhaps the rarest and most beautiful found in the interior of brazil from the northern end of the central plateau as far as the amazon river. its feathers are of a soft, metallic, dark greyish-blue, almost black, except round the eyes, where the uncovered white skin shows through. i have seen these birds in flight on four or five different occasions on the tapajoz river, and tried in vain to secure a specimen. i generally saw them in couples, flying at a great height and speed. these birds are extremely intelligent, and become most affectionate and faithful companions to a considerate master. in fact, they will attack any one endeavouring to get near their owners. their beaks are extremely strong. when in captivity they are disastrous to one's belongings, as they seem to possess an irresistible desire to crush and tear anything they see. they can chip off pieces of furniture made of the hardest wood with considerable ease. this is easily understood when you can see them crush into fragments the extremely hard nuts of the _acrocomia lasiopatha_, on which they principally live. sir roger casement, of putumayo atrocities fame, whom i had the pleasure of meeting at manaos, possessed a most beautiful specimen of the _macrocerus hyacinthinus_. it was most touching to see the pathetic devotion which existed between master and bird and _vice versa_. only the people of the hotel where we both stayed did not appreciate the magnificent blue-black visitor, for when its master was out it spent all its time chipping off pieces from tables and chairs, and took the greatest pride and delight in flinging forks, knives and spoons off the dining-room tables, and tearing the menus to strips. the brazilian waiters, in their caution to maintain their own anatomy intact, did not dare go near it; for the bird, even on hearing remarks made on its behaviour, would let itself down the sides of chairs and defiantly proceed to attack the intruders. similar but larger and more beautiful than this macaw is the _ararama_, extremely rare and perfectly black. the natives say that it is impossible to keep it in captivity as it is quite untameable. i saw a couple of these birds. they were really magnificent--certainly ft. in length from the tip of the beak to the end of the tail. when the steamer was close enough to the banks or an island we occasionally saw small groups of _assahy_ palms (_euterpe oleracea_) to ft. high, with smooth stems and feather-like foliage. other palms, equally graceful, with stems like polished columns and delicately-cut fronds aloft, were also to be seen; but otherwise most of the vegetation was entangled and untidy. from the trees hung liane in festoons or suspended like cords. creepers of all kinds smothered the trunks and branches of the trees, which seemed to struggle for a little life and air; while, when we had an opportunity of examining the branches of the trees a little closer, we could see absolute swarms of parasites covering every bough. near some of the houses could be seen the _musa paradisiaca_, the most common kind of banana palm in that region, with its green leaves ten to twelve feet long reflecting beautiful shades like silk velvet when caressed by the wind. i saw one or two specimens of the bread-fruit tree, with its digitated foliage, and several kinds of pine-apple plants (_bromelia_)--some with leaves toothed along their edges, others shaped more like the blade of a long knife. i was in great pain, and could not observe much. also, most of the time we were at a great distance from the banks, and the river was so wide that it was almost like being in mid-ocean. on november th we passed obidos, at the mouth of the rio trombetas, the narrowest point, where the river went through a channel only , m. broad, but of extreme depth. the channel was formed by a depression between two hillocks ft. high or so. the settlement of obidos consisted of two long white buildings near the water, and a series of stores. to the left of the village as we looked at it was a high cliff extending for some , m. up stream over a beautiful beach. the cliff showed patches of red and yellow rock of a brilliant colour, the lower strata being of a deep red and clearly defined, the upper ones of a raw sienna colour, the dividing-line between the two colours being somewhat undulating. there was dense forest on the summit of the cliff. a good deal of vegetation had crept down and was clinging to the side of the cliff. a little white church with a pointed spire stood on the highest point of the cliff, close to the town. behind the cliff rose a hill of some height, upon which the better houses, with red-tiled roofs, were situated. a wide road led up to them. the water of the stream was of a dirty yellow, and very turbulent owing to the strong wind that was blowing and the violent current. proceeding up stream, we then came to a hill ft. high on the right, which ended abruptly in an almost vertical red and yellow cliff plunging into the water. on the opposite side of the river, along the narrow neck, were lowlands, quite open and scantily wooded, over which rose great columns of black smoke, caused by the natives burning down the forest in order to prepare the land for their plantations. it was at this point that the entire volume of the amazon could be gauged at a glance. as you looked up stream a long bluish line of low forest could be perceived over the gradually expanding deep yellow river. dozens upon dozens of columns of smoke were visible. when night came the effects of those forest fires, with the reflection of the light upon the low clouds and in the water, were very weird and beautiful. greetings were occasionally exchanged upon the river as a big ocean steamer went by, or an over-enthusiastic captain let off rockets, which brought all the passengers from the dinner-table to the port-holes. farther on we came to a pretty plantation on the left with innumerable banana palms crowded together, and some cocoa trees. at one time the exportation of cocoa from that section of the amazon between obidos and santarem was considerable--some , kilos yearly. i was told that that industry has now gone down a great deal, and not more than , kilos were exported in . [illustration: campas woman.] [illustration: campas man, woman and child.] as we went farther up stream we passed alluvial banks of comparatively recent formation, in some places only one foot above the water and liable to constant inundation--in other places or ft. above the stream, and exposing an abrupt crumbling section of grey clay on a lower stratum with a narrow band of raw sienna colour. this yellow band rarely exceeded a thickness of ft. we had an object-lesson here, where the banks were eroded by water and were gradually crumbling away, of the reason why the trees were so anæmic and generally died. the roots, instead of burrowing deep into the ground, spread out laterally in a horizontal position quite close to the surface of the ground. that night we had a beautiful effect of rain and smoke and the reflection from the fires, a wonderful study of reds and yellows and dark blues which would have fascinated the immortal painter turner. farther on we passed an island ft. above the water with beautiful green grass upon it, wonderful grazing land, and no trees whatever. on both sides of the channel we followed, in fact, we had fine open country all around, which seemed excellent for grazing purposes. more interesting to me than the river itself were the wonderful effects of the ever-changing light in the sky. i saw no more the wonderful radiations which had given me so much pleasure in matto grosso, but we beheld here a great haze of delicate tones up to a great height and a light blue sky above it. the clouds seemed to possess no well-defined form, but were more like masses of mist, the edges blending gradually with the blue of the sky. only to the west was there an attempt at globular formation in the clouds. the clouds of heavy smoke which rose and rolled about over the landscape helped to render the otherwise monotonous scene a little more picturesque. farther up stream we reached on the right a long island almost absolutely free from trees, except at its western end, where a miserable growth of sickly trees covered its point. beyond was a beautiful spit of red sand some , m. long. on november th we reached itaquatiara, where the banks of the river were much higher than usual on the right side. i was much struck by the sight of a lot of fallen timber lying about on the slopes of the high bank, and by that of innumerable logs of wood floating on the water, quite an unusual sight in brazilian waters. itaquatiara was placed geographically on a most convenient site, opposite the mouth of the great madeira river. now that the madeira-mamore railway is completed, bringing down the trade of bolivia and of the acre territory, there is no doubt that it will become a most important trading centre. to my mind it is bound to supplant manaos, which is very inconveniently situated, not on the amazon river itself but on the tributary rio negro. all the rubber which goes down the madeira river has so far been conveyed to manaos by a great detour, involving much expense and time. in the future, i think, when itaquatiara has developed into a big city, and proper arrangements are made for landing and storing cargoes, it is certain to become a most important centre of commerce. land is already going up in value tremendously, although manaos has waged war against the growth of a town at that spot, which will be inimical to her own interests. [illustration: the ucayalli river.] [illustration: the launch on which author travelled almost to the foot of the andes.] as is well known, the madeira-mamore railway was built from porto velho, on the madeira river, around and along a series of rapids and waterfalls which rendered navigation most difficult, as far as guajara merim, on the river mamore, a mere continuation of the madeira river. the construction of the railway had long been contemplated by the brazilian and bolivian governments, but it was a difficult matter owing to the dense forest and the unhealthy climate, which equals, if it does not even surpass, the deadliness of panama in the time of the french. the works of the railway were begun as long ago as by collings brothers, who were then contractors, but nothing effectively was done until the brazilian government, fully realizing the necessity of opening up that rich country, especially after the purchase from bolivia of the acre territory, perhaps one of the richest regions on earth as far as rubber is concerned, entered into a contract with a brazilian engineer named catambry, to build the railway. the brazilian engineer transferred the contract to mr. percival farquhar, who, in his turn, organized the madeira-mamore company, entrusting the actual construction of the railway to messrs. may, jeckill & randolph. they started work in july, , with preliminary engineering, the actual construction not beginning until january . work began with one engine, a baldwin locomotive rebuilt, which had been there since . gradually the number of engines--all baldwin locomotives--was increased to twelve. during the construction six tugs and eleven lighters were used on the madeira river for handling the material. the contractors took into brazil during the four and a half years occupied in the construction from , to , men, although they never had more than , men working at any one time. many, indeed, were the deaths registered, and the steamers were constantly bringing back men laid up with fever. the supplies for those men had all to be brought from europe and america, except sugar and coffee, as nothing could be obtained in the country itself. the four chief engineers were all americans, mr. randolph and mr. jeckill, who were at the head of the entire concern, spending all their time on the line in progress or at their head office in manaos, which was mostly in charge of mr. may. one chief surgeon, dr. carl lovelace, handled all the hospital work, with the assistance of fifteen physicians; but innumerable were the lives lost from yellow fever and beri-beri, the two most prevalent diseases in that fatal country. [illustration: campas family wading across a stream.] [illustration: a farmhouse on the andes.] before the railway was built it was necessary to unload the _battellãos_ or trading boats thirty-eight times during the journey at the thirty-eight different rapids and falls on the way. the journey over the rapids took not less than forty days. i shall not speak of the constant danger to boats, their crews and merchandise. now by the railway the entire journey occupies from eight to ten hours. the length of the completed railway, now in full working order, is kil. the last rail was laid on april th, , when mrs. jeckill drove the last and golden spike--an honour which no other white woman, i believe, has ever had in so inhospitable a country. chapter xxiv attacked by beri-beri--a journey up the madeira river to the relief of filippe the negro and recovery of valuable baggage left with him--filippe paid off--a journey up the river solimeõs--iquitos i arrived in manaos in the evening of november th. i was very ill indeed, my right foot so swollen that i could hardly stand on it, and so painful that i could not put on a shoe or even a slipper, so that i had to hop about with only a sock over it. the doctor on board had told me that i was suffering from beri-beri, and although i tried not to believe him i was gradually forced to the conclusion that he was right. in fact, atrophy set in by degrees--one of the characteristics of beri-beri being that after a time you feel no pain at all. you can dig a pin into the affected part, or pluck off all the hairs without feeling the slightest pain. i was in a bad way, although i never laid up for an entire day. from the moment i arrived i "got busy," to use an american expression, in order to go to the rescue of filippe the negro and another man i had left in charge of my valuable baggage near the mouth of the canuma river, a tributary of the madeira. it was necessary for me to borrow or charter a steam launch for one or two days, so that i could save men and baggage. i applied to the governor of the amazonas, who had received telegraphic instructions from the central government to give me every possible assistance. when i called upon him he said he was not the "black servant" of the president of the republic; that he was practically an independent ruler, and would obey nobody's orders or instructions, especially from the central government. [illustration: an elevated trail overlooking a foaming torrent. (see arch cut in the rock.)] i told him that the work i had done was principally for the good of brazil; that all i asked him was to help me to save the lives of two brazilian citizens, and the maps, photographs, etc., which would be useful chiefly to brazilians, whatever their political views were. i would gladly pay out of my own pocket, within reasonable bounds, all expenses in connection with the trip. if i had applied to him it was only because i had found it impossible at manaos to charter a steam launch. i spread out before the governor a map of south america, showing the journey i had taken from rio de janeiro to manaos marked in red. the governor, who had evidently never seen a map before, turned it upside down, mistook the entire map of south america for a map of his own province, and seemed to be under the impression that the amazon had its birth close to rio de janeiro. a bitter enemy of all foreigners, especially englishmen, the governor was detested by everybody, and was at open war with the commandante of the federal troops in the town. all the money which should have been spent in embellishing or improving the town, was mis-spent in keeping a large army of police--over , men, i believe--for his personal protection. my audience with the governor did not last long, and i paid him back in his own coin. he immediately turned round then, with great courtesy begging me to stay and talk matters over, and said that he would be delighted to be of use to me in showing me around the city. i merely turned my back upon him, as i would on any nonentity, and limped out of the palace. several messages were sent to me afterwards, which i treated with the contempt they deserved. as nearly all the launches in the place belonged to the government, i had then to apply to the commandante of the flotilla of the government boats. it will be easily understood that my anxiety was great to go and rescue my men; so that on leaving the palace i immediately proceeded to the private house of this gentleman--a great friend of the governor, i learned afterwards. on sending in my card at five o'clock in the afternoon i was kept waiting a little time, then there appeared a yellow-faced individual in his pyjamas, muttering words which i should not like to repeat. "what do you want?" he said to me. "do you not know that i sleep from twelve to six every afternoon? what do you mean by disturbing me? i am sure you would not disturb officers of your own navy in this way!" i very politely answered that the officers of my navy were well known for being wide awake at all times, and not for sleeping the whole day as well as the entire night. when i explained to him, and presented the order from the minister of marine requesting any officer of the brazilian navy to give every possible assistance, he told me that none of his boats were in a condition to move out; furthermore they were needed, as great political trouble was expected in the city. i was beginning to feel anxious, as in my weak state it would have been a serious matter for me to undertake the river journey in a small rowing-boat, which journey would have occupied several weeks, when i could have done the whole thing in two or three days at the most in a steam launch. even a rowing-boat was not obtainable unless you purchased it outright, and if you obtained the boat you could not obtain the men to row it. it is extraordinary how many things in the world depend on absolute chance. when i returned, sadly disappointed, to the hotel, i met a swiss gentleman, dr. alberto maso, who was in the employ of the brazilian government as delegate of the minister of agriculture for the territory of the acre. i had met him in rio de janeiro a year before. i told him what had happened that day with the governor and the commandante of the flotilla. dr. maso immediately took the matter in hand. that same evening there was a meeting of the associação commercial do amazonas, a most useful society in manaos composed of the cleverest and soundest business men of that place. i was presented to the president, mr. j. g. araujo, and to dr. bertino miranda, the honorary secretary--the latter a man of letters of great distinction, well known not only in his own country but in latin countries all over europe as well. i was received by these gentlemen and the other members of the association with the greatest consideration, and before i left that evening they assured me that they would procure a launch for me with which to go and rescue my men. the next morning, in fact, i was taken to call on the commandante of the federal troops, who willingly and most courteously placed at my disposal his steam launch. a delay of several days took place, as unfortunately the steam launch had lost her propeller and it was necessary to make a new one. also the engine had to be repaired, and a crew had to be engaged--a task which gave all those concerned a considerable amount of trouble. i had, of course, to pay for the maintenance of the crew during the journey, and it cost me nearly a hundred pounds to fit her out with all the plates, knives, cooking utensils, and other paraphernalia necessary for her crew of sixteen men. in any other country three men would have been more than sufficient to run a launch of that size. i also had to employ at my own expense a pilot--no steamboat was allowed to go without one--whom i had to pay at the rate of £ _s._ sterling a day. a cook had to be employed for the crew, as none of the sailors could be induced to condescend to be the chef. two applicants were eventually found. one who was willing to do the cooking at a salary of £ _s._ a day, his chief ability, said he, consisting in boiling rice and fish. another fellow eventually undertook the job at a salary of £ _s._ a day, he being willing to do the cooking at such a small salary as he said he had never in his life cooked before, and he did not know whether we should care for his cooking or not. it must not for one moment be believed that these men were trying to cheat me, and putting on prices, for indeed these are the current rates for everybody who wishes to travel in those regions. the cost of commodities of any kind in manaos was excessive, and went beyond even the limits of robbery. i went into a chemist's shop to purchase a small bottle of quinine tablets, worth in england perhaps eightpence or a shilling. the price charged there was £ _s._ principally owing to the booth line steamship company and the allied companies, manaos has become a good-sized place. the harbour works and the works made by the manaos improvements, ltd., have been a great boon to that place, and have made it almost as civilized as a third-class european city. but obstacles have been placed in the way of honest foreign companies carrying on their work successfully, the unscrupulous behaviour of the governor and the attitude of the mob having proved serious drawbacks to the development of the place. [illustration: la mercedes.] [illustration: the avenue of eucalypti near the town of tarma (andes).] large sums of money have been wasted in building a strawberry-coloured theatre of immense size and of appalling architectural lines, on the top of which has been erected a tiled dome of gigantic proportions over an immense water-tank in order to protect the theatre against fire. the water-tank was calculated to let down a great cascade of water, a regular niagara, on the flames--as well as on the spectators, i presume. after it had been built it was discovered that if water were let into the tank, its weight would be enough to bring down the entire upper part of the theatre; so that it could never be filled at all. except for one or two short avenues, which reminded one of the suburbs of new north american cities, there was nothing worth seeing in manaos. the shops were almost entirely those of jewellers, gunsmiths, sweet-sellers, and chemists. it was in this place that the poor _seringueiros_, on their return from rubber collecting, were in a few hours robbed of all the money they had made during several months' hard work. there was only one redeeming feature in manaos: the british and american business men in the place were most charming and hospitable in every possible way. it was on december rd, , that everything was ready. the hour of departure had been fixed for ten o'clock in the evening. i went on board at the appointed time, but the captain of the launch and the crew refused to put out of the anchorage, as they said they would not go unless some extra men were employed. one of the pipes of the engine had been wilfully damaged, so that delay was caused, and we could not possibly start until it had been repaired. the captain of the launch had worried me for several days. he was in a constant state of intoxication. * * * * * on december th, at p.m., i was actually able to make my departure from manaos on the launch _amazonas_. i took in tow a rowing-boat which had been lent me by the representative of the minister of agriculture in manaos. by . in the morning of december th we entered the mouth of the madeira river. i was surprised at the sudden change in the appearance of the two rivers. we saw in the madeira high, gently sloping banks, covered with verdant grass and neat trees and palms along the top of them; whereas along the amazon the trees stood almost in the water on the recently formed islands and banks. the left bank of the madeira was of grey and reddish clay (grey below, red above), cut vertically, sometimes actually in steps. blocks of a rectangular shape, in getting dried up, split and fell over, leaving the banks vertical. the right bank, on the contrary, was gently sloping, descending with a beautiful carpet of green grass into the stream. the islands were charming, with lovely lawns all round. blackish and deep red rock, vertical and fluted, and with innumerable perforations, could be seen here and there, covered over with a padding of earth from ten to twenty feet deep. the journey up the madeira river had no great interest. by seven o'clock in the evening we arrived at the mouth of the canuma river--or rather at a channel connecting the madeira river with the river canuma, which river actually has its proper mouth about half-way between itaquatiara and santarem, at a place called parintins. by way of the connecting channel the two rivers were only a short distance apart, but that channel was not always navigable. the steam launch, which drew little water, would have difficulty in going through, even at that time, when the water was fairly high. [illustration: on the andes.] [illustration: a street of tarma.] we therefore thought we would stay for the night at the mouth of the channel, and start on our journey by that difficult passage in broad daylight the next day. there was a house on the right-hand side of the mouth of the channel. while we made preparations to make ourselves comfortable for the night on the launch, the pilot went up to the house in order to get an expert at that place to take us through the dangerous channel. i was just in the middle of my dinner when the pilot sent down a message for me to go up to the house at once, as my presence was required immediately. i struggled up the steep incline, not knowing what was up. much to my amazement, on reaching the house, i saw before me my man filippe the negro, who rushed at me and embraced me tenderly, and the other man i had left with him in charge of the baggage. the two men had been picked up by a boat two days up the river canuma, where i had left them with my baggage, and they had come down expecting to meet me in manaos. they had got stranded at that place, and although they had hailed one or two steamers which had gone down the river, no one had paid any attention to them, and there they had remained. "have you saved the photographs and the baggage, filippe?" i immediately asked, when i had made certain that both men were in good condition. "yes," said filippe. "i have everything with me. i have taken the greatest care of everything." that was for me a happy moment, after all the vicissitudes we had had of late. the most important part of my baggage was saved. i had taken all my men back alive--if perhaps not very much alive--after so fateful an expedition. i felt happy beyond words. the man who owned the house was the trader who had taken filippe and the other man down the river in his boat, so i gave him a present of money and also a lot of provisions which i had on board and which we should not now need any more, as we should return at once to manaos. [illustration: the market place, tarma.] next morning, all as happy as possible, we steamed down full speed on our way back to manaos. we came in for dirty weather all the time, which obliged us to halt for several hours and put into itaquatiara for shelter. a few hours later we were once more in the capital of the amazonas, in the city of jewellers' shops and filthy food. on landing i found maxim guns and artillery on one side of the principal square, with police troops in charge of them ready to fire; while on the other side were the federal troops, also with their artillery ready for battle. it was with some concern that i found myself obliged to pass between those warlike bodies in order to enter the hotel. i was not so anxious for myself as i was for my photographic negatives and note-books, after i had taken all that trouble to save them. however, the governor at the last moment became scared, and went personally to call on the commandante of the federal troops in order to assure him of his friendship and affection, so that after all no battle took place that day. only a short time previously the flotilla had bombarded the town. the people of manaos had got so accustomed to those little excitements that they thought nothing of them. there were occasionally a few people killed, but that was all. it will be remembered that the _idée fixe_ of filippe the negro was to buy himself a _mallettinha_ (a little trunk). the first thing he had asked me after i had rescued him was if i had seen any good _mallettinhas_ in manaos. so after landing we at once proceeded to buy a tin _mallettinha_ with a strong lock. then i paid him off and gave him an ample reward, as he had been the pluckiest and most faithful of all my men. he was certainly the man who had given me the least trouble of the entire lot. filippe had tears in his eyes when he received his pay and present. he embraced me and thanked me a million times for having made him a rich man. "after all," said he, "we have suffered a great deal, but now i shall be happy for ever. i shall marry the girl who is waiting for me at home." "if ever i come out on another journey, filippe, will you go with me again?" i asked him. filippe pondered for a moment. "yes," he said with determination. "i have proved to you that i am afraid of nothing. you only have to order me, and i will go with you. even if we are to suffer again as we have suffered on this journey!" filippe was a good fellow. the other man when paid off received his money and his reward silently. he went out into the street, and returned four hours later without one single penny. he had purchased an expensive suit of clothes, a number of silk neckties, a gold chain, watch, etc. the next morning there was a steamer sailing for rio de janeiro, so i packed off the jubilant filippe, paying a second-class passage for him on the steamer and a first-class on the railway, as i had done for the other men, with wages up to the day of his arrival in araguary, his native town. thus i saw the last of that plucky man--the only one who had remained of the six who had originally started with me. on december th i left manaos for good on my way to peru, escorted to the good booth line steamer _atahualpa_ by the commandante of the federal troops, the representatives of the associação commercial, dr. maso, and some of my english and american friends. it was with the greatest delight that i saw manaos vanish away from sight as we descended the rio negro. rounding the point at its mouth, steaming towards the west, we entered the solemões river. this river is navigable by fairly good-sized boats as far as iquitos, in the province of loreto in peru. [illustration: the highest point where author crossed the andes before reaching the railway at oroya.] i was badly in need of rest, and expected to get it on those few days of navigation up the river, having dreamt of how i could lie on deck and do nothing, as that part was well known and there was no work for me to do. but, indeed, on that journey none of my dreams were realized, for, worse luck, the steamer, which had only accommodation for ten, carried not less than seventy or eighty passengers, fifty of them forming part of a spanish theatrical company which was on its way to iquitos. the deck of the ship had been turned into a kind of theatre, where rehearsals went on day and night. when the rehearsals were not going on, the men and women, following the usual habits of theatrical people, sang and practised flights of notes--which was a little trying after the dead silence of the forest. however, thanks to the great civility of the managers of the booth line at manaos, and to the extreme thoughtfulness of the captain of the _atahualpa_, i was made quite comfortable in the chart-room of the ship, which was as far away as possible from the noise. we were most of the time in mid-stream. the river was so wide that we could not see anything on either side. we steamed up day after day, occasionally passing islands of some beauty rising above the muddy waters of the solimões. navigation of that river was difficult, as the navigable channels were constantly changing, islands disappearing and new islands forming all the time. elich island, in the timbuctuba group, was fast disappearing, while another island was forming just below it. we passed the mouth of the putumayo river at sunset one day, a most wonderful effect of clouds being produced over a brilliant cadmium yellow and vermilion sky, shining with great brightness above the dark green trees upon a high reddish cliff. in a drenching morning at five o'clock we reached esperança, the brazilian frontier post, which consisted of half a dozen one-storied houses with red-tiled roofs, situated on a grassy expanse. grassy hills of no great height rose at the mouth of the javari river, a southern tributary of the solimões river, forming there the boundary between brazil and peru. dark green foliage perched high up on asparagus-like stems of trees formed a background to that wretchedly miserable place. tabatinga, on the left side of the stream, was the brazilian military post on the frontier. a neatly-built, loopholed, square blockhouse, painted white, was situated some fifty feet above the level of the river on the summit of the bank. it was reached by a long flight of white cement steps. the brazilian flag flew gaily upon a flagstaff at this most westerly point of the great brazilian republic on the amazon (solimões) river. a few soldiers dressed in khaki stood, with their legs wide apart, watching the arrival of the steamer, while their officers in speckless white clothes hastily descended the long flight of steps and came on board, bringing bouquets of flowers to the captain. there was a pretty garden near the blockhouse. three mountain guns pointed viciously at the river from the most exposed position in tabatinga at the top of the staircase. according to the account of a non-commissioned officer, there was a force there of soldiers "_escondido no matto_"--that is to say, kept hidden in the forest! after we had passed the frontier on the north side of the river, a tiny tributary brook, almost hidden by the vegetation and only identified by a white-barked tree on the left bank and huts on either side, the scenery made a change for the better. leticia was the name of the peruvian frontier post, which consisted of two or three brick sheds with corrugated iron roofs. we arrived at iquitos on december rd, at . a.m., having employed seven days and twenty hours on our run from manaos. chapter xxv from iquitos to the foot of the andes up the rivers ucayalli, pachitea and pichis--the cashibos or "vampire indians" the change in the characteristics of the people the moment you were in peru was considerable, and striking was the neatness of the buildings. iquitos was a pleasant little city, the streets of which needed paving badly, but were otherwise well aligned and tidy. there were numbers of foreigners there, including a small english colony made up of employés of the booth line and the representatives of a few commercial houses. it is difficult to realize how pleasant englishmen can be when they live in those out-of-the-way places. after the putumayo atrocities a proper english consulate, in charge of mr. mitchell, formerly our vice-consul in paris, had been established there. yellow fever was rampant at that time in iquitos, and reaped many victims daily. although iquitos was , kil. farther up the river than manaos, the price of all commodities in that country was less than half those in manaos, and the quality of the articles twice as good. that is what comes of having free trade instead of a high tariff. i spent a pleasant christmas in iquitos, all the english residents there showing me the greatest kindness. from iquitos the river was no longer navigable for ocean-going steamers, and it was necessary to travel by small launches. there was no regular service, but there were a number of trading launches which went a certain distance up the river in order to trade with the different houses on the banks of the stream. the travelling was not particularly rapid, as one stopped ten or twenty times a day, and wasted endless time while the people came on board to buy beer or rum, or cotton goods, looking-glasses, etc., etc. rubber and aigrettes, as well as money, were given in exchange for the goods received. i left iquitos on december th, on the launch _rimac_, belonging to the swiss firm of messikommer. i was told that she would be ready to start at a.m. sharp on december th, and at that time i got on board. the actual time of our departure was at . in the afternoon of december th. that was, of course, iquitos punctuality. the prefect of the province of loreto had shown me much civility, and had telegraphed, by the wireless installation which had been established between iquitos and lima, making every possible arrangement for me to travel quickly. thus, although in a terrible condition of health, i was able to make a record journey between iquitos and lima, the capital of peru. [illustration: oroya.] [illustration: oroya, the highest railway station in the world.] once started in the launch _rimac_, we went through interesting channels, outlets of the main stream being often noticeable on either bank, cutting wide passages through the forest and forming one or more shallow lakelets, with innumerable aquatic plants on the surface of the water. as we went farther it became easy to understand how islands were constantly forming in the river. quantities of large and small logs of wood were continually floating down the stream; the banks were gradually being eaten away by the current. whole trees fell down with their immense branches and polypi-like roots, and formed a barrier arresting the progress of the floating wood. particles of earth deposited by wind and by water saturated with impurities settled there. soon grass would begin to grow on those deposits, which quickly collected more deposits of flying and floating particles. the soft bottom of the river, disturbed by the deviated current, piled up mud against the submerged branches resting on the river-bed. quickly an island was then formed; more wood accumulated, more grass, more mud; the base of the islands would increase rapidly, and in the space of a few years islands several kilometres in length rose above the water. we had reached a point where the two great rivers marañon and ucayalli--both descending from the andes--joined and formed the river solimões, which we had so far navigated. we followed the ucayalli. on december st we entered a small arm on the left side of the river and we reached no less a place than new york--very dissimilar, i can assure you, from its namesake of the united states of north america. far from seeing skyscrapers, brilliantly illuminated streets, and ferry-boats and steamers galore, there were only half a dozen thatched huts with _bona_-palm walls and floors. in the water floated two or three small canoes; that was all. the place was chiefly remarkable for the number and the fierceness of its mosquitoes--regular clouds of them. only one thing new york of ucayalli seemed to have in common with new york of the united states--the people seemed to be able to stand a lot of drink. they purchased from the _rimac_ a number of boxes of beer. we proceeded. in a way it was amusing to travel on a trading boat. every time we approached a hut the steamer blew her whistle; the people got up, at any time of the night, to come on board and see what there was for sale. i slept on deck, and from my bed could see what was going on all the time. st. helena came next, with its depot and farmhouse. a few cows could be seen grazing on the poorest kind of grass. we could often get good fruit at those farmhouses, principally bananas, pineapples, and _mamão_. then we stopped at requeña, on the left bank of the river, where a wireless telegraphic station of the telefunken system was established. it was quite a nice little place, with a few houses, built of unbaked clay and roofed with zinc. [illustration: in the andes at , feet above the sea level.] [illustration: the galera tunnel.] it was entertaining to watch the pride of the local gentlemen when they showed me their houses--mere sheds of the humblest description, but in their eyes far superior to any palace of europe. an imported chair or an antiquated desk would supply them with conversation to last hours. the wives of those settlers were generally eccentric persons who looked suspiciously at us. one of them at requeña made me feel most uncomfortable by the annoying way in which she looked at my only shoe--as i was unable to put a shoe on the other much swollen foot. she never took her eyes off that shoe, and stooped down many times to examine it closer. a short distance from requeña, still on the left side of the river, was the mouth of the tapiche river, a tributary of the ucayalli. on the right bank of this river was california, and then avispa--a pretty spot. two new red-roofed houses with large verandas stood prominent on a green grassy hill about ft. high, while on the ridge in continuation of the hill itself could be seen a number of small houses, some with zinc roofs, others with _bona_ roofs and walls. the ucayalli was a rich stream. it was interesting to notice how many trading launches were to be seen on that river, and the amazing part of it was that they could all exist. hardly a day went by that we did not meet two or three launches. we were also constantly meeting canoes, generally hollowed out of tree-trunks, and larger boats of a more solid construction. the population was entirely composed of a mixture of spanish and indian types and of pure indians. some of the latter had mongolian characteristics; others were more of the malay and papuan types. after the first day or two the voyage on the launch was tedious. one got tired of the endless conversation and of listening to the bargaining. the perpetual drinking which had to be witnessed was of little interest to a teetotaller. one seldom saw money change hands, all being done by barter, the merchandise we had on board being exchanged chiefly for rubber. even so far up the river civilization had well set in, and great caution was needed in buying balls of rubber. it was advisable to split them in two before purchase, as they generally contained all kinds of rubbish instead of pure coagulated latex. after brazil, however, the villages and houses of peru looked clean and neat. the prices of food were somewhat high, chickens fetching _s._ each, whereas in iquitos they fetched from _s._ to _s._; eggs sold for _d._ each, and were generally bad, the good ones being eaten by the people themselves. we went up the tapiche river, a tributary on the right bank, and visited the estate newly bought by an american company. in fact, we were there at midnight of december st, and drank in the new year with mr. anzelius, the director, and his polish and italian assistants. on january nd, , we saw a great many indians along the banks of the river, who ran away when they saw the camera pointed at them. the people on that river were fond of giving high-sounding names to their houses. we passed a place called philadelphia, where a large farm with lean cattle, ducks and fowls, could be seen, looking as miserable as possible; also plenty of banana palms and sugar-cane. some way off, after passing the large saw-mills of cumaseba and tamanco, where an interesting collection of animals and indian weapons had been made by the proprietor, we came in the evening to the farm of buenos aires. [illustration: the oroya railway. (a great spring emerging from the mountain-side.)] [illustration: beautiful scenery on the peruvian corporation railway to cuzco, peru.] early on january rd we passed san roque, and then condorcanqui, a fine plantation of bananas along the river bank, and also a plantation of _yuta_ (jute) and some bread trees. clouds of aigrette storks could be seen in the evening circling about, thousands and thousands of them. they produced a most curious effect in the distance against the heavy black clouds of the sky. we entered the yanna yakka stream, the water of which was almost absolutely stagnant and as black as ink, full of snakes, fish, and crocodiles. yanna yakka in the local indian language means "black water." we steamed for two hours up that river as far as porto central, the river being quite narrow--only m. wide. we eventually arrived at the prettiest spot i had so far seen on the river, called porto principal. on an elongated island not more than m. wide were to be seen four large buildings of _bona_ palm, with spacious verandas and corrugated iron roofs. the buildings were connected by high bridges. all those structures were built on piles ft. high. many _chapaha_ palms of great height were to be seen there. i heard at that place an extraordinary account of how a dirigible balloon, with nobody on board, had some few years before passed over the house. the balloon--which my informant, in his ignorant language, called a "huge square globe"--flew, according to him, a flag, the stars and stripes, and had an anchor dangling down. the balloon was travelling in a westerly direction. it flew a little higher than the trees, and caused a great scare among the natives. my informant told me that there was no one in the car at all, but they waved their hands at him (_sic_) when they passed over his house! he then told me that the air-ship had passed in the daytime and had quickly disappeared, but that it was beautifully lighted with coloured lights at night. so that it would be difficult from that truthful account to place much reliance on what the man said or on what he had seen at all. it is quite possible--after discarding all the indisputable embroidery from the story--that a balloon actually went over that place, and it may probably have been wellman's abandoned balloon with which he had tried to go across the atlantic. on january rd and th we had no great excitement. we stopped at numberless places. nearly all the houses in that district were made in three sections, the two end rooms enclosed in _bona_-palm walls, while the central and larger room had two open sides. all the houses were perched up on piles, owing to the frequent inundations. sewing-machines and gramophones were to be found in nearly every house. all the women wore, rather becomingly over such ugly countenances, the valuable hats which generally go under the name of "panamas." the river was getting beautiful as we went farther up, immense grassy stretches being visible where the country was not inundated, and low shrubs emerging from the water in the many channels that were formed everywhere. [illustration: a. b. leguia, the president of the peruvian republic.] on january th we arrived at terra blanca, where a lakelet had been formed by an outlet of the river on the left bank. a place called pernambuco was situated at the entrance of this lake. the water of the lake was beautifully clear and of a wonderful greenish colour. beautiful white and yellow sand deposits were to be found around it. five hundred people lived at pernambuco. the _rimac_ did a brisk trade, over a hundred pounds sterling worth of goods being sold in an hour at that place. on january th i saw the first hills of importance we had seen since leaving the lower amazon. those were the hills of petronilla, where a mass of volcanic rocks and some interesting hot springs were to be found. a ridge ran from south-east to north-west in symmetrical undulations up to , ft. from petronilla to cancha huayo. it rose quite abruptly from the flat alluvial land. where a land-slide had occurred it showed an upper stratum of grey alluvial deposit ft. thick, with soft yellow volcanic rock underneath, in a stratum of ft. thick. it seemed as if that hill had been lifted up by volcanic pressure from underneath, as a lot of white and yellow sand had been brought to the surface, which evidently formed a substratum in the ucayalli region. we found strong whirlpools where the channel of the river formed an elbow at the foot of the mountain. the steam launch made poor progress against the strong current. on january th we arrived at the large settlement of condamano, a sub-prefecture in the big province of loreto. there were two parallel streets, clean and well kept, with others intersecting at right angles. on the main street along the water front were many large commercial houses, handsome buildings of _caña_ walls and zinc roofs. the place had been built on a flat high land about ft. above the river, and had some , to , inhabitants. one of the peculiarities of condamano was that during the rubber-collecting season the population consisted almost entirely of women, as the men were in the forest collecting the latex. we arrived there on a feast day--they have more feast days than working days in the week in that country--and the streets were alive with monks and soldiers, the only men who do not go collecting rubber. women and girls, in flesh-coloured stockings and lace mantillas, flocked out of the church, each carrying a small carpet which they used to prevent spoiling their finery when kneeling down. on leaving condamano we came to the north-westerly end of the range we had seen the day before. it ended abruptly in almost vertical walls of yellow sandstone of various shades. the range was thickly wooded on its summit. the opposite bank of the river was absolutely flat. that evening we came in for a heavy storm, which compelled us to halt from o'clock until . a.m. black clouds had accumulated overhead to the west. a boisterous gust of wind suddenly caught us, which swept off our chicken-coop, buckets, and other loose things which were on the roof of the launch. we were tossed about in a most alarming way, and were just able to tie up under shelter and make fast to some trees. the wind increased in fury, and the launch tore up her moorings, bringing down a big tree on the top of us with a tremendous crash. [illustration: the american observatory, arequipa, and mount misti, peru.] [illustration: on the peruvian corporation railway on the way to cuzco.] there was a stampede on board, as everybody thought we had been struck by lightning. some of the people were just able to jump on shore, while other peruvians, men and women, scared to death by the diabolic clashing of thunder and the vivid lightning, knelt on the decks and prayed fervently that we might escape unhurt. i had a narrow escape, a lighted petroleum lamp which swung above getting off its hook and falling on my head, upsetting all the petroleum over me. fortunately it went out as it fell on me. in the middle of the night we had a great deal of trouble to make the boat fast once more, the waves in the river being of great height. the rattle of all the merchandise and broken crockery on board, the moans of the scared peruvians, with the howling of the wind, made a regular pandemonium. when we proceeded up the river next morning we came upon more interesting islands in course of formation. we saw quantities of _caña baraba_, wild cane, with its fan-disposed, elongated leaves. the natives used the reeds for walling their houses. being absolutely straight, they are well adapted for that purpose. on january th we passed several villages. along the banks we saw many indians, all dressed up in bright costumes, principally red shawls. we entered a tiny channel on the right bank and went as far as a place called san jeronimo, a fairly large settlement. this small channel was, as late as , the main stream, which has since been diverted by the formation of a low island. at sunset we perceived to the west what appeared at first a mass of low clouds revolving in a circle at a great speed. on closer inspection we found it to be millions of _garças_ or aigrette storks flying in a circle. i arrived in the evening of january th at masisea, where another wireless telegraph station had been established by the peruvian government. at this place i left the launch _rimac_, and found the government launch _esploradora_, which had been detained there by the prefect of loreto for two days, awaiting my arrival. having transhipped at once, i was able to proceed on january th on the latter. she was to take me as far as possible toward the foot of the andes. as we proceeded up the river we saw extensive farms surrounded by clearings of good land, with lots of cattle and horses, especially on the left bank of the river. we purchased an ox, so as to have fresh meat on board. the small launch was, unfortunately, packed with a great many peruvian travellers. there were no cabins, and one had to sleep on the roof of the launch. everybody was most civil, and with the new camp-bed i had purchased in manaos i was able to make myself as comfortable as was possible under the circumstances. beautiful specimens of _cataua_ trees of great height were constantly to be seen in the forest along the banks. the resin from these trees is extremely poisonous, and is much used by the local indians for killing fish. we halted for five hours that day in order to take on board sufficient wood for the engines to last us the entire journey. at . that afternoon we left the ucayalli river and entered the tributary pachitea, on the left side, the ucayalli describing a big curve where the pachitea enters it. just before reaching the mouth of the pachitea, the ucayalli had first a big arm deviating from the main stream on the left bank, then soon after another great arm also on the left side. the navigation of those rivers was now getting difficult, and we had to halt at night. on january th we started up the pachitea river, a stream much smaller than the ucayalli, but more interesting. soon after departing we could perceive in the distance before us a high hill range. crocodiles and white storks were innumerable, while fallen trees impeded navigation constantly. once or twice we banged with such force against immense floating logs of wood that it made the launch quiver in a most alarming way. in the dirty water of the stream it was not always possible to detect the floating logs, which sometimes were just under the surface of the water. immense quantities of _caña baraba_ were to be seen on the banks, and great numbers of delicately-tinted violet flowers which enlivened the landscape. the _caña_ had light violet-coloured _panaches_, which were much used by the indians in the manufacture of their arrows. the banks were of alluvial formation. islets of grey sand mixed with volcanic ashes could be seen. the current was strong. we saw large families of _ciancias_--beautiful birds with velvety black bodies speckled with white, and fan tails of rich brown colour, feathers of the same colour being also on the outer half of the wings. they possessed slender, most elegant necks, small brown-crested heads, and light yellow chests. seen at a distance they were not, in shape, unlike pheasants. twenty or thirty together at a time could be seen playing among the lower branches of the trees along the edge of the river. then there were small birds of a beautiful metallic blue-black, with very long tails; these latter were innumerable near the water. [illustration: a beautiful example of ancient spanish wood-carving, peru.] the rainy season was in full swing. in the morning we generally had white mist rising among the trees, while during the day rain was usually plentiful and rendered travelling somewhat monotonous, as we could not see much. we saw many specimens of the _tagua_ or _yarina_, a small palm, the leaves of which were used in that region for roofing houses. at last we came to the first rocks i had seen in the river since leaving the tapajoz river. they were at the double whirlpool of naittavo. at the island of errera was a narrow channel only to m. wide, where the current was extremely strong, and just deep enough for our launch, which drew ft. of water. the upstream end of the island was strewn with logs of wood, forming a kind of barrage, the water of the dividing stream being thrown with great force against it. it was here that we got the first sight of high mountains--a great change after the immense stretches of flat land we had encountered all along the amazon, solimões and ucayalli. i saw some beautiful specimens of the idle or sleepy monkey, the _preguya_, a nocturnal animal with wonderful fur. the small launch was swung about with great force from one side to the other by the strong current and whirlpools. we saw a number of _cashibos_ (carapaches and callisecas) on the right bank of the river. they are said to be cannibals, but personally i rather doubt it. if they have occasionally eaten a missionary or two, i believe that it must have been rather as a religious superstition than because of the actual craving for human flesh. also it is possible that, as is the case with many african tribes, the cashibos may believe that eating an enemy gives strength and courage, and may have indulged in this practice purely on that account. so that i do not think that it is fair to call those indians cannibals in the true sense of the word, any more than it would be fair to call a teetotaller a drunkard because he took a drink or two of brandy for medicinal purposes. the word "cashibo" in the pana language means vampire. those indians are great fighters, and are in a constant state of hostility with all their neighbours. they are good hunters and fishermen. their weapons are well made, and consist of bow and arrows, spears and war-clubs. the callisecas and carapaches are very light in colour, with a yellowish skin, not darker than that of the average spaniard. they are fine-looking people, fairly hairy on the face and body. the men grow long beards. men and women generally go about naked, but some of the indians near the river have adopted long shawls in which they wrap themselves. after marriage the women wear a loin-cloth, but nothing at all before marriage. the girls when young are attractive, with luminous, expressive, dark brown eyes. these cashibos are supposed to be the "white race" of the amazon. they are nevertheless not white at all, but belong to a yellow race, although they are, as i have said, of a light yellow colour. many yellow races have come under my observation in the islands of the pacific ocean, who were just as light as the cashibos, such as the bilans and manobos, and some who were even whiter than they are, such as the mansakas of the mindanao island. the cashibos are wild people, and the settlers in the neighbourhood are much afraid of them. on january th, when we were three days out from masisea, we were travelling between high rocky hills with almost vertical sides. their section showed in the lower portion narrow bands of violet-coloured rock and white light stone in a horizontal stratum. above that had accumulated a deep layer from to ft. thick of red earth. we went across a dangerous whirlpool. the launch hardly had enough strength to pull through at full speed. the water all around us formed great circles with deep central hollows, and, as we went through, rose before us like a wall. it had quite an impressive effect. that particular whirlpool was called sheboya. soon afterwards we obtained a beautiful view of the high range--the sira mountains. [illustration: wonderful example of old spanish wood-carving, peru.] on january th we went over the whirlpool of marques, a most picturesque sight. on the banks of the river was plenty of rubber, _hevea_, but not of quite such good quality as that found in brazil. some of the trees exuded white and some yellow latex, the coloration being probably due to the quality of the soil. there were few habitations along the banks of the pachitea river. there were tribes of the campas (or antis) and cashibos indians, the members of both races having marked malay characteristics. occasionally one met extraordinary people in those out-of-the-way regions. when we halted for wood, which we used instead of coal for our engine, a man some six feet four inches in height came on board--quite an extraordinary-looking person. to my amazement, when i spoke to him, he turned out to be a man of refined taste and quite highly educated. he was a hungarian count and an officer in the austrian army, who, having got into trouble in his own country, had gone to settle there. from a place called cahaubanas, at the confluence of the river pichis with the pachitea, it was possible to cross over on foot to the mayro, a stream which flowed into the palcazu, and in two more days' walking (about kil.), the german colony of potzuzu could be reached at the meeting-place of the potzuzu river with the uancabamba. from the german colony kil. more would bring you to uanuco, and kil. farther on was serra de pasco, whence the railway went to lima. another trail from cahaubanas proceeded to chuchura, about kil. higher up the mayro river. from there it was possible to cross the yanachag mountains and reach the settlement of uancabamba. the distance from cahaubanas to chuchura was one and a half day's walking--some kil. of heavy climbing, that from chuchura to uancabamba two days' marching. from uancabamba one was able to get mules in order to go over the high pass of culebra marca and reach serra de pasco. it was possible by that trail to reach lima in a few days on foot. it was out of the question for me to attempt such a journey, the attack of beri-beri in my right leg making it almost impossible for me to stand up. i decided to go as far up the stream as i could on the launch and by canoe. at cahaubanas were a monastery and a great many indians. after halting for the night at that place we continued our journey up the pachitea with a strange medley of passengers on board. we had the hungarian count, an italian farmer, who was a remarkable musician and played the accordion beautifully; we had some peruvians, a spanish emigrant, a small indian boy aged ten who acted as steward, and a young fellow of german origin. the cook on the launch was a lunatic, who was under the impression that he was the saviour. it was too pathetic, and occasionally quite alarming, to see the poor man leaving the cooking stove whenever we passed any indians on the banks, when he raised his arms up in the air and, stretching them forward, gave his benediction to the people he saw, instead of looking after the boiling rice. his benedictions cost him frequent kicks and shakings by the neck on the part of the captain of the launch. he was absorbed in fervent praying during the night. he seldom condescended to speak to any of us on board, as he said that he was not living on this earth, but would come back some day to bring peace and happiness to the whole world. words of that kind were uttered whilst he was holding a saucepan in one hand and a ladle in the other. it was pathetic. [illustration: on the way to cuzco. railway bridges partly carried away by swollen river.] in pouring rain we left again on january th between the high rocky banks of the river, well padded with earth and with dense vegetation. extensive beaches of grey sand and coarse gravel were passed, until we arrived at port bermudez, situated at the confluence of the pichis with the chibbis, a tributary on the left bank. here we found the last of the chain of wireless stations which had three iron towers. from that place a telephone and telegraph wire have been installed right over the andes and down to lima. the passage on the government launch from masisea to bermudez cost £ _s._ i heard there that, thanks to the arrangements which had been made by the prefect of the loreto province, the number of mules i required in order to cross the andes was duly waiting for me at the foot of that great chain of mountains. i therefore lost no time, and on january th, having left the launch _esploradora_, proceeded in a canoe with all my baggage intending to navigate as far as possible the river pichis, a tributary of the pachitea, formed by the united nazaratec and asupizu rivers. the landscape was getting very beautiful, the sungaro paro mountains rising to a great height on the south-west. immense _lubuna_ trees, not unlike pines in shape, were the largest trees in that region--from to ft. in diameter. the current was so strong that we were unable to reach the spot where the mules were awaiting me, and i had to spend the night on a gravel beach. the next morning, however, january th, after passing two small rapids, where my men had to go into the water in order to pull the canoe through, i arrived at yessup, where my mules were awaiting me, and where there was a _tambo_ or rest-house, kept beautifully clean. [illustration: great sand dunes along the peruvian corporation railway to cuzco.] [illustration: inca bath or fountain.] the distance by water from iquitos to masisea was kil.; from masisea to puerto bermudez kil.; from puerto bermudez to yessup kil. chapter xxvi across the andes--the end of the trans-continental journey i was fortunate in obtaining some excellent peruvian muleteers to accompany me on the expedition over the andes. the trip might have been a rough one for the ordinary traveller, but for me it was a real holiday excursion, after the horrible time i had experienced in brazil. this notwithstanding the disagreeable weather i encountered during the fourteen days' rough riding which i employed in reaching the pacific ocean. i started at once with my pack animals on the trail which has been cut by the peruvian government over the mountains. rain came down in torrents. most of the country was swampy, the mules sinking chest-deep in mud. the travelling was not exactly what you would call pleasant. your legs dangled all the time in water and slush. as that trail was used by caravans, the mules had cut regular transverse grooves in the ground all along, in which successively they all placed their hoofs. each groove was filled with slushy water, and was separated from the next by a mud wall from one to three feet high. the mules were constantly stumbling and falling. after you had travelled a short distance you were in a filthy condition, the torrential rain washing down the splashes of mud and spreading them all over you. after leaving yessup we crossed first the sinchhuaqui river, then the aguachini. we began to ascend two kilometres after we had left yessup, and marched steadily the entire day among gigantic _aguaso_ trees and wonderful ferns of great height, until we reached the miriatiriami _tambo_, kil. from yessup. on january th we followed the river azupizu along a narrow trail from to ft. above the level of the river, with an almost vertical drop by the side of us. huge palms and ferns of indescribable beauty were to be seen all along, while waterfalls and streamlets constantly crossed the trail. we encountered that day deep mud all the way, the mules sinking up to their bellies in the slush. the trail along the mountain side was cut in the soft earth, and actually formed a deep groove only about two feet wide, the mud and slush being held by the solid transverse barriers which succeeded one another at short intervals. [illustration: cuzco.] [illustration: llamas in foreground.] at piriatingalini and puchalini we found light cable suspension bridges, very shaky, which swung to and fro as you rode over them. most of them were not more than four feet wide and had no parapet at all. i cannot say that i felt particularly happy when my mule--sure-footed, i grant--took me across, the bridge swinging, quivering, and squeaking with our weight on it, especially when we were in the middle. the rivers were extremely picturesque, with high mountains on either side, among which they wound their way in a snake-like fashion over a rocky bed, forming a series of cascades. we went that day kil., and arrived at the _tambo_ of azupizu, which was in charge of a deserter from the french navy. he was an extraordinary character. he had forgotten french, and had neither learnt spanish nor the local language of the campas indians. a tribe of those indians was to be found near there--very handsome people, the men solidly built and muscular, with intelligent but brutal faces, with the yellowish-brown skin and slanting eyes of the malay races. the eyes showed a great discoloration in the upper part of the iris. they possessed straight hair, slightly inclined to curl at the end. the nose was flattened at the root. they wore a few ornaments of feathers on the head. their clothing consisted of a loose gown not unlike a roman toga. the women were good-looking when very young. the campas claimed to be the direct descendants of the incas. there is no doubt that the campas were practically the same tribe as the antis, once a most powerful tribe which inhabited an extensive territory to the north and east of cuzco. in fact, the eastern portion of the inca country was once called anti-suya. the campas, or antis, were formerly ferocious. they are now quite tame, but still retain their cruel countenances, resembling closely those of polynesians and malays. we left that place on january th in drenching rain. the river was much swollen, and formed a whirlpool of great magnitude just over some bad rapids. we crossed from mountain-side to mountain-side, some ft. above the stream, in a sling car running along a wire rope. the car consisted of two planks suspended on four pieces of telegraph wire. as the sling had been badly constructed it did not run smoothly along the cable. i had an unpleasant experience--everybody had who used that conveyance--as i was going across from one side to the other of the stream, a distance of some metres or more. the ropes which were used for pulling the car along got badly entangled when i had reached the middle of the passage. the indians and the frenchman pulled with violent jerks in order to disentangle them, and caused the car to swing and bump to such an extent that it was all i could do to hold on and not be flung out of it. having been swung to and fro for the best part of an hour on that primitive arrangement, i was able to proceed on the other side of the stream. fortunately we had taken the precaution of making the animals cross over the river the previous evening, before it was in flood, or else we should have been held up there for several days. leaving the azupizu river, we followed the river kintoliani, which joined the azupizu and formed with it a most formidable stream. [illustration: a famous inca wall, cuzco. the various rocks fit so perfectly that no mortar was used to keep them in place.] the trail was at a great height, some ft. above the water. in two or three places where it had been cut into the rock it was most dangerous, as the rocks were slippery with the wet, so that the mules had great difficulty in keeping their feet. the vegetation was wonderful, with trees of enormous height and beautiful giant palms. waterfalls over rocky walls were plentiful, while the effects of clouds were marvellous among those mountains--although my enthusiasm was damped a good deal that day by the torrential rain, which came down in bucketfuls upon us, and filtered through even my heavy waterproof coat. the zigzag ascent was extremely heavy, the first part being over rocky ground, while the rest of that day's journey was along a swampy trail on which the mules stumbled and fell many times. one of my men had a narrow escape from being precipitated down the chasm. so bad, indeed, was the trail that we only went kil., halting at the _tambo_ of pampas s. nicolas. on january st we made a long and tedious march, rising all the time among slippery rocks along precipices, or sinking in swampy mud on the narrow trail. picturesque waterfalls of great height were visible in volcanic vents, some square, others crescent-shaped, on the face of the mountain. the torrents, swollen by the heavy rains, were difficult to cross, my mules on several occasions being nearly swept away by the foaming current. we sank in deep red slush and in deep holes filled with water, but continued all the time to ascend a gentle but continuous incline. we travelled that day from six o'clock in the morning until six o'clock in the evening, rain pouring down upon us all the time. we were simply smothered in mud from head to foot. we found a large _tambo_ at camp , with a telephone and telegraph station. at those _tambos_ it was always possible to obtain rice, chickens and eggs at reasonable prices, fixed by the government. in many of the _tambos_ were also rough wooden bedsteads, with a more or less comfortable mattress. i generally preferred to use my own camp-bed. as there were never more than one or two rooms in the _tambo_, you had to sleep in the same room with other people, unless you preferred to sleep outside, as i did. for the privilege of sleeping at any _tambo_, in or out of doors, one paid the small sum of one shilling. a dinner or lunch seldom cost more than two shillings, and breakfast eightpence to one shilling. the food for the animals could be reckoned at one shilling for each mule, the price being higher at the yessup end of the journey and getting gradually lower as one got nearer the capital. of course one could not call travelling over the andes in any way luxurious. the tablecloths at the _tambos_ showed all round the table the marks of the dirty lips of previous travellers, and plentiful stains of soup, coffee and tea. the illumination consisted usually of a candle placed in the mouth of a bottle, which was used as a candlestick. i saw more campas indians there. they were singing songs strongly resembling malay melodies, to the accompaniment of spanish guitars. other songs influenced by spanish airs, but still delivered in a typically malay fashion, were also given that evening. they interested me greatly. [illustration: inca three-walled fortress of sacsayhuaman, cuzco.] on january nd we left camp . i was struck everywhere at those _tambos_ by the great honesty of the peruvians. i was often touched by the extreme kindness of the people and their considerate manner--although perhaps it was more particularly striking to me after my experience of the brutal behaviour of the lower-class brazilians. the gentle way of speaking, the more harmonious language--spanish instead of portuguese--and the charming civility of the people, made travelling, even under those unpleasant circumstances, quite agreeable. it was cold, especially at night. nearly all my instruments had been badly damaged in our many accidents in brazil, and i was unable to replace them either in pará or manaos. owing, therefore, to the lack of self-registering thermometers, i could not keep an accurate daily record of the maximum and minimum temperatures. after leaving camp , we went over a really fearful trail, my mules being all the time chest-deep in mud. it was extremely hard work for the animals to get along. as is well known to any traveller, all animals of a caravan when on a narrow path step in the footprints of their predecessors, so that on that trail they had sunk a long series of deep holes in the soft clay, which were constantly being filled by water sliding from the mountain-side. in that particular part the mud had highly caustic qualities, which burnt the skin and caused irritation each time you were splashed. the muleteers who were walking had their feet badly burnt by it, one man suffering agony from his blistered feet. magnificent mountain scenery covered with luxuriant forest surrounded us as the trail wound its way along the high point on the top of the mountain range. we went only kil. that day from pampas, having occupied seven hours to cover the distance, owing to the difficulties of the march. in the afternoon we were enveloped in dense fog which lasted the whole night, the cold being quite severe, and the more perceptible because of the humidity in the air. the trail here described a wide detour, which could have easily been avoided had another trail that went direct to new bermudez been followed at the bottom of the valley. the journey by that lower trail could be accomplished in one day and a half. the elevation by hypsometrical apparatus of this camp (n. ) was , ft. on january rd we descended rapidly through beautiful forest from camp , where we had halted for the night, to a large _tambo_ called eneñas, in charge of an italian. the place was situated in a beautiful valley intersected by a streamlet saturated with lime. it looked exactly like milk, and hurt your gums considerably when you drank it. the excellent mule i was riding had unfortunately hurt one of its legs while we were crossing a swollen torrent, where the mule and myself were nearly swept away in the foaming current. riding on the lame animal, which was all the time stumbling and falling down on its knees, was unpleasant. in the narrow trail it was not possible to unload another animal and change the saddle, and it was out of the question for me to walk. [illustration: the inca temple of the sun, with spanish superstructure.] [illustration: inca doorway, cuzco.] i arrived at the _tambo_ with a ravenous appetite, but unfortunately nobody had telephoned from the previous _tambo_ that i was coming, so that it was impossible to get lunch, and i had to wait two or three hours before i could get anything to eat at all. the men in charge of the various _tambos_ were rather negligent in telephoning and making arrangements with the next _tambo_, as the kind of travellers they had on that trail was not of the highest type and could not always be relied upon for payment. the people in charge of the _tambos_ were poor devils, half _abrutis_, to use a most appropriate french expression, by the life they had to lead in that forlorn country. on january th we continued our journey over horrible deep mud-holes, which made the trail extremely dangerous. on that particular day we were travelling over sticky soil, so that when the mules trod in the deep holes they stuck with their hoofs and fell over, immediately struggling wildly to free themselves. one of my men was nearly thrown down a precipice that day, and all of us, as well as all the pack animals, had many unpleasant falls during that march. swampy places like that were encountered for hundreds of metres at a time. in one place that day we had two kilometres of continuous swampy mud. in the afternoon i had a nasty fall, the mule rolling right on the top of me and nearly breaking my right leg. the animal in falling had sunk its head in the sticky mud, and was struggling madly to release itself. the animals were then marching chest-deep in mud. in my helpless condition i tried to get off when the animal fell, but sank up to my waist and stuck fast with my legs in the mud. when the mule rolled over, it knocked me down on the edge of the precipice, my leg remaining caught under the animal. had not one of my muleteers been by my side at the moment and rushed to my rescue, i should have fared badly indeed. we had a slippery descent after tambo , where we had a lunch composed of putrid tinned salmon and "invisible" eggs--the latter dish being a speciality of that place. the _tambo_ man insisted that i had eaten six eggs, whereas i had not even seen them except on the bill. he told me that i was wrong, showing me a napkin on which two yellow streaks were to be seen--though not left there by me, but by the lips of some traveller who had passed perhaps a month before. we made a long march that day, having left at seven o'clock in the morning, and arriving at our halting-place at four o'clock in the afternoon. the next day, january th, we had a trying march. several land-slides had taken place, bringing down great patches of forest. numberless trees had fallen over, making it difficult for the animals to be taken across. in one place all of them had to be unloaded, and they sank so deeply in the slush and soft earth that we had three or four hours' extremely hard work to cover a distance of about m. the animals became so scared that they would not go on at all. the men who pushed and led them along that dangerous passage with a deep precipice on one side were in constant danger. the rain, which had been torrential during the night, continued during the entire day, swelling the streams and making them most difficult to cross. in one stream my mule and i were swept away altogether. i had water right up to my waist while riding, and the mule showed only its head above the water. we were thrown with great force against some rocks, where, fortunately, my muleteers came to our help and got us out again. [illustration: inca steps carved in a dome of rock, cuzco. fortress noticeable in the distance.] the trail--about half a metre wide--wound its way up to a great height above the foaming river. there were beautiful ferns of immense height, some of which had finely ribbed, gigantic leaves. graceful yellow flowers, or sometimes beautiful red ones, were to be seen on tall trees with white, clean stems. we passed a coffee plantation, owned by english people, near a charming settlement of whitewashed houses on the opposite side of the river. when we came to cross the rio las palmas--heavily swollen--we were once more nearly swept away in riding across with water up to our chests. the baggage naturally suffered a good deal in those constant immersions. this was, unfortunately, the wrong season for crossing the andes; but i could not help that, as i was anxious to get through, and could not wait for the fine weather to come. farther on we crossed the river paucartambo near the pueblo pardo. we next followed the rio chanchamayo, which afterwards became the rio perene, along which extensive english farms had been established. we were now getting near to civilization. i felt that my work was entirely finished, as the country hereabouts was well known. we came to the colorado river, a tributary of the chanchamayo, and passed s. luiz de shuaro, a charming little village of whitewashed houses. the scenery was beautiful on nearing la merced. the river basin showed luxuriant grassy slopes and immense sugar plantations. la merced was situated on the left bank of the rio chanchamayo, formed by the meeting of the rio tulumayo and the rio tarma, which joined near the village of s. ramon. it had two modest hotels and various commercial houses. in a way i was sorry to get to a town again, because in those places you had all the trumpery illusion of civilization without any of its real advantages. one met, however, with the greatest civility from everybody, and, indeed, with the greatest honesty. so that travelling in those regions was quite a pleasure. to my amazement that evening a burly italian came into the hotel. who was he?--garibaldi's grandson, the son of general canzio and garibaldi's daughter. he was interested in some mines in the district, and had lived there for some years trying to make a fortune. what impressed one most in the settlements on the andes were the great neatness and cleanliness of all the buildings, and the charming manners of all the people one met. everybody, without exception, saluted you politely as you approached; everybody was anxious to be of assistance or offer you hospitality. there was, nevertheless, nothing of great interest in those high-placed villages. on january th i went on in a drenching rain, having changed my animals at that place for another lot of excellent mules. the hire of animals was somewhat high, but after the prices one had to pay in brazil, everything seemed, by comparison, dirt-cheap in peru. i also said good-bye to the peruvians who had accompanied me so far, and employed indians to take charge of my animals. from la merced there was a trail from one to three metres wide, cut out in the solid rock and skirting all along the foaming river, which flowed in the opposite direction from that in which we were travelling. in several places narrow tunnels had been excavated in the rock, through which the trail proceeded. these tunnels were dangerous when you encountered caravans of pack animals coming through from the opposite direction. the animals often got jammed in the middle of the tunnel, tearing their loads to pieces in their attempts to disentangle themselves. once i got jammed myself, and came out minus a patch of skin several inches long from my left shin and knee. between la merced and s. ramon, a distance of some kil., one had to cross the shaky suspension bridges of la herreria and s. ramon. the oscillations of those bridges were so great that it was always a marvel to me that the animals and riders were not precipitated into the river below. the planks of the bridges were in many places so rotten that it was not uncommon for the animals to put their legs right through them. only one animal at a time could go across, as the bridges were not strong enough to support more. farther on we arrived at two more bridges--the puntayacu and the rio seco, one a suspension bridge, the other built of masonry. one met hundreds of indians upon the trail, in costumes resembling those of the calabrese of italy. the men wore heavy woollen hand-knitted stockings up to their knees, or else over their trousers, white leggings left open behind as far down as the knee. round felt hats were worn by the women, who were garbed in bright blue or red petticoats, very full and much pleated, but quite short. red was the favourite colour for the shawl which they threw round the body and over the shoulders. when we proceeded the next morning the heat in the low valley was stifling. the scenery continued to be beautiful, with magnificent waterfalls and torrents flowing down at a steep angle among rocks. i stopped for the night at the charming little hotel of huacapistana, situated at a lower level than the road in a most picturesque narrow valley, on the right bank of the tarma river. the distance between la merced and huacapistana was about kil. between huacapistana and tarma the track was excellent. we went through the carpapata tunnel, m. long--very dark and narrow, and extremely dangerous if you happened to meet pack animals in the middle. the scenery was enchanting and the vegetation wonderful until, kil. farther, i entered, by a magnificent avenue of eucalyptus trees, the most picturesque town of the higher andes, tarma. the narrow, neat streets were paved with cobble-stones. all the houses were painted white, and had red-tiled roofs. the streets swarmed with quaintly attired indians and tidily dressed peruvians. there were many italians and spaniards in tarma. two or three hotels existed here--a capital one, actually lighted by electric light, being kept by a most honest italian. the elevation of tarma, taken by the hypsometrical apparatus, was , ft. [illustration: the "round table" of the incas.] [illustration: entrance to inca subterranean passages.] i left tarma on january th, following a well-cultivated valley, fairly thickly inhabited. we were travelling over a good mule-track, swarming with indians, donkeys, mules, and horses. the mud houses and land on either side were enclosed by hedges of cacti, or by walls. we were between barren mountains of a brownish colour, against which the quaint, brightly-coloured costumes of the many people on the road were thrown out in vivid contrast. most of the houses were constructed of large mud bricks, sun-dried. the crops seemed to consist chiefly of indian corn. as we went farther, among dark brown rocks and limestone, we came to grottoes and rock habitations. at some remote period there must have been a great upheaval in that country--at least, judging by the sedimentary foliated rock, the strata of which were from one to three feet thick, and which had originally been deposited horizontally by water. these accumulations or sediments now stood up at an angle of °. we were now in a region where llamas were plentiful--most delightful animals, with their pointed ears pricked up, their luxuriant coats, and stumpy curled tails. we came to a steep ascent over a high pass, where the cold wind was fierce. on reaching the pass i found myself on a grassy plateau in which were to be seen two circles of stones by the side of each other. the partition of the waters flowing into the river mantaro and the river tarma took place at the point called ricran, not far from the high pass we had crossed. it was always advisable when taking the journey between tarma and oroya to start early in the morning, so as to be on that pass before noon. in the afternoon the wind was intensely cold and frequently accompanied by violent storms of hail and rain. i arrived in the evening at oroya, the distance from tarma being kil. m. the journey between the two places could be accomplished on a good mule in five or six hours. oroya was an important point for me, as it was there that i saw the first railway since leaving araguary in brazil nearly a year before. oroya is perhaps one of the highest railway stations in the world, its accurate elevation by boiling-point thermometers being , ft. the town, like all termini of railway lines, was not an attractive place. there were two or three hotels, all extremely bad. one began to feel the effects of civilization in the dishonesty of the people. early the next morning, thanks to arrangements made by mr. d. t. lee, i was allowed to take the journey to lima in a "gravity car," in the company of the engineer, mr. beverley r. mayer, instead of by the usual train, which ran twice a week. of course it was only possible to go by "gravity car" from the highest point of the railway, which is not at oroya, but at the tunnel of galera, , m. ( , ft.) above the sea-level as measured by the railway surveyors. [illustration: a toboggan slide of rock.] [illustration: an inca grave, bolivia.] the scenery was magnificent on that railway. having gone through the galera tunnel, mr. mayer and i got on the small "gravity car," keeping all the time just in front of the train. it was quite an exciting journey, the incline being so great that we soon acquired a vertiginous speed--in fact, too much, because our brakes would not act any more. with the snow and rain the rails had become so slippery that we went sliding down at the most alarming pace. nor did i feel particularly happy at having the train only a few hundred metres behind us. whenever we got to a station, we had to get off quickly and get our car off the rails to give room to the incoming train. the cold was intense. the geological formation of the andes in that particular region was remarkable, and more remarkable still was the british engineering triumph of constructing a railway from the sea to so high an elevation. in one or two places there were iron bridges of great height and ingenious construction. you felt a curious sensation as you flew over those bridges on the tiny car, and you saw between the rails the chasm underneath you; nor did you feel extraordinarily comfortable when, hundreds of feet down, down below, at the bottom of one chasm, you saw a railway engine which had leapt the rails and lay upside down in the middle of a foaming torrent. naturally, in building a mountain railway of that type, a great many curves and zigzags were necessary, many of those curves taking place inside tunnels. along the railway rivers have been switched off through tunnels within the mountain, and produced picturesque cascades where they came out again. the geological surprises were continual. next to mountains with perfectly horizontal strata you saw other mountains with strata in a vertical position, especially in the limestone formation. farther down immense superposed terraces were to be noticed upon the mountain side, evidently made by the ancient dwellers of that country for the cultivation of their inhospitable land. this interested me greatly. i had seen among the igorrotes or head-hunters of the island of luzon, in the philippine archipelago, that same method of irrigation, by collecting the water from a high point on the mountain side in order to irrigate consecutively the series of terraces. not only was i struck by the fact of finding so unusual a method of cultivation at two points of the globe so far apart, but i was even more impressed by the wonderful resemblance in type between the local natives and the inhabitants of the northern island of the philippines. undoubtedly these people came from the same stock. where we stopped at the different stations there was always something interesting to observe--now the hundreds of llamas which had conveyed goods to the railway; at one place the numberless sacks of ore waiting to be taken to the coast; at another the tall active chimneys of the smelters, which suggested industry on a large scale. i took a number of photographs under difficulties on that journey down the andes. at . p.m. on january th, , i arrived safely at lima, a distance of kil. from oroya. the total distance from iquitos to lima over the andes was , kil., which distance i had performed in the record time of one month, the time generally occupied by the usual travellers being from fifty to seventy days. [illustration: inca remains near cuzco.] from lima i proceeded early the next morning to callao, the port for lima, a few kilometres farther, where at la punta i touched the pacific ocean, thus ending my trans-continental journey from rio de janeiro, with its zigzags and deviations, , kil. in length, or , miles. i was already in better health when i reached lima. the violent changes of climate from the hot valley of the amazon to the snows of the andes, and from there to the sea-coast, had had a beneficial effect upon me. the attack of beri-beri from which i had been suffering was gradually passing away, my right foot, by the time i reached lima, having slowly got back almost to its normal size, although my toes were still atrophied. it is well known that there is no better cure for beri-beri than sea air. chapter xxvii the peruvian corporation railway--the land of the incas--lake titicaca--bolivia--chile--the argentine--a last narrow escape--back in england lima is a beautiful city, as everybody knows. its wonderful churches, its clean streets, its commerce, the great charm of the people--indeed, the peruvians are the most cultivated and polished people in south america, and the women the most beautiful--make it one of the most attractive cities i visited on that continent. i was, nevertheless, anxious to return quickly to europe. i had no strength left. the mental strain on that long journey had been so great that i had lost my memory altogether. owing to the great kindness of the british minister, mr. c. des graz, and of mr. mockill, the chief of the peruvian corporation at lima, arrangements were made for me to travel in luxurious comfort through the country of the incas--so that, although terribly exhausted, i decided to take a further journey in the interior of peru, bolivia, and chile. [illustration: where a stone fight took place in the inca country. (notice the innumerable rocks which have been thrown down the hill from the high inca structure.)] [illustration: entrance to inca subterranean passages.] i left lima five days after my arrival, on february th, going by steamer to the port of mollendo, where i arrived on february th. there i met the railway line of the peruvian corporation from the sea coast to arequipa and cuzco. a magnificent private car had been placed at my disposal by the peruvian corporation, in which i was able to make myself comfortable for the several days which the journey lasted. not only so, but the peruvian corporation kindly looked after my welfare in a most thoughtful way during the whole time i travelled on their line, for which i am indeed extremely grateful, as the travelling in that country would have otherwise been less pleasant. the railroad from mollendo went along the coast among curious eroded rocks of great interest; then gradually left the sea among sand-dunes and mounds upon the wide beach. as the railway began to get higher and higher upon the steep gradient the scenery became more and more beautiful. presently we found ourselves overlooking a wonderful flat valley between two high hill ranges in lovely green patches, cut with geometrical precision, and well cultivated. giant cacti of the candelabrum type were plentiful. farther on we got upon an elevated plateau with a white surface of pumice-stone, followed by red volcanic sand--an immense stretch of country surrounded by low hills of grey tufa and red volcanic rock. beyond that we came to a most interesting region of sand-dunes of extraordinary shapes, where the under soil was of a brilliant red, while the sand accumulations were of a grey colour. some of the dunes were crescent-shaped. they stood usually in sets or rows extending from north-west to south-east. then there were high mounds, also of sand, and dunes of all kinds, some with a double crescent, or with the inside of the crescent much indented, others with multiple concave curves. the concavity of all those dunes was on the north-east side. i had seen a similar formation of dunes in the salt desert of persia; also in the south-western desert of afghanistan and in the northern desert of beluchistan; but i do not remember ever having seen such a perfect formation of dunes as that to be seen in this part of peru. beyond that sandy zone we had before us a red plateau with fluted sides. great mounds of blackened volcanic sand were quite frequent, the railway winding its way around immense basins formed by depressions in the land. then we entered a beautiful green narrow valley along a streamlet intersecting the plateau. from mollendo the railway gradually rose to an elevation of , m. ( , ft.) at arequipa, where i remained for the night. [illustration: the great inca ruins of viraccocha, in tinta (cuzco).] arequipa was an interesting city with its picturesque arcades, its magnificent church of spanish architecture with marvellous ancient wood carvings, and its prettily-laid-out gardens. i visited the astronomical observatory of harvard college, a few miles from the town, where excellent work is being done in star photography from that eminently suitable spot for the study of the sky. the observatory was situated at an elevation of , ft. it worked in conjunction with the harvard observatory in north america. by having thus one station north and another south of the equator, the observations made by that institution included the stars in all parts of the sky from the north to the south pole. a -inch bruce photographic telescope, a -inch boyden telescope, an -inch bache telescope, and a -inch meridian photometer were the principal instruments used at the arequipa station. i left arequipa on the morning of february th, going through country of volcanic tufa and red sand, with immense furrows quite devoid of vegetation. occasionally we came upon great masses of boulders cast by some volcanic force upon the surface of tufa and sand. then the railway gracefully climbed in great curves over a plateau nearly , ft. high, where tufts of grass could be seen, giving a greenish appearance to the landscape. we travelled along that great table-land, occasionally seeing a herd of llamas stampede away at the approach of the train, now and then observing circular stone walls erected by shepherds as shelters. a gable-roofed hut was occasionally seen. picturesque natives in their _ponchos_ and red or yellow scarves gazed, astonished, at the train throbbing along slowly upon the steep gradient of that elevated barren country. the cold seemed intense after the tropical heat of lima. it was snowing hard. in the daytime i generally travelled seated in front of the engine, in order to have a better view of the landscape. in the train everybody suffered from _soroche_ or mountain-sickness, which attacked most people when brought up quickly by the railway from the sea to such high elevations. i was driven away from the front of the engine by the cold rain and sleet beating with great force into my face, and obscuring the landscape to such an extent that i could see nothing at all. when it cleared up we were travelling in a region of marshes and pools in the lowest point of depressions, then along a magnificent lake with green and brown fantastically-shaped mountains and hills in the foreground, and a high snowy range in the background. the effects of light when the storm was raging over the lake, with its conical and semi-spherical islands dotting the water, were intensely picturesque. after that the plateau became less interesting. we descended gradually some m. ( , ft.) to the junction of juliaca, , m. ( , ft.) above the sea level. at that place the luxurious car which had taken me there had to be switched off from the puno line to the cuzco line. i had dinner in the hotel, and again was impressed by the great honesty of the peruvian people in the interior, and their considerate manners. it was somewhat curious to see the indian waiter--most clumsy, dressed up in uncomfortable and ill-fitting european clothes--waiting on a medley of strange passengers, such as red-faced spanish priests, tidy, smooth, oily-haired peruvians, and talkative commercial travellers. but all--whether fat or lean, rich or poor, indian or peruvian--were the essence of politeness and thoughtfulness. being able to sleep in the luxurious car, where i had two good bedrooms, my own kitchen, and a sitting-room, i was indeed extremely comfortable. i left again on february th over a great flat grassy tableland, with hills terraced up for cultivation. we passed an old church with a wonderful dome, and behind it snow-capped blue mountains. the women wore peculiar hats with flapping edges in order to protect their faces from the wind. a black cloth was generally worn over the women's heads under the hat, while over their shoulders hung dark green or purple _ponchos_. the indians of that region showed remarkably strong malay features. the train steamed through the wide grassy valley, once crossing a fairly large stream. high snowy peaks loomed against the sky on our right, while we were travelling all the time at elevations varying from , m. ( , ft.) at sicuani to , m. ( , ft.) at la raya. the cold seemed intense. i got quite frozen sitting on the engine. quantities of llamas and sheep grazing were now to be seen on the land, foot-passengers and horsemen crossing the valley in all directions. at the stations large crowds of picturesque women squatted down selling pottery and fruit. the farther we got into the interior the more picturesque the hats became. the women there wore hats with rectangular gold-braided brims, and with white, red or blue curtains at the sides. the men had pointed woollen caps with ear-flaps. the women were garbed in ample pleated skirts. curiously enough, while the head and body were so well protected, most of them had bare legs and feet, the skirts reaching only just below the knee. near villages one saw neat patches of land turned, with trouble, into vegetable gardens. stone enclosures were used by the natives as shelters for the animals during storms and to pen them up at night. the people themselves lived in stone huts. the country reminded me forcibly of tibet, and so, in a way, did the people--short and stumpy and smothered in clothes. i frequently noticed cairns of stones like the _obos_ typical of tibet and of the himahlyas. there, too, as in tibet, it seemed the fashion for passers-by to place a white stone on those cairns in order to bring good luck. the men were curiously garbed in short, wide white woollen trouserettes, reaching just below the knees and split behind just over the calf. under those they wore another pair of trousers, slightly longer. their coats were short and tight, resembling eton jackets. they wore wide and much embroidered belts, red and blue being their favourite colours. an accident had happened to a bridge. it had collapsed, so that the trains could not proceed. thanks to the great thoughtfulness of mr. mockill and his inspector of the line, mr. blaisdell, another private car, equally comfortable, had been sent down from cuzco to the bridge. my baggage was transferred on men's backs to the opposite side of the stream. with the delay of only an hour or so i was able to proceed on another train to cuzco, where i arrived that same evening. [illustration: inca pottery, weapons and ornaments of gold and copper.] the city of cuzco is situated at an elevation of , ft. above the sea level. in its vicinity the most important remains of inca civilization have been found. the city itself was most interesting. its handsome spanish cathedral had a façade of beautifully designed columns and a fine central doorway. the great bell in one of the towers contained a large quantity of gold in the bronze, giving wonderful resonance to its vibrating notes. a solid silver altar of great height was to be admired in the interior of the cathedral, while the chancel was of marvellously carved wood. so was a supplementary altar which had been stored away behind the silver one. the principal square of cuzco had recently been paved with cement, on which none of the natives could be induced to walk, as they were afraid of slipping, accustomed as they were to the roughest cobble-stone paving of their streets. only the gentry of the city could be seen treading with great care on the polished pavement, and were looked upon with much admiration by the lower natives, who stared aghast from the porticoes around the square. in the centre of the square was a cheap terra-cotta statue of the indian hero atahualpa surmounting a fountain painted of a ghastly green. the gardens were nicely laid out with pretty lawns. another beautiful church rose in the _plaza_, the doorway of which was also handsome, but not comparable in beauty with that of the cathedral. the stone carvings of its façade were nevertheless remarkable. there were arcades on three sides of the _plaza_, the houses being generally only one storey high above them. the buildings were painted light blue, pink, green, or bright yellow, the columns of beautifully cut stone being also covered with hideous paint to match. thanks to the kindness of the president of the republic, mr. b. b. legujia, a telegram had been sent asking the prefect of cuzco to give me every possible assistance in visiting the inca ruins in the neighbourhood. the prefect, mr. j. j. v. cuñer, kindly placed at my disposal three excellent horses and an orderly. it is seldom one can visit a place where the people have more primitive habits than in the city of cuzco. the streets, so wonderfully picturesque, were not fit to walk upon. the people threw into them all that can be thrown out of the houses, which possess no sanitary arrangements of any kind. much of the pleasure of looking at the magnificent inca walls--constructed of great blocks of stone so well fitted that no cement was necessary to hold them together--was really lost through being absolutely stifled by the suffocating odour which was everywhere prevalent in cuzco. the photographs that are reproduced in the illustrations of this book will give an idea of the grandeur of the inca works better than any description. as i intend to produce at a later date a special work on that country, i am unable here to go fully into the history of the marvellous civilization of that race. a photograph will be seen in one of the illustrations showing the immensity of the three-walled fortress of sacsayhuaman. another photograph will show with what accuracy the incas could carve stone--which, mind you, in those days must have been much softer than it is now, and not unlike the sandstone that is used in england for building purposes. many curious subterranean passages were to be found on the mountains near cuzco, the entrances to which were among picturesque rocks. the incas seemed to have a regular mania for carving steps and angular channels in rocks. not far from the fortress could be found the place of recreation of the incas--the rodadeiro--over which the incas tobogganed, perhaps sitting on hides. thousands and thousands of people must have gone in for the sport, as the solid rock was deeply grooved by the friction of the persons who have slid on it. the remains of ancient altars for the worship of the sun and an inca throne, where the king of the incas must have sat while battles were taking place, were indeed most interesting to examine. more interesting than any other to me was the particular spot on the mountain side where a kind of throne existed carved out of a huge block of rock, and where a battle of the incas against their enemies could be reconstructed. mounds of ammunition, consisting of round stones as big as a lawn-tennis ball, had been accumulated above and near the throne. just below that high spot i found scattered upon the mountain side quantities of ammunition which had evidently been thrown by the incas at the attacking foes. farther on was the "round table" where the incas had their feasts--a huge circular table of rock situated near a conical boulder of immense size. interesting fountains with carved figure-heads; an inca bath of graceful lines; and, some kilometres beyond cuzco, the marvellous ruins of viraccocha at tinta, where gigantic walls of a palace were to be seen standing, and ruins of other fortresses filled one with amazement. on the mountain side near the town were the strange gateways of choquechaca, which in their lines resembled ancient egyptian buildings. not far off were the blocks of rock to which the incas fastened their prisoners by their legs, arms and heads, and exposed them to the ridicule of the populace. many were the wonderful things which had been found in digging near cuzco; but most interesting of all to me were the deformed crania--some flattened to almost an incredible extent on the top, others elongated backward to an amazing degree, others still with the central part of the skull deeply depressed, so as to form two globular swellings at the sides. others, again, had been squeezed so as to form an angular ridge longitudinally on the summit. one skull particularly interested me, which had a pronounced elongation backward, and a dent just above the forehead which must have been caused by tying the cranium while young and still in a soft condition. most of the skulls were of gigantic size when compared with those of modern times. the lower part was under-developed. many of them possessed magnificent teeth. several of the skulls had been trephined, evidently while the person was still alive, some of the perforations in the brain-case being circular in shape, others quadrangular--most of the trephinations having been made in the forehead, others on the top of the skull. i saw one skull with as many as eleven apertures thus made. the operation had evidently been performed by a very able surgeon, for the little cap of bone removed fitted beautifully into the opening that had been made. [illustration: inca towers of sillistayni, puño (lake titicaca).] [illustration: an inca statue, bolivia.] the incas were great architects. they had an absolute craving for carving rock. they made models of their fortresses and palaces in blocks of hard stone, some of these being of remarkable perfection in their detail. the pottery, red earthen vessels with geometrical designs upon them, was most interesting, especially the large jars which must have been used for fermenting wine. those jars of a typical shape must have rested on a pedestal of wood, as they ended in a point at the bottom, which prevented their standing up on a flat surface. two handles were attached to the lower part of those jars, and also to the great bottles in which they kept wine. the incas used tumblers, enamelled in red and green, and of most graceful shape. they were fond of ornamenting their bottles and vessels with representations of human heads, reproduced with considerable artistic fidelity. other bottles represented strange gnawing faces, with expanded eyes and a fierce moustache. judging from the representations of figures on their jars, the people in those days wore their hair in little plaits round the head. heads of llamas sculptured in stone or else modelled in earthenware were used as vessels. the incas made serviceable mortars for grinding grain, of polished hard rock, mostly of a circular shape, seldom more than two feet in diameter. the matrimonial stone was interesting enough. it was a double vessel carved out of a solid stone, a perforation being made in the partition between the two vessels. it seems, when marriages were performed, that the incas placed a red liquid in one vessel and some water in the other, the perforation in the central partition being stopped up until the ceremony took place, when the liquids were allowed to mingle in emblem of the union of the two lives. curious, too, was the pipe-like arrangement, called the _kenko_, ornamented with a carved jaguar head, also used at their marriage ceremonies. [illustration: lake titicaca.] [illustration: guaqui, the port for la paz on lake titicaca.] their stone axes and other implements were of extraordinary interest--their rectangularly-shaped stone knives, the star- and cross-shaped heads for their war clubs, as well as the star-shaped weights which they used for offensive purposes, attached, perhaps, to a sling. many were the weapons of offence made of stone which have been found near cuzco, some of which were used by holding in the hand, others attached to sticks. the incas were fairly good sculptors, not only in stone but also in moulding human figures and animals in silver and gold. llamas, deer, long-nosed human-faced idols were represented by them with fidelity of detail, although perhaps not so much accuracy in the general proportions. at a later date the incas used metal implements, such as small rakes and chisels for smoothing rock. they made hair-pins and ear-rings, chiefly of a mixture of gold, silver, lead and copper. i saw at cuzco a stone arrangement which was used by the incas for washing and milling gold. many ornaments of silex, agate and emerald, and also of coral, which had evidently been brought there from the coast, have also been found near cuzco. the spoons and knives which the incas used were generally made of gold, with representations of heads attached to them. the average length of these articles was from two to four inches. i left the city on friday, february th, going back the way i had come as far as the junction of juliaca. the cuzco railway, to my mind, crosses the most beautiful and most interesting scenery of any railway i have ever seen. it is a pity that more english people do not travel by it. the great elevation makes people suffer from mountain-sickness, and that perhaps deters many travellers from attempting the journey. the railway has to contend with great natural difficulties--land-slides, which often stop traffic for days at a time, being frequent. from cuzco i went direct to lake titicaca, where more inca ruins, such as the cylindrical towers of sillistayni, existed at puno. lake titicaca is a heavenly sheet of water, situated at an elevation by hypsometrical apparatus of , ft. with its magnificent background of snowy peaks, the lake looked indeed too impressive for words, as i steamed across it in the excellent steamer of the peruvian corporation. early in the morning of february th, having travelled the entire night in order to cross the lake from north to south, we arrived at guaqui, the port for la paz, the capital of bolivia. although i travelled in the most luxurious comfort, owing to the kindness of the peruvian corporation, the journey by rail and the going about examining the ruins at cuzco had tired me considerably. my brain was so exhausted that it would really take in no more. worse luck, when i reached la paz it was during carnival time, when it was impossible to go out of the hotel without being smothered in cornflour or chalk, and sprinkled with aniline dyed water. even bottles of ink were emptied on one's head from the windows. so that, although i crossed bolivia from one end to the other in its longest part, i was unable to do any further work. i tried to get down to the coast as quickly as possible in order to return home. la paz was a beautiful city, extremely neat, with bright red-tiled roofs and white buildings. it was situated in a deep hollow surrounded by a great barrier of mountains. so deep and sudden was the hollow that within a few metres of its upper edge one would never suppose a town to be at hand. bolivia is a go-ahead country in which english people are greatly interested. we have in our minister there, mr. gosling, a very able representative of british interests. bolivians have shown great enterprise in building railways in all directions in order properly to develop their enormously wealthy country. many important lines are in construction; others are projected--of which, perhaps, the most interesting will be the one from santa cruz to corumba on the brazilian boundary. the day will come when the port of arica on the pacific ocean will be joined to oruro, on the antofagasta line, the well-known junction in bolivia, and eventually to santa cruz. the present plan is to build a line from the already existing railway at cochabamba to porto velarde on the rio grande (rio mamore), then to santa cruz. the brazilians on their side will eventually connect são paulo with cuyaba and corumba. it will then be possible to travel by rail right across the south american continent in its richest part. there is also a project of connecting santa cruz with embarcacion and campo santo, in the argentine republic, and eventually with the trans-andine railway. other smaller lines projected are those between potosí and sucre, and one from the chilian boundary at la quiada to tarija. that system of railways will greatly develop the entire southern portion of bolivia. a small railway is also proposed in the most northern part of the republic, between riberalta on the river madre de dios and guajara merim on the madeira-mamore railway, a district of immense wealth for the production of rubber. the exact elevation of la paz by hypsometrical apparatus was , ft. i left la paz on february st, and travelled through flat, alluvial, uninteresting country--only a huge flock of llamas or vicuñas enlivening the landscape here and there, or a group of indians in their picturesque costumes. the women, with their green, violet or red shawls and much-pleated short skirts, generally blue, afforded particularly gay patches of colour. i saw a beautiful effect of mirage near the lake in the vicinity of oruro, as i was on the railway to antofagasta. we were going through flat country most of the time. it had all the appearance of having once been a lake bottom. perhaps that great titicaca lake formerly extended as far south as lake poopo, which is connected with lake titicaca by the river desaguadero. in fact, if i am not far wrong, the two lakes formed part, in days gone by, of one single immense lake. the mountains on our right as we went southwards towards oruro showed evidence that the level of the then united lakes must have reached, in days gone by, some ft. higher than the plain on which we were travelling. the low undulations on our left had evidently been formed under water in the lake bottom. the junction of oruro, from which the cochabamba railway branches, was quite a large place, of , inhabitants, but with no particularly striking buildings. tin and silver mining was carried on in the surrounding mountains. from oruro i continued the journey to antofagasta via uyuni. immense deposits of borax were to be seen all along the line from the station of ulaca; then we came to a most beautiful sight--the volcano of ollagüe, , ft. above the sea level. it looked like a giant dome, snow-capped, and smoking on its southern side. its slopes were fairly regular, and of most brilliant colouring, red and blue. near the volcano were mounds of mud and shattered rock. ollagüe stood on the boundary between bolivia and chile. [illustration: on the andes.] after passing san martin, the first station on the chilian side, the railway skirted the bed of an ancient lake, an immense circular flat stretch with deposits of sand and borax, in which could be seen occasional pools of stagnant water. on the west side stood a high three-peaked mountain covered with snow, while at the southern end of that plain was a charming lakelet. we had no sooner left this beautiful view than we had before us to the south-west an immense conical mountain, flat-topped. it looked just like the well-known fujiyama of japan, only more regular in its sloping lines. we passed the works of a borax company, which were between the stations of sebollar and ascotan. there was to be seen another immense lake of borax, some kil. ( miles) long. i arrived that evening at antofagasta, and was fortunate enough to get on board one of the pacific mail line steamers the next morning on my way to valparaiso. we were now in the height of civilization again--very hot, very uncomfortable, very ambitious, very dirty, the hotels abominable. had it not been for the kindness of friends i should have fared badly indeed in valparaiso, for the place was invaded by a swarm of american tourists, who had just landed from an excursion steamer and rendered the place unbearable. from valparaiso, as soon as it was possible to obtain accommodation, i travelled across the andes and as far as buenos aires by the trans-andine railway. the scenery on this line was most disappointing to any one who has seen the andes in their real grandeur farther north; but for the average traveller the journey may prove interesting enough, although hot, dull, dusty, and not particularly comfortable. while i was travelling on the railway between mendoza and buenos aires there was a serious strike of railway employés. the railway had been attacked at many different points. amateur engineers and attendants ran the trains. we were only two hours from buenos aires. the heat and dust were intense as we crossed the great pampas. the shaking of the train had tired me to such an extent that i placed a pillow on the ledge of the open window, and was fast asleep with my head half outside the carriage, when i woke up startled by the sound of an explosion. i found myself covered with quantities of débris of rock. a huge stone, as big as a man's head or bigger, had been thrown with great force at the passing train by the strikers, and had hit the side of my window only about three inches above my head, smashing the woodwork and tearing off the metal frame of the window. had it struck a little lower it would have certainly ended my journey for good. [illustration: llamas in bolivia.] [illustration: borax deposits, bolivia.] as it was i arrived in buenos aires safely. a few days later i was on my way to rio de janeiro, by the excellent steamer _aragon_. shortly after, by the equally good vessel _araguaya_, of the royal mail steamship company, i returned to england, where i arrived in broken health on april th, . it was a relief to me to land at southampton, with all my notes, the eight hundred photographs i had taken, and the maps which i had made of the regions traversed. appendix some of the principal plants of brazil (c.) = colouring and tanning. (c.w.) = woods good for construction. (m.) = medicinal. (f.) = fibrous. (r.) = resinous. (p.) = palms. (l.) = lactiferous. (o.) = oliferous. (s.) = starchy. (t.) = tanning. _alocasia macrorhiza_ schott inhame (s.) _anchietea salutaris_ st. hil. cipo suma (m.) _andira spectabilis_ sald. angelim pedra (c.w.) _andira vermifuga_ angelim amargoso (c.w.) _apuleia præcox_ m. grapiapunha (f.) _arachis hypogoea_ l. amendoim (o.) _araucaria brasiliana_ lamb pinho do paraná (c.w.) _aristoiochia_ (various kinds) jarrinha (m.) _asclepia curassavica_ l. official da sala (m.) _aspidosperma dasycarpon_ a.d.c. peroba rosa (c.w.) " _eburneum_ fr. all. pequia marfim " " _leucomelum_ waring. peroba parda " " _macrocarpum_ m. guatambú " " _polyneuron_ m. arg. peroba amarella " " _sessiliflorum_ fr. all. pequia amarello " " _sp._ peroba revessa " _astronium fraxinifolium_ schott gonçalo alves " _attalea funifera_ m. piassava (p.) _bertholletia excelsa_ h.b.k. castanha do pará (o.) _bignoniaceas_ (various kinds) caroba (m.) _bixa orellana_ l. urucú (c.) _boerhavia hirsuta_ willd. herva-tostão (m.) _bromelia_ (various kinds) caragoatá (f.) (s.) _brunfelsia hopeana_ benth. manacá (m.) _byrsonima_ (various kinds) muricy (c.) _cabralea cangerana_ sald. cangerana (c.w.) _cæsalpinia echinata_ lam. pao brasil " _cæsalpinia ferrea_ m. pao ferro (c.w.) _calophyllum brasiliense_ c. guanandy (r.) _capaifera_ (various kinds) copahyba (o.) _cassia_ (two kinds) canafistula (f.) _cayaponia_ (various kinds) cayapó (m.) _cecropia_ (various kinds) embauba (f.) _cedrera fissilis_ vell. cedro vermelho (c.w.) _centrolobium robustum_ m. arariba amarello " " _tomentosum_ benth. " rosa " _chiococca anguifuga_ m. cipo cruz (m.) _chrysophyllum glyciphloeum_ cazar buranhen (c.w.) " " " monesia (m.) _cissampelos_ (various kinds) abútua (m.) _ciusta criuva_ cambess manguerana (f.) _cocos nucifera_ l. coqueiro bahia (p.) _coffea arabica_ l. caféeiro _copaifera guaianensis_ desf. copahyba (c.w) _copernicia cerifera_ m. carnahubeira (c.w.) (p.) _cordia alliodora_ cham. louro (c.w.) _couratari estrellensis_ raddi jequitiba vermelho (c.w.) _coutarea hexandra_ schum quina-quina (m.) _cuscuta_ (various kinds) cipo chumbo (m.) _dalbergia nigra_ fr. all. jacarandá cabiuna (c.w.) _dioscoreas batatas_ d.c. cará (s.) _drimys granatensis_ mutis casca d'anta (m.) _echyrosperum balthazarii_ fr. all. vinhatico amarello (c.w.) _eloeis guineensis_ l. dendé (p.) _erythrina corallodendron_ l. mulungú (m.) _esenbeckia febrifuga_ m. laran do matto (m.) " _leiocarpa_ guarantan (c.w.) _eugenia durissima_ ubatinga (c.w.) _euterpe edulis_ m. palmito (p.) " _oleracea_ l. assahy (p.) _favillea deltoidea_ cogu fava de s. ignacio (o.) _ficus_ (various species) figueiras (l.) _genipa americana_ l. genipapo (c.) _gesnera alagophylla_ m. batata do campo (m.) _gossipum_ (various kinds) algodoeiro _harncornia speciosa_ m. mangabeira (l.) _hedychium coron-koen_ lyrio do brejo (s.) _hymencæa courbaril_ l. jatahy (c.w.) (r.) _ilex paraguayensis_ st. hil. maté (m.) _inga edulis_ m. inga-assú (c.w.) _ipomoea jalapa_ pursh. jalapa (m.) _jatropha curcas_ l. pinhão de purga (o.) _johannesia princeps_ vell. anda-assú (o.) _lafoensia_ (various kinds) pacuri (c.) _laguncularia rac._ gaertu. mangue branco (f.) _landolphia_ (various kinds) pacouri (l.) _lecythis grandiflora_ berg. sapucaia commun (c.w.) " _ollaria_ piso " -assú " " _ovata_ cambess " mirim " _lisianthus pendulus_ m. genciana brazil (m.) _machærium alemanni_ benth. jacarandá violeta (c.w.) " _incorruptibile_ fr. all. " rosa " " _leucopterum_ vog. " tan " _maclura_ (two kinds) tajuba (c.) " _affinis_ mig. " (c.w.) _malvaceas_ (various kinds) guaxima (f.) _manicaria saccifera_ g. ubussú (p.) _manihot_ (two kinds) mandioca (s.) " maniçoba (l.) _mauritia vinifera_ m. burity (p.) _melanoxylon brauna_ schott guarauna (c.w.) _mespilodaphne sassafras_ meissn. canella sassafraz (c.w.) _mikania_ (various kinds) guaco (m.) _mimusops_ (various kinds) massaranduba (l.) " _elata_ er. all. " grande (c.w.) _moldenhauera floribunda_ schrad grossahy azeite (c.w.) _moquilea tomentosa_ benth. oity " _musa_ (various kinds) bananeira _myracroduon urundeuva_ fr. all. urindueva (c.w.) _myristica_ (two kinds) bucu huba (o.) _myrocarpus erythroxylon_ fr. all. oleo vermelho (c.w.) " _frondosus_ " pardo (c.w.) _myrsine_ and _rapanea_ (various kinds) copororoca (f.) _nectandra amara_ meissn. canella parda (c.w.) " _mollis_ meissn. " preta " " _myriantha_ meissn. " capitão-mor " _nicotina tabacum_ l. (various kinds) fumo _operculina convolvulus_ m. batata de purga (m.) _oreodaphne hookeriana_ meissn. itauba preta (c.w.) _paullinia sorbilis_ m. guaraná (m.) _pilocarpus pinnatifolius_ jaborandy (m.) _piper umbellatum_ l. pariparoba (m.) _piptadenia rigida_ benth angico (c.w.) (f.) _protium_ (various kinds) almecega (r.) _psidium acutangulum_ m. araça pyranga (c.w.) _psychotria ipec._ m.a. poaya legitima (m.) _pterodon pubëscens_ faveiro (c.w.) _renealmia occident._ p. and e. capitiú (m.) _rhizophora mangle_ l. mangue verm. (f.) _rhopala gardnerii_ meissn. carvalho vermelho (c.w.) _ricinus communis_ l. mamoneira (o.) _saccharum officin._ l. (various kinds) canna de assucar _sanserieria_ (two kinds) espada (f.) _schinus terebenthifolius_ raddi aroeira (c.w.) (r.) _silvia navalium_ fr. all. tapinhoã (c.w.) _siphonia elastica_ (_hevea_) (various kinds) seringueira (l.) _smilax_ (various kinds) japecanga (m.) _solanum_ (various kinds) jurubeba (m.) _strychnos macroacanthos_ p. quassia (m.) _stryphnodendron barbatimão_ m. barbatimão (c.w.) (t.) _styracaceas_ (various kinds) estoraqueiro (r.) _syphonia globulifera_ l.f. anany (r.) _tecoma araliacea_ p.d.c. ipé una (c.w.) " _pedicellata_ bur. and k. sch. ipé tabaco " _terminalia acuminata_ fr. all. guarajuba " _theobroma cacao_ l. cacaoeiro _tournefortia_ (various kinds) herva de lagarto (m.) _vanilla_ (three kinds) baunilha (m.) _vitex montevidensis_ cham. taruman (c.w.) _vouacapoua americana_ aubl. acapú (c.w.) _xanthosoma sagit._ schott tayoba (s.) _xylopia_ (various kinds) embira (f.) mammals _atele paniscus_ coatá _balsena australis_ baleia austral _bradypus tridactylus_ preguiça _callithrix scicuria_ saymiri do pará _canis brasiliensis_ aguarachaim " _jubatus_ guará _cavia cobaya_ cobaya _cebus appella_ macaco chorão _cercolabos prehensilis_ coandú _cervus dama_ gamo " _elaphus_ veado " _rufus_ guazú-pita _coeelogenys pacca_ pacca _dasyprocta aguti_ cotia _dasypus novemcinctus_ tatú de cauda comprida _delphinus amazonicus_ golfinho _dicotyles labiatus_ porco queixada branco " _torquatus_ caetitú canella ruiva _didelphis azuræ_ gambà " _marsupialis_ philandra _felis concolor_ sussuarana " _onça_ jaguar " _pardalis_ jaguatirica _gallictis barbara_ irara _hapale jacchus_ ouistití or mico _hydrochoerus capibara_ capivara _lepus brasiliensis_ coelho _lutra brasiliensis_ ariranha _manatus australis_ peixe-boi do pará _mephitis suffocans_ jacarecaguá _myrmecophaga jutaba_ tamanduá bandeira _nasua socialis_ caotí de bando " _solitaria_ " " mundeo _phyllostoma spectrum_ vampiro _procyon concrivorus_ guaxinim _sciurus æstuans_ caxinguelê _tapirus americanus_ anta _vespertilio auritus_ morcego orelhudo " _murinus_ " commun birds _ajaja_ colhereiro _alauda arvensis_ cotovia _amazona amazonica_ curiça _amazona brasiliensis_ papagaio _ampelis atropurpurea_ cotinga vermelha do pará _anumbius anumbi_ cochicho _ara ararauna_ arara azul " _macao_ " piranga " _nobilis_ maracanã _aramides saracura_ saracura _aramus scolopaceus_ carão _ardea socoi_ joão grande _ateleodacius speciosa_ sahi _belonopterus cayannensis_ quero-quero _brotogeris tirica_ periquito _cacicus cela_ checheo _cairina moschata_ pato do matto _calospiza pretiosa_ sahira _calospiza toraxica_ sahira verde _caprimulgus cericeocaudalus_ curiango _cathartes atratus_ urubú _ " papa_ " roi _ceryle amazona_ martim pescador _charadrius dominicus_ tarambola _chasmorhychus nudicolis_ araponga _chauna cristata_ tachan _chiromachæris gutturosus_ corrupião _colaptes campestris_ pica-pão _columba domestica_ pombo domestico _ " turtur_ rõla _conurus jendaya_ nandaya _corvus corax_ corvo _crax alector_ hocco do pará _ " pinima_ mutum _creciscus exilis_ frango d'agua verde _crypturus japura_ macucan _ " notivagus_ jahó _ " rufescens_ tinamú ruivo _ " scolopax_ juó _ " soui_ turury _ " variegatus_ inhambú anhanga _dacnis cayana_ sahi azul _dendrocygna fulva_ marreca peba _ " viduata_ irerê _donacubius articapillus_ japacamin _eudocimus ruber_ guará _euphonia aurea_ gaturamo amarello _eurypyga helias_ pavão do pará _falco destructor_ harpya _ " haliætus_ aguia _ " sparverius_ falcão _fringilla carduelis_ pintasilgo _fulica armillata_ carqueja _furnarius rufus_ joão de barro _gallinago delicata_ narceja _ " gigantea_ gallinhola _grotophaga ani_ anú _glaucidium brasilianum_ caburé _heterospizias meridionalis_ gavião caboclo _hycter americanus_ can-can _ibis rubra_ ibis escarlate _jacamaralcyon tridactyla_ beija flor bicudo _jonornis martinica_ frango d'agua azul _lauru macubipennis_ gaivota _leptotila rufaxilla_ juruty _loxia cardinalis_ cardeal _meleagris gallopavo_ perú _microdactylus cristatus_ seriema _minus lividus_ sabiá da praia _milvago chimachim_ caracará _ " chimango_ chimango _molothrus bonariensis_ vira-bosta _molybdophanes coerules_ maçarico real _morinella interpres_ batuira _mucivora tyrannus_ tesoura _myopsitta monachus_ catorrita _myothera rex_ myothera real _nomomyx dominicus_ can-can _nothura maculosa_ codorna _nyctidromus albicolis derbyanus_ bacuraú _odontophorus capueira_ urú _opisthocomus cristatus_ cigana _oriolus brasiliensis_ sapú _oryzoborus angolensis_ avinhado _ " crassirostris_ bicudo _ostinops decumanus_ yapú _otalis katraca_ aracuan _parra jacana_ jacaná _pavo cristatus_ pavão _penelope cristata_ jacú _phasianus colchicus_ faisão _piaya cayana_ alma de gato _picus martius_ picanço negro _pionus menstruns_ maitaca _pipra strigilata_ manequim variegado _piroderus scutatus_ pavó _pisorhin choliba_ coruja _pitherodius pileatus_ garça real _podiceps americanus_ mergulhão _polyborus tharus_ carancho _psittacus passerinus_ tuim _psophius crepitans_ agami _rhamphastos discolorus_ tucano _rhea americana_ avestruz, ema _rupicola_ gallo do pará _siconea mycteria_ jaburú _stephanophorus leucocephalus_ azulão _sterna hirundinacea_ trinta reis _sula leucogastra_ mergulhão _syrigma sibilatrix_ socó assobiador _tanagra citrinella_ tanagra de cabeça amarella _tantalus americanus_ tuyuyu _tinamus tao_ macuco _triclaria cyanogaster_ sabia-cica _turdus rufiventris_ sabia larangeira _volatinia jacarini_ serrador _xanthormis pyrrhopterus_ encontro fish _acanthurus bahianus_ acanthuro bahiano _caranx pisquelus_ solteira _chromis acara_ acará _cichla brasiliensis_ nhacundá _coryphoena_ dourado _curimatus laticeps_ curimatá _cybium regale_ sororóca _cymnotus electricus_ poraqué _eugraulis brossnü_ anchova _ " encrausicholus_ sardinha _leporinus_ piaú _macrodon trahira_ trahira _merlangus vulgaris_ pescada _muroena anguilla_ enguia dos rios _petromyzom marinum_ lampreia do mar _platystoma lima_ surubim _primelodé pirinambú_ pirinambú _prochilodus argenteus_ pacú _rhinobates batis_ raia lisa _scomber scombrus_ cavalla _serrasalmo piranha_ piranha _silurus bagrus_ bagre _solea vulgaris_ linguado _squalus carcharias_ tuburão _tristis antiquorum_ espadarte _vastres gigas_ pirarucú reptiles crocodiles and lizards _caiman fissipes_ jacaré _enyalius bilimeatus_ camaleão listrado _teus monitor_ teyú snakes. _boa constrictor_ giboia constrigente _bothrops indolens_ jararaca preguiçosa _ciclagras gigas_ boipevaussú _coluber poecilostoma_ caninana _crotalus durissus_ cobra de cascavel commun " _horridus_ " " " hor. " _mutus_ sururucú " _terrificus_ boicininga, cascavel _drimobius bifossatus_ cobra nova _elaps corallinus_ boi coral " " cobra coral " _frontalis_ boi coral _erythrolamprus æsculapii_ cobra coral _eunectes murinus_ sucuriú _helicops modestus_ _herpetodryas carinatus_ " _sexcarinatus_ copra-cipó _hyla faber_ pereréca ferreiro _lachesis alternatus_ urutú, cotiara, cruzeiro, etc. " _atrox_ jararaca, jararacucu " _bilineatus_ surucucú patioba " _castelnaudi_ " _itapetingæ_ cotiarinha, boipeva, furta-côr " _jararacucu_ jararacucu, surucuçú, tapête " _lanceolatus_ jararaca, jararacucu " _lansbergii_ " _mutus_ sururucú, surucutinga " _neuwiedii_ urutú, jaraca do rabo branco _liophis almadensis_ jararaquinha do campo " _poecilogyrus_ _oxirhopus trigeminus_ cobra coral, boi coral _philodryas serra_ _pipa curcurucú_ entanha _phrynonax sulphureus_ canninana _radinoea merremii_ cobra d'agua " _undulata_ _rhachidelus brazili_ mussurana _thamnodynastes nattereri_ _xenedon merremii_ boipeva tortoises _chelys fimbriata_ mata-matá _emys amazonica_ jurara-assú " _tracaxa_ tracajá _testudo tabulata_ jabuti vocabularies bororo--apiacar--mundurucu--campas or antis ----------------+----------------+-----------------+------------+---------------- english. | bororo. | apiacar. |mundurucu. |campas or antis. ----------------+----------------+-----------------+------------+---------------- anger | | | |nokatzmatahtzeh angry | | |sapecoreh | ant | | | |cachpigache anta (tapir) | | |biuh | ariranha | | |auareh | arm | | |ueiba |noshempa arm ( st pers.) |ikkanna |zizuhbáh | | " ( nd " ) |akkanna | | | " ( rd " ) |kanna | | | " (elbow to | | | | shoulder) | |zizubah puha | | " (elbow to | | | | wrist) |ittaddagara |zizubah ziahppura| | ( st pers.) | | | | " ( nd " ) |akkeddagan | | | " ( rd " ) |akkagara | | | armlet (ribbon) |canagadje geo |tahttùh ahsa | | | |(metal bracelet) | | | |zih pahürahna | | | |(fibre bracelet) | | arrow | | | |tchohkopi arrow-head |tugh otto |uübaffah | | arrow feathers |attahga |uübappah | | arrows |tuhga |uüba |ubipah | ashes |djoroguddo |tahnimbuga |kaburi | | |tanimbo | | attack (to) |bakkuredda |ahre mohmmahíh | | aureole of | | | | feathers |parikko |ahkahntarah | | axe | | |uah | bad | | | |kahmáhri bag | | | |nottaratti bands (ankle) |burere paro |tah pakkuhrah | | |gagadje geo | | | bands (knee) |buregadje geo |tah pakkuhrah | | barter (to) | |ahmazohppuhru | | baskets (for | | | | bones of | | | | deceased) |koddo |mbuhah | | beans | | |adianrap |macha | | | | beard |nogua buh |tennovohava |erapirap |noshpatonna beautiful | | |rip | bees | | |eit | belly |butto | |euk |nomucha belt (for |coggu |mahté pikku | | women) | | ahsa | | belt | | | |nuata quero big |kurireo |huh _or_ hun |berehiubuh |niroikki bird |kiyeggeh |ühráh |uassehm |tzmehdi black | | |inucat |potztaghi | | | |takarontz blind |yoko bokkua |dai haï | | blood | |ærui | |irantz blue | | |ibitacobush |tahmaroli born (to be) |curi butto |ohíh | | bow |baiga |ühwürrappara |irarek |piamen " ( st pers.) |inaiga | | | " ( nd " ) |anaiga | | | " ( rd " ) |baiga | | | bow-string |baighikko |übühra | | | | pahama | | boy |méhdrogo | | | " (plural) |neh ghe |azzih van | | | kogureh | vohsáh | | bracelet | | | |marentz break (to) |rettegaddo, |ahmoppéhn | | | tuo | | | breathe |akke |ippottuh hém | | brother | | |uagnuh |yegue " eldest |ihmanna |zikkuhbuhra |uamuh | " ( st pers.) | | | | " ( nd " ) |ahmanna | | | " ( rd " ) |uhmanna | | | " (general) |tchemanna | | | " ( st p. p.) |pahmanna | | | " ( nd " ) |tahmanna | | | " ( rd " ) |ettuhmanna | | | " younger | |zihrukkiera |ocutoh | " ( st pers.) |ihvieh | | | " ( nd " ) |ahvieh | | | " ( rd " ) |uhvieh | | | " (general) |tchevieh | | | " ( st p. p.) |pahvieh | | | " ( nd " ) |tahvieh | | | " ( rd " ) |ettuvieh | | | butterfly | | |orebereb |kittandaro canoe |ikka |ühara | |pitotzu caress (to) |kera amudda |uahvaippiáhr | | | appo | | | charcoal |djoradde |tattah pühn | | chest (man's) |immorora |zipassiah |uei cameah |notto piné ( st pers) | | | | " ( nd " ) |ammorore | | | " ( rd " ) |morora | | | " (woman's ) |immokkuro |izi kahma |uei came |ciuccioni |ammokkuro | | | |mokkuro | | | child | | | |entzih chin ( st pers.)|inogura |zirenuvah |hueniepaeh | " ( nd " )|akogura | | | " ( rd " )|okkura | | | cloak (worn by | | | |kittahreutz campas) | | | | cloud | | |crehreate | clouds |boettugo |ivagon | |menkori cold |biakko |irhossahn | | comet |cujedje kigareu | | | courage |paguddah bokua |ihmandarahih | | crocodile | | |abatchiri | cry |araguddu |oh zaïyóh | |niraatcha dance |erehru |ahniuaréh | | dark |boetcho |puhtunhaïba | |stiniri taki daughter | | |araichih |nessintcho day |meriji |koeïn | | dead | | |abeh | deaf |bia bokkua |diahppuhai | | deer | | |arapisehm | design (to |tugo |ohkuazzihat | | ornament) | | | | die (to) |bi |ahmonnoh | | dog |arigao |ahwaráh |yacurité |otzitii drink (to) |kuddo |uhükkuhr | |nerachi nerativo | | | | riratzi drunk | | |icanuh |noshinghitatcha dumb |battaru bokkua |nogni enghih | | ears | |zinambí |naeinebui |noyembitta " ( st pers.) |iviyah | | | " ( nd " ) |aviyah | | | " ( rd " ) |biyah | | | earth |motto |wuhra | | earthquake |mottumagaddo | | | eat |ko |animaüvuttáh |inenetieh |noatcha, | | | com combih | egg | | |tupissa | enemy | |zih ruhwahsahra | | eyebrows | |zirapezavah | |notta makku " ( st pers.) |iyerera | | | " ( nd " ) |aerira | | | " ( rd " ) |djerira | | | eyelashes | | | |noshumpigokki eyes | | | | " ( st pers.) |yokko |ziarakkuara | | lokki " ( nd " ) |aekko | | | " ( rd " ) |dyokko | | | fat |kavaddo |hih haï | |uannanowata father |pao |zihruwa |utahbah |ahppah " ( st pers.) |iyuohka | | | " ( nd " ) |ao | | | " ( rd " ) |uho | | | " (plur., our) |tcheo | | | " (your) |tao | | | " (their) |ettuoh | | | feathers | | | | " (of wings) |ikkoddo |ürapeppoh | | " (of tail) |ayaga |mehruazah | | fight | | | |nogempi find (to) |jordure gí |uèppiahr | | finger or thumb |ikkera kurireo |ziffah | |notta pakki finger (first) |boya gaisso | | | " (second) |boya taddao |ziffah mottehra | | " (third) |mekkijio |ziffah inha | | " (small) |biagareo |ziffah inha | | fire |djoro |tahttáh |eraitcha |pah mahri fish |kahre |pihráh |ashiman |gna denga | | | |aite shumma five | | |brancogeh | fling arrows | | | | with a bow |kiddogoddu |oh üvahn | | fly (to) |koddu |ahvevéh | |haratzu foot | |zihppuha |ibuih |numaronca | | | | nocunta noetzi " ( st pers.) |iyure | | | " ( nd " ) |aure | | | " ( rd " ) |bure | | | " (sole of) | | | |noetzi _or_ | | | | nuitche forehead | | | |nohpanka | | | |nopanka forest |ittura |kahueh | | | |kauru khuh | | " (thick) |iguro kurireo | | | four | | |ibaribrip | fowl | | | |ataripa friend | | |ubeshi | fright |paguddah |ohkkriheéh | |nottaruatzo give (to) | makko | ahmandáh | | (i give him) | makkai | | | girl | ahredrogo | ahwah vohsáh | | " (plural) | naguareh | | | | kogureh | | | god | | | tuhpane | (_sun_) pahua good | | | tchipat | kahméhta good afternoon | | ené mahrukka | | " day | | ené cohéma | | " night | | nehppi tuhna | | | | kattuh | | give me water | | | | bina ina gourds | bappo | | | (rattling | | | | gourds used | | | | by bororos) | | | | grandfather | | zihra magna | | " ( st pers.)| yeddaga | | | " ( nd " )| aeddoga | | | " ( rd " )| iyeddoga | | | grandmother | | zihza ruza | | " ( st pers.) | mugapega | | | " " | imaruga | | | " ( nd " )| atcharuga | | | " ( rd " )| itcharuga | | | grass | | | | tuarish green | | | | natchari guayaba (fruit) | | | | comassique gums of teeth | | | | nohtapu gun | | | | natziarih hair | | ziava | kahp | noeshi " ( st pers.)| ittao | | | nuesse " ( nd " )| akkao | | | " ( rd " )| ao | | | hand | | zippoa | ibuih | nakku " ( st pers.)| ikkera | | | " ( nd " )| akkera | | | " ( rd " )| ijera | | | happy | jakkare | horrüm | | hatred | okki | naimïa roi | | head | | ziakkan | | noppolo " ( st pers.)| ittaura | | | " ( nd " )| akkaura | | | " ( rd " )| aura | | | head band | | | | nahmattery (worn by campas)| | | | hear (to) | | | | nokkie | | | | makimpi hearing | merudduo | ziahppuh[)a]h | | heart | | | |nasangani heat | |heai | | heel | | | |tsungueche hippopotamus |aidje | | | honey | | |eit attuh | hunt (to) | | |itieh urepp |nomarma wai husband |ohreddo |zihméhna | | tazu | |acuimibaeh | |nueme " (plural) |tcheddoreddo | | | |pagoreddo | | | |ettohreddo | | | hut | | |anioca |mengotcha | | | |pangotzu i do not want | | | |erocaticondaca, | | | |fenotchiro | | | | eroka i want you | | | |noni chempe | | | | naka ill |cogoddu |ikkaruhara | |nohmahrtzi illness |jorubbu |zihkkáh ruhara | | ill-treat (to) |utchebai, |huàuàr | | |erugoddo kigoddo| | | indian corn | | | |sagre ssengue | | | |famadole " infuriated |kurigoddo |zih manarahíh | | (to be) | | | | iron | | | |kirieh tonghi island | | |tiahueruh | jump |karetta |appóll | |nuhme atcha kill (to) |bitto |ahzukkah | |noautziri knee |ippoh godaoh |zirinupphuá |yon-ah |loyeretto | | | |yerito knuckles | | | |nouaviro lake |kuruga |üppiah | | large |kuri |hih haï | |andavuete laugh |noguari |ahpukkàh | |noshontatchu leaf | | | |kahrashi lean | | | |tonghnizi leg | |zirito mahk |oira-oh |noh pori " ( st pers.) |ippogora |khana | | " ( nd " ) |appogora | | | " ( rd " ) |pogora | | | let us go | | | |fame ate light |djorugo |uhüga | |(_lamp_) purika light a fire |djaro guddo |tahttàh induh | | (to) |djoruggo | | | lightning |baigahbe |tupan veravah | |pureka | |tupasseo | | lip (lower) | | | |nohtchare " (upper) | | | |nohpanti lips | | | |tchara little | | | |capichenni lose (to) |okkua |ohkkagnüh | | love |aiddu |ahmán oron | |nohnindatzimbi lunacy | |heh wuhruh | | man |mehddo |ahzibah |aniocat |shambari (plural) |ihme | | | (old) | | |iabut | milky way |cujedje doghe |aniang puku |kabieureh | |ehro guddo |zahwara | tpuih | monkey | | |taueh |oshetto moon |ahri |zahir | |kahshi " (during a) | | |kachi | morning | | |kabi ason |kittaittidih mosquito | | |caame | mother | |zihuba |anhih |nanná " my |ihmuga ( st p.) | | | " thy |atche ( nd p.) | | | " his |utche ( rd p.) | | | " |tchedge | | | | (general) | | | " our |padge ( st | | | | pers. plural) | | | " yours |tadge ( nd p.) | | | " theirs |ettudge ( rd) | | | mountain | |iuitir |otioah |chahtoshi mountains |toreakkari |ühwüttura | | " (range of) |toreakkari | " | | | doghe | | | moustache | | | |noshpatonna mouth | | |ueibi |nottaramash mule | | | |manno mari nails (of | | |ueimba rahn |nosha takki fingers) | | | |tchamoro neck | | | | " (front of) |iruho |zisuhra | | " ( st pers.) | | | | " ( nd p" ) |aruho | | | " ( rd " ) |ruho | | | " (back of) | |zikupeah | | " ( st pers.) |ikiddoro | | | " ( nd " ) |akkiddoro | | | " ( rd " ) |ittoro | | | necklace | | | |nighitzki night |batchioji |kaáhrúh |atchiman | | |puitun ahiueh | | no |boro, carega |napohttahri |cahmah | |boekkimo | | | |kah (_suffix_) | | | |bokkua | | | nose | |zissignah | |nokkirimash " ( st pers.) |ikkenno | | | " ( nd " ) |akkenno | | | " ( rd " ) |kenno | | | oar | | | |kumarontzu old | | | |kinkiuari onça (jaguar) | | |huira | one | | |pan | parrot | | |aruh | perspire (to) |caroh |zihruhaï | |nama savitache pig | | | |pihratz pottery (for | |tahpe quazzihar | | cooking) | | | | pot (large) |ariya | | | " (small) |ruobo |gnaéh peppóh | | " (very small)|pohri | | | " " " |pohri (gabo) | | | " " " |pohrero | | | present |makkakai |ahmbehunteheh | | rain |buh buttu |ahmanna |monbaht |ngagni |(boe) buttu |aman | | rainbow | | | |ohyié rapid (cataract)| |ituihi | | receive |makkinai |ahmbohul | | |(_i received_) | | | red | | |patpecat |kitchongahri reward |mohri | | | rise (to) |racodje |ehppóhan | | river |poba |parana | |gnah " (large) |poba kurireo |parana hun | | " (small) |pahga |parana hin | | rock |tori |ittahih(n) | | " (large) |tori kurireo |ittahuh(n) | | rocks | | | |mappih run |reh |oh gnama | |preteten | | | | spayieni " (to) | | | |noshatchah run away (to) |arekoddo |zihppohséh | | sad |kierigoddo |ahnimombü áh | | salt | | |caotah | same | | | |fecatche cuanta | | | | nana scratch |kiggori |ogni oï | | sea | | | |(_unknown_) search (to) |wogai |éhekkahr | | see (to) | | | |nogna akuripi shame |poguruh |ah(g)ni nossïn | | shin |iraetta | | | shiver |magoddo |zihrahúh | | shooting stars |aroi koddo |zahir ta tai wai | | sight |aiyuoh |ueppiáh pottahr | | |djohruddoh | | | silver | | | |kiriekki sing | |amaracaib | | sing (to) |roya, |mahrakkahi |huamame | |arage | | | " (and dance) | | | |nowishtiaccia sister | |garikie |etchih |tchogue | |zihreüsa | | sister | | | | " ( st pers.)|ittuiyeh | | | " ( nd " )|attuiyeh | | | " ( rd " )|uttuhiyeh | | | " (general) |tchedduiyeh | | | " ( st p. p.) |pahduiyeh | | | " ( nd " )|tahduiyeh | | | " ( rd " )|ettuhduiyeh | | | " (younger) | |zihkuppuhera | | sit (to) |mogudda |oh ahppúh | |nosseiki sky |baru |üvahga |kabi | | |ivagh | | sleep | | | |ahmayaweh sleep (to) |nuddoh |okkiéht | | small |biagattigé |suhhin | |entzit |biagareu | | |gliagnini |pikkiriri rogo | | |japchoquin smell (sense of)|ikkenomeruddo |uéttóhn | | | (_nose hears_) | | | smoke |djereddudde |tahttahssin | | " (to) |coguatta medji |ohppeh tambúh | | | (_eat smoke_) | | | snake | | |puibui | " (large) | | |pushiribeh | son | | |ipot |nientzteh | | | |nochumi speak | | | |nona guayte speak (to) |battaru |ogni éh | |nugniáni spit | | | |notchôrah star |cujedje |zahir ta tai |kasupta | stars |cujedje doghe | | |bogro steel | | | |coshintzi stone | | |itai | streamlet | | | |gnahtinka strong | | | |niroite katzuini strong sun | | | |minchare pahua sun |mehri |ahra |huatchi |pah hua | |cuaracu | | sunrise |mehri rutto |ahra nikki uh | | | | appoha | | sunset |mehri re rotto |ahra nikki hoh | | | " butto | | | swim |kuhru |oh üttapp | |nahmatatzu tail (of an |oh |behruaza | | animal) | | | | tall |kuritchiga |ih zuh hàh | |iriritheh |aritchodo | | | tattoo | |zihzuppohra | | | |(_on chin_) | | | |zihra pegnana | | | |(_on forehead_ | | | |_and eyebrows_) | | teeth | |ziragna |erahi |naikki " ( st pers.) |ittah | | | " ( nd " ) |akkoh | | | " ( rd " ) |oh | | | ten | | |ohehssuat | thank you |_unknown_ |_to all_ | | then |tohare | | | thigh |immomonna |zihuwa | | |ippohgahdde | | | thin |rakkiggiarogogo |ah sihnnin | | thirst | | |bipehrehp | three | | |tchibapehng | throat | | |huenie | | | | combira | throw (to) |barigo |ahmenbott | | thumb | | | |notta pakki thunder |boejaruru |tupah | |takkirisse | |aman tsiuic | | tired | | |yahboroeh |nomautache | | | |(_i am tired_) toes |bure bahppe |zihppuhán | |noetzi tapaki tongue | | | |nonnenni tortoise | | |kanianiareh | touch |kerajettudji |ahmahppuh | | tree |ippo |üba |eïp | " (trunk of) |ippo |üba poh | |uhtchattu " (branch of) |ippo ittura |übakkan | | trees | | | |chatto trumpet | |niumbiháh | | two | | |tchepitchepe| ugly | | |guereh | umbilicus | | | |nohmoetto uncle | |tzi | |natchalene village | |amonabuh | | vomit (to) |towari goddo |zirivipposüh | |nokkamarangatzu wait (to) |to gudduguddu |eh ohnroh | | | giao | | | wake (to) |yettado |ehmma èh | | walk |mehru |oh attáh | |atteh otzki warm |boero |hakkuh | | water |poba |üha |iribbi |gnah waterfall |pobbore |üttuh (_fall_) | |opparengnahtazzi | |ühppohsuh | | | | (_rapid_) | | way | | | |aboche weak | | | |teshintztéh west, east, | | | | north, south | |(_unknown to all_) | what is this in |inno ba boi |gar te zih | | the ... |yiere? |méhrennoih? | | language? | | | | white | | |iretiat |kittamorori wife |ohredduje |kuhnia |otachi |nuena wife (plural) | | | | " ( st pers.)|tchevireh | | | " ( nd " .)|pavireh | | | " ( rd " .)|ettuvireh | | | |tcheddoreddo | | | |(_abbrev. of_) | | | |tcheddoredduje | | | wild beasts |bahregghe |zahwahra | | wind | |iuituh |kabihru |tampeah woman |ahreddo |ahvah |tanian |coya (plural) |ahréhme | |aiatiah | yellow | | | |tchengotz yes |uh |apohttáh |ibeheh | yuka (jute) | | | |cagniri index acre territory, i, ; ii, , aguachini river, ii, albuquerque, mr., ii, , - alcobaça, port of, i, amazon, main estuary of the, ii, amazon river, ii, - , - , - amazon state, governor of, ii, - , amazon, state of, i, _amazonas_, launch, ii, andes, journey across the, ii, - antofogasta, ii, , , , ants, ii, apiacar indians, ii, , apiacars, vocabulary of language (appendix), - arabiranga i., ii, araguary, i, - araguaya river, i, , , , , araguaya river, sources of the, i, araujo, mr. j. g., ii, arequipa, ii, arinos river, the, i, ; ii, - arinos river, birthplace of the, i, arinos river, meeting-place with the juruena river, ii, - arinos-juruena, ii, - ariranha (_lutra brasiliensis_), ii, , , , , , , , , arrival in england, ii, associação commercial do amazonas, ii, _atahualpa_, s.s., ii, atrocities, ii, august falls, ii, - azupizu river, ii, , bandeiras, the, i, barretto, josé sotero, ii, , , , batataes, i, bay of coralhina, ii, bay of guajara, ii, bay of jappelin, ii, bay of marajo, ii, bees, i, ; ii, , , belem (pará), ii, , bella vista, ii, beluchistan, ii, beri-beri, ii, , bernardelli, prof., i, bertino miranda island, ii, bilans, ii, birds of brazil (appendix), bolivia, ii, - bolivian railways, ii, booth steamship line, ii, , , , , borax, ii, bororo indians, their origin, customs, manners, legends, anthropometric measurements, language, superstitions, music, etc., i, - bororos, vocabulary of language (appendix), - boundaries, i, , , ; ii, boundaries, matto-grosso and pará, ii, boundaries, minas geraes and goyaz, ii, , boundary between bolivia and chili, ii, brazil, area of, i, brazil, wealth of, i, brazil, col. r. e., "king of the tapajoz," ii, , - bueno de silva, bartholomeu, i, buenos ayres, ii, - butterflies, i, ; ii, , cacti, i, cahombanas, ii, , cahombanas, trails from, ii, cairns, ii, caju or acaju, i, ; ii, caldas de goyaz, i, campas or antis indians, ii, , campas or antis indians, vocabulary of language (appendix), - campinas, i, cañon, a, i, , canuma river, ii, carnival, ii, carrapatinhos, i, , , , carrapatos, i, , , , carts, i, cashibos (carapaches and callisecas), ii, , _cassicus icterronatus_ (jappelin), ii, castanha do pará, ii, _cathartes_ (urubu), ii, cattle breeding, i, , cayapo indians, ii, cepa d'agua, i, _cervus elaphus_ (veado), i, , , church rock, i, ciancias, ii, cocoa, ii, coffee, i, - coffee, estates, i, coffee, export, i, colbacchini, father a., i, collings bros., ii, concepção (on the araguaya), i, , concepção island, ii, condamano, ii, corumbá river, i, corumbahyba, i, _crax pinima_ (mutum), ii, , credentials, the use of, i, cretins, i, crocodiles, ii, _crypturus notivagus_ (jaho), ii, , cuñer, j. j. v., prefect of cuzco, ii, cutijuba island, ii, cuvettes, i, , , , , , , , , , , , , cuyaba river, i, cuzco, ii, cuzco railway, ii, - de rio branco, baron, i, diamantino, i, , - diamantino, prices of commodities in, i, diamonds, i, , distance between araguary and goyaz, i, distance between iquitos and lima, ii, distance between manaos and iquitos, ii, distance from the river araguaya to capim branco, i, distance from the river arinos to araguary, i, distance from araguary to serra azul, i, distance from goyaz city to serra azul, i, dogs, ii, dumont estate, i, dumont railway, i, effects of food after long period of starvation, ii, effects of starvation on the brain, ii, , , , , , electric spring of water, i, elevation of the araguaya, i, end of transcontinental journey, ii, _esploradora_, the launch, ii, , _eunictes murinus_ (sucuriú), ii, expedition, outfit of, i, farquhar, percival, ii, fish, i, , ; ii, , , , , , , , , , flora, i, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ; ii, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , - fonseca, marechal hermes da, i, forest, i, , forest, across the virgin, ii, - forest, the brazilian, ii, - forest fire, i, fossils, the discovery of giant, i, - fossils, loss of, ii, franca, i, frontin, dr. paulo, i, , furnas corros mountains, i, garibaldi's grandson, ii, gavião caboclo, i, geological formation, i, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , , , , ; ii, , , , , , , goyaz, i, goyaz, city of, i, - goyaz, government of, i, goyaz, railway line in construction, i, , goyaz, state of, i, guajara merim, ii, guanabara, alcindo, i, ; ii, hammocks, ii, harvard observatory, ii, history of the wars in the kingdom of brazil between holland and portugal, i, honesty of peruvians, ii, , horses of goyaz, i, huacapistana, ii, _hydrochærus capibara_ (capivara), ii, , , igorrotes of luzon island, ii, _ilex paraguayensis_ (mate), ii, , inca implements, ii, inca matrimonial stone, ii, inca ornaments, ii, inca pottery, ii, inca skulls, ii, inca throne, ii, inca weapons, etc., ii, incas, the, ii, , - incas, architecture of the, ii, incas, civilization of the, ii, - indians, i, , , , , , - , , , ; ii, , , , , , , , , , insanity, i, iquitos, ii, islands of the arinos and arinos-juruena rivers--vol. ii.-- ada i., ii, alastor i., ii, alberto masõ i., ii, albert rex i., ii, angela i., ii, anna i., ii, antonio prado i., ii, , arabella i., ii, araujo i., ii, ariadne i., ii, armida i., ii, aspasia i., ii, babin i., ii, barretos i., ii, belinda i., ii, bertha i., ii, bomfin i., ii, bridget i., ii, camilla i., ii, carmela i., ii, caterina i., ii, clara i., ii, corona i., ii, daphne i., ii, diana i., ii, , dora i., ii, edna i., ii, eileen i., ii, eleonora i., ii, elfrida landor i., ii, elizabeth chimay i., ii, elizabeth r. i., ii, , eloisa i., ii, emma i., ii, erminie i., ii, eva i., ii, evelina i., ii, faith, hope and charity is., francesco i., ii, gabriella i., ii, george rex i., ii, , gemma i., ii, germaine i., ii, gingillo i., ii, giselle i., ii, helena i., ii, hilda i., ii, hugo i., ii, james dewar i., ii, jessica i., ii, josephine island, julia i., ii, jupiter i., ii, kuvera i., ii, landor, charles, i., ii, laurita i., ii, leander i., ii, leda i., ii, , lilian i., ii, loel i., ii, lucia i., ii, lucky i., ii, , lunghissima i., ii, lydia i., ii, mabel i., ii, magda i., ii, margie i., ii, maria i., ii, mars i., ii, martia i., ii, maude i., ii, maude adams i., ii, may i., ii, medea i., ii, melusine i., ii, meraud i., ii, midas i., ii, minerva i., ii, miranda i., ii, mosquito i., ii, nair i., ii, negrino i., ii, nina i., ii, noailles i., ii, nora i., ii, normand i., ii, olivia i., ii, , oriana i., ii, orlando i., ii, pandora i., ii, passos i., ii, passos junior i., ii, paulina i., ii, pelleas and melisande is., ii, pericles i., ii, philomela i., ii, pomona i., ii, portia i., ii, priscilla i., ii, providence i., ii, psyche i., ii, queen mary i., ii, rebecca i., ii, rhea i., ii, rita i., ii, rock i., ii, rodriguez, j. carlos i., ii, romeo and juliet is., ii, romola i., ii, rosalinda i., ii, rose i., ii, sarah i., ii, schnoor, luiz, i., ii, seven sisters is., ii, sibyl i., ii, sophia i., ii, stella i., ii, susan i., ii, sylvia i., ii, tanis i., ii, teffe i., ii, teresa i., ii, three graces is., ii, toledo, pedro de, i., ii, tristan and isolde is., ii, two sisters is., una i., ii, urania i., ii, vanessa i., ii, vera i., ii, victor emmanuel i., ii, yolanda i., ii, itaituba, ii, itaquatiara, ii, , jacutinga, ii, jaguar, the, i, , , ; ii, jararakinha i., ii, javari river, ii, jeckill, mrs., ii, jesuits, i, jews, ii, , jiggers, ii, _jornal do commercio_, i, juliaca junction, ii, junction of the arinos-juruena and tres barras or s. manoel river, ii, juruena river, ii, juruena river, meeting-place of with the arinos river, ii, - krause, dr., i, la merced, ii, la paz, ii, lage, mr., ii, lagoa dos veados, i, , lagoa formosa, i, , land, value of, i, , , , las palmas river, ii, legislative congress of goyaz (state), i, leguia, dr. b. b., president of peru, ii, leopoldina, i, leprosy, i, leticia, ii, lighthouses, ii, lima, ii, , llamas, ii, , , , , lovelace, dr. carl, ii, lua nova, ii, lunar halo, i, , , macaws, i, ; ii, , , macedo, commandante, ii, - _macrocerus hyacinthinus_ (araruna), ii, madeira-mamore railway, ii, - madeira river, ii, , , - magalhães, couto de, i, malampaya sound, i, malan, father a., i, mammals of brazil (appendix), manaos, ii, , - manaos, commandants of the federal troops in, ii, , , manaos, improvements, limited, ii, mangabeira, the, i, mangabel, ii, - manobos, ii, maps, i, , maps, inaccurate, i, maribondos (hornets), ii, masisea, ii, masõ, dr. alberto, ii, , matto grosso (state of), i, may, jeckill & randolph, messrs., ii, - maya indians of yucatan, ii, mazagan, i, medicinal plants, i, (appendix), - minas geraes, province of, i, minerals, i, minister of marine, ii, mirage, ii, miranda, dr. bertino, ii, miriatiriami, ii, mitchell, mr., english consul at iquitos, ii, mockill, mr., chief of peruvian corporation, ii, , mogyana railway, i, - mollendo, ii, monoliths, i, , mori brothers, ii, mori, don eulogio, ii, morro da meza, i, mountain sickness, ii, mules, i, , müller, severiano, i, mundurucu indians, ii, , , mundurucu indians, vocabulary of the language (appendix), - _nasua socialis_ (coati), i, ; ii, _nasua solitaria_ (coati), i, nazaratec river, ii, nery, julio v., ii, , , , , new york (ucayalli), ii, nunes, dom pedro, ii, - obidos, ii, oliveira, regis de, i, ollagüe volcano, ii, _opisthocomus cristatus_ (cigana), ii, oroya, ii, oroya, railway, ii, - oruro, ii, , , pachitea river, ii, - pack-saddles, i, palms, i, pampas, ii, pará chestnut, ii, pará fiscal agency, ii, , pará province of, i, paraguay river, birthplace of, i, paraguay river, sources of, i, parana river, i, parana river, birthplace of, i, paranahyba river, i, paredão grande, the, i, paredãozinho, i, parintins, ii, passos, dr. f. pereira, i, pasture lands, i, paulista railway, i, paulistas, the, i, , pedro ii., emperor, i, , , _penelope cristata_ (jacú), ii, , , , , peruvian corporation, ii, - peruvian railway, ii, - philadelphia (ucayalli), ii, photography, ii, pichis river, ii, - pinto, mr., ii, pium, i, , , _podiceps americanus_ (mergulhão commun), ii, polvora, the, i, pombas island, ii, poopo, lake, ii, - port bermudez, ii, port guaqui, ii, porto do castanho, i, porto velho, ii, , , (rio madeira) potzuzu, ii, pouso alto, i, prado, antonio, i, , , praia da rainha, i, preguya, the, ii, prices of commodities, ii, , , , prison of goyaz, i, province of loreto, prefect of, ii, , , pueblo pardo, ii, putumayo river, ii, raft made of demijohns, ii, - railways, i, redemptionist friars, i, , reptiles of brazil (appendix), requeña, ii, riberão preto, i, rio arinos, i, , ; ii, - rio barreiros or das garças, i, , , , , , rio caitté, i, rio canuma, ii, , rio capim branco, i, , , rio chabo, i, rio chanchamayo, ii, rio claro, i, rio corgo fundo, i, rio corisho, i, rio crepore, ii, rio cuyaba, i, , , , rio das mortes, i, , rio dos patos, ii, , rio estivado, i, rio euphrasia, ii, rio grande, i, rio jamanchin, ii, rio jangada, i, rio las almas, i, rio macucu, i, rio madeira, ii, rio manso, i, - rio misericordia, ii, rio mollah, i, rio montagna, ii, - rio paraguay (paraná), i, rio paraná, i, , , rio pedra grande, i, , rio ponte alto, i, rio preto, i, rio roncador, i, , rio s. florencio, ii, rio s. lourenço, i, , rio s. lourenço, headwaters of, i, rio s. manoel or tres barras, i, rio s. thomé, ii, rio secundury, ii, , , , , rio sumidoro, ii, rio tapajoz, ii, rio tarma, ii, rio trombetas, ii, rio uruguatos, ii, rio verde, i, rio vermelho, i, , rio xingu, i, ; ii, rio xingu, nearest point to rio tapajoz, ii, rio de janeiro, i, rock carvings, i, rodadeiro or toboggan slide of the incas, ii, rodriguez, josé carlos, i, rondon, col., i, ross, mr., ii, "round table" of the incas, the, ii, royal mail steamship co., i, ; ii, rubber, i, ; ii, , , , , , , , , , , , rubber, coagulation of the latex, ii, rubber, collection of the latex, ii, rubber, collectors, i, ; ii, s. antonio, i, s. benedicto, mt., ii, , s. isabel (castanho), ii, s. jeronimo, ii, s. luiz de caceres, i, , s. luiz de shuaro, ii, s. manoel, collectoria of, ii, s. manoel, tres barras or paranatinga river, ii, s. paulo, i, s. paulo, elevation of, i, s. paulo, state of, i, , s. ramon, ii, salesian friars, i, , , , , salto benjamin, i, salto floriano peixoto, i, sand-dunes, ii, santarem, ii, santarem to belem (pará), ii, - sauba ants (_oecodonia cephalotes_), ii, , , - schmidt, col. (the coffee king), i, schnoor, luiz, i, seringueiros, or rubber collectors, the, i, ; ii, , , , , , , , , , , , , serra azul, the, i, - , serra das pedra, i, serra de almerin, ii, serra de callos, i, , serra de pasco, ii, serra de sta. rita (or dourada), i, serra do sappé, i, serra do tombador, i, , sete lagõas, i, - , sillistayni towers, ii, siphonia elastica (_hevea brasiliensis_), or rubber trees, i, ; ii, , , , , , , slavery, i, ; ii, , , , snakes, i, ; ii, , snakes of brazil (appendix), solimões river, ii, - , sorveira (milk trees), ii, , , stars, i, starvation, ii, - sungaro paro mts., ii, tabatinga, ii, table of comparative anthropometric measurements, i, tamandua bandeira, the, i, , tambos, ii, , , , , , , tapajoz river, ii, - tapanhonas indians, ii, tapiche river, ii, _tapirus americanus_ (anta), i, ; ii, , tarma, ii, taxipa i., ii, telepathy, ii, termites (_termes album_), i, - , , terra blanca lake, ii, thermal springs, i, titicaca lake, ii, , tocantins river, i, toledo, pedro de, i, , , trans-andine railway, ii, _troglodytes fuscus_, ii, tucano, the, i, tunnels, ii, , , uancabamba, ii, uberaba, i, uberabinha, i, ucayalli river, ii, - urubu, i, useful plants (appendix), - valparaiso, ii, vampire indians, ii, _vastres gigas_ (pirarucú), ii, venus, i, ; ii, vocabularies of indian languages--apiacar, bororo, campas, mundurucu (appendix), - water during long periods of starvation, ii, watersheds, i, , , , wellman's balloon, ii, wild boar, i, wireless telegraphy, ii, , women of goyaz, i, woods for construction (appendix), - woods, fibrous (appendix), - woods, lactiferous (appendix), - woods, oleaginous (appendix), - woods, resinous (appendix), - yanna yakka river, ii, yessup, ii, yuta (jute), ii, _printed by hazell, watson & viney, ld., london and aylesbury._ transcriber's notes: . this text contains diacritical marks and symbols, where possible these are represented in the text by the following symbols. diacritical mark above below -------------------------- ------ ------ macron (straight line) [=x] [x=] breve (u-shaped symbol) [)x] [x)] tilde [~x] [x~] . printing/spelling errors which have been corrected are: volume : page , "butataes" changed to "batataes" page , "batateas" changed to "batataes" page , "schoor" changed to "schnoor" volume : page viii, "solimo[~e]s" changed to "solimões" page , " · c" changed to " · m" page , "jurnena" changed to "juruena" page , "expect" changed to "except" page , "jappalin" changed to "jappelin" page , "cepo" changed to "cepa" "cryptorus" changed to "crypturus" page , "naïr" changed to "nair" page , "mayu" changed to "maya" page , "ollaguë" changed to "ollagüe" "reinha" changed to "rainha" page , "crepury" changed to "crepore" "jamachin" changed to "jamanchin" "peixeto" changed to "peixoto" page , "transandine" changed to "trans-andine" "vastris" changed to "_vastres_" on the banks of the amazon, by w.h.g. kingston. ________________________________________________________________________ this is a quite long book, very well written, about a trip down the amazon. there is rather a lot of "natural history", but not too much, because it has all been made easy to follow, and is very interesting. all sorts of interesting things happen on this voyage. the copy used for digitisation had a rather furry and small typeface. not one of the clearest we have ever seen. consequently it was rather heavy labour trying to iron out the misreads and typos, and it may well be that some remain, though nowhere near the prescribed limit of . %. there are , words in the book, so in means that we must have less than errors still remaining, which i am sure is the case. it is a rather curious thing that one is reminded at times of ballantyne's "martin rattler," written very much earlier, even down to to the presence of a "recluse". that doesn't mean you won't enjoy the book just as much as you might have enjoyed "martin rattler." best, as always, as an audiobook. ________________________________________________________________________ on the banks of the amazon, by w.h.g. kingston. chapter one. my school-boy days and friends. i might find an excuse for being proud, if i were so,--not because my ancestors were of exalted rank or title, or celebrated for noble deeds or unbounded wealth, or, indeed, on account of any ordinary reasons,-- but because i was born in one of the highest cities in the world. i saw the light in quito, the capital of ecuador, then forming the northern part of the spanish province of peru. the first objects i remember beyond the courtyard of our house in which i used to play, with its fountain and flower-bed in the centre, and surrounding arches of sun-burned bricks, were lofty mountains towering up into the sky. from one of them, called pichincha, which looked quite close through the clear atmosphere of that region, i remember seeing flames of fire and dark masses of smoke, intermingled with dust and ashes, spouting forth. now and then, when the wind blew from it, thick showers of dust fell down over us, causing great consternation; for many thought that stones and rocks might follow and overwhelm the city. all day long a lofty column of smoke rose up towards the sky, and at night a vast mass of fire was seen ascending from the summit; but no harm was done to the city, so that we could gaze calmly at the spectacle without apprehension. pichincha is, indeed, only one of several mountains in the neighbourhood from the tops of which bonfires occasionally blaze forth. further off, but rising still higher, is the glittering cone of cotopaxi, which, like a tyrant, has made its power felt by the devastation it has often caused in the plains which surround its base: while near it rise the peaks of corazon and ruminagui. far more dreaded than their fires is the quaking and heaving and tumbling about of the earth, shaking down as it does human habitations and mountain-tops, towers and steeples, and uprooting trees, and opening wide chasms, turning streams from their courses, and overwhelming towns and villages, and destroying in other ways the works of men's hands, and human beings themselves, in its wild commotion. these burning mountains, in spite of their fire and smoke, appear but insignificant pigmies compared to that mighty mountain which rises in their neighbourhood--the majestic chimborazo. we could see far off its snow-white dome, free of clouds, towering into the deep blue sky, many thousand feet above the ocean; while on the other side its brother, tunguragua, shoots up above the surrounding heights, but, in spite of its ambitious efforts, has failed to reach the same altitude i might speak of antisana, and many other lofty heights with hard names? but i fancy that a fair idea may be formed of that wonderful region of giant mountains from the description i have already given. i used often to think that i should like to get to the top of chimborazo, the way up looked so easy at a distance; but no one has ever reached its summit, though several valiant philosophers and others have made the attempt. the mountain range i have described, of which chimborazo was long considered the highest point, till aconcagua in chili was found to be higher, rises from the ocean in the far-off southern end of america, and runs up along its western shore, ever proud and grand, with snow-topped heights rising tens of thousands of feet above the ocean, till it sinks once more towards the northern extremity of the southern half of the continent, running along the isthmus of panama, through mexico at a less elevation, again to rise in the almost unbroken range of the rocky mountains, not to sink till it reaches the snow-covered plains of the arctic region. but i am becoming too scientific and geographical; and i must confess that it was not till many years after the time of which i am speaking that i knew anything about the matter. my father, don martin fiel, had been for some years settled in quito as a merchant. his mother was spanish, or partly so, born in peru--i believe that she had some of the blood of the incas in her veins, a matter of which she was not a little proud, i have been told--but his father was an englishman, and our proper family name was faithful. my father, having lived for many years in the spanish south american provinces, had obtained the rights and privileges of a spaniard. he had, however, been sent over to england for his education, and was a thorough englishman at heart. he had made during his younger days several visits to england for mercantile purposes, and during one of them had married my mother. he was, though really a protestant--i am sorry to have to make the confession-- nominally a roman catholic; for he, being a spanish subject, could not otherwise at that time have resided in any part of the territories of spain and carried on his business with freedom: but i feel now that no person has a right to conceal their true faith, and to pretend to believe what is false, for the sake of any worldly advantage. my mother, however, had stipulated that all her children should be brought up as protestants. to this he had agreed, though he found when he had sons that he was in consequence subjected to considerable annoyance from the priests, who threatened to denounce him as a heretic. to avoid this, he had to send his children to england at an early age for their education; indeed, had we remained at quito we could only have obtained a very poor one at any public school or college. it will be understood from what i have said, that though we were really english, and i have always felt like an englishman, we had both spanish and native connections, which will account for some of the circumstances which afterwards occurred to us. my father, though he himself resided at quito, had also a house of business at guayaquil, which imported european manufactured goods, and exported in return peruvian bark and other articles, of which i shall by-and-by have to speak. he was greatly respected by his fellow-citizens, although they might have been somewhat jealous of him for succeeding in his business through his energy and perseverance, while they themselves, sitting idle all the day smoking their cigarettes without attempting to exert their minds, were left behind. my dear mother lived very much alone, for the society of the ladies of quito, though they are very charming in manner, afforded her but little satisfaction, from their utter want of education. i remember the joy which the arrival of my eldest sister, fanny--or dona francisca, as the spaniards called her--who had gone to school in england, and aunt martha, who brought her back, caused in the family. i had another sister, ellen, much younger; a sweet, dear little girl, of whom i was very fond. she was indeed the pet of the family. my elder brother, john, was at school in england. i remember thinking aunt martha, who was my mother's elder sister, very stiff and formal; and i was not at all pleased when she expressed her intention of teaching me and keeping me in order. my mother's health had been delicate, and i had been left very much to the care of old domingos, a negro servant of my father's, who had been with him since his boyhood, and with my grandfather before him. he was the butler, or major-domo, the head over all the other servants, and, i believe, deservedly trusted. among them i remember best little maria, a young negro slave girl who attended especially on ellen; and antonio, a gallego from the north of spain, a worthy, honest fellow, who had been in the family from his boyhood, and was much attached to us all. i soon learned to like aunt martha better than i had expected, for though i thought her looks very terrible at first--and she was certainly firm--she was really kind and gentle. under her instruction i gained the first knowledge of the letters of the alphabet, of which i was before profoundly ignorant. of course she was very gentle with ellen, as everybody was, and fanny seemed to be very fond of her. she was courageous, too, as i before long had evidence. i remember one night being suddenly lifted in her arms, and carried out by her into the patio of courtyard. there was a strange rumbling noise underneath our feet, and i could see the stout walls of our house rocking to and fro; and yet, though the earth was tumbling about, she did not tremble in the least, but i heard her telling the servants not to shriek out or to pray to the saints, who could not help them, but to put their trust in god, who made the world, and who would save them from danger if it was his good will. it was a very fearful night, however, and though i believe the earthquake did not last long, it tumbled down, during the few minutes of its duration, a number of buildings, and many of the inhabitants were buried beneath the ruins. our house, however, which was on the outskirts of the city, and had no upper story, although some of the walls were cracked, escaped without further injury; and before morning we were in our beds again, and i, for my part, was sleeping soundly. a short time after this i found that some great event was about to take place, and i saw trunks being packed; and my mother, who had been ill for some time, was very busy, and looked, i often thought, somewhat sad; and then i heard that she and ellen and i were going to england, to be accompanied by domingos and maria, and that we were to remain there some time, and that i was to go to school, and then, if my father did not join us, that john and ellen and i were to come back together with our mother, unless she returned before that time. aunt martha and fanny were to stay and take care of my father. of course i was highly delighted when i heard this, and began packing a box with my playthings, and all sorts of articles, and was very indignant when maria told me that they were not to go. i do not remember much about the journey, except that my father came with us, and that the party rode on mules; that domingos carried me before him; that we went up and down mountains and into deep valleys; and that sometimes it was very hot, and sometimes very cold; and that we stopped at very uncivilised-looking resting-places at night; and that at last we reached a large town, close to the sea, which was, i have since learned, guayaquil. i remember seeing some magnificent fruits--pine-apples, oranges, lemons, limes, alligator-pears, melons, and many others--and eating some of them, or probably i should not have recollected the circumstance. the place was very busy, and far more people were moving about than i had been accustomed to see at quito; and in the harbour were a number of vessels--large ships and small ones, and curious rafts, on which the natives were sailing or paddling about, called _balsas_. they were made of light balsa wood, which is very buoyant. they were of all sizes, and some had come in from a considerable distance along the coast. then my father accompanied us on board a big ship, and took an affectionate leave of my mother and sister and me; and we all cried very much at parting, at least ellen and i did, though i was so well pleased with all the sights i witnessed that i soon forgot my sorrow. then the sails of the _pizarro_--that was the name of our ship--were set, and we glided out of the harbour, while the boat containing my father returned to the shore. the _pizarro_ was, i should say, a spanish ship, commanded by captain lopez, a very worthy man, in whom my father had great confidence, or he would not have committed our mother and us to his charge. at that time spanish vessels alone were allowed by the spaniards to trade to the ports of their colonies, which contributed with many other causes greatly to retard their progress. i, however, knew nothing about such matters at that time. i remember the compass in the binnacle placed before a big wheel, at which a man was always standing steering the ship, and i was told that we were sailing south. i thought the ocean, which was blue, and calm, and glittering in the sunshine, must be very wide, and wondered where it could end, or whether it had an end towards the west. on the east was the coast of peru, and i could see the lofty snow-capped mountains rising up out of the plain, looking as if they were intended to bear up the sky should it come down towards the earth. day after day we glided on. there they were as high as ever, apparently quite close to us, though i heard the captain tell my mother that they were fifty miles off or more. i scarcely believed him, though i did not think so big and grave a man could tell a story. i did not understand at that time to what a distance objects can be seen in that pure, clear atmosphere. we after that stood off the coast for many hours, and yet they appeared almost as high as ever. the mountains i saw were the andes or the cordilleras, among which i had lived so long without having a clear idea of their extent. we were not idle during the voyage, for our mother set to work the second day we were at sea to give us our lessons. she had made a point of teaching us english as soon as we could utter a word; but though ellen spoke it very well from being always with her, i spoke spanish mixed with quichua, the native indian tongue, much more readily. we now, however, learned all our lessons in english, and read a great deal, so that i got on rapidly. the weather at length began to grow unusually cold, and the sky was covered with clouds. we put on warm clothes, and kept much oftener than usual in the cabin. the ship too began to tumble about, and i thought sometimes would be sent right over. i remember inquiring seriously if a _waterquake_ were taking place; for i had hitherto seen the ocean so calm, that i fancied it would always remain so, and that it was only the earth which was given to shaking and tumbling about. the wind whistled and roared, and the spray flew over the deck, and the sailors went out on the yards and reefed the sails; but no one seemed to mind what was happening, so i was soon content, and thought all was right; and when i looked on the waves, it struck me that they were not a quarter as high as the mountains i had been accustomed to see, and wondered how they were able to tumble the great big ship about in the way they did. still on we went day after day, and i discovered that we were sailing in an opposite direction to that we had before steered. i could not make it out, till the captain showed me a chart, and gave me my first lesson in geography on a grand scale; and i then saw that we had come down the west coast of south america, and were now sailing northward along its eastern coast. i was very glad when i could go on deck again without greatcoat, and the sun shone forth as brightly almost as it does at quito. then in a little time the weather got very hot again, and there was no wind, and the ship lay on the glassy sea, her white sails flapping against the masts. there we lay day after day, and i began to think that at that rate we should never get to england; but captain lopez told me that i need not trouble myself about the matter, as the wind was sure to come some day or other, and that then we should glide along as fast as ever. i found that he was right, though we were becalmed several times after that. at length we saw the crew very busy in polishing up the ship, and ranging the cables along the deck, as getting them ready for anchoring in called; and men were aloft all day looking out ahead; and then came the shout of "terra! terra!--espana!" and i found that we were approaching the coast of spain. the next morning when i went on deck the ship was at anchor, surrounded by land, with a large city on one side, and other towns or villages scattered about on the other. this was the beautiful bay of cadiz. near us lay a large ship with the english flag flying at her peak. captain lopez went on board her, and then hurried on shore with certain papers in his hand; and when he returned, we all went on board the english ship. soon after, the anchor was hove up, the sails let fall, and away we sailed out of the harbour. thus we did not even set foot on spanish soil. i asked my mother the reason of this: she replied, that finding the ship on the point of sailing, she did not like to lose the opportunity of going to england in her; that the ship was called the _inca_, commanded by captain byles, with whom she and my father were acquainted. i remember that captain byles was very kind and attentive, that the cabin was very neat and clean--a quality for which that of the _pizarro_ was not remarkable--while the english crew, many of whom were old men-of-war's-men, paid off at the end of the war, were far more orderly than the spaniards. there was a black cook, sam by name, and a white goat. with the former we soon struck up a friendship, for he was good-natured and kind to us, and a most intelligent fellow; the latter used to chase us round and round the deck, and several times tumbled me head over heels when i jumped before her to prevent her from butting at ellen. of sam i shall have to speak more by-and-by. i do not remember many more incidents of the voyage till one day i saw the men heaving the lead, and i found that we were in the chops of the channel; and then i heard the shout of "land! land!" from one of the crew at the mast-head, and i was told that england was in sight; and after a time i saw a light-blue line away over the bow on the left side, and heard that it was the lizard, which i explained to ellen was not a creature, but a point of land at the west end of england. with a fine breeze, studdingsails on either side, the colours flying, the sky bright and the sea blue, the big ship, her canvas glittering in the sunlight glided proudly up channel. even the gruffest old seaman began to smile, and every one seemed in good spirits. at last a little one-masted vessel came dancing over the small waves towards us, our sails were brailed up, a boat put off from her, and a big man with huge whiskers, and rough greatcoat, and broad-brimmed hat climbed up the side, and shook hands with the captain; and i heard that the pilot had come on board, and that we were sailing into the downs. i went below, and on returning on deck i looked up and saw, instead of the broad sheets of white canvas which had so long been spread, the long yards above my head with the sails closely furled. the ship was at anchor. in a short time the boat came alongside, and my mother and sister and i, with our attendants, were lowered into her. we rowed on shore, and went to a big house, where all the people were wonderfully polite. i asked if this was to be our future home, but my mother told me it was an inn--very unlike the resting-places we had stopped at on our journey from quito. the next day we were all seated inside a yellow carriage, with domingos and maria on the outside, and rolling away over the smooth road at a great rate. we went on and on, changing horses every now and then, through a country dotted about with houses which looked very large and grand, and green trees which looked very small after those i had been accustomed to see. at length the houses became thicker and thicker, and we were driving through long streets with numberless carriages dashing here and there, and carts, and vans, and vehicles of all sorts; and my mother told me we were in london. we drove on, and i thought we should soon be on the other side; but i found that we had not got nearly into the centre of it. i had thought quito a large city, but this, i guessed, must be ten times larger. all the houses, too, looked wonderfully high, and i thought if an earthquake were to occur, how quickly they would all topple down. i asked my mother how people could venture to build such tall houses. she laughed, and said that happily in england there were no earthquakes; and that, in another city in the north, there were houses ten stories high. we stopped at last before a house in a long, dull-looking street, and a gentleman came to the door and handed us all out, and kissed my mother and ellen and me, and welcomed us to england; and i found that he was uncle james, my mother's brother; and there was our aunt, his wife, and a number of cousins, boys and girls; and we were all soon quite at home and happy, though i did not exactly know what to do with myself. a few days after that, uncle james and my mother and i drove out in a carriage, and there was a box on the top of it full of my clothes, and several other things; and then i found that i was going to school. i was rather pleased than otherwise; not that i wished to leave my mother and ellen, but i wanted to know what sort of a place school was. we went some distance away from london, and stopped before a house with an iron gate, and a huge stone lion on each side of it. we got out, and were shown into a drawing-room, and there we sat, till a tall gentleman dressed in black, with a very white head, made his appearance, and my mother and uncle james talked to him for some time; then he called me up, patted me on the head, and told me he hoped that i should be a good boy, and learn my lessons well. i did not feel quite comfortable when my mother got up and kissed me again and again, and looked somewhat sad; and then uncle james wished me good-bye; and out they went, while the tall gentleman kept me by the hand. "now, harry faithful," he said, "i will introduce you to your school-fellows;" and he conducted me through a passage, at the end of which was a door which opened out into a large open space covered with gravel, with high walls on either side. a big tree stood in the centre, and a vast number of boys of all ages were running about. some had hoops, others were jumping over long ropes, and others, with reins fastened to their arms held by bigger boys, were scampering round and round, playing at horses. some were leaping over each other's backs, and others were hopping about with their arms folded charging at each other. i thought it very good fun, and hoped that was the way they were always employed. the tall gentleman, after waiting a minute or two, called out, "antony nyass, come here. here is the son of an old friend of your father's. i expect you to look after him." then he turned round to me, and said, "when the bell rings, you will come in with the rest, and we will lose no time in placing you." "and so you are the new boy," said my companion. "what is your name?" i told him. "well, i am very glad you are come," he observed, "for i want a chum. we will have all sorts of fun together. will you have a hoop? i have got a prime one which beats all those of the fellows in my class; or will you go shares in a pair of leather reins?" i told him that i should be very glad to do what he liked, and that i had plenty of money, though i could not say how much, as i was not accustomed to english coin, and could not remember what it was called. "oh, i will soon put you up to that," he said, laughing; "but do not show it now. we will see by-and-by what you can do with it." while we were speaking, a number of other boys collected round us, and began to ask me all sorts of questions--who i was, who my friends were, where i had come from, how old i was, and if i had ever been to another school. "do not tell them," whispered nyass. "what is that you are saying, master tony!" exclaimed one of the boys. "you are putting him up to some of your own tricks." "i will tell you all by-and-by," i answered, taking my new friend's hint. "can you run?" asked tony. "tell them that you will race any one of them," he whispered. "i do not know, but i will try," i replied. "who is for a race?" exclaimed tony. "he will run you down to the bottom of the play-ground and back again, and if he does not beat all the fellows of his own size i shall be surprised." i was light and active, and though i had never before run a race, having no companions to run with, i did my best to follow out tony's suggestion. at the word, off i set as hard as i could tear; five or six other fellows besides tony ran also. he kept up with me, though we distanced the rest. he touched the wall at the bottom, and i followed his example. "now, back again as hard as you can go! i am the best runner of my size in the school," he cried out, as he kept close to me; "if you beat me, your fame is established, and the fellows will treat you with respect after that." i felt, however, very doubtful whether i could beat tony; but i did my best, and as we neared the point we started from i found myself drawing ahead of him. "that is it!" he shouted; "keep on, and you will do it." i suspected that he was letting me get ahead of him on purpose, and i reached the starting-point four or five paces before him. i felt, however, that i could not have run another minute if my life had depended on it; while he came in without the slightest panting. the other fellows followed mostly together, a short distance behind. it is curious how slight a thing gives a boy a position at once in a school. thanks to tony, i gained one at once, and ever afterwards kept it. i do not intend to give an account of my school-life and adventures, as i have more interesting matter to describe. i was placed in the lowest class, as might have been expected. although i knew nothing of latin, i was up to several things which my class-mates were not, and as i did my best to learn, i soon caught up a number of them. my friend tony was in the class above me, and he was always ready to give me any help. though not quarrelsome, i had several battles to fight, and got into scrapes now and then, but not often, and altogether i believed i was getting on pretty well. tony, my first acquaintance, remained my firm friend. although now and then we had quarrels, we quickly made them up again. he used to listen with eager ears to the accounts i gave him of my voyage, and the wonders of my native land. he never laughed at my foreign accent, though the other boys did; but i very soon got rid of it. i used to try to teach him spanish, and the indian language, which i had learned from the servants; but i soon forgot them myself, and had difficulty even in recalling a few words of the tongue which i once spoke with ease. "i say, harry, i should so like to go out with you to that country," said tony to me one day. "when you go back i must try and get my father to let me accompany you." i, of course, was well pleased at the proposal, and we talked for days together of what we should do when we got out there. at last we began to think that it was very hard we should have to wait till we had grown big fellows like those at the head of the school, and tony proposed that we should start away by ourselves. we looked at the map, and considered how we could best accomplish our object. we observed the mighty river amazon rising at no great distance--so it seemed on paper--from quito itself, and running right across the continent into the atlantic. "will it not be fun paddling up by ourselves in a canoe!" exclaimed tony. "we will have guns to go on shore and shoot birds and beasts; and when we grow tired of paddling we will sail along before the wind; and we will have a tent, and sleep in it at night, and light a fire in front of it to cook our suppers and keep off the wild beasts; and then, when we arrive at the upper end of the river, we will sell our canoe to the indians, and trudge away on foot with knapsacks on our backs up the mountains, till we reach your father's house; and will not he be astonished to see us!" i agreed with him in his last idea certainly, but i was puzzled to think how we were to reach the mouth of the amazon, and when we were there how we were to procure canoe. all the rest appeared pretty easy in the way tony proposed it, and, after all, even on a big map, the river did not look so very long. "well, my idea is," said tony, "that we should save up all our pocket-money, and then, some day when we have got very hard lessons to do, or anything disagreeable takes place, run off, and get aboard a ship sailing to south america. i should not mind being cabin-boy for a short time; and as you know spanish and indian, you could tell the captain you would interpret for him, and of course he would be very glad to have you; and then, you know, we should soon learn to be sailors; and it will be much pleasanter climbing about the rigging and up the masts and along the yards than sitting at our desks all day bothering our heads with caesar and ovid and sums and history and geography, and all that sort of thing." "but i have not got caesar and ovid to do yet," i observed; "and i want to have a little more schooling; for uncle james says i shall not be fit for anything until i do. do not you think we had better wait till i get into your class, or rather higher still?" tony said he was much disappointed at my drawing back, which he argued i was doing when i made these remarks. however, i spoke in perfect sincerity, and fully believed that i should enjoy the adventure he proposed just as much as he would. i had my doubts, however, whether we should receive so favourable a reception at the end of our journey as he supposed. however, he continued talking and talking about the matter, till i agreed to consider what could be done during another half. i spent my first holidays in london at uncle james's, and my brother john came there, and i was surprised to find what a big fellow he was. we were very good friends, and he took me out to see a number of the sights of london. we went, among other places, to exeter change, where there were all sorts of wild beasts. i had no idea until then that there were so many in the world. i was highly interested, and learned the names of nearly all of them; and john told me where they had come from, and all about their habits. then uncle james gave me a book of natural history, which i read with great delight. i found by the book that the beasts i had seen at exeter change were only a very small number of those which exist in different parts of the world. i liked that book of natural history better than any i had ever read; except, perhaps, "robinson crusoe," which tony had lent me, and which he said was the best book that ever was written. i thus gained a very considerable knowledge of the quadrupeds and the feathered tribes of the animal kingdom, and uncle james said he thought some day i should become a first-rate naturalist, if i had opportunities of studying the creatures in their native wild. i resolved the next summer holidays, which were to be spent in the country, to catch as many of the creatures as i could, and form a menagerie of my own. i should say i had not told john of the plan tony and i had in contemplation--of exploring the amazon by ourselves. i thought, from some of his remarks, that he possibly might not approve of it. i soon got tired of london, after i had seen the usual sights, though i was glad to be with my mother and ellen and my cousins. john also was very kind, but he was such a big fellow that i stood in as much awe of him as i did of my uncle. i was not sorry, therefore, to find myself at school with companions of my own age. as the weather was very cold, tony and i agreed that we would put off our expedition till the summer, and in the meantime we talked of the menagerie i proposed making, and other subjects of equal importance, which prevented us thinking about the former matter. i had a good many friends among my school-fellows. arthur mallet, next to tony, was my chief friend. he was by several months my junior--a delicate, gentle boy, amiable, sensible, and clever. he was liked by the masters as well as by the boys, and that is saying much in his favour. poor fellow, notwithstanding this he was frequently out of spirits. i asked him one day why he looked so sad. he was silent for some minutes. "i will tell you, harry," he said at length. "i am thinking of my mother. she is dying. i know it, for she told me so. she never deceived me. when she has gone i shall have no one to care for me--and--and--harry, i shall have to depend on the charity of strangers for support. she urged me to work hard, that i might be independent; but it will be a long time before i can become so. for myself i do not so much mind, but it troubles my mother greatly; and then to have her die--though i know she is going to heaven--i cannot bear the thought." he said more in the same style. "and then, should my father come back--oh, what will he do!" he added. "i thought from what you said that you had no father," i remarked. "where is he then, arthur?" "that is what i do not know," he answered. "do not speak about it to any one, harry. he went away a long time ago, on account of something that had happened. he could not bear to stay in england. but he was not to blame. that is all i know. he could not take her with him; and my grandmother and aunts with whom she was left died, and their fortune was lost; and what she has now got is only for her life, and that troubles her also greatly." i tried as well as i could to comfort arthur, and after this felt more than ever anxious to stand by him an a friend. "i may some day be able to help him," i thought--but i did not tell him so. our friendship had been disinterested, and thus i wished it to remain. i said that i had many friends at school, but there were some few whom i looked upon in a contrary light; especially one big boy, houlston, of whom all the little ones were dreadfully afraid. he used to make us do anything that seized his fancy, and if we ventured to refuse, often thrashed us. poor arthur mallet frequently came in for his ill-treatment, and bore it, we all thought, with far too much patience. at last tony and i and a few other fellows agreed that we would stand it no longer. one day houlston and one of the upper form boys, who was younger than himself, had a dispute. we thought that he was going to thrash the other fellow; but the latter standing up in his own defence, houlston walked off, not venturing, as we supposed, to encounter him. this, of course, gave us courage. a few day afterwards tony was reading, when houlston, coming by, seized his book, saying he wanted it. tony watched his opportunity, and snatching it up, made off out of the school-room, through the play-ground into a yard on one side, which, not being overlooked by any of the windows from the house, was the usual place for pugilistic encounters. houlston followed. i saw arthur mallet and several of those who had promised to side with us standing near. arthur joined us, though somewhat unwillingly. we made chase. tony, who had fled to the yard, was at length overtaken by his pursuer, who began hitting him over the head and shoulders. i signed to my companions, and making a spring, jumped on houlston's back and began belabouring him with might and main. i shouted to the others to come on and attack him on either side. he was furious, and struck out right and left at them; but i, clinging pertinaciously to his back, prevented his blows having due effect. my companions on this closed in, and two of them seizing him by the legs, down he came, with me still clinging to his back. the rest now threw themselves upon him. handkerchiefs were brought out, and in spite of his struggles they managed to tie his arms behind him, while i kept him down. though he kicked out furiously, by jumping on his body we succeeded in securing his legs, and we thus had him in our power. it was in the evening of a half-holiday. on one side of the yard was a wood-shed. into this we dragged him. astonishment and the efforts he made to free himself had prevented him from shouting for help. before he had uttered a cry, rawlings, one of the biggest of our party, running up, shoved a handkerchief into his mouth, which completely gagged him. we then all ran away, leaving him without compunction in the dark and cold. assembling again in the school-room, we agreed to leave him till somebody coming by might release him. tea-time came, and houlston did not make his appearance. i began to grow anxious, and communicated my fears to arthur, who sat next to me. still he did not come. tea was over. at last arthur entreated that we would go and ascertain what was the matter. it was now quite dark. i remember quite well the uncomfortable feeling i had, as, stealing out, we groped our way in the dark to the yard. on approaching the wood-house we heard a groan. could it proceed from houlston? my heart beat more tranquilly, though, for the groan showed that he was alive. we crept in. he was where we had left him; but his hands were icy cold. i bethought me first of withdrawing the handkerchief from his mouth. some of the fellows proposed leaving him again. "oh no, no; pray don't do that!" exclaimed arthur. "perhaps he will promise to give up bullying if we agree to cast him loose." "you hear that, houlston?" said tony. "will you become a good fellow and treat the little chaps properly, or will you spend the night out here?" houlston only grumbled out some words which we could not understand. at last we heard him say, "what is it you want?" it was evident from his tone that he was greatly humbled. that is not surprising, for he must have been very cold and very hungry, and tony repeated the question. "he will not promise. we must put the gag in again," said two or three of the other fellows. "will you promise?" asked tony again. "oh, do let him go!" again exclaimed arthur, whose kind heart was moved by the pitiable condition of our captive. "he will promise--i know he will; and i do not mind if he bullies me ever so much. we should think any one very cruel who kept us out in the cold as we have kept him. i am sure that he will promise what we ask--won't you, houlston?" "no, he will not," said another boy. "he will have a couple of hours to wait till the names are called over, and perhaps somebody will then come and look for him. he will be much colder by that time." "oh yes, i will promise!" cried houlston. "let me go, and i will not bully you little fellows any more. just try me. and i will remember what mallet said--he has more feeling than any of you; i did not expect him to have spoken as he has, for i treated him always worse than any of you." "you promise, on your word of honour," said tony; "and you will not go and complain of us? you must promise that too." houlston was completely humbled. he promised all we demanded. "we may trust to his word. i am sure we may!" exclaimed arthur. "oh, do let us loose him!" "thank you, mallet. thank you, faithful. i am much obliged to you," whispered houlston, as arthur undid the handkerchief which bound his wrists. the others were in the meantime casting off those round his legs. we lifted him up, for he was so numbed and chilled that he could not walk. arthur had brought a slice of bread and butter doubled up in his pocket. he offered it to houlston, who took it gratefully. his clothes, i felt, were covered with chips of wood and dust. we brushed him with our hands as well as we could in the dark, and then led him back into the playroom, where the boys were collecting after tea. i watched him narrowly, fearing mat he might tell some of the big fellows what had happened; but he went to his box without speaking to any one, and then taking up his books, proceeded to the school-room to learn his lessons for the next day. we kept our counsel, and were convinced that houlston wisely kept his, for not a word did he utter to any of his companions of what had occurred. from that day forward he was generally kind and good-natured, and especially so to arthur mallet. he helped him in his lessons, and was constantly making him presents of such things as boys prize, though older people may not set much value on them. though he might lose his temper with others, he never did so with arthur, and always seemed anxious to show his friendly feeling in a variety of ways. i have seldom seen a fellow so greatly changed for the better as houlston became, owing, i believe, greatly to the way arthur had pleaded his cause when the rest of us seemed inclined to revenge ourselves still further than we had already done. i should not have mentioned the circumstance, except for the sake of the moral it taught me. there is an old saying, that when a bull runs at you the best way of escaping him is to seize him by the horns; and from the manner we overcame houlston, i am convinced of the wisdom of the advice. ever since, when a difficulty has occurred, i have seized it boldly, grappled with it as we grappled with houlston, summoned up all my courage, resolution, and strength, just as tony and i called our companions to our assistance, and dragged it, metaphorically speaking, to the ground, gagged it as we gagged the bully, and not let it loose again till i have been convinced that it would no longer trouble me. again, when i have had any difficult thing to do, i have done it at once, or tried my best to do it. i have never put off a disagreeable thing which i may have had to do till another day. i have got it over as soon as possible, whatever it may have been. i have generally found that the anticipation is worse than the reality. i cannot understand what made houlston take to bullying; and i must say after this he showed much good feeling, and became a firm friend both to tony and me, not appearing to harbour any ill-feeling for the way we had treated him. i must hurry over my school-boy days. i was not able to carry out my plan of the menagerie the next summer. my uncle, instead of going to his country house, took us all to the sea-side. i, however, on that occasion picked up a good deal of knowledge about vessels and boats, and fish, and marine animals; and instead of a menagerie we had an aquarium, into which we used to put the small fish and other creatures we caught in the pools on the rocks. i was making an important step in the study of natural history--gaining the custom of observing the habits of creatures. the following year i carried out my long-intended plan, having induced one of my cousins to join me in it. we made several cages and boxes; and among our captives we numbered a couple of rabbits, a weasel, hedgehog, ferret, and stoat, with a number of pigeons and other birds, and, i may add, three or four snakes. we caught a viper-- or, as it is frequently called, an adder--the only venomous creature which exist in england; but my uncle objected to our keeping it alive, though he consented to its being turned into a bottle of spirits. we killed another, and cut off its head to observe its poisonous fangs. on dissecting the head, we found that the fangs exist on either side of the upper jaw, in which they lie down flat towards the throat. they are on hinges, the roots connected with little bags of poison. when the creature is irritated and about to bite, these fangs rise up. they are hollow, with small orifices at their points. when biting, the roots of the fangs are pressed against the bags of poison, which thus exudes through the orifices and enters the wound they make. all venomous serpents are provided with fangs, but in the jaws of some species the fangs, instead of lying down, are always erect, ready for action. the nature of the poison varies in different species. the poison of some produces paralysis; that of others causes the body when bitten to swell and become putrid. the venom of some is so powerful that it rapidly courses through the veins and destroys life in a few minutes; that of others makes much slower progress. the english viper, or adder, has but a small quantity of poison in its bag, and its bite rarely produces death. some of the smallest snakes, in tropical climes, are the most venomous. however, i shall by-and-by have a good deal to say on the subject. from what i have mentioned, it will be understood that i had already got a taste for and some insight into natural history, and when i returned to school i was able to discourse very learnedly on the subject. this made tony more anxious to carry out our long-projected undertaking. still, as we were very well treated at school, we had no excuse for running away, and put it off from day to day. at length, in truth, we began to grow wiser, and look at it in a different light. tony, indeed, one day confided his plan to houlston. "well, when you make up your mind to go, just tell me," said houlston. "what i would you go with us?" exclaimed tony. "that would be capital. with a big fellow like you we should be able to make our way anywhere." "not exactly that," was the answer. "i'll tell you what i should do, nyass. as soon as i found that you had started, i should make chase after you and bring you back. depend upon it, it would be the best mark of friendship i could show you! time enough by-and-by--when you have gone through school and been at college, and got a little more knowledge than you now possess in your heads--to start on such an expedition. i have a great notion that i should like to do something of the sort myself; so, if you ever start on an expedition to south america or any other part of the world, find me out if you can, and let me know, and then perhaps i shall be ready to accompany you." these sensible remarks of houlston put tony completely off his purpose, and we finally agreed to follow the advice of our school-fellow, and wait patiently till we had finished our studies. in the meantime i should say that my mother had rejoined my father at quito. when i first came to england i thought that the time when i should leave school was a very long way off. it seemed like a dream when i found myself at last a big fellow of sixteen at the commencement of the summer holidays. there was ellen, almost a grown-up young lady-- in my eyes, at all events--and john, who had been in uncle james's counting-house in london, a man with big whiskers. "well, harry," said uncle james, "would you like to go back to school, or accompany john and ellen to south america? your father wishes to have john's assistance, and perhaps you also can make yourself useful." although by this time i found school a far pleasanter place than when i was a little boy, yet, as may be supposed, i did not take long to decide. "i will accompany john," i said without hesitation. "we shall have to part with you soon, then, i am sorry to say," observed my uncle; "for captain byles, who still commands the _inca_, is about to sail for guayaquil. in consequence of the emancipation of the spanish south american provinces from the iron yoke of the mother country, their ports are now free, and ships of all nations can trade to them, which was not the case when you came home. captain byles has twice before been to the pacific, and we have resolved to send the _inca_ there again. he will be very glad to have you as passenger. you must lose no time, therefore, in getting ready." i replied very honestly that i was sorry to leave him and aunt and cousins; but, at the same time, i could not help feeling delighted at the thought of again seeing my father and mother and fanny, and revisiting the magnificent scenes which had made so deep an impression upon my mind, besides being able to indulge on a large scale in the study of the natural history of that wonderful region. i did not forget my friends, tony and arthur mallet, and as soon as i had time i sat down and wrote to them both. at the end of a week i received the following reply from tony:-- "dear harry,--your letter threw me into a state of wild commotion. you to be actually starting for the country we have so often talked about, while, as far as i could see, i was destined to stick quietly at a desk in my father's counting-house. after thinking the matter over, however, and recollecting how kind and considerate he has always been, i determined to show him your letter, and tell him frankly of my long-cherished wish to go abroad. he talked to me a good deal to ascertain whether i was in earnest. `i did not wish to send you from me,' he said at last; `but i will now tell you that a few months ago i received a letter from a cousin of mine who has lately established a house of business at para in brazil, requesting me to send out two steady lads as clerks, adding that he should be very glad to receive a son of mine if i could spare him.' i jumped at the idea; for though i should have liked to have gone out with you, harry, yet, as i have no means of doing that, i am delighted to go to para, because, as it is at the mouth of the amazon, it is the very place of all others i should have chosen. it is where we proposed going to when we used to talk of our expedition up the mighty river, and perhaps, after all, we may be able somehow or other to realise those wild fancies of our early days. to be sure, when i come to measure off the distance on the map, which we did not then think of doing, i find that quito and para are a tremendous long way apart. still, perhaps some day or other we may be able to accomplish a meeting. at all events, i told my father that i was willing to accept our cousin's offer, and at the same time i put in a word for houlston, from whom i had heard a few days before, telling me that he was looking about for something to do, and ready to do anything or go anywhere. he has no parents, or brothers or sisters, or any tie to keep him in england. i showed his letter to my father, and told him that he was a big, strong fellow, and that though i did not much like him when i was a little fellow, he was greatly improved. my father on this said he would send for him, and should he possess the necessary qualifications, he should be very glad to recommend him for the appointment. houlston came, and as he writes well, and is a good hand at arithmetic, and has a fair amount of knowledge on other matters, my father told me that he would recommend him for the appointment. the long and short of the matter is, that houlston and i are to go up to london with my father in a few days, to get our outfits, and to secure a passage by the first vessel sailing for para or the nearest port to it in brazil. we shall meet, harry, and we will then talk matters over, and, i hope, strike out some plan by which we may be able to carry out our early designs, although perhaps not in the same way we formerly proposed. houlston sends his kind regards to you, and says he shall be very happy to meet you again _adeos, meu amigo_--that is, good-bye, my friend. i have lost no time in beginning to learn portuguese, which is the language the brazilians speak, and i intend to work hard at it on the voyage, so as to be able to talk away in a fashion when i land.-- your sincere old friend, antony nyass." i was very glad to get this letter, but was much disappointed at not hearing from arthur. another day's post, however, brought me a letter from him. i should have said that he had left school three months before, and that i had not since heard from him. his letter was a very sad one. i gathered from it that what he had dreaded had come to pass. his mother was dead, and he was left almost destitute, though he tried to hide from me as much as possible the fact of his poverty. i at once made up my mind what to do. i took the letter to my uncle, told him all about arthur, and entreated that he might be sent out with us in the _inca_. "i will answer for it that he will amply repay all the kindness he may receive," i added. uncle james said that he would consider the matter, and in the course of the day told me, to my great satisfaction, that i might write to mallet and invite him to come up to town. arthur lost no time in obeying the summons. my uncle was much pleased with him, and arthur gratefully accepted the proposal that he should accompany us to quito. two days afterwards tony and houlston arrived in london. a ship for para was on the point of sailing. they had therefore to hurry on their preparations. they spent the evening with us at my uncle's, and john told me that he liked houlston very well, and hoped some day to see him again. tony he thought a capital fellow--so enthusiastic and warm-hearted, yet not wanting in sense; but arthur, as i knew he would, he liked better than either. tony brought with him a beautiful black cocker spaniel. "here, harry, i want you to accept this fellow as a keepsake from me," he said, leading the dog up to me. "pat him on the head, call him true, and tell him you are going to be his master, and he will understand you. he can do everything but talk; but though he does not often give tongue, he is as brave as a lion." i warmly thanked tony for his gift as i patted true, who jumped up and licked my hand. "but you want a dog for yourself. i scarcely like to take him from you," i said. "set your mind at rest; i have his brother--whom i left at our lodgings--his equal in most respects, if not quite so great a beauty," he answered. "you will excuse me, i know. i have called my dog `faithful,' after you. as i cannot have you with me, i wanted something to remind me of you; and faithful i am sure he will prove to me, as yours will prove true to you." i thanked tony for his kind feeling for me, and assured him that i considered it a compliment that he had called his dog after me. true was indeed a beauty--a welsh cocker--somewhat larger than usual perhaps. he came up in his moral qualities to all tony had said about him. he took to me at once, and a true friend he ever proved. we accompanied our friends aboard their ship, which was a portuguese, called the _vasco da gama_. she was a fine large vessel. the crew were small and swarthy, but active-looking fellows, most of them wearing long red caps on their heads, and blue or pink-striped shirts, with knives stuck in their girdles. they jabbered and shouted tremendously as they got under weigh. tony and houlston stood on the poop bidding us farewell. "we shall meet, harry! we shall meet!" tony cried out. "good-bye, harry; good-bye, arthur; good-bye, old fellows!" "perhaps we shall overtake you on the voyage!" shouted john. "not much fear of that," answered houlston. we were soon too far off to exchange further words, though we could hear the voices of the crew even when we had got to a considerable distance from the ship. chapter two. outward bound. nearly a week after this we were on board the _inca_, silently gliding down the thames, the only voices heard on board being that of the pilot or the officers who repeated his orders. we had a quick run down channel, and captain byles said he should not be surprised if, after all, we should reach the equator before the portuguese ship. i found that several of the crew had been on board when i came to england, sam the black cook among the number. he was the only one, however, who remembered ellen and me. i inquired after my old friend the goat. "what! you remember her, massa harry!" exclaimed sam. "dat good. goat gone to live on shore; eat fresh grass instead of hay!" he was well pleased to find that i had remembered the dumb animal, and still more so that i had not forgotten him. sam told me that he had become a christian since i had seen him. i told him i thought that he was so then. "berry different, massa harry, between what is called christian and real christian. one night i was on shore, and not knowing where i go, i turn into small chapel where a man talk to de people, and i heard him say, `god lubs you!' he lubs bad man and bad woman, and black man, and brown man, and white man all de same. him pure, holy god, and no bad, impure, unholy person dwell wid him; and all men ever born unholy, impure, and so dey must all be punished. but he say he let one be punished for de oders, and so him sent his son into de world to suffer for dem, and dat ebery one who trust dat son, and lub him, go free, and come and live wid him for ever and ever. you ask how dat is. hear god's words: `god so loved de world dat he gave his only-begotten son, dat whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.' oh, he is a kind, good, merciful god! him hear de prayers of all who come unto him. him no want any one to say prayers for dem; but dey may come boldly t'rough jesus christ, and he hear black man pray, and brown man pray, and leetle child pray, just as well as learned white man; and so when i hear dis i say, `dat just de god for me;' and so i go to de minister-- dat is de man who was preaching--and he tell me a great deal more; and i go ebery day i was ashore, and now i bery happy, because i know dat when i die dere is one who has taken my sins upon himself, who was punished instead of me who paid de great debt i owed to god." i have tried to give sam's remarks as nearly as i can in his words. they made a great impression on me; for before i must own that i did not understand god's simple plan of salvation. sam had a bible, which he was constantly reading, and delighted to explain to the crew. he had gained considerable influence with them, and though many were careless, and did not listen to him, all treated him with respect. captain byles spoke in very high terms of sam, who had, i found, been the means of bringing home the truth to him. he had prayers every day, when the weather permitted, in his cabin, and a service on the sunday for the whale of the crew, while i never heard a harsh or wrong expression escape his lips. "you t'ink, massa harry, perhaps, i go into dat chapel by chance," observed sam to me one day; "now i t'ink dere is no such t'ing as chance. god orders everyt'ing. he sees us all day and all night long, and orders all for de best." i agreed with sam, and i may say that i never forgot the lessons i received from him. i found great pleasure in listening to him while he read the bible and explained it in his own somewhat curious way, as far as language was concerned. i had before been accustomed to read the bible as a task, but i now took to reading it with satisfaction and profit. from others of the crew i learned a good deal of seamanship, especially how to knot and splice,--an art which i found afterwards very useful. we had been several weeks from england, and had thus far carried the fine weather with us, when clouds appeared in the horizon which soon began to rush in dense masses over the sky. the sea, hitherto so calm, tossed and foamed, and the wind howled and shrieked through the rigging. i asked the captain if he thought we were going to have a severe gale. "it looks very like it," he answered, "but we must do our best and trust in god. once i used to think that while i was doing my best, god was fighting against me, but now, harry, i see it the other way. it is a great thing to feel that the all-powerful who rules the world is with us. it makes a man far happier and more courageous." the crew had gone aloft to furl the sails, and the ship was soon under her three closely-reefed topsails. still the wind increased, and the seas rose up on either side as if they would overwhelm her. the night was coming on. the captain held a consultation with his mates. the first mate and one of the best hands went to the helm. the main and mizzen-topsails were furled, the helm was put up, and the ship was kept away before the wind. the huge seas followed close astern, roaring and hissing after us. arthur and i had remained on deck. "i must beg you to go below," said the captain; "for if one of these seas was to break on board, you might be swept off, and no one could save you." still, i was very unwilling to obey. john, however, coming on deck, saw the danger we were in, and pulled us down the hatchway. we found ellen in the cabin kneeling at the table with maria at her side. she had the bible open, though it was a difficult matter to read by the flickering light of the lamp, which swung backwards and forwards. still, every now and then, by keeping her finger on a verse, she was able to catch a few words; while maria, with her large eyes wide open fixed on her young mistress, was listening eagerly to what she said. so engaged were they, that neither of them observed our entrance. now ellen stopped, and i heard her lifting up her voice in prayer for the safety of the ship and all on board. john and i, making our way to the other side of the table, knelt down likewise. though she saw us she did not stop. we remained thus for some time, when a shout from the deck reached us. i could not help rushing up again. john followed me. during the few minutes we had been below the darkness had increased, but at that instant a vivid flash of lightning bursting from the sky, showed a large ship ahead of us. we were running on towards her. again all was darkness, and i expected to hear the fearful crash of the two ships meeting. again another flash, followed by a fearful peal of thunder, lighted up the atmosphere. the ship was no longer there, but an object floating on the foaming waves. it was a boat full of people. it seemed impossible that she could live many moments in so fearful a sea. presently i saw our crew running with ropes to the side. already the stern of the boat was sinking beneath the waves. there was a thundering sound, as if a big gun had been fired. our foresail had burst from the bolt-ropes. we rushed on close to the boat. john, arthur, and i sprang to the side. several persons were clinging to the ropes which had been thrown over to them. we assisted in hauling them up. a sea struck us at that moment, and two were washed away. three others clung on, and were partly hauled and partly washed on board; while a dog which was swimming near them was lifted up by a wave and let directly down on the deck. we and they had to cling to the bulwarks to save ourselves from being carried off to leeward. one of our men, who had let go his hold while assisting the strangers, was carried off by the rush of water across the deck, and before any one could help him, he was seen struggling amid the foaming billows astern. on flew the _inca_ over the spot where the ship had just before been seen. we managed to drag the strangers to the companion hatch, and, with the assistance of sam, carried them below, followed by the dog which had been so curiously saved with them. true, when he entered the cabin, instead of barking, ran up to him wagging his tail and showing every sign of pleasure. i observed how like the two animals were to each other. the mystery was soon solved. the officers and crew remained on deck to bend another sail. as the light of the lamp fell on the features of the first person we got into the cabin, what was my astonishment to recognise my old friend tony nyass. his surprise at seeing me was equally great. "is houlston saved?" were the first words he uttered. "he was close to me!" "yes, all right!" exclaimed a young man, who, helped by sam, tottered into the cabin. it was houlston himself, though i should not have known him, so pale and scared did he look. the third was one of the mates of the portuguese ship. "and faithful, too," cried tony, kneeling down and embracing his dog. "my old fellow, i am indeed very glad you have escaped." faithful seemed as well pleased as his master; and true knew him at once, and welcomed him by leaping up to lick his face, though as he did so the ship gave a tremendous roll, and over he tumbled to the other side of the cabin. i need not say how thankful we were that the lives of our old school-fellows had been preserved. they were shivering with cold, so, taking them into our cabin, we got off their wet clothes and put them to bed. tony then told me that after the commencement of the gale, the ship had sprung a leak, and that though the crew had behaved very well, and stood manfully to the pumps, the water could not be got under. when it was found that the ship must go down, the boats were prepared. he and houlston, with the second mate and several of the crew, had got into one of them, and shoved clear of the ship just as she sank; but the other, he was afraid, had been immediately overwhelmed; indeed, it seemed scarcely possible that any boat could have lived many minutes in the heavy sea then running. it was wonderful that the boat he was in had remained long enough afloat to allow our ship to get near her. during the whole of that night the hurricane blew as hard as ever, we continuing to run before it. every moment i expected to hear that the ship had sprung a leak, and that we should have to share the fate of the unfortunate _vasco da gama_. we were dreadfully knocked about. our bulwarks were stove in, and two of our boats carried away. we lost our topmasts, and received other damage; but the stout old ship still battled bravely with the seas. as the morning broke the wind began to abate. by noon the sun was shining brightly, and the sea had gone much down. "perhaps, after all," observed tony, "we shall go round the cape with you to quito, and then have to find our way down the amazon to para, as i suppose that will then be the shortest road there." "i am afraid, young gentleman, you would find that a very long road," observed captain byles. "as the ship requires repairs, i must run into rio de janeiro, and from thence you will more easily get to para, though i should have been very happy to have had your company round cape horn." tony was much disappointed on hearing this. we had still a long run before us, and the prospect of tony and houlston's company on board for many days. the portuguese mate, mr lima, had friends at para, and he undertook to assist houlston and tony in getting there. he was a very well-mannered, amiable man, and as he spoke a little english, we were able to converse together. he gave me much information regarding the brazils, which is by far the largest country in south america. although a very small portion only is cultivated, it is also the richest both in vegetable and mineral wealth. he told me of its magnificent forests, its plantations of coffee and tobacco, and certain of its valleys, in some of which gold in abundance is found, and in others diamonds of extraordinary value. "what do you say, harry--shall we go and hunt for them?" exclaimed tony when he heard this. mr lima laughed. "the government are too wide-awake to allow you to do that," he observed. "no one is allowed to go into that part of the country except those employed in collecting the diamonds; but i will tell you one thing, it is the poorest part of the brazils. if the same number of people who are engaged in collecting the diamonds were employed in cultivating the waste ground, the country would, i believe, be far richer. however, perhaps my friends here may obtain permission to visit the mines, and if so, i dare say they will some day give you an account of them." of course tony said he would do so. if he was fortunate enough to get there. when the weather grew fine we passed our time very pleasantly, for we had a number of interesting books, especially of natural history, in which we old school-fellows fortunately took great delight. houlston and tony had agreed to make collections of objects of natural history when they were settled at para, and as they had lost all their own books, i gave them some of mine, as there was little prospect of their getting any at rio de janeiro--so the captain told us. at length one morning, just at sunrise, when i went on deck to enjoy the cool air, i heard the shout of "land!" and looking out, i saw a line of blue mountains rising out of the water. the breeze carried us quickly towards them, and in a short time we could distinguish a lofty height, shaped like a sugar-loaf, which stands at the south side of the entrance into the harbour of rio. a little to the left rose three peaks, which mr lima, the portuguese mate, called the _tres irmaos_, or the "three brothers," with the lofty peak of corcovado a little further south. on the right of the entrance we could distinguish the white walls of the fortress of santa cruz, which commands it, with another range of mountains rising above it, and terminating in a bold, lofty promontory, known as cape frio, while far beyond towered up the blue outline of the distant organ mountains. we sailed on, passing between the lofty heights i have described, being hailed, as we glided under the frowning guns of santa cruz, by a stentorian voice, with various questions as to who we were, whence we came, our object in entering the port, to all of which captain byles replied through his speaking-trumpet. it would be difficult to describe the beautiful scene in which we now found ourselves,--curious-shaped canoes and boats of all rigs, manned by half-naked blacks, sailing about, and a number of vessels at anchor in the vast harbour; numerous white forts, backed by picturesque hills rising above them, covered with the richest verdure, and villages peeping forth here and there in beautiful little bays; while higher up the bay the vast city appeared, extending for miles along its irregular shore, and running back almost to the foot of the tijuca mountains, with hills and heights in every direction. in the midst of this scene we dropped our anchor under the frowning fortress of villegagnon, the first castle erected by europeans in that region. i cannot hope to convey by words a correct idea of the beauty of the scenery or the magnificence of the harbour. all visitors agree that it is one of the finest in the world. we went on shore, and were very kindly received by an english merchant--the correspondent of the house to which the _inca_ belonged. john and i were anxious to help tony and houlston as far as we had the power, but our new friend undertook to supply their wants, and to enable them to reach para by the first vessel sailing for that port. i will not attempt to describe rio fully. it is a large city, with heights rising about in various parts, covered with buildings. most of the streets are very narrow, the architecture very unlike anything i had seen in england. numbers of priests; gangs of slaves, carrying loads; ladies in black hoods reaching to the feet, called mantilhas; gentlemen in cloaks; soldiers on foot and on horseback, were moving about in all directions. we made a few interesting excursions in the neighbourhood of the city, and several expeditions about the bay. captain byles was, of course, anxious to proceed on his voyage, and therefore used all expedition in getting the ship ready for sea. we, however, had time to make one long excursion with our new friend to the organ mountains, which we could see from the bay in the far distance. i was sorry that ellen could not go, as it was considered that the trip would be too fatiguing for her. we sailed up to the head of the bay for many miles in a pleasure-vessel belonging to our friend, sleeping on board the first night. early the next morning we started on mules towards the mountains. the air was most delicious, pure, though warm, and the scenery very beautiful, as we made our way among heights covered with a great variety of tropical trees and creepers bearing magnificent flowers. among them were the tall, gently-curved palmetto, elegant tree ferns, unsurpassed by any of their neighbours in beauty, fuchsias in their native glory, passion-flowers, and wild vines, hanging in graceful festoons, and orchids with their brilliant red spikes. as we passed through the valley we saw directly before us the mountains we were about to visit, and from their shape we agreed that they were well called the organ mountains; for as we then saw them, the centre height especially wore the appearance of a huge organ. "a grand instrument that," said tony, "such as i suppose an angel might choose to sound forth the music of the spheres." we wound our way up amid the tame beautiful and wild scenery till we reached the summit, whence we enjoyed a magnificent view over the surrounding country, with rio and the blue ocean in the far distance. we had not come without provisions, nor had the scenery taken away our appetites. we had also brought our guns, and led by our friend, we started off on foot in search of game. we had gone some distance, when, as we were approaching one of the numerous pools of dear water which are found even in the higher parts of the organ mountains, our friend stopped us and pointed towards a large tree, beneath the shade of whose wide-spreading boughs lay a creature apparently asleep. at first i thought he was a large horse or hornless cow, but as we crept closer to it, and could see the shape of its head, i discovered that it was a very different animal. "that is a tapir--the largest wild animal we have in south america," whispered our friend. as we approached the animal got up and looked about. we remained perfectly quiet, to examine it at leisure. it appeared to be nearly four feet in height, and perhaps six in length, the colour a deep brown, almost black. it had a stiff mane, and a very short stumpy tail, while its body appeared destitute of hair. it was not so, however, as i afterwards found; but the hair could not be perceived in consequence of being closely depressed to the surface. its legs were short and thick, and its feet of great size. the head was unlike that of any other animal i had ever seen. it was very long, and the upper lip or snout was lengthened into a kind of proboscis, which looked as if it might grow up into the trunk of an elephant. we were to leeward of the animal, but it quickly discovered us, and began to move off, when faithful and true rushed forward, barking vehemently. houlston fired, but the shot bounded off the tapir's thick shield-like hide, and away it went dashing through the dense underwood with a force which broke down the shrubs opposing its progress. we had great difficulty in getting back our brave little dogs. they returned at length, panting with their exertions. fortunately the tapir was frightened, or they would have found him more than a match for them. our friend told us that it has four toes on its front feet, and three on the hinder ones, cased with horn. it manages with its flexible upper lip to tear away the leaves and to pick up the water-melons and gourds which it finds when it goes forth at night in search of food. however, it is in no way particular, being almost as omnivorous as the hog. its senses of smell and hearing are very acute. its eyes, though, are small and its ears short. its voice is a shrill kind of whistle, such as one would not expect to proceed from an animal of such massive bulk. it is extremely fond of the water, and delights in floundering about in the mud. it can swim and dive also admirably, and will often remain underneath the surface for many minutes together, and then rising for a fresh supply of air, plunge down again. it indeed appears to be almost as amphibious as the hippopotamus, and has consequently been called _hippopotamus terrestris_. we all laughed at houlston's ill success. it was the first attempt, i believe, he had ever made at shooting. "the aim was not bad though," observed tony, "and if the hide had been soft, the shot would have gone into it." "it was a good large object, however, to aim at," said john. "a bullet would have been more effectual in bringing the creature to the ground." "i am not quite so certain of that," observed our friend, "for its tough hide is almost bullet-proof." houlston stood our bantering very good-naturedly, and managed in the course of the day to bring down a couple of birds. "you see, i improve by practice," he observed; "and one of these days i may turn out a dead-shot." i have described the tapir here as it was the first i met, but i afterwards had better opportunities of observing the animal. as soon as our mules had rested we commenced our return, as our friend could not be long absent from rio. we were at length once more on board the _inca_. tony and houlston expected to start with the portuguese mate for the north in the course of two or three days, and they promised to send me an account of their adventures as soon as possible on their arrival at para. the _inca_ appeared once more in fit trim to encounter any storm we might meet with in our passage round cape horn. at first the weather was very lovely; but as we were running down the coast of patagonia a heavy gale sprang up from the southward, which threatened to drive us back again. fortunately a sheltering bay was near at hand. running into it, the ship was brought to an anchor, and we there lay as calmly as if no storm was raging without. the country, however, was wild and desolate in appearance. i should have thought no human beings would have been found on it, but on looking through our glasses we observed a number moving about, some on horseback, others on foot, apparently watching us. "are you inclined to go on bore, gentlemen?" said the captain to us. of course we replied yes. ellen begged that she might go likewise. we objected, fearing that she might be exposed to danger. "she will be perfectly safe," answered captain byles; "for though the people on shore are not very prepossessing, i have always found them perfectly harmless. we will, however, carry our muskets, and the crew shall be armed likewise." we were soon on shore, proceeding over the rough ground towards the natives. they seeing ellen and maria in our midst, advanced without fear. they halted, however, at a little distance from us, when we put out our hands and walked towards them. they were big, stout men of a brown complexion, with long black hair hanging down their necks. their only dress consisted of skins fastened across their shoulders, leaving bare their enormous limbs. when we put out our hands they put out theirs. "good day, my friends," said captain byles. "good day," exclaimed the savages in almost the same tone. "hillo! what, do you speak english?" cried arthur. "hillo! what, do you speak english?" echoed the patagonians. "of course i do," answered arthur. "of course i do," said the natives. indeed, whatever words we uttered they repeated. we on this burst into fits of laughter, our new acquaintances doing the same, as if we had uttered a capital joke. they beat us, however, at that, for though we stopped, they continued laughing--ay right heartily. at all events they knew what that meant. friendship was thus speedily established. pointing to their skin tents at no great distance, supported on poles, and in shape like those of gipsies, but rather larger, they seemed to invite us to them. we accordingly accompanied them. in front of the tents sat a number of women. they differed somewhat from the men, by having more ample robes of skin, and their hair bound by fillets round their heads. they were, however, very unprepossessing-looking ladies. they all seemed to regard ellen with looks of astonishment now gazing at her, now at her black attendant, and were evidently discussing among themselves how it was that they were of such different colours. we saw a number of horses scattered about the plain, and several of the men were riding backwards and forwards armed with bows, and having at their backs large quivers full of arrows, and small round shields. the women were broiling meat at fires before the tents. they offered us some, and from the bones and feathers scattered about, we concluded that it was the flesh of the ostrich, which bird inhabits in large numbers the vast plains of patagonia. savage as they looked, they evidently wished to treat us civilly, for they spread some skins on the ground inside one of their tents, and signed to us to take our seats on them. to please them we ate a little of the food they set before us, although i must say their style of cookery was not attractive. after we had sat for some time, they continuing to imitate everything we said or did, we took a stroll round the encampment. we had not gone far when a large grey bird with a long neck and long legs, having three toes on its feet, stalked up to us, and putting out its head, grunted in our faces. arthur and i took off our hats and made it a bow in return, greatly to the amusement of the patagonians, who burst into loud fits of laughter at the joke. we recognised the bird at once as the _rhea americana_, or american ostrich. as we did not retreat, it uttered a sharp hiss, and then poised itself as if it was about to attack us, and so i think it would have done, had not the natives driven it away. it was about five feet high, the neck completely feathered, the back of a dark hue, with the plumes of the wings white. it is said that the male bird takes care of the eggs which several hens lay scattered about on the sand. he sweeps them together with his feet into a hollow, which serves as a nest, sits to hatch them, and accompanies the young till they are able to look after themselves. on such occasions he will attack a man on horseback who approaches his charges, and will leap up and try to kick him. captain byles now told us it was time to return on board. we accordingly shook hands and made our way towards the boat. the people, however, began to assemble round us in considerable numbers. the captain therefore ordered us all to keep together and to hurry on, without, however, showing any signs of fear. i was very thankful, for ellen's sake, when at last we reached the boat in safety. whether the natives had thought of attempting to stop us or not, i do not know. perhaps they only purposed to do us honour by thus accompanying us to the beach. we agreed that though the men at first looked gigantic, yet this was owing probably to their style of dress; and the captain was of opinion that very few of them were much above six feet. he told me that they live chiefly on flesh--that of horses, or emus, or guanacoes (a species of llama), and any other animal they can catch. we did not venture on shore again; and after waiting a few days, once more put to sea. i thought that these natives were about as savage in appearance as any people could be. i discovered, however, shortly afterwards, that there are other people sunk still lower in the scale of humanity. captain byles purposed running through the straits of magellan. just, however, as we were entering them, a strong south westerly gale sprang up, which prevented us from making the attempt. we accordingly stood into a sheltered bay in terra del fuego. the shore looked very inhospitable--dark rocks rose up at a little distance from the water and seemed to form a barrier between the sea and the interior. there were a few trees, all stunted and bending one way as if forced thus by the wind. still, john and arthur and i had a fancy for visiting the shore, in the hope of obtaining some wild fowl. having landed with one of the mates and true, we took our way along the shores of the bay till we arrived at some high rocks. over these we climbed. on descending, we found ourselves on the side of an inlet. we had reached the shore, when heavy showers of snow began to fall, driven against our faces by the sharp wind. we were about, therefore, to turn back, when we saw several figures moving at a little distance. curious to see the natives, which we concluded these were, in spite of the snow we pushed on. we advanced cautiously, keeping a much as possible behind the rocks till we were at a short distance from them. we were thus able to observe them before we were discovered. they were wild-looking savages. their colour was that of mahogany or rusty iron; their dresses, skins loosely wrapped round them and very scanty. one fellow was seated on the side of a canoe with a couple of dogs near him; while a woman, perhaps his wife, sat at a little distance, crouching on the ground, covered by her skin robe. as soon as they discovered us, instead of approaching as the patagonians had done, they sat stupidly gazing at us, lost apparently in astonishment. they did not, however, exhibit any sign of alarm as we walked up to them. at length they got up, shouting out some words and patting their breasts, which we concluded was a sign of friendship. their dogs snarled at true and he barked in return, and i had to hold him tight to prevent his flying at them. perhaps they understood each other better than we did the ill-favoured curs' masters or their masters did us. still the greeting did not sound amicable. the natives were small, thin, and dirty in the extreme. their weapons were bows and arrows. the only habitations we could see were wretched lean-tos, just capable of sheltering them from the wind. having an old clasp-knife in my pocket, i presented it to the chief, who received it with evident signs of satisfaction. as there was no inducement to hold further intercourse with him, we returned by the way we had come, without having seen a single bird near enough to shoot. "yet, harry, those people have souls, destined to live for ever," said arthur, in answer to a remark i made that they were little better than brutes. "don't you think if the gospel were taken to them it would have its never-failing effect? i will speak to captain byles on the subject when we get on board." he did so. long since then several noble christian missionaries visited that benighted region. some perished, but others are still labouring to make known the glad tidings of salvation to the rude inhabitants of patagonia and terra del fuego. finding it impossible to pass through the straits, we had to go round cape horn. a couple of weeks, however, elapsed before we were clear into the pacific. after this we had a quick run, and once more the lofty summits of the cordilleras greeted our eyes. though i was but a young child when i had last seen them, so deep was the impression they had made on me that i recognised them at once. chapter three. a journey across the cordilleras. at length the _inca_ was at anchor off the city of guayaquil. i had a faint recollection of its appearance, with chimborazo's snow-capped dome towering up in the distance. ellen, who had forgotten all about being there, was delighted with the scenery. guayaquil is situated at the mouth of the river guayas--the largest on the pacific coast. on going on shore, however, we were somewhat disappointed, as the buildings, though grand at a distance, have a tumbledown appearance, partly owing to the earthquakes to which they are subjected, and partly to the carelessness of the inhabitants in repairing them. we had great hopes of meeting our father, but his correspondents in the city had not heard from him for some time. the country, we found, was in a very unsettled state, owing to which, probably, he had not come down from quito. we bade farewell to our kind captain and the crew of the _inca_. some time before, peru, chili, and the other spanish provinces of south america had thrown off their allegiance to the mother country, forming themselves into republics. their government, however, especially in the northern provinces, had been as yet far from well established. disturbances were continually occurring, preventing the progress of the country. first one party took up arms to overthrow another in authority, and in a short time those who had been superseded played the same trick to those who had stepped into their places. we lost no time in making preparations for our journey, the first part of which was to be performed on board a boat,--seventy miles up the river to bodegas. we were there to engage mules to proceed over the mountains to quito, of the difficulties of which journey i had some slight recollection. we spent two days at guayaquil. had we not been anxious about our father and the rest of our family, we should have been well amused. from the balcony of our house we had a magnificent view of the towering range of the andes seen from the east of us, and extending like a mighty wall north and south. far away on the left, and fully a hundred miles off, appeared the mighty chimborazo, whose snow-capped summit, rising far above its fellows, formed a superb background to the range of lesser mountains and grand forests which cover the intermediate space. i have before mentioned the delicious fruits that may be found in abundance in the city; and i described the curious balsas, on board of which the natives navigate the coasts and rivers. we all supplied ourselves with straw hats, such as are shipped in great numbers from this place under the name of panama hats. they are made from the leaves of an arborescent plant about five feet high, resembling the palm called _toquilla_. the leaf grows on a three-cornered stalk, and is about a yard long. it is slit into shreds, and after being immersed in boiling water is bleached in the sun. the plaiting is very fine, and the hat is so flexible that it can be turned inside out, or rolled up and put into the pocket. it is impenetrable to rain and very durable. the chief export from the place are chinchona, tobacco, orchilla weed, hides, cotton, coffee, and cacao. our friends, we found, were anxious about the difficulties we might encounter on our journey, on account of the disturbed state of the country. they advised us, indeed, to postpone our departure till our father's arrival, or till we should hear from him. the thought, however, that he and our mother and sister might be exposed to danger made us the more desirous of proceeding; and at length our friends-- against their better judgment, they assured us--concluded the arrangements for our journey. we were seated taking coffee the evening before we were to start, with the magnificent scene i have described before us, when a stranger was ushered into the room. he wore over his shoulders a gay-coloured poncho, and held a broad-brimmed hat in his hand. his breeches were of dark cloth, open at the knee, and he had on embroidered gaiters, and huge spurs, with rowels the size of a crown-piece. his jet-black hair, which hung over his shoulders, his reddish-olive complexion, dark eyes, and somewhat broad face, though his features were in other respects regular and handsome, told us at once that he was a native peruvian. our friends saluted him as don jose. he addressed us in a kind tone, and told us that, having heard we were about to proceed to quito, as he was also going in that direction, and might be of service, he should be happy to accompany us. our friends at once replied that we would thankfully accept his offer, and all arrangements were quickly made. we were glad to obtain so intelligent a companion. his kind and gentle manner at once gained our confidence, and though his dress and appearance were those of ordinary indians of the upper class, he looked like one accustomed to receive the respect of his fellow-men. that he was no common person we were sure. why he took the interest in us which he evinced we could not tell. john and i talked the matter over, and at length, recollecting that our father's mother was of indian descent, we came to the conclusion that besides being a friend of our father, he was connected by the ties of blood with our family. still, from the way our friend spoke, there appeared to be some mystery about him; but they did not offer to enlighten us, nor could we with propriety ask them, he also was evidently not inclined to be communicative about himself. next morning at daylight we went on board our boat. in the centre was an awning, or _toldo_, which served as a cabin. the crew, consisting of eight native indians, urged her on with long broad-bladed oars when the wind was contrary, while their chief or captain stood astern and steered with another. when the wind was favourable a large sail was hoisted, and we glided rapidly up the river. the banks are beautifully green, and covered with an exuberant growth of many varieties of trees; indeed, the plains on either side vie in richness of vegetation with any other spot between the tropics. several times we cut off bends of the river by narrow canals, the branches of the trees, interwoven by numberless creepers, which hung down in festoons covered with brilliant blossoms, forming a dense canopy over our heads. although the stream is sluggish, we were unable to reach bodegas that night. we stopped therefore at the house of a gentleman engaged in the cultivation of cacao. the tree on which it grows somewhat resembles a lilac in size and shape. the fruit is yellowish-red, and oblong in shape, and the seeds are enveloped in a mass of white pulp. it is from the seeds that chocolate is prepared. the flowers and fruits grow directly out of the trunk and branches. cacao--or, as we call it, cocoa--was used by the mexicans before the arrival of the spaniards. it was called by them _chocolatt_, from whence we derive the name of the compound of which it is the chief ingredient--chocolate. so highly was it esteemed, that linnaeus thought it worthy of the name of _theobroma_--"food for gods." the tree is raised from seed, and seldom rises higher than from twenty to thirty feet; the leaves are large, oblong, and pointed. it is an evergreen, and bears fruits and blossoms all the year round. the fruits are pointed oval pods, six inches long, and contain in five compartments from twenty-five to thirty seeds or kernels, enveloped in a white pithy pulp with a sweet taste. these seeds when dried form the cocoa of commerce, from which the beverage is made and chocolate is manufactured. there are three harvests in the year, when the pods are pulled from the trees and gathered into baskets. they are then thrown into pits and covered with sand, where they remain three or four days to get rid of, by fermentation, a strong bitter flavour they possess. they are then carefully cleaned and dried in large flat trays in the sun. after this they are packed in sacks for the market. our friend in the morning showed us some blossoms which had burst forth from the roots during the night, which happened to be somewhat damp and warm--an example of the expansive powers of vegetable life in that region. an oil is extracted from another species of cacao, the nut of which is small and white. it is called cacao-butter, and is used by the natives for burns and sores and cutaneous diseases. a large quantity of cacao for the manufacture of chocolate is exported to spain. among the trees were numbers of the broad-leaved plantain and banana, which had been planted to protect the young cacao trees from the heat of the sun. the fruit of the banana, one of the most useful productions of the tropics, is eaten raw, roasted, boiled, and fried. it grows in large bunches, weighing from sixty to seventy pounds each. continuing our voyage the next day, we passed amid groves of oranges and lemons, whose rich perfume was wafted across the water to us. here also the mango, bearing a golden fruit, spread around its splendid foliage; while, above all, the beautiful cocoanut palm lifted its superb head. now and then we saw monkeys gambolling among the trees, as well as many birds of brilliant plumage. among others, a beautiful bird got up from a bed of reeds we were passing, spreading wide its wings and broad tail directly before us. john shot it, and the small canoe we sent to pick it up. it was about the size of a partridge, with a crane-like bill, a slender neck, and shorter legs than ordinary waders, though a wader it was. the plumage was shaded curiously in bands and lines with brown, fawn-colour, red, grey, and black, which ellen said reminded her of a superb moth she had seen. it was the caurale, or sun-bird (_scolopax helios_), our books told us, found also in demerara. less attractive in appearance were the gallinazos, or vultures, the scavengers of those regions; while frequently on the mud banks we caught sight of alligators basking in the hot sun, often fast asleep, with their mouths wide open. we reached bodegas early in the day. it is a large village, built on a flat. in the rainy season it is so completely flooded that the people have to take refuge in the upper stories of their houses. thanks to our friend don jose, and the exertions of his chief attendant, isoro, mules were quickly procured; and as the attractions of bodegas were not great, we immediately set off towards the mountains. john called isoro don jose's henchman. he was, like his master, of pure indian blood, but of not so high a type. still, he was good-looking, active, and intelligent. his dress differed only from that of don jose in being of coarser materials. we were at once struck with the respect and devotion with which isoro treated his master, and with the confidence don jose evidently reposed in him. we had a journey before us of two hundred miles, which would occupy eight or ten days. the first village we passed through was built high up off the ground on stilts, for in the rainy season the whole country is completely flooded. after passing the green plain, we entered a dense forest. road, i should say, there was none. nothing, it seemed to me, could surpass the rich luxuriance of the vegetation. on either side were numerous species of palms, their light and feathery foliage rising among the other trees; bananas, with their long, glossy, green leaves; and here and there groves of the slender and graceful bamboo, shooting upwards for many feet straight as arrows, their light leaves curling over towards their summits; while orchids of various sorts, many bearing rich-coloured flowers, entwined themselves like snakes round the trunks and branches. don jose told us that in the rainy season this road is flooded, and that then the canoe takes the place of mules. we put up the first night at a _tambo_, or road-side inn, a bamboo hut of two stories, thatched with plantain leaves. as the lower part was occupied by four-footed animals, we had to climb into the upper story by means of a couple of stout bamboos with notches cut in them. we here hung up our hammocks, and screened off a part for ellen and maria. next day we began to ascend the mountains by the most rugged of paths. sometimes we had to wind up the precipice on a narrow ledge, scarcely affording footing to the mules. it was trying to the nerves, for while on one side rose a perpendicular wall of rock, on the other the precipice went sheer down for several hundred feet, with a roaring torrent at the bottom. wild rocks were before and above us, trees and shrubs, however, growing out of every crevice and on each spot where soil could rest, while behind spread out a wide extent of forest, amid which we could distinguish the river winding its way to the pacific. few birds or beasts were to be seen--the monkeys and parrots we had left below us; gallinazos, or black vultures, were, however, still met with, as they are everywhere throughout the continent, performing their graceful evolutions in the air, wheeling round and round without closing their wings, in large flocks, above the watery region we had left. the black vulture (_cathartes atratus_), which closely resembles the well-known turkey buzzard in habits and appearance, performs, like it, the duty of scavenger, and is protected therefore by the inhabitants of all parts of the country. it may be distinguished from the latter by the form of the feathers on the neck, which descend from the back of the head towards the throat in a sloping direction; whereas the turkey buzzard has a frill of them completely round the throat. the head and part of the neck of the black vulture are destitute of feathers, and are covered with a black wrinkled skin, on which a few hairs only grow. "see, what grand fellows are these!" exclaimed arthur. i gazed up. on a rock close above us stood a couple of large birds, which were unmistakably vultures. "dreadful-looking creatures," cried ellen. "they make me shudder. they seem as if preparing to pounce down on some little innocent lambs to carry them off." "it would prefer a dead mule, i suspect," observed john. "like other vultures, it is not nice as to the nature of its food. it is called the king of the vultures (_sarcoramphus papa_), properly so, for it is the strongest and bravest of the vulture tribe though inferior in size to the condor. observe its head and neck, brilliantly coloured with scarlet and yellow to make amends for the want of feathers. on the crown of its head, too, is a rich scarlet patch. close to the eye there is a silvery blue mark, and above it part of the skin is blue and part scarlet. the bill is orange and black, and those curious lumps or carbuncles on its forehead are rich orange. at the lower part of the neck it wears a black ruff. the wing feathers and tail are black, and the lower part of the body white, and the rest a fine grey satin colour." while john was speaking, the birds, spreading out their huge wings, glided off the rock, and then by an imperceptible movement of them soared upwards, and, hovering for a few seconds in the air, they darted downwards into the plain, and were lost to sight. "you need not be afraid of their attacking any living creature, senora ellen," observed don jose. "they have no relish for meat till it has gained a higher flavour than we should like, and dead lizards and snakes are much to their taste. even those they discover, i believe, rather by sight than by scent." we had been proceeding along a somewhat broader part of the road than usual, though, as it was very steep, we climbed but slowly. now rounding a sharp point, we came to a spot which made me wonder if those ahead could possibly have got by; and i could not help gazing anxiously downwards, almost expecting to find that some one had fallen over the precipice. ellen kept up her courage admirably, and never hesitated to follow where others led. i could not help asking once if she did not feel afraid. "no," she answered. "i always look upwards when i come to a difficult place, and so pass without alarm." ellen's plan is the right one, metaphorically speaking, to adopt in all the difficulties and trials of life: look upwards, and we shall be carried safely through them. on we went till we found ourselves among a chaos of mountains, separated by ravines so deep that the eye could scarcely distinguish the rapid streams which found their way below. on one side rose into the clear blue sky the majestic summit of chimborazo, while other peaked and round-topped mountains reared their heads proudly around. at length the summit of the sierra was reached, and our mules commenced a descent into the valley, drawing their legs together and sliding down with fearful velocity. i had bean anxious before, i was doubly so now; but the animals with wonderful sagacity kept the centre of the path, and in time i lost all sensation of fear, and could admire the beautiful scenery. the tambos, or road-side inns, we stopped at were mostly huts of the rudest kind, with mud walls and floors, kept by indians, and dirty in the extreme. the entertainment provided for us was boiled chicken and potato-soup, called in the mountains _locro_. wooden spoons were served to enable us to ladle up the soup, but our fingers had to be used for the chicken, instead of knives and forks. we seldom had an opportunity while on mule-back of exchanging thoughts except at the top of our voices, as in most places we were compelled to travel in indian file, one following the other. we were once more ascending the steep side of the mountain, when, on rounding a point, we saw coming towards us a single traveller. as he caught sight of us he stopped his mule, and made signs for us to come on toward the spot where the greater width of the road would allow us to pass him. as we got up to him i saw that he was a negro, dressed in the usual poncho and broad-brimmed hat of the traveller in the andes. don jose, john, and arthur had ridden by, when the stranger's eye fell on maria. "it must be, after all!" i heard him exclaim in spanish. "maria! yes, it is you! si, _si_, and i rejoice greatly." "and you are domingos; i am sure you are," exclaimed maria. "yes, that is true," answered the old man. "i have come expressly to find you. i have brought bad news; but it might be worse, so be not alarmed." "what is it?" i asked eagerly. "are my father, or mother, or sister ill?" "no; they are all well," said domingos; "but sad events have occurred at quito. there has been a great disturbance--a revolution--no new thing unhappily; and your father's house has been burned down, and they have had to fly, and try to escape from the country. they are safe by this time, i hope. i came on to conduct you to them. i have been riding fast to try and meet you to prevent you taking the direct road to quito. a body of troops are marching along the road, and if you were to fall into their hands you would be ill-treated. we will descend some distance by the way you have come, and take shelter in yonder forest which clothes the side of the mountain. we shall be safe there, and i doubt not obtain shelter in one of the huts of the chinchona gatherers." domingos had given me this account in a few hurried words. i instantly called to the rest of our party who were ahead, and we were all soon collected in a nook in the side of the mountain, where we held a consultation as to what should be done. we quickly agreed to follow the advice of domingos. don jose was greatly agitated at hearing what had occurred. "they would treat me with but scant ceremony, were i to fall into their hands," he observed; "and i am afraid that you would suffer also were i to be found in your company. however, we may easily escape in the forest should any search be made for us, and therefore let us lose no time in seeking its shelter." while he was speaking, i caught sight of some figures high up the mountain, at a point round which the path wound its way. i pointed them out to domingos. "they are the soldiers," he exclaimed; "i see the glitter of their arms! we have no time to lose. move on, my friends, move on! if we were overtaken it would fare hard with us." don jose, who had also been looking towards the point, made us a sign to follow, and rapidly led the way down the side of the mountain, our native muleteers being evidently as anxious to avoid the soldiers as we were. the indians had, it appeared, taken an active part in the insurrection which had just broken out, and our guides knew, therefore, that, should they be caught, the party in power would very likely wreak their vengeance on their heads. we descended for a considerable distance along the path by which we had come. occasionally looking back, i caught sight of the troops as they wound their way in a thin column down the mountain. we, however, appeared to be keeping well ahead of them; and i hoped that our small party might have escaped observation. at length don jose stopped, and getting off his mule, surveyed the side of the hill which sloped away below us. coming back, he took the bridle of his mule, and made it leap off the path on one side on to what appeared a mere ledge of rock. "come on," he shouted; "i will show you the way; but you must all dismount and follow the mules on foot." we accordingly got off our animals, which were made to leap down to the ledge below us, and willingly followed the first mule, which don jose was leading. john and i took charge of ellen, while domingos helped maria along. the path was very narrow and steep, but where the mules had gone we had little doubt that we could follow. in a short time we found ourselves descending by a zig-zag path among trees which grew out of the side of the mountain, here and there huge blocks of rock projecting among them. thus we went on for a considerable distance. once when we stopped i looked upwards, and caught sight of the head of the column of troops just as they were reaching the very place we had left. at length we reached the bottom of the valley, through which a stream went foaming and roaring downwards over a rocky bed. the mountains rose up on either side, completely surrounding us. "this stream will be a safe guide," observed don jose; "and if we proceed along its banks, we shall reach a spot where we can remain concealed even should a whole regiment come in search of us." we proceeded on foot some distance, the active mules leaping from rock to rock, while we scrambled on after them. sometimes we could with difficulty get round the rugged points at the foot of which the stream forced its way, while the cliffs towered up high above our heads. here and there we caught sight of the snowy pinnacles of the mountains rising towards the sky. at length we emerged into a more open valley, and were once more able to mount our mules. we now entered the forest. don jose led the way by a path which was scarcely perceptible. i observed here and there notches on the barks of the trees, which i concluded served to guide him. through an opening in the trees i saw the sun setting towards the valley below us; and had i not possessed great confidence in our conductor, i should have been afraid that we were about to be benighted. directly afterwards we entered a thicker part of the forest. often it was with difficulty we could see our way amid the dense foliage. don jose, however, did not hesitate. after proceeding for some distance, the sound of a woodman's axe reached our ears, and we saw through an opening ahead several persons engaged cutting away at the vines which had prevented the tall tree they had just hewn down from reaching the ground. a little way beyond was a hut, and in its neighbourhood several persons were at work. "these are my friends," said don jose, "and they will willingly afford us shelter for the night, and protect us to the best of their power." while he was speaking, the man who appeared to be the director of the party came forward and greeted him. a short conversation ensued. "we will remain here for to-night," said don jose, "but it may be more prudent to proceed further into the depths of the forest to-morrow. it is possible that our enemies may discover the road we have taken and come here to search for us, and, besides the risk we ourselves should run, we should bring trouble on our friends." riding up to the hut, our mules were unloaded, and our hammocks and the packages were taken inside. it was a large shed, far better built than many of the tambos we had stopped at, with thick walls and roof to protect the bark from the effects of the weather. it was already about half full of bundles of this valuable commodity. each bundle was tightly done up, and weighed as much as a man could carry up the steep mountain's side. we as usual set to work to form a separate chamber for ellen and her attendant: this we did with bundles of the bark, leaving a door and window for ventilation. ellen thanked us for our trouble, saying that she had not had so comfortable a room since the commencement of our journey. john, arthur, and i slung our hammocks in the building, while the rest of the party were accommodated in the huts of the bark-gatherers. a rough table was soon formed within the large shed, and benches were brought in, and a substantial repast made ready. the chief dishes were the usual potato-soup and some roast meat. we could not at first make out whether it was venison or mutton, but found on inquiry that it was the flesh of a vicuna, which had been shot by the sportsman of the party in the morning. it is an animal resembling the llama, the well-known beast of burden of the ancient peruvians. don jose and his friend sat down to table with us, and domingos waited. "but of what use is this bark!" asked ellen, looking up at the huge bundles piled up on either side. "is it for tanning?" "oh no," answered john. "this is the celebrated peruvian bark, to which the name of chinchona has been given. it was bestowed on it in consequence of the wife of the viceroy of peru, the countess of chinchona, having been cured of a tertian ague in the year . the count and his wife, on returning to spain, took with them a quantity of the healing bark; and they were thus the first persons to introduce this valuable medicine into europe, where it was for some time known as the countess's bark or powder, and was named by the celebrated naturalist linnaeus chinchona, in memory of the great service the countess had rendered to the human race. the jesuits were great promoters also of the introduction of the bark into europe. some jesuit missionaries in sent parcels of the powder or bark to rome, whence it was distributed throughout europe by the cardinal de lugo, and used for the cure of agues with great success. hence, also, it was often called jesuit's bark, and cardinal's bark." "yes, i have heard of that," observed don jose, laughing; "and i am told that for some time it was in consequence opposed by the protestants, and especially favoured by the roman catholics." "yes," said john, "i believe that for a very long time a very strong prejudice existed against it; and even physicians opposed its use, considering it at best a dangerous medicine. it is now, however, acknowledged to be a sovereign remedy for ague of all descriptions. i believe the french astronomer de la condamine, who went to quito in the year to measure an arc of a degree, and thus to determine the shape of the earth, was the first person who sent home a full account of the tree." "we call it quinquina," (bark of barks), observed don jose. "some of its virtues, if not all, were known to the peruvians long before they were discovered by europeans." "ah! that is the reason it is called quinine by the english," observed john. "i did not before know the derivation of the word." "since its use became general in europe, the export trade of the quinquina has been very considerable," observed don jose. "forests containing groves of these trees are found in various regions throughout the northern parts of the cordilleras. my friend here has been engaged since his boyhood in collecting the bark, as was his father before him. when searching for new districts, it is the custom for the cascarilleros, or bark-collectors, to set forth in parties of a dozen or more men, with supplies of food and tools. they make their way into the unknown forest, where they suppose, from its elevation above the sea and its general appearance, that the chinchona trees will be found. they are always accompanied by an experienced searcher, called the _cateador_. he climbs the highest tree in the neighbourhood, and searches about till he discovers the _manchas_, or clumps, of the chinchona trees by their dark colour, and the peculiar reflection of the light from their leaves, which can be distinguished even in the midst of a wide expanse of forest. he then, descending, conducts the party through the tangled brushwood, often for hours together, marking his way with his wood-knife, till he reaches the clump. here they build rough huts, such as you see around us, and commence their work. the first operation is to cut down a tree, when the bark is carefully stripped off, and kept as free as possible from dirt or moisture, as it easily becomes mouldy, and loses its colour. it is important to cut the tree as close down to the ground as possible, in order that fresh shoots may grow up. there are various species of the quinquina. one is known by the name of grey bark, another as the red bark, which is considered the most valuable. the bark which you see around you is of the latter species; and the men employed in collecting can each make from one to two dollars a day. in the more distant forests, however, they have to undergo great danger in the work. sometimes they have been known to lose themselves in the forest and having exhausted their provisions, have died of hunger. they are compelled also to carry the load of bark on their own backs, and occasionally a man breaks down under the weight and can proceed no further, when, if he is separated from his companions, he has little hope of escaping with life. there are, besides the species i have mentioned, a vast number of chinchona, though the bark of some yields little or none of the valuable drug." as soon as supper was over we retired to our hammocks, that we might be prepared to set out at an early hour to a more secure spot in the forest. john and i lay awake for some time, talking over our prospects. of course we were very anxious about what might happen to our family; for though domingos had evidently not wished to alarm us, we saw that he was uneasy about them. we also could not shut our eyes to the difficulties and dangers we should have to undergo; not that we cared much about them on our own account, but on ellen's. though she was a brave girl, we were afraid that she might suffer from the hardships she might have to endure in travelling over that mountain region. what our father had done to draw upon himself the hostility of the government party we could not tell. he had, however, always shown an interest in the natives, and by his just and kind treatment of them had won their regard. we concluded, therefore, that he was in some way supposed to be implicated in the outbreak which had lately taken place. at length we dropped off to sleep. the rest of the night passed quietly away. i awoke as the grey dawn was stealing into the hut, and at once turned out of my hammock. i stood contemplating the wild scene for some minutes, admiring the size and variety of the trees which rose up in the forest before me. some had enormous buttress trunks, which sent down rope-like tendrils from their branches in every direction. there was the gigantic balsam-tree, the india-rubber-tree, and many others. among them were numerous palms--one towering above the rest with its roots shooting out in every direction from eight feet above the ground, and another slender and beautiful; but the most remarkable of all was the _sayal_--so don jose called it--the monarch of the palms of these forests. it had rather a short, thick stem, the inner fibres of its stalk being like black wool; but its remarkable feature was its enormous leaves, which grew erect from the stem for forty feet in length. they must be the largest leaves, john and i agreed, in the whole vegetable kingdom. there were many bright and scarlet flowers, and numberless beautiful orchids hanging from the branches of the trees. beyond the forest rose rugged cliffs, dark black rocks with lofty ranges of mountains towering above them. i was soon joined by my companions, and in a little time ellen and maria came forth. as it was almost dark when we reached the spot, we had formed no idea of the wonderful scenery surrounding us domingos did not appear, and john inquired of don jose what had become of him. "he has gone to ascertain in what direction the troops have marched," he answered. "we shall have to take our road accordingly. besides the high road, there is another by which i can lead you, but it is still more steep and difficult yet, as we shall thus avoid the risk of meeting with enemies, it may be the safest for us." a couple of hours passed away, during which we breakfasted on some delicious chocolate prepared by our host. still domingos had not returned. the mules, however, were got ready, that we might start, should it be necessary, immediately he appeared. "i trust the honest man has not been taken prisoner," observed don jose; "it might fare ill with him. but i am sure he would endure any cruelty rather than betray us; and if he does not soon appear we will proceed on our journey, and my friend here will send a man to show him the road we have taken." an hour passed, and as domingos did not return, we mounted our mules and proceeded through the forest. had we been on foot we might have followed some paths which the bark-collectors had cut; but many of them would only allow of a person proceeding in a stooping posture under the numberless creepers which were interwoven amid the branches of the trees. we had therefore to make a considerable circuit. at length we came to a less frequented part of the forest, and here we were compelled to use our knives and hatchets to clear away the art-work of creepers which impeded our progress. we all dismounted, and led the mules through the path we had thus formed. in several places we found, after an hour's toil, that we had not progressed more than half a mile. "we shall reach more open country by-and-by," said don jose, "so we need not despair." at length we came upon a small party of men engaged in stripping off the bark from a tree which they had lately cut down. don jose spoke to them. they saluted him with marks of respect, and one of them, throwing his arm over his shoulder, led us through the forest to a small hut concealed by the surrounding trees. its interior was not very tempting, but it would afford us shelter from the night air should we be detained there. it was destitute of furniture, with the exception of several hammocks hung up at one end, and a few pots and other cooking apparatus in the corner. our attendants, however, at once began to sweep it out, while ellen and maria sat down on a log outside. "the night is likely to be fine, and our friends will gladly give you up their hut," said don jose. "we will wait here till domingos appears. i have made arrangements that we should have ample notice should any enemies come in pursuit of us. we are surrounded by friends, and i have no doubt we shall be able to escape." don jose had secured a fresh supply of food, so that in a short time an ample meal was spread on the ground, round which we collected in picnic fashion. we had just concluded it when we heard footsteps approaching. as we looked out, domingos appeared before us. his countenance exhibited anxiety, and taking don jose aside, he conversed with him for some minutes. "we must proceed at early dawn by the road i have mentioned to you," said our friend, returning to us. "domingos has had a narrow escape of being made prisoner. he tells me that the soldiers are pursuing the patriots and natives in every direction, and treating them with the greatest cruelty, shooting and hanging them whenever they are found. although they would not venture probably to ill-treat you, you might be subjected to great inconvenience, and certainly detained and prevented from reaching your parents. however, i trust that we shall be able to avoid them, and to reach the eastern slopes of the andes without interruption. your father has ever proved my firmest friend, and i rejoice therefore to have the opportunity of showing my gratitude by being of service to his children. we shall be able to remain here during the night, and will recommence our journey by dawn, so as to reach the most difficult pass by mid-day, and i trust before evening to have gained a place of safety." "you will do well, my dear masters, to trust our friend thoroughly," said domingos to john and me, while don jose was at a little distance. "i know your father has a great regard for him, and whatever he promises he can perform. you are indeed fortunate in meeting with him. he is a cacique, whose fathers once had great power in the country; and though deprived of his lands, he is still looked up to with respect by the natives in all parts of the country." "then how comes he to be called don jose?" i asked. "that is the name by which he is known to the whites, and it is the safest by which to speak of him," answered domingos. "i know not if i ought to tell his real name; but you will be cautious, or he might be displeased with me." "yes; do tell me," i said; "i am curious to know more about him." domingos looked around. the person we were speaking of was still out of hearing. "i will tell you, then," he replied. "his real name is pumacagua. his father, who headed the last attempt of the indians to gain their liberty before the revolution, when numerous tribes gathered to his standard, was defeated, made prisoner, and shot. young jose, our friend, after fighting bravely, escaped, and though sought for, was not discovered. your father had concealed him at great hazard, and afforded him shelter till better times came round. he and i were the only persons in the secret. jose pumacagua has, therefore, reason to be grateful to your father, besides being connected with him by the ties of blood." just then don jose, as i will still call him, came up, and we were unable to ask further questions of domingos. ellen was much interested when we afterwards narrated to her what we had heard, and said that she should try and get don jose to tell us his adventures, as she was sure they must be very curious. we were soon left quite alone; for the cascarilleros, having loaded themselves with the result of their labour, took their way through the forest. our friend told us that they were carrying the bark to a village out of the forest, where it would be free from damp, and be exposed to the drying influence of the sun. when thoroughly dried it would be conveyed to the town of guaranda, and then sent down by mules to guayaquil. i should have mentioned that the chinchona trees surrounding us were very beautiful and graceful. they had large, broad, oval, deep green, shining leaves, with white and fragrant flowers, and the bark was of a red colour. the trees varied in height from forty to sixty feet. there were other trees in the neighbourhood which looked very like them, but don jose showed us the difference. the nature of the bark is known by its splintery, fibrous, or corky texture. the true bark is of the former character. having cleaned out the hut, we made our usual arrangements for passing the night. don jose and domingos, i saw, were somewhat uneasy, and two of the men were sent out as scouts to watch the path by which we had reached the hut. "it is well to take precautions against surprise," observed our friend. "however, our enemies, if they do follow us, will not travel during the night, so that we shall be able, by moving early, to have a good start of them." at length, two hours after sunset, the indians returned, reporting that they had seen no one. i was awaked by hearing don jose's voice--"up, friends, up! we will be on the road, and not breakfast till we reach a spot where no foe is likely to follow us." he held a torch in his hand, by the light of which we got ready to mount. the indians had meantime saddled the mules, which were brought round to the door of the hut. "follow my example," he said, producing from a bag which he carried slung over his shoulder, under his poncho, some dried leaves. "this will enable you to travel on for many hours without hunger, and assist in preventing the damp air of the forest from having any ill effect." sitting down on the trunk of a felled tree, he placed the bag before him, and put leaf after leaf into his mouth, till he had formed a small ball. he then took out from the bag a little cake, which i have since found was composed of carbonate of potash, prepared by burning the stalk of the quinoa plant, and mixing the ashes with lime and water. the cakes thus formed are called _llipta_. the coca-bag, which he called his _chuspa_, was made of llama cloth, dyed red and blue in patterns, with woollen tassels hanging from it. his attendants followed their master's example, as did john, arthur, and i. domingos, however, declined doing so, and speedily prepared some chocolate for ellen, maria, and himself. a little time was thus occupied, and mounting, we turned our mules' heads towards the east, just as the grey light of dawn appeared above the mountain-tops, the stars still shining with a calm light out of the deep blue sky above our heads, not glittering and twinkling as in northern climes. we were thus initiated by our friend in the use of the far-famed coca. "how do you like it?" he asked. "i find the smell of the leaf agreeable and aromatic, and now i am chewing it, it appears to give out a grateful fragrance," i answered. it caused, i found, a slight irritation, which somewhat excited the saliva. "ah! you will be enabled to go on if you wish till noon without eating, and then with a fresh supply continue on with active exercise till nightfall," he observed. "it is with this wonderful leaf that the running chasquis or messengers have from time immemorial been able to take their long journeys over the mountains and deserts. it must not be used to excess, or it might prove prejudicial to the health, yet in moderation it is both soothing and invigorating. it will prevent any difficulty of respiration also as you ascend the steep mountain-sides." the coca-plant grows, i should say, at an elevation of about feet above the level of the sea. it is a shrub from four to six feet high, the branches straight and alternate, and the leaves, in form and size, like tea-leaves. they are gathered three times a year. they are then spread out in a drying-yard and carefully dried in the sun. the dried leaf is called coca. they are afterwards packed in sacks made of banana leaves. it is most important to keep them dry, as they otherwise quickly spoil. daylight at length enabled us to see our way along one of the wildest and most rugged paths on which i should think it is possible for animals to proceed. up, up we went, with a roaring torrent on one side, and a glorious view beyond of mountain above mountain, some snow-covered, others running up into sharp peaks--others, again, considerably lower, clothed even to their summits with graceful palms, whose feathery tops stood out against the sky. sometimes we had to cross narrow chasms on the fallen stems of trees; now we arrived at a wide one, to be crossed by means of a suspension bridge, which swung frightfully from side to side. it made me giddy as i watched those who first passed along it. it was composed of the tough fibres of the maguey, a sort of osier of great tenacity and strength, woven into cables. several of these cables forming the roadway were stretched over buttresses of stone on either side of the bank, and secured to stout timbers driven into the ground beyond them. the roadway was covered with planks, and on either side was a railing of the same sort of rope as the rest of the bridge. light as it appeared, the mules one by one were led over. we followed, not venturing to look down into the foaming torrent, rushing impetuously along a hundred feet or more below us. soon after this a ladder of rocks appeared in front of us. we were here compelled to dismount, don jose and john helping up ellen, domingos assisting maria, arthur and i scrambling up by ourselves while the indians, waiting till we had reached the summit, remained behind to drive on the mules. every instant i expected to see one of them roll over; but they climbed up more like monkeys than quadrupeds, and at length joined us on a small level spot at the summit. "a dozen bold men might hold this pass against a thousand enemies," observed our friend. "few but our people know it, though. we will proceed yet higher, and cross the most elevated pass before we stop for breakfast, if your sister can endure hunger so long." "oh yes, yes!" exclaimed ellen. "i would not have you delay on my account. the chocolate i took prevents me feeling any hunger, even though this pure air is calculated to give an appetite." on and on we went, at as rapid a rate as our mules could move, upwards and upwards, the scenery if possible growing wilder and wilder at every step. huge masses of rock rose above our heads, with snow-topped pinnacles peeping out at each break between them. we had gone on some way further, when at a short distance on our left i saw perched on the top of a rock a huge bird, its head bent forward as if about to pounce down upon us. presently we saw its wings expand. it was of great size, with huge claws, a pointed, powerful beak, a neck destitute of feathers, and a huge comb on its forehead. the feathers were of a glossy black hue, with a white ruff at the base of the neck. "do you think he will attack us?" i said to don jose. he laughed. "no; he is a coward! we can easily drive him off if he make the attempt." he shouted loudly. at that instant the condor, for such was the bird near us, spreading out its huge wings, slowly glided into the air. at first the weight of its body seemed to keep it down, but gradually it rose, mounting higher and higher, until it appeared like a mere speck in the blue sky. "he has gone off to the distant ocean," observed our companion; "or to seek for prey among the flocks on the plains below. he will not return till evening, when probably we shall see him, or some of his brothers, flying over our heads, and pitching on the lofty peaks amid which they dwell." the highest point of the pass was at length reached. we all felt a difficulty in breathing, and even our hardy mules stood still and gasped for breath. we let them proceed slowly, while we had time to admire the magnificent spectacle which the mountain scenery afforded. around us on every side rose up lofty peaks and rugged heights, prominent among which appeared the snow-capped, truncated peak of cotopaxi, looking like a vast sugar-loaf. the rocks, too--huge masses of porphyry--were broken into all sorts of shapes, and were of every variety of colour, from dark brown to the brightest lilac, green, purple, and red, and others of a clear white, producing a very curious and beautiful effect, and at the same time showing us to what violent throes and upheavings that region has been subjected. below our feet was spread out that gloomy plain which has been so frequently devastated by the lava and ashes which the mountain has cast forth. descending, we reached a sheltered spot, where grass was found for our tired mules. our saddle-bags were unpacked, the fires lighted, and in a short time cups of boiling chocolate and a steaming stew, previously cooked, were arranged for us on the grass. while wandering a little way from our temporary camp, i saw some large pale yellow flowers growing on a low shrub. presently several small beautiful birds appeared hovering above them, in no way daunted by my presence. as they dipped their long bills into the flowers, i could observe their plumage, and was convinced, though found at so great an elevation, that they were humming-birds. after watching them for some time, i called ellen and arthur to look at them. "ah, yes, they are worthy of admiration," exclaimed our inca friend. "the bird is the chimborazian hill-star humming-bird. it is found , feet above the ocean, close to the region of snow, and seldom at a less elevation than , feet." the head and throat of the little creature which had excited our admiration shone with the most brilliant tints, though the rest of the body was of a more sombre hue. the upper parts of the body were of a pale, dusky green, except the wings, which were of the purple-brown tint common to humming-birds in general. the head and throat were of the most resplendent hue, with an emerald green triangular patch on the throat, while a broad collar of velvety black divided the brilliant colours of the head from the sober ones of the body. the hen bird, which was mostly of a sombre olive-green, was flying about under the bushes, and almost escaped our notice. don jose told us that a similar bird inhabits the sides of pichincha, with different marks on its neck, and that neither at any time visits the other, each keeping to its own mountain, on which they find the food, flowers, and insects best suited to their respective tastes. it would have been barbarous to have shot the beautiful little birds; but even had we wished it, it would have been difficult to do so. so rapid was their flight, that it was only when they were hovering over a flower that we could have taken aim. ellen wanted to have one caught to keep as a pet; but don jose assured her that it would not live in the low region of the amazon, but that we should there find many still more beautiful species of the same family, some of which she might very likely be able to tame. after watching the birds for some time, we returned to the camp. domingos was the first to mount his mule, riding on ahead, that he might ascertain if the road was clear, while he promised to return and give us notice should any enemies appear, that we might have time to conceal ourselves. this we hoped to be able to do among the wild rocks which rose up in every direction. we rode on, however, without interruption for the remainder of the day, and stopped towards evening at a small mud hut, inhabited by a quichua family, who willingly agreed with don jose to conceal and protect us with their lives. in the morning we proceeded in the same way as on the previous day. thus for several days we travelled on, resting during the night at rude tambos, the inhabitants of which, directly don jose spoke to them, willingly undertook to give us accommodation. the weather was fine, the air pure, bracing, and exhilarating; and in spite of the fatigue we underwent, none of us suffered. ellen and maria bore the journey wonderfully. although we were making our way towards the east, frequently we found ourselves riding round a mountain with our backs to the rising sun. now we were ascending by the side of steep precipices, and now again descending into deep ravines. at length don jose gave us the satisfactory intelligence that we had left quito behind us to the north-west, and that we might hope to escape falling in with hostile forces. "still," he said privately to john and me, "i cannot promise that we are altogether safe. we must use great caution, and avoid as much as possible the beaten tracks. parties may have been sent out to the east in search of fugitives; but we will hope for the best." as we were ascending a mountain-side, we saw before us, winding downwards, a long line of animals. a couple of indians walked at the head of the troop, while several other men came at intervals among them. each animal carried a small pack on its back; and we soon knew them to be llamas, as they advanced carrying their long necks upright, with their large and brilliant eyes, their thick lips, and long and movable ears. they were of a brown colour, with the under parts whitish. as we approached, in spite of the efforts of their conductors, they scattered away up and down the mountains, leaving the path open to us. the indians, however, made no complaint; but as we gained a height above them, we saw them exerting themselves to re-collect their scattered cavalcade. they were going, don jose told us, to the coast, to bring back salt--an article without which human beings can but ill support life in any part of the world. we soon after found ourselves travelling on a wide, lofty plain, bounded by still higher peaks. in several directions we saw herds of llamas, as also a smaller animal of the same species--the alpaca. it somewhat resembles the sheep, but its neck is longer, and its head more gracefully formed. the wool appeared very long, soft, fine, and of a silky lustre. some of those we saw were quite white, others black, and others again variegated. there were vast herds of them, tended by indians, as sheep are by their shepherds in other parts of the world. the following day, descending from the plain and passing through a deep valley, we caught sight of a herd of similar creatures, which don jose told us were vicunas. their shape appeared slighter and more elegant than that of the alpaca, with a longer and more graceful neck. the colour of the upper part of the body was a reddish yellow, while the under side was of a light ochre. a peculiar shrill cry reached our ears as we approached, and the whole herd turned, advancing a few paces, and then suddenly wheeling round, off they went at a rapid rate. don jose told us that they are hunted with the bolas, as cattle are in the plains. there is another animal, the huanacu, which is larger than the llama, but resembles it greatly. it is considered by some naturalists to be a wild species of the llama. huanacus live in small troops. their disposition is very different from that of the llama. though easily tamed when caught young, they can seldom be trained to carry burdens. john reminded me of an account he had read of the llama, which is likened to the dromedary of the desert, the services it is called upon to perform being similar. though it has not the ugly hump of the dromedary, it possesses the same callosities on the breast and knees; its hoof is divided in the same manner, and is of the same formation. its internal construction, which enables it to go for a long time without drinking, is also similar. it will carry about one hundred pounds, and proceed at the rate of twelve or fourteen miles a day. when overloaded, however, it lies down, and nothing will induce it to rise till it has been relieved of part of its cargo. llamas were the only beasts of burden employed by the ancient peruvians. mules and horses were introduced by the spaniards, and have now in many places superseded the llamas, as mules will carry a much greater weight, and are far more enduring and patient animals. chapter four. adventures among the mountains. we had been travelling on for many days, yet had made but slow progress. this was not surprising, considering that we had to climb up steep mountains and to descend again into deep valleys, to cross rapid streams and wade through morasses, again to mount upwards and wind round and round numberless rugged heights, with perpendicular precipices, now on one side, now on the other, and gulfs below so profound that often our eyes, when we unwisely made the attempt, could scarcely fathom them. still almost interminable ranges of mountains appeared to the east. as we looked back, we could see the lofty heights of pichincha, corazon, ruminagui, cotopaxi, antisana, and many others. we had a mountain before us. our patient mules slowly climbed up it. the summit reached, the ridge was so narrow that parts of the same rocks might have been hurled, the one down into the valley towards the setting sun, the other in the direction of the atlantic. we there stood fifteen thousand feet at least above the ocean, our animals panting with the exertion, and we ourselves, though inured to the air of the mountains, breathing with difficulty. still before us there was a scene of wild grandeur,--mountain rising beyond mountain, with deep valleys intervening, their bottoms and sides clothed with a dense unbroken mass of foliage. "i fear beyond this we shall find no pathway for our mules," observed don jose, as we were descending the height; "but we will endeavour to procure bearers for the luggage, and will, in the meantime, encamp in some sheltered spot, and try and ascertain in which direction my friend, your father, and his party have gone." we were nearly an hour descending, our mules carefully picking their way among the rocks and lofty trees, and along the edges of yawning chasms, which threatened to swallow us up. sometimes we passed through wooded regions, where the giant trees, falling from age, remained suspended in the network of sipos or wild vines, which hung from the branches of their neighbours. now we had to make our way round the trunks, now to pass beneath them. as i looked up, i could not help dreading that the cordage which held them might give way, and allow them to fall at that instant and crush us. at last we reached a level spot or terrace on the mountain-side, but still the bottom of the valley seemed far down below us. "we will encamp here," said our friend, "and remain till we can ascertain the direction we must pursue to come up with our friends. we are here above the damp and close air of the valley. from yonder torrent we can obtain the water we require," (he pointed to a cascade which came rushing and foaming down, at a little distance, through a cleft in the mountain), "while the forest around will afford an ample supply of provision. we are at such a distance from the usual track, that we shall not, i hope, be discovered, should any of our enemies venture in this direction." john at once agreed to our friend's proposal. "our mules," continued don jose, "are of no further use, for it would be almost impossible for them to make their way amid the tangled forest through which we must pass. we will therefore send them back to a solitary rancho or farm, the proprietor of which is my friend, where they will remain in safety till better times, when they can be forwarded to their owners." this plan being agreed on, the animals were unloaded, and our native attendants set to work to build huts, which might afford us sufficient shelter for the night. we all helped; but we found that they were so much more expert, that they had erected three huts while we had not finished one. long stakes were first cut down. two of them were driven into the ground and joined at their top, and about twelve feet beyond them, other two were driven in, and connected by a long pole. against this a number of stakes were arranged to serve as rafters. meantime a quantity of large palm-leaves had been procured, which were attached to the rafters by thin sipos or vines, beginning at the bottom, so that they overlapped each other in the fashion of tiles. they were so neatly and securely fastened, that it was evident the heaviest shower would not penetrate them. in a short time we had seven or eight of these huts up, sufficient to accommodate the whole of the party. the natives then descending into the forest, brought back a quantity of wood, which they had cut from a tree which they called _sindicaspi_, which means the "wood that burns." we found it answer its character; for though it was perfectly green, and just brought out of the damp forest, no sooner was fire put to it than it blazed up as if it had been long dried in the sun. we were still at a considerable elevation, where there was but little of animal life. even here, however, beautiful humming-birds flew among the bushes. they seemed very like the hill-stars we had seen at chimborazo--wonderful little feathered gems; but they flew so rapidly about that it was difficult to distinguish their appearance. now a gleam of one bright colour caught the eye, now another. now, as they passed, all their hues were blended into one. "i should so like to have some of those beautiful little creatures as pets," said ellen. "i wonder if they could be tamed!" "no doubt about it," said don jose. "the difficulty is to catch them first. but, small as they are, they are in no degree timid; and if you could take some of them young, you would find that they would willingly feed off your hand; but, bold and brave, they love freedom, and will not consent to live in captivity. perhaps isoro may catch some for you. he knows all the birds and beasts of this region, and trees and herbs, as, at one time, did all the people of our race. the study of god's works is a truly noble one, and such the enlightened incas considered it; and therefore it was the especial study of young chiefs in bygone days. but, alas! in these times of our degeneracy, in that, as in many other points, we are grievously deficient compared to our ancestors." "oh, thank you," said ellen. "i shall indeed be obliged to isoro if he can show me how to tame some of these beautiful little birds." "i would rather have one of those fellows i see perched on yonder pinnacle," observed arthur, pointing to a rock at some distance, whence a huge condor, with outspread wings, was about to take flight. "what a grand thing it would be to get on his back, and make him fly with one over the mountain-tops. he looks big and strong enough to do it." "i am afraid that, with all his strength, he would find it a hard matter to lift a heavy youth like you from the ground," observed don jose. "yet even a condor can be tamed, and if he is well fed, becomes satisfied with his lot. large as he is, he is a mean creature, and a coward." while don jose was speaking, the condor came flying by. not a movement of his wings was perceptible. we hallooed and clapped our hands. "he seems not to hear our voices," i observed. "he is too far off for that," said our companion. "though we see him clearly, he is at a greater distance than you suppose. in this pure atmosphere, objects appear much nearer than they really are; indeed, even with long practice, it is difficult to ascertain distances by the eye alone. see there, on yonder slope! it would take an active man an hour or more to reach the height over which these vicunas are bounding, and yet they seem almost within reach of our rifles." he pointed to a shoulder of the mountain which projected some distance into the valley, over which several animals were making their way, scrambling up rocks which i should have thought the most agile deer could scarcely have attempted to scale. isoro had received a hint from his master; and after being absent from the camp for some time, returned with a beautiful little live bird, which he presented, greatly to her delight, to ellen. though its bright, sharp specks of eyes were glancing about in every direction, it remained quietly in her hand, without attempting to escape. the greater portion of its body was light green, bronzed on the side of the neck and face, and the lower part of the back was of a deep crimson red. the wings were purple-brown, and the throat metallic green; but the tail was its most remarkable feature. that was very long, brown at the base, and the greater part of its length of the brightest fiery red, tipped with a velvety black band. "why, its tail is a perfect comet," exclaimed ellen, who had been for some time admiring it. she had given it the name by which it is chiefly known--the sappho comet, or bar-tailed humming-bird. it is a migratory bird, seldom, however, found so far north. it is a native of bolivia, where it is found in gardens, and near the abodes of men, of whom it seems to have no fear. in the winter it flies off to the warm regions of eastern peru, so isoro told us. "i am afraid that it will not live in captivity," he remarked. "shall i kill it for you, senora?" "oh no! no!" exclaimed ellen. "on no account. if i cannot make a pet of it, i would not keep it even as an unwilling captive. pray, let it go at once." isoro let the bird perch on his finger. it looked about for an instant, and then expanding its glossy wings, off it flew, its long tail gleaming like a flash of lightning in the air, and was in an instant lost to sight. isoro had, i believe, caught the little creature by the bill, with a sort of bird-lime, placed in the lower part of a flower, where it was held captive long enough to enable him to seize it. we did not fail to keep up a large fire in the centre of our camp during the night, lest any prowling puma might venture to pay us a visit. the warmth, also, which it afforded in that keen mountain air was grateful. after ellen and maria had retired to their hut, which had been made as comfortable for them as circumstances would allow, we sat up discussing our plans. i found that don jose and john had become anxious at not finding our father. our friend had sent out several indians in different directions to search for him, with orders to come back to the spot where we were now encamped. i was surprised to find the influence he possessed among all the natives we had met. as soon as we had encamped, isoro and two other indians set off to forage in the neighbourhood, as well as to obtain information. they came back late in the evening, driving before them three hogs, which they had purchased at a native hut some distance off. a pen was soon built, in which to confine the animals: one of them was destined to be turned into pork the following morning. the mules had already been sent away, and true and the pigs were the only four-footed animals in the camp. our whole party had been for some time asleep, when i was aroused by a horrible squeaking, followed by a loud bark from true, who was sleeping under my hammock. the squeaks and a few spasmodic grunts which succeeded them soon ceased. the voices of my companions outside the hut showed me that they were on the alert; and knowing that true would attack our visitor, whether puma or jaguar, i tied him to one of the posts of the hut before i went out--a proceeding of which he did not at all approve. "cuguacuara! cuguacuara!" i heard the indians exclaiming. "a puma has carried off one of the hogs," said john, who appeared with his gun ready for action. "where has it gone?" i asked. "that is what we are going to ascertain," he answered. we set out with don jose, isoro, and several of the indians, the latter armed only with their spears. there was a bright moon, so we had no great difficulty in seeing our way, though in that region of precipices it was necessary to be cautious. isoro and the indians led the way, tracing the puma by the blood which their keen sight discovered on the ground. we had not gone far when they stopped and signified that the beast was near. turning a point of rock, we saw before us, in a hollow on the side of the mountain--a shallow cavern overgrown with shrubs, into which the moon shone brightly--not only one, but two huge pumas, the nearest with its paws on the hog it had just stolen. we had formed our camp close to their lair. the savage brutes, thus brought to bay, and unable to escape, snarled fiercely at us. no animal is more hated by the indians than the puma, on account of the depredations it commits on their flocks and herds. they had little chance, therefore, of being allowed to escape. i expected, moreover, at any moment to see them spring at us. "do you take the nearest," said don jose, calmly, to john; "i will take the other. reserve your fire, harry, in case one of them should spring." he and john fired. the nearest puma gave a tremendous spring forward. i had my weapon ready, and drew the trigger. the bullet struck him, and, first rising in the air, he fell backwards, and lay without moving. the indians rushed forward, and, with shouts of triumph, soon knocked out any sparks of life which remained in the animals. they then, fastening some sipos round the bodies, dragged them and the hog to the camp. i had just time to measure one of them, before they were skinned and cut up. it had a body four feet in length; and a tail two and a half feet long, black at the tip, but without the characteristic tuft of the lion. its limbs were very thick and muscular, to enable it to climb trees and spring a great distance. its coat was of a light tawny tint, and of a greyish-white below. the indians, delighted with their prize, sat up the rest of the night cooking and eating the flesh, and telling anecdotes about the creatures. the puma (_leopardus concolor_) will seldom face a man when encountered boldly. it attacks his flocks, however; and hunts deer, vicunas, llamas, and, indeed, all animals it meets with except its rival, the jaguar. it takes post on the branch of a tree, pressing itself so closely along it as scarcely to be distinguished; and from thence springs down on a passing deer or other animal, seizing it by the head, which it draws back till the neck is broken. i shall have by-and-by to recount another adventure with pumas of a far more terrific character; so will say no more about them at present, except that we found the flesh very white, and much like veal. we spent three days at the encampment. at length one evening don jose declared his intention of setting forth himself with isoro. i begged that i might accompany him, and john also seemed anxious to go. "no, senor john," said our friend; "it is your duty to remain and take care of your young sister. but i will consent to take harry with me, and we will set forth to-morrow morning by daybreak. john, arthur, and your servants will be sufficient to guard the camp; but do not move out beyond the point which intervenes between this and the pass, lest you may be perceived by any enemy travelling on it. and let me advise you also to be cautious how you receive any stranger who may perchance find his way here. at night be careful to keep a fire burning, and to set a watch. if you strictly follow my injunctions, i shall have no fear. i need not remind you of your young sister, whom it is your duty to watch over; and the consequences to her, as indeed to us all, would be sad through any carelessness." john, though evidently disappointed, promised to follow our friend's advice. next morning, even before the sun had risen above the tops of the eastern mountains, while the valley was concealed by a dense mist, which looked as if a sheet had been drawn across it, we were on foot, and had finished breakfast. don jose, isoro, and i were each provided with long, stout staves. our rifles were slung at our backs; wallets containing our provisions were hung over our shoulders; and our feet were shod with alpargates, which are sandals made of aloe fibres. they are invariably worn by the natives, as any ordinary boots would immediately be cut to pieces by the rocky ground. these, indeed, did not last more than three or four days. we had supplied ourselves, however, with a considerable number at one of the last places at which we had stopped, as well as with axes and wood-knives, and several other articles which we should require in our journey through the forest. we had obtained also two bales of cloth, some clasp-knives, glass beads, and trinkets, with which to pay the indians for the services we might require of them. ellen came out of her hut just as we were ready to start. she seemed very anxious when she heard that i was to be one of the party. don jose, however, assured her that he would run into no unnecessary danger, and that our journey was absolutely necessary to ascertain whether our father had passed by that way, or was still in the mountains behind us. "i, too, am well acquainted with the country," he added; "and even should any of our enemies come in this direction, i shall easily be able to elude them." i wished to take true with me; but don jose said that he would be of more use at the camp,--that he might possibly betray us where we were going, and insisted on his being left behind. poor fellow, he gazed inquiringly into my face when i tied him up, to know why he was thus treated, and seemed to say, i thought, "you know i shall watch over you better than any one else, and you may be sorry you left me behind." our friend was, however, so peremptory in the matter, that i was compelled to yield to his wishes. bidding farewell to our friends, we took our way for some little distance along the path we had come, and then, turning off, proceeded northward, by which we should intersect, don jose said, another passage across the mountains. had i not been in active exercise every day for so long, i should have found great difficulty in scaling those mountain heights; but my nerves were firm, and from so frequently looking down precipices, i no longer felt any dizziness, even when standing on the edge of the deepest. we travelled on for several days--sometimes through forests, at others along the bare mountain-sides, above the region of vegetation. some nights were spent in huts, which we erected for ourselves, such as those i have just described. the natives, when we stopped at their abodes, always received our friend with great respect and attention. the accommodation they could afford, however, was but scanty. they were built of reeds thatched with palm, and consisted of but one room. i have not yet described the natives of this region. they were of a bronzed colour, with a sad and serious expression of countenance. they were seldom five feet high, and the women were even shorter. they had somewhat broad foreheads; their heads covered with thick, straight, coarse, yet soft, jet-black hair, which hung down their backs. their mouths were large, but their lips were not thicker than those of europeans, and their teeth were invariably fine. they had large, well-formed chins; cheek-bones rounded; their eyes somewhat small, with black eyebrows; and little or no beard. they had broad chests and square shoulders, and well-made backs and legs, which showed the strength possessed by them. they were pleasant-looking people. the men wore a short kilt, with a poncho over their shoulders; the women, a petticoat of larger dimensions. they offered us, on entering their huts, cups of the _guayusa_ tea. it is an infusion of the large leaf of a tall shrub which grows wild in that region. we found it very refreshing: though not so powerful a stimulant as coca, it supports the strength, as do the leaves of that plant, and we found it enable us to go for a considerable time without food. the cleanest corner of the hut was assigned us for our sleeping-place at night, with mats and dried leaves in the place of mattresses. our friend made inquiries as to whether any white people had passed in that direction; and, by his orders, the natives were sent out to gain information. i saw that he was uneasy, though he did not explain to me the reason. one morning we were on the point of again setting forward, when a native, with a long mountain-staff in his hand, entered the hut. he exchanged a few words with don jose. "we must hasten away, harry," said our friend; "there is not a moment to be lost. the enemy have been tracking us, i find; but i trust that your father has escaped them, and will ere long gain the banks of the napo, down which he may voyage to the amazon. we shall be able to reach the same river by a longer route, along which there will be less fear of being followed." he made these remarks as we were throwing our wallets over our backs. taking our staves, he leading, we hurried from the hut, following a narrow path which led up the side of the mountain. we had approached the hut by a lower and more frequented path than we were now taking; but we were, i found, going in the direction from which we had come on the previous day. don jose went first, i followed, and isoro brought up the rear. though i exerted all my strength, i had some difficulty in keeping up with my friend. anxious as i was to obtain more particulars of what had occurred, we could not exchange words at the rate we were going. every now and then, as we were climbing the cliffs, whenever i happened to look back i saw isoro turning an uneasy glance over his shoulder. it was evident that we were pursued. we reached the edge of a deep ravine, which appeared to bar our further progress. don jose, however, without making any remark, continued climbing on along it; and at length i saw what appeared to be a rope stretched across the chasm. "hasten, master! hasten!" i heard isoro cry out: i knew enough of the quichua language to understand him. we continued on till we reached the end of the rope, fastened to the stump of a tree, and stretched across the chasm to the opposite side, where it was secured in the same manner, a platform being raised to the same elevation as the rock on which we stood. "harry," said my friend, turning to me for the first time, "i have seen your nerves thoroughly tried, and i know your muscles are well-knit, or i would not ask you to pass along this perilous bridge." the rope was formed of the tough fibres of the maguey--an osier which grows in the moist ground of that region. it possesses a great degree of tenacity and strength. "master, let me go first," exclaimed isoro, springing forward. "if it breaks with me it will matter little, and you will have still a chance for life." without waiting for don jose's answer, isoro threw himself upon the rope, and, holding on by hands and feet, began to work himself along. i watched him anxiously. it was indeed a fearful mode of crossing that awful gulf; and yet i knew that i must pass as he was doing. i was thankful that the distance was not great, at all events. i breathed more freely when at length i saw him alight on the platform. i entreated don jose to go next. "it will give me more courage," i said. "as you wish," he replied. "let me caution you, only before i go, to shut your eyes, and not to think of the gulf below you. you will then find the passage perfectly easy." saying this, he took hold of the rope, and began to work his way across. scarcely, however, had he got into the centre, when i saw isoro pointing in the direction we had come from. "hasten! hasten!" he shouted out. i looked round, and caught sight of two enormous hounds approaching at full speed. i could hear their loud, baying voices as they came on panting up the mountain-side. i did not hesitate a moment, when urged by isoro to cross at once. "the rope will bear you," he shouted out--"not a moment is to be lost!" seizing the rope, i shut my eyes and began the awful passage; for awful it was, as, in spite of my resolution, i could not help thinking of the deep chasm over which i was making my way. i should be unwilling again to attempt so fearful a passage; and yet, perhaps, once accustomed to it, i should have thought nothing of the undertaking. i was surprised when i felt my friend take my arm. "you are safe," he said; "lower your feet;"--and i found myself standing on the platform. on opening my eyes, and looking towards the cliff from which we had come, i saw two huge blood-hounds, with open mouths, baying at us. isoro, i should have said, had taken my rifle as well as his own, and placed it against the tree. "we must get rid of these animals," said don jose, "or they will betray the road we have taken." saying this, he levelled his piece, and one of the dogs, as it sprung forward on receiving the bullet, fell over the chasm into the depths below. isoro followed his master's example. his bullet took effect; but the blood-hound, though wounded, was not killed outright, and retreated a few paces. i was afraid he would have escaped; but before he had gone far, he fell over, and after a few struggles, was dead. "the animal must not remain there," observed isoro, throwing himself upon the rope; and in a few minutes he had again crossed the chasm. seizing the dog by the legs, he drew it to the edge, and hurled it after its companion. then, searching about in the crevices of the rocks for moss and lichens, he strewed them over the ground where the dog had fallen, so as to obliterate the traces of blood. he was some time thus occupied before he had performed the operation to his satisfaction; and then he once more crossed the chasm, with as much unconcern as if he had been passing along an ordinary road. i proposed letting go the rope to prevent our pursuers following. "that is not necessary," said don jose. "it would cause trouble to our friends, and i doubt whether our enemies will venture to cross. at all events, the so doing would betray the route we have taken, and they may find the means of crossing some leagues further down the stream." we accordingly proceeded as before. we now came to a track, which, had i been alone, i could not have followed, as it was generally, to my eyes, altogether undistinguishable; yet don jose and isoro traced it without difficulty. it now led us along the edge of a precipice, where, it seemed to me, so narrow was the space between the cliff on one side and the fearful gulf on the other, that we could not possibly get by. our leader, however, went on without hesitation. at length he appeared to reflect that my nerves might not be as firm as his. "here, harry," he said, "take hold of the centre of my staff; isoro will hold the other end, and you may pass without risk." i did as he directed, keeping my eyes away from the gulf as much as possible. now and then the path became somewhat wider; then again it narrowed, affording just space to support our feet. i leaned against the cliff, unwilling to throw more weight than i could possibly help on the staff. i breathed more freely when we were once more ascending the mountain-side. we were making our way round a rugged point of rock, and don jose's head had just risen above it, when he called to us to stop. "i see some people coming this way," he observed. "they may be friends, but they may be foes. harry, i am sorry to have exposed you to this danger; for it is me they seek, not you. however, they have not seen us, and we have yet time to conceal ourselves. fortunately i know of a place near here where we shall be able to do so; and unless yonder band have these savage blood-hounds with them, we may yet escape capture." saying this, he began rapidly to ascend the mountain-side among the wild and rugged rocks with which it was covered. after climbing up for some distance, we saw before us a small opening in the rocks. "this is the spot i was seeking," observed our friend; "and unless it is known to our pursuers, we shall here remain in security till they have passed by." he leading the way, we all entered the cavern. it soon opened out into a large chamber with rugged sides. the passage to it also had several buttresses or projecting rocks, behind which we might take post, and could have fired down without being seen on any one approaching. from the entrance, also, we could watch the pathway by which we had come; and it was so small and overgrown with shrubs that it could not be perceived at any distance. don jose told me to climb up behind one of the rocks, while he and isoro took post behind others. so completely were they concealed, that i could not discover where they were except by their voices. we waited anxiously, till at length a band of armed men was seen winding round the hill. already they had passed under the cave. "we might follow, and without difficulty hurl every one of those fellows into the abyss below," observed don jose. "but we will spare them; they obey but the orders of their superiors." after waiting a little time longer, don jose emerged from the cavern, and looking about, told us that the road was clear. we accordingly descended, though it required great caution to avoid making a rapid descent into the deep ravine below us. for the greater part of the day we continued toiling on, supported by the coca with which we occasionally replenished our mouths. at length, towards evening, we made our way to a native hut, where we were received as usual. here hammocks were slung for us between the pole on which the roof rested, our hosts undertaking to keep careful watch to prevent surprise. i had become very anxious about the rest of our party, fearing that they might have been discovered. at the end of two more days i recognised the features of the spot where we had left them. no one was to be seen. my heart sank. had they been seized and carried off to quito, or had they made their escape? great was my satisfaction when, on rounding a rocky point, i caught sight of the huts, and saw arthur running towards us. "we are all well--very thankful to see you return!" he exclaimed, "for we began to fear that you might have been lost." directly afterwards john and ellen emerged from their huts, and now all the party were gathered round us. poor dear ellen welcomed me with tears in her eyes. her spirits revived when don jose told her he had reason to believe that our parents were in safety. true could not restrain his joy, but kept leaping up and licking my hands and face, and jumping round and round me. wherever i went he closely followed, determined not again to lose sight of me. at supper he sat by my side watching my face, nor would he leave me even though john and arthur tried to tempt him away with offers of bits of pork or parrots' legs. all the party were eager to set out at once, but it was necessary before we could do so to procure bearers to convey our luggage along the long and intricate path we had to take through the forest. this our friend undertook to do by the following day from a village at no great distance off. the next morning a dozen stout natives--young, active men--made their appearance. they all had at their backs large baskets bound by withes passing across the forehead and chest. they were but lightly clothed. a small poncho covered their shoulders, and the usual cloth and kilt was worn round the loins, a wisp of leaves preventing their backs being chafed by their burdens. each man also carried a long staff in his hand, and a bag of roasted corn as provision for the journey. the burdens were soon adjusted. one of them had a sort of chair at his back, which don jose had ordered to carry the senora, as ellen was denominated. she insisted, however, that she was well able to walk, and not without difficulty we persuaded her to take advantage of the conveyance which had been provided. we forthwith set out, and descending the mountain, were soon in the midst of the thick forest. two of the indians, who carried lighter burdens than the rest, went ahead with axes in their hands to clear the way. it was extraordinary with what rapidity they cut through the sipos, or hanging vines, which threw their serpent-like coils from tree to tree. so quick is their growth in that moist region, that other travellers following in a few weeks would have to perform the same operation, our friend told us. as we advanced the forest became thicker and thicker, the dark foliage forming a lofty vault through which no sunlight can ever enter. the air felt cool and excessively damp, compared to the exposed sides of the mountains. a constant mist seemed to hang on the branches. not a sound was to be heard; scarcely a bird did we see in the swampy shades. the stillness and gloom, indeed, became almost painful. from the lofty trees hung down thousands of lianas, or air-roots, some forming thick festoons, others perfectly straight, of all lengths, many reaching almost down to our heads, others again touching the ground and taking root in the soft earth. here and there some giant of the forest, decayed by age, had fallen, to remain suspended in the loops of the sipos. thus we went on, following in indian file. i kept near ellen to cheer her up, while true followed close at my heels, every now and then licking my hands and jumping up, as if to ask me what i thought of the strange region we had entered. we found it rather difficult to converse. sometimes we walked on for a considerable distance in silence. we had thus been progressing for some time, the only sound heard being that of our footsteps on the rustling leaves, or that produced by the sharp axes of our pioneers, when suddenly our ears were startled by a loud crash, which, contrasted with the previous silence, made it seem as if the whole forest was coming down together. ellen gave way to a slight cry of alarm. "do not be afraid, my young friends!" shouted don jose. "it is only an ancient tree, weary of standing so long." in a short time the crashing sound ceased, and directly afterwards we came in sight of a vast trunk, which had fallen across the path we were about to pass along. we had to make a circuit therefore to avoid it. we could not but feel thankful that it had not delayed its fall till we were passing beneath, although we might possibly have had time to escape, in consequence of its being upheld for a few seconds by the sipos, till its vast weight had dragged them down. chapter five. the river reached at last. we were not yet free of the mountains, for numerous spurs of the mighty andes run eastward, between which the many streams proceeding from their snow-capped heights make their way towards the amazon. once more we were compelled to ascend a steep height, and then to proceed along the ridge for a considerable distance; then again we descended, to find at the bottom a roaring torrent. this had to be crossed. the huge trunk of a tree had been placed by the natives over the deeper part, resting on the rocks on either side. the water hissed and bubbled round it, threatening every instant to carry it away. isoro, however, urged us to cross without delay. he observed signs in the west, among the mountains, of a coming storm, he said, and should it break before we were safe on the other side, we should be prevented from crossing altogether. still, as we looked at the frail bridge, john and i were very unwilling to expose ellen to the risk she must run. at length don jose ordered the indians to form a long rope of sipos, and to stretch it across the stream, that it might assist to steady the bearers on their passage. this caused some delay. "hasten! hasten!" cried isoro. "i hear a sound which tells me that the waters are coming down!" don jose on this led the way. arthur kept close to him. i followed with true in my arms, for i had taken him up for fear of his being carried away by the current. ellen's bearer same next. john walked close behind her, to render her assistance should it be required. with one hand i grasped the long sipo, with the other i kept tight hold of true. the rest had the advantage of being able to steady themselves with their poles. domingos assisted maria. the water, even before we reached the trunk, came roaring and hissing down round our legs, and i had some difficulty in stemming the current. i was thankful when our leader reached the trunk, and began his passage over it. i found it, however, very slippery with the spray which broke over it. i dared not look back to see how it fared with ellen. i heard her voice, however, as she cried out, "do not be afraid, harry; my bearer steps firmly, and i am looking up at the blue sky and the waving tops of the tall trees; i do not feel any alarm." still there was a wide extent of bubbling water to be crossed beyond the end of the slippery trunk, and i could hear the loud roar of the waters which came down from the mountains through the ravine. i saw don jose hastening on, and more than once he turned and beckoned us to proceed more rapidly. the end of the bridge was reached. arthur hesitated to leap into the boiling water. don jose turned round and seized his hand and led him on. i followed. it seemed that every instant the depth of the water was increasing. i trembled for ellen's safety, and yet could not venture to look back to ascertain how it was faring with her. i thought too of john, maria, domingos, and our indians. the danger for those who came last would be greatly increased. had it not been for the sipo, i could scarcely have kept my footing. now i was wading up to my middle, now climbing over a rock worn smooth by the never-resting waters. the water was here somewhat shallower. i looked round. ellen's bearer was following with firm steps, and was close behind me. "on! on!" cried john. our leader was already near the edge, and i hoped we should soon be in safety, when i heard ellen utter a shriek of terror. i sprang on to the bank. her bearer followed. she had not been alarmed on her own account; but now looking across the stream, i saw the bearers following closely on each other, pressing along the bridge. from above the water, in a vast foaming volume, was coming rushing down, roaring loudly. john turned round, and taking maria's hand, assisted her up the bank. domingos clambered after her. our peons came close together behind. one man was still on the bridge, when the torrent, striking it with fearful force, lifted it off the rock, and away it went wheeling downwards. the peon kept his footing for an instant, then, as it began to turn over, he sprang off it towards the shore; but unable to disengage himself from his burden, he was borne downwards amid the tossing waters. the indians ran down the bank to try and render him assistance. john and i followed, with don jose, who seemed unusually agitated. now we saw the man clutching hold of a rock; soon again he was torn off, and went floating downwards. still he struggled on bravely, making his way towards the shore. i expected every moment to see him give up the unequal contest, for the mighty waters seemed to have him in their grasp. fortunately the bundle he carried was large, and though heavy out of the water, was light in it, and instead of sinking, assisted to float him. john and i continued to make our way along the banks with the rest. we had got some distance down, when we saw what appeared to be an eddy or backwater in the river. below it the stream rushed on with the same impetuosity as before. i called to john. "i think we may save him," i said; and signed to the indians to cut some long sipos which hung down from the branches above us. several flexible ones were speedily cut and fastened together. both john and i were good swimmers. he secured one to his waist, as did i, signing to the indians to hold the other ends. then we dashed into the stream, swimming out towards the struggling indian. in another moment he would have been carried by us. i reached him just as i was at the extreme end of the sipo. john seized his arm directly afterwards, and together we towed him towards the bank, calling to the indians to haul the sipo gently in. soon reaching the bank, we dragged up our nearly drowned companion. not till then did we discover that he was isoro, who, it appeared, had taken the load of a sick bearer unable to carry it. isoro, as soon as he had recovered sufficiently to speak, thanked us warmly for preserving his life. don jose, who had come up, also added his thanks. "i value him much," he observed, "and should have grieved deeply had he lost his life." we had little time for talking, however, for we had to hurry back to where we had left our companions, as the storm which had been brewing in the mountains now threatened to break over our heads. our party, therefore, piling up their loads, made haste to erect some sheds similar to those we had already several times built. a quantity of the _sindicaspi_, or "wood that burns," was speedily cut, and fires were lighted, at which we dried our drenched clothes. scarcely had our preparations been made, when the threatening storm burst over us, the wind howling and whistling through the trees, which waved to and fro, making a loud rustling sound; while every now and then we could hear the crashing noise of some patriarch of the forest, as it sank beneath the blast. the rain came in torrents, and the river, surging and swelling, rapidly increased its breadth. we had indeed reason to be thankful that we had not delayed our crossing a moment longer. our fires were soon put out, and water came rushing down on either side of us through the forest. we, however, had chosen a slightly elevated spot for our camp, which, though surrounded by water, had hitherto escaped destruction. the rain continuing to pour down in a perfect deluge, compelled us to remain in our camp. so secure, however, had the roofs been made, that we kept dry inside. occasionally john, arthur, and i ran into ellen's hut to pay her a visit. we found her and maria sitting very composedly, employing themselves with their work, which they produced from one of the bundles they had unpacked. don jose remained in his hut, attended by isoro. he was much more out of spirits than we had yet seen him. "my young friends," he said, "i must soon bid you farewell. i had resolved to accompany you till i could see you embarked on the river. we shall reach it, i hope, in three or four days at furthest, but i cannot be longer absent from my people in these troubled times. i hope that you will soon overtake your father and family, who, from the accounts i have received, intend to wait for you at the mouth of the river, where it joins the amazon. though i must return, isoro has expressed a wish to accompany you. you will find his assistance of value, as he has been among the wild tribes you will encounter on your passage, and knows their habits and customs. they are very different from the people you have hitherto met, and may give you much annoyance, unless cautiously dealt with." we were very sorry to hear of don jose's intention of leaving us, as we had hoped that he intended to accompany us till we could overtake our father, though we were greatly obliged to him for his proposal of allowing isoro to remain with us. once more, the clouds clearing away, we proceeded on our journey. we made, however, but slow progress, as in many places the sipos which had overgrown the path had to be cut way to allow of our passage through the forest. i can scarcely attempt to convey in words an idea of the dense mass of foliage amid which we had to force our way. vast roots like huge snakes ran out over the ground in all directions, their upper parts forming huge buttresses to the giant stems. then large ferns shot upwards, while a thick network of vines hung festooned in every possible form above our heads, many hanging down straight to the ground, while numberless curious air-plants hung suspended from the branches. now and then gaily-plumaged birds were seen flitting amid the thick shade; but we were surprised at the paucity of animal life which existed. not a quadruped was to be seen. a few monkeys and parrots were occasionally heard, though rarely caught sight of. we had numerous streams to cross; often, indeed, the same stream to cross several times. frequently the passage was almost as dangerous as that i have described. sometimes we stopped at the huts of the natives, where we were as usual well received. they were built of bamboo, fastened together with lianas or sipos, the roofs covered with large palm-leaves. they willingly supplied us with such provisions as they possessed. the chief article was _yuca_ flour, with which we made cakes. it is the beet-like root of a small tree about ten feet high. when not hunting, the men appeared to spend their time in idleness. the women, however, were occasionally employed in manufacturing a thread called _pita_ from the leaves of the aloe, which they carry to quito for sale. occasionally the men collected vanilla. it is a graceful climber, belonging to the orchid family. the stalk, the thickness of a finger, bears at each joint a lanceolate and ribbed leaf a foot long and three inches broad. it has large star-like white flowers, intermixed with stripes of red and yellow, which fill the forest with delicious odours. they are succeeded by long slender pods, containing numerous seeds imbedded in a thick oily balsamic pulp. the seeds, which are highly esteemed, are used for flavouring chocolate and other purposes. monkeys are very fond of them, and pick all they find, so that few are left on the wild plants for man's use. vanilla is, however, cultivated in mexico and other parts of the world. the indians also collected copal. it is a gum which exudes from a lofty leguminous tree, having a bark like that of the oak. however, i must hurry on with an account of our journey. when we met with no habitations on our way, we were compelled to build sheds in the driest and most open spots we could find. at length, through an arched opening in the forest, the bright sheen of water caught our eyes, and hurrying on, we found ourselves standing on the bank of a stream, which opened up to us a watery highway to the atlantic. still, we were well aware that we had many dangers to encounter. for many hundred leagues we could not hope to meet with europeans, and although the natives among whom we had hitherto travelled had been friendly, we knew that numerous tribes existed along the banks of the amazon or its tributaries, who might prove hostile to strangers. our chief anxiety, however, was about our father and mother. when we might once more meet, we could not tell. still we felt sure that they would not willingly proceed till we had overtaken them. we had arrived at a part of the river at a distance from any native village. we had therefore to depend on ourselves for the means of making our intended voyage. we were prepared, however, to build canoes of sufficient size for the accommodation of our reduced party. accordingly we set to work to erect huts of a more substantial character than those we had hitherto built, in which we might live in some degree of comfort till the work was accomplished. with the assistance of our bearers, in a few hours we had a good-sized hut of bamboos put up, and strongly thatched with palm-leaves. one portion was walled in with a division forming two apartments. the larger was devoted to the accommodation of ellen and her sable attendant. in the other, our goods were stored; while the rest of us slung our hammocks in a large open verandah, which formed, indeed, the greater part of the building. it was completed before nightfall. in front, between us and the river, a large fire was made up, which, fed by a peculiar kind of wood growing near, kept alight for many hours without being replenished. we were seated at our evening meal, when we heard footsteps rapidly approaching, and an indian appeared and saluted don jose. he was a stranger, and had evidently been travelling rapidly. presenting a packet, he sank down on the ground with fatigue. a cup of _guayusa_ tea soon revived him. don jose meantime opened his packet, and hastily read the contents. "my young friends," he said, "i regret that i must immediately bid you farewell. i cannot longer be absent from my people. i know not what may occur; but if their leaders are away, they will have no hope of obtaining their freedom. your father, however, was right to escape from the country. i am thankful to say that i can give you tidings of him. he has reached the mouth of the napo in safety, and is there encamped, awaiting your arrival. here, john, is a missive your father desires me to deliver to you." our friend handed my brother a note written hurriedly in pencil. it ran thus: "the messenger is about to leave, so i must be brief. we are all well, and purpose waiting your arrival on this healthy spot, near the mouth of the napo. you will without difficulty find it, though we shall be on the watch for all canoes coming down the stream. pass two rivers on your left hand, then a high bluff of red clay interspersed with stripes of orange, yellow, grey, and white. proceed another league, till you pass, on a low point, a grove of bamboos. rounding it, you will find a clear spot on a low hill overlooking the stream. it is there i have fixed our temporary abode." "oh, surely there will be no difficulty in finding them!" exclaimed ellen. "i wish that the canoes were ready--or could we not set off by land?" "i fear that you would have to encounter many difficulties," observed don jose, "if you were to make the attempt. i must counsel patience, the most difficult of all virtues. i wish that i could accompany you-- or, at all events, remain till the canoes are ready; but you will find isoro a skilful builder, and i will direct him to procure the assistance of some of the natives of this region, who will afterwards act as your crew, and navigate your canoes as far as they can venture down the river. after that, isoro will return with them, as i am afraid that i could not induce him to remain away longer from me, though i would gladly let him accompany you if he would. still i hope that you will have no great difficulty in accomplishing the short remainder of your voyage till you find your father and the rest of your family." john and i thanked don jose again and again for the aid he had afforded us, and the sacrifices he had made on our account. "do not speak of them, my young friends," he replied. "i owe much to your father; and we are united by ties of which he, perhaps, will some day tell you." we wished that our friend would explain himself more clearly, but he evidently did not intend to do so, and we therefore could not attempt to press the point. we sat up talking for some time before we turned into our hammocks. our hut was romantically situated. before us flowed the rapid river; on either side rose the thick forest of palms and other trees, round the stems of which circled many a creeper, hanging in festoons from the branches overhead. in the far distance towered the outer range of those lofty mountains we were leaving, perhaps for ever; while round us were scattered the temporary wigwams which our attendants had put up for themselves. the never-ceasing murmur of the waters tended to lull us to sleep in spite of the strange sounds which ever and anon came from the forest, caused by tree-toads and crickets; while occasionally owls, goat-suckers, and frogs joined in the concert with their hooting, wailing, and hoarse croaks. my faithful dog true had taken up his usual place at night below my hammock. suddenly i was awaked by hearing him utter a loud bark; and looking down, i saw by the fire, which was still burning brightly, a huge alligator poking his snout into the verandah, having evidently climbed up the bank with the intention of making a meal off the dog, or, perhaps, off one of the sleeping natives. true stood bravely at bay, barking furiously, and yet refusing to retreat. leaping from my hammock, i seized a log, and dashed it in the huge saurian's face. all the party were speedily on foot. isoro and domingos came rushing forward with their long poles to attack the monster; while john, seizing his gun, fired at its head: the ball, however, glanced off its scaly coat. the reptile, finding itself disappointed of its expected feast, and that the odds were against it, retreated, and finally fell over with a loud plash into the stream. the incident warned us of the midnight visitors we might expect, and of the necessity of keeping a watch when sleeping near the river's bank. the fire was made up afresh. we were all soon again asleep, with the exception of one of the men, who was directed by don jose to keep watch for the remainder of the night. the next morning our kind friend bade us farewell, and, accompanied by the bearers, took his way through the forest to the andes. we saw him go with great regret. we remembered the dangers he would have to encounter, and we felt how probable it was that we should never again see him. our party now consisted of ellen, maria, john, arthur and i, domingos and isoro. john and i had our rifles; and domingos a brace of long horse-pistols, which he took from his holsters when the mules were sent back; with a fair supply of ammunition. we had axes, and a few other tools for building our canoe; a stock of provisions, which had been carefully husbanded; and some bales of cotton and other articles with which to repay the natives for their services, or to purchase food. isoro was armed with a long bow and spear, and arthur was anxious to provide himself with similar weapons. as soon as don jose had gone, isoro set out according to his directions to find some natives. we were still, it will be remembered, within peruvian territory; and although but slight communication was kept up with the natives of the scattered villages, yet the spaniards had for some years past made their power felt, as the incas had done in former ages, even in these remote districts. isoro said he had therefore no fear of being ill-treated by any of the natives he might encounter. as soon as breakfast was over, while john and domingos remained at the hut, assisting ellen and maria to overhaul and re-arrange our goods, arthur and i strolled out to try and shoot some birds. we had not gone far when we heard, at a little distance off, some loud, shrill, yelping cries. i was sure they were produced by birds, yet arthur could scarcely believe it. the noises came, it seemed, from above our heads. looking up, we at length caught sight of several large birds, perched on the higher branches above us, with enormous bills. we approached cautiously, hiding ourselves underneath some wide palm-leaves, between which we could observe the noisy assemblage. the birds seemed to be shouting out "to-o-cano, to-o-cano," and it is on this account that the indians give them the name from which we derive that of toucans. one was perched above the rest, and he kept bending his neck downwards, and looking about in the most knowing way, as if to ascertain what sort of creatures we could be. the rest seemed to be employing themselves in picking some fruit, every now and then throwing up their huge beaks as if to let it slip down their throats. as we were anxious to procure some fresh food for dinner, i had been getting my gun ready as quietly as possible, and having selected the bird nearest to me, i raised it to my shoulder and fired. down came the bird, fluttering among the branches, and we ran forward to secure our prize. on examining it, we found that its feet were like those of a parrot. it was of a black colour, with a gloss of green; about fifteen inches in length, with a long tail and short wings; the feathers at the bottom of the back being of a sulphur hue. the cheeks, throat, and fore part of the breast, were of the same tint, while across the lower part of the breast was a broad crimson bar; the under part being also crimson. the remainder of the flock having flown away, i was unable to obtain another shot. these birds we afterwards saw in great numbers. their large beaks give them an awkward appearance when flying, yet when climbing about the trees they are evidently of great assistance, as also in picking fruit, or catching the insects they find among the bark. we went some distance before i could get another shot. i then killed a green parrot, and soon after another. arthur could scarcely believe that we should find them fit for eating. i was on the point of taking aim at a monkey which came peering out at us among the boughs, when he drew back my arm. "you surely will not kill that creature!" he exclaimed. "i could never bring myself to eat it, if you do; and i am sure your sister would not." i told him that monkeys form the principal food of many of the tribes in the country. "oh, but then they are no better than cannibals," he answered. "wait a little till we are pressed for want of food," i said. "remember our stock of provisions is but small, and if we were to be over-particular, we should starve." the monkey, however, by his intervention escaped. we went on for some time, gradually entering a denser part of the forest than we had yet reached. sipos hung down from every bough, forming a curious tracery of living cordage above our heads, and more completely uniting the tall trees than even the masts of a ship are by the rigging, so that an active midshipman, or a still more agile monkey--i hope the former will pardon me for mentioning them together--could have no difficulty in progressing high up from the ground for miles together through the forest. strange air-plants swung suspended from the branches, some like the crowns of huge pine-apples, others like parasols with fringes, or chinese umbrellas--indeed, of all shapes and hues; while climbing plants of the most diverse and ornamental foliage possible wound their way upwards, and then formed graceful and elegant festoons, yet further to adorn this mighty sylvan palace. such a scene, though often witnessed, seemed fresh and beautiful as at first. as i wished to get another shot or two, we crept slowly on, concealing ourselves as much as possible, lest any birds perched on the boughs might see us and fly away. there was little difficulty in doing so amongst the huge fern and palm-like foliage which surrounded us. in a short time we heard ahead of us a strange chattering and rustling in the trees, and moving cautiously on, we caught sight of a number of dark objects moving about at a rapid rate among the sipos. stealing cautiously forward, we discovered them to be monkeys at their gambols; and curious gambols they were too. they had white faces, with black coats and thin bodies and limbs, and still longer tails, which kept whisking and twirling and whirling about in the most extraordinary style. not for a moment were these tails of theirs at rest, except when they had hold of branches to allow their other limbs more freedom. i did not suppose that such muscular power could have existed in an animal's tail. they seemed to be playing each other all sorts of comical tricks. now one would catch hold of a horizontal sipo, and swing vehemently backwards and forwards; now two or three would scramble up a perpendicular one, and a fourth would catch hold of the tail of the last and hang by it, whisking about his own tail meantime till it had found a branch of liana, when he would let go, and bring himself up again by that wonderful member of his, and skip away to a distance from his playmate, who might attempt to retaliate. if one happened for an instant to be sitting quietly on a sipo, or gently winging backwards and forwards, another was sure to come behind him and pull his tail, or give him a twitch on the ear, and then throw himself off the sipo out of the other's reach, holding on, however, firmly enough by his long appendage. one big fellow came creeping up thus behind another, and gave him a sly pinch on the neck. so funny was the face which the latter made as he turned round and lifted up his paw to give the other a box on the ear, that arthur and i burst into fits of laughter. this startled the whole flock, who peered about them, skipping here and there, chattering to each other, as if to inquire the cause of the strange sounds which had reached their ears. at length one, bolder than the rest, creeping near, caught sight of us, when back he went to communicate the intelligence to his companions. a hurried consultation was evidently held by them, and then more came to look down at us, keeping wisely in the upper branches. we tried to be silent; but so extraordinary were the grimaces they made with their funny little white physiognomies, that we again burst into shouts of laughter, in which true joining with a loud bark, off scampered the monkeys, whisking their long tails, along the sipos and branches, till they were hid from sight, although we could still hear their chattering in the distance. i could not have had the heart to fire at such frolicsome creatures, even had we been more pressed for food than was the case. "i wish that we could get one of them to tame," exclaimed arthur. "it would make a delightful pet for your sister, and a capital playmate for true. they would become great friends, depend on it. he sadly wants a companion of his own amount of intellect, poor fellow." "i doubt as to their having any intellect, and i don't think true would consider himself complimented by having them compared to him," i answered, laughing, though a little piqued that the sense of my favourite should be rated on an equality with that of a monkey. we discussed the matter as we went along. i was compelled to acknowledge at last that though true had sense, he might not even have reason, only instinct verging on it strongly developed. "and what are those monkeys?" asked arthur, who had not quite agreed with me, and wished to change the subject. "i have no doubt that they are what the french call `spider monkeys,'" i answered. "i found a description of them in my book, under the title of ateles, or coaita. the white-faced species is the _ateles marginatus_. there are several species very similar in their appearance and habits." i have more to say by-and-by about these spider monkeys. we now found that it was time to begin our return to the river. as we were walking on we caught sight of some object moving among the tall grass. arthur, true, and i followed at full speed. i had my gun ready to fire. it was a huge serpent. it seemed, however, more afraid of us than we were of it. on it went like a dark stream running amidst the verdure, moving almost in a straight line, with only the slightest perceptible bends, and it soon disappeared among the thick underwood. from its size it would have been an awkward creature to be surprised by unarmed; and true, i suspect, would have had little chance of escaping. shortly afterwards, looking up among the branches, we saw overhead a large flight of parrots. from their curious way of moving they seemed to be fighting in the air. presently down one fell from among them, pitching into a soft clump of grass. i ran forward, expecting to find it dead; but scarcely had i taken it in my hand, than it revived, and i had no doubt it had been stunned by a blow on the head from one of its companions. it was of a bright green plumage, with a patch of scarlet beneath the wings. "i am sure your sister would like it for a pet," exclaimed arthur; "do let us take it to her!" the parrot, however, seemed in no way disposed to submit to captivity, but struggled violently and bit at our fingers. i managed, however, to secure its beak, and we carried it in safety to the hut. "oh, what a beautiful little creature!" exclaimed ellen as she saw it. "i have been so longing to have some pets, and i am much obliged to you for bringing it to me." "i have tamed many birds," said maria, "and i hope soon to make this one very amiable and happy." domingos, however, declared that the bird could not be kept without a cage. some bamboos were growing at a short distance. he cut several small ones, and in a short time had constructed a good-sized cage, with the bars sufficiently close prevent the little stranger escaping. he then set to work to pluck the birds we had killed, and they were quickly roasting, spitted between forked sticks, before the fire. while we were engaged in preparing dinner we caught sight of several persons coming along the banks of the river. isoro led the way; six natives followed. they were clad in somewhat scanty garments--a sort of kilt of matting, ornamented with feathers, round their waists, their cheeks and body painted with red and yellow. they were, however, pleasant-looking men. they had quivers at their backs, and long tubes, which i soon found to be blow-pipes, in their hands. true at first evidently did not approve of their presence, and went growling about, showing his teeth; but when he saw us treat them as friends, he became quiet, and went and lay down at the entrance to ellen's room, eyeing them, however, as if not quite satisfied about the matter. isoro introduced the tallest of the party, whose kilt was rather more ornamented than those of his companions, as their chief--naro by name. he had agreed to build us a couple of canoes, of sufficient size to convey us down the more dangerous parts of the river. after this we were to proceed in one, while he and his men returned in the other. we were to repay him with a dozen yards of cloth, a couple of knives, some beads, and other articles. as soon as we had finished our roasted toucans and parrots, we set forth with our new allies in search of suitable trees for the shells of the boats. we hunted about for some time before they could fix on one. at length they pointed out one about fifteen feet in circumference. some of the bark being cut off. i saw that the wood was of a yellow colour, and of a soft nature, which could be easily worked. the indians, however, shook their heads, declaring that though the wood was good for a canoe, the tree was too large to be cut down. isoro, in answer, told them that if they could make a canoe out of it, he would undertake to fell it. he soon showed his countrymen that he would make his words good, and wielding his sharp axe, he quickly cut a deep notch in the tree. naro now seemed satisfied. while some of the party hewed at the trunk, others climbed the neighbouring trees to cut away the festoons of sipos and other creepers which might impede its fall. a road also had to be cleared to the river for the distance of nearly a quarter of a mile. all hands assisted in this work, and by evening we had made considerable progress. the indians camped round us at night. one of them had broken his blow-pipe, and was employed in taking it to pieces for the purpose of mending it. i had thus an opportunity of seeing how it was made. it was about ten feet long, and composed of two separate lengths of wood, each of which was scooped out so as to form one-half of the tube. their tools appeared to be made of the teeth of some animal, which i afterwards found were those of the paca. these two pieces thus hollowed out are fastened together by winding round them long flat slips of the climbing palm-tree called the jacitara. the tube is then covered over with black bees'-wax. a mouth-piece made of wood is fastened to one end, which is broader than the other. from this it tapers away towards the muzzle. i was surprised to find how heavy the instrument was when i came to try and shoot from one. it is called by a variety of names--by the spaniards, _zarabatana_; by some natives, the _samouran_; by others, the _tarbucan_; by the portuguese, the _gravatana_. the arrows are made from thin strips of the hard rind of the leaf-stalks of palms, and are scraped at the end till they become as sharp as needles. round the butt-end is wound a little mass from the silk-cotton tree, which exactly fits into the bore of the blow-pipe. the quivers were very neatly formed of the plaited strips of a plant growing wild, from which arrow-root is made. the upper part consisted of a rim of the red wood of the japura, highly polished; and it was secured over the shoulder by a belt ornamented with coloured fringes and tassels of cotton. we afterwards saw blow-pipes formed in a different way, two stems of small palms being selected, of different sizes, the smaller exactly to fit inside the larger. thus any curve existing in the one is counteracted by that of the other. the arrows are tipped with the far-famed wourali poison, which quickly kills any animal they wound. next morning we returned to the tree, and worked away as before. arthur and i undertook to cut down some smaller trees, to serve as rollers on which to drag the huge trunk to the side of the river, where it was to be hollowed out. we had, however, to supply ourselves with food, and two of our new friends prepared to go in search of game with their blow-pipes. arthur and i begged to accompany them; but they made signs that we must not fire off our guns, as we should quickly put the game to flight, and that we must keep at a distance behind them. "i wonder what they are going to shoot," asked arthur. "we shall soon see," i answered, as we followed our friends. the noise of our operations in the forest had driven away most of its usual inhabitants from the neighbourhood. we therefore had to go some distance before we came in sight of any game. we kept, as we had promised, a little behind our friends. suddenly one of them stopped, and raising his blow-pipe, a sound like that from a large pop-gun was heard, and we saw a bird, pierced by an arrow, fluttering among the branches. gradually its wings ceased to move, and down fell a parrot. advancing a little further, the indian made us a sign to stop; and looking up among the branches, we caught sight of a troop of the same curious little monkeys with long tails which we had seen the day before. they kept frisking about, now climbing up the sipos, now throwing themselves down, hanging by their tails, and swinging backwards and forwards. presently one of the natives lifted his blow-pipe, from which sped an arrow, piercing one of the poor little creatures. it hung for an instant by its tail round a branch, and then fell with a crash among the thick leaves. the others kept jumping about, apparently not aware of what had happened to their companion. thus three or more were brought down before the rest discovered the enemy in their neighbourhood. they then all went off at a rapid rate, swinging themselves from branch to branch, but stopped again at a short distance to watch us. "i would give anything to have one of those active little fellows alive!" exclaimed arthur. "don't you think, harry, that we could make the indians understand what we want?" "we will try, at all events," i answered. "but i beg that you won't laugh at my pantomime." galling to the indians, i took one of their arrows, and pointing it towards the monkeys, which were still to be seen a little way before us among the trees, eyeing us curiously, i shook my head violently, to show that i did not want it killed. then i ran forward, and pretended to catch one, and to lead it along. "now, arthur, you must act the monkey," i exclaimed. on this he began frisking about, putting out his hand behind to represent a tail, while i pretended to be soothing him by stroking him on the head and back, and thus inducing him to accompany me. the indians watched us attentively, and then nodding their beads, began to talk together. they soon seemed to be agreed as to what we wanted, and signing to us to remain quiet, one of them again crept cautiously towards the monkeys, still frisking about within sight, while the other sat down with arthur and me. we eagerly watched the indian. he first selected an arrow, the point of which he scraped slightly and wetted. presently he placed his blow-pipe within the loop of a sipo. "why, he's going to kill one of the poor creatures after all!" exclaimed arthur. "it looks very like it," i answered. "but we shall see." the indian waited for a few seconds, and then out flew his tiny dart with a loud pop. one of the monkeys was hit. "oh dear! oh dear!" cried arthur. "they could not have understood us." the monkey had been struck when hanging to one of the lower branches; it fell before it had time to save itself with its long tail, and the indian instantly springing forward, caught it, and pulled out the dart. he then took something out of the bag hanging at his waist, and put it into its mouth, which he kept closed to prevent it from spluttering it out. the poor creature seemed so stunned or bewildered by its fall, and at finding itself suddenly in the grasp of a strange being twenty times its own size, that it made no resistance. the indian brought it to us in his arms, much as a nurse carries a baby, and showed us that it was not much the worse for its wound. as we went along we observed that its eyes, which were at first dim, had quickly recovered their brightness, while its tail began to whisk about and coil itself round the native's arm. we were at a loss to account for the wonderful way in which it had so speedily recovered; nor did the indians seem disposed to tell us their secret. "i should so like to carry the little creature, it seems already so tame and gentle," said arthur. "you had better not take it from the indian, or it may give you an ugly bite, and be off and up a tree in a twinkling," i answered. "it has no cause to love us as yet, at all events." arthur still insisting that he could carry the monkey, asked the indian to let him have it. the native shook his head, and signified that the monkey would to a certainty escape if he did. at last, however, he and his companion stopped, and fastened the creature's tail tightly to its back, then they wound a quantity of fibre round its front paws, and finally put a muzzle over its mouth. "there; you may manage to carry him now," they seemed to say. "but take care, he may slip out of his bonds even yet, if you do not hold him fast." the monkey glanced up at the countenance of arthur, who looked down kindly at the creature, and carried it gently so as not to hurt it. "i should like to give it a name," he said; "something appropriate." "we will consult ellen on that important matter," i answered. "when she sees how active it is, i think she will call it nimble." "oh yes; that would be a capital name. do let us call it nimble," he exclaimed. "you and ellen shall choose its name, and i am sure that john will agree to whatever you decide," i replied. this made arthur perfectly contented, and he walked along stroking the monkey and talking gently to it, till the animal evidently began to feel confidence in him, and lay perfectly quiet in his arms. the indians did not as yet appear satisfied with the amount of game they had killed, and were on the look-out for more. i kept my gun in readiness for a shot. "pray, harry, do not kill another spider monkey," said arthur; "it would make nimble so unhappy, i am sure." i promised that i would not; indeed, i had not the heart to wish even to shoot one of the merry little creatures. we soon afterwards, however, came in sight of several much larger monkeys, with stouter limbs, but excessively active, and furnished with long, strong, flexible tails. i recognised them as the species called by the portuguese _macaco barrigudo_, or the big-bellied monkey. the indians shot one of them with their blow-pipes, the rest wisely swinging themselves off. the creature had a black and wrinkled face, with a low forehead and projecting eyebrows. the body was upwards of two feet in length, and the tail not much less. as the indians held him up, arthur and i agreed that he looked exactly like an old negro. by the evening we had as many birds and monkeys as we could carry. arthur offered to carry some of the birds in addition to nimble, declaring that he could not bring himself to eat our four-handed game. "and that negro-looking old fellow, i would starve rather than touch him!" he exclaimed. "and as for domingos, i should think him a cannibal if he were to eat him." arthur, as we went along, kept trying to prevent his little charge from seeing its dead companions. "i am sure that it would make him unhappy," he observed; "for how can he tell that he is not going to be treated in the same way!" so like was one part of the forest to another, that i had no idea we were near our huts when we came in sight of them true heard us approaching and came bounding forth to meet us, leaping up first to lick my hands and then sniffing up at poor little nimble, who trembled at seeing him, and after vainly endeavouring to escape, clung tightly to arthur for protection. "do call off true; there's a good fellow!" exclaimed arthur. "he will frighten poor little nimble to death; but when they are better acquainted they will become very good friends, i dare say." i called true to me, and presently ellen and maria came running out of the hut towards us. ellen was greatly pleased with nimble, and thanked arthur very much for having brought him. we carried nimble into the hut, and domingos found a leathern strap to fasten round his waist, by which he was secured to one of the beams in the roof. here he could run from side to side of the hut, out of the reach of true. he kept looking down on us somewhat scared at first at his novel position, but in a short time took some nuts and fruit readily from arthur's hand, and after examining and cautiously tasting them, to ascertain that they suited his palate, ate a hearty meal. ellen told us that she and maria had been greatly alarmed during our absence by the appearance of a large creature--from their account a puma or a jaguar--which had come close to the hut. true had behaved nobly in standing on the defensive, while they had screamed and waved sticks to try to frighten it off. for some time, however, they were afraid that it would attack them, but at last it turned tail and retreated into the forest. domingos and our indian friends lost no time in preparing the game which we had killed. arthur and i watched them, when domingos, without at all recognising the likeness which arthur and i had discovered in the _macaco barrigudo_ to himself, began without ceremony to skin it, and in a short time had it spitted and roasting before the fire. we had formed a rough table, and the first article of food which domingos placed on it was a portion of the big monkey on a plantain leaf. "ah!" he said, "i have reserved this for you; for the meat is superior to that of either the other monkeys or the birds. just try it, and you will agree with me." had he not talked about the monkey, probably no one would have objected to the meat, which did look very nice; but ellen and arthur both begged to have some of the birds, with the addition of some roasted plantains and farinha cakes. we made a very substantial meal, john and i agreeing that the big _macaco_ was very nice food. domingos thought so also, as he had claimed a joint as his own share. i was awoke at night by hearing a strange rushing noise round my head, and raising it above the hammock i caught sight of numberless dark creatures with huge wings which kept sweeping round and round here and there through the verandah. presently one of them pitched on the clew of my hammock. there was sufficient light from the bright stars to see its shape, and i beheld a creature with large ears standing out from the sides and top of its head, a spear-shaped appendage on the tip of its nose, while a pair of glittering black eyes and a grinning mouth gave it the appearance of a little imp. presently it expanded its large wings and floated towards my head. i could stand this no longer, and singing out, dealt it a blow with my palm which sent it flying away. the cry awoke my companions, who jumped out of their hammocks, wondering what was the matter. we were quickly engaged in driving out the intruders, which we now discovered to be vampire bats. "hillo!" cried arthur, "what is the matter with my foot? there is blood flowing from it!" we found that one of the creatures had been sucking his too. john bound it up, and in a short time tranquillity was restored, and we were all soon in our hammocks. hideous as these creatures appear, they are harmless, as the puncture they make is but slight, and the wound quickly heals. they showed their sense by selecting our hut for their night quarters, as they there found themselves more secure from the beasts which prey on them than in their abodes in the forest. in the morning we examined several we had knocked down. they measured twenty-eight inches across the wings, which were of a leathery consistency, the bodies being covered with grey hair. we found their stomachs filled with the pulp and seeds of fruits, with the remains of a few insects only. our new friend nimble soon became reconciled to his lot. though he took food readily enough from arthur, and by degrees let ellen and maria stroke his back, when any one else came near him he clambered up as high as he could reach into the roof. he soon discovered that true could not climb up to his perch, and in a short time he would swing himself off by his tail within a foot or two of the dog's nose, stretching out his paws as if he were going to catch him by the ear, taking good care to be ready to spring again far out of his reach should true show the slightest signs of leaping up. "it won't be long before we see master nimble riding on true's back, and using his tail as a whip," said arthur, who had been watching the two animals. he was right; and in a few days nimble and true became very good friends. our boat-building proceeded well. a log of twenty feet in length having been cut off and placed on the rollers, we secured a number of tough lianas to it, and using them as traces, dragged it down to the river. we could, however, move it but slowly, and two whole days were thus consumed. the upper side being smoothed off, a slit was made down the whole length, which was opened slowly by wedges. having cleared out a considerable portion of the inside, it was turned over and raised on trestles. beneath it a fire was made along the whole length. other pieces of hard wood were gradually driven in with wedges to increase the opening, the larger ones being in the centre, where the width was to be the greatest. in about eight hours the work was thus far completed. the bow and tern were made of hewn planks in a circular form, fastened with wooden pins. a plank on each side was next secured, and benches fixed in. the seams were caulked with gum collected from trees growing near, mixed with resin, which exuded from the trunks of others. we thus constructed a vessel, of sufficient size to make a voyage of upwards of one thousand miles down the mighty river, solely of materials found in the wilderness. paddles were also quickly formed by the indians of the tough wood of another tree, which they split into boards. they then wove some mats for sails, lianas of different thicknesses serving as cordage. after this our native friends selected another tree, from which they proposed to form the second canoe. this was to be smaller, that they might be able to paddle it up against the stream. it was built in the same way as the first, but without mast or sails. chapter six. voyage on the river commenced. all was now ready for our departure from our first halting-place. early in the morning, having carefully laden our two vessels, we embarked. john, ellen, maria, and domingos went in the larger one, accompanied by nimble and poll, with naro and two of his followers; while isoro, arthur, and i embarked in the smaller, with two of the other men. true, of course, went with us, his usual post being the bow, where he stood with his fore-feet on the gunwale, as if it were his especial duty to keep a look-out ahead. isoro acted as captain, and arthur and i and the two indians, with paddles in our hands, formed the crew. shoving off from the bank, we rapidly glided down the river, the current carrying us along at a great rate with little aid from our paddles. the large canoe took the lead, we following in her wake. the water whirled and eddied as we glided on. on either side rose the giant trees of the primeval forest--while, looking astern, we could see far away across the mighty mass of foliage the range of the andes, with the beautiful cone of cotopaxi standing out boldly above its fellows. we soon, however, had something else to think of. several dark rounded rocks rose up ahead of us, between which the water furiously rushed, dashing against their sides, and throwing up clouds of spray, while whirling, boiling eddies came bursting up from the bottom, as if some subaqueous explosion were taking place. short cross waves curled up round us, with here and there smooth intervening spaces, the more treacherous for their apparent calmness; for as we passed through them we could with difficulty keep the head of our small canoe in the direction of our leader. the indians plied their paddles with redoubled vigour, while the helmsman of john's canoe every now and then gave vent to loud, wild shrieks. isoro sat calmly clenching his teeth, and looking out eagerly ahead. the large canoe went gliding on. and now we saw her passing between two rocks, over which the water dashing formed an arch of spray, almost concealing her from our sight. presently we also were passing through the same channel. it seemed as if our small canoe would be swamped by the swelling waters. the clouds of spray which broke over her almost blinded us, the loud roaring, hissing sound of the waves as they rushed against the rocks deafened our ears, while the whirling current so confused our senses, that we could scarcely tell in what direction we were going. "o harry, what has become of the other canoe?" exclaimed arthur. a dark rock rose before us. no canoe was to be seen. a horror seized me. i feared that she had been engulfed. but presently, isoro turning the head of our canoe, we shot past the rock, and to our joy again saw the other canoe rushing on with still greater speed towards another opening in the channel. we followed even faster than before. the current seemed to increase in rapidity as we advanced, pressed together by the narrower channel. yet, fast as we went, we could scarcely keep pace with our leader. now we glided on smoothly, now we pitched and tossed as the mimic waves rose up round us, and thus we went on, the navigation requiring the utmost watchfulness and exertion to escape destruction. we, perhaps, in our smaller canoe, were safer than those in the larger one; indeed, i thought more of them than ourselves. should we meet with any accident, however, they could not return to help us, whereas we might push forward to their assistance. we followed the movements of the indians. when they paddled fast, we also exerted ourselves; when they ceased, we also lifted our paddles out of the water. i was very glad that we were thus employed, as we, having plenty to do, thought less of the danger we were in. after being thus tossed about for i cannot judge how long, every moment running the risk of being dashed on the rocks, now on one side, now on the other, we found the river again widening and the current flowing on more tranquilly. in a short time, however, we came to another rapid. once more we were amid the wild tumult of waters. the current rushed on with fearful speed. now we saw the stern of the leading canoe lifted up, and it appeared as if her bows were going under. i could not refrain from uttering a shriek of horror. isoro and the indians remained calm, just guiding our canoe. john's canoe disappeared. on we went, expecting the same fate which i dreaded had overtaken her. an instant afterwards we saw her again gliding on calmly. downwards we slid over a watery hill, the indians paddling with might and main, we following their example. we had descended a fall such as i should scarcely have supposed it possible so small a boat as ours could have passed over in safety. our companions continued plying their paddles, sending out their breath in a low grunt, as if they had been holding it in for some minutes. we now came up with the other canoe, which had been waiting for us. "that was nervous work!" exclaimed john "i am thankful we are through the falls; they are the worst we shall meet with." paddling on till nearly dark, we landed on an island, where it was proposed we should pass the night. there were but few trees in the centre, the rest consisting of sand and rock. this spot had been selected to avoid the risk of being surprised by unfriendly natives or prowling jaguars. the canoes were hauled up, the goods landed, and fires were lighted, round which we were soon seated taking our evening meal. the indians then cut a number of stout poles, which they drove into the ground, forming a square, the roof being thatched over with palm-leaves, extending some distance beyond the poles, so as to form deep eaves. to these poles were hung up our hammocks, a small part being, as usual, partitioned off for ellen and maria. this was our usual style of encampment. when the trees grew sufficiently wide apart, we sometimes secured our hammocks to them, with a roof such as i have mentioned above our heads. the fires were kept up all night, and a watch set to prevent surprise, should any unfriendly natives find us out, and come across the river in their canoes. isoro advised us always to select an island for our night encampment. "indeed," he observed, "it would be safer never to land on the banks, if you can avoid so doing." our indians, besides their usual blow-pipes, had come provided with harpoons and lines for catching fish. generally, at the end of our day's voyage, they would go out in the smaller canoe, and invariably come back with a good supply. arthur and i, with true, one day accompanied naro and two of his men. while the indians remained in the canoe, we landed and walked along the sandy shore of the island. true ran before us, shoving his nose into the tall reeds and rushes. suddenly out he backed, barking furiously, but still retreating, and evidently less disposed than usual for battle. fully expecting to see a huge anaconda come forth, arthur and i retired to a safe distance, while i got my gun ready to fire at the serpent when he should appear. we stood watching the spot which true still faced, when the reeds were moved aside, and the oddest-looking monster i ever set eyes on came slowly forth, and for a moment looked about him. true actually turned tail, and fell back on us for support. he would have faced a lion, but the creature before him had not a vulnerable part on which he could lay hold. it meantime, regardless of him or us, made its way towards the water. it was as grotesque and unlike what we fancy a reality as those creatures which the wild imaginations of the painters of bygone days delighted in producing. how can i describe it? it was covered all over with armour--back, neck, and head. on its head it wore a curiously-shaped helmet, with a long tube in front serving as a snout, while its feet were webbed, and armed with sharp claws at the end of its thick and powerful legs. from the chin hung two fringe-like membranes, and the throat and neck were similarly ornamented. naro was not far off, and came paddling up at a great rate, crying out to us to turn the creature from the water. its formidable appearance and size made us somewhat unwilling to get within reach of its head; for it was fully three feet long, and its covering would, it appeared, turn off a bullet. arthur, however, bravely ran in front of it, and true kept barking round it, keeping wisely beyond its reach. we thus impeded its progress; but still it made way, and was just about to launch itself into the river when the canoe coming up, naro's harpoon, struck it under the shield at the neck. it struggled to get free, but was hauled again on to the sand, and soon dispatched by the indians. they seemed highly pleased at the capture, and signified that, in spite of its strange appearance, it was excellent for food. "why, after all, it is only a tortoise!" exclaimed arthur, who had been examining it. a tortoise it was, though the strangest-looking of its tribe, but not at all uncommon. the strange creature we had found was a matamata (_chelys matamata_). it is found plentifully in demerara, where its flesh is much esteemed. what we took to be a helmet, consisted of two membraneous prolongations of the skin, which projected out on either side from its broad and flattened head. the back was covered with a shield, with three distinct ridges or keels along it, and was broader before than behind. it had a stumpy pointed tail. i should add that it feeds only in the water, concealing itself among reeds by the bank, when it darts forward its long neck and seizes with its sharp beak any passing fish, reptile, or water-fowl--for it likes a variety of food--or it will swim after them at a great rate. we carried the matamata to the camp, and on landing it drew it up with sipos, with its neck stretched out. ellen could scarcely believe that it was a real creature. "i am very glad that i did not meet it when by myself on the sands. i am sure that i should have run away, and dreamed about it for nights afterwards!" she exclaimed. "it was very brave, harry, of you and arthur to face it; and as for true, he is worthy to take rank with saint george, for it must have appeared a perfect dragon to him." "barring the want of tail, my sister," observed john with a laugh. "true will find many more formidable antagonists than the matamata in these regions, and he must be taught to restrain his ardour, or he may some day, i fear, `catch a tartar.'" maria meantime stood behind us, lifting up her hands and uttering exclamations of astonishment, as she surveyed the creature at a respectful distance. the next evening we again accompanied the indians. it was very calm, and the water in a narrow channel through which we went smooth and clear, so that we could look down to a great depth and see the fish swimming about in vast numbers. presently i caught sight of a huge black monster gliding silently up the channel just below the surface. it was, however, too far off for the harpoons of the indians to reach it. we followed, they intimating that we should very likely come up with it. we had not gone far, when they ceased rowing and pointed ahead. there i saw, on the other side of a clump of bamboos which grew on a point projecting into the stream, a creature with a savage countenance and huge paws resting on the trunk of a tree overhanging the water. it was of a brownish-yellow colour, the upper parts of the body variegated with irregular oblong spots of black. it was so intently watching the stream that it did not appear to observe us. had it not indeed been pointed out to me, i might not have discovered it, so much had it the appearance of the trunk on which it was resting. presently we saw a huge black head projecting out of the stream. in an instant the jaguar, for such was the animal on the watch, sprang forward and seized its prey. the creature which had thus ventured within the grasp of the jaguar was a _manatee_, or sea-cow, the _peixe boi_ of the portuguese. a fearful struggle ensued, the manatee to escape, the jaguar to hold it fast. i lifted my gun to fire, but the indians made a sign to me to desist. if i should kill the jaguar the manatee would escape, and their object was to allow the latter to be too exhausted to do so, and then to shoot the jaguar. now it appeared as if the jaguar would drag the water-monster out of its native element, now that the former would be drawn into it. the sea-cow struggled bravely, but the beast of prey had got too firm a hold to let it escape. the surface of the water was lashed into foam. the jaguar's claws and teeth were firmly fixed in the thick hide of the sea-cow. slowly it seemed to be drawn higher and higher out of its native element. so eager was the savage beast, that it did not even observe our approach, but continued with its sharp teeth gnawing into the back of its defenceless prey. we now paddled closer. it turned a look of savage rage towards us, seeming to doubt whether it should let go the manatee and stand on the defensive, or continue the strife. the way it held the sea-cow gave us a notion of its immense strength. gradually the efforts of the manatee began to relax. it was very clear how the combat would have finished had we not been present. at a sign from the indians i lifted my rifle and fired. the ball passed through the jaguar's neck. though wounded, the fierce animal stood snarling savagely, with its fore-feet on the trunk of the tree, as if prepared to make a spring into the canoe. while i was reloading, the indians raised their blow-pipes and sent two of their slender arrows quivering into its body. still the jaguar stood at bay, apparently scarcely feeling the wound. meantime the huge cow-fish was slipping off the bank. naro, on seeing this, ordered his men to paddle forward, while, harpoon in hand, he stood ready to dart it at the manatee. every moment i expected to see the jaguar spring at us. just as the manatee was disappearing under the water, the harpoon flew with unerring aim from naro's hand, and was buried deeply in its body. again we backed away from the bank, just in time, it seemed, for in another moment the jaguar would have sprung at us. having got out of its reach, the indians shot two more of their deadly arrows into its body. still it stood, snarling and roaring with rage at being deprived of its prey. gradually its cries of anger ceased, its glaring eyes grew dim, its legs seemed to refuse it support, and slowly it sank back among the mass of fern-like plants which bordered the bank. meantime, the indians were engaged with the harpoon line, now hauling in on it, now slackening it out, a ruddy hue mixing with the current showing that the life-blood of the manatee was fast ebbing away. in a short time the struggles of the huge river monster ceased, and the indians paddling towards the bank, towed it after them. i was all the while looking out for the jaguar. a movement in the shrubs among which it had fallen showed that it was still alive. i was sure that my shot had not injured it much, and i could scarcely suppose that those light needle-like darts could have done it much harm. i reminded naro of the jaguar. he shook his head in reply. "he will no longer interfere with us," i understood him to say. the manatee was soon hauled on shore, and as it was too large to be taken bodily into the canoe, the indians, having thoroughly knocked out any spark of life which might remain, began cutting it up. the creature was between seven and eight feet long, and upwards of six in circumference in the thickest part. the body was perfectly smooth, and of a lead colour. it tapered off towards the tail, which was flat, horizontal, and semicircular, without any appearance of hind limbs. the head was not large, though the mouth was, with fleshy lips somewhat like those of a cow. there were stiff bristles on the lips, and a few hairs scattered over the body. just behind the head were two powerful oval fins, having the breasts beneath them. the ears were minute holes, and the eyes very small. the skin of the back was fully an inch thick, and beneath it a layer of fat, also an inch or more thick. on examining the fins, or fore-limbs, as they should properly be called, we found bones exactly corresponding to those of the human arm, with five fingers at the extremity, every joint distinct, although completely encased in a stiff inflexible skin. the manatee feeds on the grass growing at the borders of the lakes and rivers. it swims at a rapid rate, moved on by the tail and paddles. the female produces generally only one at a birth, and clasps it, so naro told us, in her paddles while giving it suck. having cut up the cow, with which we loaded the canoe, we paddled in towards where the jaguar had been seen. the chief and one of his followers without hesitation leaped on shore: arthur and i followed, when to our surprise we saw the savage brute lying over on its side perfectly dead. it had been destroyed by the poison on the tip of the arrows, not by the wounds they or my bullet had produced. it was quickly skinned, cut up, and part of the meat added to our store, while the skin, which i thought was the most valuable part, was at my request taken on board. on emerging from the inlet, we steered for the island, guided by the light of the camp-fire. we were welcomed with loud shouts by the generally impassive indians, who were delighted with the supply of flesh which we had brought. no time was lost in cutting the meat into small pieces, each person fastening a dozen or more on long skewers. these were stuck in the ground, and slanted over the flames to roast. the meat tasted somewhat like pork, i thought, but john considered it more like beef. we were one evening approaching a long island with a sand-bank extending from its side. isoro told us that the indians were unable to proceed further, and that after this we should find the navigation tolerably easy. the sand-bank, he said, was frequented by turtles, and they hoped to be able to supply us and themselves with a good store of eggs, and to catch also some turtles. having hauled up the canoes, and formed our sleeping-places as usual, leaving domingos in charge of the camp, we all, including ellen and maria, set out to search for turtles' eggs, our indians having in the meantime woven a number of baskets of reeds in which to carry them. each of the indians carried a long stick in his hand. we proceeded a short distance along the bank, till we came to a somewhat higher part. the sand felt quite hot to our feet. the indians pointed out some slight marks in it, which they told us were made by the turtles. going on, one of them stuck his stick into the sand. it sank easily down. instantly he and his companions were on their knees digging with their hands, and soon cleared out a hole full of eggs. upwards of one hundred were collected from that hole alone. in the meantime the rest were searching about, and we were soon all on our knees, busily engaged in picking up the eggs. the eggs were about an inch and a half in diameter, somewhat larger than an ordinary hen's egg. they have thin leathery shells, an oily yoke, and a white which does not coagulate. having laden ourselves with as many as we could carry in our baskets, we returned to the camp. domingos at once set to work to make cakes, mixing the eggs with flour. others were roasted. the indians, however, ate them raw. while we sat round our camp-fire, isoro excited our curiosity by an account of the way the turtles lay their eggs, and we agreed to start away the next morning before daybreak to watch the process. he called us about two hours before daybreak. we found that naro and two of his men had already gone off to try and catch some of the animals. after walking a short distance, we discovered the indians squatting down behind a shelter of branches, which they had put up to conceal themselves from the turtles. they told us to take our seats by them, and remain quiet. we had not been there long before we saw a number of dark objects moving over the light coloured sand. two or three came close to us, when the indians rushing out, quickly turned them on their backs, and again ran under shelter. we waited for some time till the light of day enabled us to see more clearly, when, as far as our eyes could reach, we observed the upper part of the bank covered with turtles, all busily employed with their broad-webbed paws in excavating the sand, while others were apparently placing their eggs in the holes they had made. as the morning drew on, they began to waddle away towards the river. the margin of the upper bank was rather steep, and it was amusing to see them tumbling head foremost down the declivity, and then going on again till the leaders reached the water. we now all rushed forward, and were in time to catch several, turning them over on their backs, where they lay unable to move. the first comer, isoro told us, makes a hole about three feet deep. in this she lays her eggs, and then covers them up with sand. the next reaching the shore lays her eggs on the top of her predecessor's, and so on, several turtles will lay one above the others, till the pit, which holds about one hundred eggs, is full, when the last carefully sweeps the sand over the hole, so as to make it appear as if it had not been disturbed. it is only, indeed, from the tracks made by the turtles themselves as they are returning to the water that the nests can be traced. in the settled parts of the country great care is taken not to disturb these sand-banks till the whole body of turtles have laid their eggs. sometimes they occupy fourteen days or more in the business. people are stationed at some elevated spot in the neighbourhood to warn off any one approaching the bank, and to take care that the timid turtles are in no way disturbed; otherwise it is supposed they would desert the ground altogether. we had now a large supply of turtle and turtle eggs. our indian friends, well satisfied with their expedition, loaded their canoe almost to the water's edge. we also took on board as many as we could consume. naro and his followers had behaved very well, but they were uninteresting people, and had done nothing particular to win our regard. john wrote a letter to don jose for isoro to carry, and we all sent many messages, expressing our affectionate regard. had it not been for don jose, we might have been subjected to much annoyance and trouble, and been prevented probably from following our family. we each of us presented isoro also with a small remembrance. we parted from him with sincere regret; and i believe that had it not been for his devoted love to his master he would gladly have accompanied us. he and his companions waited till we had embarked in our own canoe, and cast off from the shore. a light breeze was blowing down the river. we hoisted our mat sail, and domingos taking the steering oar, we recommenced our voyage down the river. the indians then set forth on their toilsome one up the stream, having to paddle with might and main for many days against it. chapter seven. our disappointment, danger, and anxiety. the tributary of the amazon, down which we were proceeding, was in many places more than half a mile wide: what must be the width of the mighty river itself! this comparatively small stream was often tossed into waves, and we were thankful that we had the prospect of embarking in a larger vessel, with more experienced boatmen, for our further voyage. on either side of the river were clay banks, above which the lofty trees formed impenetrable walls; while here and there islands appeared, the soil of some raised but little above the river, while in others we could see evidences of the stream having separated them at no great distance of time from the mainland. we continued our custom of landing at night--indeed, whenever we had to put to shore--at one of these islands. they all supplied us with wood to light our fires, and poles for our huts: some were large enough to furnish game. thus several days passed away. we were, by our calculations, approaching the spot at which our father had led us to expect that we should find him. it may be supposed how eagerly we all looked out for the expected marks. at length the curiously-coloured bluff hill he had mentioned appeared in sight. "there it is! there it is!" exclaimed ellen. "i am sure it must be the spot papa speaks of." we surveyed it with eager eyes, and agreed that there could be no mistake about the matter. with redoubled energy we paddled on, the breeze, though light, being in our favour. and now in a short time we came in sight of the expected group of bamboos. we quickly rounded it; and there, before us, appeared the hill. we looked out for the huts on its summit, but none were visible. "oh! perhaps papa thought it better to build them lower down, under the shade of that group of palms," said ellen; and we agreed that she was probably right. a small stream ran at the bottom of the hill, connected, probably, with one of the larger rivers we had passed. we paddled up it a short distance, hoping to find a convenient place for landing. our hearts misgave us on finding no one come down to welcome us on shore. "they probably do not observe us coming," observed ellen. "mamma and fanny are in the house, and papa and the servants are out shooting." i saw by the cheerful way she spoke she felt none of the apprehensions which john and i were experiencing. we soon found a clear spot, where the waters in the rainy season had carried away the trees and shrubs. securing our canoe, we eagerly stepped on shore. the bank was somewhat steep; but we managed to climb up it, and, cutting our way through the intervening jungle, reached the foot of the hill. even now i began to doubt whether, after all, this could be the spot our father spoke of. not the slightest sound was heard, and there was no appearance of human habitations being near. true, as soon as we had got into the more open ground, went scampering along in high glee at finding himself on shore. john led the way, anxiously looking about on very side. we soon reached the top of the hill, gazing eagerly down towards the group of palm-trees ellen had espied. no huts were to be seen. "they cannot have been here!" exclaimed ellen. just then john gave a start, and immediately hurried forward. we all followed. before us we saw several posts standing upright, but they were blackened and charred, while several others lay scattered about. the grass around was burned, and the ground covered with ashes. it was too evident that a hut had stood there, which had been destroyed by fire; but whether it had been inhabited by our family or not, we in vain endeavoured to discover. no traces of them could we find. we looked at each other with anxious eyes. ellen burst into tears, fully believing that something dreadful had happened. we wished to reassure her, but our own fears made this a hard matter. john stood silent for some time. then again he walked over the spot, and examined narrowly the ground, looking among the neighbouring trees. "perhaps this was not their house," suggested arthur; "or if it was, they may have escaped. surely we should not give way to despair." "i think the master is too cautious a man to have been taken by surprise," observed domingos. "he is probably not far off, and we shall see him soon." maria did her best to comfort her young mistress. "do not cry, dona ellen; do not cry. we shall soon see them all," she said, putting her arms round her as she used to do when she was a child, and trying to comfort her. wishing to ascertain john's opinion, i went towards him. "we must proceed further on," he said. "i am surprised that our father has not left any sign by which we might learn where he has gone." "perhaps he had to retreat in too great a hurry for that, yet he might have escaped in safety," observed arthur. "do you think they were attacked by natives, and driven away?" i asked of john. "about that i am doubtful," he answered, in a low voice, so that ellen should not hear. "yet had the hut simply been burned by accident, they would have rebuilt it. our friend naro gave the indians of this part of the river a bad name. he called them _majeronas_; and said that they are cannibals, and attack all strangers. i did not believe the account he gave of them; and had i done so, i would not have mentioned it, for fear of unnecessarily alarming ellen. still, harry, i confess i am very, very anxious." "so indeed am i, now you tell me about the _majeronas_," i observed; "but still we must hope for the best. i cannot believe that anything so dreadful has happened as our fears suggest. our poor mother, and sweet fanny and aunt martha, to have been carried off and killed! oh, i cannot think it true!" "don't you think it possible they got notice that they were about to be attacked, and made their escape in good time?" observed arthur, in a more cheerful voice. "the natives, when they found that their prey had escaped them, would very naturally burn the house; and if they found any signals which mr faithful might have left, would have destroyed them also. i will ask domingos; i think he will agree with me." when we told domingos what arthur had said, he declared that he thought that was the most likely thing to have occurred. the suggestion raised our spirits. domingos, however, advised as not to remain on the spot, lest the natives might discover us. having made another search round, we accordingly took our way back to the canoe. shoving off, we went down the stream into the main river. as we paddled slowly along the shore, we examined it carefully, still in hopes of finding some signals which might direct us. we had gone on for some short distance, when arthur, looking up at the hill, exclaimed, "see! who can those be?" there we saw several figures with bows in their hands and high feathery plumes on their heads. "they must be the _majeronas_," exclaimed john. "we have indeed only just retreated in time." "oh, perhaps they will follow us!" cried ellen. "i do not think we need fear that," said arthur, "as we have seen no canoes." the indians appeared only just to have discovered us. we saw them gesticulating to each other; and then they hurried down towards the river. we at once turned the canoe's head away from the bank, and paddled out into the centre of the stream, where we should be beyond the reach of their arrows. by working away with our paddles we soon ran out of sight of them. having rested for some minutes to recover from our exertions, we continued on down the stream. as the day was drawing on, it was necessary to look out for an island on which to encamp, as we had received so strong a warning not to land on the main shore. we kept a bright look-out, but no signs of an island could we see. the wind, which had hitherto been light, now increased to a gentle breeze; and as it was in our favour, we hoisted our sail and stood on, glad to be relieved from the labour of paddling. thus we continued our progress, hoping to get before night to a distance from our savage enemies. the night came on, but there was still sufficient light to enable us to steer down the centre of the river. john proposed that we should form two watches; he and arthur in one, domingos and i in the other. this, of course, was agreed to. after some difficulty, we persuaded ellen and maria to lie down on the hammocks which were spread in the middle of the canoe under the awning. john and arthur took the first watch; domingos coiling himself away in the stern of the canoe, and i in the bows; to be ready for service should we be required. tired as i was, it was some time before i could manage to go to sleep. i lay looking up at the dark sky--out of which thousands of bright stars shone forth--and listening to the ripple of the water against the bows of the canoe. at length the sound lulled me to sleep, though i felt conscious that arthur had covered me up with a piece of matting. it seemed but a moment afterwards that i heard his voice calling me to get up and take his place. i raised myself, and saw domingos at the helm, and the sails still set. arthur then lay down in the place i had occupied; and i did him the same service he had rendered me, by covering him carefully up so as to protect him from the night air. it was the first time we had voyaged at night; and as we glided calmly on, i could not help regretting that we had not oftener sailed at the same hour, and thus escaped the heat of the day, the mosquitoes on shore, and enjoyed the cool breeze on the river. as i did not feel at all sleepy, i proposed to domingos that we should allow john and arthur to rest on, and continue ourselves on watch till daylight, when perhaps we might find some spot on which to land with safety. we thus glided on for some hours, and were expecting to see the dawn break over the trees on our larboard bow, when the channel became even narrower than before. had it not been that the current still ran with us, i should have supposed that we had entered some other stream; but the way the water ran showed that this could not be the case. we therefore continued on as before. a bright glow now appeared in the eastern sky. rapidly it increased till the whole arch of heaven was suffused with a ruddy light. suddenly john awoke, and uttered an exclamation of surprise on finding that it was daylight. his voice aroused the rest of the party. just then the sun, like a mighty arch of fire, appeared above the trees; and directly afterwards we saw, running across the stream down which we were sailing, another and far broader river. the mighty maranon, as the natives call the upper amazon--or the solimoens, as it is named by the portuguese--was before us, having flowed down for many hundred miles from the mountain lake of lauricocha, in peru, , feet above the sea-level. as we gazed up and down the vast river, no object intervened till sky and water met, as on the ocean; while, on either side, the tall forest walls diminished in the perspective till they sank into thin lines. even here, however, it is narrow, though already very deep, compared to the width it attains lower down. our satisfaction at having escaped from the savages and arrived at the high road, along which we were to proceed, was counterbalanced by our anxiety for our family. we might, after all, have passed the spot where they were waiting for us; and yet it was not likely they would remain in the neighbourhood of such savages as the majeronas had shown themselves. we agreed, therefore, at all risks, at once to row in towards the shore, and examine it carefully as we proceeded downwards. we had not gone far, when we came in sight of a sand-bank, which offered a favourable spot for landing. we accordingly rowed in, looking carefully about for any signs of natives. as no huts or any human beings were to be seen, we landed. while domingos and arthur were collecting wood for a fire, john and i, followed by true, with our guns, made our way through the forest, that we might survey the country, so as not to be taken by surprise. we had not gone far when i caught sight of three animals, which i should have taken for young hogs, from their brown colour, long coarse hair, and their general appearance, had they not been sitting up on their haunches, as no hog ever sat. they had large heads, and heavy blunt muzzles, and thick clumsy bodies without tails. they cast inquisitive looks at me, and would have sat on apparently till i had got close up to them, had not true dashed forward, when, uttering low sounds, between a grunt and a bark, they rushed towards the water. i fired at one of them, and knocked it over. the rest reached the river, though pursued by true, and instantly dived beneath the surface. john came up, and on examining the animal's mouth, we found it to be a rodent, and thus knew it to be a capybara, the largest of its order. when alarmed, it rushes to the water, swims as well as the otter, and takes its prey in a similar manner. it is, from its aquatic habits, often called the water-hog. it had short legs, and peculiarly long feet, partially webbed, which enable it to swim so well. directly afterwards, true turned a smaller animal out of a hollow trunk. it made off through the forest at great speed; but john shot it just as it was running behind a tree. it proved to be an agouti, also a rodent. it is in some respects like a hare or rabbit, with the coarse coat of a hog, but feeds itself like a squirrel. it is classed with the guinea-pig. it feeds on vegetables, and is very destructive to sugar-canes, which it rapidly gnaws through, and does not object to animal food. while i carried our prizes down in triumph to domingos, that he might prepare a portion of them for breakfast, john continued his search through the woods. i was on the point of joining him, when i heard him cry, "look out!" and at the same instant another animal burst through the wood with true at his heels. i fired, and killed it. this also was a rodent; and john said that it was a paca, which lives always in the neighbourhood of water, to which it takes readily when chased. it has its habitation in burrows, which it forms a short distance only beneath the surface. the opening it conceals with dried leaves and small branches. once in the water, it swims and dives so well that it generally escapes from the hunter. it was of a thick and somewhat clumsy form, about two feet in length and one in height. the hinder limbs were longer than the front ones, and considerably bent. the claws were thick and strong, fitted for digging. it had rigid whiskers, and the ears were nearly naked. presently i heard john cry out. "harry, i believe that i have been bitten by a snake on which i trod," he said, in his usual calm way. "i killed the creature, and i think it is poisonous; so go and call domingos, for he will perhaps know what to do. but get him away if you can, so as not to frighten ellen." i ran off as fast as my legs could carry me, and was thankful to find that ellen and maria were sitting under the awning in the canoe, while domingos was cooking at the fire, assisted by arthur. in a breathless voice, my heart sinking with alarm, i told him what had happened. "there is a bottle of agua ardente, and there is another thing we will try," he said, and rushed to the canoe. i was afraid that he would tell ellen; but he stepped on board with an unconcerned manner, as if he wanted something for a culinary purpose, and returned with two of the paddles, and a bottle and cup. we found john seated on the bank, taking off his boot and sock. "here, senor john, drink this," he said, giving him the cup full of liquid. "senor arthur will hold the bottle for you, while senor harry and i are making a grave for your leg. we must bury it. don't despair, my dear master. the remedy is a wonderful one." we were digging away, while he spoke, with the paddles, and in a few moments john's leg was buried deep in the earth, which was pressed down over it. "why, this is brandy," exclaimed john, as he swallowed the contents of a second cup which arthur gave him. "of course, my dear master," answered domingos, who, folding his arms, stood by, watching the effect of his treatment. "some people think one remedy the best, some another. it is wise to try both. the brandy drives, the earth draws the poison forth." oh, how anxiously we watched john's countenance! no change took place. arthur and i went back, lest ellen might be alarmed at our absence, leaving domingos, who stood unmoved, in the same attitude as at first, watching his patient. at last ellen put her head out from under the toldo, and asked when breakfast would be ready, as she and maria were very hungry. "what shall we tell her?" asked arthur. just then i looked up, and saw domingos coming towards us, waving the dead snake in his hand, and john following, walking as briskly as if nothing had been the matter with him. "a wonderful cure has been wrought," he exclaimed, as he reached us. "but don't tell domingos yet. finding myself much as usual, i bethought me, as i sat with my leg in the hole, of looking into the reptile's mouth; and though it has a set of sharp teeth, i could discover no poisonous fangs. i am only sorry that so much good brandy was expended on me, which may be wanted on another occasion." we now summoned ellen, and told her in english what had occurred. arthur and i having examined the head of the snake, to assure ourselves that john was right, cut it off and threw it into the river, while true breakfasted off the body, which we cooked for him. domingos did not discover the truth till some time afterwards; and we heard him frequently boasting of the certain cure he knew for snake bites. i cannot, however, say that his remedy would not prove efficacious. having made a good breakfast on the agouti, we once more embarked, and glided down the stream. i have not dwelt much on our anxiety, but, as may be supposed, we felt it greatly, and our conversation could not fail to be subdued and sad. ellen, however, after her first grief had subdued, did her utmost, dear, good little sister that she was, to cheer our spirits. often she kept repeating, "i am sure they have escaped! we shall before long find them. depend on it, papa would not allow himself to be surprised! i have been praying for them ever since we commenced our journey, and i know my prayers will be heard." although i had felt great despondency, i could not help being influenced by ellen's hopeful spirit. still it seemed to me that the probability of our discovering them along the wide-extended banks of the river was but small indeed. they, too, how anxious they must be feeling on our account; for if they had been in danger, as we supposed, they must know we should be subjected to the same. however, i will not dwell longer on this subject, but only again repeat that our parents and our aunt and fanny were never absent from our thoughts. a light breeze springing up, we hoisted our mat sail, and glided down the river. nothing could be more delightful. the light air cooled us, and kept off the mosquitoes; and as the nights were bright, had we not been anxious to examine the shore, we agreed that we might have continued our voyage till it was necessary to land and procure food. suddenly, however, the wind again dropped. the sun, which had hitherto been casting his undimmed rays down on our heads, became obscured, as if a thick curtain had been drawn across it. the whole sky assumed a yellow tinge. domingos looked anxiously round. "i do not like the look of the weather," he observed. "it would be wise to lower the sail." we had just got it down, when a low murmur was heard in the distant woods, increasing rapidly to a subdued roar. a white line appeared across the river. it came rapidly towards us. now we could feel the wind blowing against our cheeks, and the whole surface of the water became suddenly rippled into wavelets, from which the white foam flew off in thick sheets. the sky had again changed to a greenish hue. the waves every moment increased in height. "a hurricane is coming on," observed domingos. "we cannot face it." we put the canoe's head towards the shore. "paddle, my masters! paddle!" exclaimed domingos. "we must reach the shore before the storm breaks with its full violence, or we may be lost!" we had not paddled many strokes before we felt the canoe driven forward by the wind at a rapid rate. we exerted ourselves, running before the wind, and edging in at the same time towards the northern shore. every instant the hurricane gained strength; and as we looked upward, the whole sky, we saw, had assumed a red and black appearance. a little ahead appeared a sand-bank, on which stood a number of tall-legged birds, cormorants, white cranes, and other waders, large and small. we might land on the island, and save our lives; but the wind setting directly on it, we might lose our canoe, or, at all events, the water would break into her and destroy our goods. domingos steered the canoe admirably, while we made every effort to keep off the island. presently down came the blast with greater fury than before. some of the smaller birds were carried off their legs and borne away by the wind. others, throwing themselves down, stuck their beaks into the sand, and clung on with their long claws, their feet extended. in spite of our danger, arthur and i could not help laughing at the extraordinary appearance of the birds, as they thus lay in great numbers along the sand, looking as if they had been shot, and were lying dead till the sportsman could pick them up. on we drove, narrowly escaping being thrown upon the bank, on which the foaming seas broke with terrific force. "here it comes again!" cried domingos. "paddle bravely, and be not alarmed." as he spoke, another blast, still more violent, struck us, and in an instant the covering of our canoe was torn away and lifted up. in vain we attempted to catch it. it was borne off by the wind towards the shore. so high were the waves which thus suddenly rose up, that we expected every moment to be overwhelmed; while we feared that unless we could manage to anchor we should be driven on the bank to leeward, where the canoe would be filled with water, and everything in her carried away. to resist the fury of the waves was impossible. in vain we strove to get under the lee of the island. destruction yawned before us, when we saw, amid the thick forest trees which lined the bank, a narrow opening. it was the entrance, we hoped, to an igarape,--one of those curious water-ways, or canoe paths, which form a network of canals many hundred miles in extent, on either bank of the amazon. we exerted ourselves to the utmost to reach it, although the seas which struck the side of the canoe threatened every moment to upset her before we could do so. ellen and maria had got out their paddles, and laboured away with all their strength, maria's stout arms indeed being a very efficient help. domingos kept working away with his paddle, now on one side, now on another, now steering astern as he saw was requisite, twisting his features into a hundred different forms, and showing his white teeth as he shouted out in his eagerness. the tall trees were bending before the blast as if they were about to be torn from their roots and carried bodily inland. my fear was, on seeing them thus agitated, that should we get beneath them they might fall and crush us. still we had no choice. it seemed doubtful whether we should reach the mouth of the igarape. we redoubled our efforts, and just grazing by a point which projected from the shore, on which, had we been thrown, we should have been upset, we darted into the canal. even there the water hissed and roared as it was forced into the narrow channel. as an arrow flies through the zarabatana, so we sped up the igarape. for a few seconds domingos had to exert himself to steer the canoe in mid-channel, to prevent her being dashed against the roots of the tall trees which projected into it. at first the roar of the wind among the trunks and branches was almost deafening. gradually it decreased, and in a short time we could hear only the distant murmur of the tempest on the outside of the woody boundary. we were not, however, to escape altogether from it, for down came the rain in a pelting shower, to which, from the loss of our awning, we were completely exposed. we quickly, however, rigged another with our sail, which afforded shelter to ellen and maria. having secured the canoe, we all crept under it, and consulted what we should next do. what with the mantle of clouds across the sky, and the thick arch of boughs over our heads, so great was the darkness that we could scarcely persuade ourselves that night was not coming on. we sat patiently, hoping that the rain, which pattered down with so loud a noise that it was necessary to raise our voices to make each other hear, would at length cease. in about half an hour, the shower-bath to which we had been exposed came to an end. but still drops fell thickly from the boughs, and the darkness proved to us that the clouds had not yet cleared away. after our unsatisfactory meeting with the natives, we were anxious not to remain longer on that part of the shore than necessary. accordingly we once more paddled down the igarape. we soon found, however, that the wind was blowing too hard to allow us to venture out on the main stream. on passing downwards we observed a somewhat open space on the north side, and despairing of continuing our voyage that night, we determined to encamp there. securing our canoe, in which ellen and maria sat under shelter, the rest of us, with axes in our hands, set to work to clear the ground and build a couple of huts. we had become such proficients in the art that this we soon accomplished. on account of the weather we built one of them, not only with a roof, but with back and sides, in which ellen and her attendant could be sheltered. to our own also we built a side on the quarter from which the wind came. our difficulty was to light a fire. but hunting about, we found some dried leaves in the hollow of a tree, and there was no lack of wood, which, after chopping off the wet outside, would burn readily. having made all preparations, we conducted ellen and maria to their hut, and carried up our goods, which we placed within it, under shelter. we felt somewhat anxious at our position; but we hoped that the rain would keep any natives who might be in the neighbourhood from wandering about, and by the following morning we should be able to proceed on our voyage. should we not meet with our father on our way down, we resolved to stop at the nearest brazilian town on the banks, and there obtain assistance in instituting a more rigid search than we could make by ourselves. of one thing we were certain, that had he escaped, and got thus far, he would stay there till our arrival. still we did not abandon all hopes of finding him before that. we had taken everything out of the canoe, with the exception of the paddles, even to the sail, which served as a carpet for ellen's hut. we next turned our attention to cooking further portions of the animals we had killed in the morning. in spite of the storm raging outside, and our anxiety, as we sat round the blazing fire, ellen and maria having joined us, the smoke keeping the mosquitoes somewhat at bay, we all felt more cheerful than might have been expected. midnight had now come on; and having cut up a further supply of wood to keep the fire burning, we slung our hammocks and turned into them, trusting to true to keep watch for us. chapter eight. adventures in the forest--we meet with natives. the hours of the night passed slowly by. i awoke several times. few of the usual noises of the forest were heard. the tempest seemed to have silenced its wild inhabitants. now and then the cry of a howling baboon reached our ears from the depths of the forest. i had a feeling that something dreadful was about to occur, yet i was sufficiently awake to know that this might be mere fancy, and i did my best to go to sleep. the fire was still burning brightly. i looked down from my hammock. there was true sleeping tranquilly below me, as my companions were, around. when i looked away from the fire into the forest, i was struck by the unusual darkness. not a ray of light appeared to come from the sky, which was still covered with a thick mantle of clouds. i succeeded at last in dropping off to sleep. how long my eyes had been closed i could not tell, when i heard true uttering a low bark. i could just see him running to the edge of the hut, and looking out towards the river. i sprang from my hammock, calling to my companions. they were on foot in a moment; but the darkness, was so great that we could see nothing beyond a few feet from where we stood. as we sprang up, true rushed forward. we heard him barking away in front of us. the fire was out, and with difficulty we found our way back. i called to true, and at last he returned, but we were still unable to discover any cause for alarm. after a time we agreed that the wisest thing we could do would be to turn into our hammocks again. i scolded true for alarming us so needlessly, and he came back and lay down in his usual place. the night passed away without any other disturbance. when we arose in the morning the wind had ceased, the clouds had cleared away, and the weather was as fine as usual. getting up, we prepared breakfast, and agreed to continue our voyage as soon as it was over. as we had sufficient provisions, there was no necessity to search for any. we therefore remained at our camp till our meal was over. john was the first to take up a load and proceed with it down to the canoe. i followed. when still at a little distance, i heard him utter an exclamation of dismay. he turned back, and i saw by his countenance that there was something wrong. now he looked up the igarape, now down. "harry," he exclaimed, "i cannot see the canoe!" "you must have mistaken the spot where i left it," i answered. "i secured it well." i returned with him to the bank. in vain we searched up and down the banks of the water-path. not a trace of the canoe did we discover. "she must have broken adrift, then, during the night," i observed. "perhaps she has driven up the igarape." "i will go one way and you the other, then," said john. i made my way as well as i could through the tangled wood from the river, while john went towards it. wherever i could, i got down to the edge of the water. now i climbed along a trunk which overhang it; but though i thus got a view for a considerable distance, i could see no canoe. at length i returned, hoping that john might have been more successful. i met him on the spot where we had parted. "i cannot see her," he said. "harry, i am afraid she has been carried off!" the same idea had occurred to me. we now carefully examined the spot where we had left her. i found the very trunk of the tree round which i had secured the painter. it was scarcely rubbed, which it would have been, we agreed, had the canoe been torn away by the force of the wind. we were soon joined by arthur and domingos, who had come along with loads, surprised at our not returning. we communicated to them the alarming intelligence. domingos was afraid that we were right in our conjectures. we returned to the camp to break the unsatisfactory news to ellen. "if our canoe is lost, we must build another," she remarked, in her usual quiet way, concealing her anxiety; "but it is very trying to be thus delayed." still it would not do to give up without a further search for the canoe. as the wind had set up the igarape, i knew that, should the canoe have broken away by herself, she must have driven before it. it was therefore settled that arthur and i should go up still further in that direction, while john would try and make his way down to the main river, searching along the bank. ellen and maria, with domingos and true to take care of them, were to remain at the camp. arthur and i had our axes, for without them we could make no progress. i had my gun; arthur a spear, with bow and arrows, which naro had presented to him. thus armed, we hoped to defend ourselves against any jaguar or boa we might meet. we had little to fear from any other wild animals. as we had seen no traces of natives, we did not expect to meet with any. we soon gained the point i had reached in the morning. after this, we had to hew a path for ourselves through the forest. sometimes we got a few feet without impediment, and then had to cut away the sipos for several yards. now and then we were able to crawl under them, and sometimes we were able to leap over the loops, or make our way along the wide-spreading roots of the tall trees. thus we went on, every now and then getting down to the edge of the igarape, and climbing out on the trunk of one of the overhanging trees, whence we could obtain a view up and down for some distance. we had just reached the bank, and were looking out along it, when i saw a troop of monkeys coming along through the forest. i kept true by my side, and whispered to arthur not to speak. i could scarcely help laughing aloud at the odd manner in which they made their way among the branches, now swinging down by their tails, now catching another branch, and hanging on by their arms. they were extraordinarily thin creatures, with long arms and legs, and still longer tails--our old friends the spider monkeys. those tails of theirs were never quiet, but kept whisking about in all directions. they caught hold of the branches with them, and then hung by them with their heads downwards, an instant afterwards to spring up again. presently they came close to the water, when one of them caught hold of a branch with his fore-hands and tail, another jumped down and curled his tail round the body of the first. a third descended and slung himself in a similar manner. a fourth and fifth followed, and so on; and there they hung, a regular monkey chain. immediately the lowest, who hung with his head downwards, gave a shove with his fore-paws, and set the chain swinging, slowly at first but increasing in rapidity, backwards and forwards over the water. i thought to myself, if an alligator were making his way up the canal, the lowest would have a poor chance of his life. the swinging increased in violence, till the lowest monkey got his paws round the slender trunk of a tree on the opposite side. immediately he drew his companion after him; till the next above him was within reach of it. that one caught the tree in the same way, and they then dragged up their end of the chain till it hung almost horizontally across the water. a living bridge having thus been formed, the remainder of the troop, chiefly consisting of young monkeys who had been amusing themselves meantime frisking about in the branches, ran over. two or three of the mischievous youngsters took the opportunity of giving a sly pinch to their elders, utterly unable just then to retaliate; though it was evident, from the comical glances which the latter cast at them, that the inflictors of the pinches were not unnoticed. one, who had been trying to catch some fish apparently during the interval, was nearly too late to cross. the first two who had got across now climbed still further up the trunk; and when they had got to some distance, the much-enduring monkey, who had been holding the weight of all the others, let go his hold, and now becoming the lowest in the chain, swung towards the bank. as soon as he and his companions reached it, they caught hold of the trunk either with their hands or tails. the whole troop thus got safely across. the shouts of laughter, to which arthur and i could no longer resist giving way, startled the monkeys. they looked about with inquisitive glances, wondering probably what sort of strange creatures we could be who had come into their territory. at length, espying us, off they set at a great rate through the forest. they had chosen the narrowest part of the igarape to cross. going on further, it widened considerably. we still continued making our way along its margin; but the ground at length became so swampy, that we were obliged to turn off to the left. after this we came to somewhat more open ground, which had been cleared either by fire or by the hand of man. it was, of course, overgrown with vegetation of all sorts; but not sufficiently so to prevent us making our way through it. our intention was to go round the swamp or lake, and again reach the border of the water-path. we proceeded on for some distance, when we saw through an opening a high clay bank; it could scarcely be called a hill. but few trees grew on it. we thought that, by getting to the top, we could obtain a view of the country around. we accordingly made our way towards it. it formed apparently the eastern edge of the high country through which the napo runs. we found, here and there, veins of that curiously-coloured clay which we had before seen. looking eastward, a vast extent of forest was spread out before us, extending far as the eye could reach. no opening was visible except the long line of the solimoens, at some distance from where we stood. we could look westward towards its source in the andes; and eastward as it flowed on towards the far distant atlantic, hundreds of miles away. the whole igarape was entirely shut out from view. we thought, however, that by continuing towards the north we might possibly again get sight of it, when we purposed to continue our search for the canoe. we had faint hopes of finding it, we could not but confess. we had gone on some way, when, passing round a clump of trees, we saw before us two natives seated on the top of a hill, looking out, it seemed, over the country beyond them. their bodies were tattooed or painted all over in curious devices, and their heads were decked with war-plumes, while each of them had a musket resting on his arm, as if ready for immediate use. our first impulse was to retreat, hoping that we had not been seen; but their quick eyes had caught sight of us. they beckoned to us to approach. "they must have had intercourse with white men, or they would not have those muskets," observed arthur. "perhaps they may prove to be friends." to escape them, i saw, would be impossible. i therefore agreed with arthur that the best way was to go forward at once in a frank manner and try to win their confidence. we climbed the hill, therefore, and as we get up to where they were waiting for us, put out our hands and shook theirs. they were accustomed, apparently, to the european style of greeting. they addressed us, and seemed to be inquiring whence we had come. we explained as well as we could by signs--pointing in the direction of the andes, and then showing how we had glided down in the canoe. while they were speaking, i thought i detected a few words which sounded like spanish; and listening more attentively, i found that the eldest of the two was speaking the _lingua geral_--a corrupt portuguese, mixed with indian words, generally used throughout the whole length of the amazon. it was so like the language naro and his indians had employed when speaking to us, that i could make out, with a little difficulty, what was said. i understood the elder indian to say that he was a friend of the whites; and that, as arthur had supposed, he had obtained the muskets from them. finding the natives so friendly, i invited them to our camp. they shook their heads, and pointed to the north-west, letting us understand that they were about to start away on an expedition against an enemy in that direction; but that, on their return, they would without fail come to visit us. they signified that if we would accompany them to their village, we should be hospitably received. when speaking of the enemy, they uttered the word "majeronas" two or three times. "those must be the people you think attacked your father," observed arthur. "if he and your family are prisoners, they may be the means of releasing them." "i am afraid the majeronas are too fierce and savage to make prisoners," i answered. "we might accompany these indians and avenge their death, if they have been killed." "that is not according to the christian law," observed arthur mildly. "i would run any risk, though, to obtain their release, should they have been made prisoners." "i feel sure that they have not," i answered. "had they not escaped in their canoe we should certainly have found some remains of her on the shore, or some traces of them. oh no; i feel sure they got off, and we shall overtake them before long." as i ceased speaking, a band of indians appeared coming through the woods. they were--like the first two, who were evidently chiefs--decked in feathers and paint, but otherwise unencumbered by clothing. they were armed with bows and spears, but not a musket did we see among them. they were certainly the lightest of light troops. the two chiefs seemed to look upon their weapons as of immense value, as a general does his heavy guns. i saw the chief eyeing my rifle; and he then addressed us, inviting us to accompany the expedition. in spite of what i had just said, i felt greatly inclined to go, arthur, however, urged me strongly not to do so. "think of your sister and brother. how anxious our absence would make them!" he observed. "you do not know what dangers they may be exposed to; and suppose we were surprised and killed by the enemy, what would become of them?" i agreed that he was right, and explained to the chief that we could not leave our friends. he then asked me to make over my gun to him; but, of course, i could not deprive myself of our chief means of defence, and therefore turned a deaf ear to his request. the troops had halted at the foot of the hill; and we accompanied the two chiefs, who went down to meet them. the natives looked at us without much surprise, as if white men were no strangers to them. arthur now advised that we should return, as it would be a serious matter should we be benighted in the forest. before parting from our friends, we endeavoured to ascertain whether they had seen our canoe, but we could obtain no information from them. still i could not help thinking that she had been carried off by some of their tribe, who might have found her on their way up the igarape. when, therefore, the chief again pressed us to pay a visit to his village, we accepted his invitation. several lads had accompanied the army. as they only carried blow-pipes in their hands, i suspected--as proved to be the case--that they were not to proceed further. the chief called one of them up to him; and from the way he spoke, i had little doubt that he was his son. the chief made signs to us that the lad, whom he called duppo, would go back with us to the village, and that we should there obtain any food we might require. duppo appeared to be about fourteen years of age, and more intelligent and better looking than most of the indians; indeed, the two chiefs we had first seen were superior to the rest in appearance, and duppo was very like them. we came to the conclusion that they were brothers; and that duppo, as i have said, was the son of the eldest. this we found afterwards to be the case. the chief, having wished us farewell, gave the signal to advance; and leading the way, the indians set off in single file along the bottom of the hill. we, having watched them for some time, accompanied duppo, followed by the three other lads who had come with him. we asked him his father's name, and understood him to say it was maono, that his mother's name was mora, and that his uncle was called paco. had we judged by duppo's manner, we should not have supposed that his friends had gone on a dangerous expedition; but yet, knowing the character of the majeronas, we could not help feeling some anxiety for the result. we found that duppo was leading us towards the further end of the igarape, in the direction we had ourselves before proposed going. we had, however, delayed so long, that i feared we should not have time to return. arthur suggested that we might possibly find a canoe, in which we could go back by water, or, if not, we might build a balsa, such as we had seen used on the guayas. "an excellent idea," i replied. "we will put it into execution should we not find a canoe." our young guide led the way with unerring instinct through the forest. we had gone some distance, when we heard a deep, loud, and long-sustained flute-like note. it was that of a bird. the young indian stopped, and pointing ahead, uttered the word _nira-mimbeu_, which i afterwards ascertained meant fife-bird, evidently from the peculiar note we had just heard. the whole party stopped in the attitude of listening, and looking among the branches, we got a good view of a bird a short distance beyond us, with glossy black plumage, perched on a bough. the bird itself was about the size of a common crow. it had a remarkable ornament on its head, consisting of a crest formed of long, curved, hairy feathers at the end of bare quills which were now raised and spread out in the shape of a fringed sunshade. round its neck was a tippet formed of glossy steel-blue feathers; and as we watched it, while it was singing it spread these out, and waved them in a curious manner, extending at the same time its umbrella-formed crest, while it bowed its head slightly forward and then raised it again. i knew at once the curious creature to be the rare umbrella-bird (_cephalopterus ornatus_). the bird was continuing its flute-like performance, when duppo, advancing slowly and lifting his blow-pipe, sent forth with unerring aim a tiny dart, which pierced the bird's neck. much to my sorrow, the note ceased; but yet the bird stood on its perch as if scarcely aware of the wound it had received. we all stood watching it. for nearly a minute it remained as before, till gradually its head began to drop, and finally it fell to the ground. duppo ran forward, and taking a pinch of white substance from a wallet which he carried at his side, placed it in the bird's mouth, and then carefully pulling out the arrow, put some into the wound, just as our napo indians had done when they shot our monkey, nimble. we then went on, he carrying the apparently lifeless bird carefully in his arms. in a few minutes it began slowly to lift its head, and then to look about it as a hen does when carried in the same way. in a short time the bird seemed to be as well as if it had not received a wound, and began to peck at the bare arms of our young guide. on this he took from his bag some small pieces of fibre. on piece he wound round its bill, and another round its legs, taking great care not to hurt or injure it in any way. we went on for some distance, our young guide keeping his sharp eyes roving round in every direction in search of some other bird or animal on which he might exercise his skill. we were naturally surprised at the wonderful way in which the bird he had shot had recovered. i could scarcely believe that the arrow had been tipped with poison, and yet i could not otherwise account for the manner in which the bird fell to the ground. i inquired of duppo, but could not understand his reply. at last he took out of his bag some of the white stuff we had seen him apply and put it on his tongue. "why," exclaimed arthur, to whom he had given some to taste, "it is salt!" salt it undoubtedly was; and we now first learned that salt is an antidote to the wourali poison. people, indeed, who eat salt with their food are but little affected by it; while it quickly kills savages and animals who do not eat salt. we had seen as yet no signs of habitations, when duppo stopped and pointed through an opening in the trees. we saw, in the shade of the wide-spreading boughs, a woman kneeling before a bath, in which a little child was seated, splashing the water about with evident delight. the woman was almost as primitive a costume as the warriors we had seen. her only ornament was a necklace, and her sole clothing consisted of a somewhat scanty petticoat. she, however, seemed in no way abashed at our presence. duppo ran forward and said a few words to her, when, rising from her knees, and lifting up her dripping child in her arms, she advanced a few paces towards us. she seemed to be listening with great interest to what duppo was saying, and she then signed to us to follow her. we did so, and soon came in sight of several bamboo huts. the walls, as also the roofs, were covered with a thatch of palm-leaves. on examining the thatch, i saw that it consisted of a number of leaves plaited together, and secured in a row to a long lath of bamboo. one of these laths, with a row of thatch attached to it, was hung up on pegs to the lowest part of the wall intended to be covered; another was fastened over it, the thatch covering the first lath; and so on, row after row, till the upper part was reached. the roof was formed in the same manner, secured by rope formed of aloe fibres or some similar material. round the village were numerous fruit-trees. the most conspicuous were bananas, with their long, broad, soft, green leaf-blades; and several pupunhas, or peach-palms, with their delicious fruit, hanging down in enormous bunches from their lofty crowns, each a load for a strong man. the fruit gains its name from its colour. it is dry and mealy, of the taste of chestnuts and cheese. there were also a number of cotton and coffee trees on one side, extending down to the water, which showed that our friends were not ignorant of agriculture. we also saw melons growing in abundance, as well as mandioca and indian corn. the lady conducted us into her house with as much dignity as a duchess would have done into her palace. the interior of the building, however, had no great pretensions to architectural grandeur. the roof was supported by strong upright posts between which hammocks were slung, leaving space for a passage from one end to the other, as also for fires in the centre. at the further end was an elevated stage, which might be looked upon as a first floor, formed of split palm-stems. along the walls were arranged clay jars of various sizes, very neatly made. some, indeed, were large enough to hold twenty or more gallons; others were much smaller; and some were evidently used as cooking-pots. they were ornamented on the outside with crossed diagonal lines of various colours. there were also blow-pipes hung up, and quivers and bags made of the bromelia, very elaborately worked. in addition, there were baskets formed of the same material of a coarser description, and dressed skins of animals, with mats, and spare hammocks. our hostess, whom we discovered to be duppo's mother, invited us to sit down on some mats which she spread in a clear space on the floor, a little removed from the fire. duppo went out, and in a short time returned with a young girl, who looked timidly into the opening, and then ran off. he scampered after her, and brought her back; but it required some persuasion to induce her to enter the hut. we rose as she did so, struck by her interesting countenance and elegant form; for, although her garments were almost as scanty as those of the older woman, our impulse was to treat her with the respect we should have paid to one of her more civilised sisters. having got over her timidity, she set to work to assist her mother in cooking some food. we asked duppo his sister's name. he gave us to understand that it was oria--at least, it sounded like it; and, at all events, that was the name by which we always called her. it was a pretty name, and well suited to such an interesting young creature. several parrots of gorgeous plumage, which had been sitting on the rafters, clambered down inquisitively to look at us; while two monkeys-- tame little things--ran in and out of the hut. the most interesting creature we saw was a charming little water-fowl--a species of grebe. it seemed to be a great pet of the young girl. it was swimming about in a tub full of water, similar to the one in which we had seen our hostess bathing her baby. the girl took it out to show it to us, and it lay perfectly happy and contented in her hands. it was rather smaller than a pigeon, and had a pointed beak. the feet, unlike those of water-fowls, were furnished with several folds of skin in lieu of webs, and resembled much the feet of the gecko lizards. after exhibiting it to us, she put it back again into its tub, and it went swimming round and round, very much like those magnetic ducks which are sold in toyshops. on examining the tub i have spoken of, we found that it was formed from the spathe of the palm. in a short time a repast was placed before us in several bowls. in one was fish, in another was a stew of meat. arthur, without ceremony, ate some of the latter, when he came to a bone which i saw him examining curiously. "why, i do believe," he said, in a low voice, "it is a bit of monkey!" "i have very little doubt about it," i answered; for i had discovered this some time before. "try this other dish; it seems very nice." having eaten some of it, we bethought ourselves of inquiring of duppo what it was; and he gave us to understand that it was a piece of snake or lizard, for we could not exactly make out which. "i think i would rather keep to the fish," said arthur, in a subdued voice. indeed, with the fish and some mandioca porridge alone, we could have managed to make a very ample meal. we had also several delicious fruits--guavas, bananas, and one, the interior of which tasted like a rich custard. a jar of a somewhat thick and violet-coloured liquor was placed before us to drink. it was made, we found, from the fruit of the assai palm, which our hostess, illora, showed us. it was perfectly round and about the size of a cherry, consisting of a small portion of pulp lying between the skin and the hard kernel. the fruit pounded, with the addition of water, produces the beverage i have described. it was very refreshing, but stained our lips as do blackberries. having finished our meal, we thanked dame illora for it, and tried to explain that we were in search of a canoe in which to return down the igarape. for some time we could not make her comprehend what we wanted. suddenly duppo started up, and leading us to the water, by signs explained that all their canoes had been taken away. "then, no doubt, the same people who took theirs, carried off ours," observed arthur. i agreed with him. still, i hoped that a small canoe might be found. we searched about, but i could not find one. the channel ran through the forest till it was lost to sight, and as there was a slight current in the water, we came to the conclusion that it was connected with some other river, up which the canoes had been carried. "then let us build a raft as we proposed," said arthur. "if we do not return to-night, we shall alarm your sister and john. the current is in our favour, and we shall have no difficulty in descending to our camp." at once we tried to explain to our friends what we proposed doing. several other persons appeared, but they were mostly old men and women. the rest had evidently gone off to the war. we began by cutting down some small trees which grew at the edge of the igarape. then we cut some sipos, and formed an oblong frame of sufficient size to support three or four people. after a little time duppo comprehended our purpose, and we saw him explaining the matter to his people. several of them on this set to work on a clump of bamboos which grew at a little distance, and brought them to us. looking about, we also discovered some long reeds growing on the margin of the swamp at no great distance. arthur and i collected as many as we could carry, and the natives, following our example, soon supplied us with what we required. having fastened the bamboos lengthways on the frame, we secured the reeds both under and above them, till we had completely covered over the framework. the whole machine we strengthened by passing long sipos round it, and thus in a short time had a buoyant and sufficiently strong raft to carry us safely, we hoped, down the igarape. the natives had been watching our proceedings with looks of surprise, as if they had never seen a similar construction. we had cut a couple of long poles with which to push on the raft. "i think we should be the better for paddles," observed arthur. one of the trees, we found, very easily split into boards. we soon made three paddles, agreeing that a third would be useful, in case one should break. "but perhaps duppo would be willing to accompany us," said arthur. "he seems a very intelligent fellow. shall we ask him?" we soon made our young friend comprehend our wishes. he was evidently well pleased with the proposal, though his mother at first seemed to hesitate about letting him go. we pressed her, explaining that we would reward him well for his services. our point gained, duppo's preparations were quickly made. he brought with him his zarabatana or blow-pipe, his bow, and a quiver full of arrows, as also a basket of farinha, apparently supposing that we might be unable to provide him with food. seeing the curious umbrella-bird secured to a perch projecting from the wall, i asked him to bring it, as i wanted to show it to ellen. he quickly understood me, and taking it down, again fastened up its beak, and brought it along perched on his shoulder. the whole remaining population of the village came down to the water to see us embark. we took off our hats to oria, who scarcely seemed to understand the compliment. our raft was soon launched with their aid, and, greatly to our satisfaction, floated buoyantly. we got on board, and shoved off into the middle of the channel. the water was fat too deep to allow our poles to be of any use. duppo, however, showed that he well knew the use of a paddle. taking one in his hand, he sat down on one side of the raft, while arthur sat on the other, and i stood astern to steer. the current was sluggish, and did not help us much. we therefore had to exert ourselves vigorously. the igarape soon widened out into a broad lake-like expanse. we could distinguish the channel, however, from its being free of reeds, which appeared in all directions in the other parts, forming thick broad clumps like islands. from amidst them numerous water-fowl rose up as we passed. now and then an alligator poked up his ugly snout. numerous tortoises and other water-creatures were seen swimming about. others which rose near us, alarmed at our appearance, made off to a distance, and allowed us to proceed unimpeded. we were delighted with the progress we made, and went paddling on as if we had been long accustomed to the work. we kept up most of the time a conversation with duppo, although it must be owned that we could understand but little of what he said, while he had equal difficulty in comprehending us. we asked him several questions about his family. i told him that he must bring oria down to see my sister, as i was sure she would be glad to make her acquaintance. i was, however, not very certain whether he understood me. he was evidently a quick, sagacious fellow; though his manners, like most of the indians we had met, were subdued and quiet. as we were paddling on, we were almost startled by hearing a sound like a bell tolling in the midst of the forest. it ceased, and we paddled on, when again it struck our ears loud and clear. again it came within the space of a minute, and we almost expected to see some church steeple peeping forth through an opening in the primeval forest. we tried to ascertain from our young companion what it could mean, but he only nodded his head, as much as to say, "i know all about it," and then he gave a glance down at his bow and quiver which lay by his side. we went on for some minutes more, the sound of the bell reaching our ears as before, and then duppo began to look up eagerly into the trees. suddenly he ceased paddling, and made signs to arthur to do the same. gliding on a few yards further, we saw, on the topmost bough of a tree overhanging the water, a beautiful white bird, about the size of a jay. at the same time there came forth from where it stood a clear bell sound, and we saw from its head a black tube, rising up several inches above it. duppo cautiously put his hand out and seized his bow. in an instant he had fitted an arrow to the string. away it flew, and down fell the bird fluttering in the water. we paddled on, and quickly had it on board. i could not help feeling sorry that he had killed the beautiful creature, whose note had so astonished us. it was, i found, a specimen of that somewhat rare and very wonderful bell-bird (_casmarhynchos carunculata_), called _campanero_ by the spaniards. from the upper part of the bill grows a fleshy tubercle about the thickness of a quill, sparingly covered with minute feathers. it was now hanging down on one side, quite lax. it was evident, therefore, that the bird, when alive, elevated it when excited by singing or some other cause; indeed afterwards, on examining it, we found it connected with the interior of the throat, which further convinced us of this fact. i was sorry that we could not have it taken alive to ellen, and i tried to explain to duppo that we wished to have living creatures if possible captured, like the umbrella-bird. we had been paddling on for some time beneath the thick overhanging boughs, almost in darkness, when a bright glow attracted our attention. "we must be near the camp," exclaimed arthur, and we shouted out. we were replied to by true's well-known bark, and directly afterwards we could distinguish through the gloom the figure of domingos making his way amid the wood, with true running before him, down to the bank. there they stood ready to receive us. chapter nine. lost in the forest. "i am thankful to have you back, my young masters," exclaimed domingos, as he helped us to land. "but what! have you not brought back the canoe? i thought it was her you had returned in, and that the third person i saw was senor john. he set off some time back to look for you." we briefly explained what had happened, and introduced the young indian. having secured the raft, we hastened to our encampment. ellen and maria came out to meet us. "i am so glad you have come back," said ellen, "for we were growing very anxious about you. i hope john will soon return. i am surprised you did not see him as you came down the igarape." i explained to her how easily we might have passed each other. "i dare say we shall see john in a few minutes. when he found night coming on, he would certainly turn back," i added. we now brought duppo forward and introduced him, telling ellen about his sister oria. "oh, i should so like to see her!" she exclaimed. "do try and make him understand that we hope he will bring her here." though modest and retiring in his manner, duppo soon made himself at home, and seemed well pleased at being in our society. ellen was delighted with the curious bird he had brought her, and maria undertook to tame it, as she had the parrot and nimble. john had fortunately killed a paca in the morning, and maria had dressed part of it for supper. we were, however, unwilling to begin our meal till his return. we waited for some time, expecting him every instant to appear. we made the fire blaze brightly as a signal, and domingos and i went to a little distance from the camp, first in one direction, then in another, shouting at the top of our voices; but we in vain listened for his in return. i then fired off my rifle, hoping that, had he lost his way, that might show him the position of the camp. we stood breathless, waiting to hear his rifle, but no sound reached our ears. we now became very anxious, but were unwilling to go further from the camp, lest we might be unable to find our way back. true, who had followed us, added his voice to our shouts. "hark!" said domingos; "i hear a sound." we listened. it was a low, deep howl. it grew louder and louder. "that is only one of those big monkeys beginning its night music," i observed. true, when he heard it, was darting forward, but i called him back, afraid lest he should meet with a prowling jaguar or huge boa, which might carry him off before we could go to his assistance. at length, with sad forebodings, we returned to the camp. we did our best to comfort ellen, yet it was very difficult to account for john's non-appearance. "he must certainly have gone further than he intended," observed arthur; "then, not having the sun to guide him, must have taken a wrong direction. he will probably climb up into some tree to sleep, and when the sun rises in the morning he will easily find his way back." "oh, thank you, arthur, for suggesting that!" said ellen; "i am sure it must be so." "at all events," i said, "we will start away at daybreak to look for him; and with our young indian friend as a guide, we need have no fear in venturing into the forest." we had none of us much appetite for supper, but domingos persuaded us to take some. we then made up a fire, intending to keep watch during the night, hoping every moment that john might return. domingos, however, at length persuaded arthur and i to lie down in our hammocks; indeed, in spite of our anxiety, in consequence of the fatigue we had gone through during the day, we could with difficulty keep our eyes open. he made duppo get into his, saying that he himself would keep watch. every now and then i awoke, hoping to hear john's cheery voice. each time i looked out i saw our faithful domingos sitting before the fire, busying himself in throwing sticks on it to keep it blazing brightly. occasionally i observed him get up, go to a little distance, and stretch out his neck into the darkness. then he would come back again and take his seat as before, while the various tones of croaking frogs, or huge crickets, or the fearful howls of the night-monkeys, which came, now from one direction, now from another, from the far-off depths of the forest, sounded as if they were keeping up a conversation among themselves. this dismal noise continued throughout the night. at daylight arthur and i leaped from our hammocks, and roused up young duppo. we tried to explain to him that one of our number had gone away, and that we wanted to go in search of him. "stay!" exclaimed domingos; "you must not go without breakfast. i have been boiling the cocoa, and i will soon roast some paca." while we were breakfasting, ellen and maria came out of their hut. ellen looked very pale and anxious, as if she had passed a sleepless night; and she confessed that she had not closed her eyes for thinking of john, and what might have become of him. we were doubtful about taking true; but when he saw us preparing to start, he ran off, and would not return, for fear of being tied up: we decided, therefore, to let him go with us, thinking that he might be of assistance in finding john. having done my best to comfort ellen, we set out in the direction domingos told us john had gone. we had stored our wallets with food, that we might not run the risk of starving should we be kept out longer than we expected. duppo had followed our example, having brought his bag of farinha on shore. he carried his bow and blow-pipe; and arthur was armed with his bow, as well as with a long pointed staff; and i had my rifle and a good store of ammunition. our indian guide seemed to understand clearly our object, and led the way without hesitation through the forest. after we had gone some little distance, we saw him examining the trees on either side. then he again went on as before. he made signs to us that the person we were searching for had gone that way. after a time he again stopped, and showed us how he had been turning about, now in one direction, now in another. then on he went again, further and further from the camp. as we were making our way onwards, duppo stopped, and signed to us to be silent; and then pointed to a tree a little way in front. we there saw on a bough a short-tailed animal, with white hair. after waiting a minute or two, it turned round, and a face of the most vivid scarlet hue was presented to us. it seemed unconscious of our presence for it did not move from its post. the head was nearly bald, or at most had but a short crop of thin grey hair; while round the odd-looking face was a fringe of bushy whiskers of a sandy colour, which met under the chin. a pair of reddish eyes added to its curious appearance. the body was entirely covered with long, straight, shining white hair. presently it moved along the branch, and began picking some fruit which grew at the further end. duppo cautiously lifted his blow-pipe to his mouth. an arrow sped forth and struck the creature. the instant it felt itself wounded, it ran along the branch till it reached another tree. duppo made chase, and we had no little difficulty in following him. on the creature went from tree to tree, and it seemed that there was but a slight chance of his catching it. presently we saw it again, but moving slower than at first. slower and slower it went, till duppo could easily keep close under it; then down it fell, almost into his arms. true, who was ahead of us, darted forward, and, had i not called him back, would have seized the creature. the indian, meantime, was engaged in pulling out the arrow; and having done so, he put a pinch of salt into the creature's mouth. on examining it, we found it was a veritable monkey, one of the most curious of the race i ever saw. it was of the genera of _cebidae_. duppo called it a _nakari_ (_brachyurus calvus_ is its scientific name). the body was about eighteen inches long, exclusive of the limbs. its tail was very short, and apparently of no use to it in climbing; and its limbs were rather shorter and thicker than those of most monkeys. in a short time it began to show signs of life. we soon afterwards caught sight of another, with a young one on its back, which our guide told us was a mother monkey. it, however, got away before he could bring his blow-pipe to bear on it. as soon as the little captive began to move, duppo secured its front hands with a piece of line, and threw a small net over its head to prevent it biting. he then secured it on his shoulder; and we again pushed on through the forest as fast as we could go. we were at length obliged to stop and rest. we had taken but a slight breakfast. arthur said he was hungry; and duppo showed that he was by taking out a cake of farinha and some dried meat from his bag. anxiety, however, had taken away my appetite. while i was sitting down, i observed close to us what i took to be a seed-pod of some aerial plant, hanging straight down from a bough, at about six feet from the ground. on going up to it, i found to my surprise that it was a cocoon about the size of a sparrow's egg, woven by a caterpillar in broad meshes of a rose-coloured silky substance. it hung, suspended from the tip of an outstanding leaf, by a strong silken thread about six inches in length. on examining it carefully, i found that the glossy threads which surrounded it were thick and strong. both above and below there was an orifice, which i concluded was to enable the moth, when changed from the chrysalis which slept tranquilly within its airy cage, to make its escape. it was so strong that it could resist evidently the peck of a bird's beak, while it would immediately swing away from one on being touched. i afterwards met with several such cocoons; and once saw a moth coming forth from one. it was of a dull, slatey colour, and belonged to the silkworm family of _bombycidae_. arthur persuaded me at last to take a little food; and having rested sufficiently, we again moved on. at length duppo came to a stand-still, and signed to me to keep back true. i could hardly hold him, however, he seemed so anxious to push forward. duppo had slung his blow-pipe at his back, and held his bow with an arrow to shoot. then i saw him examining the ground on every side under the boughs, many of which hung close down to it. presently the report of a gun reached our ears. "that is certainly your brother john!" exclaimed arthur. the shot came from some distance, however. then another, and another, followed at intervals of a few minutes. we now hurried on more eagerly than ever, in spite of duppo's signs to us to be cautious. i felt convinced that john alone could have fired those shots. again another shot sounded close to us; and on emerging from the thicker part of the forest, we saw at a little distance the ground covered with a herd of hog-like animals--though smaller than ordinary hogs--which i guessed at once were peccaries. they were in a great state of commotion--running about in all directions, turning their long snouts up into the air. going a few yards further on, there was john himself, seated high up on the bough of a tree, to which numerous sipos hung. his gun was pointed down towards the herd of peccaries, several of which lay dead on the ground. some of the others kept running about, but the greater portion were standing looking up at him. there he sat, with his usual composure, regularly besieged by them. the attention of the savage creatures was so occupied with him that they did not perceive our approach. i was somewhat surprised at the eager signs which duppo made to us to climb up a tree by means of some sipos which hung close at hand. we were hesitating to follow his advice, when he seized arthur by the arm and dragged him up. i thought it prudent to follow his example, as i had formed a good opinion of his sense. i lifted up true to arthur, who caught him in his arms; and then i swung myself up to the branch after him. we had just taken our seats facing john, when the peccaries discovered us; and a number of them turning round, charged across the ground on which we had stood. duppo had got his bow ready, and shot one as they passed. he killed another as, turning round, they charged back again, and then ran about looking up at us, as they had been watching john. "i am very glad to see you safe!" i shouted out to john; for hitherto we had not had time to speak to him. "but why should we be afraid of these little creatures? they have more reason to be afraid of us, from the number you have killed, i should think." "just look into their mouths, and you will soon see that they are not so harmless as you suppose," he answered. "i have had a narrow escape of losing my life; for one of them caught me in the leg as i was climbing this tree, and had i let go my hold, the whole herd would have been upon me, and i should have been cut to pieces in a few seconds. those tusks of theirs are as pointed as needles and as sharp as razors. i am very glad you found me out, too; for i left my wallet hanging on a branch, just before i had to run for my life from these fellows. but how did you get back?" i briefly told him of our adventures. "you must have been anxious about me at the camp," he observed. "but the honest truth is, i lost my way, and at this moment scarcely know where i have got to. i had, however, few fears about myself; but have been very sorry for poor dear ellen, while i could not tell whether you were safe or not. however, we must drive away these savage little brutes." saying this, he knocked over another. i followed his example. arthur and duppo were meantime shooting their arrows at the herd. undaunted, however, the animals stood collected below us. it was evident that they were influenced rather by dull obstinacy or ignorance of their danger than by courage. at length their obtuse senses showed them that they were getting the worst of it. the survivors began to turn their fierce little eyes towards their dead companions, and it seemed to strike them that something was the matter. "shout!" cried out john--"shout! and perhaps we may frighten them away." we raised our voices, duppo joining in with his shrill pipe. the peccaries looked at each other; and then one moved to a little distance, then another, and at last the whole herd set off scampering away through the forest. we sent reiterated shouts after them, fearing that they might otherwise stop, and perhaps come back again; but they at last discovered that discretion is the better part of valour, and the trampling of their feet became less and less distinct, till it was lost in the distance. we now descended from our perches. i handed down true into arthur's arms. true had been very dissatisfied with his position, and, to revenge himself, at once flew at one of the hogs which was struggling at a little distance, and quickly put it out of its pain. we shook hands with john; and, congratulating him on his escape, introduced duppo to him, and told him how we had become acquainted. "here," he said, "look at these creatures, and you will see that i had good reason to be afraid of them." on examining their long and apparently harmless snouts, we found that they were armed with short tusks, scarcely seen beyond the lips; but being acutely pointed and double-edged, and as sharp as lancets, they are capable of inflicting the most terrible wounds. peccaries are the most formidable enemies, when met with in numbers, to be found in the forests of the amazon. the creatures were not more than three feet long, and a whole one was but an easy load to carry. the bodies were short and compact, and thickly covered with strong, dark-coloured bristles. round the neck was a whitish band, while the under part of the body was nearly naked. instead of a tail, there was merely a fleshy protuberance. "what a horrible odour!" exclaimed arthur, as we were examining one of them. we found that it proceeded from a glandular orifice at the lower part of the back. duppo immediately took this out with his knife, and then began scientifically to cut up the animal. following his example, we prepared others to carry with us, and thus each made up a load of about thirty pounds. the learned name of the animal is _dicotyles tajacu_. it eats anything that comes in its way,--fruits, roots, reptiles, or eggs; and it is of great service in killing snakes. it will attack the rattlesnake without fear, and easily kills it. the meat appeared perfectly destitute of fat, but we hoped to find it none the worse on that account. john, as may be supposed, was very hungry, and thankful for some of the food we brought with us. after he had breakfasted we commenced our return to the camp, loaded with the peccary meat. duppo carried a portion in addition to the scarlet-faced monkey. the little creature sat on his shoulder, looking far from at ease in its novel position. "oh, we will tame you before long, and make you perfectly contented and happy," said arthur, going behind duppo and addressing the monkey. "what will you like to be called, old fellow? you must have a name, you know. i have thought of one just suited to your red nose--toby; toby fill-pot, eh!--only we will call you toby. i say, harry, don't you think that will be a capital name?" i agreed that toby was a very suitable name, and so we settled, with ellen's approval, that toby should be the name of our scarlet-faced friend. john walked on in silence for some time. "i am very much ashamed of losing my way," he said at length when i joined him. "setting off through the forest to meet you, i went on and on, expecting every instant to see you. i fancied that i was close to the igarape, but somehow or other had wandered from it. the gloom increasing, i had still greater difficulty in finding my way. at last i determined to go back to the camp, but instead of doing so i must have wandered further and further from it. it then grew so dark that i was afraid of proceeding, and so looked out for a tree where i could rest for the night. i saw one with wide-spreading branches at no great distance from the ground. having cut a number of sipos, i climbed into my intended resting-place, dragging them after me. i there fastened them to the surrounding branches, making a tolerably secure nest for myself, i cannot say that i was very comfortable, for i could not help thinking that a prowling jaguar might find me out, or a boa or some other snake might climb up, and pay me a visit. i shouted several times, hoping that you might hear me, but the only answers i got were cries from howling monkeys, who seemed to be mocking me. the whole night long the creatures kept up their hideous howls. the moment one grew tired another began. so far they were of service, that they assisted to keep me awake. i can tell you i heartily wished for the return of day. as soon as it dawned i descended from my roosting-place, intending to make my way back as fast as possible. however, as the sun had not appeared, i had nothing to guide me. i tried to find the water, but must have gone directly away from it. i was walking on, when i saw the snout of an animal projecting from the hollow trunk of a large tree. taking it for a pig of some sort, i fired, when it ran out and dropped dead, its place being immediately supplied by another. i killed that in the same way, when out came a third, and looked about it; and presently i discovered several other heads poked out from the surrounding trees. i was on the point of cutting some pork steaks out of the first i had killed, when i caught sight of the sharp little tusks projecting from its mouth. suddenly the accounts i had heard of the dangerous character of peccaries flashed across my mind, and at the same instant i saw a number of the animals coming out of their holes. prudence urged me to beat a quick retreat. i was making my way through the forest, and had already got to some distance from where i had first seen the creatures, when a large herd, which had apparently collected from all quarters, came scampering after me. i at once began to clamber up into a tree, where you found me. on they came at a great rate; and, as i told you, i narrowly escaped being caught by one of the savage little brutes. i must have spent a couple of hours or more besieged by them before you came up." as we neared the camp we uttered as cheerful a shout as we could raise to give notice of our approach, and domingos soon appeared, followed by ellen and maria. ellen ran forward, and throwing her arms round john's neck, burst into tears. it showed us how anxious she had been on his account, although she had done her best, as she always did, to restrain her own feelings and keep up our spirits. we were all of us glad, after our exertions, to get into our hammocks and rest. we found on waking that domingos and maria had exerted themselves to prepare a plentiful repast. while eating it we discussed our future plans. "we must either recover our canoe or build another, that is certain," said john, "before we can continue our voyage. however, if we could be sure that this is a secure and healthy place for you to remain in, i should like to arrange with some of these indians to make an excursion along the shores in search of our parents. perhaps they are all this time encamped or at some village, on this or the opposite bank, not far off. it would, i think, be unwise to go further down without staying to ascertain this. what is your opinion, harry?" i agreed with him, but said that i would rather run the risk of the adventure, and let him remain at the camp. "or perhaps arthur might like to come with me," i added. "two people might succeed better than one; and we could even manage a canoe by ourselves independently of the natives." "oh yes," said arthur, "do let me go with harry. we can take duppo to assist us. he seems so intelligent that we should easily make him understand what we want." "then i propose that early to-morrow morning we set off to the village to search further for our canoe, or to purchase one, as john suggests," i said. "i am afraid we shall not be able to get up there on our raft, and we shall therefore have to make a journey round by land. with duppo, however, as a guide, we shall have less difficulty than before in making our way to it." it was finally settled that john, arthur, and i should set off early the following morning to the village, guided by duppo, while domingos remained at the camp to take care of ellen and maria. chapter ten. an encounter with savages. as there was still some daylight remaining, john took his gun to kill some parrots or other birds which might prove more palatable food than the peccary flesh. "take care that you do not lose yourself again," i could not help saying as he was starting. "do not mock me, harry," he answered. "i wish to gain experience, and depend on it i shall be careful to take the bearings of the camp, so as easily to find my way back to it. i do not intend to go many hundred yards off." arthur and i were in the meantime engaged in trying to tame master toby and the umbrella-bird, which we called niger. both seemed tolerably reconciled to captivity. ellen's little pet parrot, poll, kept casting suspicious glances at its feathered companion, not satisfied with the appearance of the curious-headed stranger, while nimble watched every movement of his cousin toby. after assisting ellen to feed her pets, arthur and i agreed to go out in search of john, taking duppo with us as a guide. we had not gone far when we saw him coming limping towards us. we were afraid that he had hurt his foot. "what is the matter?" i asked, when we met. "that is more than i can tell," he answered. "i have been for some time past feeling a curious itching sensation in my feet, and now i can scarcely bear to put them to the ground." we helped him along to the camp, when, sitting down on a log, he took off his boots. we examined his feet, and found a few small blue spots about them. "i suspect, senor john, i know what it is," said maria, who saw us. "some chegoes have got into your feet, and if they are not taken out quickly they will cause you a great deal of suffering." "but i can see nothing to take out," said john, looking at his feet. "to be sure not," answered maria, "because they have hidden themselves away under the skin. let me see what i can do. my mother was famous for taking out chegoes, and she showed me the way she managed." maria, running into the hut, returned with a large needle. "now, sit quiet, senor john, and do not cry out, and i will soon cure you." maria sat down, and taking john's foot on her knee, instantly began to work away with as much skill as the most experienced surgeon. we all stood by watching her. after a little time she produced between her finger and thumb a creature considerably smaller than an ordinary flea, which she had taken out alive and uninjured. giving it a squeeze, she threw it to the ground with an expression of anger at its having dared to molest her young master; and thus in a very short time she had extracted three or four insects from each of his feet. we had meantime begun to feel something uncomfortable in ours, and on maria's examining them, we found that a chego had taken possession of each of our big toes. the chego is a black little creature, which makes its way quietly under the skin, where, having got to a sufficient depth, it lays its eggs, and unless removed immediately, causes annoying and dangerous ulcers. ours were not there when we started to look for john, and by this time they had worked their way completely out of sight. after that we carefully examined our legs and feet every night before going to bed, as during the time we were asleep they would have made themselves completely at home in our flesh, with house, nursery, and children to boot. next morning, our feet being once more in good order, we put on thick socks, and our alpargates over them, and john and i with our guns, arthur with his bow and spear, accompanied by true, and led by duppo, took our way through the forest. i kept true close to me; for after the experience we had had, i was afraid of his encountering a jaguar, or peccary, or boa, knowing, however formidable the creature might be, he to a certainty would attack it. i need not again describe the forest scenery. after going on for some time we stopped to lunch, when arthur, who was at a little distance, called out to me. "come here, harry," he said, "and look at this curious wooden caterpillar." on joining him, i found on a leaf the head of a caterpillar projecting out of a wooden case fully two inches long. it was secured to the leaf by several silken lines. i took it up and examined it. there could be no doubt that the case was the work of art, and not a natural growth, and that it was formed of small pieces of stick fastened together with fine silken threads. inside this case the creature can live secure from its enemies while feeding and growing. we afterwards found several of the same description. another sort had made itself a bag of leaves open at both ends, the inside being lined with a thick web. it put us in mind of the caddis worms which we had seen in ponds in england. we took care when going on always to keep in sight of each other. arthur and i were together, and duppo a little ahead. "hark!" exclaimed arthur, "some one is singing in the distance." i listened, and felt sure that some native, who had climbed up a tree not far off to get fruit, was amusing himself by singing. john and duppo stopped also, attracted by the same sounds. we looked about in every direction, but could see no one. now the tones changed somewhat, and became more like those of a flageolet, very sweet, and we expected to hear it break into a curious native air, when presently it stopped, and instead of the flute-like notes, some clicking, unmusical sounds like the piping of a barrel-organ out of wind and tune reached our ears. not till then had we supposed that the songster was a bird. again it struck up in exactly the same way as before. though we all four looked about in the direction whence the notes came, the mysterious songster could not be discovered. duppo was evidently telling us a long story about it, but what he said we could not comprehend. i afterwards found that the bird is called by the portuguese the realejo, or organ-bird (_cyphorhinus cantans_). it is the chief songster of the amazonian forests. the natives hold it in great respect, and duppo seemed very unwilling to go on while the bird continued its notes. at length we reached the village, and were received in a friendly way by our young guide's mother. oria also seemed very glad to see us, and the little fat child whom arthur called diogenes, because he had first seen him seated in a tub, put out his hands to welcome us, in no way alarmed at what must have appeared to him our extraordinary appearance. our hostess appeared somewhat anxious, and she had good cause to be so, for no news had been received of the war-party. duppo explained what we had come for. she replied that she was afraid all the canoes had been carried off, though it was possible a small one might have been overlooked further up the stream, and, if such were the case, she would do her best to persuade the owner to sell it to us. we wanted to start off immediately, but she insisted on our partaking of some food, which she and oria set to work to prepare. as we were anxious to know whether a canoe could be procured, we spent little time over our repast, and again set off along the bank of the igarape. we inquired at each of the huts we passed about a canoe, but duppo invariably shook his head, to signify that he could not hear of one. still we went on, searching in every spot where he thought a canoe might be concealed. after some time, finding a tree bending almost horizontally over the water, we climbed along it for some way, that we might get a better view up and down the channel. arthur was the outermost of the party. "why, what can that be?" he exclaimed. "see there!" and he pointed up the canal. there, bending over the trunk of a large tree, which hung much in the same manner as the one we were on, i saw a huge jaguar. its claws seemed ready for immediate action. its eyes were evidently fixed on the surface of the water. "it is fifty yards off. it is looking out for a cow-fish, as was the one we saw the other day," whispered arthur. we told john, who was coming along the trunk, what we had seen. "we will let it catch the cow-fish first, then, and perhaps we may kill both creatures," he observed. while he was speaking, the creature darted out one of its huge paws, and drew it back again with a fish hanging to it. instantly the fish was torn to pieces and transferred to its jaws. we waited till the jaguar had begun to watch for another, and then crawling along the tree, made our way towards it. john and i got our guns ready, hoping to kill the beast before it had discovered us. just as we got near, however, it having caught another fish in the meantime, its eyes fell on us. rising to its feet, it stood for a moment as if doubtful whether or not it should attack us. i lifted my rifle to fire, but at that moment the animal gave a bound and darted off through the thick foliage, amid which it was hid from sight. we looked about, expecting to see it returning, but it had probably satisfied itself that we were too formidable enemies to attack. we found some of the fish it had been eating on the trunk of the tree, and the remains of several others near it, which showed that it had been successful in its sport. while searching round the tree duppo gave a shout of satisfaction, and hastening up to him, we found a small canoe hid away under a thick bush. he soon discovered also two pairs of paddles, and made us understand that we were welcome to the canoe. it was, however, so small that it would barely carry all the party. it would certainly not have done so with safety, except in the very smoothest water. we launched it, and john and arthur, using great caution, got in. one of the paddles had been left behind. duppo ran back to get it. we saw him eagerly glancing down an open glade which extended some distance into the forest. suddenly he turned round, his countenance exhibiting terror, and stepping into the stern of the canoe, made signs to us to shove off and paddle away. he also began paddling with all his might. we followed his example without stopping to inquire the cause of his alarm. we had got to some distance, when i happened to look round. i saw that duppo was doing the same. at that moment several figures appeared on the bank near the spot we had left. they were savages, with their bodies painted and decked with feathers. bows were in their hands. they had apparently only that instant discovered us. the next a flight of arrows came whizzing after the canoe. they fell short, however, and we redoubled our efforts to urge it forward. still, deep in the water as it was, we could scarcely hope to get beyond their reach. "majeronas! majeronas!" shouted duppo, labouring away with his paddle. "on, boys, on!" cried john. "we must not allow them to come up with us. active as they are, the forest is thick, and we may be able to get along the water faster than they can make their way among the trees." disappointed at finding that we were already beyond their reach, the savages uttered piercing shrieks and cries to intimidate us. the water bubbled and hissed as we drove our little canoe through it, coming frequently over the bows. still on we went. i could not, however, help every now and then looking round, expecting to see the savages on the bank neat us. their shouts had ceased. "i am afraid our friends have been defeated," observed arthur; "and their enemies have come to attack the village." "if so, we must defend it," said john. "they may possibly stand in awe of our firearms. we must, however, try to get to the village before they reach it, to warn the inhabitants." "but there are only old men, boys, and women to defend it," said arthur. "could we not try to come to terms with their enemies?" "i am afraid the majeronas, if they have been victorious, are not likely to listen to anything we have to say," said john. "we must show them our rifles. they will understand that argument better than anything else." all this time we were paddling along as at first. before us was a narrow part of the igarape, and i fully expected every instant to see the savages appear on the bank. still, we had made considerable way, and it was possible that we had kept ahead of them. i said nothing, however, lest it might discourage my companions. we were nearing the dreaded point. i saw that duppo was keeping the canoe over to the opposite side. "would it not be better to get our guns ready to fire?" i said to john. "no, no," he answered. "keep paddling away. there is no honour nor advantage to be gained by fighting. if we reach the village, we shall meet the foe on better terms." it was anxious work. we could not tell whether the next moment might not be our last. then what would become of poor dear ellen? we knew that domingos and maria would do their best. still, how could they escape alone? "now," said john, "we must dash by that point as fast as we can! never mind if we ship a little water. we must not let the savages kill us if we can help it." the point was reached. i expected to see a party of the majeronas start up from among the bushes. on we went. i held my breath as i paddled away. the point was passed. no savages appeared. "hurrah!" cried arthur, who was seated in the bows. "there is the village!" in three minutes more we were on shore. duppo set off running, shouting at the top of his voice. the boys collected round him as he went, but instantly dispersed to their huts. before he was out of sight they had again collected, some with bows and arrows, others with _sumpitans_. several old men appeared also, armed with larger weapons of the same description. altogether, fully fifty men and boys were collected. we came to the conclusion that the enemy had hoped to surprise the village, and were approaching for that object when duppo had discovered them. john advised that a breastwork should be thrown up, extending from the igarape across the path the majeronas were likely to come by. after some time, our friends seemed to comprehend what we wanted. some timbers for building a new hut were fortunately at hand. we drove several into the soft earth to form a palisade. the natives, on seeing us do this, understood what we wanted, and immediately the whole community were busy at work, bringing up posts, and placing them as we directed. they even pulled down three or four huts which stood near, the materials of which were suited to our purpose. the women worked away as well as the men; and thus, with so many willing hands, in a short time we had a fortification erected, which, though not very strong, was sufficiently so to resist the attack of a party of naked savages. we encouraged them by explaining that our guns might do good service in their defence. by degrees we had formed a complete half-circle, the ends resting on the igarape. as there still appeared to be time, we thought it better to fortify the water side also. the people seemed clearly to understand our object. the evening was now drawing on. i was afraid that ellen might become anxious at our non-appearance. i saw that something was on arthur's mind. he came up to me. "harry," he said, "i do not wish to alarm you unnecessarily, but it has just occurred to me that the savages may have made a circuit, and found their way to our camp. would it not be wise to go there in the canoe; you and duppo, for instance, and leave john and i to assist these people?" "oh no! i cannot desert john," i answered. "but what a dreadful thought! no; you must go, arthur, and take them off in the canoe; or, as the canoe cannot carry you all, load the raft, and tow it out into the river. the risk is great, but anything will be better than falling into the hands of the savages." "i will do as you wish," said arthur; "but i do not like running away from the post of the chief danger." "why, arthur, you see you could do but little with your bow," i answered; "john and i will stay with our guns. but i do not suppose the savages have gone round that way; for recollect there is the lagoon to pass, which must compel them to make a wide circuit; and i do not see how they can know anything about our camp. still, i wish you could go to ellen, and tell her what a strong fortification we have thrown up, and that there is really no cause to be alarmed." i must confess, however, that all the time i was speaking i felt fearfully anxious. at that moment, two or three bigger boys, who had gone out as scouts into the forest, came running back, and shouting out to the people. the next instant, men, women, and children rushed into the enclosure loaded with household goods and provisions; and the men set to work to block up a narrow space, which had hitherto been left open. a few minutes only had elapsed after this was done, when, as we looked through the palisades, we caught sight of several human figures stealthily creeping among the trees. our friends crouched down to the ground. we also carefully kept out of sight. the strangers approached nearer and nearer. now they stopped, looking suspiciously at the fort. they evidently could not understand what it was. several others, emerging from the depths of the forest, joined them. they seemed to be holding a consultation. their numbers kept increasing, till they formed a formidable band. they were sufficiently near for us to distinguish their appearance, and we were thus sure that they were the same people who had shot their arrows at us from the bank of the igarape. that they came with hostile intent was very evident. after they had talked for some time, one of their number crept forward, close to the ground, keeping as much under shelter as possible; yet i could easily have picked him off had it been necessary. having approached quite near, he again stopped, and seemed to be surveying the fortress. presently we saw him making his way back to his companions. it was well for him that he had not come nearer, or he would have received in his body a poisoned arrow from a bow or blow-pipe. several of our indians were preparing to shoot. again a long consultation was held. and now once more the savage warriors began to move towards us. i waited for john to give the order to fire. i saw the boys dropping arrows into their blow-pipes, and the old men getting ready their bows. even arthur, though hating the thought of injuring a fellow-creature, was fixing an arrow to his bow. the enemy advanced slowly, extending their line on both sides. in a little time they were near enough for their arrows to reach us. never having seen a shot fired in anger, i felt a repugnance at the thought of killing a fellow-creature. i daresay my companions felt as i did. i knew that arthur had often expressed his horror at having to go into battle, not on account of the risk he might run of being killed, but at the thought of killing others. still, i had persuaded him that, if people are attacked, they must use the right of defending themselves. again they came on; and then suddenly once more stopped, and, drawing their bows, shot a flight of arrows. most of them stuck in the palisades, but fortunately none came through. we kept perfectly silent, hiding ourselves, as before, from the enemy. i was still in hopes they might take the alarm and go away without attacking us. now, led by a chief, in a head-dress of feathers, with a long spear in his hand, uttering loud shouts and shrieks, like the war-whoops of north american indians, they dashed on. as they got within twenty yards of us, our native garrison sprang up, and shot forth a shower of arrows from their bows and blow-pipes. the enemy were thrown somewhat into confusion by so unexpected a greeting, and sprang back several paces. two or three of their people had been struck, as we saw them drawing the arrows from their breasts with looks of alarm, knowing well that though the wounds were slight they were nevertheless likely to prove fatal. "if they come on again we must fire," said john. "it may be true mercy in the end." we waited, expecting to see them once more rush on; but they evidently had not calculated on opposition, and seemed very unwilling to court danger. they retreated further and further off. still we could see the chief going among them, apparently trying to induce them to renew the attack. the muzzles of our rifles were projecting through the palisades. "i am covering the chief," said john. "i think it would be better to pick him off; and yet i am unwilling to take the life of the ignorant savage." while john was speaking, the chief disappeared behind a tree; and the next instant his companions were hid from sight. we began to hope that, after all, they would retreat without attempting to attack our fortress. we waited for some time, when i proposed that we should send out our young scouts to try and ascertain what had become of them. just as we were trying to explain our wishes, some of our people gave vent to loud cries, and we saw smoke rising from the furthest-off huts of the village. it grew thicker and thicker. then we saw flames bursting forth and extending from hut to hut. it was too evident that the savages had gone round, and, to revenge themselves, had, after plundering the huts, set them on fire. had we had a few active warrior with us, they might have rushed out and attacked the enemy while thus employed; but as our fighting men were either too old or too young, no attempt of the sort could be made. the poor natives, therefore, had to wait patiently in the fort, whilst their homes and property were being destroyed. while most of the party were looking towards the village, i happened to cast my eyes in the other direction, from whence the enemy had come. there i saw a large body of men making their way among the trees. my heart sank within me. i was afraid that our enemies were about to be reinforced. and now, with their numbers increased, they would probably again attack us. "it cannot be helped," i said to john. "we must allow no feelings of compunction to prevent us from firing on them. had we shot the chief, his followers would probably not have attempted to commit this barbarous act." at length i called duppo, and pointed out the fresh band now approaching. instead of being alarmed, as i had expected, his countenance brightened, and he instantly turned round and shouted out some words in a cheerful tone. the whole of the villagers on this sprang up, and a look of satisfaction, such as indians seldom exhibit, coming over their countenances, they began to shout in cheerful tones. then several of them rushed to the entrance last closed, and pulling down the stakes, hurried out towards the new-comers. as they drew nearer, i recognised one of the chiefs whom we had met--maono, duppo's father. a few words only were exchanged between the garrison and the warriors, and then the latter rushed on towards the village. in a few minutes loud cries and shouts arose, and we saw our late assailants scampering through the woods, pursued by our friends. the former did not attempt to stop and defend themselves. several, shot by arrows or pierced by lances, lay on the ground. the remainder were soon lost to sight among the trees, pursued by the warriors who had just returned, and who seemed eager to wreak their revenge on the destroyers of their village. no attempt was made to put out the flames; indeed, so rapidly did they extend among the combustible materials of which they were constructed, that the whole of the huts standing within reach of each other were quickly burned to the ground. we now ventured to accompany oria and her mother out of the fort. they were met by maono, who received them in calm indian fashion, without giving way to any exhibition of feeling. he, indeed, seemed to have some sad intelligence to communicate. whatever it was, they soon recovered, and now seemed to be telling him how much they owed their preservation to us--at least we supposed so by the way he took our hands and pressed them to his breast. after some time the rest of the warriors returned, and, as far as we could judge, they must have destroyed the greater number of their enemies. maono showed more feeling when he spoke to his son, who gave him an account of what had occurred. as we hoped to learn more from our young friend than from any one else, we set to work, as soon as we could detach him from his companions, to make him give us an account of the expedition. as far as we could understand, maono and his brother with their followers had been unable for some time to fall in with the enemy. at length they met them in the neighbourhood of their own village, when a fierce battle had been fought according to indian fashion. several men had been killed on both sides, and among others who fell, pierced by a poisoned arrow, was duppo's uncle, whose musket also had been captured. several others had been taken prisoners, and, the lad added with a shudder, had been carried off to be eaten. in the meantime, it turned out, another party of the majeronas, hoping to find our friend's village unprotected, had made their way through the forest to surprise it. it was very satisfactory to us, at all events, to find that we had been the means of protecting the families of these friendly indians. they took the burning of their village very calmly, and at once set to work to put up shelter for the night; fires were lighted, and the women began to cook the provisions they had saved. maono invited us to partake of the meal which his wife and daughter had got ready. we would rather have set off at once to the camp, but night was now coming on, and when we proposed going, duppo seemed very unwilling that we should do so. we understood him to say that we might encounter jaguars or huge snakes, and we should be unable to see our way through the dark avenue of trees. as ellen did not expect us to return, we agreed at length to follow his advice. i observed that our friends sent out scouts--apparently to watch lest any of the enemy should venture to return--a precaution i was very glad to see taken. as far as we could understand, the expedition had been far from successful, as none of the canoes had been recovered, and our friends did not even boast that they had gained a victory. from the terrible character duppo gave of the enemy, they perhaps had good reason to be thankful that they had escaped without greater loss. chapter eleven. dangers by land and water--a new friend found. our indian friends, although their people are generally so undemonstrative, endeavoured by every means in their power to show their gratitude to us for the service we had rendered them. when we offered to pay for the canoe, which we were anxious to retain, maono entreated us to accept it, intimating that he would settle with the owner. we were very glad to obtain the little craft; for, though too small for our voyage down the amazon, it would enable us to carry out our project of searching the neighbouring shores for our parents. though we had not preserved their village from destruction, we had certainly saved the lives of their women and children, and did not therefore hesitate about accepting the canoe as a gift. the chiefs sat up the greater part of the night, holding a council. next morning it was evident that they had arrived at some important determination. the inhabitants were busy collecting their scattered goods, and doing them up in portable packages. when we explained to them that we were anxious to set off immediately for our own camp, they intimated that they purposed accompanying us. as this, however, would have delayed us greatly, we got duppo to explain that we would gladly meet them again at any spot they might appoint, but that we would go down by the igarape in the canoe. a hurried meal having been taken, we prepared to embark. meantime the men were employed in loading the women and children with their goods. we thought that they were reserving some of the heavier loads for themselves; but this, we soon found, was not the case, as they were placed on the backs of the stronger women. even our hostess--the chief's wife--had to shoulder a load; and we felt very indignant when we saw that oria had to carry one also. "i say, harry, don't you think we ought to save her from that?" exclaimed arthur. "i am sure i would gladly carry it for her." "you would somewhat astonish her if you made the offer," observed john; "and i suspect you would fall in the estimation of our warrior friends. their creed is different from ours. they consider it derogatory to manhood to carry a load or to do more work than they can help. however, as ellen would perhaps like to have oria with her, we might induce her parents to let her accompany duppo. we cannot do without him, at all events." we tried to explain our proposal to duppo, and after some time he comprehended us. oria, however, seemed very unwilling to accept the offer, as she clung to her mother, and turned away her head from us. duppo at length came back, and we all got into the canoe. our friends insisted on our taking as many articles of food as we could possibly carry--dried fish and meat, bananas and farinha, as well as fruit and vegetables. true as usual took his seat in the bows. we were just shoving off, when maono and his wife came down to us leading oria. the chief addressed us and his son, but what he said we could not of course understand. however we agreed that it was all right, and duppo seemed highly pleased when his sister stepped into the canoe and took her seat in front of him. bidding our friends adieu, we now began carefully to paddle down the igarape. we were some time in sight of the village, the whole inhabitants of which we saw moving off, the men stalking first, with their bows and spears in their hands and their blow-pipes at their backs, and the women following, bending under the weight of the loads they carried. even the children, except the smallest, who sat on their mother's backs or were led by the hand, carried packages. "i am very glad we have saved the poor girl a heavy trudge through the forest," observed arthur; "but i cannot say much for the chivalry of these people. i was inclined to think favourably of the warriors when i saw them going forth so bravely to battle, but the example they have given us of the way they treat their women lowers them sadly in my estimation." "very true, arthur," remarked john. "it is a sure sign that a people have fallen into a degraded and uncivilised condition when women do not hold an honourable position among them. but there are some savages who treat their females even worse than these do. from what i have seen, they appear in many respects kind and gentle to them. the australian savage--who is, however, the lowest in the scale of civilisation--when he wants a wife, watches till he finds a damsel to his taste, and then knocks her down with his club, a sign to her that she is henceforth to be a submissive and dutiful wife. i am sure our friends here would not be guilty of such an act." "no; i hope not indeed," exclaimed arthur. "dreadful to think that oria should have to submit to such treatment." we had, as may be supposed, to paddle carefully to prevent running against a bough or sunken trunk, as the least touch might have upset our frail craft. though we might easily have scrambled out, yet we should have run the risk of losing our guns and wetting our ammunition; besides which, an alligator might have been lurking near, and seized one of us in its jaws before we could escape to land. these considerations made us very careful in our navigation. after some time, we began to feel sadly cramped from being unable to move. oria sat quiet and silent, close to her brother, somewhat surprised, i dare say, at finding herself carried away by the three white strangers. john told us to keep our tongues steady in the middle of our mouths, lest we should make the canoe heel over; and, indeed, if we leant ever so slightly on one side the water began to ripple over the gunwale. duppo steered very carefully; and i, having the bow paddle, kept a very bright look-out ahead for any danger which might appear under water. i could not help thinking of the big cow-fish we had seen, and dreading lest one of them coming up the igarape might give the canoe an unintentional shove with his snout, which would most inevitably have upset her. thus we went on. the lagoon was passed, and again we entered the channel with the thick trees arching overhead. how cool and pleasant was the shade after the heat of the sun to which we had been exposed in the more open parts! as we approached the camp our anxiety to ascertain that all was well increased. the nearer we got the more i longed to see the smiling face of our dear little sister, and i thought of the pleasure she would have when we introduced oria to her. at length we could see in the far distance the landing-place near the camp. in our eagerness we forgot our caution, and very nearly sent the canoe under water. "be more careful, boys," cried john, though he was paddling as hard as either of us. as we drew near i looked out for the raft at the spot we had left her moored, but could not see her. an uncomfortable misgiving came over me, yet i could not bear to think that any accident had happened. i said nothing, and on we went. "why, where is the raft?" exclaimed john. "oh, perhaps domingos has drawn her up on the bank," observed arthur. "that is more than he would have strength to do," said john. "besides, i can see the bank, and the raft is not there." as we drew near we raised a shout to attract domingos, true joining us with one of his cheerful barks. no one answered. "domingos has probably gone out shooting," observed arthur. "we shall see your sister and maria running down directly." we looked eagerly towards the camp, but neither ellen nor maria appeared. we at length clambered out of the canoe up the bank, leaving duppo to help out his sister, and on we ran, breathless with anxiety, to ascertain what had happened. the huts stood as we had left them, but the occupants were not there. we looked about. the goods had been carried off. had the indians been there--or had ellen and her attendants fled? these were the fearful questions we asked ourselves. if the indians had come, where had they carried our sister, and what had they done with her? we searched around in every direction. no signs of violence were to be discovered. yet, unless the indians had come, why should they have fled. the savage majeronas would certainly have burned down the huts. true was running about as surprised as we were to find no one there. now he ran into ellen's hut, then searched about in the surrounding wood, and came back to us, as if he could not make up his mind what had happened. duppo and oria now arrived, having waited at the bank to secure the canoe. we tried to make duppo understand that we wanted to know his opinion. though very intelligent for an indian, we could seldom judge his thoughts by the expression of his countenance. at last he comprehended us, but made no reply. after waiting an instant, he went into ellen's hut, and then, as true had done, examined the surrounding thickets. at last he came back and had a talk with oria. they seemed to have arrived at some conclusion. we watched them anxiously. then we asked duppo if the majeronas had been there. he shook his head, and then, taking my hand, led me back to the water, narrowly examining the ground as he went. on reaching the igarape he pointed down towards the great river. i understood him. "john! arthur!" i shouted out, "they have gone that way on the raft. i am sure of it from duppo's signs. perhaps they have not got to any great distance, and we may overtake them." "stay," said john; "perhaps they are hiding somewhere near. we will shout out, and they may hear us." "there is no use in doing that," i remarked. "had the raft still been here i might have thought so, but it is evident that they have gone away on it. it would easily carry them and all our goods, and for some reason or other domingos has persuaded them to escape on it, hoping that we should follow." "would not ellen have left a note for us, or some sign, to show us where they have gone to," observed john in a desponding tone. "that she has not done so puzzles me more than anything else." to satisfy john, we all shouted at the top of our voices again and again; but no reply came. we were going to get into the canoe, when duppo showed us that we might prepare it with a little contrivance for encountering the rougher water of the river. some sipos were near. these he cut down, and with oria's assistance bound into two long bundles, which he neatly secured to the gunwale of the canoe, completely round her. by this means the sides were raised four or five inches, and would thus, i saw, greatly assist to keep out the water, and at the same time would enable her to float, even should she be partly filled. duppo now beckoned to us to get into her. we took our seats as before, and once more we paddled down the igarape. duppo's contrivance completely kept out the water, which would otherwise have broken on board; and we had no longer any fear of driving the canoe as fast as we could through it. we soon reached the open river. "which way shall we turn--up or down the stream?" i asked. "down, certainly," said john; "the raft could not have gone up it." we accordingly made signs to duppo to turn the canoe's head towards the east. before us appeared the island on which we so narrowly escaped being wrecked during the hurricane. we steered down near the mainland, examining narrowly the shores on either side. no raft could we see, nor any one on the land. the water was smooth in the channel through which we were passing, but when we got to the end of it, we found the surface rippled over with waves, which, although small, threatened to be dangerous to our deeply-laden little craft. i proposed that we should, notwithstanding, endeavour to paddle up along the other side of the island, in case ellen and her companions might have landed on it. we made signs to duppo to steer in that direction; but he, instead of doing so, pointed to a spot some way down the river, signifying to as that he wished to land there. we concluded that it was the place where his father had appointed to meet him. "perhaps he sees the raft; it may have drifted there," exclaimed arthur. "at all events, i am sure it will be better to do as he proposes." we accordingly paddled on under duppo's pilotage. now that we were exposed to the breeze blowing across the river, our heavily-laden canoe could with difficulty contend with the waves, which, in spite of the raised gunwale, every now and then broke into her. had it not been for the young indian's thoughtful contrivance, we should inevitably have been swamped. after going on for some distance, we reached the mouth of another igarape. just outside it, facing the river, was a small open space, free of trees, with a fringe of rushes growing between it and the water. with some little difficulty we forced the canoe through the rushes, and we then, by scrambling up the bank, reached the spot i have described. duppo made signs to us that it was here he wished to remain for the arrival of his father. "we may as well do as he proposes then," said john, "and we will set off and look for the raft. if we do not find it--which heaven forbid!--we will return and obtain the assistance of the indians in making a more extended search." the spot was a very beautiful one, open entirely to the river in front, while the trees behind, not growing so closely together as usual, allowed the air to circulate--a very important consideration in that hot climate. "it is just the place i should have chosen for an encampment while we are searching for our father," said john. arthur and i agreed with him; but as we were eager to be off again, we had no time to talk about the matter. landing the greater part of the provisions, we explained our intentions to our young friends. they understood us, but seemed unwilling to be left behind. john also proposed that arthur should remain on shore. "i will do as you wish," he answered; "but i do not like to be separated from you." while we were speaking, standing on the bank, looking out over the river, he exclaimed, "see, see! what is that speck out there towards the other side?" we eagerly looked in the direction he pointed. "i am afraid it is only the trunk of a tree, or a mass of grass floating down," said john. "oh no, no! i am nearly sure there are people on it!" cried arthur, whose eyes, as we had found, were keener than ours. "at all events, we will go towards it," cried john. we hurried down and slipped into the canoe. "yes; i know that you may go faster without me," said arthur. "you know what i should like to do; but if it is better, i will remain on shore." we thanked him for his self-denial, and i was about to propose leaving true with him, when the dog settled the point by jumping in. john and i shoved off, and paddled on with all our might. now that we had fewer people on board, we made much better way than before, and floated buoyantly over the mimic seas which met us. we had marked the direction of the object we had seen. from the water it was at first scarcely visible. as we went on we again caught sight of it. how anxiously we watched it! one moment i thought it must be the raft, the next i was afraid it was but the trunk of a tree, or a flat island of grass. how i longed for a spy-glass to settle the point, but unfortunately we possessed none. for some minutes neither john nor i spoke. "harry!" he exclaimed, at length, "i see some one waving. yes, yes; i am sure it is the raft!" i strained my eyes to the utmost. i too thought i saw people on the object ahead of us. if people they were, they were sitting down though. "probably domingos is afraid of standing up," said john. then i remarked this to him. "i am glad the wind is across the river instead of up it, or it would be fearfully dangerous for them." "then you do think it is the raft?" i asked. "i am sure of it," answered john. we redoubled our efforts. every instant the object grew clearer and clearer. we could scarcely be deceived. "heaven be praised!" exclaimed john; "i see ellen and maria, one on each side, and domingos working away with his paddle at one end. they are trying to come towards us." i saw them too, and could even make out nimble, and toby, and poll, and niger. my heart leaped with joy. in a few minutes more we were up to the raft. "we will not stop to ask questions," exclaimed john, as we got alongside. "here, maria; hand me your painter, and we will secure it to ours, and tow you back to the north bank. you must tell us what has happened as we go along." "oh, but arthur! why is arthur not with you? has anything happened to him?" exclaimed ellen. "no; he is all right," answered john, pointing to the shore. while he was speaking, we transferred our painter to the stern of the canoe, and secured it as a tow-rope to the raft. we put the canoe's head the way we wished to go, and paddled on. the wind was in our favour; and domingos, with ellen and maria, worked away with their paddles also on the raft. we were exerting ourselves too much to speak. our dear sister was safe; but yet it was somewhat difficult to restrain our curiosity to know what had occurred. the wind was increasing every moment; and as we neared the shore we saw that there might be some danger of the water washing over the raft should we attempt to land under the bank. i proposed, therefore, that we should steer for the igarape. it was no easy matter, however, to get there, as the current was carrying us down. domingos tried to urge the raft in the direction we wished to go. the wind continued to increase, and the current swept us further and further to the east. the seas rising, tossed the raft, now on the one side, now on the other; and every moment i dreaded that those on it might be thrown off or washed away. we entreated them to hold on tightly. even the canoe, though before the wind, was tossed considerably. we could now distinguish our friends on shore watching us anxiously as we approached. already we had drifted down below them. they were trying to make their way through the forest to follow us. "we must drift down till we can see some place where we can get on shore with a prospect of safety," observed john. i agreed with him that it was our only alternative; yet i knew that sometimes for miles together along the banks such a place might not be found. we turned the head of the canoe, however, down the stream, anxiously looking out for a fit spot to land. i dreaded, as i cast a look over my shoulder at the sky, that such a hurricane as we had before encountered was brewing; and if so, our prospect of being saved was small indeed. i saw that domingos also was casting a glance back at the sky. we could see the tall trees on shore bending before the blast. every moment our position became more and more perilous. if landing in the daylight was difficult, it would be still more so to get on shore in the dark. down the mighty river we floated. the last rays of the sun came horizontally over the waters, tinging the mimic waves with a bright orange hue. then gradually they assumed a dull, leaden tint, and the topmost boughs of the more lofty trees alone caught the departing light. still no harbour of refuge appeared. i proposed running in, as the last desperate resource, and scrambling on shore while we could still see sufficiently to find our way. "we shall lose our goods, and the canoe, and the raft, if we make the attempt," answered john, "and perhaps our lives. we must still try to find a safe place to land at." we were yet at some distance from the shore, though, driven by the fierce wind, we were rapidly approaching it. the storm increased. dark clouds were gathering overhead. a bright flash of lightning darted from them, crackling and hissing as it went along the water: another, and another followed. suddenly, as if a thick mantle had been thrown over us, it became dark, and we could scarcely have distinguished an opening in the forest had one been before us. john was more unwilling than ever to risk landing; and we therefore steered down the river, parallel with the shore, so as to prevent the raft as long as possible from being driven against it. "paddle on, harry!" cried john, with his usual coolness; "we may yet find a harbour of refuge." we could judge pretty well, by the varying outline of the leafy wall close to us, that we were making rapid way. the wind, too, had shifted more to the west, and drove us therefore still before it. arthur and our indian friends would, i knew, be in despair at not seeing us land; while it was certain that they could not keep pace with the raft, as they had to make their way through the tangled forest. now that darkness had come on, they would probably be compelled to stop altogether. the wind blew harder. the raft was tossed fearfully about. another rattling peal of thunder and more vivid flashes of lightning burst from the clouds. maria shrieked out with terror; while the two monkeys clung to her, their teeth chattering--as alarmed as she was, ellen afterwards told me. then again all was silent. "i am afraid, harry, we must make the attempt," said john at last. "but the risk is a fearful one. we must tell ellen, domingos, and maria to be prepared.--be ready, dear ellen!" cried john. "hold on tightly; and when i call to you, spring towards me. we must manage by some means to get on shore. domingos will help maria. harry will try to secure the guns and ammunition; our existence may depend upon them. the animals must take care of themselves.--domingos, are you ready?" he asked, in spanish. "si, si, senor john. but look there, master; what is that light on shore? it must come from some hut surely, where we may obtain shelter. let us try to reach the place. even if there are savages there, they will not refuse to help us." as he spoke, we observed a bright light bursting forth from among the trees, at a short distance off along the bank. now it disappeared--now it came again in sight. we paddled down towards it. it was apparently a torch held in a person's hand. we rapidly approached the light, but yet failed to discover any place where we could land with safety. we shouted loudly, hoping to attract the attention of any one who might be near. presently a hail came off the land. we answered it. again a voice was heard. "can you tell us where we can land with safety?" cried john, in spanish. the answer was unintelligible. presently he asked again in english; and in a little time we saw the light moving along the bank. then it remained stationary. we exerted ourselves to the utmost to steer for it; and we now saw a division in the wall of trees, which indicated that there was a passage between them. again the thunder reared, the lightning flashed, and the wind blew with fearful force. maria shrieked loudly, "the water is washing over the raft!" "hold on! hold on!" cried john; "we shall soon be in safety." and in another minute we were entering the mouth of a narrow channel. "we will turn the canoe round," said john, "and let the raft go first. we may thus prevent it being dashed on the bank." we did as he advised. scarcely, however, had we turned the raft round when we found it had reached the shore. "do you, domingos, help the senora and maria to land!" shouted john. by the light from the torch we saw a tall figure standing on the bank. he flung the light so that it might fall across us. "females!" he exclaimed. "a sorry night to be buffeting with the waves of the amazon! give me your hands, whoever you are. i should little have expected to find my countrymen in such a plight in this remote region." while he was speaking he helped ellen and maria up the bank, the two monkeys following, while poll and niger clung fast to maria's shoulders. faithful true did not attempt to leap on shore, though he could easily have done so, but remained with me in the canoe. domingos, meantime, was hastily throwing our goods on shore; while we continued exerting ourselves in preventing the raft being lifted by the force of the water and upset on the bank. "all the things are safely landed," cried domingos at length. we then, casting off the tow-rope, paddled round, and ran the bow of the canoe on shore. not till then did true leap out of her. domingos and the stranger coming down, helped us to drag her out of the water. "we may save the raft also," said the latter. "you may require it to continue your voyage; as i conclude you do not intend to locate yourselves here, and compel me to seek another home in the wilderness." i was struck by the morose tone in which the stranger spoke. he, however, assisted us in dragging up the raft sufficiently high to prevent its being knocked about by the waves, which ran even into the comparatively smooth part of the channel in which we found ourselves. "we heartily thank you for your assistance," said john. "we owe the preservation of our lives to you; for, with the increasing storm, we could scarcely have escaped destruction had we been driven further down the river." "you owe me no thanks, young sir. i would have done the same for a party of benighted savages, as you call them," answered the stranger. "your dumb companions are equally welcome. i am not ill pleased to see them. it speaks in your favour that they follow you willingly, instead of being dragged about with ropes and chains, or confined in cages, as civilised men treat the creatures they pretend to tame. i have, however, but poor shelter to offer you from the deluge which will soon be down on our heads. follow me; there is no time to be lost." "but we must not allow our goods to remain out," said john. "i will assist you, then, to carry them," answered the stranger, lifting up double the number of packages which we usually carried at a time. we then all loaded ourselves. ellen insisted on carrying a package, and followed the stranger, who went before us with his torch. we could not even then exchange words, as we had to proceed in single file along a narrow pathway, fringed on either side with thick shrubs--apparently the after-growth of a cleared spot, soon to spring up again into tall trees. we soon found ourselves within the forest, where, so dense was the gloom, that without the torch to guide us we could not have made our way. its ruddy flame glanced on the trunks of the tall trees, showing a canopy of wide-spreading boughs overhead, and the intricate tracery of the numberless sipos which hung in festoons, or dropped in long threadlike lines from them. passing for a few yards through a jungle, the boughs spreading so closely above our heads that we often had to stoop, we found ourselves in an open space, in which by the light of the torch we saw a small hut with deep eaves, the gable end turned towards us. it was raised on posts several feet from the ground. a ladder led to a platform or verandah, which projected from the wall of the gable, in which was a small door. "here you are welcome to stow your goods and rest for the night," said the stranger. "no human being but myself has ever entered it; for i seek not the society of my fellow-men, either savage or civilised, so-called. to-morrow, if the weather clears, you will, i conclude, proceed on your way; or if you insist on remaining, i must seek another home. let that be understood, before i make you further welcome. now, enter, and such accommodation as my hut affords shall be yours." there was something in the tone of the speaker which, though his dress was rough and strange, made us feel that he was a man of education. "we cordially thank you, sir," answered john, "and accept your hospitality on the terms you propose; but as a portion of our goods still remain near the river, we would ask you to give us another torch to enable us to fetch them before the rain comes done." "i will myself accompany you," he answered, "when i have introduced the young people to my abode." saying this, he stepped up the ladder, and assisted ellen and maria to reach the platform. he then led the way in, and lighted a lamp which stood--we could see through the open door--on a table near it. "i am sorry i have no better accommodation to offer you," he said, looking at ellen; "but such as it is, you are welcome to it." he came down with another torch in his hand, and proceeded with rapid strides back to the river. we had some difficulty in following him. again he took up a heavy load; and we, dividing the remainder of the goods between us, followed him towards the hut. ascending the ladder as we reached it, he desired us to hand up the goods, which he carried within. as soon as we were on the platform, he drew up the ladder. "i always secure myself thus in my fortress at night," he remarked; "and as i have taken means of preventing any snakes crawling up the posts on which it stands, i can sleep more securely than many do in the so-called civilised portion of the globe." on entering the house, we found that it was larger than we had supposed from its appearance outside. it was divided into two rooms. the outer was fitted up, in somewhat rustic style, as a sitting-room, while we concluded that the inner one was a sleeping-room. round the walls were arranged shelves, on one of which were a considerable number of books, with a variety of other articles. in one corner was a pile of nets and harpoons, and some spears and other weapons for the chase; in another stood an indian mill for grinding flour, and several jars and other articles, apparently for preparing or preserving food. against the walls stood several chests. though the table was large enough for the whole of us to sit round it, yet there was but one stool, showing that our host, as he had told us, was unaccustomed to receive guests. he, however, pulled the chests forward, and by placing some boards between them, we all found seats. "if you have not brought provisions, i will supply you while you stay with me," he observed; "but my own consumption is so small that i have but a limited amount to offer you." "we would not willingly deprive you of that, sir," said john; "and we have enough to last us till we can supply ourselves with more." "that is fortunate," remarked the recluse. "while your servant gets it ready, i will prepare my room for the young lady and her attendant. i have no cooking-place under shelter, and while the rain is pouring down, as it will begin to do presently, a fire cannot be lighted outside. you must therefore be content with a cold repast." while the recluse--so i may call him--was absent, we for the first time had an opportunity of asking ellen what had occurred to drive her and her attendants away from the camp. "i was indeed unwilling to do so," she said, "till urged by domingos. he had gone to shoot at a short distance from the hut, when he came hurrying back with a look of alarm, and told me that he had caught sight of some savages making their way through the forest. he insisted that they were trying to find us out, and that our only hope of safety was by instant flight. i pleaded that you would come back, and finding us gone, would fancy we had been carried off or killed. he argued that on your return, finding the raft gone, you would know we had embarked on it. at length he agreed, that if we would assist to carry the goods down to the raft he would again search round the camp, and should the natives appear to be going in a different direction, we might carry them back again. he had not gone long, when he returned with dismay on his countenance, asserting that they were coming towards us, and that if we did not escape we should certainly be killed. you may suppose, my dear brothers, how fearfully agitated i was. i knew how alarmed you would be on returning not to find us, and yet, if we should remain it might be still worse. domingos and maria settled the matter by seizing me by the arms, and dragging me to the raft before i had time to write a note or leave any signal. i scarcely thought, indeed, of doing so, till domingos had pushed the raft off from the bank. i entreated him to go back; but he replied that it was impossible without the risk of being caught by the savages, and began paddling the raft down the channel. i looked back, and seeing no natives, again urged him to return. he replied that he was sure they would lie in ambush to catch us, and that it would be destruction to do so. feeling that he wished to secure my safety, i could not complain. he did his best, too, to comfort me about you. he said that as you were probably with the friendly natives, you would be defended from the majeronas; and that by the time you had come back, those he had seen would have gone away, and you would certainly guess that we were not far off. i did my utmost to arouse myself and to assist maria and him in paddling the raft. the wind was light, the water smooth, and there appeared to be no danger in venturing out into the river. a light wind was in our favour, and he accordingly steered towards the opposite bank, saying that we should be safer there than anywhere else, and might more easily get back than by going down the stream. i looked frequently towards the shore we had left, but still saw no natives. poor domingos was evidently anxious about you, though he did his best not to alarm me more than he had done already. we found, after getting some way across, that the current was floating us down much faster than we had expected, and i begged domingos therefore to return. he insisted that, having got thus far, it was better to continue our course towards the southern bank, and wait there for a favourable wind for getting back. i was thankful when at length we reached a sandy beach, where we could land without difficulty and secure our raft. domingos fortunately shot a paca, so we had plenty of food; and maria and i assisted him in putting up a hut. had i not been so anxious about you, i should have had no cause to complain. they both exerted themselves to the utmost; and i do not think domingos closed his eyes all night, for whenever i awoke i saw him, through an opening in our hut, walking about or making up the fire. we spent the morning on the bank, watching in the hope of seeing you come to look for us. as soon as the wind changed, i entreated domingos to put off, and at last, though somewhat unwillingly, he consented to do so; but he blamed himself very much for yielding to my wishes, when the wind began to blow so violently. had you, indeed, not arrived to assist us, i suspect that our raft would have been in great danger of being overwhelmed." "we have reason to be thankful, dear ellen, that you were preserved," said john. "i am very sure domingos acted for the best. i wish for your sake that our expedition had come to a favourable end, although the rest of us may enjoy it." "oh, if it were not for anxiety about papa and mamma, and dear fanny, and aunt martha, i should like it too," said ellen. "when we once find them, i am sure that i shall enjoy our voyage down the river as much as any of you." "you are a brave girl," said the stranger, who at that moment returned, "though, perhaps, you scarcely know the dangers you may have to encounter. yet, after all, they are of a nature more easily overcome than many which your sisters in the civilised regions of the world are called to go through. here you have only the elements and a few wild beasts to contend with; there, they have falsehood, treachery, evil example, allurements of all sorts, and other devices of satan, to drag them to destruction." while we were seated at supper, the rain came down in tremendous torrents, as the recluse had predicted. the strength of his roof was proved, as not a drop found its way through. "i am protected here," he remarked, "from the heat of the summer months by the leafy bower overhead; while, raised on these poles, my habitation is above the floods in the rainy season. what can man want more? much in the same way the natives on the orinoco form their dwellings among the palm-trees; but they trust more to nature, and, instead of piles, form floating rafts, sufficiently secured to the palm-trees to keep them stationary, but rising and falling as the floods increase or diminish." i was struck with many of the remarks of our eccentric host, but the more i saw of him the more i was surprised that a man of his information should have thus secluded himself from the world. we had just time to give ellen an account of our adventures, when he expressed his wish that we should hang up our hammocks, as it was past his usual hour for retiring to rest. this was an operation quickly performed, as we had only to secure them in the usual way to the posts which supported the roof. "we should not part," said ellen, somewhat timidly, "without our usual prayer; and we have cause to thank god for our preservation from danger." the recluse looked at her fixedly. "you are in earnest, i am sure," he muttered. "pray, young people, do not depart from your usual custom; i will wait for you." arthur, i should have said, though the youngest, always led us in prayer. "as he is absent," i remarked to ellen's request, "i will do so." "oh, you have a young chaplain with you," said the recluse; "and what pay does he receive?" "none at all, sir," answered ellen. "he is only earnest and good." "i should like to meet him," said the recluse. "i hope you may, sir," said ellen, "if you come with us." a short prayer was offered up. i spoke with the earnestness i felt. ellen then read a portion of scripture from the bible she had always at hand in her trunk. our host listened attentively, his eyes fixed on our young sister. i had not observed a copy of the blessed book on his shelves. he made no remark, however, on the subject, but i thought his tone was less morose than before. we were soon in our hammocks, a small oil lamp, which was kept burning on the table, throwing a subdued light through the chamber. true, i should have said, from our first meeting with the stranger, had eyed him askance, having apparently some doubts as to his character. he now came and coiled himself up in his usual position under my hammock. he had kept as far off from him as he could during the evening, and did not seem satisfied till the tall figure of the recluse was stretched out in his hammock near the entrance of the hut. the rain pattering overhead, and splashing down on the soft ground round us, kept me for some time awake. it ceased at length, and soon afterwards, just as i was dropping off to sleep, a chorus of hideous sounds commenced, coming apparently from no great distance in the forest. now they resembled the cries and groans of a number of people in distress. now it seemed as if a whole troop of jaguars were growling and snarling over their prey. now it seemed as if a company of brobdignag cats were singing a serenade. now the sounds for a moment ceased, but were instantly taken up again by other creatures at a distance. after a time, the same sounds recommenced in another quarter. had i not already been well accustomed to similar noises, i might have fancied that we had got into some forest haunted by evil spirits bewailing their lost condition. i was sufficiently awake, however, to guess that they proceeded only from troops of howling monkeys, though we had never yet heard them so near, or in such numbers. in spite of the hideous concert, i at last fell asleep. the voice of our host aroused us at daybreak. "as soon as you have broken your fast, i will accompany you to find your companions," he said, "unless you desire to proceed by water. in that case, you will scarcely meet them; but i would advise you to leave your canoe and raft here, as i can conduct you through the forest by the only open paths which exist, and by which alone they can make their way in this direction. i am afraid, unless they had their wits about them, they must have been exposed to the tempest last night, and may be but ill able to travel far this morning." john at once decided to go by land, as the canoe was not large enough to convey all our party. the recluse looked at ellen. "she will scarcely be able to undergo the fatigue of so long a walk," he remarked. "if she wishes it, she and her attendant can remain here, while we go to meet your companions; and you can then return and remove your property, or leave it till you can find the means of continuing your voyage. i did not purpose to allow my solitude to be thus broken in on; but,"--and he looked again at ellen--"she reminds me of days gone by, and i cannot permit her to be exposed to more trials than are necessary." john thanked him for his proposal, though ellen seemed unwilling to remain behind. we also did not like to leave her. at last john suggested that domingos should remain also. the recluse pressed the point with more warmth than i should have expected, and at last ellen agreed to do as was proposed. she was certainly better off in a well-built hut than she had been for some time, and strange and eccentric as the recluse appeared, still we felt that he was disposed to assist us to the best of his power. our early breakfast over, john and i, shouldering our rifles, followed by true, set off with the recluse. ellen looked rather sad as we were going. "you will find poor arthur? i know you will," she said in a low voice to me. "i thought of him a great deal last night, out in the fierce tempest, with only two young indians to assist him; and he is not so strong as you are, and has no gun to defend himself. i could not help thinking of fierce jaguars roaming in search of prey, or those dreadful boas, or the anacondas we have heard of." "oh, drive all such thoughts from your mind, ellen," i answered. "arthur, if not so strong, has plenty of sense and courage; and, depend upon it, the indians will have found some hollow tree, or will have built a hut for themselves, in which they would have taken shelter during the night. i should not have minded changing places with arthur. it is all right. we will bring him back safe enough." with these words i hurried after john and the recluse. we had not gone far, when i saw them looking up into a tree. true darted forward and began to bark, when, in return, a chorus of terrific barks, howls, and screeches proceeded from the higher branches, and there i saw seated a group of several large monkeys with long tails and most hideous faces. every instant they threw up their heads, and the fearful sounds i had heard issued forth from them. i could scarcely suppose that animals of such a size could make so much noise. "you have there some of my friends who serenaded you last night," observed the recluse, when, after a few minutes, the monkeys ceased howling. "these are the _mycetes_, or ursine howlers. the creature is called in this country _araguato_, and sometimes by naturalists the _alouatte_. it is known also as `the preacher.' if he could discourse of sin and folly, and point out to benighted man the evil of his ways, he might howl to some purpose but his preaching is lost on the denizens of the forest, who know nothing of sin, and are free from the follies of the world. observe that with how little apparent difficulty he gives forth that terrific note. it is produced by a drum-shaped expansion of the larynx. the hyoid bone, which in man is but slightly developed, is in these monkeys very large. it gives support to the tongue, being attached to the muscles of the neck. the bony drum communicates with the wind-pipe, and enables them to utter those loud sounds." had arthur been with us, i am sure we should have indulged in a hearty laugh at the curious faces of those thick-jawed creatures as they looked down upon us inquisitively to ascertain what we were about. they were considerably larger than any we had seen; indeed, the howler is the largest monkey in the new world. the fur is of a rich bay colour, and as the sun fell upon the coats of some of them above us, they shone with a golden lustre. the thick beard which hung from the chin and neck was of a deeper hue than the body. our friend told us that those he had caught were generally about three feet long, and that their tails in addition were of even greater length. we went on without disturbing the assemblage in their aerial seat, greatly to true's disappointment, who would evidently have liked to measure his strength with one of them. like the spider monkeys, they live entirely in trees, making good use of their long tails as they move about from branch to branch; indeed, the tail serves the howler for another hand. when by any chance he descends to the ground, he moves along very awkwardly, and can easily be caught, as we afterwards discovered. our new acquaintance was but little inclined to talk; indeed, had he been so, we could seldom have enjoyed much conversation, as we were compelled in most places to follow him in indian file. now and then he had to use his hatchet to clear the path, and we very frequently had to force our way by pressing aside the branches which met in front of us. still he went on without wavering for a moment, or appearing doubtful of the direction he should take. after going on some way further, he again stopped, and pointed to a tree, the branch of which rose a few feet off. i knew by the way true barked that some creature was there; and looking more narrowly, i observed some animals clinging to the lower branches, but so nearly did they resemble the bark to which they were holding, that had they not been pointed out to me i should have passed them by. the animals turned listless glances at us, and seemed in no way disposed to move. "there," observed the recluse, "are creatures in every way adapted to the mode of life which they are doomed to lead. place them in any other, and they will be miserable. you see there the _ai_, or three-toed sloth (the _bradypus torquatus_). though its arms, or fore-legs more properly, are nearly twice as long as the hinder ones, it finds them exactly suited for climbing the trees on which it lives. place it on the ground, and it cannot get along. it passes its life, not above, but under the branches. when moving along, it suspends itself beneath them; when at rest, it hangs from them; and it sleeps clutching them with its strong claws, and its back hanging downwards." one of the creatures was hanging as our friend described; the other was on its way up the tree. it stopped on seeing us approach, and turned its round short head, with deeply sunk eyes and a large nose, to look at us. the animals had long powerful claws on all their feet. the hair was very coarse and shaggy, more like grass or moss than anything else. "the sloth suckles its young like other quadrupeds," observed our friend; "and i have often seen the female, with her little one clinging to her, moving at a rate through the forest which shows that the sloth does not properly deserve its name. see now--give a shout--and then say if it is too sluggish to more." john and i shouted together, and true barked loudly. the sloths gave reproachful glances at us for disturbing them, and then began to move away at a speed which an active sailor running up the rigging of a ship could scarcely equal. in a short time, slinging themselves from branch to branch, they had disappeared in the depths of the forest. "let them go," observed our friend. "you do not want a meal, or you would find their flesh supply you with one not to be disdained." the last remark was made as we again moved on. once more we relapsed into silence. when, however, a bird, or moth, or any creature appeared, our guide stopped for an instant, and turning round, told us its name and habits. we passed several curious trees, one of which he pointed out rising from the ground in numerous stalks, which then united in a thick stem, and afterwards, half-way up, bulged out in a long oval, again to narrow, till at the summit six or eight branches, with palm-like formed leaves, spread forth, forming a graceful crown to the curious stem. he called it the _iriartes ventricosa_, or bulging-stemmed palm. again we passed through a grove of urucuri palms (_attalea excelsa_). their smooth columnar stems were about forty or fifty feet in height, while their broad, finely pinnated leaves interlocked above, and formed arches and woven canopies of varied and peculiarly graceful shapes. high above them rose the taller forest trees, whose giant branches formed a second canopy to shade them from the glaring rays of the sun. many of the trees rose eighty feet without a branch, their stems perfectly straight. huge creepers were clinging round them, sometimes stretching obliquely from their summits, like the stays of a ship's mast. others wound round their trunks, like huge serpents ready to spring on their prey. others, again twisted spirally round each other, forming vast cables of living wood, holding fast those mighty monarchs of the forest. some of the trees were so covered with smaller creepers and parasitic plants that the parent stem was entirely concealed. the most curious trees were those having buttresses projecting from their bases. the lower part of some of them extended ten feet or more from the base of the tree, reaching only five or six feet up the trunk. others again extended to the height of fully thirty feet, and could be seen running up like ribs to a still greater height. some of these ribs were like wooden walls, several inches in thickness, extended from the stem, so as to allow room for a good-sized hut to be formed between them by merely roofing over the top. again, i remarked other trees ribbed and furrowed for their whole height. occasionally these furrows pierced completely through the trunks, like the narrow windows of an ancient tower. there were many whose roots were like those of the bulging palm, but rising much higher above the surface of the ground. the trees appeared to be standing on many-legged pedestals, frequently so far apart from each other that we could without difficulty walk beneath them. a multitude of pendants hung from many of the trees, some like large wild pine-apples, swinging in the air. there were climbing arums, with dark-green arrow-head shaped leaves; huge ferns shot out here and there up the stems to the topmost branches. many of the trees had leaves as delicately cut as those of the graceful mimosa, while others had large palmate leaves, and others, again, oval glossy ones. now and then, as i looked upwards, i was struck with the finely-divided foliage strongly defined against the blue sky, here and there lighted up by the bright sunshine; while, in the region below through which we moved, a deep gloom prevailed, adding grandeur and solemnity to the scene. there were, however, but few flowers; while the ground on which we walked was covered with dead leaves and rotten wood, the herbage consisting chiefly of ferns and a few grasses and low creeping plants. we stopped at last to lunch, and while john and i were seated on the branch of a fallen tree, our friend disappeared. he returned shortly, with his arms full of large bunches of a round juicy berry. "here," he said, "these will quench your thirst, and are perfectly wholesome." we found the taste resembling that of grapes. he called it the _puruma_. we were too eager to find arthur to rest long, and were once more on our journey. "from the account you gave me, i hope we may soon meet with your friends," observed the recluse, "unless they have turned back in despair of finding you." "little fear of that," i observed. "i am sure arthur will search for us as long as he has strength to move." still we went on and on, and arthur did not appear; and we asked our companion whether he did not think it possible that our friends might have tried to make their way along the bank of the river. "no," he answered, "the jungle is there too thick; and if we find signs of their having made the attempt, we shall speedily overtake them; for though we have made a considerable circuit, they by this time could scarcely have progressed half a mile even with the active employment of sharp axes." this somewhat comforted me; for notwithstanding what the recluse said, i felt nearly certain that arthur would attempt to examine the whole length of the bank, in hopes of discovering what had become of us. we went on and on till we entered a denser part of the forest, where we were compelled to use our axes before we could get through. at length i caught sight through an opening of what looked like a heap of boughs at a distance. the recluse, quickening his pace, went on towards it. we eagerly followed. it was a hut roughly built. extinguished embers of a fire were before it. we looked in eagerly. it was empty, but there were leaves on the ground, and dry grass, as if people had slept there. it had been, there was little doubt, inhabited by arthur and his companions. it was just such a hut as they would have built in a hurry for defence against the storm. but what had become of them? "i believe you are right," said the recluse at last, having examined the bushes round; "they certainly attempted to make their way along the bank. i trust no accident has happened to them, for in many places it is undermined by the waters, and after rain suddenly gives way." these remarks somewhat alarmed me. "this is the way they have taken, at all events," he added; "though they have managed to creep under places we might find some difficulty in passing." again he led the way, clearing the path occasionally with his axe. we were close to the edge of the river, though so thickly grew the tangled sipos and the underwood that we could only occasionally get glimpses of it. as we went along we shouted out frequently, in hopes that arthur might hear us. "your friend and his companions have laboured hard to get through this dense jungle," he observed, "but we shall soon overtake them." still on and on we went, now and then having to turn aside, being unable otherwise to force our way onwards. we at length, on returning to the river, found below us a sand-bank, which extended for some distance along it. "here are the marks of their feet!" exclaimed john, who had leaped down on it. "see the way they are turned! we shall soon overtake them." this discovery restored my spirits, for i had begun to fear that after all, unable to get along, they had turned back. we hastened forward along the bank, but the sand was very soft, and walking on it was almost as fatiguing as through the forest; while the heat from the sun striking down on it was intense. climbing up the bank once more, we proceeded through the forest. we went on a short distance, when we found ourselves in more open ground--that is to say, we could get on without the use of our axes. we continued shouting out, and every now and then making our way to the bank as before. "hark!" said john, "i hear a cry. see! there are natives coming towards us. yes; i believe they are the two young indians." "they are indians," remarked our guide. "they are beckoning us. we will hasten on." in another minute we saw duppo and oria running towards us. they kept crying out words that i did not understand. as soon as they saw the recluse they hurried to him, and took his hands, as if they knew him well. "they tell me your young friend is ill," he remarked. "they have left him a little further on, close to the water, where, it seems, unable to proceed, he fainted. they entreat me to hasten on lest he should die. they fancy i can do everything, having occasionally cured some of their people of slight diseases." as he said this he allowed himself to be dragged forward by duppo and his sister, who, in their eagerness, seemed scarcely to have recognised us. the ground over which we were proceeding was somewhat swampy, and sloped down to a small lagoon or inlet of the river. john and i followed as fast as we could at the heels of our guide. presently he stopped, and uttering an exclamation, threw aside the hands of the young indians and dashed forward. we followed, when, what was our horror to see, under a grove of mimosa bushes, arthur in the grasp of a huge serpent, which had wound its coils round his body. i shrieked with dismay, for i thought he was dead. he moved neither hand nor foot, seemingly unconscious of what had occurred. the recluse dashed forward. john and i followed with our axes, and true went tearing boldly on before us. it was an anaconda. already its huge mouth was open to seize our young companion. without a moment's hesitation the recluse sprang at the monster, and seizing its jaws with a power i should scarcely have supposed he possessed, wrenched them back, and held them fast in spite of the creature's efforts to free itself. "draw him out!" shouted the recluse; and john, seizing arthur, drew him forth from amid the vast coils, while i with my axe struck blow after blow at its body and tail. the recluse did not let go his hold, although the creature, unwinding its tail, threatened to encircle him in its coils. now it seemed as if it would drag him to the ground, but he recovered his feet, still bending back the head till i could hear the bones cracking. i meantime had been hacking at its tail, and at length a fortunate blow cut it off. john, placing arthur at a little distance, came back to our assistance, and in another minute the reptile lay dead at our feet, when true flew at it and tore away furiously at its body. "your young friend has had a narrow escape," said the recluse, as he knelt down and took arthur's hand; "he breathes, though, and is not aware of what has happened, for the anaconda must have seized him while he was unconscious." we ran to the river. the dry shells of several large nuts lay near. in these we brought some water, and bathed arthur's brow and face. "he seems unhurt by the embrace of the anaconda," remarked the recluse, "but probably suffered from the heat of the sun." after this he lifted arthur in his arms, and bore him up the bank. john and i followed with a shell of water. the contrast between the hot sandy bank and the shady wood was very great. as we again applied the water, arthur opened his eyes. they fell on the recluse, on whom he kept them steadily fixed with a look of surprise. "i thought john and harry were with me," he murmured out. "i heard their voices calling as i lay fainting on the bank." "yes; we are here," john and i said, coming forward. "duppo and his sister met us, and brought us to you." "i am so glad," he said in a low voice. "i began to fear that you were really lost, we wandered on so far without finding you. i felt ready to die too, i was so sick at heart. and your sister--is she safe?" he asked. "oh yes; i am sure you would look more sad if she were not." "yes, she is safe and well, arthur," i said; "and we must take you there to be nursed, or, if it is too far to carry you, we must build a hut somewhere near here, where we can join you." the stranger looked at arthur, and murmured something we did not hear. "it is a long way to carry the lad," he said; "though if i had him in my hut i would watch over him." "perhaps it may be better to build a hut at the spot we proposed, and bring our sister and goods to it," i said. "no; i will take the lad to mine," answered the recluse. "you can build a hut as you proposed, and when he has recovered i will bring him to you." i was very glad to hear this, because i was afraid that arthur might suffer unless we could get him soon placed in a comfortable hammock, and give him better food than we should be able to prepare without our cooking apparatus. "i am ready to go on whenever you wish it," observed arthur, who heard the discussion; "but i am afraid i cannot walk very fast." "i will carry you then," said the recluse; "but it will be better to form a litter, on which you can rest more at your ease. we will soon get one ready." duppo and oria stood by watching us eagerly while we spoke, as if they were anxious to know what we were saying. "you stay with your young friend, while your brother and i prepare the litter," said the recluse to me, replacing arthur on the ground. i sat down by his side, supporting him. he did not allude to the anaconda, and, i suspected, was totally unconscious of the danger he had been in. while the recluse and john were cutting down some poles to form the litter, duppo and his sister collected a number of long thin sipos, showing that they understood what we proposed doing. in a short time the litter was completed. john and i insisted on carrying it, though we had some difficulty in persuading the recluse to allow us to do so. he spoke for some time to duppo and his sister, who looked greatly disconcerted and sad. "i was telling them that they must go and find their people," he said, "and that they must build a house for you on the spot you selected. they will be true friends to you, as they have ever been to me. i advise you to cultivate their friendship by treating them with kindness and respect." the young indians seemed very unwilling to take their departure, and lingered some time after we had wished them good-bye. john and i took up the litter, on which arthur had been placed. as we had already cut a road for ourselves, we were able to proceed faster than we did when before passing through the forest. we hurried on, for the sun had begun to sink towards the west, and we might be benighted before we could reach the hermit's abode. we proceeded by the way we had come. after we had gone some distance, arthur begged that he might be put down and allowed to walk. "i am sure i have strength enough, and i do not like to see you carry me," he said. of this, however, we would not hear, and continued on. at last we sat down to rest. the spot we had chosen was a pleasant one. though shaded, it was sufficiently open to allow the breeze to circulate through it. round us, in most directions, was a thick jungle. we had brought some water in a shell of one of the large nuts, and after arthur had drunk some, we induced him to take a little food, which seemed greatly to revive him. we were seated round the contents of our wallets, john and i, at all events, feeling in much better spirits than we had been in the morning; even the recluse threw off some of his reserve. we took the opportunity of telling him of our anxiety about our parents, and of the uncertainty we felt whether they had passed down the river. he in return asked us further questions, and seemed interested in our account. "i may be of use to you," he said at length, "by being able to make inquiries among the indians on the river, who would probably have observed them should they have passed; but promises are so often broken, that i am ever unwilling to make them. therefore, i advise you to trust to your own exertions," he added. we were on the point of again taking up arthur to proceed, when a loud sound of crashing branches was heard in the distance. it seemed as if a hurricane was sweeping through the forest. it came nearer and nearer. "oh i what can it be?" cried arthur. "leave me and save yourselves. it seems as if the whole forest was falling." the crashing increased. boughs seemed broken off, shrubs trampled under foot. presently we saw, bearing down upon as, a large dark-skinned creature, though its form could scarcely be distinguished amid the foliage. "stand fast!" said the recluse. "it will not harm you. see! it has an enemy to contend with." as the creature drew nearer, i saw that it bore on its back a huge jaguar, distinguished by its spotted hide and its fierce glaring eyes. its jaws were fixed in the creature's neck, to which it clung also with its sharp claws. "the animal is a tapir," said the recluse. "i am not certain yet though whether the jaguar will conquer it. see, the back of the latter is bleeding and torn from the rough branches beneath which the tapir has carried it." as he spoke, the animals came close to us, the tapir making for the thick branch of a fallen tree kept up by a network of sipos, which hung like a beam almost horizontally a few feet from the ground. the tapir dashed under it, and we could hear the crash of the jaguar's head as it came in contact with the hard wood. still it clung on, but its eyes had lost their fierce glare. blood covered the backs of the animals, and the next moment the jaguar fell to the ground, where it lay struggling faintly. twice it tried to rise, but fell back, and lay apparently dead. john had lifted his rifle to fire at the tapir. "hold!" said the recluse; "let the victor go; he deserves his liberty for having thus sagaciously liberated himself from his tormentor. would that we could as easily get rid of ours! how eagerly we should seek the lower branches of the trees!" he gave one of those peculiar, sarcastic laughs, which i observed he was apt to indulge in. we cautiously approached the jaguar, feeling uncertain whether it might not yet rise up and spring at us. john and i kept our rifles at its head, while true went boldly up towards it. he had been an excited spectator of the scene, and i had some difficulty in keeping him from following the tapir. the jaguar did not move. even a poke with the muzzle of my rifle failed to arouse it. true began to tear away at its neck; and at length we were convinced that the savage creature was really dead. "there let him lie," said the recluse. "strong as he was a few moments ago, he will be food for the armadillos before morning." we again lifted up arthur, and proceeded onwards, the recluse leading and clearing away the branches which might have injured arthur as we passed between them. of course we now required a broader passage than when we came through ourselves. we took exactly the same route; our guide never faltering for a moment, though in many places i should have had difficulty, where the marks of our axes were not to be seen, in finding the road. several times he offered to take my place, observing that i might be tired; but john and i begged him to allow us to carry our young friend, as we did not like to impose the task on him. thus we went on till my arms and shoulders began to ache, but i determined not to give in. arthur had not spoken for some time. i looked at his face. it was very pale, and his eyes were closed. i was afraid he had received more injury from the fearful serpent than we had at first supposed. we hurried on, for it was evidently very important that he should as soon as possible be attended to. we did not stop, therefore, a moment to rest. thinking that he would not hear me, i expressed my fears to john. "oh no, no," said arthur; "i do not feel so very ill. i wish you would put me down, for i am sure you must be tired." i was greatly relieved when i heard him speak; at the same time his voice was so weak, that we were unwilling to do as he begged us. it was getting late, too, as we could judge by the increasing gloom in the forest. looking up through the occasional openings in the dark-green canopy above our heads, we could see the sky, which had now become of the intensest shade of blue. a troop of allouattes commenced a concert, their unmusical howlings echoing through the forest. numerous macaws passed above us, giving vent to strange harsh cries; while whole families of parrots screamed in various notes. cicadas set up the most piercing chirp, becoming shriller and shriller, till it ended in a sharp screeching whistle. other creatures--birds, beasts, and insects--added their voices to the concert, till the whole forest seemed in an uproar. as the sky grew darker, and the shades of night came thickly round us, the noises gradually ceased, but were soon succeeded by the drumming, hoohooing, and the croaking of the tree-frogs, joined occasionally by the melancholy cries of the night-jar. "follow me closely," said the recluse, "and step as high as you can, not to catch your feet in the tangled roots. my eyes are well accustomed to this forest-gloom, and i will lead you safely." at length we found ourselves passing through a narrow passage between thick bushes, which reminded us of the approach to the recluse's hut. emerging from it, we saw light ahead, and now reached the steps which led to the verandah. "you have come on well," he observed. "i will carry up your young friend. leave the litter on the ground." i had to stop and assist up true, for although he made several attempts to mount the ladder by himself, it was somewhat too high for him to succeed. on entering the hut i found ellen, in a state of agitation, leaning over arthur. "oh! what has happened?" she asked. "will he die? will he die?" "i trust not, young lady," remarked our host. "he wants rest and careful nursing, and i hope in a few days will have recovered. i will now attend to him, and afterwards leave him under your care." "do not be alarmed, miss ellen," whispered arthur. "i only fainted from the hot sun and anxiety about you all. now i am with you, i shall soon get well." "as i have by me a store of medicines, with which i have doctored occasionally the poor natives, i can find, i hope, some remedies which may help to restore your friend," observed the recluse. "rest is what he chiefly now requires." arthur was put into his hammock, and after he had taken a mess which maria had prepared, fell asleep. chapter twelve. the recluse--more adventures in the forest. three days passed away, and arthur had almost recovered. we none of us had liked to ask the recluse any questions about himself, and he had given us no information as to who he was, where he had come from, or how long he had lived in that secluded spot. he had merely told us that he was english, and he certainly seemed from his conversation to be a man of education. he made no inquiries about us, though he listened from politeness, apparently, rather than from any interest he took in the matter, to the account we gave him of our adventures. one thing was very evident, that, though he bore with our society, he would rather be left alone to his usual solitude. i awoke early the following morning, and found john already on foot. he proposed going down to the igarape to bathe, and asked me to accompany him. our host, we found, had already left the hut. arthur was asleep, so we would not disturb him. domingos also had gone out, and we concluded had accompanied the recluse to obtain provisions, as he had taken with him a couple of baskets which usually hung on the wall at the entrance of the hut. at all events, they were not there when we looked for them. taking our guns, we proceeded as we proposed. the rays of the rising sun came through the few openings among the tall trees, their light flashing on the wings of the gorgeous butterflies and still more brilliant plumage of several humming-birds, which flitted here and there amid the opening in the forest. there was a sandy spot where we thought that we could venture into the water, without the risk of being seized by an alligator or anaconda. we were making our way towards it, when we caught sight of a small canoe, in which a man, whom we at once recognised as the recluse, was seated. he was paddling slowly up the igarape. we watched him for some time, till he was lost to sight among the thick foliage which lined the banks. we naturally concluded that he was merely taking a morning excursion, perhaps to fish or bathe, and expected to see him again at breakfast. while john took a bath, i stood by and beat the water with a long pole, to frighten away any alligator which might be near, and he performed the same office for me--a very necessary precaution, from the number of the huge reptiles which swarm in all the rivers. much refreshed, we returned to the hut. we waited for the recluse some time before beginning breakfast, which maria had prepared; but he did not appear, nor did domingos. we all agreed that we ought no longer to impose our society on our strange friend. the first thing to be done was to build a canoe, but we had not found a tree in the neighbourhood of the hut exactly suited to our purpose. "we may perhaps discover one near the place at which we landed the other day, and we may get our indian friends to help us to build a canoe," i observed. "or it is possible that they may have recovered some of theirs, and be ready to sell one of them to us." "then the sooner we find them out the better," observed john. "i wonder duppo and his sister, or some of the other indians, have not come here to look for us," said arthur. "i thought duppo, at all events, would have shown more regard for us." "perhaps the recluse has taught them not to visit his hut without his leave," i remarked. "they seem to hold him in great respect." while i was speaking domingos appeared at the door, with his baskets loaded with fruit, vegetables, and birds--chiefly parrots and toucans of gay plumage. he gave a note to john, which he had received, he said, from the strange senor early in the morning. "i will not conceal from you that i have departed greatly from my accustomed habits in affording you an asylum," it ran. "if you wish it you can remain, but i desire to be once more alone, and can find a home elsewhere till you take your departure. i have communicated with your indian friends, and they will assist you in building a lodge more suitable for you than this, in the situation you first selected. a party of them will appear shortly to convey your goods; and they will also construct a montaria of a size sufficient for you to continue your voyage. i will, in the meantime, institute inquiries about your missing friends, and, should i hear tidings of them, will send you word. i beg that you will return me no thanks, nor expect to see me. the life of solitude upon which your appearance has broken i desire to resume, and it will therefore cause me annoyance should you attempt to seek me. accept such good wishes as a wretched outcast can venture to end." this strange note caused us much regret. "he is so kind and gentle, in spite of the strange way he sometimes expresses himself, that i should grieve not to see him again, and thank him," said arthur. "do you not think we could leave a note, asking him to let us come and visit him before we go away altogether? surely he would not refuse that." "i am afraid, from the tenor of his note, it would be of no use," said john; "but if you wish it you can do so; and it will show him, at all events, that we are not ungrateful for his kindness." we waited all day in expectation of the arrival of the indians, but no one appeared. john went out, and shot some birds and a couple of monkeys. in our rambles, which were further than we had yet been, we came upon a cleared space containing a plantation of bananas, maize, and several edible roots; and, from the neat and scientific way in which the ground was cultivated, we had little doubt it belonged to the stranger; indeed, from the supplies he had brought us, notwithstanding his first remark, we had suspected that he was not without the means of supporting himself with vegetable food. although he had allowed us to cook the animals we killed, we had remarked that he did not touch any of the meat himself. early next morning, as i was standing on the verandah, true poked his nose forward and began to bark. i thought he had seen some animal in the woods, and got my gun ready to fire at it, when i caught sight of a figure emerging from the narrow path of which i have spoken, and, greatly to my satisfaction, i recognised duppo. as soon as he saw us he ran forward. i went down to meet him. he took my hand, and, by his action, and the gleam of satisfaction which passed over his impassive countenance, showed the satisfaction he felt at again being with us. he then made signs that others were coming, and soon afterwards a party of eight indians, with his father at their head, made their appearance. maono gravely saluted john and i, and signified that his men had come to convey our property to another place. duppo asked whether any of us would like to return in the canoe. we agreed that it would be a good plan for arthur and ellen to do so. "oh, let me go through the woods," exclaimed ellen; "i should like to see the country." "but then, who is to look after arthur? he is not fit to walk so far yet," said john. "oh, then i will go and take care of him," answered ellen. it was finally arranged that maono and duppo should paddle the canoe, and look after ellen and arthur. they formed a sufficiently large freight for the little craft. the indians now shouldered our goods, each man taking a load twice as heavy as any one of us could have carried, although much less than our napo peons had conveyed down to the river. before starting, arthur wrote the note he had proposed to the recluse, and left it on the table. we could not help feeling sorry at leaving that shady little retreat. at the same time, there was no chance while remaining there of obtaining tidings of our family. having handed ellen and arthur into the canoe, with nimble, and ellen's other pets, we watched her for some minutes as maono paddled her along the shore, which presented as far as we could see one wall of tall trees of varied forms rising almost from the water. "we shall meet again soon," exclaimed ellen as she waved an adieu. "who knows what adventures we shall have to recount to each other!" we could not tear ourselves from the spot while the canoe remained in sight. as soon as she disappeared we hurried after the indians. domingos and maria had gone on with them. we walked on rapidly, fully expecting, as they had loads, that we should quickly overtake them. john was a little ahead of me, when suddenly i saw him take a tremendous leap along the path. i was wondering what sudden impulse had seized him, when i heard him exclaim, "look out, harry i see that creature;" and there i observed stretched across the path, a big ugly-looking serpent. i sprang back, holding true, who would have unhesitatingly dashed at the dangerous reptile. it was nearly six feet in length, almost as thick as a man's leg, of a deep brown above, pale yellow streaks forming a continued series of lozenge-shaped marks down the back, growing less and less distinct as they descended the sides, while it had a thin neck, and a huge flat head, covered with small scales. as we had our guns ready, we did not fear it. it seemed disinclined to move, and, had it not lifted up its tail, we might have supposed it dead. we soon recognised, by the shape of the point, the fearful rattlesnake;--fearful it would be from its venomous bite, had not the rattle been fixed to it to give notice of its approach. we threw sticks at it, but still it did not seem inclined to move. again it lifted up its horny tail, and shook its rattle. "take care," cried john; "keep away." the serpent had begun to glide over the ground, now looking at one of us, now at the other, as if undecided at which it should dart. i took john's advice, and quickly retreated. he fired, and shattered the reptile's head. as it still moved slowly, i finished it with a blow of my stick. as it would have been inconvenient to drag after us, we cut off the tail, that we might examine it at leisure. we found that the rattle was placed with the broad part perpendicular to the body. the last joint was fastened to the last vertebra of the tail by means of a thick muscle, as well as by the membranes which united it to the skin. the remaining joints were so many extraneous bodies, as it were, unconnected with the tail, except by the curious way in which they were fitted into each other. it is said that these bony rings or rattles increase in number with the age of the animal, and on each casting of the skin it acquires an additional one. the tip of every uppermost bone runs within two of the bones below it. by this means they not only move together, but also multiply the sound, as each bone hit against two others at the same time. they are said only to bite when provoked or when they kill their prey. for this purpose they are provided with two kinds of teeth,--the smaller, which are placed in each jaw, and serve to catch and retain their food: and the fangs, or poisonous teeth, which are placed without the upper jaw. they live chiefly upon birds and small animals. it is said that when the piercing eye of the rattlesnake is fixed on an animal or bird they are so terrified and astonished that they are unable to escape. birds, as if entranced, unwillingly keeping their eyes fixed on those of the reptile, have been seen to drop into its mouth. smaller animals fall from the trees and actually run into the jaws open to receive them. fatal as is the bite of the rattlesnake to most creatures, the peccary attacks and eats the reptile without the slightest hesitation; as, indeed, do ordinary hogs,--and even when bitten they do not suffer in the slightest degree. this encounter with the rattlesnake having delayed us for a little time, we hurried on as rapidly as we could to overtake our companions. we had gone some distance, and still had not come up with them. i began to be afraid that we had turned aside from the right path. in some places even our eyes had distinguished the marks of those who had gone before us. we had now lost sight of them altogether, and as the wood was tolerably open, and the axes had not been used, we could only judge by the direction of the sun how to proceed. we went on for some time, still believing ourselves in the right direction; but at last, when we expected to find the marks of the axes which we had before made, we could discover none. we searched about-- now on one side, now on the other. the forest, though dense, was yet sufficiently open to enable us to make our way in a tolerably direct line. now and then we had to turn aside to avoid the thick mass of creepers or the fallen trunk of some huge tree. we shouted frequently, hoping that domingos and the indians might hear us. then john suggested that they, finding it an easy matter to follow the right track, did not suppose we could lose it. at last we grew tired of shouting, and agreed that we should probably fall in with the proper track by inclining somewhat to the right; and i had so much faith also in true's sagacity that i had hopes he would find it. however, i gave him more credit than he deserved. he was always happy in the woods, like a knight-errant in search of adventures, plenty of which he was indeed likely to meet with. still in the belief that we were not far wrong in our course, we walked briskly forward. we had gone some distance, when true made towards the decayed trunk of a huge tree, and began barking violently. while we were still at a considerable distance, a large hairy creature rose up before us. true stood his ground bravely, rushing now on one side, now on the other, of the animal. it had an enormous bushy tail, curled up something like that of a squirrel, but with a great deal more hair, and looked fully eight feet in length. as we drew nearer we saw that it had also an extraordinary long snout. it seemed in no degree afraid of true, and he evidently considered it a formidable antagonist. presently it lifted itself up on its hind legs, when true sprang back just in time to avoid a gripe of its claws. still the creature, undaunted by our appearance, made at him, when, seeing that he was really in danger, john and i rushed forward. we then discovered the creature to be a huge ant-eater, which, though it had no teeth, was armed with formidable claws, with which it would inevitably have killed my brave dog had it caught him. a shot in the head from john's rifle laid it dead. it was covered with long hair, the prevailing colour being that of dark grey, with a broad band of black running from the neck downwards on each side of the body. it lives entirely on ants; and on opening its mouth we found that it could not provide itself with other food, as it was entirely destitute of teeth. its claws, which were long, sharp, pointed, and trenchant, were its only implements of defence. its hinder claws were short and weak; but the front ones were powerful, and so formed that anything at which it seizes can never hope to escape. the object of its powerful crooked claws is to enable it to open the ant-hills, on the inhabitants of which it feeds. it then draws its long, flexible tongue, covered with a glutinous saliva, over the swarms of insects who hurry forth to defend their dwelling. the scientific name of this great ant-eater is _myrmecophaga jubata_. there are, however, several smaller ant-eaters, which are arborial--that is, have their habitations in trees. some are only ten inches long. one species is clothed with a greyish-yellow silky hair; another is of a dingy brown colour. they are somewhat similar in their habits to the sloth; and as they are seen clinging with their claws to the trees, or moving sluggishly along, they are easily mistaken for that animal, to which, indeed, they are allied. some are nocturnal, others are seen moving about in the daytime. true seemed to be aware of the narrow escape he had had from the formidable talons of the ant-eater, for after this encounter he kept close behind my heels. i hoped that he had received a useful lesson, and would attack no animal unless at my command, or he might do so some day when no friend was at hand to come to his rescue. we had been walking on after this occurrence for some time in silence, when true pricked up his ears and began to steal forward. i could, however, see nothing. the undergrowth and masses of sipos were here of considerable denseness. still, as he advanced, we followed him. presently the forest became a little more open, when we caught sight of a creature with a long tail and a tawny hide with dark marks. "it is a jaguar," i whispered to john. "it is watching some animal. in a moment we shall see it make its spring." it was so intent on some object before it, that it did not discover our approach. on it went with the stealthy pace of a cat about to pounce on an unwary bird or mouse. it did not make the slightest noise, carefully avoiding every branch in its way. true, after his late adventure with the ant-eater, was less disposed than usual to seek an encounter, and i was therefore able to keep him from dashing forward as he otherwise would have done. "the creature is about to pounce on some deer he sees feeding in the thicket," whispered john; "or perhaps he espies a tapir, and hopes to bring it to the ground." unconscious of our approach, the savage animal crept on and on, now putting one foot slowly forward, now the other. now it stopped, then advanced more quickly. at length it stopped for a moment, and then made one rapid bound forward. a cry reached our ears. "that is a human voice!" exclaimed john; "some unfortunate native caught sleeping." he fired as he spoke, for we could still see the back of the animal through the thick underwood. the jaguar bounded up as it received the wound, and the next moment the tall figure of the recluse appeared, bleeding at the shoulder, but otherwise apparently uninjured. "what, my young friends," he exclaimed, "brought you here? you have saved my life, at all events." "we chanced to lose our way, and are thankful we came up in time to save you from that savage brute." "chance!" exclaimed the recluse. "it is the very point i was considering at the moment;" and he showed us a book in his hand. "your arrival proves to me that there is no such thing as chance. i was reading at the moment, lost in thought, or i should not have been so easily surprised." john then told him how we had waited to see ellen and our young friend off; and then, in attempting to follow our companions, had lost our way. "we should have got thus far sooner had we not been delayed by an attack which a great ant-eater made on our dog." "if you have lost your way, you will wish to find it," said the recluse. "i will put you right, and as we go along, we can speak on the point i mentioned. you have some distance to go, for you should know that you have come almost at right angles to the route you intended to take. no matter; i know this forest, and can lead you by a direct course to the point you wish to gain. but i must ask you before we move forward to bind up my shoulder. here, take this handkerchief. you need not be afraid of hurting me." saying this, he resumed his seat on the log, and john, under his directions, secured the handkerchief over the lacerated limb. he bore the process with perfect composure, deep as were the wounds formed by the jaguar's claws. "what has occurred has convinced me that chance does not exist," he said, resuming his remarks as we walked along. "you delayed some time, you tell me, in watching your friends embark; then, losing your way, you were detained by the ant-eater, and thus arrived at the very moment to save my life. there was no chance in that. had you been sooner you would have passed me by, for i sat so occupied in reading, and ensconced among the roots of the trees, that i should not have heard you. had you delayed longer, the fierce jaguar would have seized me, and my life would have been sacrificed. no, i say again, there is no such thing as chance. he who rules the world ordered each event which has occurred, and directed your steps hither. it is a happy and comforting creed to know that one more powerful than ourselves takes care of us. till the moment the jaguar's sharp claw touched my shoulder, i had doubted this. the author whose book i hold doubts it also, and i was arguing the point with him. your arrival decided the question." while he was speaking i missed true, and now heard him bark violently. i ran back, and found the jaguar we thought had been killed rising to its feet. it was snarling fiercely at the brave dog, and in another moment would have sprung upon him. true stood prepared for the encounter, watching the creature's glaring eyes. i saw the danger of my faithful friend and fired at the head of the savage animal. my shot was more effectual than john's. it fell back dead. john and the recluse came hurrying up. "we should never leave a treacherous foe behind us," observed the latter. "however, he is harmless now. come on. you have a long walk before you; though, for myself, i can find a lodging in the forest, suited to my taste, whenever i please." the recluse, as in our former walk, led the way. for a considerable distance he went on without again speaking. there was much that was strange about him, yet his mind seemed perfectly clear, and i could not help hoping that we might be the means of persuading him to return to civilised society. he walked forward so rapidly that we sometimes had difficulty in keeping up with him; and i remarked, more than i had done before, his strange appearance, as he flourished his sharp axe, now striking on one side, now on the other, at the sipos and vines which interfered with his progress. he was dressed merely in a coarse cotton shirt and light trousers secured round the waist by a sash, while a broad-brimmed straw hat sheltered his head. his complexion was burned almost red; his features were thin, and his eyes sunken; but no tinge of grey could be perceived in his hair, which hung wild and streaming over his shoulders. true, after going on for some time patiently, began to hunt about on either side according to his custom. presently he gave forth one of his loud cheery barks, and off he bounded after a creature which had come out of the hollow of a tree. calling to john, i made chase, getting my gun ready to fire. the ground just there was bare, and i caught sight of an animal the size of a small pig, but its whole back and head were covered with scales. in spite of its awkward appearance, it made good play over the ground, and even true, with all his activity, could scarcely keep up with it. it turned its head here and there, looking apparently for a hole in which to seek shelter. he, however, made desperate efforts to overtake it. the base of a large tree impeded its progress, when, just as he was about to spring on it, it suddenly coiled itself up into a round ball. true kept springing round and round it, wishing to get hold of the creature, but evidently finding no vulnerable part. i ran forward and seized it, when, just as i got hold of the ball, i received so severe a dig in my legs from a pair of powerful claws which it suddenly projected, that i was glad to throw it down again. "you have got hold of an armadillo," said the recluse, who with john at that moment arrived. "if you want a dinner, or wish to make an acceptable present to your indian friends, you may kill and carry it with you; but if not, let the creature go. for my part, i delight to allow the beasts of the forest to roam at large, and enjoy the existence which their maker has given them. the productions of the ground afford me sufficient food to support life, and more i do not require. yet i acknowledge that unless animals were allowed to prey on each other, the species would soon become so numerous that the teeming earth itself could no longer support them: therefore man, as he has the power, so, i own, he has the right to supply himself with food which suits his taste. i speak, therefore, only as regards my own feelings." while he was speaking he seemed to forget that he had just before been in a hurry to proceed on our way, and stood with his arms folded, gazing at the armadillo. the creature, finding itself unmolested, for even true stood at a respectful distance, uncoiled itself, and i then had an opportunity of observing its curious construction. its whole back was covered with a coat of scaly armour of a bony-looking substance, in several parts. on the head was an oval plate, beneath which could be seen a pair of small eyes, winking, as if annoyed by the sunlight. over the shoulders was a large buckler, and a similar one covered the haunches; while between these solid portions could be seen a series of shelly zones, arranged in such a manner as to accommodate this coat of mail to the back and body. the entire tail was shielded by a series of calcareous rings, which made it perfectly flexible. the interior surface, as well as the lower part of the body, was covered with coarse scattered hairs, of which some were seen to issue forth between the joints of the armour. it had a pointed snout, long ears, short, thick limbs, and stout claws. "there are several species of the armadillo," observed our friend. "the creature before us is the _dasypus sexcinctus_. it is a burrowing animal, and so rapidly can it dig a hole, that when chased it has often its way made under ground before the hunter can reach it. its food consists of roots, fruits, and every variety of soft vegetable substances; but it also devours carrion and flesh of all sorts, as well as worms, lizards, ants, and birds which build their nests on the ground. in some parts of the continent the natives cook it in its shell, and esteem it a great delicacy." whilst our friend was giving us this account, the armadillo, suddenly starting forward, ran off at a great rate into the forest, true made chase, but i called him back, and he came willingly, apparently convinced that he should be unable to overtake the creature, or overpower it if he did. we were once more proceeding on our way. the day was drawing to a close, and yet we had not overtaken our companions. "you are scarcely aware of the distance you were from the right road," observed the recluse. "when once a person gets from the direct path, he knows not whither he may wander. it may be a lesson to you. i have learned it from bitter experience." he sighed deeply as he spoke. at length we saw the bright glare of a fire between the trees. "you will find your friends there," said the recluse, "and, directed by that, can now go on." "but surely you are going with us to the camp?" said john. "no; i shall seek a resting-place in the forest," he answered. "i am too much accustomed to solitude to object to be alone, even though i have no sheltering roof over my head. farewell! i know not whether we shall meet again, but i would once more give you the assurance that i do not forget that you were the means of saving my life; and yet i know not why i should set value upon it." in vain john and i entreated him to come on. not another step further would he advance; and he cut us short by turning hastily round and stalking off into the depths of the forest, while we hurried on towards the camp. "oh, there they are! there they are!" exclaimed ellen, running forward to meet us as we appeared. "i have been so anxious about you, and so has arthur! domingos told us he was sure you would come up soon, but i could not help dreading that some accident had happened." we had to confess that we had lost our way, and that, had it not been for the stranger, we should still be wandering in the forest. "and why would he not come to the camp?" she asked. "arthur is longing to see him again. duppo has been telling him of the way in which he rescued him from the anaconda. i was at last obliged to tell him what occurred." arthur now came up. "i must thank him!" he exclaimed. "i will run and overtake him." we had great difficulty in persuading arthur of the hopelessness of finding him, and that he would be more likely to lose his own way in the forest. the indians had been busily employed in putting up huts for our accommodation. ellen and maria, with their pets, had already possession of theirs. we hung up our hammocks in the more open shed which had been prepared for us. chapter thirteen. our new resting-place, and the adventures which befel us there. next morning maono and his people began erecting a more substantial habitation for us, signifying that his white friend, meaning the recluse, had desired him to do so. it was built on the spot we had previously selected near the igarape, and overlooking the main river. a number of stout poles were first driven into the ground, and to their tops others were joined and united in the centre, forming a conical roof, the eaves projecting below to a considerable distance. palm-leaves were then fastened, much in the fashion i have before described, over the roof, layer above layer, till a considerable thickness was attained. the walls were formed by interweaving sipos between the uprights, a space being left for ventilation. we had thus a substantial hut erected, which it would have taken us, unaided, many days to build. while the indians were working outside, john and i, with domingos, formed a partition in the interior, to serve as a room for ellen and maria. "we must manufacture a table and some stools, and then our abode will be complete," said john. some small palms which grew near were split with wedges into planks. out of these we formed, with the assistance of domingos, a table, and as many rough stools as we required. when all was complete, maono begged by signs to know whether we were satisfied. we assured him that we were better accommodated than we expected to be. he seemed highly pleased, and still more so when we presented him and his men each with a piece of cloth, he having three times as much as the others. we gave him also an axe, a knife, and several other articles, besides a number of beads, which we let him understand were for his wife and daughter. he, however, seemed rather to scorn the idea of their being thus adorned in a way superior to himself, it being, as we observed, the custom of most amazonian tribes for the men to wear more ornaments than the women. we understood that his tribe had settled a short way off, in a secluded part of the forest, where they might be less likely to be attacked by their enemies the majeronas. we now tried to make maono understand that we were anxious to have a large canoe built, in which we might proceed down the river. he replied that he would gladly help us, but that he must return to his own people, as they had first to be settled in their new location. to this, of course, we could not object, but we begged him to return as soon as possible to assist us in our work. as soon as he was gone we agreed to hold a consultation as to what we should next do. we took our seats under the verandah in front of our new abode, john acting as president, ellen, arthur, domingos, and i ranging ourselves round him. true, nimble, and toby stood by the side of maria, as spectators, the latter almost as much interested apparently as she was in the discussion, while poll and niger stood perched on the eaves above us. the question was whether we should devote all our energies to constructing a large canoe, or make excursions in the small one we already possessed, as we before proposed? we requested ellen, not only as the lady, but the youngest of the party, to speak first. she was decidedly of opinion that it would be better to build the large canoe, as she was sure that our parents had already proceeded further down the river. "but what reasons have you for so thinking?" asked john. ellen was silent. "pray do not insist upon my giving my reasons," she said at last. "i can only say that i feel sure they have gone further down. if they had not, i think we should have found them before this; indeed, my heart tells me that we shall find them before long if we continue our course down the river." john smiled. "those are indeed very lady-like reasons," he observed. "however, we will record your opinion; and now wish we to know what arthur has to say." "i should like to agree with miss ellen, but at the same time cannot feel sure of a matter of which we have no evidence," said arthur. "we have not examined the banks up the stream or on the opposite side. although we have good reasons for supposing that, after quitting their first location, your family proceeded downwards, as the labour of paddling against the current is very great, yet, as they may have stopped at some intermediate spot, i advise that we examine the banks on both sides of the river between this place and that where we expected to find them." "now, harry, what do you say?" asked john. "i agree with arthur," i replied. "as we came down a considerable distance at night, i say we should examine the shores we then passed. as the greater part of our voyage was performed by daylight, i do not think it at all likely we could have missed them had they been sailing up to meet us. i also advise that we make the excursion we proposed in the small canoe in the first place, while our indian friends are constructing the larger one." domingos had been standing with his arms folded, as was his custom, watching our countenances. he had perfectly understood what was said. taking off his hat, he made a bow to ellen, saying, "i agree with the senora. i feel sure that my honoured master would desire to place his family in safety at a distance from the savage tribe who attacked him, and that, therefore, he has moved further down the river, probably to one of the nearest portuguese settlements on the banks. but knowing his affection for you, his children, i believe he would have sent back messengers to meet us should he have been unable to return himself. it is they, in my opinion, we should look out for; probably, indeed, they have already passed us. i am sorry that we did not leave some signals at our stopping-places, which might show them where we have been, and lead them to us. then, again, as senor fiel might not have been able to procure messengers at once, and as the voyage up the stream is laborious, they may not have got as far as this. thus we are right in remaining at this spot, whence we can see them should they approach. i therefore hold to the opinion that the large canoe should be constructed without delay, in which we might continue our voyage, but that we should keep a look-out both by day and night, lest our friends might pass by without observing us." "it becomes, then, my duty as president to give the casting vote in this important matter," observed john, "as the members of the council are divided in opinion. although the opinion expressed by ellen and domingos has probability on its side, yet it must be considered theoretical; while that given by arthur and harry is undoubtedly of a more practical character. should we on exploring the shores higher up find no traces of our relatives, we shall then proceed with more confidence on our voyage, buoyed up with the hope of overtaking them. in the other ease we might be sailing on with the depressing consciousness that, not having searched for them thoroughly, we might be leaving them behind. i therefore decide that, while our indian friends are engaged in building a canoe, in which work, from our inexperience, we cannot render them any effectual aid, we employ the interval in making the exploring expeditions we proposed. the point to be settled is, how are we to carry out that plan?" "the small canoe will not convey more than three people at the utmost," i observed. "i should like to go with arthur and duppo, as i at first suggested; while you, john, stay to take care of ellen, and superintend the building of the canoe. you will be better able than any of us to keep the indians to their work, and guard ellen, should any danger occur from hostile indians, or of any other description." "i should certainly have liked to have gone myself," said john. "but your argument is a strong one. i am sure i can trust you and arthur, and duppo, from his acuteness, will be of great assistance to you; and yet i do not like you to run the risk of the dangers to which you may be exposed." "it would not be worse for us than for you," remarked arthur. "i would willingly stay to defend miss ellen; but i am afraid i should not manage the indians, or act as you would do in an emergency." i saw that john put considerable restraint on himself when he finally agreed to let us go. yet as we were as well able to manage the canoe as he was, and much lighter, we were better suited to form its crew. at the same time, it seemed evident that ellen would be safer under the protection of two grown-up men, than of lads like arthur and i. it was necessary, however, to wait to arrange provisions for our expedition, and obtain also the advice of maono on the subject. we much regretted that we could not communicate with the recluse, as he would have interpreted for us, and would also have given us his advice. while taking a paddle in our canoe, we agreed that she required considerable alterations to fit her for our intended expedition. our first task was to haul her up, and strengthen her bulwarks; for it will be remembered that they were before put up in a hurried manner, and were already almost torn off. we were thus engaged in front of the hut when we heard ellen exclaim, "there is some one coming." and looking through an opening in the forest, i saw duppo and his sister approaching, carrying baskets on their backs. arthur and i ran forward to meet them. they made signs that they had brought a present of farinha to the young white lady, as they designated ellen; not by words, however, but by putting a piece of white bark on their own brown cheeks. we then conducted them to ellen. "i am so glad to see you," she said, taking oria's hand; and though the indian girl could not understand the words, she clearly comprehended the expression of my young sister's countenance, which beamed with pleasure. maria grinned from ear to ear, not at all jealous of the attention her young mistress paid the pretty native; and all three were soon seated in front of the hut, talking together in the universal language of signs. it was extraordinary how well they seemed to understand each other. oria's garments were certainly somewhat scanty; but in a short time maria ran into the hut, and quickly returned with a petticoat and scarf, part of ellen's wardrobe. nothing could exceed the delight of the young savage (for so i may properly call her) when her white and black sisters robed her in these garments. pretty as was her countenance, it usually wanted animation; but on this occasion it brightened up with pleasure. the clothes seemed at once to put her more on an equality with her companions. when they had talked for a time, ellen called out her pets to introduce them to oria, who signified that if it would gratify her new friend she would undertake to obtain many more. "oh, yes, yes!" exclaimed ellen. "i should so like to have some of those beautiful little humming-birds which have been flying about here lately, feeding on the gay-coloured flowers growing on the open ground around, or hanging by their long tendrils from the trees." neither duppo nor oria could understand these remarks, but they did the signs which accompanied them; and they both answered that they hoped soon to obtain for her what she wished. we then took duppo down to the canoe, and i tried to explain to him our intention of making a voyage in her. this he understood very clearly; indeed, the recluse had, we suspected, already intimated to the indians our anxiety about our missing friends. duppo was of great assistance to us in repairing the canoe and putting on fresh bulwarks. we determined, in addition to the paddles, to have a mast and sail. we had some light cotton among our goods, which would answer the purpose of the sail, and could be more easily handled, and would therefore be less dangerous, than a mat sail. we found that oria had taken the invitation as it was intended, and had come to remain with ellen. "i am so glad," said our sister, when she discovered this. "i shall now be able to teach her english; and, i am sure, we shall be great friends." "but would you not also be able to teach her about the god of the english?" said arthur, in a low voice. "that is of more consequence. she now knows nothing of the god of mercy, love, and truth. from what i can learn, these poor savages are fearfully ignorant." "oh yes," said ellen, looking up. "i shall indeed be glad to do that. i am so thankful to you, arthur, for reminding me." "we should remember that that saviour who died for us died for them also," said arthur; "and it is our duty to make known that glorious truth to them." "it will be a hard task though, i fear," remarked ellen, "as oria does not yet know a word of english; and though we may make signs to show her what we want her to do, i do not see how we can speak of religion until she understands our language." "the more necessity then for teaching her without delay," observed arthur. "she seems very intelligent; and if we lose no opportunity of instructing her, i hope she may soon acquire sufficient knowledge to receive the more simple truths, which, after all, are the most important." "then i will begin at once," said ellen. "she has already been trying to repeat words after me; and i hope before the end of the day to have taught her some more." ellen was in earnest. our dear little sister, though very quiet and gentle, had a determined, energetic spirit. it was very interesting to see her labouring patiently to teach the young indian girl. duppo had already learned a good many words, and seemed to understand many things we said to him. we scarcely ever had to repeat the name of a thing more than two or three times for him to remember it; and he would run with alacrity to fetch whatever we asked for. we had much more trouble in teaching manners to our dumb companions; for in spite of master nimble's general docility, he was constantly playing some trick, or getting into scrapes of all sorts. one day he was seen by duppo trying to pull the feathers out of niger's head; and on another occasion he was discovered in an attempt to pluck poor poll, in spite of her determined efforts to escape from his paws. he often sorely tried true's good-temper; while if a pot or pan was left uncovered, he was sure to have his fingers in it, to examine whether its contents were to his liking. we were working at the canoe one morning when i heard maria's voice calling to us. "see what it is she wants, harry," said john, who was busily employed. i ran up to the hut. "o senor harry!" exclaimed maria, "nimble has scampered off into the woods, and enticed toby to go with him; and senora ellen has run after them, and i do not know what may happen if there is no one near to protect her." i took up my gun on hearing this, and followed ellen, whose dress i caught a glimpse of among the trees. presently i saw her, as i got nearer, throw up her hands, as if she had seen some object which had alarmed her. i hurried on. "what is it, ellen?" i shouted out. "oh, look there, harry!" she exclaimed. "they will catch nimble and toby." i sprang to her side, and then saw, just beyond a thicket of ferns, two huge pumas, which were on the point of springing up a tree, among whose branches were clinging our two pets, nimble and toby, their teeth chattering with terror, while their alarm seemed almost to have paralysed them. in another instant they would have been in the clutches of the pumas. i was more concerned about my dear little sister's safety than for that of her monkeys. at first i thought of telling her to run back to the hut; but then it flashed across me that the pumas might see her and follow. so i exclaimed, "get behind me, ellen; and we will shout together, and try and frighten the beasts. that will, at all events, bring john to our help." we shouted at the top of our voices. i certainly never shouted louder. meantime i raised my gun, to be ready to fire should the pumas threaten to attack us or persist in following our pets. scarcely had our voices ceased, when i heard true's bark, as he came dashing through the wood. the pumas had not till then discovered us, so eagerly had they been watching the monkeys. they turned their heads for a moment. nimble took the opportunity of swinging himself out of their reach. ellen shrieked, for she thought they were going to spring at us. i fired at the nearest, while true dashed boldly up towards the other. my bullet took effect, and the powerful brute rolled over, dead. the sound of the shot startled its companion; and, fortunately for gallant little true, it turned tail, and bounded away through the forest,--john, who had been hurrying up, getting a distant shot as it disappeared among the trees. arthur and the two indians followed john, greatly alarmed at our shouts and the sound of the firearms. nimble and toby, still chattering with fear, came down from their lofty retreat when we called them, and, looking very humble and penitent, followed ellen to the hut; while we, calling domingos to our assistance, set to work to skin the puma. the meat we cooked and found very like veal, and domingos managed to dress the skin sufficiently to preserve it. duppo had clearly understood ellen's wish to have some humming-birds caught alive. we were always up at daybreak, to enjoy the cool air of the morning. he had gone out when the first streaks of dawn appeared in the eastern sky, over the cold grey line of the river. when we could do so with safety, we never failed to take a bath. we had just come out of the water, and were dressing, when duppo ran up, and signed to us to follow him. we called ellen as we passed the hut, and all together went towards the igarape, where, in a more open space than usual, a number of graceful fuschia-looking flowers, as well as others of different forms, hung suspended from long tendrils, intertwined with the branches of the trees. into this spot the rising sun poured its glorious beams with full brilliancy. we cautiously advanced, when the space before us seemed suddenly filled with the most beautiful sparking gems of varied colours, floating here and there in the bright sunlight. i could scarcely believe that the creatures before us belonged to the feathered tribes, so brilliant were their hues, so rapid their movements. sometimes they vanished from sight, as they darted with inconceivable rapidity from branch to branch. now one might be seen for an instant hovering over a flower, its wings looking like two grey filmy fans expanded at its sides. then we could see another dip its long slender bill into the cup of an upright flower. now one would come beneath a suspended blossom. sometimes one of the little creatures would dart off into the air, to catch some insect invisible to the eye; and we could only judge of what it was about by its peculiar movements. as we watched, a tiny bird would perch on a slender twig, and rest there for a few seconds, thus giving us an opportunity of examining its beauties. ellen could scarcely restrain her delight and admiration at the spectacle; for though we had often seen humming-birds before, we had never beheld them to such advantage. the little creature we saw had a crest on the top of its head of a peculiarly rich chestnut, or ruddy tint. the upper surface of the body was of a bronzed green hue, and a broad band of white crossed the lower part, but the wings were purple-black. the chief part of the tail was chestnut. the forehead and throat were also of the same rich hue. on either side of the neck projected a snow-white plume, tipped with the most resplendent metallic green. the effect of these beautiful colours may be imagined as the birds flew rapidly to and fro, or perched on a spray, like the one i have described. another little creature, very similar to it, was to be seen flying about above the heads of the others. it also had a crest, which was of the same colour as the others, but of a somewhat lighter tint; while at the base of each feather, as we afterwards observed, was a round spot of bronzed green, looking like a gem in a dark setting. the crest, which was constantly spread out, appeared very like that of a peacock's tail, though, as ellen observed, it would be a very little peacock to have such a tail. on searching in our book, we found that the first of these humming-birds we had remarked was a tufted coquette (_lophornis ornatus_), while the other, which we seldom saw afterwards, was the spangled coquette. these birds, with several others of similar habits and formation, are classed separately from the _trochilidae_, and belong to the genus _phaethornis_. they are remarkable for the long pointed feathers of their tails, the two central ones being far longer than the rest. we met with a greater number of them than of any other genus on the banks of the amazon. after we had enjoyed the spectacle for some time, duppo begged us to come a little further, when he showed us a beautiful little nest, secured to the innermost point of a palm-leaf. on the top of the leaf a little spangled coquette was watching her eggs within. unlike the nests of the _trochilidae_, which are saucer-shaped, it was of a long, funnel-like form, broad at the top and tapering towards the lower part. the outside, which was composed of small leaves and moss, had a somewhat rugged appearance; but the inside, as we had reason to know, was soft and delicate in the extreme, being thickly lined with silk-cotton from the fruit of the sumauma-tree. below the first was perched a tufted coquette, looking as boldly at us as any town sparrow. the little creatures, indeed, kept hovering about; and one came within a few feet of our faces, as much as to ask how we dared to intrude on its domains. more pugnacious or brave little beings do not exist among the feathered tribes. i cannot hope to describe with any degree of accuracy the numbers of beautiful humming-birds we met with in different places; for though some are migratory, the larger proportion strictly inhabit certain localities, and are seldom met with, we were told, in any other. the humming-birds of the andes, of which there are a great variety, never descend into the plains; nor do those of the plains attempt to intrude on the domains of their mountain relatives. although they may live on the nectar of flowers, they have no objection to the tiny insects they find among their petals, or which fly through the air, while many devour as titbits the minute spiders which weave their gossamer webs among the tall grass or shrubs. "i should not think that any human being could catch one of those little creatures," said ellen, as we returned homewards. "the sharpest-eyed sportsman would find it difficult to hit one with his fowling-piece." "he would certainly blow it to pieces," observed john, "if he made the attempt. they are shot, however, with sand; and perhaps our young indian friend himself will find the means of shooting one, if he cannot capture it in some other way." "oh, i would not have one shot for the world!" exclaimed ellen. "pray let him understand that he must do nothing of the sort for my sake." while we were at breakfast, duppo, who had disappeared, came running up with one of the beautiful little creatures which we had seen in his hand. it seemed much less alarmed than birds usually are in the grasp of a boy. perhaps that was owing to the careful way in which duppo held it. "oh, you lovely little gem!" exclaimed ellen; "but i am sure i shall never be able to take proper care of it." duppo, who seemed to understand her, signified that oria would do so for her. oria, who had been watching us taking sugar with our tea, and had by this time discovered its qualities, mixed a little in a spoon, which she at once put before the bill of the little humming-bird. at first it was far too much alarmed to taste the sweet mess. at length, growing accustomed to the gentle handling of the indian girl, it poked out its beak and took a sip. "ho, ho!" it seemed to say, "that is nice stuff!" and then it took another sip, and very soon seemed perfectly satisfied that it was not going to be so badly off, in spite of its imprisonment. oria intimated that she would in time make the little stranger quite tame. "but we must keep it out of the way of master nimble's paws, for otherwise he would be very likely to treat it with small ceremony," observed john. "why, ellen, you will have a perfect menagerie before long." "yes, i hope so," she answered; "i am not nearly contented yet. i should like to have one of those beautiful little ducks you were telling me of, and as many humming-birds as i can obtain." "perhaps you would like to have a jaguar or puma," said john. "if caught young, i dare say they can be tamed as well as any other animal." "i am afraid they would quarrel with my more harmless pets," answered ellen. "and yet a fine large puma would be a good defence against all enemies." "not against an indian with a poisoned arrow. he would be inconvenient, too, to transport in our canoe. i hope therefore you will confine yourself to small animals, which will not occupy much space. you may have as many humming-birds as you like, and half-a-dozen monkeys, provided they and nimble do not quarrel." "except some pretty little monkeys, i do not wish for any others besides those i already have," said ellen. duppo and oria understood ellen's wish to obtain living creatures, and they were constantly seeking about, and coming back sometimes with a beautiful butterfly or moth, sometimes with parrots and other birds. while we were getting the canoe ready, ellen and maria, with the assistance of oria, had been preparing food for us--baking cakes, and drying the meat of several birds and animals which john had killed. we had hoped to see the large canoe begun before we took our departure, but as the indians had not arrived, we agreed that it would be better to lose no more time, and to start at once. we took an experimental trip in the canoe before finally starting. we could have wished her considerably lighter than she was; at the same time, what she wanted in speed, she possessed in stability. early in the morning we bade ellen and john, with our faithful attendants, good-bye. oria, we thought, exhibited a good deal of anxiety when we were about to shove off, and she came down to the water and had a long talk with her brother, evidently charging him to keep his wits about him, and to take good care of us. dear ellen could scarcely restrain her tears. "oh, do be careful where you venture, harry!" she said. "i dread your falling into the power of those dreadful savages." john also gave us sundry exhortations, to which we promised to attend. we were just in the mouth of the igarape, when we saw in the distance a small canoe coming down it. we therefore waited for her arrival. she drew nearer. we saw that only two people were in her, and we then recognised our friend maono and his wife illora. they were bringing a quantity of plantains and other fruits, with which the centre of the canoe was filled. among others were several crowns of young palm-trees, which, when boiled, are more delicate than cabbages, and are frequently used by the natives. maono was dressed in his usual ornaments of feathers on his arms and head, his hair being separated neatly in the centre, and hanging down on either side. round his neck was a necklace, and his legs were also adorned like his arms. "i have been thinking a good deal lately about the account of the early voyagers, who declared that they met a nation of warrior-women on the banks of this river," observed arthur; "and looking at maono, it strikes me that we have an explanation of the extraordinary circumstance. if a party of strangers were to see a band of such men, with shields on their arms, guarding the shores, they would very likely suppose them, from their appearance, to be females, and consequently, not having had any closer view of them, they would sail away, declaring that they had met a party of amazons, who had prevented their landing. it was thus this mighty river obtained the name of the amazon. the idea would have been confirmed, had they seen in the distance a band of people, without ornaments of any description, carrying burdens on their backs. these the strangers would naturally have supposed to be slaves, taken in war, and employed to carry the baggage of the fighting ladies." i agreed with him that it was very likely to have been the case. as our friends drew near, duppo spoke to them, and told them where we were going. he then explained to us that if we would wait a little longer, they would accompany us and assist us in our search. on reaching the shore, they carried up their present to ellen, illora, i must confess, bearing the larger portion. some of the plantains and fruits they put into our canoe as they passed. they had another long talk, by the usual means of signs, with john and domingos, who managed tolerably well to comprehend their meaning. we asked duppo how it was they came to have a canoe. he replied that they had found one which had been left behind by the majeronas, and, as we understood, they had brought it down through the igarape, which communicated with another river to the north of us, running into the main stream. when i heard this, the idea struck me that we were not yet altogether free from the danger of being attacked by the majeronas, who, having possessed themselves of our canoe and those of our friends, might some night come down and take us by surprise. i jumped on shore and took john aside, so that ellen could not hear me, that i might tell him my fears. "you are right to mention them to me," he answered; "at the same time, i do not think we need be alarmed. i will, however, try and explain your idea to the indians, and get them to place scouts on the watch for such an occurrence. i certainly wish we were further off; but yet, as we are now at a considerable distance from their territory, we shall be able to hear of their approach, should they come, in time to escape. we must make our way through the woods to the hut of the recluse, and i am very sure that he will be able to afford us protection. from what he said, he is well-known among all the surrounding tribes, who appear to treat him with great respect. though we may lose such of our property as we cannot carry off, that will be of minor importance if we save our lives. for my part, however, i am under no apprehension of the sort; and i am very glad you did not mention your fears in the presence of ellen." though i hoped i might be wrong in supposing an attack possible, i was satisfied at having warned john before going away. arthur and i tried to make duppo understand our plans, that he might describe them to his father and mother. they, in return, signified that they would proceed part of the way with us, and make inquiries as they went along, having been requested to do so by their white friend--meaning the recluse. john, ellen, domingos, and maria came down to the edge of the water once more to see us off, accompanied by nimble and toby--toby placed on the shoulders of domingos, while nimble perched himself on john's arm, holding him affectionately round the neck with his tail. poll and niger always accompanied ellen. "we shall soon be back!" i exclaimed, as i shoved off; "and who knows but that we may be accompanied by papa, mamma, fanny, and aunt martha! ellen, you must get out your books, for she will be shocked at finding that you have been so long idle." with these and other cheerful remarks we backed away from the shore, then, turning the canoe's head round, proceeded after our indian friends. by keeping close to the banks we were out of the current, and thus made good way. sometimes i steered, sometimes duppo. arthur always begged that he might keep at his paddle, saying he did not like to take the place of those who had more experience than himself. a light wind at length coming from the eastward, we hoisted our sail, and got ahead of maono and his wife. the wind increasing, we ran the other canoe out of sight; but duppo assured us that his father and mother would soon catch us up, and that we need not therefore wait for them. we looked into every opening in the forest which lined the bank, in the faint hope of seeing the habitation of our friends; but not a hut of any description was visible; indeed, the shores were mostly lined with so dense a vegetation, that in but few places could we even have landed, while often for leagues together there was not a spot on which a hut could have been built. the wind again falling, we were obliged once more to lower our sail and to take to our paddles, when we were quickly rejoined by our indian friends. as it was important to examine every part of the shore carefully, we had agreed, if we could find an island, to land early in the evening on it. chapter fourteen. our exploring expedition--fearful danger. a week had passed away. we had crossed the stream several times to examine the southern bank of the river, and every inch of the northern bank had been explored. sometimes we met maono and his wife to compare notes, and then we again separated to continue our explorations. we were now once more proceeding up the napo, with high clay banks surmounted by lofty forest trees above our heads. "i see some people moving on the shore there. o harry! can it be them?" exclaimed arthur. several persons appeared coming through an opening in the forest, at a spot where the ground sloped down to the water. we could, however, see no habitation. "it is possible," i answered. we passed this part of the river in the dark, and might thus have missed them. having been exploring the western bank, we were crossing the river at that moment. as we paddled on, my heart beat with excitement. if it should be them after all! the people stopped, and seemed to be observing us. we paddled on with all our might, and they came down closer to the water. suddenly duppo lifted up his paddle and exclaimed, "majeronas!" we looked and looked again, still hoping that duppo might have been mistaken; but his eyes were keener than ours. approaching a little nearer, we were convinced that he was right. to go closer to the shore, therefore, would be useless and dangerous. we accordingly paddled back to the side we had just left, where we once more continued our upward course. we had parted two days before this from maono and illora, who were to explore part of the bank we had left unvisited, and to meet us again at the island where we had been so nearly wrecked at the mouth of the igarape. we had almost reached the spot where we had expected to find my father and the rest of our family. the shores of the river were occasionally visited, as we had learned by experience, by the majeronas, though not usually inhabited by them. it was therefore necessary to use great caution when going on shore. we landed, however, whenever we saw a spot where we thought it possible our friends might have touched on their voyage, in the hope that they might there have left some signal or note for us. the banks were here very different from those lower down. in many places they were composed of sand or clay cliffs of considerable height, often completely overhanging the river, as if the water had washed away their bases--indeed, such was undoubtedly the case. frequently the trees grew to the very edge of these cliffs, their branches forming a thick shade over the stream. to avoid the hot sun we were tempted to keep our canoe close under them, as it was very pleasant to be able to paddle on in the comparatively cool air. thus we proceeded, till we arrived at the spot where we had been so bitterly disappointed at not finding my family. no one was to be seen, but we landed, that we might again examine it more carefully. the ground on which the hut had stood still remained undisturbed, though vegetation had almost obliterated all the traces of fire. after hunting about in vain for some time, we took our way back to the canoe. we had nearly reached the water's edge, when arthur exclaimed that he saw something white hanging to the lower branch of a tree, amid the thick undergrowth which grew around. we had some difficulty in cutting our way up to it. we then saw a handkerchief tied up in the shape of a ball. "why, it is only full of dried leaves!" exclaimed arthur, as we opened it. "stay a moment," i answered. "i think there is something within them though." unrolling the leaves, i found a small piece of paper, torn apparently from a pocket-book. on it were written a few lines. they were: "dear brothers,--i trust you will see this. enemies are approaching, and our father has resolved to quit this spot and proceed down the river. we hope to send a messenger up to warn you not to land here, but i leave this in case you should miss him, and do so. where we shall stop, i cannot say; but our father wishes, for our mother's sake and mine, and aunt martha's, not again to settle till we reach a part of the river inhabited by friendly natives. that will, i fear, not be till we get some way down the amazon. i am warned to finish and do this up. the natives are seen in the distance coming towards us." this note, the first assurance we had received that our family had escaped, greatly raised our spirits. we had now only to make the best of our way back to john and ellen with the satisfactory intelligence. we accordingly hurried back to the canoe, and began our downward voyage. we had gone some distance when we saw a small opening in the river, where, on the shore, two or three canoes were hauled up. they might belong to friendly natives, from whom we might obtain some fish or other fresh provisions, of which we were somewhat in want. we were about to paddle in, when we caught sight of several fierce-looking men with bows in their hands, rushing down towards the bank. their appearance and gestures were so hostile that we immediately turned the head of our canoe down the stream again, and paddled away as fast as we could. we had not, however, got far, when, looking back, we saw that they had entered one of the larger canoes, and were shoring off, apparently to pursue us. we did our best to make way, in the hope of keeping ahead of them. i should have said the weather at this time had been somewhat changeable. clouds had been gathering in the sky, and there was every sign of a storm. as i have already described two we encountered, i need not enter into the particulars of the one which now broke over us. under other circumstances we should have been glad to land to escape its fury, but as it was, we were compelled to paddle on as fast as we could go. on looking back, we saw that the indians were actually pursuing us. "never fear," cried arthur. "we shall be able to keep ahead of them!" the lightning flashed vividly, the rain came down in torrents, but through the thick wall of water we could still see our enemies coming rapidly after us. although the current, had we stood out into the middle of the stream, might have carried us faster, the shortest route was by keeping near the bank. the indians followed the same course. true rushed to the stern, and stood up barking defiance at them, as he saw them drawing nearer. i dreaded lest they should begin to shoot with their poisoned arrows. should they get near enough for those fearful weapons to reach us, our fate would be sealed. only for an instant could we afford time to glance over our shoulders at our foes. nearer and nearer they drew. duppo courageously kept his post, steering the canoe, and paddling with all his might. every moment i expected to see them start up and let fly a shower of arrows at us. i might, of course, have fired at them; but this would have delayed us, and probably not have stopped them. our only hope of escape therefore depended upon our being able to distance them. yet they were evidently coming up with us. we strained every nerve; but, try as we might, we could not drive our little canoe faster than we were going. my heart sank within me when, looking back once more, i saw how near they were. in a few minutes more we might expect to have a shower of arrows whizzing by us, and then we knew too well that, though we might receive comparatively slight wounds, the deadly poison in them would soon have effect. this did not make us slacken our exertions, though scarcely any hope of escape remained. still we knew that something unforeseen might intervene for our preservation. i do hold, and always have held, that it is the duty of a man to struggle to the last. "never say die!" is a capital motto in a good cause. the rain poured down in torrents, the lightning flashed, the thunder roared, and gusts of wind swept down the river. we were, however, greatly protected by the bank above us. the storm blew more furiously. we could see overhead branches torn from the trees and carried into the stream. still the indians, with unaccountable pertinacity, followed us. we scarcely now dared look behind us, as all our energies were required to keep ahead; yet once more i turned round. several of our pursuers were standing up and drawing their bows. the arrows flew by us. "oh, i am hit!" cried arthur. "but i wish i had not said that. paddle on! paddle on! i may still have strength to go on for some time." now, indeed, i felt ready to give way to despair; still, encouraged by arthur, i persevered. for a moment only he ceased paddling. it was to pull the arrow from the wound in his shoulder; then again he worked away as if nothing had occurred. the next flight of arrows, i knew, might be fatal to all of us. i could not resist glancing round. once more the indians were drawing their bows; but at that instant a fearful rumbling noise was heard, followed by a terrific crashing sound. the trees above our heads bent forward. "paddle out into the middle of the stream!" cried arthur. duppo seemed to have understood him, and turned the canoe's head away from the shore. the whole cliff above us was giving way. down it came, crash succeeding crash, the water lashed into foam. the spot where the canoe of our savage pursuers had last been seen was now one mass of falling cliff and tangled forest. trees were ahead of us, trees on every side. the next instant i found myself clinging to the branch of a tree. true had leaped up to my ride. duppo was close to me grasping the tree with one hand, while he held my gun above his head in the other. i took it from him and placed it in a cleft of the trunk. without my aid he quickly climbed up out of the water. the canoe had disappeared, and where was arthur? the masses of foam, the thick, down-pouring rain, the leaves and dust whirled by the wind round us, concealed everything from our sight. "arthur!--arthur!--where are you?" i cried out. there was no answer. again i shouted at the top of my voice, "arthur!--arthur!" the tree, detached from the bank, now floated down the stream. i could only hope that it would not turn over in the eddying waters. still the loud crashing sounds of the falling cliff continued, as each huge mass came sliding down into the river. the current, increased in rapidity by the rain, which had probably been falling much heavier higher up the stream, bore us onward. oh, what would i have given to know that my friend had escaped! i could scarcely feel as thankful as i ought to have done for my own preservation, when i thought that he had been lost. the whole river seemed filled with uprooted trees; in some places bound together by the sipos, they formed vast masses--complete islands. on several we could see creatures moving about. here and there several terrified monkeys, which had taken shelter from the storm in a hollow trunk, were now running about, looking out in vain for some means of reaching the shore. ahead of us we distinguished some large animal on a floating mass, but whether jaguar, puma, or tapir, at that distance i could not make out. no trace of the indians or their canoe could we discover. it was evident that they had been entirely overwhelmed; indeed, as far as we could judge, the landslip had commenced close to the spot where we had last seen them, and they could not have had the warning which we received before the cliff was upon them. not for a moment, however, notwithstanding all the terrifying circumstances surrounding me, were my thoughts taken off arthur. wounded as he had been by the poisoned dart, i feared that, even had he not been struck by the bough of a falling tree, he would have sunk through weakness produced by the poison. it made me very sad. duppo was trying to comfort me, but what he said i could not understand. our own position was indeed dangerous in the extreme. any moment the tree might roll over, as we saw others doing round us: we might be unable to regain a position on the upper part. should we escape that danger, and be driven on the bank inhabited by the hostile majeronas, they would very probably put us to death. i had, however, providentially my ammunition-belt round my waist, and my gun had been preserved; i might, therefore, fight for life, and if we escaped, kill some animals for our support. should we not reach the land, and once enter the main river, we might be carried down for hundreds of miles, day after day, and, unable to procure any food, be starved to death. ellen and john would be very anxious at our non-appearance. these and many similar thoughts crossed my mind. i fancied that had arthur been with me i should have felt very differently, but his loss made my spirits sink, and i could hardly keep up the courage which i had always wished to maintain under difficulties. duppo's calmness put me to shame. true looked up in my face, and endeavoured to comfort me by licking my hand, and showing other marks of affection. poor fellow! if we were likely to starve, so was he; but then he did not know that, and was better able to endure hunger than either duppo or me. the rain continued pouring down, hiding all objects, except in the immediate vicinity, from our view. i judged, however, that the falling cliff had sent us some distance from the shore into the more rapid part of the current. providentially it was so, for we could still see the indistinct forms of the trees come sliding down, while the constant loud crashes told us that the destruction of the banks had not yet ceased. thus we floated on till darkness came down upon us, adding to the horror of our position. the rain had by that time stopped. the thunder no longer roared, and the lightning ceased flashing. the storm was over, but i feared, from the time of the year, that we might soon be visited by another. we had climbed up into a broad part of the trunk, where, among the projecting branches, we could sit or lie down securely without danger of falling off. my chief fear arose from what i have already mentioned,--the possibility of the tree turning over. this made me unwilling either to secure myself to the branches, or indeed even to venture to go to sleep. hour after hour slowly passed by. had arthur been saved, i could have kept up my spirits; but every now and then, when the recollection of his loss came across me, i could not help bursting into tears. poor, dear fellow! i had scarcely thought how much i had cared for him. duppo spoke but little; indeed, finding himself tolerably secure, he probably thought little of the future. he expected, i dare say, to get on shore somewhere or other, and it mattered little to him where that was. true coiled himself up by my side, continuing his efforts to comfort me. in spite of my unwillingness to go to sleep, i found myself frequently dropping off; and at last, in spite of my dread of what might occur, my eyes remained closed, and my senses wandered away into the land of dreams. duppo also went to sleep, and, i suspect, so did true. i was awoke by the rays of the sun striking my eyes; when, opening them, i looked about me, wondering where i was. very soon i recollected all that had occurred. then came the sad recollection that arthur had been lost. our tree appeared to be in the position in which it had been when we went to sleep. numerous other trees and masses of wood, some of considerable size, floated around us on either hand. the banks were further off than i had expected to find them. true, pressing his head against me, looked up affectionately in my face, as much as to ask, "what are we to do next, master?" it was a question i was puzzled to answer. i had to call loudly to duppo to arouse him. after looking about for some time, i was convinced that the tree had been drifted into the main stream. on and on it floated. i began to feel very hungry; as did my companions. we were better off than we should have been at sea on a raft, because we could, by scrambling down the branches, quench our thirst. i brought some water up in my cap for true, as i was afraid of letting him go down, lest he should be washed off. i was holding it for him to drink, when duppo pointed, with an expression of terror in his countenance, to the upper end of the tree, and there i saw, working its way towards us along the branches, a huge serpent, which had probably remained concealed in some hollow, or among the forked boughs, during the night. a second glance convinced me that it was a boa. to escape from it was impossible. if we should attempt to swim to the other trees it might follow us, or we might be snapped up by alligators on our way. i might kill it, but if i missed, it would certainly seize one of us. it stopped, and seemed to be watching us. its eye was fixed on true, who showed none of his usual bravery. instinct probably told him the power of his antagonist. instead of rushing forward as he would probably have done even had a jaguar appeared, he kept crouching down by my side. unacquainted with the habits of the boa, i could not tell whether it might not spring upon us. i knelt down on the tree and lifted my rifle; i did not, however, wish to fire till it was near enough to receive the full charge in its body. again it advanced along the boughs. it was within five yards of us. i fired, aiming at its head. as the smoke cleared away, i saw the huge body twisting and turning violently, the tail circling the branch on which it was crawling. duppo uttered a shout of triumph, and, rushing forward with a paddle which he had saved from the canoe, dealt the already mangled head numberless blows with all his might. the creature's struggles were at length over. pointing to the boa, duppo now made signs that we should not be in want of food; but i felt that i must be more hungry than i then was, before i could be tempted to eat a piece of the hideous monster. when i told him so, he smiled, enough to say, "wait a little till you have seen it roasted." i had my axe in my belt. he asked me for it, and taking it in his hand cut away a number of chips from the drier part of the tree, and also some of the smaller branches. having piled them up on a broad part of the trunk near the water, he came back to ask me for a light. i told him that if i had tinder i could get it with the help of the pan of my gun. away he went, scrambling along the branches, and in a short time returned with a bird's nest, which he held up in triumph. it was perfectly dry, and i saw would burn easily. in another minute he had a fire blazing away. i was afraid that the tree itself might ignite. duppo pointed to the water to show that we might easily put it out if it burned too rapidly. he next cut off some slices from the body of the boa, and stuck them on skewers in the indian fashion over the fire. though i had before fancied that i could not touch it, no sooner had i smelt the roasting flesh than my appetite returned. when it was done, duppo ate a piece, and made signs that it was very good. i, at length, could resist no longer; and though it was rather coarse and tough, i was glad enough to get something to stop the pangs of hunger. true ate up the portion we gave him without hesitation. duppo then cut several slices, which, instead of roasting, he hung up on sticks over the fire to dry, throwing the remainder into the water. he tried his best to amuse me by an account of a combat his father once witnessed in the depths of the forest between two huge boas, probably of different species. one lay coiled on the ground, the other had taken post on the branch of a tree. it ended by the former seizing the head of its opponent with its wide open jaws, sucking in a part of its huge body, gradually unwinding it from the tree. it had attempted, however, a dangerous operation. suddenly down came the tail, throwing its coils round the victor, and the two monsters lay twisting and writhing in the most terrific manner, till both were dead. i have given the account as well as i could make it out, but of course i could not understand it very clearly. the clouds had cleared away completely, and the sun's rays struck down with even more than their usual heat. still, from the storms we had had of late, i suspected that the rainy season was about to begin. i could only hope, therefore, that we might reach the shore before the waters descended with their full force. slowly we floated down with the current. on either side of us were several masses of trees, and single trees, such as i have before described. the rate at which we moved differed considerably from many of them. now we drifted towards one; now we seemed to be carried away again from it. this, i concluded, was owing partly to the different sizes of the floating masses, and to the depth they were sunk in the water; and partly to the irregularity of the current. the wind also affected them, those highest out of the water of course feeling it most. chapter fifteen. voyage down the amazon on a tree. all day and another night we drifted on. the flesh of the boa was consumed. unless a strong breeze should get up which might drive us on shore, we must go on for many days without being able to obtain food. i again became anxious on that point, and was sorry we had not saved more of the boa's flesh, unpalatable as i had found it. again the sun rose and found us floating on in the middle of the stream. duppo, although his countenance did not show much animation, was keeping, i saw, a look-out on the water, to get hold of anything that might drift near us. presently i observed the small trunk of a rough-looking tree come floating down directly towards us. as it floated on the surface, being apparently very light, it came at a more rapid rate than we were moving. at length it almost touched the trunk, and duppo, signing to me to come to his assistance, scrambled down towards it. he seized it eagerly, and dragged it up by means of a quantity of rough fibre which hung round it. he then asked me to help him in tearing off the fibre. this i did, and after we had procured a quantity of it, he let the trunk go. when i inquired what he was going to do with it, he made signs that he intended to manufacture some fishing-lines. "but where are the hooks? and where the bait?" i asked, doubling up my finger to show what i meant. "by-and-by make," he answered; and immediately on regaining our usual seat, he set to work splitting the fibre and twisting it with great neatness. i watched him, feeling, however, that i could be of little assistance. he seemed to work so confidently that i hoped he would manage to manufacture some hooks, though of what material i was puzzled to guess. the kind of tree which had so opportunely reached us i afterwards saw growing on shore. it reaches to about the height of thirty feet. the leaves are large, pinnate, shining, and very smooth and irregular. they grow out of the trunk, the whole of which is covered with a coating of fibres hanging down like coarse hair. it is called by the natives _piassaba_. this fibre is manufactured into cables and small ropes. it is also used for brooms and brushes; while out of the finer portions are manufactured artificial flowers, baskets, and a variety of delicate articles. while duppo was working away at the fishing-lines, i was watching the various masses of trees floating near us. one especially i had observed for some time a little ahead of us, and we now appeared to be nearing it. as i watched it i saw something moving about, and at length i discovered that it was a monkey. he kept jumping about from branch to branch, very much astonished at finding himself floating down the river. he was evidently longing to get back to his woods, but how to manage it was beyond his conception. i pointed him out to duppo. "he do," he said, nodding his head. it was a great question, however, whether we should reach the floating island. even when close to it the current might sweep us off in another direction. still, as we had drawn so near, i was in hopes that we should be drifted up to it. had i not been hungry, i should have been very unwilling to shoot the monkey but now, i confess, i longed to get to the island for that very object. the creature would supply us and true with food for a couple of days, at all events. by that time duppo might have finished his fishing-lines, and we might be able to catch some fish. had we been on a raft, we might have impelled it towards an island; but we had no control over the huge tree which supported us. all we could do therefore was to sit quiet and watch its progress. sometimes i doubted whether it was getting nearer, and my hopes of obtaining a dinner off the poor monkey grew less and less. then it received a new impulse, and gradually we approached the island. again for an hour or more we went drifting on, and seemed not to have drawn a foot nearer all the time. duppo every now and then looked up from his work and nodded his head, to signify that he was satisfied with the progress we were making. he certainly had more patience than i possessed. at length i lay down, true by my side, determined not to watch any longer. i fell asleep. duppo shouting awoke me, and looking up i found that our tree had drifted up to the floating mass; that the branches were interlocked, and as far as we could judge we were secured alongside. the monkey, who had been for a brief time monarch of the floating island, now found his dominions invaded by suspicious-looking strangers. for some time, however, i did not like to venture across the boughs; but at length the trunk drove against a solid part of the mass, and duppo leading the way, true and i followed him on to the island. "ocoki! ocoki!" he exclaimed, and ran along the trunk of a tall, prostrate tree of well-nigh one hundred feet in length. on the boughs at the further end grew a quantity of pear-shaped fruit, which he began to pick off eagerly. i did the same, though its appearance was not tempting, as it was covered with an outer skin of a woody texture. as he seemed eager to get it, i did not stop to make inquiries, but collected as much as i could carry in my wallet and pockets. he meantime had filled his arms full, and running back, placed them in a secure place on the trunk of the tree we had left. the monkey had meantime climbed to a bough which rose higher than the rest out of the tangled mass. hunger made me eager to kill the creature. i took good aim, hoping at once to put it out of pain. i hit it, but in falling it caught a bough with its tail, and hung on high up in the air. duppo immediately scrambled away, and before long had mounted the tree. though the monkey was dead, its tail still circled the bough, and he had to use some force to unwind it. he brought it down with evident satisfaction, and now proposed that we should return to our tree and light another fire. we first collected as much dry wood and as many leaves as we could find. duppo quickly had the monkey's skin off. true came in for a portion of his dinner before ours was cooked. i saw duppo examining the smaller bones, which he extracted carefully, as well as a number of sinews, which he put aside. he then stuck some of the meat on to thin spits, and placed it to roast in the usual fashion over the fire. while this operation was going on, he peeled some of the fruit we had collected. inside the rind was a quantity of pulpy matter, surrounding a large black oval stone. i found the pulpy matter very sweet and luscious. i ate a couple, and while engaged in eating a third i felt a burning sensation in my mouth and throat, and, hungry as i was, i was afraid of going on. duppo, however, consumed half-a-dozen with impunity. i may as well say here that this fruit is of a peculiarly acrid character. when, however, the juice is boiled it loses this property, and we frequently employed it mixed with tapioca, when it is called _mingau_ by the natives. it takes, however, a large portion of the fruit to give even a small cup of the mingau. it grows on the top of one of the highest trees of the forest, and as soon as it is ripe it falls to the ground, when its hard woody coating preserves it from injury. the natives then go out in large parties to collect it, as it is a great favourite among them. as may be supposed, we were too hungry to wait till the monkey was very much done. i found that i could eat a little ocoki fruit as a sweet sauce with the somewhat dry flesh. although the island was of some size, yet, as we scrambled about it, we saw that its portions were not firmly knit together, and i thought it very likely, should a storm come on, and should it be exposed to the agitation of the water, it might separate. i therefore resolved to remain on our former tree, that, at all events, having proved itself to be tolerably stable. we were engaged in eating our meal when my ears caught that peculiar sound once heard not easily forgotten--that of a rattlesnake. duppo heard it too, and so did true, who started up and looked eagerly about. at length we distinguished a creature crawling along the boughs of a tree about a dozen yards off. it had possibly been attracted by the smell of the roasting monkey, so i thought. it seemed to be making its way towards us. perhaps it had long before espied the monkey, which it had been unable when alive to get hold of. at all events, it was a dangerous neighbour. i had no wish for it to crawl on to our tree, where it might conceal itself, and keep us constantly on the watch till we had killed it. now i caught sight of it for a moment; now it was hidden among the tangled mass of boughs. still i could hear that ominous rattle as it shook its tail while moving along. though its bite is generally fatal, it is easily avoided on shore, and seldom or never, i have heard, springs on a human being, or bites unless trodden on, or suddenly met with and attacked. in vain i looked for it. it kept moving about under the boughs, as i could tell by the sound of its rattle. now it stopped, then went on again, now stopped again, and i dreaded every instant to see it spring out from its leafy covert toward us. i kept my gun ready to fire on it should i see it coming. i was so engaged in watching for the snake, that i did not observe that the island was turning slowly round. presently there was a rustling and a slightly crashing sound of the boughs, and i found that our tree was once more separated from the island, and just then i saw not only one but several snakes moving about. one of the creatures came along the bough, and lifting its head, hissed as if it would like to spring at us, but by that time we were too far off. again we went floating down with greater speed than the floating island, and, judging from the inhabitants we had seen on it, we had reason to be thankful that we had escaped so soon. duppo, since he had finished eating, had been busy scraping away at some of the monkey bones, and he now produced several, with which he intimated he should soon be able to manufacture some hooks. having put out our fire lest it should ignite the whole tree, we once more scrambled back to our former resting-place. duppo, having got a couple of lines ready, worked away most perseveringly with the monkey bones, till he had manufactured a couple of serviceable-looking hooks. these he bound on with the sinews to the lines. he was going to fasten on some of the knuckle-bones as weights, but i having some large shot in my pocket, they answered the purpose much better. the hooks, baited with the monkey flesh, were now ready for use. duppo, however, before putting them into the water, warned me that i must be very quick in striking, lest the fish should bite the lines through before we hauled them up. as we were floating downwards we cast the lines up the current, taking our seat on a stout bough projecting over the water. there we sat, eagerly waiting for a bite, true looking on with great gravity, as if he understood all about the matter. i almost trembled with eagerness, when before long i felt a tug at my line. i struck at once, but up it came without a fish. again, in a short time, i felt another bite. it seemed a good strong pull, and i hoped that i had caught a fish which would give us a dinner. i hauled it up, but as it rose above the water i saw that it was not many inches in length. still, it was better than nothing. it was of a beautiful grey hue. on getting it into my hand to take it off the hook, what was my surprise to see it swell out till it became a perfect ball. "_mamayacu_!" exclaimed duppo. "no good eat." i thought he was right, for i certainly should not have liked attempting to feed on so odd-looking a creature. when going to unhook it i found that its small mouth was fixed in the meat. when left alone it gradually resumed its former proportions. i soon had another bite, and this time i hoped i should get something worth having. again i hauled in, when up came a fish as long as the other was short and round, with a curious pointed snout. this, too, had been caught by the tough monkey meat, and promised to be of little more service than my first prize. i caught two or three other curious but useless fish, though, if very much pressed for food, we might have managed to scrape a little flesh off them. duppo sat patiently fishing on. though he had got no bites, he escaped being tantalised as i was by the nibbling little creatures which attacked my bait. perhaps he sank his lower down. i could not exactly make it out, but so it was; and at length i saw his line pulled violently. his eyes glistened with eagerness. he had evidently, he thought, got a large fish hooked. he first allowed his line to run to its full length, then gradually he hauled it in, making a sign to me to come to his assistance. he then handed me the line. i felt from the tugging that a fish of a considerable size was hooked. he meantime got an arrow from his quiver and fitted it to his bow. then he signed to me to haul in gently. i did so, dreading every instant that our prize would escape, for i could scarcely suppose that a bone hook could withstand so strong a pull. kneeling down on the trunk, he waited till we could see the dark form of the fish below the surface. at that moment the arrow flew from his bow, and the next all resistance ceased; and now without difficulty i hauled the fish to the surface. stooping down, he got hold of it by the gills, and with my assistance hauled it up to the trunk. it was nearly three feet long, with a flat spoon-shaped head, and beautifully spotted striped skin. from each side of its head trailed thin feelers, half the length of the fish itself. i felt very sure that with such tackle as we had that i should never have been able to secure so fine a fish. we had now food to last us as long as the fish remained good. we had just time to light a fire and cook a portion, as we had dressed the monkey flesh, before darkness came on. the night passed quietly away, and the morning light showed us the same scene as that on which the evening had closed, of the far-off forest, and the wide expanse of water, with single trees and tangled masses of underwood floating on it. after we had lighted a fire, and cooked some more fish for breakfast, duppo put out his lines to try and catch a further supply. not a bite, however, did he get. he hoped, he said, to be more successful in the evening. we therefore hauled in the lines, and i employed the time in teaching him english. i was sure that ellen would be greatly pleased, should we ever return, to find that he had improved. another day was passing by. the wind had been moderate and the river smooth. again it came on to blow, and our tree was so violently agitated that i was afraid it would be thrown over, and that we should be washed off it. as we looked round we saw the other masses with which we had kept company tossed about in the same way, and frequently moving their positions. now we drove on before the wind faster than we had hitherto gone. there was one mass ahead which i had remarked from the first, though at a considerable distance. we were now drifting nearer to it. i had watched it for some hours, when i fancied i saw an object moving about on the upper part. "it must be another monkey," i said to myself. i pointed it out to duppo. he remarked that it moved too slowly for a monkey; that it was more probably a sloth. then again it stopped moving, and i could scarcely distinguish it among the branches of the trees. i hoped that we might drift near enough to get it. it would probably afford us more substantial fare than our fish. after a time i saw duppo eagerly watching the island. suddenly he started up, and waved his hand. i looked as keenly as i could. yes; it seemed to me that the figure on the island was again moving, and waving also. it was a human being; and if so, who else but arthur? my heart bounded at the thought. yet, how could he have escaped? how had he not before been seen by us? again i waved, this time with a handkerchief in my hand. the figure held out a handkerchief also. there was now no doubt about the matter. it was very doubtful, however, whether we should drift much nearer the floating island. the wind increased; a drizzling rain came down and almost concealed it from sight, so that we could not tell whether or not we were continuing to approach it. this increased my anxiety. yet the hope of seeing my friend safe, once kindled, was not to be extinguished; even should we not drive close enough to the island to join each other, we still might meet elsewhere. all we could do, therefore, was to sit quietly on the tree, and wait the course of events. one of the most difficult things to do, i have found, is to wait patiently. hour after hour passed by. the wind blew hard, and often so high did the waves rise that i was afraid we might be swept off. what would become of us during the long, dreary night? i felt the cold, too, more than i had done since we began our voyage. how much more must poor duppo have suffered, with less clothing! i should have liked to have lighted a fire; but with the rain falling, and the tree tossing about, that was impracticable. we all three--duppo, true, and i--sat crouching together in the most sheltered part of the tree. thus the hours of darkness approached, and crept slowly on. did i say my prayers? it may be asked. yes, i did; i may honestly say that i never forgot to do so. i was reminded, too, to ask for protection, from feeling how little able i was, by my own unaided arm, to escape the dangers by which i was surrounded. i tried to get duppo to join me. i thought he understood me; but yet he could scarcely have had the slightest conception of the great being to whom i was addressing my prayers. i hoped, however, when he knew more of our language, that i should be able to impart somewhat of the truth to his hitherto uncultivated mind. in spite of the rain, the darkness, and the movements of our tree, i at length fell asleep, and so, i believe, did duppo and true. i was awoke, after some time, by a crashing sound, similar to that which had occurred when we drove against the floating island. i started up. true uttered a sharp bark. it awoke duppo. presently i heard a voice at no great distance exclaiming, "what is that? who is there?" "who are you?" i shouted out. "i am arthur! and oh, harry! is it you?" "yes," i answered. "how thankful i am that you have escaped!" "and so am i that you have been saved," answered arthur. "but where are you? i cannot find my way among the bough. have you come off to me in the canoe?" i told him in reply how we were situated. "can you join me?" he asked. "i have hurt my foot, and am afraid of falling." "stay where you are," i answered; "we will try to reach you." i made duppo understand that i wished to get to where arthur was. it was necessary to move very cautiously, for fear of slipping off into the water. we could not tell, indeed, whether the butt-end or the boughs of our tree had caught in the floating island; all we could see was a dark mass near us, and a few branches rising up towards the sky. i was afraid, however, that if we did not make haste we might be again separated from it as we had been from the other island. we scrambled first some way along the boughs; but as we looked down we could see the dark water below us, and i was afraid should we get on to the outer ends that they might break and let us fall into it. i thought also of true, for though we might possibly have swung ourselves across the boughs, he would have been unable to follow us. i turned back, and once more made my way towards the root-end, which, by the experience we had before had, i hoped might have driven in closer to the mass we wished to reach. we had to crawl carefully on our hands and knees, for the rain had made the trunk slippery, and we might easily have fallen off. as i got towards the end, i began to hope that it was touching the island. i again called out to arthur. his voice sounded clearer than before. when i got to the end among the tangled mass of roots, i stopped once more to ascertain what duppo advised we should do. i sat some time trying to pierce the gloom. at length i thought i saw a thick bough projecting over the extreme end of our tree. if i could once catch hold of it i might swing myself on to the island. there was one fear, however, that it might give way with my weight. still i saw no other mode of getting to arthur. true, i hoped, might leap along the roots, which were sufficiently buoyant to bear his weight, at all events. having given my rifle to duppo to hold, i cautiously went on. i got nearer and nearer the bough. with one strong effort i might catch hold of it. i sprang up, and seized it with both hands. it seemed firmly fixed in a mass of floating wood. after clambering along for a short distance i let myself down and found footing below me. i now called to duppo, and holding on to the bough above my head with one hand, stepped back till at last i was able to reach the rifle which he held out towards me. true sprang forward, and was in an instant by my side. duppo followed more carefully, and at length we were all three upon the island. "we shall soon find our way to you," i cried out to arthur. "oh, thank you, thank you!" he answered. it was no easy matter, however, to make our way among the tangled mass of trunks and roots and boughs without slipping down into the crevices which yawned at our feet. i could judge pretty well by his voice where arthur was. duppo pulled at my arm. he wished that i would let him go first. this i was glad to do, as i had great confidence in his judgment and activity. following close behind him, we at length got directly under where arthur was perched. "here we are," i cried out, "on a firm trunk. could you not manage to come down?" "i am afraid not," he answered. "stay, then; i will climb up and assist you," i said. putting my gun down, i made my way up the branch. most thankful i was again to press his hand. "i am somewhat sick and hungry," he said; "but now you have come, i shall soon be all right." "well, let me help you down first," i replied. "we have brought some food, and when you have eaten it we will talk more about what has happened to us. i hope we shall manage somehow or other to reach the shore before this island is carried out to sea." "oh yes, i hope so indeed," he said. "i have never thought that likely." i now set to work to help arthur down. duppo stood under the branch and assisted me in placing him at length in a more secure position. "oh, i am so thankful you have come!" he kept repeating; "my only anxiety was about you. still i hoped, as i had so wonderfully escaped, that you might also be safe. all i know is, that i was in the water, and then that i found myself clinging to a bough, and that i gradually pulled myself up out of the water. i believe i fainted, for i found myself lying among a mass of boughs; and when i managed at last to sit up, i discovered that i was floating down the river. not for some time did i feel any sense of hunger. at length, when i did so, i found, greatly to my satisfaction, that i had my wallet over my shoulders, well stored with provisions. they were, to be sure, wet through; but i ate enough to satisfy the cravings of hunger. in the morning i looked about me, hoping to see you on one of the masses of trees which were floating down the stream round me. you may fancy how sad i felt when i could nowhere distinguish you. i knew, however, that it was wrong to give way to despair, so when the sun came forth i dried the remainder of the food, which has supported me hitherto." "but did you feel any pain from your wound?" i asked. "that has been one great anxiety to me. i thought you were truck by a poisoned arrow." "no," he answered. "i pulled it out at once, and had forgotten it, till i felt a pain in my shoulder. then the dreadful thought that it was poisoned came across me, and i expected, for some time, to feel it working within my system. it was perhaps that which made me faint; but as i did not feel any other ill effects, i began to hope that, either in passing through my jacket the poison had been scraped off, or that it has, as i have heard, but slight noxious effects on salt-eating europeans." i agreed with him that this must be the case; indeed, he complained of only a slight pain in the shoulder where the arrow had struck him. in the darkness which surrounded us, i could do no more than give him some of the food we had brought with us. the remainder of the night we sat on the trunk of the tree, duppo and i supporting arthur in our arms, while true crouched down by my side. we could hear the water washing round us, and the wind howling among the branches over our heads. the rain at length ceased, but i felt chilled and cold; and arthur and duppo were, i feared, suffering still more. thus we sat on, doing our best to cheer each other. so long a time had passed since arthur had been struck by the arrow, that i no longer apprehended any dangerous effects from it. still, he was very weak from the long exposure and the want of food, and i became more anxious to get him safe on shore, where, at all events, he might obtain shelter and sufficient nourishment. wherever we might be cast, we should, in all probability, be able to build a hut; and i hoped that with my gun, and duppo's bow, we should obtain an ample supply of game. "now we have found each other, i am afraid of nothing," said arthur. "neither am i," i answered. "still i fear that ellen and john will be very unhappy when they do not see us." we had been talking for some time, when we felt a violent shock. the water hissed and bubbled up below us, and the mass of trees on which we floated seemed as if they were being torn asunder. such, indeed, was the case. duppo uttered a cry of alarm. "what shall we do?" exclaimed arthur. "o harry, do try and save yourself. never mind me. what can have happened?" "we have driven ashore," i answered. "i am nearly certain of it. all we can do till daylight is to cling on to this trunk; or, if you will stay here with duppo, i will try and make my way to the other side, to ascertain where we are." "oh, do not leave me, harry," he said. "i am afraid something may happen to you." we sat on for a few minutes. still the crashing and rending of the boughs and sipos continued. at length i was afraid that we might be swept away by the current, and be prevented from reaching the shore. i therefore told duppo what i wanted to do. he taking arthur by one arm, i supported him by the other, and thus holding him up we tried to force our way among the tangled mass. now we had to hang on by our hands, finding no firm footing for our feet. in vain we tried to force our way onwards. in the darkness i soon saw that it was impossible. a thick wall of sipos impeded our progress. it was not without the greatest difficulty that at length we got back to the trunk we had left. even that was violently tossed about, and i was even now afraid that we might be thrown off it. once more we sat down on the only spot which afforded us any safety. gradually objects became more clear, and then i saw, rising up against the sky, the tall upright stems of trees. they could not be growing on our floating island. i now became aware that the mass on which we sat had swung round. it seemed once more to be moving on. there was no time to be lost. duppo and i again lifted up arthur, and made our way towards the end of the trunk. not till then did i discover that it was in actual contact with the shore. we hurried along. a few feet only intervened between us and the dry land. "stay, i will go first," i exclaimed, and made a sign to duppo to support arthur. i let myself down. how thankful i was to find my feet on the ground, though the water was up to my middle. "here, arthur, get on my back," i cried out. duppo helped him, and in another minute i was scrambling up the bank on the dry ground. duppo let himself down as i had done, and true leaped after us. scarcely were we on shore when the trunk we had left floated off, and we could see the mass, with several detached portions, gliding down the river. where we were we could not tell, but daylight coming on would soon reveal that to us. we sat ourselves down on the bank, thankful that we had escaped from the dangers to which we should have been exposed had we remained longer on the floating island. chapter sixteen. our return. where we had been cast we could not tell. daylight was increasing. the clouds had cleared off. we should soon, we hoped, be able to see our way through the forest, and ascertain our position. we all remained silent for some time, true lying down by my side, and placing his head upon my arm. while thus half between sleeping and waking, i heard a rustling sound, and opening my eyes, half expecting to see a snake wriggling through the grass, they fell on a beautiful little lizard making its way down to the water. at that moment a pile of dry leaves, near which it was passing, was violently agitated, and from beneath them sprung a hairy monster, with long legs and a huge pair of forceps, and seized the lizard by the back of its neck, holding it at the same time with its front feet, while the others were firmly planted in the ground to stop its progress. in vain the lizard struggled to free itself. the monster spider held it fast, digging its forceps deeper and deeper into its neck. i was inclined to go to the rescue of the little saurian, but curiosity prevented me, as i wished to see the result of the attack, while i knew that it had already, in all probability, received its death-wound. the struggles of the lizard grew feebler and feebler. its long tail, which it had kept whisking about, sank to the ground, and the spider began its meal off the yet quivering flesh. i touched arthur, and pointed out what was taking place. "the horrid monster," he exclaimed. "i must punish it for killing that pretty little lizard." before i could prevent him, he had jumped up and dealt the spider a blow on the head. on examining it i found that it was a great crab-spider, one of the formidable _arachnida_, which are said to eat young birds and other small vertebrates, though they generally, like other spiders, live upon insects. this spider--the _mygagle avicularia_--will attack humming-birds, and, indeed, other small specimens of the feathered tribe. when unable to procure its usual food of ants, it lies concealed under leaves as this one had done, and darts out on any passing prey which it believes it can manage; or if not, it climbs trees and seizes the smaller birds when at roost, or takes the younger ones out of their nests. it does not spin a web, but either burrows in the ground, or seeks a cavity in a rock, or in any hollow suited to its taste. i had never seen any creature of the spider tribe so monstrous or formidable. under other circumstances i should have liked to have carried the creature with us to show to my companions. as soon as arthur had killed it, duppo jumped up and cut off the two forceps, which were as hard and strong as those of a crab; and i have since seen such set in metal and used as toothpicks, under the belief that they contain some hidden virtue for curing the toothache. the rest had almost completely cured arthur's sprained ankle, and on examining his shoulder, i found that the arrow had inflicted but a slight wound, it having merely grazed the upper part after passing through his clothes. this, of course accounted for the little inconvenience he had felt. still, i believe, even had the wound been deeper, the poison would not have affected him. i was indeed very thankful to see him so much himself again. we were now aroused, and, getting on our feet, looked about as to settle in which direction we should proceed. we soon found that we were at the western end of an island, and as the distant features of the landscape came into view, we felt sure that it was the very one, near the entrance of the igarape, where we had first landed. we had supposed that we had floated much further down the river. "the first thing we have to do is to build a raft, and to get back to our friends," i said to arthur. "we shall have little difficulty, i hope, in doing that. we must lose no time, and we shall be able to reach them before night." this discovery raised our spirits. we had first, however, to look out for a bed of rushes to form the chief part of the intended construction. the experience we had gained gave us confidence. we explained to duppo what we proposed doing, and set forward along the northern shore of the island. we were more likely to find on that side, in its little bays and inlets, the materials we required. the axe which duppo had saved was of great importance. we had made our way for a quarter of a mile along the beach, when the increasing density of the underwood threatened to impede our further progress. still we had not found what we required. "i think i see the entrance of an inlet, and we shall probably find reeds growing on its banks," said arthur. "we can still, i think, push our way across these fern-like leaves." we pressed forward, though so enormous were the leaves of which he spoke, that a single one was sufficient to hide him from my sight as he made his way among them. duppo and true followed close behind me, but true could only get on by making a succession of leaps, and sometimes duppo had to stop and help him through the forked branches, by which he ran a risk every instant of being caught as in a trap. "i think i see the mouth of the inlet close ahead," said arthur. "if we push on a few yards more we shall reach it. get the axe from duppo and hand it to me; i must cut away some sipos and bushes, and then we shall get there." i did as he requested. i had broken down the vast leaves which intervened between us, when i saw him beginning to use his axe. he had made but a few strokes when a loud savage roar, which came from a short distance off, echoed through the wood. his axe remained uplifted, and directly afterwards a sharp cry reached our ears. "that is a woman's voice," i exclaimed. "where can it come from?" duppo, as i spoke, sprang forward, and endeavoured to scramble through the underwood, as did true. "cut, arthur, cut," i exclaimed. "unless we clear away those sipos we shall be unable to get there." arthur needed no second bidding, and so actively did he wield his axe, that in a few seconds we were able to push onwards. again the savage roar sounded close to us, but the cry was not repeated. "oh, i am afraid the brute has killed the poor creature, for surely that must have been a human being who cried out," exclaimed arthur. we dashed on, when, reaching the water, we saw, scarcely twenty yards off, on the opposite bank, a canoe, in which were two persons. one lay with his head over the gunwale; the other, whom i at once recognised as our friend illora, was standing up, no longer the somewhat retiring, quiet-looking matron, but more like a warrior amazonian--her hair streaming in the wind, her countenance stern, her eyes glaring, and with a sharp spear upraised in her hands, pointed towards a savage jaguar, which, with its paws on the gunwale, seemed about to spring into the canoe. it was too evident that her husband had been seized, and to all appearance killed. what hope could she have of resisting the savage creature with so slight a weapon. that very instant i dreaded it would spring on her. poor duppo shrieked out with terror; but though his mother's ears must have caught the sound, she did not withdraw her glance from the jaguar. she well knew that to do so would be fatal. duppo made signs to me to fire, but i feared that in so doing i might miss the jaguar and wound one of his parents. yet not a moment was to be lost. my rifle, fortunately, was loaded with ball. i examined the priming, and prayed that my arm might be nerved to take good aim. again the brute uttered a savage growl, and seemed on the point of springing forward, when i fired. it rose in the air and fell back among the foliage, while illora thrust her spear at it with all her force. not till then did she seem to be aware of our presence. then waving to us, she seized the paddle and brought the canoe over to where we were standing. duppo leaped in and lifted up his father. the blood had forsaken his dark countenance; his eyes were closed, his head was fearfully torn--the greater part of the hair having been carried away. illora knelt down by his side, resting his head upon her arm. arthur and i felt his pulse. it still beat. we made signs to his wife that he was alive, for she had evidently thought him dead. i fortunately had a large handkerchief in my pocket, and dipping it in water, bound up his head. he appeared to revive slightly. illora then made signs to us that she wished to go down the river. we did not even stop to look what had become of the jaguar, convinced that he was killed. no time was to be lost. having placed maono on some leaves in the stern of the canoe, she seized one of the paddles and urged it out into the main stream. duppo took another paddle. fortunately there were two spare ones at the bottom of the canoe. arthur and i seized them. illora paddled away, knowing well that the life of her husband depended on her exertions. however callous may be the feelings of indians generally, both she and duppo showed that they possessed the same which might have animated the breasts of white people. every now and then i saw her casting looks of anxiety down on her husband's face. he remained unconscious, but still i had hopes that if attended to at once he might recover. "i am thankful a jaguar did not spring out on us as we were passing through that thick underwood," observed arthur. "how utterly unable we should have been to defend ourselves." "yes, indeed; and still more so that we did not take up our abode there," i remarked. "probably the island is infested with jaguars, and we should have run a great chance of being picked off by them." "i doubt if more than one or two would find support there," he remarked. "how that one, indeed, came there is surprising." "possibly he was carried there on a floating island," i answered. "i doubt whether intentionally he would have crossed from the mainland; for though jaguars can swim, i suppose, like other animals, they do not willingly take to the water." this, i suspect, was the case. we tried to learn from illora how her husband had been attacked. she gave us to understand that, after looking about for us, they had put in there for the night, and were still asleep when the savage brute had sprung out of the thicket and seized maono. she heard him cry out, and had sprung to her feet and seized her lance just at the moment we had found them. "we should be doubly thankful that we were cast on the island and arrived in time to rescue our friend," i observed to arthur. as may be supposed, however, we did not speak much, as we had to exert ourselves to the utmost to impel the canoe through the water. i was, however, thankful when at last we saw the roof of our hut in the distance. we shouted as we approached, "ellen! maria!" great was our delight to see ellen and maria, with domingos, come down to the edge of the water to receive us. as i jumped out, my affectionate little sister threw her arms round my neck and burst into tears. "oh, we have been so anxious about you!" she exclaimed; "but you have come at last. and what has happened to the poor indian? have you been attacked again by the majeronas?" i told her briefly what had occurred, and set her anxiety at rest with regard to our parents by giving her fanny's note, and telling her how we had found it. i need not repeat her expressions of joy and thankfulness. i then asked for john, as he understood more about doctoring than any of us. he had gone away with his gun to shoot only just before, and might not be back for some time. the indians were at their own settlement, a couple of miles off. "what can we do with him!" i exclaimed. "why not take him to the recluse?" said ellen. "he will know how to treat him." i made illora comprehend what ellen proposed. she signified that that was what she herself wished to do. "then, ellen, we must leave you again," i said. "we must do our best to save the life of our friend." arthur agreed with me, and entreating ellen to keep up her spirits till our return, we again, greatly to illora's satisfaction, jumped into the canoe. "we hope to be back to-morrow morning!" i cried out, as we shoved off. though somewhat fatigued, we exerted ourselves as much as before, and having the current in our favour, made good progress. examining the banks as we went along, i saw how almost impossible it would have been to have effected a landing on that dreadful night of the storm, when we had the raft in tow, for one dense mass of foliage fringed the whole extent, with the exception of a short distance, where i recognised the sand-bank on which arthur had been nearly killed by the anaconda. maono every now and then uttered a low groan when his wife bathed his head with water--the best remedy, i thought, she could apply. the voyage was longer than i had expected, for nearly two hours had passed before we reached the mouth of the igarape, near which the hut of the recluse stood. having secured the canoe, illora lifted up her husband by the shoulders, while we put the paddles under his body, and his son carried his feet. we then hastened on towards the hut. as we came in sight of it, duppo shouted out to announce our approach to the recluse. no one appeared. the door, i saw, was closed, but the ladder was down. we stopped as we got up to it, when duppo, springing up the steps, knocked at the door. my heart misgave me. the recluse might be ill. then i thought of the ladder being down, and concluded that he was absent from home. again duppo knocked, and obtaining no reply, opened the door and cautiously looked in. no one was within. what were we to do? were we to wait for the return of the owner, or go back to our settlement? i advised that maono should be carried within, and proposed waiting till he appeared. we lifted him up and placed him under the shade of the verandah. meantime duppo collected a number of dried leaves, with which to form a bed, as he was not in a fit state to be placed in a hammock. i then advised illora to send duppo for water, while arthur and i went out and searched for the recluse, in the hope that he might be in the neighbourhood. we first went to his plantation, thinking that he might be there, but could nowhere find him. it appeared, indeed, as if it had not been lately visited, as it was in a far more disordered state than when we had before seen it. we were afraid of going into the forest, lest we should lose our way; we therefore turned back and proceeded up the igarape, which would serve as a guide to us. it grew wilder and wilder as we went on. at length we reached a spot which we could not possibly pass. the trunks of the mighty trees grew close to the water, their roots striking down into it, while thousands of sipos and air-plants hung in tangled masses overhead, and huge ferns with vast leaves formed a dense fringe along the banks. near us the trunk of an aged tree, bending over the water, covered with parasitic plants, had been seized by the sipos from the opposite side, and hung, as it were, caught in their embrace, forming a complete bridge across the igarape. i have already described these wonderful air-plants. they here appeared in greater numbers and more varied form than any we had yet seen. flights of macaws and parroquets flew here and there through the openings, or climbed up and down, cawing and chattering in various tones. although i should have liked to have obtained some, i saw that, should i kill any, they would have fallen where it would be impossible to get at them, for even true could not have made his way through the wood; and i was afraid that if they fell into the water, he might be snapped up by an alligator who might be lurking near. we were on the point of turning away, when arthur exclaimed, "i see something moving high up the igarape, among those huge leaves." i scrambled down to where he was standing, and presently, amid the dim light, a human figure came into view. at first it seemed as if he was standing on the water, but as he slowly approached we saw that a raft of some sort was beneath his feet. he was hauling himself along by the branches, which hung low down, or the tall reeds or leaves fringing the banks. "i do believe it is the recluse," whispered arthur to me. "what can have happened to him?" we waited till he came nearer. he looked even wilder and more careworn than usual. he had no covering on his head except his long hair, while he had thrown off his coat, which lay on the raft. slowly and not without difficulty he worked his way on. he did not perceive us till he was close to where we stood. "can we help you, sir?" i said. "we came to look for you." "what induced you to do that?" he asked. "i thought no human being would care for me." "but we do, sir," said arthur, almost involuntarily. "you can be of service to one of your friends, a poor indian, who has been severely hurt." "ah! there is something to live for then!" he exclaimed, looking up at us. "but i must have your assistance too. i have injured my leg; and had i not been able to reach the igarape and construct this raft, i must have perished in the forest. i have with difficulty come thus far, and should have had to crawl to my hut, as i purposed doing, had you not appeared to assist me. my canoe i had left a league or two further away, and could not reach it." "oh, we will gladly help you, sir," exclaimed arthur; "and if you will let us, we will tow the raft down nearer to the hut." "it is strange that you should have come; and i accept your offer," answered the recluse. we soon cut some long sipos, and fastening them together we secured one end to the raft. the recluse sat down, evidently much exhausted by his previous exertions; and while we towed the raft along, he kept it off the bank with a long pole. when we got down opposite the hut, we assisted him to land. he could not move, however, without great difficulty. "let me go and call mora and duppo, that we may carry you in the litter on which i was brought to your hut," said arthur. "no, no; i can get on, with your assistance, without that," answered the recluse, placing his arms on our shoulders. he groaned several times, showing the pain he suffered; but still he persevered, and at length we reached the hut. we had great difficulty in getting him up the ladder. when he saw maono, he seemed to forget all about himself. "my hurt can wait," he observed. "we must attend to this poor fellow." having examined the indian's head, he produced a salve, which he spread on a cloth, and again bound it up. "a european would have died with such a wound," he observed; "but with his temperate blood, he will, i hope, escape fever." having attended to his guest, he allowed arthur and i to assist him in binding up his leg, and in preparing a couch for him in his own room, instead of the hammock in which he usually slept. he explained to illora how she was to treat her husband, and gave her a cooling draught which he was to take at intervals during the night. having slung his hammock in the outside room, arthur and i lay down, one at each end; while the indian woman sat up to keep watch, and duppo coiled himself away on one of the chests. at daybreak, arthur, hearing the recluse move, got up and asked him if he could be of any service. "yes, my good lad," answered our host; "you can help me to bind this limb of mine afresh. bring me yonder jar of ointment!" i heard what was said, though i could not see what was going forward. "thank you, my lad," said the recluse. "no woman's hand could have done it better. now go and see how the indian has passed the night." arthur came out, and having looked at maono, reported that he was still sleeping quietly. "he must not be disturbed then," was the answer. "when he wakes i will attend to him. now, go and see what food you can obtain. my plantations will afford you some; or if not, your brother will be able to shoot some birds. he will find troops of toucans and parrots not far off. some farinha will be sufficient for me." "harry will, i am sure, do his best to kill some game," said arthur; "but you called him my brother. though he is a dear friend, we are not related. he has father, and mother, and sisters; and the gentleman you saw is his brother; but i have no relations--none to care for me except these kind friends." "i know not if you are to be pitied then," said the recluse. "if you have none to care for you, you are free to take your own way." "oh, but i do care for the kind friends who brought me out here," exclaimed arthur. "and i feel that i care for you; and i ought to do so, as you took care of me and nursed me when i was ill." the recluse was silent, and arthur came into the larger apartment. the recluse was sufficiently recovered during the day to be placed in his more airy hammock in the outer room. his eyes, i observed, were constantly following arthur. "it is strange," i heard him whispering to himself. "there is a resemblance, and yet, it is so unlikely." maono was going on favourably; and the recluse was able to crawl from his hammock to attend to him as often as was necessary. i was very anxious to get back to ellen and john; especially to assist in finishing the canoe, that we might at soon as possible recommence our voyage down the river. i proposed, therefore, that arthur and i should set off at once, as i thought we could find our way through the forest without difficulty. the recluse seemed far from pleased at my proposal. "i would not deprive you of the society of your friend," he said, "but he will be of great assistance to me if he can remain; and you can call for him when you come down the river. instead of him, take the boy duppo with you. he may be of more use in guiding you through the forest. the indian woman will probably wish to remain with her husband." i found that arthur was ready to stay with the recluse. "poor man," he said, "i may, i think, be of some service in soothing his mind, as well as assisting him as he wishes. i do not like to leave you, harry; but if you do not object, i will remain. i wish, however, that you would go in the canoe." "she is too heavy, i fear, to paddle against the stream," i answered; "and if i have duppo as a guide, i would rather return through the forest." i explained this to the indians, who at once consented that duppo should return with me; while illora remained to nurse her husband. as there was time to reach our location before dark, i begged to set off at once. duppo and i stored our wallets with fresh farinha; and i hoped to kill a toucan, or a brace of parrots, on our way, which would afford us sufficient food. as no time was to be lost, we set off at once. duppo showed some affection when parting from his mother. she was certainly less demonstrative, however, than a european would have been. he was evidently very proud of being allowed to attend on me. he led the way with unerring instinct through the forest; and i felt that there was no danger of losing the path, as john and i had done when travelling in the same direction. i kept my eyes about me as we proceeded, hoping to shoot some game, as we had but a limited supply of food. i got a shot at a toucan, which was climbing with bill and claws up a tree above our heads. it hung on to the branch for an instant, and i was afraid i should lose it. its claws and beak, however, soon let go, and down it came, its beautiful plumage shining in the sun as it fell. i could scarcely bring myself to kill it; but i had to confess that necessity has no laws, and should as willingly at that moment have shot the most gaily-coloured macaw or parroquet. it would, however, afford duppo and i, and true, but a scanty meal; i therefore kept my gun ready for another shot. going on a little further, directly in front of us a beautiful deer started up from behind a thicket. true darted forward, and flew at the creature, which turned round and round to defend itself. i thus had the opportunity of having a good aim, and wounded the deer in the neck. duppo started off in pursuit. he had brought his father's blow-pipe instead of his own, which he had lost. it was too heavy, however, for him to manage. i thought we should have lost the deer; but kneeling down, he raised it on a hanging sipo, and let fly an arrow, which struck the animal. he had time to send another shaft before the deer got out of sight. then calling to me, he urged me to pursue it. away we went through the forest, true at the heels of the deer, and i following duppo as closely as i could. still, notwithstanding its wounded condition, there seemed every probability of its escaping. duppo thought otherwise, and continued the pursuit; though i could not perceive either the animal or its track. he was right, however; for in ten minutes we again caught sight of it, moving slowly. just as we reached it, it sank to the ground. it was the first deer we had killed; though i had seen several scampering in the distance through the more open parts of the forest, and i believe they are numerous along the banks of the amazon and its tributaries. we packed up as much of the flesh as we could carry, and hung the remainder on the branch of a tree. we were walking on with our loads, when a loud crashing sound echoed through the forest. i had never seen duppo show any sign of fear before, but he now came close up to me, trembling all over. "what is the matter?" i asked. all was again silent for some minutes. then came from the far distance the melancholy howl, which had often kept us awake at night--the cries, i felt sure, of howling monkeys. they again ceased; and a loud clang sounded through the forest, such as i had read of in that wonderful romance, "the castle of otranto." duppo grew more and more alarmed; and now caught hold of my jacket, as if i could protect him. i was puzzled to account for the sound; but still i saw nothing very alarming in it. when, however, a loud piercing cry rent the air, coming, i could not tell from whence, i confess that i felt somewhat uncomfortable. poor duppo trembled all over, and clung to my arm, exclaiming, "_curupira_! _curupira_!" true pricked up his ears, and barked in return. "do not be afraid, duppo," i said, trying to encourage him. "it may have been only the shriek of a monkey, caught by a jaguar or puma." he, however, seemed in no way disposed to be satisfied by any explanations which i could suggest of the noises we had heard. as we proceeded, he tried to explain to me that he was sure that that part of the forest was haunted by a spirit, which made the noises. it was like a huge monkey, covered with long shaggy hair. he committed, he said, all sorts of mischief. he had a wife and family, whom he taught to do as much harm as himself; and that, if they caught us, they would certainly play us some trick. i tried to laugh away his fears, but not with much success. at last he gained a little more confidence, and walked on ahead to show the way. no other sound was heard. he looked back anxiously to see that i was close to him. among the fruits i observed numbers of a curious bean-like description. several species had pods fully a yard long hanging to delicate stalks, and, of course, very slender. others were four inches wide, and short. while i was looking down to pick up some of the curious beans i have mentioned, i saw the big head of a creature projecting from a hole. for a moment i thought it was a large serpent, but presently out hopped a huge toad in pursuit of some little animal which had incautiously ventured near its den. presently it gave sound to a most extraordinary loud snoring kind of bellow, when true dashed forward and caught it. i rescued the creature before his teeth had crushed it. on recovering its liberty, it croaked away as lustily as before. on measuring it, i found it fully seven inches long, and as many broad. it had a considerable enlargement of the bone over the eyes, while the glands behind the head were of great size. i knew it thus to be the agua toad--_bufa agua_. i had no doubt that he and his brothers produced some of the hideous noises we had heard at night. i have since read that these toads will kill rats, and that a number of them were carried to jamaica for the purpose of keeping down the swarms of rats which devastated the plantations of that island. i found, indeed, the bones of several rodent animals near its den. it was somewhat remarkable, but a few minutes afterwards i saw another toad lying quietly on the ground. i kept true back, not wishing to let him hurt the creature. i saw some small animals moving on its back, and stooping down, what was my surprise to see a number of little toads scrambling out of holes apparently in its skin. first out came one, and slipping down the fat sides of the big toad, hopped along on the ground. another little head directly afterwards burst its way through the skin, and imitated the example of its small brother. several others followed. even duppo, in spite of his late fright, could not help bursting out laughing. the colour of the big toad was a brownish-olive and white below; but the head was most extraordinary, as it had a snout almost pointed, the nostrils forming a kind of leathery tube. the creature was, i at once guessed, the surinam toad--_pipa americana_--which i knew was found, not only in surinam, but in other parts of this region. it is, though one of the ugliest of its race, one of the most interesting. the male toad, as soon as the eggs are laid, takes them in its paws, and places them on the back of the female. here, by means of a glutinous secretion, they adhere, and are imbedded, as it were, in a number of cells formed for them in the skin. ultimately a membrane grows over the cells and closes them up. the eggs are here hatched, and the young remain in them till their limbs have grown and they can manage to take care of themselves. the skin of the back is very thick, and allows room for the formation of the cells, each of which is sufficiently large to contain a small-sized bean placed in it edgeways. as soon as the brood have left the cells, they are again closed, giving a very wrinkled appearance to the back. duppo made signs to me that the creature was good to eat; but i must say, i should have been very hard pressed for food before i should have been tempted to try it. i succeeded in dragging true away, and prevented him interfering with the family arrangements of the wonderful _batrachian_. we met with several other curious frogs and toads, but the creatures which abounded everywhere, and unfortunately surpassed all others in numbers, were the ants--_termites_. the termites, i should remark, differ from the true ants by appearing out of the egg with their limbs formed, and in the same shape they bear through life. some we met with in our walk were an inch and a quarter in length, and stout in proportion. the creatures were marching in single file, coming out from a hole formed in the roots of a small tree. i took up one to examine it, and received a sting for my pains, but the pain soon went off. we all suffered much more from the stings of several smaller ants, especially the fire-ants, by which we had on more than one occasion been attacked. although i had twice before made the trip through the forest, i still felt certain that we were far from the hut, when duppo signified to me that we should soon reach it. just then i heard a shot, and a magnificent macaw fell down a short distance ahead of us. true dashed forward, and directly afterwards i heard john's voice. i hurried on. "yes, we are all well," answered john to my inquiries, as he took my load of venison and slung it over his more sturdy shoulders. "the canoe is finished, and we were only waiting for your return to set out. no positive news about our parents; but the indians describe having seen a canoe with white people, women among them, pass down the river several weeks ago ellen feels sure it was they who were seen; though, as is sometimes the case with her, dear girl, she can give no other reason than her own feelings. i am disappointed at not seeing arthur; but we must put in to take him on board, and save him the journey through the forest." of course john wanted to know all about our adventures, and i briefly recounted them as we walked homewards. "it is, indeed, a mercy that your life was saved," he observed. "i would almost advise you not to tell ellen all the fearful dangers you went through; it will make her nervous, for she even now sometimes dreads that the majeronas will again attack us." "they will certainly not come so far by water," i remarked; "and our friends will give us warning should they venture by land. still, as the canoe is ready, we ought not to delay in commencing our voyage." as soon as we emerged from the thick part of the forest, we caught sight of ellen watching for us in front of the hut. she came running forward, followed by maria and oria, and not only by nimble and toby, but a whole troop of other creatures. john laughed. "there comes our little sister," he said, "with her happy family. she and her young companions have not been idle. it is wonderful how they have contrived to tame all those creatures." in another minute ellen and i were in each other's arms. she looked very well, and glad to see me, but her eye roved about in quest of arthur. she was satisfied, however, when i told her that he had remained behind to attend to the recluse. "i am not surprised at it," she said; "for i could not help fancying that there was some relationship between the two. our strange friend was evidently more interested in arthur than in any of us. in spite of his cold and repelling manner, arthur, too, took greatly to him. however, perhaps i am wrong." "yes; i suspect, ellen, it is but one of your fancies. you would like it to be the case; it would be so interesting and romantic, and so you cannot help thinking that it must be so," observed john. ellen was eager at once to introduce me to her pets. nimble and toby knew me immediately, and climbed up my back without hesitation. "here," said ellen, "is a dear little bird." it was a small heron of a very graceful shape. the plumage was variegated with bars and spots of several colours, as are the wings of certain moths. she called it, and it immediately came up to her with a peculiarly dainty, careful gait. an insect was crawling along the ground. it immediately afterwards pierced it with its slender beak, and gobbled it up. it was the _ardea helias_. john said he had seen the birds perched on the lower branches of trees in shady spots: their note is a soft, long-drawn whistle; they build their nests in trees, of clay, very beautifully constructed. "now i must introduce my _curassow_ turkey," she said, calling another very handsome bird, almost as large as an ordinary turkey. it was of a dark-violet colour, with a purplish-green gloss on the back and breast. the lower part was of the purest white, while the crest was of a bright golden-yellow, greatly increasing the beauty of the bird. john called it the crested curassow--the _crax alector_. "see," she said, "i have greatly increased the number of my feathered friends. look at this beautiful marianna." it was a small parrot, with a black head, a white breast, and orange neck and thighs--a most lovely little creature. as soon as she called it, it came down from its perch and sprang upon her wrist. when she again let it go, off it went, poking its head into the various articles on the verandah, examining a basket of fruits which oria had just brought in, and the pots of which domingos had charge; now pecking at one thing, now another. our indian friend had brought her another parrot called an _anaca_. this was also a beautiful bird, its breast and belly banded with blue and red, while the back of the neck and head were covered with long bright-red feathers margined with blue. true approaching it, up went the crest, looking remarkably handsome. from this crest it obtains the name of the hawk-head parrot. it came when called, but quickly retired in rather a solemn fashion to its perch. "do you know," said ellen, "oria has brought me that beautiful little duck you described. i would rather take that home with me than all the other pets, and yet i should be sorry to lose any of them." "i tell ellen that her menagerie is a mere bait to jaguars or boas, or other prowling animals of the forest," observed john. "what a nice breakfast one of them would make if it found its way into our settlement!" "you shall not frighten me with any such ideas," she answered; "and i hope before we leave the country that i may add many more to my collection. but i have not shown you my humming-bird yet," she said. "i keep it in a cage in the house for fear the others should get at it; but it takes a flight by itself every day, and comes back again when it wants a sip of sirrup, or wishes to go to roost. i must show you some nests of the beautiful little birds which have built not far off. would you like to go and see them at once?" knowing it would please her, while domingos and maria were preparing our evening meal, i accompanied her to a little distance, where, hanging to some long, pendant leaves, she pointed out two little purse-shaped nests, composed, apparently, of some cottony material bound together with spider-web. a graceful little bird was sitting in each of them, with tails having long, pointed feathers. the upper part of their bodies were of a green bronze, except the tail-coverts, which were of a somewhat rusty red; while the tails themselves were of a bronzed tint, broadly tipped with white. i knew them by the shape of their bills and their nests to belong to the genus _phaethornis_. "they are quite accustomed to me now," she said, "and will not fly away even when i go near them." while we were looking, the mate of one of the birds came up and perched close above the nest. as we were going away i saw two others pass by us, of the same size, it seemed to me. another settled on a flower near at hand, when the idea seized me that i could catch it. i struck it with my hat, and down it fell. ellen uttered a cry of sorrow; but stooping down, what was my surprise to find, instead of a humming-bird, a moth so exactly in shape and appearance like the humming-birds, that it was no wonder i had been deceived. "you would not have killed a humming-bird so easily," said ellen; "but i am sorry for the poor moth." the moth, however, though stunned, was not killed. on taking it to the hut i compared it with her tame pet, and was struck by the remarkable similarity in the shape of the head and position of the eye. the extended proboscis represented the long beak of the bird, while at the end of the moth's body was a brush of long hairs, which, as it flew along, being expanded, looked very much like the feathers of the bird's tail. oria, when she saw the moth, told ellen that it would some day turn into a bird; and ellen, i believe, did not succeed in persuading her that such would certainly never happen. the resemblance, of course, is merely superficial, their internal construction being totally different. i have not as yet described nearly all ellen's new pets; but just then, as i was very hungry, i had something else to think of. chapter seventeen. our voyage recommenced. i was awoke the following morning by an unusual commotion among our four-footed and feathered friends. the monkeys were chattering away and running along the rafters, up and down the posts; the parrots were talking energetically together; while true every now and then ran to the door and gave a peculiar bark, coming back again under my hammock. john and domingos were quickly aroused by his barks. "what can be the matter!" i exclaimed. "some animal is outside," answered john, springing out of his hammock. "it has probably been trying to find an entrance into our hut. if a puma or jaguar, we will soon settle him." "oria thinks it is some big serpent, from the way the animals are frightened," said ellen, from her room. "whether big serpent or savage beast, we need not fear it, my sister," answered john, going to the door, which we always kept closed at night for safety's sake. what was our dismay to see a huge serpent coiled round the post of the verandah, with its head moving about as if in march of prey. duppo sprang forward and shut to the door, exclaiming, "_boiguaeu_!" even true ran behind us, not liking to face the monster. from the glimpse we got of it, it seemed of enormous size, and might readily have crushed two or three people together in the folds of its huge body. john and i went back and got our guns ready, while domingos and duppo kept guard at the door. "i said those pets of ellen's would serve as baits some day for one of those creatures!" exclaimed john. "however, if we can hit it in the head, we need not fear its doing us any harm." having carefully examined the loading of our firearms, we told domingos again to open the door. he seemed, however, very unwilling to do so, alleging that the serpent might dart in and seize some one before we could kill it. not till john had insisted upon it would he consent. "oh, my dear young masters, do take care!" he exclaimed. "if you would but wait, perhaps the creature would crawl away. suppose you miss it, you do not know what may happen." "now," cried john, "calm your fears, and open the door." domingos on this pulled open the door, springing back himself at the same time, while john and i stepped forward with our rifles, ready to fire. the serpent was gone. we looked about in every direction. it was not pleasant to know that so dangerous a monster was in our neighbourhood. domingos said he was sure it was hid away somewhere, and duppo agreed with him. we hunted about anxiously, but nowhere could we discover it. believing that it had altogether gone away, we told ellen and her companions that they might venture out. ellen came fearlessly, but maria and the indian girl were evidently far from satisfied, and i saw them glancing round anxiously in every direction. however, as the snake did not appear, we had breakfast, and then went down to work at the canoe. john told me that he had engaged four indians to paddle her, and that he expected them that morning. we were working away, when we heard a low cry, and oria was seen running towards us with looks of terror in her countenance. she uttered a few hurried words to her brother, the meaning of which we could not understand; but he soon showed us by signs that something had happened at the hut. on getting near--for it was concealed where we were at work--we saw, to our dismay, the boa-constrictor coiled as before round one of the outer supports, and evidently intent on making an entrance into the hut. the door was closed. we heard ellen's and maria's voices calling from within. we had unfortunately left our guns in the verandah, and could not get at them without approaching dangerously near to the huge reptile. every moment i dreaded to see it break through the slight door. john and domingos had hatchets in their belts, but we were possessed of no other weapons. how to get rid of the creature was the question. we shouted at the top of our voices, hoping to frighten it away, but our cries had no effect. every moment we knew, too, that it might come down and attack us. ellen and maria were naturally in a great state of alarm. they had secured all their pets, though john suggested that by sacrificing some of them they might possibly satisfy the boa. he shouted out to them a recommendation to that effect. "no, senor john, no!" answered maria from within. "senora ellen says she would remain here for a week, rather than give up one to the horrid monster." as we stood at a respectful distance, the serpent now and then turned his head, as if he would dart at us, when domingos cried out, "oh, my young masters! fly! fly! the boiguaeu is coming!" "we must cut its head off if it does!" exclaimed john, "i have a great mind to dash in and get hold of my gun." i entreated him not to attempt so rash an experiment. while we were watching the serpent, the indians we had been expecting appeared, emerging from the thick part of the forest, duppo and oria ran towards them. they seemed to be telling them about the boa. instead of coming on to our assistance, however, away they started back into the forest. "the cowards!" exclaimed john; "they have run off and left us to fight the battle by ourselves." "i am not quite so certain of that," i answered. we waited. still the boa did not move, but continued watching the door. probably through one of the chinks its eye had caught sight of nimble or true, who had also fortunately been inside. after waiting till our patience was nearly exhausted, the indians re-appeared, carrying between them a young peccary, while others carried long coils of sipos. at some little distance from the hut they stopped, when one of them climbed a tree, to which he secured a loop of sipos, passing through it another long line. at the end of this a loop was formed. with a stake they secured the peccary close to the loop, so that to get at it the serpent must run its head through the noose. the peccary, having its snout tied up, was unable to squeak. as soon as the arrangement was made, they retired to a distance, holding the other end of the line. one of them then unloosed the peccary's muzzle, when the creature instantly began to grunt. at that instant the serpent turned its head, and, unwinding its huge body, made its way towards the animal. in another moment almost the peccary was struck, and the huge serpent began to fold its body round it. its own head, however, was meantime caught in the noose, but this it apparently did not feel, and opening its wide jaws, began to suck in the animal. as it did so the indians pulled the noose tighter and tighter. the teeth of the reptile are so formed that it could not again force the peccary out of its mouth, while the noose prevented it swallowing it. john and i eagerly sprang forward and seized our guns, but duppo now coming up, told us that there was no necessity to use them, as in a short time the boa would be dead. as the boa lay on the ground john boldly rushed up and gave it a blow with his axe. the natives now without fear forced their spears into the creature's mouth, and dragged out the mangled body of the peccary. this done, they hoisted the serpent up by the neck to the branch of the tree, whence it hung down, showing us its full length, which could not have been much less than twenty-five feet. to make sure that it would not come to life again, one of them climbed up, and with his knife split open the body. even during the short time it had coiled itself round the peccary it had broken every bone in the creature's body. i observed that it placed coil above coil, as if to increase the force of the pressure, and it had instantly begun to swallow its prey without first lubricating it, as it is erroneously described as doing. the part of the peccary which had entered the mouth was, however, covered with saliva, but this had only been poured upon it in the act of swallowing. we thanked the indians for the assistance they had given us in killing our enemy. they had come, they said, to finish the canoe, and also to inquire about maono and illora, whose absence had caused the tribe great alarm. they had also brought us some mandioca-flour and a supply of fruits. farinha or flour, i should say, is produced from the same root--cassava, or manioc--as is tapioca, and is like it in appearance, only of a yellower colour, caused by the woody fibre mixed with the pure starch which forms the tapioca. there were also several cabbage-palms, always a welcome addition to our vegetables. among the fruit were some pine-apples, which had been procured in a dry treeless district--so we understood--some miles in the interior. ellen begged that they would remove the body of the serpent to a distance, as she did not at all like seeing it hanging up to the tree near us. fastening sipos to it, they accordingly dragged it away. by the following morning not a particle of it remained, it having furnished a feast to several armadillos, vultures, and other birds of prey. the last evening of our stay had arrived. our provision were ready for embarking, and all our goods packed up. i was awoke by hearing domingos cry out-- "some rats, or other creatures, have got into the hut, and are eating up the farinha." on striking a light, we hurried to the corner in which our provisions were stored, intending to drive out the intruders, when, instead of rats, we found a column of ants passing to and fro between the door and our baskets of food. each of them carried a grain of a tapioca-like substance as big as itself. in vain we tried to drive them off. though hundreds were killed, others came on in a most determined manner, as if they had resolved to rob us at all cost. at last john proposed that we should blow them up. we called out to ellen not to be alarmed, and then spread a train of powder across the column, when we set it on fire. this seemed to stagger them, but others still came on. not till we had performed the operation three times did they seem to discover their danger, when the first coming on turned round and warned those behind, and the whole took their departure. the next morning we traced them to a spot at a considerable distance, where we came upon a mound of earth between two or three feet high, and nearly eleven yards in circumference. this we found was the dome which protected the entrance to the abode of our visitors of the previous night. it was a wonder they had not found us out before. it was of a different colour to the surrounding ground. this was owing to its being composed of the under-soil brought up from below. we perceived a number of small holes in the sides--the commencement of galleries. we discovered, on digging into it, that each led to a broad gallery four feet in diameter. this again led down into the centre of the wonderful habitation. "hilloa!" cried arthur; "here comes birnam wood in miniature." he was at some distance from us. on going up to him we found what looked like a vast number of leaves moving along over the ground. on examining them, we discovered that each was of the size and shape of a small coin, and carried by an ant. on tracing them back we found the tree at which they were at work. it was covered by vast multitudes. each ant was working away at a leaf, cutting out a circle with its sharp scissor-like jaws. as soon as the operation was complete, it lifted it up vertically and marched away towards the mound. as one lot of labourers descended, others ascended and took their places, so that in a short time the tree was denuded of leaves. these leaves were used, we discovered, to thatch the domes of their galleries and halls to keep them dry, and protect the young broods in the nests beneath them. one body of workers was employed in bringing the leaves which they cast down on the hillock, while another placed them so as to form the roof, covering them with a layer of earth brought up in single grains with prodigious labour from the soil below. there appeared to be three different classes of workers--some employed entirely below, others acting as masons or tilers, and others entirely engaged in bringing the materials from a distance. there were, besides, soldiers armed with powerful mandibles, who accompanied the workers for defence, and walked backwards and forwards near them without doing anything. they have also a queen-ant, who dwells in the centre of their castle, and is engaged in laying the eggs, not only to furnish broods for the colony, but to send forth vast numbers of winged ants to form new ones. at the commencement of the year the workers can be seen clearing the galleries, and evidently preparing for some important event. soon afterwards a vast number of winged males and females issue forth, the females measuring two and a quarter inches in expanse of wing, though the males are much smaller. few of them, however, escape to enjoy existence, for they are immediately set upon by numbers of insectivorous animals and devoured. the few females who escape become the mothers of new colonies. while digging, we came upon a snake-like creature about a foot long. directly duppo saw it he entreated us not to touch it, as it was fearfully poisonous, and called it the mother of the saubas. we, however, knew it to be perfectly harmless. he declared that it had a head at each end of its body. we convinced him, however, that he was wrong, by showing him the head and tail. the body was covered with small scales, the eyes were scarcely perceptible, and the mouth was like that of a lizard. he asserted that the sauba-ants are very much attached to the snake, and that, if we took it away, they would all desert the spot. in reality, the snake found a convenient hiding-place in the galleries of the ants, while, when in want of food, it could at all times make a substantial meal off them. when the ant-eater opens one of these galleries, the workers immediately run off and hide themselves, while the soldier-ants rush forth to attack the intruder, and, of course, immediately fall victims; thus preserving, by the sacrifice of their own lives, the rest of the community. the peculiar motion of the snake we found, scientifically called _amphisbaenae_, wriggling as it does backwards and forwards, has given rise to the idea of its having two heads. duppo told us many other stories about it, which i have no space to mention. these ants sometimes form mounds from thirty to forty yards in circumference, and have been known to burrow even under rivers. as they attack fruit-trees, they are a great pest to the inhabitants of the settled parts of the country, and are sometimes destroyed by forcing fumes of sulphur through their galleries. their chief use in the economy of nature seems to be the consumption of decayed vegetable matter, as they are exclusively vegetarians. while the indians were getting the boat down to the water, and ellen and her attendants, assisted by domingos, were packing up, john, duppo, and i took a ramble into the woods to kill some more game, as we were not likely to have anything but fish for some time to come. as we were going along, i heard the twittering of some dull-plumaged birds in the bushes, and was trying to get a shot at them, when i saw john, who was a little way ahead, jumping about in the most extraordinary manner. duppo cried out, on seeing him, "tauoca!" and made a sign to us to run off, himself setting the example. john followed. "i have been attacked by an army of ants," he exclaimed. "see, here are hundreds sticking to me." duppo and i went to his assistance, and we found his legs covered with ants with enormous jaws, holding on so tight to the flesh that, in pulling them off, the heads of many were left sticking in the wounds they had made. we caught sight of the column which was advancing, about six deep, with thinner columns foraging on either side of the main army. creatures of all sorts were getting out of their way with good cause, for whenever they came upon a maggot, caterpillar, or any larvae, they instantly set upon it and tore it to pieces, each ant loading itself with as much as it could carry. a little in front of them was a wasp's nest, on a low shrub. they mounted the twigs, and, gnawing away at the papery covering, quickly got at the larvae and the newly-hatched wasps. these they carried off in spite of the efforts of the enraged parents, who kept flying about them. they were ecitons, or foraging ants, of which there are numerous species. they also came upon a bank, in their course, in which was a nest belonging to a large species of white ant. they forced their way in, attacked them, and dragged out the bodies of the slain. these were cut into three or four pieces, each of which was lifted up by an eciton and carried off. however, a volume could be filled with accounts of the numberless ants and termites of south america, and their curious and varied habits. one species is quite blind; others tunnel as they go, or form ways to enable them to make their attacks in secret. for this purpose the little creatures will form miles of covered ways. some build their nests of clay in trees, and others hollow out abodes under the bark. they vary, too, in size and form. some are half an inch long; some white, others red and black; some sting furiously. the ants inhabiting trees are those which commit depredations in houses chiefly. the most annoying of the species is the fire-ant--a little creature of a shining reddish colour. they live in the sand, where they form subterranean galleries covered by a sandy dome. they enter houses, and attack eatables of all sorts. when they attack human beings they fix their jaws in the flesh, and, doubling up their tails, sting with all their might; and a very fearful sting it is. when we met with them we were obliged to smear the ropes of our hammocks with balsam of _copauba_. eatables are suspended in baskets by ropes covered with the same balsam, and the legs of chairs and footstools are also covered to prevent their climbing up and stinging those sitting on them. villages have sometimes been deserted in consequence of the attacks of these fierce little insects. however, they are only found on the sandy banks of the river and drier parts of the country. after this digression i must continue my narrative. we shot only two or three birds, and then had to hurry back to prepare for our departure. our new canoe floated well, but was smaller than we could have wished. over the centre was an awning of palm-leaves, under which was seated ellen, with her black and brown attendants and her numerous pets, surrounded by our goods and chattels. four indians sat in the bows to paddle, while john and domingos took it by turns to steer. duppo had especial charge of the various pets, while i was glad to be relieved from the labour of paddling. i had my gun ready for a shot, and we kept out our books of natural history, which i wished to search through, and two or three others for reading. we were thankful to be once more on our voyage, but still we could not help looking with some interest and regret at the beautiful spot in which we had spent the last few weeks. "all on board?" cried domingos. "on, boys, on!" and giving a shove with his pole, we left the bank and glided down the stream, our dark-skinned crew keeping time with their paddles to the monotonous song which they struck up. although the wet season was commencing, the weather promised to be fair for a time; and we hoped soon to have arthur on board, and to continue our voyage without interruption till we should at length fall in with those dear ones of whom we were in search. i have already described the broad river, and the wall of strangely varied and lofty trees which border it. we kept along the left bank, not to run the risk of missing the entrance to the igarape of the recluse, as we called it. "do you think we shall persuade him to come with us?" asked ellen. "i should be so delighted if we could draw him out of his strange way of life and restore him to society." john thought there was little chance of our doing so. "if anybody can, i think arthur may," i observed. "then you agree with me in my notion?" said ellen. "it is possible you may be right," i answered; "but yet it would be very strange." the recluse formed the chief subject of our conversation during the day's voyage. at length we approached his igarape. i almost expected to see him and arthur standing on the bank, but looked out in vain. to give them notice of our approach, i fired off my rifle. we had already made the canoe fast at our former landing-place. ellen, john, and i were going towards the hut when arthur appeared. "o arthur will he come--will he come?" cried out ellen. arthur shook his head. "i am very glad to see you," he said; "but if you had delayed a few days longer perhaps he would have made up his mind. however, you must come and try what you can do." "and how is maono?" i asked. "he is wonderfully recovered, but is still unable to move." "i hope he and his wife will not insist on oria remaining with them!" said ellen. "i think not," answered arthur. "were it not for their other children, they would like to come themselves, i suspect, were maono better. but you must come and see our friend; he has been so kind and gentle, and talked a great deal to me. i have been greatly puzzled to know the meaning of some of his questions. sometimes he spoke as if he would like me to remain with him; but when i told him that i could not leave you, my old friends, he agreed that i ought not." as we entered the open space before the hut of the recluse he advanced to meet us, and courteously invited us to remain till the next day. we had wished to push on, as we had still some hours of daylight; but arthur begged us so earnestly to remain, that at last john agreed to do so. the indians built themselves a hut near the canoe, in which domingos remained to watch over our goods; while we passed the night at the hermitage. ellen tried her utmost to persuade our host to accompany us; but he declined, saying that he could not abandon his present mode of life, and would not desert his patient maono till he had recovered. maono and illora showed more pleasure at seeing us than is usually exhibited by indians. his head was still bound up, and both he and his wife appeared clothed in light garments, which, though not so picturesque as their savage want of attire, made them look much more civilised. the next morning we were on foot before daybreak, and having breakfasted, and bid farewell to the chief and his wife, repaired at early dawn to the canoe, attended by the recluse. again arthur entreated him to accompany us, observing that maono had so far recovered that illora might attend to him without his aid. he seemed to hesitate, but finally shook his head, saying, "it cannot be; no, it cannot be!" "then do you wish me to remain with you?" asked arthur, looking up in his face. the recluse seemed to be agitated with contending feelings. "no, boy, no!" he answered. "i cannot allow you to leave friends who have shown that they are interested in your welfare. but take this packet, and do not open it till you have rejoined mr faithful's family. you will, i doubt not, ere long find them, for from the information i have obtained they some time ago proceeded down the river. where they are settled i cannot tell, but two if not more messengers have been despatched by them in search of you, some of whom have either gone higher up the river, or have fallen victims to the treacherous savages." arthur took the packet from the recluse with a look of surprise. "it will explain all," said the latter. "put it by now, and keep it carefully. i have acted for the best, and you will acknowledge that when you come to notice the contents." saying this, he pressed arthur's hand, and assisting ellen into the canoe, waved an adieu, and turning hastily round, with long hasty strides hurried back towards his abode. the indians stood up and saluted him with signs of respect, and then, at the command of domingos, began to ply their paddles, and we once more recommenced our voyage. arthur watched the recluse till he disappeared among the trees. "it is very, very strange," i heard him say to himself; "i cannot understand it." several times he pulled out the packet and looked at it wistfully. "i must not disobey him," he added aloud, "and yet i long to know what he meant by giving me this." "so do i," said ellen; "but i am sure you ought to obey him." arthur started; he seemed not to be aware that he had been speaking aloud. john looked at ellen. "sister," he said rather gravely, "do not utter your ideas; whatever they may be, you are likely to be wrong." ellen was silent. arthur replaced the packet in his wallet, and the subject was not again alluded to. for several hours we glided down the stream without interruption. in the middle of the day we landed to give our crew rest and to cook our dinner. while the men were resting, we rambled through the forest with duppo. we took duppo that we might not run the risk of losing our way. we had gone on for some distance, when he exclaimed, "_jacare tinga_!" i called true close to me, knowing that the words meant alligator. duppo crept cautiously on. every moment we expected to come up with the monster, though on dry ground we knew we had little cause to fear it. "what is that?" exclaimed john, and he fired his rifle at a creature which went bounding through the forest. for a moment i caught sight of a jaguar, and directly afterwards we came on an alligator which had evidently just been killed by the jaguar. i should have liked to have seen the combat in which the fierce mammal had come off victorious. what mighty strength it must have put forth to kill the huge reptile which lay mangled before us, a considerable portion of the interior devoured. duppo, on seeing it, began to search about in the neighbourhood, and came before long on a conical pile of dead leaves, from among which he dug out upwards of twenty eggs. they were nearly twice the size of those of a duck, and of an elliptical shape. the shells were very hard, of the texture of porcelain, and extremely rough on the outside. duppo rubbed them together, producing a loud sound. then he shook his head, as much as to say, "if the mother were alive that would bring her, but there she lies;" and he then told us that it was the way his people had of attracting alligators when they found a nest, knowing that the female is sure to be near, and will come to see what is the matter with her eggs. we carried them on board as a present to our crew, knowing that they would be acceptable, as the natives are very fond of them. at night we landed on an island, and built our huts in the same style that we had done on descending the napo. and thus, with various incidents which i have not space to recount, we proceeded on our voyage for several days without interruption. chapter eighteen. joyful news. day after day we sailed down the mighty amazon, often the opposite shore appearing like a blue line in the distance, and yet we were upwards of twelve hundred miles from the mouth. now it again narrowed into more river-like proportions. sometimes we found ourselves navigating between numerous islands, cut off from the mainland by the rush of waters; but along the whole extent, often for a hundred miles together, not a hut was to be seen, not a sign of a human habitation. whenever we came near the abode of man we landed, and domingos or john and one of the natives approached cautiously to make inquiries; but hitherto without success. here and there we came to a mission establishment of the portuguese. they consisted generally of the priest's house, a larger building for the church, and a few huts scattered about, inhabited by natives. as far as we could judge, these so-called christian natives were but little raised above their still heathen countrymen, while the effect of the religion they had assumed was to make them more idolatrous and superstitious than before. the priests, however, were very civil, but there was nothing to tempt us to remain at their stations; we therefore, after gaining the information we required, pushed on and camped in our usual way. we agreed that our father had probably acted in the same way, for we could gain no certain news of him. we heard, however, what gave us some anxiety--that the country was in a greatly disturbed state, and that the natives had, in several places, risen against the portuguese, and driven them from their settlements. the poor priests, indeed, seemed unhappy about themselves, and not at all confident that their flocks might not rise and treat them in the same way. one, indeed, gave out strong hints that he would like to accompany us, and would undertake to pilot us down the river; but our canoe had already as many on board as she could carry, while our provisions were so greatly diminished that they would not hold out much longer. we frequently avoided the main channel, the navigation of which in bad weather is dangerous, and made our way through some of the numerous channels filled by the rising waters on either side. thus we paddled on through channels sometimes so narrow that the boughs arched almost overhead, at other times spreading out into lake-like expanses. i have already so frequently described the vegetation, the numberless palms and other trees, some of enormous size, with their festoons of air-plants and climbers of all sorts, that i need not again draw the picture. emerging from a narrow path, we entered a calm and beautiful lake, when there appeared before us, floating on the water, a number of vast circular leaves, amid which grow up the most gigantic and beautiful water-lilies. "oh, what flowers!" exclaimed ellen; "do gather some." "surely those cannot be leaves!" exclaimed arthur. "see, a bird with long legs is walking over them!" john fired, and the bird fell in the centre of the leaf on which it was standing, and which still supported it in the water; and taking it off the leaf, alongside which we paddled, we found it to be a jacana, remarkable for the great length of its toes, especially the hinder one, and their spine-like claws. it was a wonderfully light bird also, and these peculiarities enable it to walk over the leaves of the water-plants and procure its food, which consists of worms. the beak was orange colour, but the greater part of the body black, with the back and wing-coverts of a bright chestnut, with a few yellow touches here and there, and the legs of a greenish-ash colour. we heard the shrill and noisy notes of its fellows in the trees near us. "ah, that is a _piosoca_!" said duppo, "and that leaf is its oven;" and so it was in shape like the pans in which the natives roast their mandioca meal. ellen had, in the meantime, been examining one of the beautiful flowers which the boatmen picked for her. the outside of the leaves was of a delicate white, deepening in colour through every shade of rose to the deepest crimson, and then fading again to a creamy-yellowish tint at the heart. many of the leaves were five feet and upwards in diameter, and perfectly smooth on the upper surface, with an upright edge of an inch to two inches all the way round. we managed, though not without difficulty, to pull up some stalks, and found them covered with long sharp spines. the construction of the leaf was very curious, it being supported below by a number of ribs projecting from the stalk, and giving it greater buoyancy and strength. one of the boatmen, plunging down, brought up a young leaf from the bottom. it had the form of a deep cup or vase, and on examining it we discovered the embryo ribs, and could see how, as they grew, their ramifications stretched out in every direction, the leaf letting out one by one its little folds to fill the ever-widening spaces. at last, when it reaches the surface of the water, its pan-like form rests horizontally above it without a wrinkle. this beautiful lily, then unknown to science, has since been called the victoria regia. nothing could exceed the beauty of this calm lake, covered for a considerable distance with these magnificent flowers. among the lilies appeared a variety of other water-plants, some gracefully bending over like bamboos, others with large deep serrated leaves, while the different forest trees in varied forms rose round us, fringed by a broad band of feathery grass. several trees floated on the borders covered with water-fowl, among which were many ducks and ciganas, while amid the lofty branches of the living forest flew numerous macaws of a red, green, and yellow species, and one of the small flock of the still more beautiful blue macaw, appeared to add their lovely tints to the landscape. such was the scenery through which we passed during the greater part of the day. had we felt sure about the safety of our family, how much more should we have enjoyed it. our anxiety again increased. we had good reason to be anxious about ourselves. our stock of provisions was almost exhausted; all our luxuries except coffee had come to an end, and of that we had very little, while we had only a small supply of farinha remaining. we encamped at the end of our day's voyage through that labyrinth of canals on the only spot we could find free from trees, the rising waters having covered nearly all the ground. while looking for some poles for our hut, i saw on the branch of a tree overhanging the water, gazing down upon us, a hideous monster, fully five feet long, which at the first glance i took to be a species of alligator with which i was unacquainted. presently, as i gazed at it, it filled out a large bag under its throat, and opened its hideous mouth. it was covered with scales, had a long tail, the point of which was hid among the branches, and enormous claws at the end of its legs. i beat a quick retreat, calling to john to come to my assistance with his gun, for i fully believed that the creature would leap off and attack me. the indians, hearing my voice, came towards me, and cut down some long thin sipos, at the end of which they formed a running noose. thus prepared, they boldly advanced towards the creature, and one of them throwing up the noose, adroitly caught it round the neck. the others, taking the end, gave it a sudden jerk, and down it came to the ground. as soon as it regained its feet it boldly made at them, but they nimbly leaped out of its way; and as its movements were slow, there seemed but little risk of its catching them. "why, that must be an iguana!" exclaimed john. while some kept hauling at the creature's neck, turning it when it tried to get away, others ran to the canoe and brought their spears, with which they ran it through the neck, and quickly killed it. it was an iguana (_iguana tuberculata_). though the head was very different from that of the alligator, being blunt, yet, from having a number of sharp teeth, it could evidently have given a severe bite. its head was somewhat large, and covered with large scales. it had an enormous wide mouth, while under its chin was a sort of big dew-lap, which, as it had shown me, it could inflate when angry. at the sides of the neck were a number of tubercles, while the tail was very long, thin, and tapering. it was of a dark olive-green, but the tail was marked with brown and green in alternate rings. the creature was nearly six feet long. the indians seemed highly delighted with their prize, and as soon as our huts were built, commenced skinning and cutting it up. domingos assured us that it was very good to eat, and produced a fricassee for supper, which we could not help acknowledging was excellent. a part also was roasted. shortly afterwards i saw another iguana on the ground. true darted at it, and i shouted to him to come back. fortunately for itself, my shouts startled the iguana, which took to the water, and swam away, sculling itself forward by meant of its long tail at a rapid rate. arthur had manufactured a net for catching insects. as soon as we were seated in front of our hut, enjoying the cool air after the sun had set, ellen exclaimed, "oh, see what beautiful fireworks!" at a short distance from us there appeared suddenly to rise thousands of sparks of great brilliancy. arthur ran forward with his net, and quickly returned, placed the hoop on the ground, and lifted up the end, when so bright was the light which came from the interior that we could without difficulty read a page of the book on natural history we had been examining a short time before. on taking out some of the insects he had caught to look at them more narrowly, arthur placed one on its back, when it sprang up with a curious click and pitched again on its feet. on examining it we found that this was produced by the strong spine placed beneath the thorax, fitting into a small cavity on the upper part of the abdomen. it brings this over its head, and striking the ground with great force, can thus regain its natural position. the creature was about an inch and a half long, and of a brown colour. the light proceeded from a smooth, yellow, semi-transparent spot on each side of the thorax. we found that even with a single one passed over the page we could see the letters clearly. ellen ran and brought a vial, into which we put a dozen, when it literally gave forth the light of a bright lamp, sufficient to write by. it is known in the country as the cocuja. it is the elater, or still more scientifically, the _pyrophorus noctilucus_. the forest behind the hut was literally filled at times with brilliant sparks of light, now vanishing, now bursting forth with greater brightness than at first. the brazilian ladies wear these beetles alive secured in their hair, and sometimes on their dresses, which thus glitter brightly as they move about in the dusk. the next morning at daylight duppo was busily employed hunting about in the neighbourhood, and at length shouted to us to bring a basket. we found he had just discovered the nest of an iguana, filled with eggs. he assured us that they were excellent. on boiling some for breakfast, we agreed with him. like those of the turtle, they did not harden by boiling, but only became somewhat thicker, and were filled almost entirely with yellow, having very little albumen. we all set to work to hunt for more, and were fortunate in finding another nest, the eggs being a welcome addition to our scanty supply of food. the indians meantime, while we were finishing breakfast, set off into the forest, and just as we were ready to start came back with another iguana. we were constantly employed in trying to teach duppo english. arthur was explaining to him the animals of our country, and was mentioning the cow, and describing its milk. he seemed much interested, and then gave us to understand that they also had cows in their land, which, instead of walking about on four legs, grew in the ground, and were of great size. after this he was constantly looking out along the banks, and at length he shouted out to the men, "massaranduba!" and they at once paddled in for the bank. one of them accompanied us with an axe. as we passed along we found on the ground a number of woody vessels, which had evidently contained seeds. duppo picked up one of them, and found another piece close by which fitted on to it, and then told us that they were called monkeys' drinking-cups; the portuguese call them _cuyas de macaco_. these shells had contained nuts. when falling off the tree-- the sapucaya--the tops split off, and the nuts are scattered on the ground. duppo made us understand that these cups would serve well to collect the milk from the cow he promised to show us. i may observe that the trees which bear the monkey drinking-cups are closely allied to the brazil-nut tree, the fruit of which we had often seen sold in england under that name. its seeds are also enclosed in large woody vessels, but they, having no lid, fall entire to the ground, and are thus easily collected by the natives. supplied with these vessels, we went on a few yards further, when we stopped under an enormous tree, one of the giants of the forest. its trunk was covered with deeply scored reddish and rugged bark. duppo patted it, saying, "this my cow." another tree of the same species, but much smaller, grew near. he ran to it, and saying, "small cow give better milk," began to attack it with his axe. after making a few strokes, out flowed a perfectly white liquid, which john, kneeling down, caught in the monkey-cup. as soon as it was filled i handed him another, the milk continuing to flow in great abundance, so that we soon had four cups filled full of the tempting liquid. on tasting it we found it sweet, and of a not unpleasant flavour, and wonderfully like milk. we returned to the boat with our prize. domingos had meantime been boiling some coffee; as we had now no sugar, the fresh milk proved a most valuable acquisition. the indians, however, recommended us not to take much of it. we kept it, intending to use it again in the evening, but on taking off the lid of one of the monkey-cups, we found that our milk had thickened into a stiff and excessively tenacious glue. "my cow good?" asked duppo, as he saw us tasting the liquid. when we showed him the gluey substance in the evening, he inquired sagaciously whether the milk of our cow would keep so long, and we confessed that, in that climate, it would be very likely to turn sour. after this, on several occasions we obtained fresh milk from the cow-tree for our breakfasts and suppers. we encamped at night on a bank, and found two sorts of tiger-beetles, with very large heads, running about on the sand. it was extraordinary how rapidly they moved. arthur and i tried to catch them, but each time they baffled us. one was very similar in hue to the sand over which it runs, the other was of a brilliant copper colour. arthur, who was very acute in his remarks, observed that the white species ran far more swiftly than the copper-coloured one. as they only appear in the gloom or night, the white is far more easily seen than the darker one; and this has by the creator greater means afforded it of escaping from its enemies. the dark-coloured one, however, he discovered, is not left without means of defence; for when at last duppo caught one for him, he found that on touching it it emitted a strong, peculiar, and offensive putrid odour, which is not the case with the whiter one. "how delightful it is!" he exclaimed, "to examine the habits of god's creatures, and see how admirably adapted they are to the life they are destined to lead." i must not, however, attempt to describe the numberless insects and creatures of all sorts we met with on our voyage. duppo brought us a large wood-cricket, called the _tanana_, the wonderfully loud and not unmusical notes of which we had often heard. these sounds, we found, were produced by the overlapping edges of the wing-cases, which they rub together. in each wing-case the inner edge, near the lower part, has a horny expansion. on one wing this horny expansion is furnished with a sharp raised margin; on the other, the strong nervure which traverses it on the other side is crossed by a number of short, sharp furrows, like those of a file. when, therefore, the insect rapidly moves its wings, the file of one expansion scrapes sharply across the horny margin of the other, thus producing the curious sounds. the wing-cases, which are of a parchment-like nature, and the hollow drum-formed space which they enclose, assists to give resonance to the tones. the music they make is employed undoubtedly to serenade their mates, for the same object which induces the feathered tribe to utter their varied notes in the forest. we had once more entered the main stream, which, after the confined navigation of the last few days, appeared to our eyes almost like the wide ocean. we landed rather earlier than usual, as a favourable spot appeared, and we could not tell how far off another might be found. we had formed huts as usual, our camp-fire was lighted, and domingos and maria were engaged in cooking our evening meal, making the most of the scanty fare we had remaining. a point was near from which we believed we could get an uninterrupted view for a great distance down the river. as we found we could make our way to it without much difficulty, we begged ellen and oria to accompany us. on reaching the point we sat down on a bank. a small object appeared in the distance on the water. arthur was the first to espy it. i thought it was but a log of wood. we pointed it out to oria. she at once declared that it was a canoe. it was certainly approaching, and at length we made out a small canoe gliding over the smooth water; and as it came near we saw a white man in the stern steering, and ten natives urging her on with rapid strokes. "what if those people should be able to give us news of our father!" exclaimed ellen. "do call them, lest they should pass by." john hailed the canoe. presently we saw the white man stand up and look towards us. instantly the head of the canoe was turned in our direction. we hastened down to the point where they would land, and the white man stepped on shore. he gazed first at one, then at the other, with an inquiring glance. "can you tell me, my friend," asked john, "if an english family are stopping anywhere on the banks down the river?" "indeed i can, senor," answered the white man; "for i have been sent up by the master to look out for some part of his family who ought long since to have arrived. he has already sent two messengers to inquire for them; and his heart, and those of the senora and senorita, are well-nigh worn out with anxiety on their account. at last i begged that he would let me go; and i promised not to return without gaining tidings of them." "why, then you must be antonio, and we are those you are looking for!" said john. "heaven be praised!" exclaimed antonio, our father's old servant, who, rushing forward, seized john in his arms, and gave him a warm embrace. he then turned to me, and gave me the same affectionate yet respectful greeting. "and this is the senorita!" he exclaimed, turning to ellen. "oh, it does my old heart good to see you. how little did i think that before the sun set i should behold those i so longed to find. and domingos and maria; surely they have come with you!" "oh yes," said john; "they are at the camp. send your montaria round the point, and come with us. we shall soon be there." as may be supposed, we had numberless questions to ask about our father and family; how far off they were from us, and all that had happened. "oh, senor, i should like to have a dozen tongues in my head to reply to you," answered antonio. "they are well and safe now, though the times are perilous. and, heaven be praised, they have passed numberless dangers unharmed. it has taken me two weary weeks to come thus far, but i hope that we may descend the river to them in far less time. how could i have expected to meet with you when others, we had cause to fear, had failed. first, a brazilian trader, who was proceeding up in his montaria, undertook the task, promising without fail to find you, and speedily to send down notice; but after waiting and waiting some weary weeks, no news came, and my master, your father, was resolved to go himself, though unwilling to leave the senoras without his protection, when, just then, two young englishmen arrived from para, and made themselves known to your father as friends of yours; and hearing that you were missing, agreed to go up in search of you." "why, those must be our two school-fellows, houlston and tony nyass!" i exclaimed. from the description which antonio had given of them, we had no doubt that this was the case. but what had become of them? a few minutes before i had thought all our anxieties were over, but now they were again aroused on account of our friends. what if they had fallen into the hands of the majeronas, or been exposed to some of the storms we had so narrowly escaped! "you forget how easily they may have passed us," observed arthur. "we might have been not a quarter of a mile apart, and yet have passed without seeing or hearing each other." dear ellen was so agitated with the thoughts of meeting those we loved so soon, that she could scarcely speak. she overheard, however, the remarks between arthur and myself. "and why do you doubt that all will come right in the end?" she exclaimed. "think of the many dangers we have gone through, and how we have been preserved from them all. let us hope the same for our friends." domingos was standing over the fire with his frying-pan when we came round the point with antonio. at that moment he happened to look up, when, forgetting what he was about, he let the frying-pan and its contents fall into the middle of the fire, thereby spoiling a delicious fricassee of iguana, and sprang forward to welcome his fellow-servant, and to make inquiries for their master. the two rushed into each other's arms, and the tears fell from the black man's eyes when he heard that our father was well. we spent the evening at our encampment, hearing from antonio all that had occurred: how our father had received information of the intended attack of the majeronas, and had embarked just in time to escape them. he would have waited for us higher up the river had he not been compelled, for the sake of obtaining assistance for our mother, to proceed downwards. they had all been hospitably received at the farm of a brazilian family, where she having recovered, he determined to wait for our arrival. the first messengers he had despatched not having been heard of, on the arrival of houlston and tony nyass, they had insisted on proceeding upward. as they also had not returned, antonio, with the party we had met, had been sent to search for us. it was the happiest evening we had spent since the commencement of our journey. anxiety about our friends did not damp our spirits, as we hoped that they would hear of us at some of the places at which we had called; and that we should soon all meet, and continue our adventures in company. "fancy tony and i, and old houlston, after all, sailing together on the amazon, just as we used to talk about at school!" i acclaimed. "it will be jolly, will it not, arthur?" chapter nineteen. a happy meeting. a week had passed away. the two canoes keeping in company, we no longer felt the solitude which had oppressed us as we navigated that vast stream, or the intricate labyrinth of channels, often far away from the main shore. several times we had inquired of antonio whether we were approaching the farm of senhor pimento, where our family were living. "paciencia; logo, logo," was his answer--"patience; soon, soon we shall be there." we turned off from the main stream, and ascended an igarape thickly shrouded by palms and other trees, completely shutting out the sky above us. at the end of the vista the bright sunlight shone on an open space, where appeared a small lake, on the opposite side of which we could distinguish several buildings raised on piles--a large one in the centre with a deep verandah, the palm-thatched roof of which extended beyond the walls; the whole surrounded by plantations of mandioca, cacao, peach-palms, and other trees. "is that where we are going?" asked ellen eagerly of antonio. "we shall see--we shall see, senorita!" he answered. rounding a point, we observed a hut beneath a grove of inaja palms; their leaves springing almost from the ground, and spreading slightly out from the slender stem, so as to form an open vase of the most graceful shape. few objects of the vegetable kingdom are more beautiful. "oh, what lovely trees!" exclaimed ellen. "and see! there is some one coming out from among them." as she spoke, a person emerged from the wood, engaged apparently in reading. as his back was towards us, he did not observe the approach of the canoes. "oh, it is papa!" exclaimed ellen; "i am sure of it." and in another instant we were on shore, and ellen flying over the ground. it was indeed a happiness to see her in our father's arms. "and my boys too, safe after all your dangers!" he exclaimed, as he embraced us. "and your young friend too!" maria and domingos came running up to kiss his hand, pleasure beaming in their dark countenances. we hurried forward to the house, and in a few minutes had the happiness of seeing our mother and fanny. even aunt martha, i thought, looked far more kindly than she used to do, and was as gentle and affectionate to ellen as she could be. it was indeed a happy meeting. we, of course, had to recount all our adventures; and thus most of the talking was on our side, as antonio had already told us all that had happened to them. our brazilian friend, senhor pimento, was a fine burly old gentleman, habited in light nankeen jacket and trousers, with a broad-brimmed hat. he was of a somewhat dark hue, and his wife, who was a slight, active old lady, was considerably darker. their family consisted of a son, who was away hunting at the time, and two daughters. i cannot call them fair, but they were attractive, lively girls, who had lived in that remote district all their lives, and knew nothing of the world beyond, believing para, next to rio, to be its largest city. fanny and her portuguese friends were much pleased with oria and duppo, and delighted when they found that they could speak a little english, a language the two latter were trying to learn. the house was of considerable size, built of palm-trees, thatched with palm-leaves; and even the doors and windows were composed of palm-leaves, not opening on hinges, but being hooked up or taken down like mats. there were open galleries round on either side, and several of the rooms were open also; and in these the hammocks of the men of the party were hung up. the floors were also of split palm-trees, and were raised about ten feet above the ground, so as to be at a sufficient elevation during the higher floods which occasionally inundate the larger portion of that region. none of the inmates of the house were idle. senhor pimento was constantly out, superintending his labourers; while donna josefa, his wife, was engaged in household matters. the young ladies, it must be owned, were the least industrious of the family. arthur had said nothing of the packet he had received from the recluse, yet i was sure that he would not lose a moment in opening it after the time had arrived when he had permission to do so. ellen came running to me the following morning, i having gone out before breakfast to look round the farm. i saw by her beaming countenance that she was full of some matter of importance. "it is as i told you, harry!" she exclaimed. "the recluse is arthur's father--i knew it--i was sure of it. arthur read to me last night some of the letter he gave him. poor fellow, he is in a great state of agitation, and blames himself for having come away and left him. the recluse--that is to say, mr mallet--speaks somewhat vaguely of a fearful event which compelled him to leave england; and he says that, though yearning to have his son by his side, he will not take him out of the path which providence has placed him in, and from the protection of kind friends--that he himself, long an outcast from his fellow-men, cannot help him, and that by starting alone in life he will have a far better prospect of success than should it be known whose son he is. these remarks, though arthur is thankful to have found his father, have made him very unhappy. he will talk to you by-and-by, when he has thought the matter over; and do you know, the recluse--i mean, mr mallet--says that papa is an old friend of his, and that arthur may tell him so, as he is sure that though papa may not desire to meet him, he will not in consequence withdraw his protection from his son." "that i am sure papa will not," i exclaimed. "poor arthur! i do not know whether to be sorry or glad at what you have told me. had he spoken to me i might have been better able to advise him." ellen looked into my face. perhaps she thought that i felt a little jealous that arthur had not first consulted me. we agreed not to say anything about the matter, but to let arthur speak to our father himself, being assured that he would do what was kind and generous, and act as he judged for the best. arthur during the day was, i observed, more silent than usual. he was waiting, i suspected, to become more acquainted with our father before venturing to speak to him. i was not present when he did so. the day after our arrival duppo came to me with a countenance of alarm. "we get among witches!" he exclaimed, looking round cautiously. i asked him what he could mean; and he then told me that he had seen the two young ladies in a wood close to the house, amusing themselves by playing with venomous snakes, which he was sure they could not do if they were like other human beings. "come, you see them," he said, wishing to prove his assertion correct; and he led me round the house, through the grove of palms, where, sure enough, seated on a bench, from whence there was a lovely view of the lake, were the two daughters of our host. i confess i was almost startled on seeing them with a number of brilliant looking snakes. one was round each of their necks, while others they had twisted like bracelets, encircling their arms; and one of the girls was holding another in her hand, allowing its forked tongue to dart out towards her face. they were of a bright grass-green colour, with remarkably thin bodies; and it was curious to see the graceful way in which the lithe, active creatures crawled about, or lay coiled up perfectly at home in their laps. unwilling to be an eavesdropper, i was retiring, when i met fanny and ellen, and told them what i had seen, and duppo's suspicions. fanny laughed, saying they were perfectly harmless, and had been tamed by their friends, and returned with me to where the girls were seated. duppo, however, beat a retreat, evidently unwilling to be in such a dangerous neighbourhood. they were highly amused at hearing of duppo's alarm, and showed me that the snakes were perfectly harmless. i took one in my hand, when the creature coiled itself round my arm, and i could admire at leisure its colour, and the beautiful topaz yellow of its eyes. the snakes were between two and three feet long. they were so thoroughly tamed, that though placed on the ground they did not attempt to escape, but came back immediately they were called by their young mistresses. so slender were their bodies, that when coiled completely up i could place one on the palm of my hand. though i told duppo afterwards that i had actually handled the snakes, he was not convinced of their harmless character, and insisted that it was another proof that they had been charmed by the white witches, which he still evidently considered our brazilian friends. oria, however, was far braver; for when she saw fanny and ellen play with the creatures, she without hesitation took one of them up, and allowed it to coil itself round her neck, where it made a pretty ornament on her dark skin. pedro, the son of our host, returned the next day with a boat-load of turtle and fish which he had caught; as well as a number of birds, some of them of exquisite plumage. john, arthur, and i begged to accompany him the next time he set out on a similar expedition; and we found that he proposed starting again the following day. meantime senhora josefa, with the assistance of her slaves, was employed in salting and drying the fish and fowl she had just received. we started in the morning with two canoes, equipped with nets, spears, and lines, bows and arrows, and blow-pipes as well as guns. the lower portion of the banks of the amazon were at this time covered with water on either side, varying in height from one to ten feet, and in some places reaching twenty. this district, known as the gapo, extends from the napo upwards of seventeen hundred miles, to the very borders of peru. it thus becomes a region of countless islands, separated by expanses of water--but not open water, as forest trees appear growing out of it in all directions; while in other parts there are numbers of lakes of all sizes--some many miles in extent, others mere pools, dry in summer, but all abounding in fish of various sorts, in turtles and alligators. we could often, in consequence of the flooded state of the country, make short cuts in our canoe directly through the forest, in some places with a depth of five to ten feet below our keels. as we were paddling on through a scene such as i have described, we passed near a raft secured to the trunks of four trees, on which was an indian family, with a small fire burning on it. the mother was cooking fish, while the father lay in his hammock suspended between the trees. a small, crazy looking canoe was moored to it. the family appeared perfectly contented and unconcerned, and accustomed to the curious mode of life. pedro told us they were muras indians. during the dry season they live on the sand-banks, employed in catching turtle in the large river; and when the rainy season sets in they retire to these solitudes, whence they sally forth in their canoes to catch manatees and turtle, and fish of many sorts. we were proceeding away from the main stream by a broad water-path, with numberless narrower paths leading off in all directions. during the first part of our voyage we could see for a considerable distance through the irregular colonnade of trees; but as we progressed the path became narrower, and the trees grew closer together, their boughs frequently stretching forth over our heads. from many of them beautiful bright yellow flowers hung down, the stems several feet in length, while ferns and numerous air-plants thickly covered the trunks of the palms or drooped over from their summits. now and then we passed through a thicket of bamboos, their slender foliage and gracefully-curving stems having arranged themselves in the most elegant feathery bowers. crossing through the forest, we passed a grove of small palms, their summits being but a few feet above us. they bore bunches of fruit, which our indians cut off with their knives. we found it of an agreeable flavour. the birds feeding overhead now and then sent down showers of fruit, which splashed into the water round us. frequently we heard a rustling in the leaves, and caught sight in many places of troops of monkeys peeping down from among the dense foliage. then off they would go, leaping from bough to bough through the forest. here a flock of paroquets appeared in sight for a few moments. now one of the light-blue chatterers, then a lovely trogon, would seize a fruit as it darted by; or the delicate white wing and claret-coloured plumage of a lovely pompadour would glance from the foliage; or a huge-billed toucan would pitch down on a bough above us, and shake off a fruit into the water. gay flowers, too, were not wanting, of the orchid tribe: some with white and spotted and purple blossoms; the most magnificent of a brilliant purple colour, called by the natives saint ann's flower, four inches across. we plucked some, which emitted a most delightful odour. at last we came out once more into the bright sunshine, at a small lake, the surface of which was adorned in many parts with numberless beautiful water-plants--graceful lilies, yellow bladder-worts, and numbers of a bright blue flower, which contrasted with the green leaves. the whole track, indeed, consisted, we found, of igarapes, lakes, and gapo; here and there patches of high and dry land so mingled together that we could not have told whether we were on the main shore or on an island. at length we reached another lake with higher banks, where pedro told us we would encamp and commence fishing. the little lake extended over an area of about ten acres, and was surrounded by the forest. the borders were somewhat swampy, and covered with a fine grass. on these borders the hunters erected little stages, consisting of long poles, with cross-pieces secured by lianas. the pool abounded with turtle. our hunters mounted the stages, armed with bow and arrow. the arrow was so formed that the head when it struck the animal remained in its body, while the shaft floated to the surface, though remaining attached to it by a long line. we remained in a larger canoe to watch proceedings, while pedro and two indians entered a smaller one. the indians did not even wait for the turtles to come to the surface; but the moment they saw a ripple in the water, the man nearest shot his arrow with unerring aim, and it never failed to pierce the shell. as soon as one was shot, pedro paddled towards it, and, taking the shaft and line in his hand, humoured the creature as a fisherman does a salmon, till, exhausted, it rose to the surface, when it was further secured by another arrow shot at it, and then with the two lines easily hauled into the canoe. john and i tried our skill; but our arrows missed their aim, and i very nearly shot our friend pedro instead of the turtle. another small canoe had been sent for, which now arrived. so rapidly were the turtle shot that both canoes were actively engaged in picking them up. fully forty were thus killed in a short time. the net was then spread at one end of the pool, while the rest of the party began beating the water from the opposite side with long poles, some along the edges and others in the canoes. we could see the backs of the turtles as they swam forward. when they got close to the net the two ends were rapidly drawn together, surrounding a large number of them; and then all hands uniting at the ropes, quickly dragged it towards the shore. as they appeared above the water, the men seized them, and threw them into the canoes, which came up to the spot. many, however, managed to scramble out again before they were turned on their backs. arthur and i rushed in with the rest to assist in their capture, when suddenly i felt an extraordinary sensation in my foot. "oh, i have been bitten by a water-snake!" i exclaimed, leaping up. "and so have i!" cried arthur. and we rushed on shore, both of us looking anxiously down at our legs. no wounds, however, were to be seen. when the net was finally drawn on shore, after a vast number of small turtle had been taken out of it, several curious fish were seen, and among them five or six eel-looking creatures, with large heads. the indians cried out something; but not understanding them, i took up one of the creatures to examine it, when instantly i felt the sensation i had experienced in the water, and now discovered that they were electric eels. to prove it yet further, i took out my knife, and pedro, arthur, and i, with several indians, joined hands, when instantly the rest, greatly to their astonishment, felt the shock as if they had touched the fish itself. we persuaded the other indians to try the experiment; and they were greatly amused and astonished at finding the electric spark pass through their systems. altogether we caught upwards of a hundred turtle. we then moved on to another lake with a sandy shore, where the net was again drawn for the sake of obtaining fish. i had never seen so many and various fish taken together. it would be impossible to describe them. among them was a beautiful oval-shaped fish, which the natives call _acara_. there are numerous species, we heard: some of them deposit their eggs in the sand, and hover over them until the young are hatched; but there are others which take still greater care of them, and have a cavity near the gills, in which the male takes up the eggs and carries them there, not only till they are hatched, but actually keeps the young fry in safety within them. when able to swim they go out and take exercise; but on the approach of danger they rush back into their parents' mouths for protection. this cavity is in the upper part of the bronchial arches. i should scarcely have believed the fact from the report of the natives, had i not actually seen both the eggs and the young fry in their parents' head. there are several species of fish in the waters of the amazon which are thus wonderfully supplied with the means of protecting their young. "you shall now see another way we have of taking fish," said our friend pedro. we paddled off to a still part of the lake. he then poured out of a calabash some coloured liquid. "and now let us land," he said, "and while we take our dinner, watch the result." the liquid, he told us, was produced from a poisonous liana called _tambo_. this is cut up into lengths, washed, and soaked in water, which becomes thus impregnated with the juice. before dinner was over, as we looked out on the pool we saw the surface covered with fish floating on their sides, with their gills wide open. the canoe then pushed off, and collected them in great numbers. the poison appeared to have suffocated the fish, although only a small quantity had been poured into the water. we were as successful in shooting birds, monkeys, and other game, as we were in fishing. one of the indians used his bow in a curious way, which we had not before seen employed. throwing himself on his back, he placed his feet lifted up above his body against the bow, and drew the string to his head with both his hands. it was surprising what a correct aim he could thus take. he quickly brought down several birds on the wing at a great height. he showed us also that he could shoot up in the air, and make the arrow fall wherever he pleased. several times it descended within a few inches of his own head or feet, where it stuck quivering in the ground. we dreaded that it might stick into him; but he laughed at our fears, assuring us that there was not the slightest danger, as he had practised the art from his boyhood, and could perform still more difficult feats. darkness coming on prevented him from exhibiting them. we spent the night on the driest spot we could find on the banks of the lake. blazing fires were lighted to keep jaguars, pumas, and boas at a distance. next morning, loaded with the spoils of the chase, we commenced our voyage homewards. we were passing a dry, thickly-wooded island, when we caught sight of a number of people among the trees, while fires were burning in the centre of several open spots. we asked pedro what they were about. "they are my father's labourers," he said. "you shall come on shore, and we will see how they are employed." we found a number of indians and a few blacks busily engaged in various ways; some in making gashes in the stems of trees, under each of which they placed a little clay cup or a shell, into which trickled the sap issuing from the wound. this sap we found was of the consistency of cream. and now we saw for the first time the india-rubber with which we had only before been acquainted when using it to rub out our pencil strokes when drawing at school. the trees which were thus treated had a bark and foliage not unlike that of the european ash; but the trunks were of great size, and shot up to an immense height before throwing off their branches. people with large bowls were going about from tree to tree, and emptying the contents of the little cups into them. from thence they were carried to their camp. here we found large bowls full of the cream-like sap. the labourers were provided with a number of clay moulds of various shapes, though most of them were in the form of round bottles. these moulds were dipped into the liquid, and then hung up to dry. as soon as one layer was dry the mould was again dipped in, and thus coat after coat was put on. pedro told us it took several days before the coating was considered sufficiently thick. it was then hard and white. this operation being finished, it was passed several times through a thick, black smoke which issued from fires. we found that this smoke was produced by burning the nuts of the inaja and other palm-trees, by which means the dark colour and softness are obtained. the process is now complete; and the moulds being broken, the clay is emptied out, and the rubber is fit for sale. the brazilian india-rubber tree--the _siphonia elastico_ (_caoutchouc_)--differs from the _ficus_ which furnishes the india-rubber of africa and the east indies. it bears a small flower and circular fruit, with strongly-marked divisions in the rind. having left some of our game for provisioning the camp of the india-rubber collectors, we made the best of our way homewards. evening was coming on. we were still at some distance from home. the sky had become overcast, and rain had begun to fall. it seemed impossible that we should find our way through the forest in the darkness. we entered at length a channel, the land on one side of which was elevated some feet above the water. as we were paddling along it, pedro proposed that we should land and camp. just then we caught sight of a fire burning in a shed at some distance from the bank. "we may there find shelter," said pedro, "without having the trouble of building huts, which, after all, would not keep out the rain." we three accompanied him towards the fire. we found two indians standing near it, both busily employed in concocting some mixture in a large pot simmering over the flames. they were evidently, by the manner in which they received us, displeased at our coming. pedro, however, told them that we proposed spending the night at their hut; and sent to the canoe for some game, which put them in better humour. he inquired what they were about. "i see what it is. they are making the wourali poison for tipping the arrows for their bows and blow-pipes. see! we will make them show us the process." after a little talk with the indians, they consented to do as he wished. first they showed us some long sticks of a thin vine--the wourali itself. this, with the root of a plant of a very bitter nature, they scraped together into thin shavings. they were then placed in a sieve, and water poured over them into an earthen pot, the liquid coming through having the appearance of coffee. into this the juice of some bulbous plants of a glutinous nature was squeezed, apparently to serve the purpose of glue. while the pot was simmering, other ingredients were added. among them were some black, venomous ants, and also a little red ant, which stings severely. they seemed to set great value also on the fangs of two snakes, which, when pounded, were added with much ceremony. one, pedro told us, was the venomous _labarri_; and another, the largest among the venomous reptiles in america, known as the _curucu_, or bushmaster (_lachesis mutus_). the indians, however, call it the _couana couchi_. it is of the most beautiful colour. its body is brightly tinted with all the prismatic colours; and sometimes it is to be seen coiled round the branches of a tree, ready to strike its prey. it is allied, i should say, to the fearful _fer de lance_, which strikes its prey with so rapid and straight a stroke that it is impossible to escape it. a quantity of the strongest indian red pepper was lastly added; and as the ingredients boiled, more of the juice of the wourali was poured in as was required. the scum having been taken off, the compound remained on the fire till it assumed the appearance of a thick syrup of a deep brown colour. whether all these ingredients are necessary, i cannot say. others also, i believe, are occasionally used. i should have observed that we, as well as the other indians, were desired to keep at a respectful distance during the operation, as it is considered that even the vapour ascending from the pot is injurious to health. having been pronounced perfectly made, the syrup was poured into a number of little pots, and carefully covered over with skin and leaves. we observed that the two indians who manufactured it washed their hands and faces frequently. pedro purchased several pots which had thus been manufactured, as the poison is an article of commerce throughout the country. the indians' hut was at some distance from the shed. after supper we hung up our hammocks, and after turning into them, went to sleep. little did we think of the fearful danger we ran that night. chapter twenty. another flight. early the next day we arrived at senhor pimento's farm. the turtles were turned into a large tank near the house, staked round so as to prevent the creatures from getting out. here they would live for many months. most of the brazilian, as well as many of the natives' houses, have similar reservoirs attached to them, in which turtle are kept alive, to be taken out as required for use. we found our two sisters seated by the bank of the lake, and little oria with them. they seemed somewhat agitated. oria had been out the previous day, they told me, in the forest to gather fruit, and had unwisely wandered on, without waiting for duppo, who was to follow her. unaccustomed to that part of the country, she had lost her way. as evening approached, she found an indian hut, when, the rain coming down, she crept into it for shelter. no one was there. she had thrown a mat over her, and had dropped off to sleep, when she was awakened by hearing several persons talking. although their dialect was very different from her own, she could understand them. as she listened she became more and more interested. they were speaking of a plot to surprise the whites, and put them to death, so that not a portuguese should remain in the country. this plan, oria understood, was very soon to be carried into execution. fanny and ellen cross-questioned oria, and seemed satisfied that they clearly understood her. they then begged me to go and call our father, that we might have his opinion before alarming our host and hostess. i fortunately found him near the spot. he came to the conclusion that oria's opinion was to be relied on, and at once determined to warn senhor pimento. soon afterwards i met duppo. he drew me aside, with a mysterious look. he, too, evidently had something which he wished to communicate. he in vain, however, tried to find words to explain himself. just then we caught sight of the daughters of our host in the distance. he shook his head at them, and then made signs that no good could come from living with a family who could play with poisonous snakes with impunity; and then pointed to the canoe, and urged us to go away from so dangerous a neighbourhood. i felt sure, however, that he had some other reason, which he was afraid to communicate. i told him so, and i asked him if he did not believe that the natives in the neighbourhood were about to attack the plantation. he looked surprised, evidently not being aware that oria had already warned my sisters. at last he confessed that such was the case, and implored me earnestly to induce my family to fly. on this i went in search of john, who had talked of going out to shoot. i persuaded him, though not without difficulty, to remain at home, and come and consult with our father. he had, in the meantime, found senhor pimento. "i am afraid that i shall be unable to persuade our portuguese friend to take precautions against an attack of the natives. he declares that they have always been on good terms with him, and he sees no reason to be alarmed," he observed. "what, then, do you mean to do, father?" i asked. "to take the wisest course," he answered. "i have directed domingos and antonio to get the montarias ready, and to ascertain the feeling of the tucuna indians who came with you. they are, however, anxious to return homewards; and i have promised them one of the canoes, and additional payment, if they will accompany us in our flight to a place of safety. there is an uninhabited island some way down the river, where, i hope, we may remain concealed, should what we apprehend take place. as delay may be dangerous, i have told senhor pimento that i purpose starting this evening; and i have urged him to have his own montarias ready, and manned by negroes in whom he can place confidence. i shall be very glad if i can, at all events, induce him to take this precaution, so that, should he see any likelihood of his being attacked, he may, at all events, get on board, and save the lives of his family and himself. we will, as soon as the canoes are ready, carry our own property down to them. but we must take care that we are not observed by the natives, who might attempt to stop us, or watch the direction we take. your mother and sisters are engaged in packing up, and i hope that soon all will be ready." though senhor pimento appeared to be incredulous as to the sinister intentions of the natives, i thought that possibly pedro might be induced to believe them. i therefore went in search of him. i told him what we had heard. "it may be," he answered. "i have had many black looks of late from those who used at one time to be ready to kiss my feet. i am, therefore, inclined to agree with you that some mischief is intended. i will try and persuade my father to act prudently; but he has been so long accustomed to look down upon the natives, it will be difficult to persuade him that they will dare to injure a white skin. i think your father is very right to escape from hence, though we shall be sorry to part from you." i thanked pedro for his kind feelings, and urged him to try and induce his father to act with caution. as all the natives on the estate were absent gathering caoutchouc, our operations were conducted with less difficulty than would otherwise have been the case. our own indians had fortunately remained behind. it was settled that two should go in our canoe. john should act as captain of our father's, and domingos of ours. our goods were quickly conveyed on board. we found that senhor pimento had sent a supply of farinha, as well as several turtles and other provisions, on board each of them, as a mark, he said, of his good-will. we bade him and senhora josefa and their two daughters farewell. pedro accompanied us down to the canoe. "do not fear," he said, "about us. i suspect we shall soon be following you. but should nothing happen to us, forget not those who held you in affectionate esteem." i am, of course, only translating his words. the canoes shoved off, and working our paddles, we glided across the lake. it was nearly dark before we reached the entrance to the igarape down which we were to proceed. it was a perfect calm. the tall trees were reflected in the mirror-like expanse of the lake, sprinkled, as it were, with the myriads of stars which shone forth from the clear sky. here and there a night-bird darted from its covert in search of its insect prey. the tree-crickets had begun to utter their evening notes, and from far and near came forth from the forest the numberless sounds which often to the solitary traveller make the night hideous. "oh, what can that be?" we heard ellen exclaim from the other canoe. "see! see!" we looked astern, towards the plantation we had left. bright flames were darting up from among the buildings very instant growing higher, while dreadful cries, coming across the water, struck our ears. "oh, i am afraid our friends have delayed too long to escape," exclaimed arthur. "could we not go back to help them?" i asked our father if he would allow us to do so. he hesitated. "they have their montarias; and should they have been attacked, you can render them no assistance." still, i did not like the thought of deserting our friends, and promised, should we not meet with them, to return at once. at last he consented to our going; and turning the head of our canoe, we paddled back towards the shore we had left. we had nearly reached it, when we saw a boat approaching. it might have our friends on board, or might be manned by natives. we approached cautiously, ready to turn round at a moment's notice. "who goes there?" i asked. i was greatly relieved by hearing senhor pimento's voice. "turn round!" he exclaimed. "fly! fly! i fear we may soon be pursued. we are all on board. i wish we had followed your advice." back we paddled, as fast as we could urge our canoe through the water. meantime the whole plantation appeared in a blaze--not only the buildings, but the fields and groves of fruit-trees seemed to have been set on fire. we made for the mouth of the igarape, where we found our father's canoe waiting for us. away we all went together. the cries and shouts of the indians, as they searched about for the proprietor, reached our ears. we had too much reason to believe that we should be followed. there was sufficient light to enable us to keep in the centre of the water-path. we anxiously looked astern, expecting every moment to see the canoes of our enemies in our wake. in some places the igarape was so narrow, and the trees so completely joined overhead, that we could with difficulty discover our way, and were compelled to paddle at less speed to avoid running among the bushes at its borders. and now, from every side, those sounds which i have so often mentioned burst forth from the forest; yet, though so frequently before heard, their effect was wonderfully depressing. sometimes, indeed, they sounded so exactly like the cries of natives, that we felt sure we were pursued, and expected every moment to discover our enemies close astern of us. we continued our night voyage, paddling as fast as we could venture to move through the darkness. now and then the light penetrated into the centre of the igarape, and allowed us to move faster. ever and anon flights of magnificent fireflies flitted across the igarape, revealing the foliage on either side, amid which sometimes it seemed as if gigantic figures were stalking about, to seize us as we passed. they were, however, only the stems of decayed trees, or distorted branches bending over the waters. thus we went on, hour after hour, not venturing to stop even to rest the weary arms of the paddlers; for we had received too clear a warning of what would be our fate should we fall into the power of the hitherto submissive, but now savage and vindictive natives. it was no slight cause probably which had induced them to revolt. the cruelty and tyranny, the exactions and treachery of the white man had at length raised their phlegmatic natures, and they were about to exact a bitter revenge for long years of oppression and wrong. as in many similar instances, the innocent were doomed to suffer with the guilty; and as far as we had been able to judge, our friend senhor pimento had treated those around him with all kindness and consideration. at length a pale light appeared ahead; and emerging from the dark shades of the igarape, we entered the wide expanse of the amazon, across which at that instant the moon, rising above the line of forest, cast the silvery light of her bright beams. my sisters, and even the brazilian girls, uttered exclamations of admiration. we made our way across the lake-like expanse, which was now just rippled with a light breeze; and after an hour's progress, found ourselves approaching a lofty wall of forest. coasting along it, we entered a narrow channel similar to the one we had quitted. here and there the moonbeams, penetrating amid the branches, enabled us to find our way till we reached an open spot on the shores of a small lake. "here," said our father, "is the place i have selected for our retreat; and as the indians will believe that we have continued down the stream, there is little probability, i think, of their coming here to search for us. if they do, we may escape through the opposite side, and take one of several channels which will again conduct us into the main stream." there was sufficient light to enable us to erect rude huts for the accommodation of the ladies of the party. as there was no fear of the glare of the fires shining through the forest, and thus betraying our position, we could venture to light a sufficient number for the protection of the camp against wild beasts. the next morning found us quietly settled in our new location. my father and mother did their best to comfort senhor pimento and his family for the loss of their property. "think how much worse it would have been," said my father, "had you, and your wife, and daughters, and son been deprived of your lives! we should be thankful for the blessings we receive." "see, it is true--it is true," answered our portuguese friend. "but--" "oh, utter not any `buts,'" observed my father. "`but' is an ungrateful word. it should be discharged from human language." ellen had saved all her pets, even her humming-bird; and she and fanny, with the assistance of their brazilian friends, had plenty of occupation in arranging accommodation for them. my father was anxious to have a larger vessel built, fit to navigate the lower part of the river, over whose sea-like expanse strong winds occasionally blow, which our smaller canoes were but ill-calculated to encounter. the first thing, however, to be done, was to erect huts, in which the party might live till the vessel could be got ready, or till they received information that the voyage could be accomplished without risk of being attacked by the rebels. "i have been thinking, harry," said arthur, "that if houlston and nyass should come down, and make for senhor pimento's farm, would there not be a great risk of their falling into the hands of the rebels, and being killed?" "indeed there would," i answered. "i did not think of that. i wish we could send and stop them." "would it not be better to go ourselves?" asked arthur. "indeed it would," i exclaimed. "we will see what my father says to it." i told john, who agreed with me; and we at once determined to proceed up the stream with our tucuna indians. we promised them that on finding our friends they should have our canoe in which to perform their homeward voyage. they seemed perfectly satisfied, and we congratulated ourselves on the arrangement we had made. as there might not be room to return in their canoe, john, arthur, and i determined to go alone. we would not even take duppo, as he could do little, compared with the other indians, in working our vessel. fanny and ellen were very unhappy at the thoughts of our going. we begged them to look after duppo, and to give him his lessons in english till we should return. we started early in the morning, paddling vigorously up the stream, which we found a very different thing to going down with it. at first we kept along the shore, opposite senhor pimento's sitio, and then crossed over, that we might have a better chance of seeing our friends, should they be coming down. for some time, when the wind was fair, we rigged a sail, and were thus able to run up with ease against the current. at night we always chose a spot where we could command a view of the river, which had so much fallen by this time that we hoped our friends would keep in it instead of branching off among the channels at the side. for several days we continued our voyage, till we began to fear that some accident might have happened, or that, not hearing of us, they might have pushed onwards, with the intention of sailing up the napo. sometimes we slept under the awning in the montaria; sometimes we built huts, according to our usual custom, on the shore. one morning, just as we were embarking, john shot a fine paca, which we took on board, and agreed we would roast during our noon-day meal, when our indians generally lay down to sleep. at the hour we intended, we found a bank, which afforded us a tempting resting-place. arthur and i agreed to act as cooks; while john, who had been up before daybreak with his gun in the forest, said he would rest till dinner was ready. the chief indian, tono, meantime took his blow-pipe and bow, saying he would go into the forest and shoot some more game for supper, our stock having become somewhat scanty; while his companions lay down to sleep in the canoe. john lay down on the grass, away from the fire, though near enough for the smoke to keep the flies at a distance. we had the paca scientifically trussed and spitted, and placed over the fire on two forked sticks. sometime! arthur, sometimes i turned the spit. it was my turn to attend to it, and arthur was sitting near me, when i felt the ground shake, as if some large object had pitched down on it at my side; and what was my horror, on turning my head, to see arthur, in the claws of an enormous puma, being dragged over the ground. we had imprudently left our guns in the montaria. at the same time john awoke, and quickly sprang into the canoe. i felt for my knife--the only weapon i possessed--when i found that i had left it on the other side of the fire, where john had been lying. as i turned my head for an instant, intending to seize it, i saw another puma stealthily approaching. arthur did not cry out, but lay with his face on the ground, the better to avoid the stroke of the puma's paw. horror kept me from moving. the savage beast was dragging arthur away. despair seized me. his death seemed inevitable. all passed in a moment. then i saw john standing up in the montaria, with his rifle pointed at the puma's head. my tongue clove to my mouth. i could not shout out to awake the indians. the second puma was drawing near. i might be its victim. just then john's rifle echoed through the forest: the puma which had seized arthur sprang up in the air, and then down it fell, its claws only a few inches from arthur's body. i now rushed up to him, and dragged him out of the way of its dying struggles, calling to john to look after the other puma. the indians had now started to their feet, uttering loud shrieks. the puma stopped just as i fancied it was about to spring at me, and turning round, bounded into the forest. they then, running up to where the puma lay, quickly despatched it with their spears; while john and i lifted up arthur and carried him to the side of the fire. he was insensible, but groaned heavily. his arm and shoulder were fearfully torn, while his head had received a blow, though comparatively a slight one, or it would inevitably have killed him. "o john, do you think he will recover?" i exclaimed, as we examined his hurts. "if we knew how to treat him, he might," answered john; "but i am a very bad doctor, and i am afraid our indians are not better ones." "then, john, we must go back to the island," i exclaimed; "it would be impossible to continue our voyage with arthur in this state; and though we have been many days coming up, we may hope to get back again in two or three." john agreed with me, and we explained our intentions to the indian boatmen. they looked very dissatisfied, especially tono, who just then returned from his shooting excursion. i had not from the first liked his countenance, and i saw by his gestures that he was endeavouring to incite his companions to disregard our orders. though on their side they mustered four stout, athletic fellows, yet john and i had our rifles, and we agreed, for arthur's sake, to make them do as we thought best. john at once reloaded his rifle; and as soon as he had done so, he told me to hurry down to the boat and seize mine. i got hold of it before the indians were aware of my intention, and quickly rejoined him. our first care was to wash and dress arthur's wounds as well as we could. john covered me with his rifle, while i went down to get the water. "now, harry," he said, "as we do not know when we shall be able to dress another paca, we had better make a good dinner off the portion which has escaped burning during the time you were unable to turn the spit." having finished our meal, and secured a portion for arthur--in the hope he might recover sufficiently to eat it--we handed the rest to our crew. they took it sulkily enough, and returned with it to the montaria. "we must keep a sharp look-out on these fellows; for, depend upon it, they intend to play us a trick," observed john. our chief difficulty was now how to get arthur into the montaria; for while we were occupied in so doing, they might suddenly attack us. "you must guard me, harry, while i lift him up. he is a good weight, but still i can carry him as far as the montaria," observed john. he did so; while i walked by his side, with my rifle ready for action. when the indians saw how much arthur was hurt, they appeared to feel compassion for him, and expressed their sorrow by signs. when we ordered them to shove off, they obeyed at once, and willingly paddled on down the river again. "i really think, after all, we must have been mistaken in our opinion of those men," said john. "i never like to think harm of our fellow-creatures. perhaps, after all, they did not understand us." i was not quite so certain of this. a strong breeze came up the river, and prevented us making as much progress as we had expected. as evening drew on it increased greatly, and signs of a storm appeared in the sky. we were over on the southern shore, and had passed an island near the mainland similar to the one on which our family had lately taken refuge. just then the tempest burst on us. i had observed an opening in the forest, apparently the mouth of a channel, and towards it we now steered. it was not without difficulty, however, that we could keep the canoe before the fast rising seas. had we fallen into the trough, we should instantly have been upset. the indians seemed well aware of our danger, and paddled steadily. i was thankful when at length we found ourselves is calm water, though the wind still whistled and howled through the trees, which bent their tall boughs over our heads, as if they would come down and crush our bark. we paddled on, therefore, for some distance, till we reached a sheltered spot, where we agreed to land and build a hut, that arthur might sleep more comfortably than he could in the canoe. when we told the indians what we wanted, they immediately set to work, with apparent good-will; and in a short time had erected a neat and comfortable hut, with a bed-place of bamboos. on this, having spread several mats brought from the canoe, we placed arthur. "oh, how kind you are," he whispered. i was rejoiced to hear him speak. "i know all about it," he added; "i saw the puma, but had not time to cry out." the indians had consumed the remainder of the paca; and as there was still an hour or more of daylight, they proposed going out to catch some fish. i thought of accompanying them, but i did not like to leave arthur. john then said he would go; but when he got down to the water, the indians had already shoved off. "i dare say i may find some game in the woods, and that may be better for arthur than fish," he observed, coming back. we saw the canoe at a little distance, the indians standing ready, some with their harpoons and others with their bows, to strike any fish which might be passing. now they came nearer to us, and i saw they had struck several fish. with these they returned to the shore, and called to me to come and receive them. tono then made signs that he would go and get some more, and again they paddled off. i became quite vexed at having entertained unjust suspicions of them. after they had got to a little distance, i saw them strike another fish--evidently a large one, by the time they took to haul it in. now they went further and further off. at length i lost sight of them. john had in the meantime gone into the woods with his gun. he returned, just as it was growing dusk, with a couple of birds, which he immediately plucked and prepared for roasting at the fire which i had made up. our pot for boiling fish had been left in the canoe. we could, therefore, only roast a portion of those just caught by the indians. "they ought to be back by this time," observed john, as the shades of night fell over the river. "the fish seemed to be plentiful, and probably they have been tempted to go further off than they proposed," i observed. still we waited and waited, and they did not return. john went a little way along the bank, and shouted loudly; but no answer came to his hail. at length we hung up our hammocks; and having attended to arthur, added fuel to our fire, and placed true at the entrance of our hut to watch, we lay down to rest. still, neither john nor i felt much inclined to sleep. "i am afraid that tono and his people, after all, have gone off in the canoe," i said at last. "i suspect so too," he answered; "but yet they were behaving so well, that i did not think they would play us so treacherous a trick." "we shall soon see, however. i cannot help expecting to hear them return every moment." we waited and waited, anxiety keeping us awake. several times i got up to give arthur a little water, which was all he appeared inclined to take. he was much less feverish than i expected. towards morning, however, he began to ramble in his speech, and talked about his mother and father, and a young sister who had died. "i thought i should find him," i heard him say. "oh, that my mother could have lived to have seen him again! oh, that i could once more be with him! if he were here now, i am sure that i should soon get well." these words were said at intervals, between other less coherent remarks. daylight broke before i had closed my eyes. we again looked out, in the faint hope that the indians might have landed at some spot near us, and encamped for the night; but we could nowhere see them. we were at length convinced that they had made off with our canoe, and deserted us. had we been by ourselves, our position would have been bad enough; but with poor arthur in his wounded state, requiring immediate help, it was still worse. the indians had so long behaved well and faithfully, that we had not supposed them capable of such conduct, although they had showed such discontent on the previous day. "what must we do?" i asked of john. "we must either build a canoe or a raft, or wait till we can hail some passing craft, and get taken off," he answered. "our father will certainly send and look for us by-and-by, when he finds that we do not return; but in the meantime they will all be very anxious, and think that we have been cut off by the rebels." john and i had fortunately brought our guns and ammunition; so that we were better off than we might have been had the indians overpowered us, and put us on shore by force. we were, indeed, able to supply ourselves amply with food, but it was not well suited for arthur. by the end of the day he appeared to have grown worse instead of better. i sat up with him part of the night, forgetting how little sleep i had had for some time. he rambled more than ever. it was painful sometimes to hear him. when he at last dropped to sleep, i began to doze also, till i slipped off my seat, and lay utterly overcome with fatigue on the ground. it was daylight, and i found john lifting me up. i had never seen him look so anxious. "i thought you had swooned, harry," he said; "and poor arthur seems no better. what can we do for him?" i looked at arthur. he was in a troubled sleep, was very pale, and uttering incoherent expressions. i would have given anything to have known what to do; but except moistening his lips with water, there was nothing i could think of likely to benefit him. all day long he remained in that state. i sat by his side, while john occasionally went out with his gun. he was never long absent, as he said he could not bear the thought of being away from arthur, fearing he might be worse. now and then i got up and added fresh fuel to our fire, that i might make some broth with some of the game john had brought in; thinking that might possibly do good to my poor patient. i was thus employed, when i heard john shout out. taking a glance at arthur, i ran forward, when i caught sight of john near the bank, waving his hat, while just beyond him was a montaria, with a number of people in her, among whom i distinguished the tall figure of the recluse standing up and waving in return. the canoe approached the bank just as i reached it; and directly afterwards two other persons jumped up and waved to us, while a dog put his paws on the gunwale and uttered a loud bark. true, who had followed me, barked in return. what was my joy to recognise my two old school-fellows houlston and tony. in a couple of minutes they were on shore, and we were warmly shaking hands; while true and faithful were rubbing noses with equal cordiality. "where is my boy?" exclaimed the recluse--or rather mr mallet, for so i should properly call him. "he is with us. he has been sadly hurt. if any one can do him good, i am sure you can, sir," i said. "oh, take me to him--show me where he is!" exclaimed mr mallet, in an anxious tone. "hand me out that box there! it contains the few medicines i possess--it may be of use." "is it arthur mallet he is speaking of?" asked houlston, following with the chest. "what is the matter with him?" i told him briefly what had occurred. there were several other persons in the canoe, but i was too much interested in my friends to observe them. we hurried back to the hut where arthur was lying. the recluse had hastened on before us, and was now kneeling by the side of his young son. he was perfectly calm, but i saw how much he felt, by the expression of his anxious countenance. arthur opened his eyes and recognised his father. "this is what i was praying for," he whispered. "i have been very ill, and was afraid of leaving the world without once again seeing you. i am so thankful. if it is god's will, i am now ready to die." "oh, but i pray it may not be his will, my boy," said mr mallet. "you must live for my sake, to be a comfort and support to me." "you will not go back, then, and live in the woods by yourself, my dear father?" said arthur. "no; i hope to live wherever you do, my boy," he answered. arthur's pale countenance brightened, and he pressed his father's hand. "you must not talk, however, arthur," said mr mallet. "you require rest, and i may find some remedies which may benefit you." he eagerly looked over the contents of his medicine-chest; and desiring to have some fresh-water brought him, he quickly compounded a draught, which he gave to arthur. we left the father and son together, while we returned to the canoe. on our way houlston and tony recounted to me briefly what had occurred. they had made their way nearly up to the mouth of the napo, when, not finding us, they had determined to visit every spot on the shore where we were likely to have stopped. they had at length put into the creek, near the abode of the recluse. "much to our surprise," said houlston, "we were accosted in english by a tall white man. on telling him our errand, he informed us that you had long since gone down the stream, and seemed very much surprised and grieved to find that we had not encountered you. he at once volunteered to accompany us, saying that he was greatly interested in your welfare, and could not rest satisfied without assisting in our search for you. we were, of course, very glad to have his company; and going back to his hut, he soon returned with two indians--a man and his wife--who also wished to come with us. they are there," and houlston pointed to the canoe. just then one of the indians landed; and though dressed in a shirt and trousers, i recognised him as our friend maono. he was followed by illora, also habited in more civilised costume than when we had at first seen her. they greeted me kindly, and inquired, with more warmth than indians generally exhibit, for their son and daughter. i assured them of their welfare, and of the esteem in which they were held by my family. they appeared to be gratified, and then inquired for the indians who had accompanied us. maono was excessively indignant when we told him of the trick they had played us, and threatened to put them to death when he got back to his people. we entreated him, however, for our sakes, not to punish them so severely; indeed, we told him we would rather he pardoned them altogether, as they had been influenced by a desire to return to their people, and perhaps supposed that we might prevent them from so doing. they had till that moment been faithful and obedient, and we assured him that we had had no cause to complain of them. some time was spent in talking to tony and houlston. on our return to the hut we found mr mallet standing in front of it. he said arthur was improving, but begged that we would remain where we were, as he was unwilling to move him at present. we of course willingly agreed to do what he wished, and forthwith set to work to put up huts for the time we might have to remain on the island. we gave up our hut to mr mallet and arthur, and made a large fire in front of it, while we had another, at which we cooked our suppers. not for a moment, i believe, did the recluse close his eyes during that night, though most of our party slept soundly. whenever i awoke i saw him moving to and fro. once i could not help getting out of my hammock and asking him whether arthur was improving. "i trust he may be," was the answer. "i shall know to-morrow." in the morning arthur certainly appeared better, his wounds having been dressed by the skilful hands of his father. arthur's state, however, was still too precarious to allow of his removal without risk. anxious as we were to get back to our friends, we remained, therefore, three days longer on the island. occasionally john, houlston, tony, and i made excursions to the mainland, finding it inhabited, to shoot; while maono and illora were very successful in their fishing expeditions. "oh, i wish arthur was well!" exclaimed tony. "this is just the sort of fun we were looking forward to; and i say, harry, i hope it is only the beginning of our adventures. our employers, i know, will very gladly send us up the river to purchase produce, and i dare say you can make arrangements to come with us." i of course said i should be very glad to do so, though i could not then say what my father intended to do after reaching para. we shot a good deal of game--quadruped, four-handed, and feathered. among the latter, by-the-by, was a curious bird, which we found feeding on the marshy banks of a lake, to which we made our way, attracted by its loud and peculiar cry. creeping on, we caught sight of it as it stood on the shore. houlston, who first saw it, declared that it was a large crane. it was about the size of a swan, and getting nearer, i saw that it had an extraordinary horn on the top of its head, surrounded by black and white feathers, while the upper part of its wings had two sharp horns projecting from them--formidable weapons of attack or defence. houlston fired, but missed. he had not improved as a sportsman since we parted. john at that moment came up, and sent a ball into the bird's neck. on this true and faithful dashed forward, but still the bird, though unable to run, showed fight with its wings and kept them at bay. it soon, however, sunk down lifeless on the ground. its plumage was very handsome. the head and neck were of a greenish-brown colour, covered with soft feathers. the breast and thighs were of silvery white, and the back was black, with the exception of the upper part, which was brown, with yellow spots. it was, we found, the anhima of the brazils, known also as the horned kamichi, or, more learnedly, _palamedea_. it is sometimes called the horned screamer, from its loud and wild cry. we laughingly told houlston that, as he had missed it, he should have the honour of carrying it; which he very good-naturedly did, though it was a considerable load to bear through the forest. chapter twenty one. conclusion. next morning mr mallet gave us the satisfactory intelligence that arthur was sufficiently well to bear moving. we therefore at once proceeded on our voyage. each day after that he improved; and at length we came in sight of the island where we had left our family. we had some, difficulty in finding our way up the narrow channel which led to their camp. as we approached the spot, we saw a good-sized vessel on the stocks, surrounded by a number of persons. one of them, discovering us as we turned the point, shouted to his companions, when, suddenly leaving their work, they advanced towards us with guns in their hands in a threatening attitude. we shouted out to them, when they, perceiving that we were friends, came forward to meet us. our father was among the first we saw. after he had received us affectionately, and warmly greeted houlston and tony, we told him that mr mallet had come with us. no sooner did my father see him, than, taking his hand, he exclaimed, "what, my old friend and school-fellow! i little expected to find you out here! where have you come from?" "from the wilderness, where i have spent long years of banishment, and from whence my young son succeeded in thus too far dragging me forth. i could not make him lead the life i have so long lived, and i cannot bear the thought of parting from him." "and what could make you wish to think of doing anything of the sort?" exclaimed my father. "you surprised all your friends by leaving england--so my brother long since wrote me word--and no one has been able to account for it." "not account for it!" exclaimed mr mallet. "surely my friends would not have wished me to remain, dishonoured or disgraced, or doomed to a felon's death?" he looked round as he spoke, and seeing that i was nearer than he had supposed, led my father to a distance. meantime our mother, fanny, and ellen, had come down. i need not describe our meeting, or the concern ellen exhibited at hearing of arthur's accident, and saw his still, pale face as we lifted him out of the canoe. he was, however, able to walk with our assistance. we found the whole party very anxious, as information had reached them that the natives had discovered their retreat and intended attacking them. they had therefore been hurrying on the large montaria with all speed, in hopes of getting away before the arrival of the enemy. in a short time our father and mr mallet arrived. a wonderful change had taken place in the countenance of the latter. he now looked bright and cheerful, and a smile played over his features such as i had never before seen them wear. after being introduced to my mother and sisters, and senhor pimento's family, he hurried up to arthur, and as he threw his arms round his neck tears burst from his eyes, but they were evidently tears of joy. "but we must not lose time," said my father, pointing to the vessel, at which domingos and antonio and the other men were still busily working. we soon had occupation given us--ample to employ our minds as well as our hands. arthur was taken good care of by my mother and sisters, and i was glad to see him play with nimble and toby, who at once knew him. we worked away till dark. the fires were lighted, and by their bright blaze we were still able to continue our labours. thus we hoped in a couple of days to have our craft ready for launching. it was decked over astern and forward, so as to afford a cabin to the ladies and shelter for our stores, which required protection from the weather. we had large mat-sails and long oars, so that she was well fitted, we hoped, to encounter the heavy seas we were likely to meet with towards the mouth of the mighty river. john suggested that we should erect a stockade near the vessel, behind which we might defend ourselves, and prevent her from being burned, should the rebels make the threatened attack. this we all set to work to do; and as we had an abundance of materials at hand, a fort was soon erected, of sufficient strength, if defended by firearms, to repel any attack the natives were likely to make against it. "i hope the fellows will come on!" exclaimed tony, who, with houlston, was among the most active in the work. "i should like to be engaged in a skirmish. we have had but a tame life of it. i thought we might have seen some of the fun going forward at santarem; but the whites had all escaped out of the place before we passed by, and the red-skins had possession of it." "i rather think we were fortunate in escaping those same red-skins!" exclaimed houlston. "they murdered all the whites they could find, and they would probably have treated us in the same way if we had fallen in with them. if those fellows had attacked us, depend upon it we should have had to fight hard for our lives." "perhaps, my friend, we can find some better means of keeping the enemy at bay than those you are taking," observed the recluse. "however, follow your own plan. i trust, for the sake of humanity that it may be labour lost." i did not hear john's reply, but he continued the work. scouts were sent out at night to watch the entrance of the channel, lest the rebels might attempt to steal upon us during the hours of darkness; while we all slept with our arms ready for instant use. i was awakened by hearing a shot fired. another followed. "the rebels are coming!" i heard my father shouting out. "to your posts, my friends!" in less than a minute our whole party had assembled, and with my father at our head, we advanced in the direction whence the shots had proceeded. before we had gone many paces, our two scouts came running up with the announcement that several canoes were approaching the mouth of the igarape. daylight was just then breaking, though it had not penetrated into the forest. the two indians were again sent back to watch the further movements of the rebels. we meantime held a council of war, and having conveyed all our stores and provisions within the stockade, retired to it, there to await the enemy. in a short time the scouts came back, reporting that the indians had landed, and were advancing through the forest. "let me now try, my friends, what i can do with these people," said the recluse, standing up in our midst. "i resided among them for some time. they know me, and i trust will be more ready to listen to my arguments than to those with which you are prepared to receive them." "pray do as you judge best," said my father. senhor pimento appeared to have little confidence in his success, and addressing his people, entreated them to fight bravely, as the rebels would certainly give them no quarter. the recluse, without further delay, taking not even a stick in his hand, went forth from the fort, and was soon lost to sight among the shades of the forest. our portuguese friends were in a great state of agitation; but my sisters, especially ellen, remained perfectly calm. i complimented her on her courage. "oh, i am sure arthur's father will accomplish what he undertakes," she answered. "i have therefore no fear of an attack." we, however, could not help looking anxiously for the return of the recluse. the time went slowly by. "i am afraid the wretches will shoot him before he has time to speak to them," observed senhor pimento. pedro, who was of a generous, warm-hearted disposition, proposed that some of us should sally out, and try and overtake him before he reached the enemy. this was overruled by my father. "our friend does not act without judgment," he observed. "he knows the character of the people better perhaps than we do. hark! what is that?" the sound of many voices shouting came faintly through the forest, as from a distance. "hurrah! they are coming on to attack us!" cried tony; "we will give them a warm reception." "i hope rather that those sounds betoken that the indians have recognised our friend," observed my father. still we waited, many of our party looking out, as if they expected to see the rebels approaching in battle array. at length a single figure appeared emerging from the forest. it was the recluse. he hurried forward towards us, and on entering the fort, took my father, john, and i aside. "i have not been so successful as i should wish," he said. "they are perfectly ready to let the english, with whom they have no cause of quarrel, go free, but they insist that the portuguese gentleman and his son should be delivered up to them, though they consent to allow the rest of his family to accompany you if you wish it." "we cannot accept such terms," said my father at once. "we are resolved to defend our friends with our lives!" "i thought as much," said mr mallet. "i promised, however, to convey their message, in order to gain time. is there no way by which your friends can escape by the other end of the igarape?" "there may be, but the indians know it as well as we do," observed my father, "and would probably lie in wait to catch them. i must ask you to return and inform them that we cannot give up our friends who have hospitably entertained us, and that if they insist on attacking the fort, they must take the consequences." the recluse once more went back to the insurgent indians. pedro, on hearing the message, tried to persuade his father to escape with him in one of the small canoes; but the old gentleman declared at once that he would not make the attempt, as he was sure he should thus only fall into the hands of his enemies. we now anxiously awaited the return of our friend. an hour passed by, when we saw among the trees a large number of natives approaching the fort, some armed with muskets, but the greater number with bows and arrows. "we shall have no difficulty in beating back that rabble!" exclaimed tony. "we must first pick off the fellows with firearms, and the others will soon take to flight." i did not feel so confident as my friend. the enemy from their numbers alone were formidable, and if well led, might, i feared, easily overpower us. their numbers increased, and they seemed on the point of making a dash at the fort, when a loud shout was raised behind them. they turned round, looking eagerly in the direction from whence it came. presently three persons came out from among them. one i recognised as the recluse; but the other two i looked at again and again, and at length was convinced that one was don jose, and the other his attendant isoro. don jose, turning to the natives, addressed them in the lingua geral, which they all probably understood. they were sufficiently near for us to hear what was said. "my friends," he exclaimed, "what is it you require? do you seek the blood of these white people? what will that benefit you? listen to pumacagua--a peruvian cacique--who regards with affection the whole indian race; who would wish to see them united as one tribe, prosperous and happy, enjoying all the benefits of our magnificent country. if you destroy these people, you will but bring down the vengeance of the powerful whites on your heads. some among them are my friends. they have never harmed you. they wish you well, i know, and are even now sufferers for the cause of liberty. be advised by me. return to your homes, and seek not by force to obtain your rights. it will, i know too well by bitter experience, be in vain. trust to me and my english friends, who will not rest till we have gained for you the justice you demand." we saw the leaders among the indians consulting together. the recluse now went among them, and addressed them earnestly. his and don jose's words seemed to have a powerful effect. greatly to our relief, they began to retire through the forest. our friends accompanied them to their canoes, while arthur and i followed at a distance to watch what would next take place. the canoes were launched, and the natives, bidding an affectionate farewell to the recluse, and a respectful one to pumacagua, leaped into them, and took their departure to the opposite bank of the river. we hurried on to meet our friends, and soon afterwards my father came out of the fort to welcome don jose. they greeted each other warmly. "finding that i could no longer render service to my countrymen, and that my own life was in constant danger," don jose said, "i was on my way down the river to join you, when i saw a large number of canoes drawn up on the beach, a few people only remaining with them. from them i learned what was taking place, and i at once suspected, from what they told me, who it was they were about to attack. i instantly landed, and overtook the main body of insurgents. the rest you know." our friends then returned to the fort, and all hands at once set to work to complete our vessel. tony alone was somewhat disappointed at so pacific a termination to the affair. the additional hands whom don jose had brought with him were of great assistance, as they were all expert boat-builders; and in less than a couple of days our craft was launched, and ready to proceed on her voyage. don jose and our father had, of course, much to talk about. the former seemed greatly out of spirits at the turn affairs had taken, and in despair of the establishment of true liberty in his country. his affection for my father had induced him to follow us, and he purposed to remain with him at para till a change of affairs in peru might enable him to return. the rainy season was now completely over; though the heat was very great, the weather was fine. at length our new vessel, which we called the _manatee_, with the canoes of don jose and houlston in company, emerging from the igarape, made sail to the eastward. i have not space to describe the voyage. sometimes we navigated a wide expanse of water, where the river's banks were several miles apart; sometimes we passed amid an archipelago, through narrow channels where the branches of the giant trees almost joined overhead. sometimes we sailed on with a favourable breeze, and at other times had to lower our sails and take to the oars. for some hundred miles we had the green forest alone in sight on either side, and here and there long extending sand-banks, in which turtles are wont to lay their eggs. as we passed near the shore, vast numbers of wild fowl were seen on the banks, while the river swarmed with living creatures. dolphins came swimming by, showing their heads above the surface, again to plunge down as they advanced up the stream. now and then we caught sight of a huge manatee, and we saw alligators everywhere basking on the shores or showing their ugly snouts above the surface. at length a high, flat-topped range of hills appeared on our left hand--the spurs, i believe, of the mountains of guiana. the river was now for some distance fully ten miles in width; so wide, indeed, that it looked more like an inland sea or the ocean itself than a fresh-water stream. at length we entered one end of the tajapuru, which is a curious natural canal, extending for one hundred miles or more from the main stream towards the city of para. it is of great depth in some places, and one hundred yards in width; but in others so narrow that the topmost boughs of the trees almost met over our heads. often as we sailed along we were hemmed in by two green walls, eighty feet in height, which made it seem as if we were sailing through a deep gorge. emerging from it, we entered the para river, and sailing on, were soon in a magnificent sea-like expanse, the only shore visible being that of the island of marajo, presenting a narrow blue line far away on our left. we passed a number of curious boats and rafts of various shapes and rigs, bringing produce from the villages and farms scattered along the banks of the many vast rivers which pour their waters into the atlantic. still, all this time, we were navigating merely one of the branches of the mighty amazon; for, though we had long felt the influence of the tide, yet the water, even when it was flowing, was but slightly brackish. at length, entering the sheltered bay of goajara, we, with thankful hearts, saw the city of para stretching out before us along the shore, and our vessel was soon moored in safety alongside the quay. houlston and tony hurried off to their friends, who came down to welcome us and take us to their house. in most places we should have attracted no small amount of curiosity as we proceeded through the streets. each of the ladies, as well as maria and the indian girl, with two or more parrots and other birds on their shoulders; nimble sitting on mine with his tail round my neck; arthur carrying toby; while tony and houlston had a couple of monkeys apiece, which they had obtained on their voyage. such a spectacle, however, was too common in para to attract much attention. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ i must now, as briefly as possible, bring my journal to a conclusion. my father here resolved to establish a house of business, of which mr mallet was to be made chief manager, with arthur as his assistant. maono and illora, after remaining some time with us, considerably, i hope, to their benefit, returned to their people with the intention of showing them the advantages of civilisation, and imparting a knowledge of the true god and his plan of salvation, which they themselves had obtained. we were thankful that they consented to leave duppo and oria with us. the two young indians made rapid progress in english, besides learning portuguese; and ellen and arthur spared no pains in their endeavours to instruct them in the more important truths of religion. don jose and his faithful isoro returned at length to ecuador, when peace was once more established in that long distracted province; and the cacique wrote whenever an opportunity occurred for sending a letter down the amazon. senhor pimento and his family after a time returned to their estate, and we never failed to pay them a visit when we went up the river. the rebellion of the natives was at length happily quelled, with less bloodshed than often occurs under similar circumstances. houlston, arthur, tony, and i made not only one, but several excursions up the mighty river, and throughout many parts of that wonderful region embraced by the brazils. i might give a long account of our adventures, which were not less interesting than those i have already described. perhaps i may some day have an opportunity of doing so. nimble and toby lived to the extreme end of monkey existence--the patriarchs of ellen's ever-increasing menagerie, which was superintended by domingos when she had more important duties to attend to, and guarded, i may add, by the two attached canine brethren, faithful and true. i made two trips to england, each time on board the _inca_, still commanded by captain byles. the first time sam was on board, but on our return to para he obtained his discharge, and settled down in that city, where i often had the pleasure of a long talk with him. "ah, massa harry!" he used to say, "i chose de good part, and god take care of me as he promise; and his promise neber fail. he gib me good t'ings here, and i know him gib me better when i go up dere;" and he pointed to the blue sky, seen through the front of the provision store of which he was the owner. i am thankful to say that the rest of my friends also, as sam had done, chose "the good part." arthur had the happiness of being the means of bringing his father to a knowledge of the truth. his great wish was to make the simple gospel known among the long benighted natives of that magnificent region in which we met with the adventures i have recorded, and, though hitherto opposed by difficulties which have appeared insurmountable, he still cherishes the hope that they may be overcome, and that missionaries with the bible in their hand may, ere long, be found traversing the mighty amazon and its tributaries, now ploughed by numerous steamers up to the very foot of the andes, engaged in opening up to commerce the unmeasured resources of the brazils. i should indeed be thankful if my tale contributes to draw the attention of the christian philanthropist to the unhappy condition of the numerous tribes of that interesting country which i have attempted to describe. brazilian sketches by rev. t. b. ray, d.d. educational secretary of the foreign mission board of the southern baptist convention. to my wife who shared the journey with me contents i. the country ii. the capital, rio de janeiro iii. a visit to a country church iv. two presidents v. the gospel withheld vi. saint worship vii. penance and priest viii. the gospel triumphant ix. jose barretto x. captain egydio xi. felicidade (felicity) xii. persecution xiii. the bible as a missionary factor xiv. the mettle of the native christian xv. the testing of the missionary xvi. the urgent call xvii. the last stand of the latin race appendix foreword. i was dining one day with a very successful business man who, although his business had extensive relations in many lands, was meagerly informed about the work of missions. i thought i might interest him by telling him something of the effects of missions upon commerce. so i told him about how the civilizing presence of missionary effort creates new demands which in turn increases trade. he listened comprehendingly for a while and then remarked: "what you say is interesting, but what i wish to know is not whether missions increase business--we have business enough and have methods of increasing the volume--what i want to know is whether the missionary is making good and whether christianity is making good in meeting the spiritual needs of the heathen. if ever i should become greatly interested in missions it would be because i should feel that christianity could solve the spiritual problem for the heathen better than anything else. what are the facts about that phase of missions?" these words made a profound impression on me, and since then i have spent little time in setting forth the by-products of missions, tremendously important and interesting though they are. i place the main emphasis on how gloriously christianity, through the efforts of the missionary, meets the aching spiritual hunger of the heathen heart and transforms his life into spiritual efficiency. since this is my conception of what the burden of the message concerning missions should be, it should not surprise anyone to find the following pages filled with concrete statements of actual gospel triumphs. i have endeavored to draw a picture of the religious situation in brazil by reciting facts. i have described some of the work of others done in former years and i have recorded some wonderful manifestations of the triumphant power of the gospel which i was privileged to see with my own eyes. these pages record testimony which thing, i take it, most people desire concerning the missionary enterprise. more arguments might have been stated and more conclusions might have been expressed, but i have left the reader to make his own deductions from the facts i have tried faithfully to record. no attempt has been made to follow in detail the itinerary taken by my wife and myself which carried us into brazil, argentina and chili in south america, and portugal and spain in europe. it is sufficient to know that we reached the places mentioned and can vouch for the truth of the facts stated. i have confined myself to sketches about brazil because i did not desire to write a book of travel, but to show how the gospel succeeds in a catholic field as being an example of the manner in which it is succeeding in other similar lands where it is being preached vigorously. i wish to say also that i have drawn the materials from the experiences of my own denomination more largely because i know it better and therefore could bear more reliable testimony. it should be borne in mind that the successes of this one denomination are typical of the work of several other protestant bodies now laboring in brazil. the missionaries and other friends made it possible wherever we went to observe conditions at close range and under favorable auspices. to these dear friends who received us so cordially and labored so untiringly for our comfort and to make our visit most helpful we would express here our heartfelt gratitude. we record their experiences and ours in the hope that the knowledge of them may bring to the reader a better appreciation of the missionary and the great cause for which the missionary labors so self-sacrificingly. richmond, va. chapter i. the country. we had sailed in a southeasternly direction from new york twelve days when we rounded cape st. roque, the easternmost point of south america. a line drawn due north from this point would pass through the atlantic midway between europe and america. if we had sailed directly south we should have touched the western instead of the eastern coast, for the reason that practically the entire continent of south america lies east of the parallel of longitude which passes through new york. after sighting land we sailed along the coast three days before we cast anchor at bahia, our first landing place. two days more were required to reach rio de janeiro. when we afterwards sailed from rio to buenos aires, argentina, we spent three and one-half days skirting along the shore of brazil. for eight and one-half days we sailed in sight of brazilian territory, and had we been close enough to shore north of cape st. roque, we should have added three days more to our survey of these far-stretching shores. brazil lies broadside to the atlantic ocean with a coast line almost as long as the pacific and atlantic seaboards of the united states combined. its ocean frontage is about , miles in length. this coast line, however, is not all the water front of brazil. she boasts of the amazon, the mightiest river in the world. this stream is navigable by ships of large draught for , miles from its mouth. it has eight tributaries from to , miles and four from , to , miles in length. one of these, the madeira, empties as much water into the larger stream as does the mississippi into the gulf. no other river system drains vaster or richer territory. it drains one million square miles more than does the mississippi, and in all it has , miles of navigable waters. the land connections of brazil are also extensive. all the other countries on the continent, save chili and ecuador, border on brazil. the guianas and venezuela, on the north; colombia and peru on the west; bolivia, argentina, paraguay and uruguay on the south--eight countries in all. it is indeed a vast territory. the united states could be placed within its borders and still there would be left enough brazilian territory to make a state as large as texas. almost from the time we sighted land until we rounded the cape near montevideo, we could see the mountains along the shore. the mountains extend far interior and up and down the length of the country. the climate of the tropical amazon valley is, of course, very hot, but as soon as the mountains are reached on the way south the climate even in the tropical section is modified. the section south of rio, on account of the mountains and other forces of nature, has a temperate climate, delightful for the habitation of man. each of these great zones, the tropical, the subtropical and the temperate, is marked more by its distinctive leading products than by climate. each of these sections yields a product in which brazil leads the world. the largest and most inexhaustible rubber supply in the world is found in the amazon valley region. the central section raises so much cocoa that it gives brazil first rank in the production of this commodity. the great temperate region produces three-fourths of all the coffee used in the world. of course, there is much overlapping in the distribution of these products. other products, such as cotton, farinha, beans, peas, tobacco, sugar, bananas, are raised in large quantities and could be far more extensively produced if the people would utilize the best methods and implements of modern agriculture. the mountains are full of ores and the forests of the finest timber, and the great interior has riches unknown to man. it has the most extensive unexplored region on earth. what the future holds for this marvelously endowed country, when her resources are revealed and brought to market, no one would dare predict. few countries in the world would venture a claim to such immense riches. chapter ii. the capital, rio de janeiro. the city of rio is the center of life in brazil. we entered the bay of rio after nightfall on the sixth of june. the miles and miles of lights in the city of rio on the one side, and of nietheroy on the other, gave us the impression that we were in some gigantic fair grounds. missionaries entzminger, shepard, maddox and mrs. entzminger came aboard to welcome us and bring us ashore. we were taken to the rio baptist college and seminary, where we were entertained in good old tennessee style by the shepards. this school building was built in by dom pedro ii. for a school which was known as the "boarding school of dom pedro ii." it accommodated two hundred students. the emperor supported the school. in the school was moved to larger quarters. dr. shepard is renting the property for our college, but our school like dom pedro's has outgrown these quarters and we are compelled to rent additional buildings some distance away to accommodate the increasing number of students. there are about three hundred students in all departments. as we studied the situation at close range, we had it driven in upon us that one of the greatest needs in brazil is the one dr. shepard and his co-laborers are trying to meet in this school. three-fourths of the population of brazil cannot read. we need, above all things now, educated leaders. what a call is there for trained native pastors and evangelists! some of the seminary students have been preaching as many as twenty-one times a month in addition to carrying their studies in the school. dr. shepard has been forced to stop them from some of this preaching because it was preventing successful work in the class room. the need is so great that it is very difficult to keep the students from such work. i must not go too far afield from the subject of this chapter, but i must take the time to say that nothing breaks down prejudice against the gospel more effectively than do the schools conducted by the various mission boards. one day a methodist colporter entered a town in the interior of the state of minas geraes and began to preach and offer his bibles for sale in the public square. soon a fanatical mob was howling around him and his life was in imminent peril. just as the excitement was at the highest two young men belonging to one of the best families in the place pressed through the crowd and, ascertaining that the man was a minister of the gospel, took charge of him and drove off the mob. they led the colporter to their home, which was the best in the town, and showed him generous hospitality. they invited the people in to hear him preach, and thus through their kindness the man and his message received a favorable hearing. it should be remembered, too, that these young men belonged to a very devout roman catholic family. what was the secret of their actions? they had rescued, entertained and enabled to preach a man who was endeavoring to propagate a faith that was very much opposed to their own. the explanation is that they had attended granberry college, that great methodist school at juiz de fora. they had not accepted protestant christianity, but the school had given them such a vision and appreciation of the gospel that they could never again be the intolerant bigots their fellow townsmen were. the college had made them friends and that was a tremendous service. first we must have friends, then followers. nothing more surely and more extensively makes friends for our cause than the schools, and it must be said also that they are wonderfully effective in the work of direct evangelization. the first baptist church commissioned deacon theodore teixeira and dr. shepard to pilot us over the city. the church provided us with an automobile and our splendid guides magnified their office. it is a magnificent city, indeed. the strip of land between the mountains and the seashore is not wide. in some places, in fact, the mountains come quite down to the water. the city, in the most beautiful and picturesque way, avails itself of all possible space, even in many places climbing high on the mountain sides and pressing itself deep into the coves. perhaps no city in the world has a more picturesque combination of mountain and water with which to make a beautiful location. it has about a million inhabitants, and being the federal capital, is the greatest and most influential city in brazil. most of its streets are narrow and tortuous and until recently were considered unhealthy. a few years ago the magnificent avenida central was cut through the heart of the city and one of the most beautiful avenues in the world was built. twelve million dollars' worth of property was condemned to make way for this splendid street. it cuts across a peninsula through the heart of the city from shore to shore, and is magnificent, indeed, with its sidewalks wrought in beautiful geometrical designs, with its ornate street lamps, with its generous width appearing broader by contrast with other narrow streets, with its modern buildings. there is another street, however, which is dearer to the brazilian than the avenida. he takes great pride in the avenida, but he has peculiar affection for the rua d'ouvidor. down the ouvidor flows a human tide such as is found nowhere else in brazil. no one attempts to keep on the pavement. the street is given over entirely to pedestrians. no vehicle ever passes down it until after midnight. in this narrow street, with its attractive shops filled with the highest-priced goods in the world, you can soon find anyone you wish to meet, because before long everyone who can reach it will pass through. in this street the happy, jesting, jostling crowd is in one continuous "festa". in passing through the city one is greatly impressed by the number of parks and beautiful public squares, and in particular with the wonderful beiramar, which is a combination of promenades, driveways and park effects that stretches for miles along the shore of the bay. what a thing of beauty this last-named park is! there is nothing comparable to it anywhere. when rio wishes to go on a grand "passeio" (promenade) nothing but the grand beiramar will suffice. one cannot help being impressed also by the prevalence of coffee-drinking stands and stores--especially if he meets many friends. these friends will insist upon taking him into a coffee stand and engaging him in conversation while they sip coffee. on many corners are little round or octagonal pagoda-like structures in which coffee and cakes are sold. the coffee-drinking places are everywhere and most of them are usually filled. the practice of taking coffee with one's friends must lessen materially the amount of strong drink consumed by the brazilian. nevertheless, that amount of strong drink is, alas, altogether too great. the greatest nuisance on the streets of rio, or any other city of brazil, is the lottery ticket seller. these venders are more numerous and more insistent than are the newsboys in the united states. there are all sorts of superstitions about lotteries. certain images in one's dreams at night are said to correspond to certain lucky numbers. dogs, cats, horses, cows and many other animals have certain numbers corresponding to them. for instance, if one should dream tonight about a dog, he would try tomorrow to find a lottery ticket to correspond in number with a dog. say the dog number was thirty-seven. this man would try to find a ticket whose number ends in thirty-seven. such a ticket would be considered lucky. the ticket sellers often call out as they pass along the street the last two numbers on the tickets they have to sell, and if a man hears the number called which corresponds to the animal he dreamed about last night, he will consider it lucky and buy. there are also many shops where only lottery tickets are sold. no evil has more tenaciously and universally fastened upon the people than has the evil of gambling in lotteries. there are federal lotteries, besides many others run by the various states. these lotteries receive in premiums the enormous sum of $ , , every month--about one dollar for every individual in brazil. a portion of the profits amassed by the lottery companies is devoted to charity, a portion to roman catholic churches and a portion goes to the government. even after these amounts are taken out, there is ample left for the enrichment of the companies' coffers to the impoverishment of many very needy working people. it is difficult to write temperately of rio de janeiro. there is such a rare combination here of the primitive and the progressive, of the oriental and occidental, that one is inclined to go off into exclamation points. on the avenida central one sees numbers of street venders carrying all kinds of wares on their heads and pulling all sorts of carts, making their way in and out among the automobiles, and handsome victorias pulled by mules. we note also all types of people. the latin features predominate, but the negro is in evidence, the indian features are often recognized, and mingled with these are seen faces representing all nations. one is impressed with the dress of the people. who is that handsomely-groomed, gentleman passing? from his fine clothes you think he must be a man of wealth and influence. who is he? he is a barber. that one over there is a clerk. but why these fine clothes? ah! thereby hangs the tale. appearance is worshiped. parade runs through everything, even in the prevailing religion, which, alas, is little more than form--parade. don't get the idea that everybody is finely dressed and that every handsomely-dressed man is a barber. many are able to afford such clothes and are cultured gentlemen. one notices most the dress of the lower classes, the most striking article of which is the wooden-bottom sandals into which they thrust their toes and go flapping along in imminent peril of losing the slippers every moment. the remainder of the clothing worn by these beslippered people consists often of only two thin garments. certainly this is a place of great contrasts. but somehow these contrasts do not impress one as being incongruous. they are in perfect keeping with their surroundings. rio is really a cosmopolitan city and is a pleasant blending of the old and the new. there are several places from which splendid views of the city can be had, but none of them is comparable to the panorama which stretches out before one when he stands on the top of mt. corcovado. the scene which greets one from this mountain is indescribable. the bay of rio de janeiro, with its eighty islands, sugar loaf mountain, a bare rock standing at the entrance, the city winding its tortuous way in and out between the mountains and spreading itself over many hills, the open sea in the distance and the wild mountain scenery to the back of us, constitute a panorama surpassingly beautiful. nictheroy lies just across the bay. we went over there one night and spoke in the rented hall where our church worships, and spent the night in the delightful home of the entzmingers. the next morning, before breakfast, dr. entzminger showed me over the city. nictheroy has forty thousand inhabitants and is the capital of the state of rio de janeiro. it is a beautiful city and offers a wide field for missionary work. its importance is apparent. we have a church in the populous suburb of engenho de dentro. we were present there at a great celebration when the church cleared off the remainder of its debt and burned the notes. the building was crowded to its utmost capacity. the people stood in the aisles from the rear to the pulpit. they filled the little rooms behind the pulpit and occupied space about the windows. there are about seventy members of the church. a far greater progress should be made now that the debt as well as other encumbrances have been removed. there are in rio the first, engenho de dentro, governors island and santa cruz churches, and twelve preaching places, four of which are in rented halls. missionary maddox utilizes many members of the churches in providing preaching at these missions. there are only a very few paid evangelists in this mission, but a great many church members are glad to go to these stations and tell the gospel story. besides our baptist work, the southern methodists are conducting a very prosperous mission. they have several churches and a station for settlement work. the presbyterians and the congregationalists have some excellent churches and the ymca is one of the most flourishing in south america. chapter iii. a visit to a country church. that i may give you a glimpse of the country life in brazil, and also some impression of country mission work, i invite you to take a trip with missionary maddox and myself to the little hamlet of parahyba do sul, in the interior of the state of rio. on monday, june th, we boarded a six am train for parahyba do sul, which we reached about ten o'clock. it is a charming town situated on the river by the same name. this river reminds one of the french broad, though the mountains are not so high and precipitous as the north carolina mountains. the mountains, too, in this section are not covered with trees, but with a tall grass, which, being in bloom, gave a beautiful purple color to the landscape. the railroad climbs up the mountain sides from rio in a very picturesque manner. the parahyba do sul church is three miles over the mountains from the station, in the house of mrs. manoela rosa rodrigues. the house is constructed with mud walls and a thatched roof. the floors are the bare ground, which is packed hard and smooth. there are two rooms, with a narrow hall between them and a sort of "lean to" kitchen. the largest room, which is about fifteen feet square, is devoted to the church. the most prominent piece of furniture in the house is the pulpit, which stands in this room. this pulpit is large out of all proportion to everything else about the place. it was covered over with a beautifully embroidered altar piece. the two chairs placed for brother maddox and myself were also entirely covered with crocheted brazilian lace. i hesitated to occupy such a daintily decorated seat. this church of forty-six members maintains three sunday schools in the adjoining country and six preaching stations, members of the church doing the preaching. every member gives to the college in rio reis (six cents) a month, and to missions, etc., reis (nine cents) per month. this is munificent liberality when we take into consideration their exhausting poverty. our coming was a great event with them. we were met at the station by a member of the church, who mounted us on a gray pony apiece and soon had us on our way. he walked, and with his pacing sort of stride he easily kept up with us. his feet were innocent of shoes. he says he does not like shoes because they interfere with his walking. underneath that dilapidated hat and those somewhat seedy clothes we found a warm-hearted christian, who serves the lord with passionate devotion. he often preaches, though he has very little learning. he is mighty in the scriptures, having committed to memory large sections of them, and has a genuine experience of grace to which he bears testimony with great power. we arrived at the church about eleven o'clock. we were received with expressions of great joy. mrs. manoela was so happy over our coming that she embraced us in true brazilian style. we were shown into our room, where we refreshed ourselves by brushing off the dust and bathing. how spick and span clean was everything in that room, even to the dirt floor! before we had completed our ablutions, the good woman of the house called maddox out and asked what she could cook for me. she thought i could not eat brazilian dishes. he told her, to her great relief, that i could eat anything he could. quite right he was, too, for we had been traveling all the morning on the sustenance furnished by a cup of coffee which we had taken at the rio station a little before six o'clock. we were in possession of an appetite by this time that would have raised very few questions about any article of food. soon we were seated at the breakfast table, which was placed in the church room with benches around it for seats. i was honored by being placed at one end of the table. what a meal it was! not only had mrs. manoela taxed her own larder, but the other members, who by this time had arrived in large numbers, had brought in many good things. i cannot tell what the dishes were, for the reason that i do not know. it is sufficient to say that every one was good--perhaps our appetite helped out our appreciation of some of them. there were as many as eight dishes the like of which i had never tasted before. how do you suppose i managed it when they served some delicious cane molasses, and, instead of bread to go with it, they served cream cheese? i asked maddox how i should work this combination. he replied by cutting up his cheese into his plate of molasses and eating the mixture. i did the same thing, and i bear testimony that it was fine. by the time the breakfast was concluded, i had scored a point with our good friends, for they thought that a stranger who could render such a good account of himself at a brazilian breakfast must be very much like themselves. (let us explain about brazilian meals: they take coffee in the early morning. bread and butter is served with the coffee. breakfast, which is a very substantial meal, is served about eleven o'clock. dinner, which is the chief meal of the day, is served about five o'clock in the afternoon. at bedtime light refreshments are served, which are often substantial enough to make another meal). after breakfast was over, and it was some time before it was over, for the crowd had to be fed, we assembled for worship. the congregation was too large for the little room, so the men built a beautiful arbor out of bamboo cane. when maddox told me we were to hold services under an arbor i was dissappointed, for somehow there had come over me a great desire to speak from that large pulpit in the little room. my dissappointment was short-lived, however, for when we reached the arbor there were the pulpit and the lace-covered chairs! it was a gracious service. the spirit of the lord was upon us. the sermon lost none of its effect from the fact that it had to be interpreted, because maddox interpreted it with sympathy and power. after preaching, four were received for baptism. they were not converted at this service, but had been expecting to come for some time. maddox baptized them in the spring branch, which had been deepened by a temporary dam being thrown across it. one of those baptized was a woman ninety years of age. our time was growing short now. maddox changed his clothes in a hurry. we had to catch the four o'clock train. we did stop long enough to drink a cup of brazilian coffee. such coffee! i will not attempt to describe it, because our friends in the states can not understand. there is nothing like it in this country. we took time, too, to say good-bye. the whole crowd lined up and we went the length of the line, bidding everyone a hearty godspeed. the brazilian not only shakes hands with you, but he embraces you heartily. yes, some of the good matrons embraced us. it was a novel experience for me, but a mere custom with them, and the act was performed with such modest restraint that any possible objectionable features were eliminated. having said good-bye to them all we mounted our gray ponies, and, led by our barefooted friend, rode away with thanks-giving in our hearts for the good fellowship with the saints of parahyba do sul. the tie of love for a common lord had bound our affections to them. their simple-hearted sincerity and devotion had helped us. their zeal had contributed to our faith. one incident touched me especially. just before breakfast a little girl about four years of age, led by her mother, brought to us a package containing some brazilian cakes. when we opened the package there lay on top a piece of folded paper on which was written: "how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto zion, thy god reigneth' '(isa. : ). presented to our brother pastors, maddox and ray by archimina nunes." instantly there arose in my heart the prayer that god would speed the day when his swift-footed messengers shall publish the good tidings of peace to all this vast and needy land. chapter iv. two presidents. it was our good fortune while in rio to be received by the president of the republic, dr. nilo pecanha. missionaries shepard, langston and ginsburg and dr. nogueira paranagua escorted me. when we started i suggested that we take a street car. not so those brazilians! we must go in an automobile. we were very careful to wear our prince albert coats, too; for, above all things, the brazilian is a master in punctilious ceremonies. we were ushered into the waiting room by a doorkeeper, a finely-liveried mulatto with a large chain around his shoulders to indicate his authority. the waiting room was full of people, but we were not kept waiting long. we sent in our cards and soon we heard our names announced and we were led into the presence of the private secretary. after a few words of explanation by dr. paranagua, the secretary retired to ask the president if he would see us. he returned presently and showed us into the audience chamber, which was a large and tastefully decorated room. around the walls were several groups of chairs, placed in true brazilian style somewhat as follows: a cane-bottomed divan was set with its back to the wall, then several cane-bottomed chairs were placed at right angles to it in two rows facing each other, usually four in a row. the president guided me between these chairs and took a seat on the divan and motioned me to a seat by his side. he is a man of slight build, with a mild expression which wins confidence. he was most informal in his speech and spoke in a candid and unreserved manner which quickly put us at ease. i told him, through an interpreter, that we had come from a visit to the minister of the interior, with whom we had been in conference about the status of brazilian schools. the president expressed his great pleasure over our coming to see him and said that he had personal knowledge of what our denomination is doing and of some of the workers. he was satisfied that our object was altruistic and for the good of the country and people; that so far as depended upon him, he was ready to give us the full benefit of his official position. as proof of his wish to see absolute religious freedom, he cited an instance of how he had protected some monks in the amazon valley recently. these men were in straits and he had sent soldiers to liberate them, and then turning with a smile to ginsburg, he said that he also never abandoned his friend solomon when he was attacked. he refreshed our minds upon the fact that lately, when certain priests in the city of rio had attempted to resist the government over a disputed piece of property which had been granted them under the old regime, he gave them to understand that if they did not behave themselves, the door was open and they could leave the country. they soon came to terms. as to his successor, the president said that the incoming president was of the same party and would carry out the same policies, ideas and ideals. these policies meant absolute liberty of thought, conscience and speech, which is guaranteed by the constitution. before the interview closed, he again expressed his pleasure at receiving a representative of an american institution, convinced as he was that the propaganda of our schools, morals and ideals would draw the two nations closer together, and that he was ready to encourage us to that end. "we are following the ideals of the united states," he said, "which we recognize as our elder sister." he expressed peculiar pleasure over the prospect of our establishing a college and he assured us that the brazilian government would put no obstacle in the way of our purpose, but that it would do all in its power, on the other hand, to encourage us. while we are meeting presidents, i would like to introduce you to another one upon whom the salvation of brazil depends more largely than it does upon any occupant of the chair of chief magistrate. it is possible for the man who has been elevated by the ballots of his people to serve in a large way the moral good of his people and we thank god for all rulers who rule with justice and liberality in the interest of liberty and the common good. but far greater and far more serviceable than these are those choice spirits who, by embracing the gospel of christ, give themselves devoutly to bringing in his reign in the hearts of men. such spirits, by the sheer force of their characters, wield a far more abiding influence for the help of their fellows. the man i wish to introduce is dr. nogueira paranagua, the president of the brazilian baptist convention. he belongs to one of the oldest and most aristocratic families of the state of piauhy. he was governor of his state at the time of the institution of the republic. after the establishment of the republic, he was elected to the national congress for a term of four years. then he was elected to the senate and served nine years. he is a skilled physician and is married to a swiss lady of fine family. his family connections occupy one quarter of the state of piauhy. he is, at the present time, treasurer of the national printing concern, which does not occupy all of his time. the remainder of his time he devotes to the practice of his profession and to the preaching of the gospel. he is a deacon in the first church in rio. he is not an ordained minister--he is simply an humble man of god. he is an ardent patriot who believes that the salvation of brazil can be realized only through the gospel of christ, to which he gives his life and all. now i, for one, believe that the theory of dr. nogueira is the one that will finally lead brazil into the fullness of life and power it is capable of attaining. it is well to have written in the constitution the guarantee of religious and political liberty. it is well to have presidents who courageously carry into effect the provisions of this constitution, but the highest good is not attained until behind all documentary guarantees is a personal righteousness in the people. dr. nogueira's insistent advocacy of christ for brazil is the one thing that gives assurance of a genuine righteousness that will exalt the nation. he is the president of a remarkable body. it was our privilege to attend the brazilian baptist convention which met in sao paulo, june, . it was composed of sixty delegates, about one third of whom were missionaries. the remainder were natives. they came from all parts of brazil. one man from the madeira valley traveled three weeks on his journey to sao paulo. they represented churches, which had a total membership of , . these churches increased by baptism twenty-five per cent, last year. they maintain a boys' school and a theological school at pernambuco, a school for boys and girls at bahia, a boys' school at nova friburgo, a girls' school at sao paulo and the crown of the school system, the rio baptist college and seminary in the capital. they have a publication board to produce sunday school and other literature, a home mission board to develop the missionary work in the bounds of brazil, and a foreign mission board, which conducts foreign mission operations in chill and portugal. while their country is so needy, they believe in the principle of foreign missions so thoroughly that they gave last year for foreign missions as much per capita as did the churches in the bounds of the southern baptist convention. one night during the convention, i addressed them upon the subject of foreign missions, and after i had finished speaking one of the missionaries came forward and said he had thought that in as much as he had given his life to foreign mission work, he was not under any special obligation to contribute money to this cause, but now he saw his error and proposed to give as a means of grace and in order to discharge his duty to the larger cause. what a privilege it was to attend this convention! all of us took our meals at the girls' college and by this arrangement we had a most delightful time socially. it is a fine body full of good cheer, hope, faith, courage, consecration. to come to know them--missionaries and native christians alike--is to enter into fellowship with some of the choicest and most indomitable spirits that have ever adorned the kingdom of our lord. chapter v. the gospel withheld. when i went to south america i decided that i would spend little time upon the material aspects of the trip, but would, on the other hand, attempt to arrive at an understanding of the religious conditions and needs of the people. i consider that the religious needs are the abiding and vital interests of any people. i knew also that brazil is counted as being a roman catholic country and the consideration at once arose in connection with this fact as to whether this religion affected the life and thought of the people sufficiently to satisfy their religious needs. if it does, then let us be honest enough to recognize it, and if it does not, let us be courageous enough to assume our responsibility towards it for we must hold that the great justification for missionary effort is the evangelical and not the polemical one. if there is no greater reason for our entering a country than for the purpose of fighting the catholics, then i, for one, am frank to say that i do not think we ought to spend our energies in any such field. the question for us to settle is whether there is a real call for the preaching of the gospel in a given country. that question can be answered only by a candid consideration of the facts in the case and not by the bigoted notion that all who do not agree with us are to be driven from the face of the earth. what is the religious status of brazil? is there any call for protestant effort? i answer after giving serious study to this question, and after personal observation of the effects of the religious practices upon the people, that there is the same imperative call for missionary effort in brazil that comes from china or any other heathen country, viz., the gospel is not preached to the people. the priests hold services, to be sure, in the churches, but there are many churches in brazil in which there has been no pretense of preaching a sermon within five years. the priests do not preach. they say mass, read prayers and sing songs in latin, a language which is not understood by the people. occasionally, a catholic fraternity will invite a special orator to preach a sermon upon some great feast day. this visiting brother does not preach. his theme upon such an occasion would either be a discussion of the special saint whose day is being celebrated, or he would speak upon some civic question which had more or less to do with the moral or political life of the people. in the interior these special occasions occur only once every two to five years, so that even this semblance of a sermon comes rarely. in the cities these special addresses are made on one saint's day each year or on some special anniversary, or when some dignitary is making a visit. usually this dignitary will say a mass and not preach. when one of these special days occurs the preaching is not heard very extensively for the reason that the noise and commotion about the stalls for gambling, drinking and other attractions is sufficient to drown the voice of the speaker. these side-show attractions fill all available space about the building, giving it the appearance of a circus more than anything else. they are run by individuals who pay a tax to the church for the privilege. the preaching is not the feature of the day, the chief object seeming to be to furnish amusement for the people and money for the church. it cannot be said that on such days the gospel can possibly be preached successfully. occasionally there is held in the church what is called a special mission. this is conducted by visiting monks. we would expect that on such occasions the gospel would be preached, but such is not the case. they hear confessions in the morning. a special premium is placed upon the celebration of marriages during the mission, because these visiting monks will make a cheaper rate than the resident priests. for this reason the majority of the priests do not like to have these monks come in for special missions, and would not conduct them but for the fact that the bishop compels them to do so. the addresses delivered by the monks in these special missions are not sermons. they either upbraid the protestants, speak against civil marriage (the only legal marriage in brazil is that performed by a civil officer), inveigh against the republic, discourse upon the lives of the saints, assail luther and other reformers, or urge confession, penance and submission to the pope. furthermore, the bible is withheld from the people. the circulation of no book is so bitterly opposed as that of the bible. it is true that the franciscan monks are trying to introduce an edition of the new testament which contains special comments attacking protestants. these special editions are very expensive and difficult to secure. the person who wishes to buy one of these bibles must get permission from the vicar of his parish, and if the would-be purchaser is inclined towards protestantism, the vicar will refuse to grant permission. the priests are not very much in sympathy with the idea of circulating even this annotated edition of the new testament. in armagoza, near bahia, the franciscan monks held, three or four years ago, a mission and sold about , of these catholic scriptures. it seems that the protestants had also been circulating a testament which had the same general appearance as that sold by the franciscan monks. when the monks had sold out their supplies, they heard of what the protestants had done and inasmuch as the people could not distinguish between the true book and the false, they ordered the people to bring back all of the books to the monks, under the promise that they would examine them, eliminate the protestant book and return to the owners the authorized bible. the people brought back their books in good faith. the monks took them, but never returned them. neither did they return the money. on the nd of february, , there occurred a public burning of bibles in pernambuco. this was done in defiance of the protestant work with the evident purpose of intimidating the protestant workers and arousing a public sentiment against them. but having failed in this, their first effort, they decided to try another even more ostentatious. although it is illegal to burn any religious document publicly, yet the first burning passed unnoticed by the officials of the law. but not so the second. having incurred the censure and ill-will of many of the most thoughtful and liberal-minded, even of the catholics themselves, by the disgrace of february nd, the directors of the anti-protestant league decided to make a grand rally on the occasion of the league's first anniversary, september th. and to realize this, they published about two weeks beforehand a very extensive program. the program said that "there will be burned bibles, testaments, copies of the gospel of matthew, luke , john , mark and acts ", besides a great many other useful books. in the list also there were some three hundred copies of different religious protestant papers. according to the program the bishop was to preside. the public burning, however, was not performed. such pressure was brought to bear upon the officials that they interfered. it was even discussed in the national house of congress. but in spite of all opposition, not to be completely defeated, they burned the bibles in the back yard of the church. these examples are sufficient to demonstrate the attitude of the priests towards the scriptures, and we must concede that any church or set of men who by such methods withhold from the people the word of god cannot be said to preach the gospel. he is an enemy of the gospel who puts any restraint upon the circulation of the scriptures. it is wise indeed for the sake of their cause that these opponents of protestantism should oppose the circulation of the scriptures, for we shall cite numerous instances of how the bible unaided has broken down romish superstition and turned men from dark error into the light of the glorious gospel of jesus. chapter vi. saint worship. what is the real religion of the brazilians? it is more a saint worship than anything else. saint worship is at its core. mary is the chief saint. all prayers are made to her. she is the intercessor. the litany is all addressed to mary. it runs, "oh mary, hear us, etc." she is worshiped under different aspects--mary of the sailors, mary of the conception, mary of the candles, mary of the rosary, ad infinitum. even christ is worshiped as a saint. the patron saint of campos, for instance, is called sao salvador (st. savior). the city of bahia is called sao salvador. its patron saint is jesus. a saint is an intercessor between man and god. because of his holiness, he has favor with god, and therefore the people pray to him. very few consider the saint lower than god. they offer sacrifices, make prayers and burn candles to the saint. st. anthony of padua is a very hard-worked saint. he has placed upon him the double duty of furnishing suitors for all the young women and of leading the armies of the republic to victory. no wonder this overworked saint gets into trouble. young women place him in their rooms, burn candles and offer prayers before him. he is dressed up in the finest toggery and is given great honor. if, however, after awhile he does not bring along the suitor, he is given a sound beating, or he may be hung head downwards in a well or stood on his head under a table. these indignities are heaped upon him in order to force him to produce the suitor which the young lady very much desires. he is also the military saint. in the time of the empire, he was carried at the head of the army and had the rank of a colonel. even after the empire was abolished, he retained his rank for many years and received from the government the salary of a colonel. such an idol was in bahia and his salary was discontinued only five years ago. the money went, of course, to the priest in the church where the image was kept. every town, village and country seat has its protecting saint. in time of drouth they in many places carry the saint through the streets in procession. he is taken from his place in the church to some hut, maybe, where he is placed beneath the altar. this is done in order to cause him to bring rain. after the rain comes he is taken out and with great distinction is replaced in his original niche. they do this sometimes in the case of a scourge of insects or disease. late one evening, after missionary ginsburg and i had returned from a trip into the interior of the state of bahia, we arrived in the city of nazareth. it is a town of about , inhabitants. we were to wait here until the following morning for the boat which was to take us to bahia. as we went down the street we saw a great throng of people surging about an image which was being carried upon the shoulders of some men. two priests walked in front to direct the movements of the procession. more than half of the people in the city must have been in the procession. they paraded far out into the country, crossed to the opposite side of the river, wound themselves back and forth through the narrow streets until a late hour at night. at eleven o'clock just before we retired, we stood for some time watching the procession pass the hotel where we were stopping. it was a miserably ugly little image, gaudily decorated. it was being paraded through the streets for the purpose of staying the plague of smallpox, which at that time was scourging the town. when we saw the procession last it had been augmented by such numbers that it appeared as if the entire city was following this image. they seemed to believe that it could really charm away the smallpox. this is not an isolated case. it is typical. every patron saint has laid upon him at times the responsibility of breaking a drouth or the effects of a dreadful scourge which may be afflicting the people. it is the veriest sort of idolatry. one of the most pitiful exhibitions of superstition to be found in brazil is that in connection with the many shrines to which pilgrimages are made by thousands of people and at which places great miracles are supposed to be performed. in bahia there is a famous shrine called bom fim (good end). it is located on a hill in the suburbs of the city. years ago tradition has it, the image of san salvador was found on the summit of this hill. a priest took charge of the image and removed it to a church. on the following morning the image was missing, and upon going to the spot where he first found it, he discovered the image. again he took it to the church, and again on the following day, he found the image at the original place. the tradition was, therefore, started that the image had fallen from heaven to the top of the hill, and every time it was removed from this spot it, of itself, returned. so it was taken for granted that the image desired its shrine built on this spot. at first there was a little shrine constructed, and afterward was built the magnificent edifice which now shelters the image. to this place the thousands go annually upon pilgrimages. one of the most gruesome spectacles to be found anywhere is in a side room near the altar. from the ceiling are suspended wax and plaster of paris reproductions called ex-votos of literally every portion of the body--feet, hands, limbs, heads, all portions--the ceiling space is completely covered with these uncanny figures. the wall is hung with pictures, which portray all sorts of scenes, such as a man in shipwreck, a carpenter falling down a ladder, a child falling out of a second-story window, death chambers of various people, etc. these figures and pictures are intended to represent miracles. when these people were in their afflictions they prayed to the image of the good end and made a promise that if they should recover they would bring one of these votive offerings of the part affected, whether of man or beast, to the shrine. some of them came before the cure was effected, and with a prayer, left the image behind and the cures of their disease or afflictions were attributed to the image of bom fim. it is said that when this church is given its annual cleaning, just before the celebration of the saint's day, thousands of people congregate here, roll in the waters which are used to wash out the building, and drink the filthy stuff, deeming it to be holy. there is hardly a more revolting scene to be found anywhere, and all in the name of religion. until recently, when the police put an end to it, a most disgusting species of holy dance was observed on this annual day in which the most sensual practices were indulged. perhaps the most famous shrine in all brazil is in the far interior of the state of bahia on the san francisco river. it is the famous lapa. the image has its shrine in a cave in a very remarkable geological formation. one hundred thousand people make pilgrimages to this shrine every year from all of the states in brazil. the last emperor himself made a visit to this shrine. from june to august of last year $ , was collected from the pilgrims. our missionary, jackson, met a man who had been on the way six months. it required him a year to make this trip. the same missionary saw a family from the state of alagoas which had been on the journey six weeks. dr. z. c. taylor says he passed through sections that had been almost depopulated because the men had sold out their homes, horses and cattle in order to seek a miracle in their favor at this same shrine. fire destroyed the image in . protestants were accused of setting fire to it because a missionary was near at the time. (he was forty miles away.) in the controversy that arose the missionary noted that, inasmuch as the new image was sent by freight and not by ticket, it must be an idol and not a saint. suffice it to say, that a new image was placed and the people are worshiping it with the same zeal with which they worshiped the old, even though the new one came by freight and the old one was supposed to have fallen from heaven. it is believed to have miracle working power and to give great merit to one who makes the pilgrimage to it. in the daily paper called the "provinca," published in pernambuco, there was printed on august , , the following telegram from the city of rio, the capital of the republic. "the seculo (century) of today announces that on st. leopold street in andarahy (a suburb of rio) there was discovered a fountain of water in a hollow rock, in which a plebian found an image of a saint. "this image," adds the seculo, "although in water, did not present the least vestige of humidity. the news of this curious discovery was immediately circulated, and there was a great pilgrimage, including a reporter of the seculo, to this miraculous fountain in andarahy." it is very probable that this telegram heralds the advent of a new shrine, because it is in this fashion that these so-called miracle-working shrines are brought into existence. not all of these shrines are canonized, but nevertheless they have power over the people. as we were making a trip into the interior of the state of pernambuco we passed a station called severino. near the station we could see a splendid church building which had been constructed in honor of st. severino. this saint is not in the calendar, not recognized by the church nor the bishop, yet it is popular all over brazil. many people are named after him, and to this shrine are brought many of the same sort of things as were described in connection with the shrine of the good end. this idol is stuffed with sugar-cane pith. the head of it was found in the woods some time ago. a tradition was started that an image had fallen from heaven. the superstitious people believed the report and soon a shrine was in full operation, which today, even though it be not canonized, is exerting a far-reaching influence. the owner of the shrine gave up his farming and lives handsomely on the offerings the deluded bring to his private shrine. in one of the most magnificent churches in bahia is an image of a negro saint. this holy being won his canonization as a reward for stealing money from his master to contribute to the church. that is it: do anything you please, provided you share the spoils with the church. across the breast of the virgin's image in the church of our lady of penha in pernambuco, before which church the bibles were burned in , are written the following words: "one hundred days' indulgence to the person who will kiss the holy foot of the holy virgin." this pitifully expresses, perhaps, the thought behind saint worship. it is the hope that the aching of the sinful heart may find some assuagement through the worship of these gilded, gaudy images. it is claimed by the priests and some of the more intelligent that the image worshiped is only a concrete representation of the saint, and it contains symbolically the spirit of the saint. to be sure! this is exactly the reason the more intelligent fetish worshiper in africa assigns for worshiping his hand-made god. the etone or piece of wood is a representative of god and to a degree contains his spirit. such worship is condemned as being idolatry in the african. the thing which is idolatry in the african must be idolatry in the catholic. even the catholics will condemn the idol worship of the heathen, and yet this same catholic church has in scores of places in south america and in other heathen lands, taken the identical images worshiped by the heathen and converted them into catholic saints. in the city of braga, in portugal, is a temple which centuries ago was devoted to jupiter. it was afterward converted into a catholic church and dedicated to st. peter. the idol jupiter, with two keys in his hand, was consecrated into st. peter. in another part of the same city is a temple devoted to janus in roman times, which was turned into a temple dedicated to st. john. the idol which formerly was worshiped as janus is being now worshiped as st. john. in the same temple there is an image now consecrated as st. mark which was formerly the god mars. the saint worship in brazil is just as heathenish. in china buddhist idols were renamed jehosaphat by the jesuits and worshiped. their practices in brazil are in keeping with their methods in other lands. what is the difference between a worshiper who thus seeks indulgence through the worship of an image in brazil and a like worshiper with a like soul need bowing before a similar wooden image in africa or china? chapter vii. penance and priest. confession and penance play a large part in the religious life of the common people. the priests exercise great ingenuity to preserve the confessional. the better educated classes have long ago deserted the confessional, but it still holds sway over the common people and hangs like a dark shadow over the immoral deeds of the priests. along with it flourishes the performance of penance. these two hand-maidens in wrong-doing often thrive in an absurd way. in penedo, the capital of the state of alagoas, a new wharf was being built and the money granted by the government was not sufficient to complete the work. the contractors approached the two monks who were to hold a mission in the city during february, , and offered to pay them $ if they would instruct the people to, in penance, carry across the city the stones which had been brought from the interior. a large quantity of building material had been brought down by rail and needed to be transported across to the wharf. the monks agreed, gave instructions accordingly, and in one week the people carried these stones across the town to the wharf. the transfer of these stones would have cost $ , . at least , people engaged in this colossal act of penance. they came from two counties. thus the contractors, by a little skillful manipulation, made penance save them considerable money. in some of these penances the people wear crowns of thorns on their heads and cords about their necks and go barefooted through the streets of the city in their pilgrimages to the church. all, that through these means they may find some ease for the conscience which accuses them of evil. what shall i say of the priests? i believe i will say nothing. i declined steadily to soil the pages of my note book with the records of the immoral deeds of these men. i will let speak for me an educated brazilian, a teacher in an excellent school in pernambuco, who is not a professing christian, but who, like a great many of his class, admires christianity very sincerely. when mr. colton, international secretary of the young men's christian association, passed through pernambuco in june, , he was given a banquet by some of the leading men, which event offended so grievously the catholic authorities that they published in the "religious tribune," their organ, a bitter diatribe on the young men's christian association. the professor, to whom i referred, who is now one of the leading judges in the state, published the following answer to this attack. he is in far better position to speak authoritatively about the brazilian priests than i am. his article ran as follows: "fury unbridled." "the official organ of the diocese of olinda could not on this occasion control its great animus. it threw aside its old worn-out mantle of hypocrisy, it precipitated itself furiously and insolently against the y.m.c.a. it not only does not forgive, but does not fear to excommunicate the local and state authorities who appeared at the banquet nor the directory of the portuguese reading rooms who lent their hall to said y.m.c.a. "after affirming that the evangelization of brazil means its unchristianizing the clerical organ begins to call the members of the association and protestants in general wolves in sheep's clothing. "but we ask, to whom does this epithet apply better? to us who dress as the generality of men, thus leaving no doubt as to our sex and freeing our consciences from the ignominious roman yoke, direct ourselves by that straight and narrow way which leads to salvation; or to this black band which secretly and maliciously makes of a man its prey from the moment in which he sees the light of day until the moment in which he goes to rest in the bosom of the earth? to us, who having no thirst for dominion, seek to cultivate in man all the noble attributes given by the creator, to us who teach clearly and without sophistry and gross superstitions the plan of salvation as it is found in the word of god; or to this legion of corrupt and hypocritical parasites, corruptors of youth, whose character they seek to debase and villify by means of the confessional? "the only object of the wolf in dressing himself as a sheep is to devour the sheep. and these shaven heads know perfectly well why we cite the chronicles of the convents; they know from personal knowledge who are responsible for the greater part of the illegitimate children, and they have no doubt about the permanency and progress of prostitution. "but they have effrontery, these priests! "what has the priesthood done in brazil in about years? the answer is found in facts that prove the absence of all initiative of will, of strength, of energy and of activity. brazil has only been a field for torpid exploitation by these gain-hunting libertines. and what of the attacks against private and public fortunes? "happily, for some years, the public conscience has been awakening and the people are beginning to know that a priest, even the best of them, is worthless. "freed from an official religion, the brazilian people have really made progress in spite of the hopelessness of romanism that perverts all things and resorts to ail sorts of schemes to preserve its former easy position. "we, pirates? ah! deceivers. then we, who present ourselves loyally without subterfuge, proclaiming the divine truths, speaking logically, without artifices or superstitions, are pirates? you noble priests are noble specimens of christian culture, i must confess! you are such good things that france has already horsewhipped you out of the country, and spain, whose knightly race is regaining the noble attributes obliterated by the iron yoke of romanism, is about ready to apply to you the same punishment. "there is no doubt that the priest is losing ground every day. all their manifestations of hate and satanic fury are easily explained. "one easily recognizes the true value of the explosion of vicious egotism found in the official organ of the diocese of olinda. the priest this time lost his calmness and let escape certain rude phrases as if he were yet in the good old times when he could imprison and burn at his pleasure. console yourselves, reverend lord priests, everything comes to an end, and the ancient period of darkness and obscurity exists no more in brazil." what is the net result of such religious life as we have been portraying? the common and more ignorant people accept without very much questioning the teachings and practices which we have explained. the better educated people, especially the men, have lost confidence in the priesthood. scarcely an educated man can be found who believes in the moral uprightness of the priest. the chief hold the church has upon the better classes is a social and not a religious one. births, marriages, deaths, alike are great social events, and upon such occasions, because it is custom to have a priest, the better classes of people even call in the services of the priests, in whom they have no confidence. the effect upon the beliefs of these better classes is most distressing. spiritism, materialism and atheism are rampant, and one could well believe that these people set adrift without spiritual guides are in a worse condition than if they were still devout believers in the ancient practices of the roman church. they are far more difficult to reach because they have imbibed the philosophies of spiritism, materialism and atheism. an atheist in south america is just as difficult to approach as he is anywhere. the devout catholics are easier to reach with the gospel. the devout catholic has at least one element which must always be reckoned with in dealing helpfully with an immortal soul. he has reverence, which thing many of those people who have been swung away from their faith have not. i take no comfort in the fact that the people in large numbers are deserting the roman catholic church and are being set adrift without any form of religion. one could wish that they might be held to their old beliefs until we could reach them with the virile truths of the gospel of jesus. we come back to it--the gospel is not preached in brazil except as it is preached by the protestant missionary. the need is just as great for gospel preaching in this country as it is in china. one day after i had finished speaking to a congregation in castello, back in the interior from campos, an old english woman came up to me and expressed her great pleasure over having the privilege of hearing once more the gospel preached in english. i had spoken in english, and the missionary had interpreted what i had to say into portuguese. she had heard the sermon twice. she had been in brazil thirty-odd years. she and her husband had lived in the far interior. they had recently moved down to castello that they might be near the little church where they could have the opportunity of worshiping god. she told me that back in the town in which they had lived they had left two sons who were engaged in business for themselves. these two sons had been born in brazil, and yet in all their lives they had never heard a gospel sermon. yes, these people are without the gospel and this is our justification for carrying to them the message of life. for them christ died, and to them, because they have not heard, he has sent us that we might bring his precious message of eternal salvation, for "how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?" chapter viii. the gospel triumphant. it is often claimed that the progress of the gospel is slower and more difficult in catholic countries than in outright heathen lands. such statements can be answered only by an appeal to the facts in the case. what are the facts? the foreign mission board of the southern baptist convention has been conducting operations in brazil for about thirty years. it has been doing work in china for more than sixty years. during all the time since work--was opened in brazil, the board has had about three times as many missionaries in china as it had in brazil, with the result that at the present time we have , members of our churches in brazil, as against , members of our churches in china. we have worked less than half as long in brazil and with one-third of the missionary force. last year with a missionary force one-third as large in brazil as it was in china, there were more baptisms in brazil than there were in china. there were , baptisms in china and , in brazil. the same sort of comparison between our work in italy and japan would make the same showing. this is not to make a prejudicial statement concerning the work in any field. we make it simply to show that the gospel does succeed remarkably in the catholic countries. the fact is, the rate of progress is far greater in the catholic country than it is in the heathen land. the gospel does succeed in catholic countries. what is said here of the work of this one board can be said just as truly of the others. it was our privilege to witness some remarkable demonstrations of the power of the gospel while we were in brazil. about : o'clock one afternoon we arrived in genipapo in the interior of the state of bahia, after having ridden since early morning upon the railroad train through a mountainous country which, with its tropical vegetation, held our keenest interest. we were met at the station by some members of our church, who escorted us to the home of polycarpo nogueira. mrs nogueira is a very devout christian. some years ago she learned that her mother had embraced christianity. mrs. nogueira set out upon a journey of miles on muleback to her mother's home for the purpose of taking out of her mother's heart her belief in the gospel. she succeeded in shaking her mother's faith and also the faith of her brother. she now determined to prepare herself to combat this baptist teaching which was spreading over the country. she marked passages of scripture which she proposed to use against the baptists. but when she used them she grew ashamed because she became conscious of the fact that she had misapplied the word which she then gave deeper study. the word of god took hold of her own heart and she in turn was converted. her first thought was concerning her mother and brother miles away. again she took the long journey on muleback in order to lead her loved ones to christ. she was able to re-establish her mother's faith, but to this day her deep regret is that her brother does not believe. we had a great service at the church that night. the crowd was so large that we held the services out in the open. seven stood to confess their surrender to christ. the good deacon of the church was so thoroughly in the spirit of the occasion and in such sympathy with me that he declared he could understand my english. he really seemed to catch it before the missionary could interpret it. on the following day we reached st. inez, the station at the end of the railway, and spent the night in a poor excuse of a lodging house called the commercial hotel. at o'clock on the following morning, which was sunday, we started on horseback for arroz novo, an excellent country church fifteen miles away. a young brother named john laringeiro (john orangetree) had brought horses for us. before his conversion he was an arch persecutor, and since he has become a christian he has been called upon to suffer even more bitter persecution than he ever inflicted upon others. he is struggling to care for his mother, and as the pastor of the church at rio preto, he is a most acceptable gospel preacher. it was a fine ride into the country, over hill and mountain and deeply-shaded valley. after we had ridden about half the length of our journey several brethren from arroz novo (new rice) met us to escort us to the church. a mile or two further we were met by another company, who swelled the number of our dashing cavalcade to about twenty-five. it was dashing, too, for they were hard riders. it was a very joyous and cordial reception committee. finally we rode into sight of the church, winch is located on a high hill commanding a grand panorama of the mountains. as we approached we saw two long lines of people standing facing each other in front of the church. the men were on one side and the women on the other--about of them. as we rode up the congregation sang a hymn to give us welcome. we dismounted when we reached the end of the two lines and walked down between them to the church. now it is the custom in brazil upon festal occasions to strew the meeting place with oleander and cinnamon leaves and to throw rose petals and confetti upon those they wish to honor. these good people observed this custom generously that day. a wide space of the ground in front of the church was strewed with leaves, and they showered such quantities of rose petals and confetti upon us that we were beautiful sights by the time we reached the door. we entered the very creditable church building into which the people now poured until every foot of space was occupied. there was hardly room left for me to make gestures as i spoke. it was ten o'clock. the people had been present since four engaged in a prayer meeting. we began the service immediately. the spirit of the lord was upon us to preach the gospel. afterward we called for those who wished to make confession of their faith in christ. we pushed back the people a little bit in the front and the space thus made vacant was immediately filled with those who wished to confess their lord and savior. we saw that others wanted to come, so we asked them to stand where they were. all through the audience they rose. then began the examination of these candidates. numerous questions were put to them by the missionary and the pastor of the church. sometimes as many as twenty-five or even more questions would be asked an individual so great was the care exercised in examining those who wished to become members of the church, and what impressed me most was the fact that after every question they could think of had been asked, they would ask if anyone present could endorse him. whereupon someone, if he could recommend the candidate would, after a brief speech of endorsement, make a motion to receive him. over to my right rose a young woman who was the most beautiful woman i saw in brazil. her name was elvira leal. she had been favorable to the gospel for some time and had suffered cruel persecution from her father. the tears streamed down her face as she spoke, saying, "you know my story and what i have been called upon to endure for the gospel's sake, but this morning i must confess the lord. i cannot resist the spirit longer." i learned that her father, in order to force her to give up her faith, had dragged her across the floor by her hair. he had brandished his dagger over her heart, threatening to take her life; he had forced her to break her engagement to be married to the young preacher, john larinjeiro, who had brought the horses for us; he had declared he would kill both of them rather than to allow them to marry, and at the time we were there she was compelled to live in the home of a neighbor, so violent had become her father in his opposition to her adherence to the gospel. that morning, however, she said though she knew it involved suffering, she would follow her savior at whatever cost. by the time the missionary had finished examining this woman, a man had crowded near to the front and indicated that he wished to say something. it was john larinjeiro's brother. he said that for two years he had been impressed with the gospel, but because of the persecution in his own home he had held back. when years ago his mother had been converted, he went to persuade her to give up her religion. persuasion failing, he persecuted her severely. she finally told him that his efforts were of no avail because she could not give up her faith in christ, yet if he would take the bible and show her where she was wrong, she would give it up. he secured a gospel circulated by the priest and also "the manual of instructions for holding missions" and both of these confirmed his mother's faith, and he had no more to say. the word impressed itself upon his heart and he became sympathetic to the gospel. then trouble arose. his father-in-law, he said, had threatened to take his wife and children from him and to put him out of his own home. his wife had persecuted him and declared she would leave him if he made the confession he desired to make. he said that he did not know what to do, but had come forward to ask us to pray for him. then the congregation fell upon its face, as far as such a thing was possible, and prayed. i could not understand all they said in the prayers because they were spoken in portuguese, but so mighty was the presence of the spirit and so irresistible was the appeal sent up to the throne of grace that i knew before the prayers ended what the result would be. as soon as the prayers were concluded, the man stood up and said, "news travels quickly in this country. it may be that when i reach home i shall find my wife and children gone, but whatever may be the cost, i cannot resist the spirit today. i must confess my lord and ask for membership in the church." of course, he was received. a letter received from the missionary some months later informed me that the father-in-law had carried out his threat and did take away the wife and children. numerous others stood to make confession, and the examination continued far past one o'clock, 'till twenty-one were received for baptism. this marvelous outpouring of the spirit of christ enabled us to see with our own eyes the power of the gospel demonstrated in the saving of souls in brazil. after the service we went to breakfast in a house near by. the crowd, according to custom, came into the dining room, as many of them as could, to hear the conversation while we sat about the table. the walls of the building were made of mud, the floor was the bare ground, in the corner of the room, surrounded by a mud puddle, stood a water jar, around which the chickens were picking. i kicked a pig out of my way, accidentally stepped on a dog, but nothing daunted, fell to with good will and ate, asking no questions. after a few hours' ride, upon our return journey in the afternoon, we reached the town of olhos d'agua (fountains of water) through which we had passed upon our outward journey in the early morning. there is a very good church at this place which has suffered cruel persecution. upon the doors of every protestant house in the town have been painted black crosses. they were placed there at night by the catholics to keep the devil from coming out. the black cross of derision has become a mark of honor in that community. we were greeted by a splendid audience that night and the gospel again was honored. more than a dozen people accepted christ and made confession of him. i was greatly interested in brother raymundo, who is the leading member of this church. formerly he was a great persecutor. he was an enemy to antonio barros, who is now a leading member in the church at arroz novo. barros was converted at lage, and when he met raymundo he greeted him, at which raymundo was greatly surprised. barros explained his action by saying that he had found christ and wanted to live at peace with all men. the fact that his enemy should embrace him and beg his pardon greatly impressed raymundo. upon the invitation of barros, raymundo attended the meeting that night. he was touched by the gospel and was converted. he now had to experience the same persecution he had inflicted upon others. his enemies wrote to the merchants in bahia and told them that he was out of his mind. so persistent was their persecution that he was compelled to give up his business. his credit was destroyed by these reports. he moved away from olhos d'agua, but when the native pastor left the place recently raymundo returned in order to hold the work together. he now makes his meager living by trading, and through great sacrifice leads the congregation in a very acceptable service. we returned to st. ignez by ten o'clock that night, tired and happy over what our eyes had seen and our hearts had felt. it had been a day of triumph for the gospel. on monday we started on our journey for santo antonio. when we passed through genipapo we found brother polycarpo nogueira at the station. he had come to ask about a passage of scripture i had pointed out to him on the night when we stayed in his home we had urged him to accept the gospel and he hesitated. i quoted to him, "everyone, therefore, who shall confess me before men, him will i confess before my father in heaven. but whosoever shall deny me before men, him, will i deny before my father who is in heaven." mat. : , . he told us about a wonderful meeting held in the church on sunday, in which one had been converted and many others were deeply interested. he himself was evidently moved upon by the spirit. may the word we gave him lead him to christ. some hours further on we passed through vargem grande, where we have another church. several people boarded the train to accompany us to santo antonio. one of them was fausto de almeida. when the ex-priest, ottoni, visited vargem guande some years ago to preach the gospel this man almeida, with a great crowd of boys equipped with tin cans, met him at the station. this troupe escorted ottoni to the church and stood outside making as much noise as possible. he offered the ex-priest a loaded cigar, which ottoni declined with kindly thanks. the minister's conduct was so gentle and kind that fausto, when he bethought himself, went home in a rage, became intoxicated, and in order to vent his wrath, went out into his back yard and fired his pistols. a little later one of his sisters was converted, and by her good testimony not long after that when she died, he was greatly impressed. another sister was converted and gave him a bible, which he read and in which he found the message of christ. he obeyed his lord, and in spite of violent opposition on the part of his wife, is today in a faithful and effective way, building up the church at vargem, grande. chapter ix. jose barretto. when we reached santo antonio de jesus at two p. m. we found a throng at the station to meet us. they gave us a royal welcome, receiving us literally with open arms. after this hearty greeting we formed a procession and marched two and two through the streets of the city to the church. they wished us to take the lead in the procession, but we declined the honor and finally took position about the middle of the line. they seemed to march through every street in the city, so eager were they to impress the population that there was somebody else in the world besides their religious persecutors. when we arrived at the church they showered us once more with rose petals and confetti. after prayer we were taken to the home of jose barretto to be entertained. now, this same jose barretto is a very remarkable character. he was formerly superintendent of the manganese mines near by and very active in politics. if any questionable work needed to be done in order to influence an election jose was called upon to do it. he is a great, strong fellow, more than six feet in height and weighs, perhaps, pounds. he was a violent man, fearless and desperate. i noted many scars on his face which were evidences of many dangerous encounters. he did not deign to steal the ballots, but would take possession of the ballot box, extract from it the proper number of votes, destroy them, seal the box and allow the count to be made. no one dared withstand him. he was just as violent in his opposition to the protestants. he declared that he would beat any protestant who should ever come into his house. well, one day his own brother-in-law came to see him. this brother-in-law was blind and also a christian. after a while jose and his wife were commiserating the brother over his blindness when he said, that though his eyes were clouded, his soul saw the light of life. his sister said to him, "you must be a protestant." he replied, "yes, thank god, i know jesus christ." she was so frightened that she fainted, because she had visions of her burly husband pouncing upon her blind brother and beating him to death. her husband resuscitated her and soothed her by saying, "i know i have said all of these things about what i would do to the protestants, but i hope i am not mean enough to strike a blind man and certainly i would not injure your brother." that night the brother asked them to read the scriptures. they had no bible, but did possess a book of bible stories, one of which the sister read, and then the brother asked permission to pray. jose barretto had always been reverential, and so he knelt in prayer. so earnest and childlike was the praying of the blind brother and so fully did he express the real heart hunger of the great, strong man that when the prayer was finished, jose barretto said very sincerely, "amen." he became deeply interested in the gospel. when the brother left, the spirit of god so impressed jose that he felt he must look up a new testament which he had taken from an employee some time ago. he had looked at this book which he had taken from the employee's hands, and finding no saints' pictures in it, concluded that it was that hated protestant bible the priests were trying to keep from being circulated, and had thrown it into a box in the corner of his office. now he went to this box, fished out the new testament, brushed the dust from its pages and read from it the word of life. the blind brother, in the meantime, had gone to santo antonio and told what had happened. the chief of police of the city, who was a christian and the president of the baptist young people's union, declared that he was going out to see jose. "i have been afraid to go," he said, "because jose has been so violently opposed to the gospel." he went and found the strong man poring over the pages of the book in his effort to find the way of life. he explained the gospel and barretto was soon converted, as was also his sister. his wife held on to her old faith. she would pray, but would use the crucifix. finally the husband and sister decided they would burn the idol, which they accordingly did. when the wife saw that no dreadful calamity befell the house she concluded that the idol was a powerless thing and gave her heart to christ. the life of jose barretto since that time has been a burning light. he has been as zealous in following christ as he ever was in following evil, though not so violent. his witness has been honored amongst his own family and relations especially. they have been forced to realize that there is something in christianity which can produce such a remarkable change in the life of such a violent man. when we were in his home we learned of a family of twenty-one, some distance out in the country, who were ready to make confession of their faith and be baptized. they were anxious for the missionary to come and baptize them and to organize a church in one of their homes. these people were the relatives of jose barretto. it is marvelous how the witness of his life is bearing fruit. he lost his position as superintendent by his acceptance of christ, but is now making a living as a coffee merchant. we had a remarkable service at the church that night. a great throng pressed into the building, and jose barretto was the chief usher. i have never seen a man who could crowd more people into a building than could he. after the house had been packed there still remained on the outside a crowd as large as that sandwiched into the building. i preached the gospel once more, speaking, of course, in all of these services through an interpreter. when i called for those who would confess christ i did not ask them to come forward because there was no room for them. they stood here and there over the audience until more than twenty expressed themselves as having accepted christ and desiring membership in the church. when one man stood amongst this number i noticed that jose barretto was very deeply moved. his great frame shook with emotion. i learned afterwards that the man who stood was a police sergeant, who in the old days had been jose's confederate in his political crookedness. that night this man stood acknowledging his sins and asking for membership in the church. jose's faithfulness had won him. once more we witnessed a marvelous victory of the gospel. on the very day on which we visited santo antonio and were entertained in the home of our good brother jose barretto, this great stalwart fellow who had been such a violent opposer of christianity and who had previously lived such a desperate life, was met on the street by one of his former schoolmates. his schoolmate chided him for becoming a christian and insinuated that jose's conversion was an act of weakness and also that he would not hold out very long. he went further to say many severe things in criticism of the cause of protestant christianity. jose barretto replied, "you ought to be ashamed of yourself for finding fault with the thing which has produced such a change in my life. you know the kind of character i have been in this community. you know how violent and sinful i have been and you know at this time how i am living. a religion which can produce such a change as this does not deserve ridicule." the man turned and slunk away. in the meantime, there had gathered around them a number of people, because they knew how serious a matter it was for anyone to oppose him, and they expected to see something violent take place that day. being emboldened by the mild answer which he gave to his persecutor, others began to ask questions. finally one of them asked him this question: "suppose someone should strike you in the face in persecution, what would you do?" and then the great, strong violent man who had been made meek and humble by his acceptance of jesus gave an answer which showed him to be genuinely converted to the spirit of jesus. he said: "i am not afraid of such a thing as that happening, for the reason that i propose to live in this community such a life for the help of my brothers that no one will ever desire to strike me in the face," and these others turned shame-stricken away from him. he threw down before that community the challenge of his life, and that is the thing that not only in brazil, but here in our own land, must finally win for our king the triumph which is his due. chapter x. captain egydio. what brought about the readiness of this territory in the interior of the state of bahia for the acceptance of the gospel? perhaps the brand of burning which did more than any other to shed light through the entire section over which we passed, was the person of captain egydio pereira de almeida. he was one of several brothers of a good country family which owned large possessions in the interior miles from the city of bahia. he was an intense catholic, but never a persecutor. at one time he was captain in the national guards. he was political boss of his community and protector for a small tribe of indians. he was a hard-working, law-abiding citizen. in order to know the story we must go back a little. in solomon ginsburg sold a bible to guilhermino de almeida on the train when he was going to armagoza. ginsburg had only one bible left and felt constrained to offer it to the stranger across the aisle. the man said he had no money and did not care to buy. the missionary pressed him and finally sold him for fifty cents a bible worth four times that amount. that night his fellow passenger heard the missionary speak in the theater in armagoza and seemed to enjoy especially the hymns the preacher sang. the missionary marked for him the ten commandments and other passages in the bible. when the man reached his home at vargem grande a few days afterward he told his brother marciano de almeida of his encounter with the missionary, of how he had bought the bible which he did not want and of the ten commandments the missionary had marked for him. he very willingly gave his bible to his brother. marciano read the book and was particularly impressed with the ten commandments. now, we must introduce into this narrative another character in the person of good brother madeiros. some time before this, having become interested in the gospel, he had gone to bahia and had been instructed by missionary z. c. taylor in the truth to such good purpose that he gave himself to the lord. his neighbors at valenca, his native town, on learning of his having accepted christ, drove him out, and he moved to vargem grande. but he found no rest in his new home, for his fellow townsmen so persecuted him that he was compelled to live in the outskirts of the town. he was the first believer in vargem grande. when marciano de almeida became interested in the scriptures he went to see madeiros and was instructed by him in the gospel. he told the persecuted saint that he would stand by him from now on, for marciano had experienced a marvelous conversion. on learning that his images were idols, marciano collected all immediately and burnt them, greatly to the disgust of his family and the whole town. he began at once to declare the word of god, and though he was as gentle as a lamb, he was also as bold as a lion in defending the gospel. when his brother, captain egydio de almeida, who lived sixty miles away, learned that marciano had become converted, he made the journey to take out of his brother's heart the false teaching which he had imbibed. he pitied his brother, thinking that marciano's mind had become unbalanced. when captain egydio arrived at his brother's in vargem grande, being a very positive man, he set about the business of straightening out his brother with dispatch and determination. he failed in his purpose, and then called in a priest. when he returned with the priest marciano asked the two to be seated. immediately the priest inquired, "what is this i am hearing about you, marciano?" he replied, "mr. priest, i am thirty-five years old and you never gave me the bible, god's holy law and as god ordered it. i came by it through the protestants whom you have always abused. you have taken my money all these years for mass, saying you would take the souls of our kin out of a purgatory that does not exist. you taught me to worship idols which god's word condemns. you sprinkle my children for money, marry them for money, and when they die you still demand money to save their souls from an imaginary purgatory. the bible teaches me, on the other hand, that god offers me a free salvation through jesus christ." the priest rose and said good-bye without offering a word of explanation. seeing the priest thus defeated, captain egydio turned to old brother madeiros, who happened to be present, and said: "if you continue to put these false doctrines in my brother's head i will send a couple of indians here to take off your head." "yes," replied madeiros, "you may cut off my head, but you cannot cut off my soul from god." captain egydio returned home breathing out plagues upon himself and his family. he drank heavily at every grog shop on his way and scattered abroad the news about his family's disgrace. he was a man of a kind heart, and though he did not embrace the truths of his brother's religion, he did show his brother great consideration and, being a political leader for that district, became his brother's protector. when his wrath had cooled down somewhat he began to recall many things marciano had told him about the bible, and as he looked upon his many expensive idols set here and there in niches about his home, he said to himself: "well, did marciano say these images do nothing. they neither draw water, cut wood nor pick coffee. they do not teach school, they do not protect our home, for there is one covered with soot. there is another the rats have gnawed, and recently another fell and was broken. how powerless they are." then he remembered the bible which a believer had given him years before. he began to examine it in a closed room. ag he read he prayed, "oh, god, if this religion of marciano be right, show it to me." he seemed to be making good progress. but about this time he received word that his brother and the missionary r. e neighbor were coming to see him. the priest had also heard of the approaching visit and had sent a letter to captain egydio's son warning him against the coming men, saying that they were emissaries of the united states and wished to lead the almeidas astray. the letter bearer was instructed to deliver the letter to the son and not let the father know anything about it, but he said, "i cannot do that because i must be true to my old captain," so he gave the letter to captain egydio. he wag greatly disturbed over the warnings the priest had given and tried to induce his children to give up the reading of the pamphlets and scriptures he had given to them, which thing they refused to do. his brother and the missionary came according to agreement and captain egydio, true to his word, went with them to the town of areia to protect them while they were engaged in conducting a gospel service in the public square. the priest of the town sent the police to prevent the protestants from conducting the meeting. the sergeant, who had been under captain egydio when he was captain in the national guards, was one of the detail sent to suppress the meeting. he declared that he would stand by his old captain, for the men knew that under the constitution the missionary had a perfect right to hold the meeting. the meeting was held, but under such unfavorable circumstances that the captain stood forth and said: "i have not declared myself a protestant, but from this time i shall be a protestant and propose to give my life to the spread of this faith." it happened that one day he was called to visit a boy who had been shot. as he rode along through the open fields he was burdened with prayer to god. suddenly he felt a strange feeling and he seemed to hear a voice saying, "you are saved." immediately he knew that the lord had visited him with his blessed salvation. he shouted as he rode along the way, "glory to god. i am redeemed." he rode on in this state to the home of the boy. seeing the boy could not live, he began to exhort him to look to christ for salvation, and just before the boy's spirit passed out from him, he made confession of his lord. the captain returned to his home overflowing with joy. he galloped his horse up to the door, shouting, "glory, hallelujah, i am saved." he embraced his wife and children and all stood back staring at him. finally the mother cried: "poor man! children, your father is mad. get the scissors and let us cut off his hair; let us rub some liniment on his head." "all right," he said, "only do not cut it too close," and he suffered them to rub the liniment also upon his head. seeing that there was no change in him, they also administered to him one of their homely medicines, a small portion of which he was willing to take to pacify them. their opinion of his sanity was not changed. not only his family, but his neighbors suspected him. as he engaged in business--and he was a very busy man--people were watching him to see if something was not dreadfully wrong. finally all realized that a great and beneficent change had taken place. he never became a preacher, but he did not allow to pass an opportunity to tell the story of his newly-found savior. his bible was constantly in his hands, and he read the marvelous news to all. his family soon became interested in the gospel and they, even to his son-in-law, became as crazy upon the subject as he. thirteen of them were baptized at one time. for activity in evangelization his equal was scarcely ever met. he kept for distribution boxes of bibles and tracts. while at business he witnessed for the gospel. he traveled extensively. some of his bosom friends became his worst enemies, but many of them he led to christ, or at least to a friendship, for the gospel. he did not preach, but invited many preachers to come to his community and was always ready to accompany them whenever they needed his presence. his life was the greatest sermon he could preach to the people. they had known him once in the old days when one of his sons fell sick he promised to carry his weight of beeswax to the miracle working saint of the lapa shrine, miles away on the san francisco river. the son recovered and the father kept his word. now they saw him discard his old superstitions for the truth in jesus. the gospel that could produce such a marvelous change as this had its effect upon his neighbors. he organized a church upon his own fazenda and it held its meetings in his own house at casca. he became deeply interested in the subject of education. he said one day to dr. z. c. taylor, our missionary at bahia: "while i was a catholic i had no desire to educate my children, but now i would give all of this farm to see them educated." dr. taylor told him of some of his own plans concerning a school, and captain egydio contributed the first money for the school, which dr. taylor afterward established, captain egydio's gift of a thousand dollars making it possible for this school to be organized. of the trials and persecutions which he endured for the gospel, we can cite only one or two. a priest paid two men sixty dollars to go and take the captain's life. they appeared one night at his door and asked for employment. he invited them in, saying he had plenty of work he could give them to do. the time soon arrived for family prayers and the men were invited to be present. the captain afterward told the family that while he was praying he received a distinct impression that the men had come to do him bodily injury and that in the prayer he had committed himself absolutely to the protection of god. the next day he took the two men out into the field to show them what to do. in the meantime he had been telling them of the love of jesus and how he had come to save to the uttermost those who would believe on him. one lingered behind to shoot, but his hand trembled too much. the other did not have the courage to do the man of god any injury. that night they said they would not stay longer. he paid them for the day's work, bade them godspeed and they departed. but he did not always escape suffering so easily. one afternoon as he was passing by the priest's home the priest accosted him and said: "captain, why is it you do not stop with me any more? you used to do so, but of late you have passed me by." he urged the captain so strongly that he decided to stay all night. they offered him wine to drink, which he refused. then they gave him coffee. that night he suffered agony and was sick for some time after reaching home. he was sure he had been poisoned. he suffered many persecutions from unsympathetic neighbors, not only from criticism, but sometimes from bodily injuries and from painful abuse, all of which he bore with an equanimity of spirit which would do credit to any martyr to the cause of christ. dr. z. c. taylor relates a trying experience through which he and captain egydio passed together. "the captain and i were together one day returning home from a preaching tour by a near cut, passing the door of our greatest persecutor, captain bernadino, who on seeing us, seized a stick, and running to us, beat back our hordes, crying, 'back, back, you cannot pass my house.' a plunge of my horse caused my hat to fall off, which he handed me and continued to force our retreat. we returned by way of the home of his son-in-law, who was a baptized believer, and while this brother was piloting us down a hill to another way home captain bernadino, jumping from behind a bush, caught my horse by the bridle. he had an assassin at his heels, with axe in hand, asking every minute what he should do. captain bernadino wore out his stick on my horse, planting the last stroke across my loins; then he struck me about a dozen times in the breast with his fist. i said to him, 'captain, why are you beating me, i believe in god; do not you also?' stopping and panting he said, 'do you believe in god, you rascal?' 'yes,' i said, 'and jesus also who came to save us sinners.' 'don't let up, don't let up, hit him, hit him,' cried his wife and children. he pulled the bridle from my hands, led my horse into a pond close by, and gathering mud, pelted me from foot to shoulder. then leaving my horse, he went after captain egydio, who was guarded by another assassin. on passing his son-in-law, kneeling, he struck him on the head, saying, 'get up, you fool!' leading the captain's horse into the water, he covered him with mud from foot to head. then, putting our bridles up, he beat our horses and told us to go, never to be seen in those parts any more. my bridle reins he crossed, which fact caused me when i passed his wife, who stood with a long stick upraised, to strike me, to turn my horse upon her instead of away from her, and the horse came near running over her. she struck and fell back, the stick falling across my horse's neck. such a pandemonium of mad voices, cursing and shouting as we left i never heard. it took us till night to reach home. the family took it as an honor, and smiling and laughing, we were spending the evening merrily, when at nine or ten o'clock a rap at the door caused us all to suspend our hilarity. it was that son-in-law of the persecutor, bringing his wife, asking to be baptized. she had witnessed the persecution her father gave us, and on her husband's return to the house, she told him the scene made her think of the apostles and that now she was determined to be baptized. at first i thought of bloodshed, for her father had threatened to kill her, her mother, captain egydio and the man who baptized her. but i had always taught them to obey christ and leave results with him, so we heard her experience and at midnight i baptized her. captain egydio did not complain of our treatment nor did i ever mention it to our consul. when he gave his heart to christ he gave his life and all. he followed where his conscience led. before his conversion he was a great smoker. the missionary asked him one day if he smoked for the glory of god. he took the cigarette from his mouth, threw it away and never smoked again. this was characteristic of his determination and his unfaltering devotion to what he esteemed to be right. the end came swiftly one night. he had an attack apparently of indigestion which carried him speedily away. the symptoms seemed to indicate that he had been poisoned. all that night he spent in prayer and in singing hymns. he died leaving his benediction upon his family and upon those brazilians who would give their hearts and their services to jesus christ. he was buried upon his own farm. as his family did not erect a cross over his grave, one of his neighbors who had persecuted captain egydio violently many times thought he would correct him in his grave, and so he set up a large cross over him. one night soon after, this cross was cut down. the violent neighbor instituted a suit for the violation of the law in tearing down a symbol of the roman catholic church. he also came with great pomp, accompanied by soldiers, and set up another cross. the law suit finally wore itself out and both parties were glad to drop it, each party sharing an equal amount of the costs. the persecution has been so bitter that the church which captain egydio organized in his own house was removed to pe da serra, three miles away, and from there it was driven by persecution to rio preto, where today it flourishes with a membership of about fifty people and is in a hopeful condition. the widow and her children have been compelled to move into the city of bahia. a recent letter informs me of the conversion of the two youngest girls. the witness of captain egydio has not been lost. it is marvelous how much he accomplished in his short career. he was converted october, , baptized february , , and died march th, , at fifty years of age. in these few years he sowed the country down with the gospel truth. we visited vargem grande, santo antonio, areia and genipapo churches, all of which had grown very largely out of the influence of this one man, and had we been permitted to go further, we might have visited several other churches for whose beginning the life of this valiant servant of god was in a great measure responsible. "he, being dead, yet speaketh." chapter xi. felicidade. one of the most fascinating phases of mission study is the tracing of the lines along which the gospel spreads. this is true because it brings us into touch with the native christian who is one of the greatest agencies for the spread of the gospel. as it was in the first century, so it is now--"they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the gospel." the history of those apostolic times repeats itself in every mission land. he who personally observes the work in brazil or any other mission field will have a keener appreciation and understanding of the acts of the apostles written by luke. the native christians must either witness for their lord or else betray him. there is no middle ground. a large percentage of the churches in brazil grew out of the fact that a believer moved into a community and began to tell the story of the love of jesus to his neighbors. he may have entered this community by choice or may have been driven into it by persecution. however, that may be, the truth is that many a poor, despised, often persecuted believer, has started a movement in a community which gathered to itself a large company of believers, and formed the nucleus of another one of those most wonderful institutions in all the world--a church of jesus christ. when i had entered the first baptist church in sao paulo, brazil, and stood for a moment looking about me, i heard someone exclaim, "oh, there he is! there he is!" and presently i found myself locked in the affectionate embrace of an apparently very happy old woman. she was about seventy years of age. she was the janitress of the church. she had looked forward to our coming with joyful pleasure, and gave to us as hearty a welcome as did anyone in brazil. her name was felicidade, which being translated means "felicity." several years ago she had come from pernambuco, in which city and state she had labored with great success for many years in behalf of the gospel. when a girl of ten or twelve years of age she heard her father talk about a book he had seen in the court-house upon which the judge had laid his hand as he administered the oath. she had the greatest desire to see this book. she was married in her thirteenth year and her husband died when she was eighteen. after his death she went from the country to the city of pernambuco, where she met some members of the congregational church and was led by them to attend the services. she saw the bible and heard a sermon preached from the text, "blessed are they that hunger and thirst," and soon afterward she gave obedience to jesus. from that time forth her whole conversation was upon the gospel and upon the subject of bringing other people to christ. one time when mrs. entzminger was away from the city of pernambuco she left her children in charge of felicidade. while felicidade was passing along the street with the children one day she was met by mrs. maria motta and her daughter, who stopped to admire the beautiful children. felicidade told who the children were and urged her new acquaintances to attend the church services. they accepted her invitation and soon became interested in the gospel, and before long were converted to faith in jesus christ. then their persecution began. they lost all their friends and endured many other hardships. they came from one of the best families in the city, and therefore felt the persecution more bitterly than might have some others. the girl, augusta, secured work in the english store. her mother took in fine ironing, and thus the two made their support. afterward augusta married augusto santiago, who at the present time is the pastor of our thriving church in the city of nazareth. she has been to him one of the greatest blessings in that she has done much to help him in his effort to prepare himself better for his work. when we visited nazareth we were entertained in the delightful home of augusto santiago and found it to be charming in every respect. when felicidade lived in pernambuco it was her custom to sell fruit for six months to make money enough to live upon for the remainder of the year. she would then go into the interior with tracts and bibles, sell them and in every way try to lead people to christ. one year she made it her aim to lead not less than twelve to her lord, and she was able to accomplish her purpose. her education is limited, but she knows any number of scripture verses, which she is able to quote with remarkable aptness. upon one of her visits into the interior she was found at nazareth by innocencio barbosa, a farmer who resided in the district of ilheitas. he lived about thirty miles from nazareth. he took felicidade home with him in order that she might teach the gospel to his family. meanwhile, his friend, hermenigildo, who lived in a distant neighborhood, bought a bible in limoeiro and told his friend innocencio of what he had done. innocencio told him of the presence of felicidade and suggested that his friend might take her home with him that she might explain the gospel to his family also. felicidade accordingly went into this other home and soon the entire family, including a son-in-law and some relatives, were led to jesus, and a church of about fifty members was organized in hermenigildo's house. thus the faithful witnessing of this humble, consecrated woman was so honored of the holy spirit that scores were led into the light of the gospel of jesus. out of her efforts grew churches which the violence of the oppressor could not destroy, because the work she did became immortal when it passed over into the hands of the lord of hosts, against whose church not even the gates of hell can prevail. chapter xii. persecution. some of the severest persecutions the saints have ever endured in pernambuco broke upon this new congregation in the ilheitas district. the houses of the believers were broken into and everything destroyed, some of the buildings were burned. the believers asked for police protection, but the police sent to protect them being under the domination of the priest, who was the political boss of that district, persecuted the believers even more than their neighbors had done. they drove the believers about, beating them with their swords, forcing them to drink whisky and in many ingenious ways heaped indignities upon them. after the success of the great persecution in bom jardim, of which we will speak later, the priest organized a large force of men to destroy everything belonging to the protestants in the ilheitas district and to drive them away. they burned all of the church furniture, as well as the household furniture belonging to hermenigildo, who was forced to flee for his life. they cut the cord to the hammock in which was lying his young baby. the fall broke the neck of the child. the mother was driven unclothed between two lines of soldiers and severely beaten. the other believers were so harrassed that most of them were compelled to leave the neighborhood. hermenigildo stayed away five months, when a change in police chiefs in pernambuco made it possible for him to return. the church was reorganized the following year. a new building was constructed on hermenigildo's farm and today, with a membership of , it is in a most prosperous condition. in the little city of nazareth the fury of persecution has been felt. not a great while after the church had been organized by dr. entzminger the farmers in the community and the priest combined to drive the protestants out of town. dr. entzminger heard of their purpose and went up to nazareth, accompanied by a number of soldiers whom the government had put at his disposal. a great throng was collected at the station to do violence to the missionary on his arrival, but when they saw the soldiers they took to their heels, and many came that night to the service to show that they were not in the mob. a year or two later another mob broke into the church, poured oil over the furniture and burned practically everything. the police saved the building. once after this, when missionary ginsburg was to hold an open-air meeting in this same town, a soldier was hired to take his life. the officers of the law left town in order that the deed might be done without hindrance. the soldier drank whisky in order to brace himself for the deed, and fortunately imbibed too much and became so intoxicated that he fell asleep. when he awoke the meeting had been held and he had missed his chance. these facts were confessed by the soldier to dr. entzminger after the soldier had been converted a year later. at the railway station at nazareth we met primo da fonseca, who had, for the sake of the gospel, lost all in a great persecution at bom jardim, which is not a great distance from nazareth. he was a reader of evangelical literature and preached the gospel all over that country, though he had not been baptized. a native missionary went into that region, began preaching and soon afterward gathered a congregation and organized a church in fonseca's home. the political boss of the community planned with the catholics to take men into bom jardim on the night of april th, , for the purpose of killing all the protestants who were in prayer at fonseca's house. the mob divided into two parties. one party was to approach the house from the front and the other from the opposite side. a gun was to be fired as a signal for the attack. the first party approached the house, which was near the theater. now in the theater at that time was gathered a great throng of people. when the news came to them of the approach of the mob the women thought it was a part of the band of bandits led by antonio silvino, who is perhaps the most famous outlaw of brazil. all were greatly frightened. the mayor went out to see if he could not do something to persuade the mob to leave the town. after some parleying they said that inasmuch as the mayor asks, we will turn back. someone at that time fired a shot and shouted, "viva santa anna" in honor of the patron saint of that city. this signal brought up the supporting party at once, who mistook their comrades for the believers and fired into them. in the melee twenty people were killed and about fifty wounded. all night they were carrying the dead away to burial in order that they might cover up the deed as far as possible. the municipal judge made out a case that the protestants had fired on the catholics. he pronounced nineteen as being implicated. several escaped, six were finally brought to trial. dr. entzminger in pernambuco sent lawyers and gave such assistance as he could. after about two years, missionary ginsburg having come also to help in the meantime, the men on trial were set free. fonseca lost all he had in this law suit, he being one of those arrested. he was in jail four months. he has been deserted by his family. when the disturbance occurred he was marshal of his town. today he lives in nazareth, poor, deserted, faithful. but what cares he for this suffering, poverty and desertion as he contemplates the fact that he has set a torch of eternal light in his community. the church which he finally established will bear faithful witness in spite of hardships long after all persecution has ceased, and he, himself, has gone home to god. it was our good fortune to visit the little town of cabo (which means cape), two hours' ride from pernambuco, where we have a small church, organized about two years ago. we were entertained in the home of a mechanic who superintends the bridge construction along the railroad which passes through the town. he takes his bible with him when he goes to work, and wherever he is he preaches the gospel. he told us of two station agents along the line who had recently accepted christ through his personal efforts. we had a delightful service that night in the church, a great throng of people being present, six of whom made public profession of their faith in jesus. after we had returned from the church we sat in the little dining room in the rear part of this man's house until a late hour. some of those who had suffered for the cause of the gospel came in to see us, and as we sat there in the dim light of the flickering candle, they told us of some of their sufferings for the gospel's sake. the scene reminded me of what must have taken place often in many a dark room in the early centuries when the christians gathered together for the sake of comforting each other in their trials. amongst those who were present in this little room was brother honofre, through whose efforts the church at cabo had been founded. several years ago he began to read a bible which had been presented to him by a man who was not interested in it. he became converted along with his household. there was a catholic family living opposite to him which he determined to reach with the gospel. after awhile this family accepted christ and the two families began to hold worship in their homes. soon they rented a hall, with the aid of a few others, and sent to pernambuco for a missionary to come and organize them into a church. this man has endured cruel hardships. he had to abandon his business as a street merchant because the people boycotted him. he rented a house, built an oven and began to bake bread. not long after that he was put out of this house. again and yet again he had the same experience until recently he has rented a house from the same man who provided for our church building. he can now make a living. the church has had experience similar to that of its founder. it was put out of three rented buildings at the instance of the vicar, who either forced the owners to eject or he, himself, bought the property. finally a man who is not a believer, but whose mother is, bought the present building and sold it to me church. he is permitting the church to pay for the building in installments of small sums. at last the church has a place upon which it can rest the sole of its feet and in two years has grown from ten to fifty members. on the occasion of our visit six more made public confession of christ before a large audience and were received for baptism. out on the cape is a fine lighthouse which we had admired as we came up the coast on the ship. may it be a symbol of the lighthouse which this church may become to the storm tossed in that section of brazil. of course, persecution is a painful thing for those who are called upon to endure it, but wherever i found those who had passed through afflictions they counted it all joy to suffer for the cause of christ, and whenever i attempted to comfort them because of their hardships, i came away more comforted than they, for the reason that their joyous willingness to suffer for his sake strengthened my own faith and assured me of the ultimate triumph of the gospel through the labors of such heroic people. persecution, while it may temporarily suspend work in a certain place, always defeats its own purpose, and instead of preventing the spread of the gospel, is one of the most helpful agencies in the growth of the truth. a most encouraging illustration of this fact occurred in pernambuco in . there had been a bitter persecution at cortez, a village not far from pernambuco. the chief instigator of the trouble was the parish priest. the believers were driven out of the town and their lives threatened. the missionary went and was also driven out, but returned under the protection of some soldiers and conducted gospel services through a whole week in order to give courage to the believers and to demonstrate that the protestants could not be driven out. a news account of this persecution was published in a daily paper in pernambuco. a boy cut this article out and gave it to his teacher, a priest in the silesian college. the teacher read the article and wrote a letter to missionary cannada and asked him to come to the college at midnight to explain the gospel. two letters were passed before the missionary finally went at midnight to hold a conference. the priest came out and discussed the gospel with the missionary and then returned to the college, taking with him a copy of the new testament. after a month the missionary went again at midnight to the college and the priest came away with him once for all. the priest went to the home of the missionary and for two months studied the bible, after which time he was converted. he at once began to preach the gospel to his friends as he would meet them on the streets. he also made a public declaration of his conversion in print. the president of the college from which he had gone obtained an interview with him and offered him every inducement to return. his parents disinherited him and many other trials came to him, but through all, he stood firm. he has just graduated from the southern baptist theological seminary, taking the th. d. degree and has been appointed to teach in the baptist college and theological seminary in rio. his name is piani. about a year after piani's conversion he induced another priest to leave the same college. this man spent a month in the missionary's house studying the bible, but was enticed back by the priests and hurried away to new york in order that he might escape the influence of piani. three months after reaching new york he was converted and joined the fifth avenue baptist church and is today a pastor of a baptist church in massachusetts. in no place where our people have endured persecution, even though it may have been severe enough to cost the lives of some, has the work been abandoned, but in every place the weak, struggling congregation which faced obliteration at the fury of its enemy, has in the end increased, and today enjoys the blessing of growth in numbers and in the sympathy of the people. persecution is a good agency in the spread of the gospel. chapter xiii. the bible as a missionary factor. the bible is a mighty factor in the spread of the gospel in brazil. in there came down to bahia a man named queiroz from two hundred and fifty miles in the interior. he came seeking baptism at the hands of dr. z. c. taylor. it appears that some six or eight years previous to that time an agent of a bible society had entered this man's community, preached the gospel and left behind him some copies of the scriptures. one of these bibles was found afterwards by queiroz, who studied it and was impressed with its truth. he began to bring the message of the word to the attention of his large circle of friends and kindred. having preached in several places, he was finally asked by the district judge to come to his house where he was given opportunity to meet a number of friends. the friends of queiroz, however, began to ask him whether it was right for him to be preaching thus before he had been baptized, whereupon he resolved to go to bahia to seek baptism. he made the journey and was baptized. a week after he had returned he wrote to dr. taylor, saying he had preached at deer forks and had baptized eight. during the next two weeks similar letters were sent, which gave the number he had baptized. the church at bahia was apprized of conditions, and it decided to send queiroz an invitation to come and receive ordination. he came with great humility and joy and was ordained, but before the ordination had taken place he had already baptized fifty-five people. the church, at bahia, after the ordination of queiroz, legalized the baptisms. five years after the baptism of this man dr. taylor was finally able to make the journey to conquista, where he found the church well organized, with a house of worship built at its own expense and with the pastor's home erected near by. the missionary says, "i now understand why god never permitted me to visit conquista during these five years. i believe it was for the purpose of showing me that the native christians can and will take care of themselves and the gospel if we will only confide in them. i wonder how many churches in the united states have built their own house and pastorium and sustained themselves from the start? not a cent from the board has been spent on the church and the evangelization done by brother queiroz." another example of the power of the bible in spreading the gospel is found in the way the gospel came to guandu, state of rio, and the country round about. one night in campos in , after the missionary had finished his sermon, a young woman approached him and said, "my father has been teaching us out of that same book you used. would you not like to go out in the country to visit him?" the missionary replied that he would, and then the girl explained how the bible came to this community. one evening a colporteur approached her father's door and asked for entertainment, saying he had been refused by several families along the way. to the host's inquiry as to why he had been refused entertainment for the night the colporteur said: "they declined because i am a protestant." the man replied. "come in and welcome." after the dinner mr. vidal (for that was the farmer's name) asked what this protestantism meant. the colporteur explained and preached the gospel to the best of his ability. when the time came to retire the colporteur said, "it is my custom to read the scriptures and to pray before i retire. if you have no objection i would like to do so tonight." mr. vidal answered, "i shall be glad for you to do so." the colporteur read and there in the dining hall before the curious onlookers knelt and poured out his heart to his heavenly father. he called down the blessing and the favor of god upon the family. the tears poured down his cheeks as he lifted his soul in this prayer. after he finished praying mr. vidal said, "i have never heard prayer like that. teach me how to do it. i have heard latin prayers repeated, but they did not grip me like that." the colporteur replied by explaining that prayer must be from the heart. he then took out a bible and said, "i want to make you a present of this book. you have been kind to me. read it, for it has in it the word of life." he went away the following morning. we do not know who he was--only the record on high will discover his person to us. the book left behind became a great light for mr. vidal. he read it and was so impressed with its teachings that he taught the word to his family and neighbors. his house became a house of prayer and teaching. when missionary ginsburg went out there, preached the word and explained about christ, he asked those who wished to follow the lord to stand. practically the whole company stood. they had been prepared, by mr. vidal the missionary went back a few times and soon a church of about forty members was organized and was called the church of guandu. the word spread up the country first amongst mr. vidal's relatives and friends. at santa barbara the station master, carlos mendonca, was converted, who is now pastor of our church at cantagallo. he first moved to rio bonito and founded a church there, the truth spread, in other directions also and so the light which the unknown colporteur left with this farmer has shed its rays of blessings upon a whole county. twenty-one years ago, a bible which belonged to a catholic priest, or rather a part of a catholic bible, fell into the hands of the old man, joaquim borges. through the reading of this bible, he abandoned idolatry and other practices of rome and put his trust solely in the lord jesus for his salvation. for sixteen years he resisted all attempts of priests and others to turn him back to rome, always giving a clear and firm testimony to the truth of the gospel. during all this time he never met with another believer. hearing of him, e. a. jackson wrote him to meet him in pilao arcado. he came miles and waited twelve days for the arrival of the missionary. as jackson had through passage to santa rita, he asked the captain to hold the steamer while he baptized mr. borges. before administering baptism jackson preached to the great crowd on the river bank and on the decks of the steamer. it was a solemn and beautiful sight to behold this man, seventy-seven years of age, following his lord in baptism at his first meeting with a minister of the gospel and before a multitude which had never witnessed such a scene. dripping from the river, jackson welcomed him into the ranks of god's children. the missionary embarked on the steamer and mr. borges went back to work among his neighbors. up till the present time not even a native minister has visited him, for the lack of workers and funds to send them. eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart to conceive the glorious things god has prepared for the man who will go to work for him among the neglected people of the interior of brazil. in the state of sao paulo is a boy, ramiro by name, now about thirteen years of age, the only son of parents who do not know a letter of the alphabet. indeed, he is the only one in a large connection that has been taught to read. the family lives about twenty miles from their market town, mogy das cruzes, to which they go to sell the meager fruits of their labors on the little farm. in this town they have some acquaintances, among whom is a believer whose faith had come through reading the bible. this believer one day came into possession of a bible which he didn't need, and so he gave it to ramiro, who was then about nine or ten years of age and was beginning to learn to read. the little fellow trudged home, twenty miles away, carrying his priceless present, and showed it joyously to his parents. this was the first book that ever entered their humble home, excepting, of course, ramiro's little school book. curious to know what the book contained, the father put ramiro to deciphering some of its pages. guided, no doubt, by the holy spirit, he fell upon the new testament and laboriously read on and on for months and months the neighbors--all ignorant alike--would come and listen to ramiro spell out sentence after sentence, he becoming more expert as the days went by. he would read, they would listen and discuss, the holy spirit, in the meantime, fixing the sacred truth in their hearts. this persistent reading of the word went on for two or three years to a time when the lord opened to dr. j. j. taylor, of sao paulo, a door of opportunity in mogy das cruzes. he found twelve people ready to follow on in the lord's ordinance. since that time even more abundant fruit has been gathered. dr. taylor at first baptized three of ramiro's cousins who hail from the same village twenty miles away and recently he baptized the uncle, aunt, some more cousins and ramiro himself. ramiro taught the words of many hymns to his family and neighbors. through him and his book his aged grandparents, ninety years old and bedridden, rejoice in the savior. how great must be the might of the word of god which can convert to salvation strong men through the faltering lips of a child and yet, after all, is not this the combination which alone is powerful in spreading the gospel--a simple, child-like heart, through which the word may speak forth? "a little child shall lead them," because it can be artless enough to give simple utterance to the word of god. oh, for more in all lands who will give unaffected voice to the word of god! that message has power in it if it can get sincere expression. we need to realize more than we do the transcendent importance of giving wide circulation to the bible in foreign lands. the illustrations given here of the wonderful success of the book should help us to reach a better appreciation of the value of the word of god in mission endeavor. certainly, there is marvelous power in it. its enemies fear its might; therefore, they fight desperately to prevent the circulation of it. would that we could have as keen a realization of the vitality of this book as do its enemies. surely then, we would do far more for the sowing of the scriptures beside all waters. chapter xiv. the mettle of the native christian. in , francisco da silva, soon after his conversion in bahia, went to victoria in the state of espirito santo to live. he went into the interior with some surveyors, and in addition to the work he was called upon to do, he found time to tell the story of jesus. eight people were converted and he wrote dr. z. c. taylor to come and baptize them. dr. taylor was not able to go immediately, and one of the men secured his baptism in a very unique way. he asked francisco to baptize him francisco replied that he could not because he was not ordained. the man returned home and examined his bible and came back a few days later and demanded again that francisco baptize him. francisco replied that in order to baptize, one must be ordained. "no," said the man, "i have looked in the bible and i do not find it necessary for one to be ordained in order to baptize." so catching hold of francisco, he pulled him along to a river near by, francisco through it all holding back the best he could and arguing with the man that he could not baptize him. but the man constrained him and forced him into the river. francisco seeing his zeal, performed the ceremony. some question afterward was raised about the validity of this baptism, and the man was baptized regularly by the same francisco, who had in the meantime received ordination. when he had finished with one party of surveyors another wanted to employ him, and they went to the first party to find out about him. the men said: "he has fine qualifications for the position, but there is one objection to him--he is a protestant." "ah," said the second party, "can't we with a little money get that out of him?" "no," replied the first, "it seems to be grown into him." he was taken by the second party, the chief of which and all his family soon became devoted christians. the desire to tell the story of jesus burned in francisco's heart so warmly that he gave up his lucrative employment with the surveying party, bought a mule and other necessities for his journey and started out to proclaim the unsearchable riches of christ to the people of that state. he was remarkably successful and soon gathered about him a little band of believers, who, because of their faithfulness to christ, were called upon to suffer severe persecution. they were compelled to flee into the distant mountains where missionary jackson afterward found them, organized them into a church and baptized seventy-five converts. later they were able to return to their homes, due to the fact that a more lenient administration was inaugurated in victoria. very soon afterward our faithful missionary, l. m. reno, was sent to this state, and the work from this good beginning has had remarkable prosperity. the pioneer missionary, da silva, after having gained the title of apostle to the state of espirito santo, was called in to his reward. from what we have been saying, you have no doubt made many inferences about the kind of christians these brazilians make. if you had seen them face to face, you would have been, as i was, impressed with their appearance. they were the best-looking people i saw. their countenances were clearer and there was a hopeful, resourceful look upon them that was not noticeable upon the non-believers. sin and fear always break the spirit of men, and though there may be a brave look assumed, yet there always hangs a cloud over the countenance of the sin-stained and fear-driven man, be he a religionist or atheist. this change in appearance is produced by a change in their way of living. when they are converted they cease drinking, gambling, sabbath-breaking, and often the men give up smoking and the women cease taking snuff. the fact is they sometimes are extreme upon this subject. i heard of one church that made the giving up of tobacco and another the laying aside of jewelry the test of fellowship. these people coming out from under the domination of a religion of fear into the light and liberty of the gospel are changed from glory to glory, having upon them the light of god's countenance. they are liberal givers. there is a much larger proportion of tithers among them than among the christians in the states. here, too, they often go to extremes. more than one church in brazil makes tithing obligatory upon its members. last year the brazilian baptists gave as much per capita for foreign missions as did the baptists in our southern states. they have set their aim this year higher than the southern baptists have. they sustain foreign mission work in chili and portugal. they engage in this foreign mission endeavor because the leaders think that the foreign mission principle is vital to the life and development of the churches. this giving to foreign missions is not to the neglect of their home enterprises. they have home and state mission boards which they support liberally. they have am education board to which they gave forty cents per capita last year and all of this giving out of such grinding poverty! here and there are people of larger means who are munificent in their gifts. it was the generous offer of $ , by captain egydio that made possible the founding of the collegio americano egydio, which school was established by the taylors in bahia. he paid $ the first installment upon the furniture, but his sudden taking off prevented the college from realizing the whole amount promised, because the family lost so heavily by persecution after the father had been taken away. col benj. nogueira paranagua, a rich cattleman, built a church, school and library building at corrente in the state of piauhy at his own expense and afterward paid the salary of a teacher for the school. when the church in san fidelis, which was established in the face of trying persecution, was considering how it could possibly build a meeting house, a coffee farmer, who was not yet a member, rose and said: "i am old and useless, but i want to do something for jesus and his church. i, therefore, offer to erect the church building and the church may pay me six per cent. annually until i die, and then the building will belong to the church as a legacy which i intend to leave." as the work on the house progressed he signified his desire to be the first one to be baptized in the baptistry. this was granted gladly and his thought of charging six per cent on the building until his death disappeared in the watery grave and he made the church a present outright of the beautiful chapel. not only this chapel has been built by an individual, but others have been built in the same way. usually, however, the churches are built out of the sacrificial offerings of the people. so well has this church building movement progressed that now about one-third of the baptist churches organized in brazil worship in their own buildings, and with a few exceptions, these buildings have been erected by the gifts of the people and not by the gifts of the foreign mission board. the presbyterians show a better proportion of buildings than this and the methodists quite as good. the subject of self-support is a live one. there has been good progress made in this matter, but, of course, it will require many years to teach the churches their full duty in this regard. many churches have reached the point where they take care of all local expenses. some of the missionaries go so far as to advocate not organizing any more churches until the congregations can be self-supporting. the south brazilian mission, in its recent meeting, adopted the rule that no church should be organized hereafter until it could pay at last per cent of its own expenses--these expenses to include the care of the house, the salary of the native pastor, etc. i have already cited instances of personal work. i wish to say more particularly that the great success which has attended the work in brazil must be in a large measure attributed to the fact that those who have been led to christ have been zealous in witnessing personally to others of the grace which had been bestowed upon them. one of the greatest laymen in brazil is our brother thomaz l. da costa. he is the superintendent of a very considerable business firm in bahia. he is a deacon in the first baptist church, one of the moving spirits upon the brazilian foreign mission board and practically superintends the work of the state mission board of bahia. years ago he was converted in rio through the agency of his washerwoman. this faithful woman is a member of the first baptist church. she decided she would attempt to lead thomaz to christ. so on saturday when she would bring his laundry she would invite him to come to her house on the following day for dinner. i might say by way of parenthesis, that there is not a steam laundry in brazil. all of the laundry work is done by hand. sometimes there is quite a considerable firm which employs many laundresses. thomaz, after declining the good woman's invitation many times, finally one day decided he would accept it. on sunday he appeared at her house for dinner. after the dinner was over she suggested that they, in company with several of her children, should take a stroll through some of the parks. they passed through the great park in the center of the city, and after a while they found themselves in front of a building in which they heard singing. the good woman suggested that they go upstairs into the hall from which proceeded the sounds of the music. they went in, thomaz not knowing what sort of place it was. dr. bagby, the first missionary of our board to brazil, was conducting a service and soon began a sermon which impressed thomaz very greatly. the sermon drew such a picture of his life that he accused the woman of having told dr. bagby about him. she had not done so, she declared, and this fact impressed thomaz even more. next saturday, when she brought his laundry, she invited him to take dinner with her again on sunday, but he was too shrewd for her and declined, saying that he understood her purpose. the message which he had heard in the sermon, however, stayed with him. on the following saturday the good woman again invited him to take dinner with her on sunday. he declined. when the third saturday came, before she had time to extend her usual invitation, he said: "i am coming to dinner with you tomorrow." he went according to promise, and after the meal had been finished, they did not take a round-about course, but went directly to the church, and there the man listened to the gospel again and gave himself to christ. he has not missed a service since unless providentially hindered. i asked him if he was sorry of the step he had taken and he replied: "no, indeed. it is as paul says, 'a salvation not to be repented of.'" there can be but one inevitable result to such faithful witnessing as this. one of the most hopeful signs in connection with the work in brazil is the fact that a large percentage of the members of the churches endeavor to lead others to christ in a personal way. a large percentage of them will conduct public services wherever the opportunity can be found. in the first baptist church in rio there are more than twenty men who will go out and conduct public services. they are not skilled preachers. they may have very limited education, but they can take the book, read it, explain its message through the light of their own individual experiences, and by this means of witnessing to the power of the saving grace of god in their own lives, they are able to lead many to jesus. is not this after all the kind of preaching our lord has sent us into the world to do? the severest persecution which these brazilian christians are called upon to endure is not that which comes to them when they are stoned, or when their property may be destroyed or when their business may be taken away from them through boycotts or when they may be turned into the streets through the bitter hatred of hard-hearted priests, but the most trying persecution is that which comes from the insinuating remark, the sneer of the supercilious and the doubt of the envious. the taunt of hypocrisy is often thrown into the teeth of native christians. their motives are frequently impugned. i was profoundly impressed with the answer they usually give to such persecutions. they reply by saying: "see how we live. note the difference between our careers now and our careers before we became christians." and this challenge of the life is the one which will finally answer the ridicule and doubt of all who assail them. chapter xv. the testing of the missionary. in thinking of the missionary, most of us dwell upon the heroic self-denial he practices and the bravery with which he faces the gravest dangers. certainly, the missionary in brazil is due a good share of such appreciation. he has been called upon to endure shameful indignities, painful personal dangers and the enervating perils of a hostile climate. our own missionaries have been beaten, stoned, thrown into streams, arrested and haled before courts, shot at and in many instances saved only by the most signal dispensations of providence. dr. bagby, our first missionary, in spite of stoning and arrest when he was baptizing converts in bahia, kept fearlessly on in his endeavor to lead the people to christ. dr. z. c. taylor traveled through the interior of bahia state in perils of robbers, in perils of fanatics, in perils of infuriated priests and in perils of bloodthirsty persecutors without fear or shrinking. in the spring of solomon ginsburg was set upon by a mob at itabopoana, which opened fire with such perilous directness that one bullet flattened upon the wall a few inches above his head. this same missionary in endured bitter persecutions when he attempted to open the work at san fidelis in the interior of the state of rio de janeiro. a mob of a thousand people threw stones, grass, corn and a great miscellany of other objects at him and his little band of worshipers. the howling of the mob prevented him from preaching. the best that could be done was to sing songs. finally, a stone having struck a girl in the congregation, he carried her out through the infuriated mob to a drug store across the street, where she was resuscitated, and he returned to his service of song. next morning he was called to the police headquarters and the officer forbade him to preach. he asked what the missionary was doing there, to which he replied, "to preach the gospel." the missionary was then prohibited from preaching in the province. he replied that he was sorry he could not obey, for he had superior orders. he could not accept orders from the police, nor the governor, nor even from the president of the republic. the officer asked who this superior authority was. the missionary replied it was god. god had told him to go preach the gospel in all the world to every creature; some of god's creatures were in san fidelis and he was there to preach according to the command of his lord. the police officer, after plying him with insulting epithets, kept him a prisoner of the state as a disturber of the peace. on the following day he was sent to the state prison at nictheroy, where he was confined for ten days. friends, through the solicitation of mrs. ginsburg, brought pressure to bear upon the government and the missionary was released. he was requested then as a personal favor not to return until after the naval revolt, which was then in progress, should be suppressed and a degree of quiet could be restored to the state. being thus requested, he remained away from san fidelis awhile. when the revolt was suppressed he returned to san fidelis and persecution arose again. he appealed to the chief officer of the state and fifty soldiers were sent to his relief. in choosing these fifty soldiers the officer asked for believers to volunteer. twenty-five responded. he asked then for sympathizers and twenty-five more volunteered. these were put under the command of the missionary, who instructed them not to appear armed at the church. they came unarmed, but when the mob began to thrown stones again and refused to respect the soldiers, they pounced upon the evil doers and there was a rough and tumble fight. several were bruised considerably and a number of limbs were broken, but after this conflict the persecution ceased. we relate these incidents for the purpose of making it clear that our missionaries have been called upon to suffer greatly for the cause of christ. every missionary who has been in brazil any length of time has felt the weight of personal, physical persecution, and all in the gravest dangers have conducted themselves as became the heroic character with which they are so splendidly endowed. and this suffering, we are sorry to say, is not yet over. for many years to come the desperate and despotic hand of rome, which could in the name of religion invent the horrible inquisition and organize the bloodthirsty order of jesuits, has not changed its attitude completely and will resist desperately to the last the inevitable progress of protestantism in brazil. let me hasten, however, to say that it is very easy to get the wrong impression of what the heroism of the missionary consists. it is easy for us to think it consists in his willingness to face personal danger. if such an idea should obtain amongst us permanently and alas, it has persisted altogether too long; it will rob the story of missions of its true interest and hazard appreciation of the enterprise upon the ability of the historian to find thrilling tales of adventure to gratify the appetite of the sensation-loving public. the most trying thing to the missionary is not the imminence of personal danger, but the ever-present chilling, benumbing indifference of the people to the gospel. even though here and there we find large numbers of people who are ready to accept the gospel, let us not deceive ourselves into the belief that all brazil is eagerly seeking to enter the kingdom of god. the macedonian call to paul did not come from a whole nation which was ready to accept his teaching, but from one man in a nation. most all macedonian calls are like that. the few, comparatively speaking, rise to utter such calls and these few are the keys of opportunity which may be used to unlock whole empires. the great body of the people in brazil (and this is especially true of the educated classes) are as indifferent to the gospel as people are most anywhere else. it is the weight of this stolid indifference which tries the endurance of the missionary. it fills the very atmosphere he breathes and hangs a dark cloud over his horizon, which only his faith in god and the winning of occasional converts graciously tinge with a silver lining. it is indifference, slowly yielding indifference that tests the temper of the missionary character. there are times when a bit of physical persecution would afford a positive relief to the fatigue of his exacting career. the days of the pioneer missionary, with their personal dangers, have in a measure passed. the yeans of the persecutor in the face of an increasingly more enlightened civilization are numbered. the probability of personal perils is growing steadily less. the missionary must now fight for a hearing before a public which is too often willing to let him alone. in many places it does not care enough for his message to persecute him for bringing it. it is ready to patronize him with an assumed air of liberality and resist the message which burns in his heart and upon his lips. they are willing for him to speak, but not willing to listen to what he has to say. he must fight for a hearing with this patronizing indifference. it is this that tries his spirit. it is this that bleeds his heart of its strength. it is this that calls out the heroic in him as never does the dart of the savage, the weapon of the fanatic or the fury of the mob. to hold on true to his purpose in the face of such soul-harrowing indifference is the crowning act of heroism upon the part of our missionaries. no one of them has ever drawn back and given up his work for fear of death at the hands of his persecutors, but it must be said for the sake of the truth that some have succumbed before the rigors of blasting indifference. the saints at home ought to support valiantly with their prayers our missionaries who at the front are engaged in a battle even unto death with indifferent souls unwilling to accept their message. there is another count in this subject of indifference to which we at home should give more prayerful consideration. it is the failure of the churches at home to send out an adequate number of missionaries to reinforce the workers at the front and make it possible for them to take advantage of the opportunities that have come to them already. what could take the spirit out of a man more quickly than the feeling that those who had sent him out do not care enough about him to give him support and reinforcements for his work? it is a shame upon us that we at home add another burden to our missionaries by failing to loyally support them. what must be a man's thoughts after he has toiled and sacrificed on a field for years and has unceasingly begged for a mere tithe of the helpers he really needs and which we fail to send? when that brave garrison of english soldiers were shut up in lady smith, south africa, during the boer war their courage to hold out against overwhelming odds and on insufficient rations through many weeks was kept up by the assurance that the patriotic english nation was doing its utmost to send relief, though the relief was long delayed. if the thought that their home people were not trying to send succor to them had ever taken possession of their minds, they would have surrendered forthwith. their line of communication was cut, but they knew help was coming, and so they held out with grim determination until relief came. how is it with our missionaries in brazil? their lines of communication are intact. they know their people at home are able to supply them with the help they need and yet the help does not come. what must be the conclusion forced upon, them and what must be the effect upon them? either the churches, though able, will not give the means to send out missionaries, or the men for reinforcement will not volunteer. it may be that both causes are at work. what is the matter when a pulpit committee of a prominent church can have sixty names suggested to it of men who might become its pastor, and a good percentage (save the mark) of these direct applications, when our small missionary force in brazil is pleading for only ten men to be sent out to relieve them in their strain? whatever explanation we may have to offer for these things, the fact remains that our indifference to the call of our men at the front adds an additional weight to their already too heavy load, and yet, in spite of it all, they are standing with unflinching heroism at their posts. something must be done to relieve this situation. counting all denominations, there are in brazil fewer missionaries today in proportion to the population than there are either in india or china. why this disparity of workers in brazil? is it because the work is not successful there? the facts show that, taking into consideration the number of workers, it is one of the most fruitful of all mission fields. is it because there is less need of the gospel? i believe i have shown that these people are bereft of the gospel, and because of their sin and idolatry are as needy as are to be found anywhere. no, there is no excuse to be offered. our workers at the front need help. we are trying their brave spirits by withholding the relief they have a right to expect, and yet we repeat they are holding on with a courage that stamps them as heroes of the finest type. god help us to see our obligation to send out recruits in sufficiently large numbers to relieve these brave soldiers and transform them from a besieged garrison into an aggressive army of conquerors. let us bear in mind that what is said about indifference both on the foreign field and among the churches at home is spoken of the people in the large. thank god, the light is breaking in many places at home and abroad. many individuals and churches are today seeing the larger vision and are assuming their larger responsibility in the support of the foreign mission cause. many are saying: "we will faithfully strengthen the hands of our brothers who toil so courageously at the front." in brazil (and in other mission fields, too,) there is in many places a marvelous breaking away from the old attitude of indifference. the little handful of missionaries we have on the field are straining every nerve to meet the opportunities that are pressing upon them. they are not discouraged. they are as busy as life trying to meet the increasing demands. they are looking to the future with the largest hope. they are a band of the most incurable optimists you ever saw. chapter xvi. the urgent call. this very breaking away in some places is piling up additional burdens and the pitifully inadequate force is called upon to meet demands that twice their number could hardly satisfy. if we had the same distribution of baptist ministers in our southern country that we have in brazil there would be only four ministers in texas, two in virginia, three in georgia and other states in like proportion. think of e. a. nelson, the only representative of our board in the amazon region, trying to spread himself over four states which comprise a territory five times as large as texas. passing down the coast, five days journey, we would find d. l. hamilton and h. h. muirhead, who have faced dangers as fearlessly as have any brave spirits who have enriched the annals of missionary history with courageous service. they, along with miss voorheis, are our sole representatives in the state of pernambuco and in the adjoining state of alagoas. c. f. stapp, solomon ginsburg and e. a. jackson are attempting to carry forward the work in the vast states of piauhy, goyaz, a part of minas geraes, and bahia, which last named state has in it one city as large as new orleans. e. a. jackson is located far in the interior of the state, three weeks' journey from bahia; all of the energies of stapp are consumed in caring for the school; ginsburg is forced to give his attention to the nurturing of the thirty-five churches and of evangelizing as far as his strength will go. in the state beyond them, going down the coast, stands l. m. reno, in the state of espirito santo. in the populous state of rio, in which is located the capital city with its , , inhabitants, we have entzminger, shepard, langston, maddox, cannada, christie, taylor and crosland. entzminger, in addition to conducting the publishing house, must also conduct the mission operations in nictheroy, a city of , ; shepard, taylor and langston have placed upon their shoulders the tremendous responsibility of conducting the college and seminary; cannada must give his energies to the flumenense school for boys, leaving only maddox, christie and crosland at liberty to do the wider evangelistic work and care for the many churches which the success of their labors have thrust upon them. crosland has been transferred recently to bello horizonte, in the great state of minas geraes. farther south, in sao paulo, the richest and most progressive state in the country, are bagby, deter and edwards, misses carroll, thomas and grove. bagby and wife and the young ladies just mentioned devote their time to the school, leaving only two to man a field which, because of its splendid railroad facilities, has in it scores of inviting locations for successful work. in paranagua in the next state to the south, have been located recently r. e. pettigrew and wife. far down to the south in rio grande do sul, a state as large as tennessee and kentucky combined, stands a single sentinel in the person of a. l. dunstan. what a battle line for twenty men to maintain! it is more than , miles in length. if you should place these men in line across our southern territory, locating the first one in baltimore, you would travel miles before you reach the second, miles before you reach the third, miles to the fourth, and in going toward the southwest, you would reach the twentieth man in el paso, tex. whereas, if you were to draw up the baptist ministers enrolled in the southern baptist convention territory along the same line and pass down it to make the count, by the time you had reached el paso you would have passed , men, for they would have been placed just one-fourth of a mile apart. why do we need ministers in this country to one in brazil? is it possible that we will grudgingly cling to our , ministers and decline to give even eight to reinforce our little handful in brazil? such a division of forces can neither be fair nor faithful. in drawing this picture i have practically stated the situation for the other denominations. the presbyterians occupy the same general territory as do the baptists with an equal number of missionaries. the methodists have somewhat more compactly stationed about the same number of missionaries as each of the other two, while the episcopalians, the congregationalists and the evangelical mission of south america combined add a number about equal to each of the three larger denominations. a total of less than ordained missionaries scattered over a territory larger than the united states of north america, which allows about four missionaries to each brazilian state. add to this number the wives of the missionaries, the thirty-seven unmarried women and the native workers and the entire missionary body, foreign and native, barely totals . how utterly inadequate is such a force in the presence of such vast needs! because this situation has in it a call so apparent and so inexpressibly urgent it is impossible to portray it in words. the ripeness of the state of piauhy for evangelization will illustrate the urgency of the opportunity all over brazil. as far back as dr. nogueira paranagua, who was at that time national senator from his state, urged dr. z. c. taylor to send a man into piauhy and promised to help pay the expenses. two years later col. benj. nogueira, the brother of the senator, gave a similar invitation, making a promise that he would sustain a missionary. it was not until that e. a. jackson was able to reach col. benjamin's home. he preached the gospel in this good man's house and also in corrente, the town near by. persecution, bitter and determined, arose. there were three attempts to take jackson's life in one day. once col. benjamin stepped in between the assassin and the missionary and thus saved the missionary's life. some months later, upon the return of the missionary, col. benjamin, who had been for so many years a friend to the gospel, gave himself to it and was baptized. in january, , the new house of worship at corrente was dedicated. it was built by col. benjamin at his own expense. he also built a school building and library, and afterward when the missionary was able to secure a teacher, this generous man paid all the charges. when we reached brazil last summer i received a message from judge julio nogueira paranagua, a nephew of col. benjamin, who is one of the circuit judges in the state of piauhy and who after a short while is to be retired upon his pension, according to the brazilian law. as soon as this takes place he expects to give himself entirely to the work of evangelizing his own people. the message ran: "the state of piauhy is open to the gospel. there is a fight on between the priests and the better classes. the better educated people, disgusted with romanism and priesthood, are drifting into materialism and atheism, but if a competent man could be situated at therezina, the capital, the whole state could easily be won to the gospel." his uncle, who is president of our brazilian convention, as we have already stated, whose family embraces in its immediate connection over a thousand people, in a letter written me after i left rio, reinforces this appeal. he says: "i come to call your attention to the state of piauhy, the field in brazil at present which seems to me to be the best prepared for evangelization. many things have contributed to bring this about. the masons, on the one hand, have done the most they possibly could against romanism; on the other hand, the propaganda sincere and fervent of a small church founded in the southern part of the state, which happily is receiving the greatest blessing from almighty god, is greatly contributing to the reception of the gospel throughout the state. my brother, col. benj. nogueira, the founder of that church, has passed away, but he has left sons who are spiritual and who continue to work. with the work developed there it will spread beneficently. in the adjoining townships there exist many believers, and a church will be founded soon in paranagua, a town situated on the beautiful lake by the same name. in the cities of jerumenha and floriano there are already small churches, which united to the others in assiduous labors, will powerfully contribute to the evangelization of the state, which is one of the most promising of northern brazil. my friend, senator gervazio de britto passo, strongly desires that a minister of the gospel come to the section where he is most influential. this senator greatly sympathizes with our cause and is convinced that his numerous and influential friends as soon as enlightened by a pastor as to what the religion of the baptists is, will unite with them, becoming evangelical. the best moment to move in that state is the present one, when so many causes concur for our evangelical development. the population of piauhy, which is over , , will increase considerably as well as its economic wealth. "i hope that you will not leave this field without pastors, where the gospel is being received as the greatest benefit to which the people can aspire for their civilization." it was my good fortune to meet the present senator from the state of piauhy aboard the ship as he went up the coast, and he, while not a protestant, urged upon me the importance of our heeding the call of this nogueira family and personally assured me that he would do his utmost to see that such a missionary would have the widest opportunity to preach the gospel to the people. this must be a macedonian call, which we hope to soon be able to heed. chapter xvii. the last stand op the latin race. there was a time in the life of the anglo-saxon race when it became necessary for at least a portion of it to go out into a new country in order that it might achieve the larger destiny it was to fulfill in the world. god was behind that exodus as truly as he was behind the transplanting of abraham into a new environment. here in our country, unfettered by despotic traditions and precedents, the anglo-saxon achieved religious and political liberty with a rapidity and thoroughness that could not have been possible in the old continent of europe. likewise also did god separate the latin race from continental oppression that it might grow a better manhood in the freer atmosphere of the western world. it is true that the latin movement was not prompted by the same motive that impelled the anglo-saxon. instead of the love of liberty, he was led out by the lure of gold. nevertheless, we must believe the final result will be the same or else disbelieve in the ultimate triumph of the guidance of god. we should not despair of the success of this providential movement. in south america is to be witnessed the last stand of the latin race. there god has given him one last chance to achieve a religious character which will honor his lord. it is the duty of his northern brother to sympathize with him and to believe in his ability to build up a character worthy of himself and god. if we cannot bring ourselves to such a belief it is useless for us to expect to be helpful, and it is unfaithful in us to expend money upon a people when we are confident it will be wasted. we must not forget that these people are the descendants of the caesars, of seneca, napoleon--the race that ruled the world for fifteen centuries. they surely have not lost all of their virility. it must be a case of wasted strength. we believe that this race has in it the possibility of rejuvenation. lavaleye, the great belgian political economist, very probably spoke the truth when he said that the latin race is equal to the anglo-saxon, the only difference being the gospel which the protestants preach and live. we shall be helpful in our effort to give him the proper sympathy if we remember the handicaps under which he has labored. he was satisfied with his old fossilized religion, which had taught him to believe that despotism is a virtue. he did not, therefore, come to america for liberty. the early settlers were the veriest adventurers of whom the gold lust made paragons of cruelty and crime. they brought with them the intriguing priest who would corrupt the kingdom of heaven in order to maintain his power. there was no intentional break with their old life. the light that guided them to america was the yellow light of gold and not the white light of righteousness. the first result was that there developed in the untrammeled west the most unreasoning despotism, the most unblushing robbery and the most shamelessly corrupt priestcraft. so this whole transplanted mass of the worst intolerance, most insatiable greed and the most corrupt priesthood that europe has ever produced, had to be taught from the beginning on the new soil, the elements of the higher manhood they so desperately needed. they had learned no first lesson in europe, and therefore their first lesson in america was to unlearn the very things that constituted their central life and thought in europe. what progress has this providential teaching of the latins in the new world made? so swiftly did they learn the lessons of liberty that hardly had the conflict which won complete freedom for the united states closed before the inevitable struggle for the same priceless heritage was in full swing in all latin-america. and be it said to their everlasting credit that this sacred cause, in spite of revolutions and reactions, which at times hazarded the whole scheme, has made steady advance, all critics to the contrary, notwithstanding. political liberty is potentially at least achieved in south america. it is written in the constitutions of the republics and in the purposes of the people. while many battles will be fought to establish it in detail, yet the principle is so well established that it will never be uprooted, provided we give the moral and educational aid we should render at this critical hour. we have come upon a time when we must give to our south american brothers unstinted support. they have attained political freedom, but they have not yet gained religious freedom. nothing can be more anomalous than a state with political freedom fostering a state religion that is desperately and unscrupulously intolerant. no genuine republic can support a state religion. the two will not live together. one or the other must go, as the history of france will abundantly substantiate. one result is inevitable--the people will eventually repudiate the despotic religion and drift into atheism and infidelity. indeed, such a thing is happening in south america today. the better educated classes are being set hopelessly adrift religiously and the more ignorant, the common people, are following idolatry. neither have the gospel preached to them. the bible is withheld. such a state of affairs is a loud call to us. if these people are left without a vital, character building religion they will, because of their volatile natures, degenerate into the grossest perversions of morality. in such an event the monroe doctrine itself would become a menace. unless we give these people the gospel it will be far better to annul the monroe doctrine and permit the stronger nations of europe to enter for the sake of good government and morality. we must either carry to our latin brothers the regenerating, uplifting, energizing gospel of jesus, or step out of the way and let england and germany interpose their strong arms to prevent one of the most colossal catastrophes of all time in the moral collapse of the , , latin-americans. surely, this must be the time when we, if we ever intend to do so, must reinforce our latin brothers. they have done well, they have made progress, but they have gone about as far as they can in the struggle upon the moral resources at their command. their very progress in education and civilization is widening the breach between them and their former religious teachers. a new life must come in, even the power of the gospel. this alone can save latin-america from inglorious failure. we should not deceive ourselves into believing this prevailing religion has lost its power, even though it is losing its religious hold upon the better classes. it still retains its social influence over these same educated classes, who despise its priests. this social power is a bulwark of strength that we shall experience great difficulty in breaking. then, too, we may be sure these latin lands will have reinforcement from the spanish priesthood, which fact assures a most astute clerical leadership. the spanish priest is today the most resourceful, alert and capable priest on the earth. i believe he is to be the last strong defender of the roman catholic organization. it is no accident that merry de val, the pope's prime minister, is a spaniard. his appointment to that office is a just recognition of the most virile priesthood in the roman realm. i was profoundly impressed with the spanish priest. he looks you in the eye. he is on the street, "hail fellow well met" with the people. it is evident that he is conscious of power and possesses the gift of leadership which he is eager to use. latin-america will feel the force of his capable leadership. the situation in brazil is complicated furthermore by the turn affairs have taken in portugal. there were riots in rio and public demonstrations against the local priests and against the exiled portuguese priests that would probably enter brazil after the establishment of the portuguese republic. but it appears that these portuguese clerics are to be admitted. this increases the gravity of the situation. we shall be forced to take account of these men. they are a part of the religious problem of south america. whether we wish to antagonize them or not, we shall be cognizant of their power. they will not let us alone. they will not give up south america to protestantism without a bitter struggle. now i do not say all of these things of the catholic phase of the religious problem in latin-america for the purpose of recommending that we should gird ourselves for a polemical mission to these countries. we should look the situation squarely in the face that we may be able to estimate properly every force with which we shall have to do. i think that if the sole purpose in conducting these missions is to fight the catholics, then we can find work to engage us more worthily. let us evermore keep before us the fact that the latin races have a real need of the gospel and the gospel is not being preached to them by the priests. if this is true, our duty is clear and our call is imperative. we must go and preach a positive, soul-saving gospel, avoiding conflict as far as possible and by satisfying the heart-hunger of the people with the bread of life, win them to christ and a new life in him. i want to enter a plea for these, our brothers to the south of us. god has separated them from their old soul-dwarfing environment in europe, and set them in this western world that they might learn of him. whether they realize it or not, they are making the last fight for salvation and character their race is ever to engage in. they have a need of the gospel as distressing as that of the grossest heathen. their religion itself is leading them further and further from their saving lord. their teachers, who should show them the light of life, are a beclouding hindrance. the little band of missionaries we have sent are hopelessly inadequate to the task and plead for reinforcements with a pathos that almost breaks our hearts. oh, do not some of us, as we have followed the portrayal of the needs of south america, like isaiah of old, hear the lord saying, "whom shall i send and who will go for us?" god grant that some of us may respond as he did, "lord, here am i. send me." the same deep longing for salvation that is in our hearts is in the latin heart. one day in the interior of brazil i stood with a missionary speaking with a man who had ridden to the railroad station to talk with us a few moments while the train was stopping. as we conversed a boy twelve years of age drew near to hear us. he was pitifully disfigured with leprosy. so moved was the missionary by the sight that he turned and said: "why do you not go somewhere and be treated." there flashed instantly in the boy's eye a hope that had long since died, and he quickly inquired, "where can i go?" the missionary could not tell him, and i watched the last ray of hope flicker for a second and then die out forever! ever since that day i have been hearing that pathetic question, "where can i go?" i seem to hear all latin-americans ask it out of depths of sin. and we know to whom they must go for healing and salvation. shall we tell them? "lord to whom shall we go--thou hast the words of eternal life." to whom shall latin-america go? only christ has for them the word of life which blessed truth they will never know unless we carry it to them. the end. appendix. summary of southern baptist work in brazil. i. missionaries-- . foreign, . ( ) men, . ( ) women, . . native, . ii. church statistics-- . churches, . . membership, , . . church buildings, . . outstations, . . sunday schools, . . sunday school scholars, , . iii. schools-- . primary schools, . . bagby school for girls in sao paulo. . fluminense school for boys in nova friburgo. . school for boys and girls in bahia. . school for boys and girls in pernambuco. . rio baptist college and seminary in rio. . total number of students, . . theological departments in connection with rio and pernambuco schools. iv. general-- . work begun in . . publishing house in rio. narrative of services in the liberation of chili, peru, and brazil, from spanish and portuguese domination by thomas, earl of dundonald, g.c.b. admiral of the red; rear-admiral of the fleet, etc. etc. vol. ii mdccclix contents chapter i. brazilian and portuguese factions--don pedro ordered to quit brazil--appointed "perpetual protector"--proclaimed emperor of brazil--efforts to obtain foreign officers and seamen--the naval command offered to me--acceptation thereof--arrival at rio de janeiro--visit of inspection to the squadron--condition of the vessels--inferiority of seamen--imperial affability--attempt to evade the terms offered me--this failing, to reduce the value of my pay--pretended commission conferred--and refused--the point argued--i decline the command--the prime minister gives in--explanatory portaria--formal commission--orders to blockade bahia--portuguese faction--averse to me from the outset. chapter ii. attempt to cut off the enemy's ships--disobedience to orders--letter to the prime minister--worthlessness of the men--their treachery--blockade established--equipment of fireships--enemy's supplies cut off--portuguese untrustworthy--demonstrations of the enemy--his pretended contempt for us--the enemy returns to port--their consternation at the fireships--portuguese contemplate attacking us--flagship reconnoitres enemy at anchor--excessive alarm at my nocturnal visit--proclamation of the commandant--consternation in the city--the authorities decide on evacuating bahia--instructions to the brazilian captains--warnings addressed to the authorities--enemy quits bahia--readiness for chase--numbers of the enemy--capture of the convoy--prizes disabled--attempt of troops to escape--prizes sent to pernambuco--pursuit discontinued--reasons for going to maranham--reasons for not taking more prizes--advantages to the empire. chapter iii. capture of the don miguel--summons to the authorities--reasons for threats held out--proposals for capitulation--proclamations--terms granted to portuguese garrison--declaration of independence--portuguese troops ordered to embark--symptoms of disobeying the order--delight of the people on becoming free--election of a provisional government--letters to the minister of marine. chapter iv. captain grenfell sent to summon parà--the junta demands the prize property--my refusal--imperial approval of my services--realisation of prize property--turi assu sends in its adhesion--money captured lent to the junta--its return to the squadron expected--possession taken of parà--insurrection at parà--misconduct of the maranham junta--their persecution of the portuguese--steps in consequence--manifestation of the national delight--the marquisate conferred on me--vote of thanks by the assemblea geral--my arrival at rio de janeiro--satisfaction with my services--lady cochrane joins me. chapter v. first effort to curtail the imperial power--portuguese intrigue--dismissal of the andradas--the assembly dissolved by force--exile of the andradas--letter to his imperial majesty--my advice partly adopted--and causes ministerial enmity towards me--ratification of my patent--i demand the adjudication of prizes--letter to the minister of marine--offer of personal advantage to foreign claims--squadron remained unpaid--i am appointed a privy councillor--the prize vessels plundered--shameful treatment of captain grenfell--troubles in pernambuco--hostility of the prize tribunal--condemns me to the restitution of prizes--forbids making any capture at all. chapter vi. remonstrance against decree of prize tribunal--settlement of prize question by the emperor--his ministers refuse to conform to it--obstacles thrown in the way of equipment--my services limited to the duration of war--my remonstrance on this breach of faith--ministers refuse to pay the squadron anything--a fresh insult offered to me--offer to resign the command--my resignation evaded--letter to the prime minister--letter to the minister of marine. chapter vii. ministerial malignity towards me--dangers in pernambuco--portuguese threats--my advice thereon--failure in manning the squadron--plot formed to search the flagship--timely warning thereon--i demand his majesty's interference--which was promptly granted--protest against prize decisions--my advice sought as regards pernambuco--letter to his imperial majesty--pointing out the annoyance practised--and tendering my resignation--the emperor's intervention--his ministers neglect to fulfil his engagement--confirmation of my previous patents--but with an unjustifiable reservation--prize money devoted to advance of wages--proofs thereof--baseless imputations on me--extracts from log--further distribution of prize money. chapter viii. republican government proclaimed at pernambuco--its concordat--the president carvalho--threat of bombardment--a bribe offered to me and refused--the revolt admitted of palliation--it was fast becoming general--intimidation ineffectual--the revolutionists expect foreign aid--pernambuco taken possession of--- payment of prize money--the accounts rendered in due course--orders to put down revolt at parà--character of the revolution--difficulty in finding proper governors--revolt at cearà--steps taken to suppress it--they prove successful--the insurgent leader killed--measures for preserving tranquillity. chapter ix. arrival at maranham--character of disturbances there--i assume the military command--proclamation commanding surrender of arms--condition of the people--corruption of the authorities--murderous propensities--difficulty in detecting assassins--letter to minister of marine--pacification of parahyba--doubts as to the president's sincerity--he establishes secret agencies--extraordinary memorials--public complaints of the president--bruce endeavours to intercept them--my reply to the memorialists--letter to the minister of marine--enclosing complaints of the consuls--bruce prepares to resist my authority--complaints of the british consul--he considers my presence necessary--letter of the french consul--detailing shameful atrocities--danger of collision with foreign states--suspension of the president--provision for future government--conduct of the faction at rio de janeiro--no instructions sent for my guidance--letter to the minister of marine--the ministry had previously deposed bruce--but turned on me for anticipating their own act. chapter x. misrepresentations made in england--letter to the emperor--tendering my resignation--repayment demanded from the junta--conduct of the prize tribunal--no adjudication of prizes intended--letter to the interim president--demanding the sums owing to the squadron--disturbance in parà--statement of account to the junta--offer of compromise--imperial decree--right of the squadron to the claim. chapter xi. imperial approval--continued enmity of the administration--junta refuses to pay the squadron's claim--i persevere in the demand--junta agrees to pay the amount in bills--this refused--arrival of a new president--but without authority for the assumption--intrigues to establish him in office--i order him to quit the province--and send him to parà--letter to the president of cearà--international animosities--the squadron left to provide for itself--abuse of authority--explanations to minister of marine--of transactions at maranham--letter to carvalho e mello--anticipating ministerial displeasure--the junta reimburses part of its debt. chapter xii. i quit maranham for a cruise--bad state of the frigate--connivance at illicit trade--we are compelled to proceed to england--the frigate reported to the brazilian envoy--who cheats me of £ , --his assumption that i had abandoned the service--my contradiction thereof--order to return to rio--reasons for not doing so--brazilian envoy tampers with my officer--who acquaints me therewith--envoy stops pay and provisions--declares that the brazilian government will give me nothing!--captain shepherd's reply--i prepare to return to rio--the envoy dismisses me from the service--without reason assigned--he declares that i voluntarily abandoned the service--receipts for accounts transmitted to brazil--these denied to have been sent. chapter xiii. i am dismissed the service by the brazilian government--without any acknowledgment of my services--inconsistency of this with former thanks--though dismissed i am tried as a deserter--and am refused all compensation--report of recent commission on the subject--false representations--but partially true conclusions--my original patents never set aside--untrue assumptions as to my dismissal--my claims founded on the original patents--less than half the interest due paid--opinions of eminent brazilians thereon--my services tardily acknowledged--no act of mine had annulled them--the estate conferred, not confirmed--promises on account of chili unfulfilled--the whole still my right. chapter xiv. proclamation for payment of officers and men--log extracts in proof thereof--the sum given up to the squadron disbursed--denial thereof by the brazilian government--though made to serve as advance of wages--the amount received at maranham--fully accounted for--by the receipts of the officers--officers' receipts--extracts from log in further corroboration--up to my arrival in england--all our prizes, monopolized by brazil--the conduct of the brazilian government unjustifiable. chapter i. brazilian and portuguese factions--don pedeo ordered to quit brazil--appointed "perpetual protector"--proclaimed emperor of brazil--efforts to obtain foreign officers and seamen--the naval command offered to me--acceptation thereof--arrival at rio de janeiro--visit of inspection to the squadron--condition of the vessels--inferiority of seamen--imperial affability--attempt to evade the terms offered me--this failing, to reduce the value of my pay--pretended commission conferred--and refused--the point argued--i decline the command--the prime minister gives in--explanatory fortaria--formal commission--orders to blockade bahia--portuguese faction--averse to me from the outset. although these memoirs relate to personal services in brazil, it is nevertheless essential, in order to their comprehension, briefly to recapitulate a few events which more immediately led to my connection with the cause of independence in that country. the expulsion of the portuguese royal family from lisbon, in consequence of the occupation of portugal by the armies of the french republic, was followed by the accession of don john vi. to the throne of portugal whilst resident in rio de janeiro. twelve months previous to my arrival in brazil, his majesty returned to portugal, leaving his son and heir-apparent, don pedro, regent of the portuguese possessions in south america, which had been for some time in a state of disaffection, arising from a growing desire throughout the various provinces for a distinct nationality. hence two opposing interests had arisen,--a brazilian party, which had for its object national independence; and a portuguese party, whose aim was to prevent separation from the mother country--or, if this could not be accomplished, so to paralyse the efforts of the brazilians, that in case of revolt it might not be difficult for portugal to keep in subjection, at least the northern portion of her south american colonies. it will be necessary, in the course of the narrative, to bear these party distinctions clearly in mind. as the regent, don pedro, was supposed to evince a leaning to the brazilian party, he gave proportionate offence to the portuguese faction, which--though inferior in number, was, from its wealth and position, superior in influence; hence the regent found himself involved in disputes with the latter, which in june compelled him to submit to some humiliations. shortly previous to this, the cortes at lisbon--aware of what was going on in brazil, and disregarding the temperate views of the king--issued a declaration inviting the brazilian municipalities to repudiate the regent's authority at rio de janeiro, and to adhere to the immediate administration of the cortes alone--thus indicating a course to be pursued by the portuguese faction in brazil. the result was--as had been anticipated--disunion amongst the people, consequent on the formation of petty provincial governments; each refusing to pay revenue to the central government at rio de janeiro, for the alleged reason that the regent was only waiting an opportunity to invest himself with absolute power. this opinion was eagerly adopted by the commercial class--consisting almost exclusively of native portuguese--in the hope that the cortes would reinvest them with their ancient trade privileges and monopolies, to the exclusion of foreigners, whom they considered as interlopers--the english especially, who, protected by a treaty of commerce, were fast undermining the former monopolists. amidst these difficulties don pedro, though nominally regent of brazil, found himself, in reality, little more than governor of rio de janeiro. in july , the lisbon cortes passed a decree, that thenceforth the brazilian and portuguese armies should form one body; the object being to ship the brazilian troops to portugal, and to send portuguese troops to brazil, thereby ensuring its subjection. the regent was, moreover, ordered to return to portugal. these rash steps greatly irritated the native brazilians, who saw in them a subversion of all their hopes of nationality. with scarcely less rashness, they issued proclamations declaring brazil independent, with don pedro as emperor; but he repudiated the act, and prepared to quit brazil in obedience to orders. the approaching departure of the regent caused a general ferment, when a popular leader arose in the person of josé bonifacio de andrada e silva, vice-president of the provisional junta at san paulo. summoning his colleagues at midnight, they signed an address to the regent--to the effect that his departure would be the signal for a declaration of independence--daring the cortes at lisbon to promulgate laws for the dismemberment of brazil into insignificant provinces, possessing no common centre of union; above all, daring them to dispossess don pedro of the authority of regent conferred by his august father. this address was conveyed to the prince by bonifacio himself, and was shortly afterwards followed by others of a similar nature from the southern provinces, and from the municipality of rio de janeiro--all begging him to remain and avert the consequences of the late decrees of the cortes. on more deliberate reflection don pedro consented, and was shortly afterwards invested with the title of "perpetual protector and defender of brazil." meanwhile the cortes, confident in their own power, were enforcing their obnoxious decrees by the despatch of ships of war and troops to the northern provinces. as the intention of this step was unmistakeable, his royal highness the protector promptly issued a manifesto, declaring the wish of brazil to maintain an amicable union with portugal, but at the same time calling on the brazilians to secure their independence by force, if necessary. in furtherance of this determination, an attack was made by the brazilian troops upon general madeira, the portuguese commandant at bahia, but from want of proper military organization, it proved unsuccessful. despatches now arrived from portugal, which cut off every hope of reconciliation, and on the th of october, don pedro was induced to accept the title of "constitutional emperor of brazil," with bonifacio de andrada as his minister of the interior, of justice, and of foreign affairs. the southern provinces gave in their adhesion to the emperor, but all the northern provinces--including bahia, maranham, and parà--were still held by portuguese troops; a numerous and well appointed squadron commanding the seaboard, and effectually preventing the despatch of brazilian forces to those localities by water; whilst by land there were neither roads, nor other facilities of communication with the northern patriots, who were thus isolated from effectual aid, could such have been rendered from rio de janeiro. his imperial majesty saw that, without a fleet, the dismemberment of the empire--as regarded the northern provinces--was inevitable; and the energy of his minister bonifacio in preparing a squadron, was as praiseworthy as had been the emperor's sagacity in determining upon its creation. a voluntary subscription was enthusiastically entered into; artisans flocked into the dockyard; the only ship of the line in the harbour required to be nearly rebuilt; but to man that and other available vessels with native seamen was impossible--the policy of the mother country having been to carry on even the coasting trade exclusively by portuguese, who could not now be relied on by brazil, in the approaching contest with their own countrymen. orders were consequently sent to the brazilian _chargé d'affaires_ in london, to engage officers and seamen there; and to stimulate these, a decree was, on the th of december, , issued by his imperial majesty, to sequestrate portuguese property throughout the empire, and also another, _that all prizes taken in the war should become the property of the captors_, which decrees must be borne in mind. his imperial majesty, having ascertained that the war of independence in the pacific had been brought to a successful conclusion by the squadron under my command, ordered his minister, bonifacio, to communicate with me, through the brazilian consul at buenos ayres; judging that, from the termination of hostilities in the pacific, i might be at liberty to organize a naval force in brazil, which--if properly conducted--might successfully cope with the portuguese fleet protecting the northern harbours of the empire. accordingly, whilst residing on my estate at quintera, in chili, i received from antonio manuel correa, the brazilian consul at buenos ayres, a letter on the part of his imperial majesty, inviting me to accept service under the brazilian flag, guaranteeing moreover rank and position in no way inferior to that which i then held under the republic of chili; the consul exhorting me, in addition, "to throw myself upon the munificence of the emperor, and the undoubted probity of his majesty's government, which would do me justice." the following is one of the letters of invitation:-- _le conseiller agent du brésil, près le gouvernement de buenos ayres à l'amiral lord cochrane, commandant-en-chef les forces navales de la république du chili._ milord, le brésil, puissance du premier ordre devint un nouvel empire, une nation indépendente sous le légitime héritier de la monarchie, pierre le grand, son auguste defenseur. c'est par son ordre--c'est de sa part, et en vertu des dépêches ministériales, que je viens de reçevoir de monseigneur joseph bonifacio de andrada e silva, ministre de l'intérieur et des relations extérieures du brésil, en date du septembre dernier--que j'ai l'honneur de vous adresser cette note; en laquelle votre grace est invitée, pour--et de part le gouvernement du brésil--à accepter le service de la nation brésilienne; chez qui je suis dûment autorisé à vous assurer le rang et le grade nullement inférieur à celui que vous tenez de la république. abandonnez vous, milord, à la reconnaisance brésilienne; à la munificence du prince; à la probité sans tache de l'actuel gouvernement; on vous fera justice; on ne rabaissera d'un seul point la haute considération--rang--grade--caractère--et avantages qui vous sont dûs. (signé) antonio manuel correa da camara, consul de l'empire du brésil, à buenos ayres, novembre, . annoyed by the ingratitude with which my services were requited in chili, and disliking the inaction consequent on the capture of valdivia, followed by the annihilation of the spanish naval force at callao, and elsewhere in the pacific--whereby internal peace had been obtained for chili, and independence for peru--i felt gratified by the further terms of invitation, contained in a second letter--"venez, milord, l'honneur vous invite--la gloire vous appelle. venez--donner à nos armés navales cet ordre merveilleux et discipline incomparable de puissante albion" --and on mature consideration returned the following reply:-- valparaiso, nov. , . sir, the war in the pacific having been happily terminated by the total destruction of the spanish naval force, i am, of course, free for the crusade of liberty in any other quarter of the globe. i confess, however, that i had not hitherto directed my attention to the brazils; considering that the struggle for the liberties of greece--the most oppressed of modern states--afforded the fairest opportunity for enterprise and exertion. i have to-day tendered my ultimate resignation to the government of chili, and am not at this moment aware that any material delay will be necessary, previous to my setting off, by way of cape horn, for rio de janeiro, calling at buenos ayres, where i hope to have the pleasure of meeting you, and where we may talk further on this subject; it being, in the meantime, understood that i hold myself free to decline--as well as entitled to accept--the offer which has, through you, been made to me by his imperial majesty. i only mention this from a desire to preserve a consistence of character, should the government (which i by no means anticipate) differ so widely in its nature from those which i have been in the habit of supporting, as to render the proposed situation repugnant to my principles--and so justly expose me to suspicion, and render me unworthy the confidence of his majesty and the nation. (signed) cochrane. to don antonio manuel coerea da camara, his brazilian majesty's consul at buenos ayres. having obtained the unqualified consent of the chilian government--there being now no enemy in the pacific--- i chartered a vessel for my own conveyance, and that of several valuable officers and seamen who, preferring to serve under my command, desired to accompany me. knowing that the portuguese were making great efforts to re-establish their authority in brazil, no time was lost in quitting chili. we reached rio de janeiro on the th of march, , barely six months after the declaration of independence. despatching a letter to the prime minister bonifacio de andrada--reporting my arrival in conformity with the invitation which his imperial majesty had caused to be transmitted to me through his consul-general at buenos ayres--i was honoured by the imperial command to attend his majesty at the house of his minister, where a complimentary reception awaited me. the emperor assured me that, so far as the ships themselves were concerned, the squadron was nearly ready for sea; but that good officers and seamen were wanting; adding, that, if i thought proper to take the command, he would give the requisite directions to his minister of marine. on the following day, the prime minister--after a profusion of compliments on my professional reputation, and an entire concurrence with the invitation forwarded to me by the consul at buenos ayres--which invitation he stated to have arisen from his own influence with the emperor--desired me to communicate personally with him, upon all matters of importance, the minister of marine being merely appointed to transact subordinate business. as nothing more positive was said in relation to my appointment, it struck me that this also might be included amongst the subordinate duties of the minister of marine, to whose house i repaired; but he could say nothing on the subject, as nothing specific had been laid before him. being desirous to come to a proper understanding, i wrote to the prime minister, that the officers who had accompanied me from chili would expect the same rank, pay, and emoluments as they had there enjoyed; that, as regarded myself, i was prepared to accept the terms offered by his imperial majesty, through the consul at buenos ayres, viz. the same position, pay, and emoluments as had been accorded to me by the chilian government; and that although i felt myself entitled to the customary remuneration in all well-regulated states for extraordinary, as well as ordinary, services, yet i was more anxious to learn the footing on which the naval service was to be put, than the nature of any stipulations regarding myself. on the following day his imperial majesty invited me at an early hour to the palace, in order to accompany him on a visit to the ships of war, with some of which i was much pleased, as demonstrative of the exertions which must have been made within a short time to get them into such creditable condition. great care had evidently been bestowed upon the _pedro primiero_, rated as a --though in the english service she would have been termed a . she was evidently a good sailer, and was ready for sea, with four months provisions on board, which scarcely half filled her hold, such was her capacity for stowage; i had therefore reason to be satisfied with my intended flagship. another showy vessel was the _maria da gloria_--a north american clipper; a class of vessels in those days little calculated to do substantial service, being built of unseasoned wood, and badly fastened. though mounting guns, she was a ship of little force, having only -pounder carronades, mixed with short -pounder guns. as a redeeming feature, she was commanded by a frenchman, captain beaurepaire, who had contrived to rally round him some of his own countrymen, mingled with native brazilians--in which he displayed considerable tact to free himself from the unpromising groups elsewhere to be selected from. the history of this vessel was not a little curious: she had been built in north america at the expense of the chilian government, and sent to buenos ayres, where an additional , dollars was demanded by her owners. payment of this was demurred to, when, without the slightest consideration for the expense incurred by chili in her building and equipment, her captain suddenly got under weigh, and proceeding to rio de janeiro, sold her to the brazilian government. i was further much pleased with the _piranga_, a noble frigate mounting long -pounders on the main deck. not to enter into any further details, with regard to the ships, a brief notice must be taken of the men, who, with the exception of the crew of the _maria da gloria_, were of a very questionable description,--consisting of the worst class of portuguese, with whom the brazilian portion of the men had an evident disinclination to mingle. on inquiry, i ascertained that their pay was only eight milreas per month, whereas in the merchant service, eighteen milreas was the current rate for good seamen,--whence it naturally followed that the wooden walls of brazil were to be manned with the refuse of the merchant service. the worst kind of saving--false economy--had evidently established itself in the brazilian naval administration. the captains complained of the difficulties they had to contend with as regarded the crews, particularly that the marines were so much gentlemen that they considered themselves degraded by cleaning their own berths, and had demanded and obtained attendants to wait on them! whilst they could only be punished for offences by their own officers! or, to use the words of one of the captains, "they were very much their own masters, and seemed inclined to be his!" it was, indeed, evident to me that neither seamen nor marines were in any state of discipline. not having as yet had experience of political party in the empire, it struck me as an anomaly that portuguese should be employed in such numbers to fight their own countrymen, though i afterwards became but too well acquainted with the cause of a proceeding at the time beyond my comprehension. in the course of our visit of inspection, the phrase "attacking the portuguese parliamentary force," was frequently used by the emperor, and was no less singular, as implying that the brazilian government did not make war against the king or country of portugal, but merely against the cortes; the distinction, as regarded the conduct of hostilities, being without a difference. a curious circumstance occurred after this visit of inspection. on landing--hundreds of people of all ages and colours, crowded round to kiss his majesty's hands--paternally extended on both sides to rows of devoted subjects, who, under no other circumstances, could have come in such familiar contact with royalty. to this ceremony the emperor submitted with the greatest possible good humour and affability, his equanimity not even being ruined by familiarities such as i had never before seen taken with king or emperor. on the th, a visit was paid to me by the minister of marine, luiz da cunha moreira, relative to the terms of my appointment, he being evidently desirous that my services should be obtained at as cheap a rate as possible, notwithstanding the concurrence of the prime minister with the offers which had been made through the consul-general at buenos ayres. the pay now offered was that of an admiral in the portuguese service,--notoriously the worst paid in the world. on enquiring what this might be, i found it less than half what i had received in chill! my pay there being dollars per annum, with permission from the supreme director to appropriate another from the government moiety of captures made. by way of reply, i produced a letter from the chilian minister of marine, counter-signed by the supreme director, acknowledging the receipt of an offer subsequently made to the chilian government voluntarily to give up to public exigencies a portion of my pay greater than the amount now tendered--at the same time telling the minister, that by accepting such an arrangement i should lose more annually by entering the brazilian service than the whole sum offered to me. without condescending to chaffer on such a subject, i added that his imperial majesty had invited me to brazil on specific promises, which, if my services were required, must be strictly fulfilled; if not, it would be candid in him to say so, as it was not the amount of pay for which i contended; but the reflection, that if the first stipulations of the brazilian government were violated, no future confidence could be placed in its good faith. if the state were poor, i had no objection, conditionally, to surrender an equal or even a greater proportion of pay than i had tendered to the chilian government; but that it was no part of my intention to be placed on the footing of a portuguese admiral, especially after the terms, which, without application on my part, had been voluntarily offered to induce me to accept service in brazil. the minister of marine seemed hurt at this, and said the state was not poor, and that the terms originally offered should be complied with, by granting me the amount i had enjoyed in chili; a decision the more speedily arrived at, from an intimation on my part, of referring to the prime minister, as requested in cases of difficulty. this the minister of marine begged me not to do, saying that there was no occasion for it. he next proposed that, as my brazilian pay was to be equivalent to that which i received in chili, it should he numerically estimated in spanish dollars, at the rate of reis per dollar--though the brazilian mint was then actually restamping those very dollars at the rate of reis! thus, by a manoeuvre, which reflected little credit on a minister, lessening the pay agreed on by one-fifth. to this proposition i replied that there was no objection, provided my services were also revalued--as he seemed disposed to revalue his dollar; so that, setting aside the offers which had induced me to leave chili, i would make a new offer, which should not only compensate for the difference in dispute, but leave a considerable surplus on my side into the bargain. alarmed at the sarcasm, and perhaps judging from my manner, that i cared little for a service in which such petty expedients formed an important element, he at once gave up the false value which he had attached to the dollar, and agreed to estimate it at reis--a microscopic saving, truly! as such a mode of proceeding had been adopted towards me, it became necessary on my part to look well after the interests of the officers who had accompanied me under the assurance that their position in brazil should be at least equal to that which they had held on the other side of the continent. this was not more a duty than a necessity, for i saw that, unless supported by officers upon whose talent and courage reliance could be placed, it would be out of my power individually to accomplish any enterprise satisfactory to myself or beneficial to brazil. i therefore required and obtained the same stipulations with regard to their respective rank and pay as had, in my own case, been insisted on. of these, admiral grenfell is the only survivor. on the th, a writing on a common sheet of letter paper was forwarded to me by the minister of marine, purporting to be a commission, with the rank of admiral; stating, however, inaccurately the amount of pay and table money agreed upon, by transposing the one for the other,--so that the table money was figured as pay, and the pay as table money; the effect being, that when on shore, my pay would have amounted to exactly one half of the sum stipulated! this proceeding could not be tolerated, so on the following morning i returned the commission to the minister of marine, who hastened to assure me that it was a mistake, which should be rectified. this pretended commission was accompanied by the following order to take command of the squadron:-- his imperial majesty--through the secretary for naval affairs--commands that the admiral of the imperial and national marine--lord cochrane--shall take command of the squadron at anchor in this port, consisting of the ship _pedro primiero_; the frigates _unao, nitherohy_, and _carolina_; the corvettes _maria de gloria_ and _liberal_; the brig _guarani_, and the schooners _real_ and _leopoldina_; hoisting his flag aboard the line-of-battle ship: the said admiral having, at his choice, the whole--or any of the said vessels, for the purpose of the expedition about to sail. palace of rio de janeiro, march , . (signed) luiz da cunha moreiea. there was, however, another point still less satisfactory. the commission conferred upon me the rank of admiral, but of what grade was not specified. on pressing the minister of marine, he admitted that it was only intended to give me the rank of junior admiral,--there being already two admirals in the service, whose functions would not, however, interfere with me, as their duties were confined to the ordinary administration of a board of admiralty. i at once told him that for me to serve under such naval administrators was out of the question. as the minister of marine professed want of sufficient power to warrant him in altering the commission, i announced my intention of taking it to the prime minister, and respectfully restoring it into his hands. the minister of marine again begged me not to do so, as an alteration might be made, if i would consent to go at once on board the _pedro primiero_--on board which ship my flag had been directed to be hoisted at mid-day! this, it is needless to add, was declined, not only by myself, but by the officers who had accompanied me from chili. the minister of marine affected to be surprised at my want of confidence in the government, but i explained that this was not the case. "it was quite possible that a congress might at any time be convened which would be less liberally inclined than the present ministry, and that acceptance of an appointment so loosely made might afford the admirals placed over me, not only a control over my movements, but an easy and convenient mode of getting rid of me after i had done their work; and this without any imputation of injustice on their proceedings. the fact, indeed, of a cortes being about to assemble, and the possibility of their interfering with me, was sufficient to fix my determination to have nothing to do with the command, under any circumstances, save those set forth in the tender made to me by command of his majesty." to this the minister replied, that, "if i could be thus dismissed, the government must likewise fall--because to suppose that a popular assembly could dictate to his majesty in such a case was to suppose the government no longer in existence." i then frankly told the minister, that "my experience as a naval officer--founded upon many years' practical observation, had taught me that, in engagements of this nature, it was necessary to be clear and explicit in every arrangement. i did not mean to insinuate anything disrespectful to the ministers of his brazilian majesty, but knowing that a senate was about to assemble, and having reason to believe that a majority of the members might differ from the ministerial views, and might--when the work was done--take a fancy to see the squadron commanded by one of their own countrymen--a step which would leave me no alternative but to quit the service--it was much better for all parties to put our mutual engagements on a firm basis." the minister continued to argue the point, but finding argument of no avail in altering my determination, he insinuated--though not stating as much in positive terms--that he had no prospect of any arrangement being effected regarding my rank other than that which had been tendered. determined to be no longer trifled with--on the following morning i waited on the prime minister, bonifacio de andrada, whom i found in high dudgeon at what he termed the unreasonableness of my demands; stating, moreover, that the consul at buenos ayres had exceeded his authority by writing me a bombastic letter, though but a few days before, andrada not only expressed his entire concurrence in its contents, but stated that the letter had been written through his influence with the emperor! to this i replied that, "be that as it might, it was absurd to suppose that i should have given up my position in chili for anything less in brazil, and that all that had been offered by the consul, or desired by me, was simply an equivalent to my chilian command, with adequate reimbursement of any losses i might sustain by quitting chili so abruptly, before the settlement of my affairs with that country. this offer had been made on behalf of his imperial majesty, under the express authority of the prime minister himself, as set forth in the consul's letters, and for this i held the government responsible. but, at the same time, i informed the prime minister that if he were disinclined to fulfil his own voluntary obligations, i would at once free him from them by declining the proffered command, and therefore begged of him to take back his commission, about which i would hold no further parley." this step was evidently unexpected, for, lowering his tone, bonifacio assured me that "good faith was the peculiar characteristic of the brazilian administration;" and to prove this, he had to announce to me that a cabinet council had that morning been held, at which it was resolved that the newly created honour of "first admiral of brazil" should be conferred upon me, with the pay and emoluments of chili, as stipulated through the consul at buenos ayres. he then asked me if i was content, to which i replied in the affirmative; pointing out, however, how much better it would have been to have taken this course at first, than to have caused such contention about a matter altogether insignificant, as compared with the work in hand. he replied that, as everything had been conceded, it was not worth while to reopen the question; but to this view i demurred, telling him that _nothing whatever had been conceded, the government having only fulfilled its own stipulations_, which were insignificant in comparison with obtaining the services of an officer whom it believed competent to carry out alone, what otherwise would entail great expense on the state. i further assured him that it would afford me much satisfaction to prove to him of how little importance was all that which had been the subject of dispute, and that his imperial majesty's government might rest assured that my utmost exertions would be used to bring the naval war to a speedy termination. he then requested me to hoist my flag forthwith, as the government was very anxious on this point. accordingly, at four o'clock in the afternoon of the st of march, , i went on board the _pedro primiero_, and hoisted my flag, which was saluted with twenty-one guns from each ship of war, the salute being acknowledged from the flagship with an equal number. shortly afterwards, a _portaria_, dated on the same day, was sent to me, explanatory of the commission which had given rise to so much trouble, and detailing my future pay as agreed upon. by the same document i was ordered to take command of the squadron, and an intimation was given that a formal commission as "first admiral" would forthwith be made out. it was further acknowledged that, by accepting the brazilian command, i had risked an admitted reward for services rendered to chili and peru, to the extent of more than sixty thousand dollars--and it was agreed that this amount should be repaid to me in the event of those countries not fulfilling their obligations--provided equivalent services were rendered to brazil. for more than thirty years chili has withheld that amount, but the brazilian government has never fulfilled this portion of its engagements. notwithstanding the praiseworthy exertions of the administration to place their navy in a creditable position as regarded the ships, the want of seamen was severely felt, and little had been done beyond shipping a number of portuguese sailors, whose fidelity to the imperial cause was doubtful. in the hope of getting a more reliable class of men for the flagship, i authorised captain crosbie to offer from my own purse, eight dollars per man, in addition to the bounty given by the government, and by this means procured some english and north american seamen, who, together with the men who accompanied me from chili, sufficed to form a tolerable nucleus for a future crew; as to the rest--though far short of the ship's complement--it had never before fallen to my lot to command a crew so inefficient. on the th of march, the following commission from his imperial majesty was presented to me:-- imperador, the valour, intelligence, activity, and other qualities of lord cochrane as an admiral, being well-known by the performance of various services in which he has been engaged, and seeing how advantageous it would be for the empire to avail itself of the known qualities of an officer so gifted, i deem it proper to confer on him a patent as "first admiral of the national and imperial navy," with an annual salary of eleven contos and five hundred and twenty milreis, whether at sea or on shore; and further in table money, when embarked, five contos, seven hundred and twenty milreis, which is the same pay and table money as he received in chili. to which favour, no admiral of the imperial navy shall claim succession, neither to the post of "first admiral," which i have thought fit to create solely for this occasion, from the motives aforesaid, and from particular consideration of the merits of the said lord cochrane. the supreme military council will so understand, and shall execute the necessary despatches. given at the palace of rio de janeiro, march st, . second year of the independence of the empire. (signed) imperador. luiz da cunha moreiea, secretary of state, march th, . leonardo antonio basto. thus was a right understanding established, my only object during the undignified contentions which had arisen, being--relinquishment of the proffered command, in order to carry out my long-entertained intention of visiting greece, then engaged in a struggle for independence--or to obtain a definite arrangement with the brazilian government, which should recognise the circumstances under which i had been induced to quit chili--_confer upon me permanent rank--give me the equivalent promised with regard to pay_--and be binding on both parties. on the th of march, a proclamation was issued by the imperial government declaring bahia in a state of blockade, the portuguese having there assembled a combined naval and military force superior to that of brazil, and, under ordinary circumstances, fully competent to maintain itself; as well as to put down, or at least paralyse, any movement in favour of independence. the following orders were then communicated to me, and were of the usual kind, viz. "to capture or destroy all enemy's ships and property, whereever found:"-- his imperial majesty, through the secretary of state for the marine, commands that the first admiral, lord cochrane, commander-in-chief of the squadron, shall, to-morrow morning, proceed from this port with such vessels as he shall judge proper to the port of bahia, to institute a rigorous blockade, destroying or capturing whatever portuguese force he may fall in with--doing all possible damage to the enemies of this empire, it being left to the discretion of the said admiral to act as he shall deem advantageous, in order to save that city from the thraldom to which it is reduced by the enemies of the cause of brazil; for this purpose consulting with gen. labatu, commanding the army, in order to the general good of the service, and glory of the national and imperial arms. palace of rio janeiro, march , . luiz da cunha moreira. to the brazilian party and the mass of the people generally, the approaching departure of the squadron was a matter for congratulation, but to the portuguese faction it presented a cause for fear, as tending to destroy their hopes of re-establishing the authority of the mother country. their influence, as has before been said, was as great, if not greater, than that of the patriots, and being more systematic, it had been effectually employed to increase the disaffection which existed in the northern provinces to the--as yet--but partially established authority of his imperial majesty. it is not my intention for a moment to impute malicious motives to the portuguese faction in brazil. the king of portugal, don john vi. had, within twelve months, quitted their shores to resume the throne of his ancestors, so that they had a right to the praise of loyalty, and the more so, as at that time few calculated on separation from the mother country. the empire itself was not six months old, and therefore they were not to be blamed for doubting its stability. the cortes at lisbon had sent a large force for the protection of the more remote provinces, and in an attack upon these at bahia, the brazilian troops had been unsuccessful, so that no great confidence was to be reposed on any future _military_ efforts to eject the portuguese troops. where the portuguese party was really to blame, consisted in this,--that seeing disorder everywhere more or less prevalent, they strained every nerve to increase it, hoping thereby to paralyse further attempts at independence, by exposing whole provinces to the evils of anarchy and confusion. their loyalty also partook more of self-interest than of attachment to the supremacy of portugal, for the commercial classes, which formed the real strength of the portuguese faction, hoped, by preserving the authority of the mother country in her distant provinces, thereby to obtain as their reward the revival of old trade monopolies, which twelve years before had been thrown open, enabling the english traders--whom they cordially hated--to supersede them in their own markets. being a citizen of the rival nation, their aversion to me personally was undisguised; the more so perhaps, that they believed me capable of achieving at bahia--whither the squadron was destined--that irreparable injury to their own cause, which the imperial troops had been unable to effect. had i, at the time, been aware of the influence and latent power of the portuguese party in the empire, not all the so-called concessions made by de andrada would have induced me to accept the command of the brazilian navy; for to contend with faction is more dangerous than to engage an enemy, and a contest of intrigue was alike foreign to my nature and inclination. chapter ii. attempt to cut off the enemy's ships--disobedience to orders--letter to the prime minister--worthlessness of the men--their treachery--blockade established--equipment of fireships--enemy's supplies cut off--portuguese untrustworthy--demonstrations of the enemy--his pretended contempt for us--the enemy returns to port--their consternation at the fireships--portuguese contemplate attacking us--flagship reconnoitres enemy at anchor--excessive alarm at my nocturnal visit--proclamation of the commandant--consternation in the city--the authorities decide on evacuating bahia--instructions to the brazilian captains--warnings addressed to the authorities--enemy quits bahia--readiness for chase--numbers of the enemy--capture of the convoy--prizes disabled--attempt of troops to escape--prizes sent to pernambuco--pursuit discontinued--reasons for going to maranham--reasons for not taking more prizes--advantages to the empire. on the rd of april, we put to sea with a squadron of four ships only, viz. the _pedro primiero_, captain crosbie, _piranga_, captain jowett, _maria de gloria_, captain beaurepaire, and _liberal_, captain garcaõ--two others which accompanied us, viz. the _guarani_, captain de coito, and _real_, captain de castro, were intended as fireships. two vessels of war, the _paraguassu_ and the _nitherohy_, being incomplete in their equipment, were of necessity left behind. the _nitherohy_, captain taylor, joined on the th of april, and on the st of may we made the coast of bahia. on the th, we made the unexpected discovery of thirteen sail to leeward, which proved to be the enemy's fleet leaving port with a view of preventing or raising the blockade. shortly afterwards the portuguese admiral formed line of battle to receive us, his force consisting of one ship of the line, five frigates, five corvettes, a brig, and schooner. regularly to attack a more numerous and better trained squadron with our small force, manned by undisciplined and--as had been ascertained on the voyage--disaffected crews, was out of the question. on board the flagship there were only a hundred and sixty english and american seamen, the remainder consisting of the vagabondage of the capital, with a hundred and thirty black marines, just emancipated from slavery. nevertheless, observing an opening in the enemy's line, which would enable us to cut off their four rearmost ships, i made signals accordingly, and with the flagship alone gave the practical example of breaking the line, firing into their frigates as we passed. the portuguese admiral promptly sent vessels to the aid of the four cut off, when, hauling our wind on the larboard tack, we avoided singly a collision with the whole squadron, but endeavoured to draw the enemy's ships assisting into a position where they might be separately attacked to advantage. had the rest of the brazilian squadron come down in obedience to signals, the ships cut off might have been taken or dismantled, as, with the flagship i could have kept the others at bay, and no doubt have crippled all in a position to render them assistance. to my astonishment the signals were disregarded, and--for reasons which will presently be adduced--no efforts were made to second my operations. for some time the action was continued by the _pedro primiero_ alone, but to my mortification the fire of the flagship was exceedingly ill-directed. a still more untoward circumstance occurred in the discovery that two portuguese seamen who had been stationed to hand up powder, were not only withholding it, but had made prisoners of the powder boys who came to obtain it! this would have been serious but for the promptitude of captain grenfell, who, rushing upon the men, dragged them on deck; but to continue the action under such circumstances was not to be thought of; and as the enemy had more than double our numerical force, i did not consider myself warranted in further attempting, with greater hazard, what on a future opportunity might be accomplished with less. quitting the enemy's ships cut off, we therefore hauled our wind, to join the vessels which had kept aloof, and to proceed to the station previously appointed as the rendezvous of the squadron, whither the fireships were to follow. in this affair no lives were lost. extremely annoyed at this failure, arising from non-fulfilment of orders, and finding, from experience on the voyage, that we had been hurried to sea, without consideration as to the materials of which the squadron was composed, a rigid inquiry was instituted, which gave me such cogent reasons for losing all confidence in it, that on the day following i considered it expedient to address the following letter to the prime minister, andrada, pointing out that if prompt steps were not taken to add to our strength, by providing more efficient crews, the result might be to compromise the interests of the empire, no less than the character of the officers commanding. (secret) h.i.m.s. _pedro primiero_, at sea, may , . most illustrious sir, availing myself of your permission to address you upon points of a particular nature, and referring you to my public despatches to the minister of marine, i beg leave to add that it was not only unfavourable winds which retarded our progress, but the extreme bad sailing of the _piranga_ and _liberal_. neither these ships nor the _nitherohy_, which sails equally ill, are adapted to the purposes to be effected, as from their slowness, the enemy has an opportunity to force an action under any circumstances, however disadvantageous to this undisciplined squadron. the _real_ is no better, and her total uselessness as a ship of war, has determined me to prepare her as a fireship, there appearing no probability of the others joining. from the defective sailing and manning of the squadron it seems, indeed, to me, that the _pedro primiero_ is the only one that can assail an enemy's ship of war, or act in the face of a superior force, so as not to compromise the interests of the empire and the character of the officers commanding. even this ship--in common-with the rest--is so ill-equipped as to be much less efficient than she otherwise would be. this letter, you will observe, is not intended to meet the public eye, but merely to put the government in possession of facts necessary for its information. our cartridges are all unfit for service, and i have been obliged to cut up every flag and ensign that could be spared, to render them serviceable, so as to prevent the men's arms being blown off whilst working the guns, and also to prevent the constant necessity of sponging, &c. which, from the time it consumes, diminishes the effective force of the ships fully one half. the guns are without locks--which they ought to have had in order to their being efficient. the sails of this ship are all rotten--the light and baffling airs on our way hither, having beaten one set to pieces, and the others are hourly giving way to the slightest breeze of wind. the bed of the mortar which i received on board this ship was crushed on the first fire--being entirety rotten; the fuzes for the shells are formed of such wretched composition that it will not take fire with the discharge of the mortar, and are consequently unfit for use on board a ship where it is extremely dangerous to kindle the fuze otherwise than by the explosion; even the powder with which this ship is supplied is so bad, that six pounds will not throw our shells more than a thousand yards, instead of double that distance. the marines neither understand gun exercise, the use of small arms, nor the sword, and yet have so high an opinion of themselves that they will not assist to wash the decks, or even to clean out their own berths, but sit and look on whilst these operations are being performed by seamen; being thus useless as marines, they are a hinderance to the seamen, who ought to be learning their duty in the tops, instead of being converted into sweepers and scavengers. i have not yet interfered in this injurious practice, because i think that reforms of the ancient practice of the service, ought to form the subject of instruction from the government --and also, because at this moment, any alterations of mine might create dissatisfactions and dissensions even more prejudicial to the service in which we are engaged, than the evils in question. with respect to the seamen, i would observe, that, in order to create an effective marine, young active lads of from fourteen to twenty should be selected. almost the whole of those who constitute the crews of these vessels--with the exception of the foreign seamen, are not only totally unpractised in naval profession, but are too old to learn. i warned the minister of marine, that every native of portugal put on board the squadron--with the exception of officers of known character--would prove prejudicial to the expedition, and yesterday we had a clear proof of the fact. the portuguese stationed in the magazine, actually withheld the powder whilst this ship was in the midst of the enemy, and i have since learned that they did so from feelings of attachment to their own countrymen. i now inclose you two letters on this subject--one just received from the officer commanding the _real_, whose crew were on the point of _carrying that vessel into the enemy's squadron for the purpose of delivering her up!_ i have also reason to believe, that the conduct of the _liberal_ yesterday in not bearing down upon the enemy and not complying with the signal which i had made to break the line--was owing to her being manned with portuguese. the _maria de gloria_ has also a great number of portuguese, which is the more to be regretted, as otherwise her superior sailing, with the zeal and activity of her captain, would render her an effective vessel. to disclose to you the truth, it appears to me that one half of the squadron is necessary to watch over the other half: and, assuredly, this is a system which ought to be put an end to without delay. a greater evil is, that this ship is one hundred and twenty seamen short of her complement and three hundred short of what i should consider an efficient crew, whilst the bad quality and ignorance of the landsmen, makes the task of managing her in action no easy matter, the incessant bawling going on rendering the voices of the officers inaudible. had this ship yesterday been manned and equipped as she ought to have been, and free from the disadvantages stated, there is no doubt whatever in my mind, but, that singly, we could have dismantled half the ships of the enemy. on the whole, sir, you must perceive that i have not been supplied with any of those facilities which i requested to be placed in my hands. i am, however, aware of the difficulties under which a new government labours, and am ready to do all in my power under any circumstances. what i have to request of you is, that you will do me the justice to feel that the predicament in which i am now placed, is somewhat analogous to your own, and that if i cannot accomplish all i wish, the deficiency arises from causes beyond my control; but i entreat you to let me have--at least this ship-- _well manned_, and i will answer for her rendering more efficient service than the whole squadron besides--constituted as it now is. you will perceive by my public despatch addressed to the minister of marine, that although we passed through the enemy's line, and, i may add, actually brushed the nearest vessel, which we cut off--yet nothing really useful was effected, notwithstanding that the vessel we touched ought to have been sunk, and those separated to have been dismantled or destroyed. i am quite vexed at the result--which was such, however, as might have been expected from the bad manning of the squadron. i have determined to proceed forthwith to the moro san paulo, and to leave there the ill-sailing vessels. i intend to remove all the effective officers and seamen from the _piranga_ and _nitherohy_, into this ship, and with her alone, or attended only by the _maria de gloria_, to proceed to bahia, to reconnoitre the situation of the enemy at their anchorage, and obtain the information requisite to enable me to enter on more effectual operations. i have the honour, &c. cochrane. ill. exmo. senor josÉ bonifacio d'andrade y silva, ministro e secretario d'estado. a rigorous blockade was nevertheless established, in spite of our deficiencies or the efforts made to raise or evade it--though the enemy were bold in reliance upon their numbers, and none the less so, perhaps, from considering our recent failure a defeat. they did not, however, venture to attack us, nor were we yet in a condition to meddle further with them. the blockade of the port was not calculated to effect anything decisive, beyond paralysing the naval operations of the enemy's squadron. even this would not prevent the portuguese from strengthening themselves in positions on shore, and thus, by intimidating all other districts within reach,--enable them to bar the progress of independence. i therefore determined, as a force in our condition was not safe to hazard in any combination requiring prompt and implicit obedience, to adopt the step of which i had apprised the prime minister, and took the squadron to moro san paulo, where, transferring from the bad sailing frigates to the flagship, the captains, officers, and best petty officers and seamen, the _pedro primiero_ was rendered more efficient than the whole together; and with her and the _maria de gloria_, i resolved to conduct further operations against the enemy--leaving the _piranga_, and _nitherohy_, together with all the other vessels, in charge of captain pio--the two senior captains having been transferred to the flagship, in charge of their officers and men. there was, however, another reason for leaving the remainder of the squadron at moro san paulo. before quitting rio de janeiro, i had urged on the government the necessity of immediately forwarding fireships, as the most reliable means for destroying a superior force. these had not been supplied; but in their place a quantity of inflammable and explosive materials had been sent. as several prizes had been taken, i determined to convert them into fireships, as well as the _real_ schooner--a useless vessel, the crew of which had shewn that they were not to be depended upon; so that the remaining ships of the squadron, though unreliable in other respects, were well employed in carrying these objects into execution. in order to protect the ships and men thus engaged, i directed a body of marines to be landed, for the purpose of making a show by forming and manning batteries to repel any attack, though, had such been made, neither the batteries nor their defenders would have been of much service. the flagship, together with the _maria de gloria_, now proceeded to cruize off bahia, with such success that all supplies were cut off by sea, notwithstanding repeated attempts to introduce vessels from san mattheos with farinha--a dozen of which fell into our hands, in spite of the enemy's superiority. as the _carolina_ had now joined us, i directed her to take under convoy the captured transports with provisions, whilst the _guarani_ was sent to scour the coast, with orders to avoid approaching the enemy's fleet, and to bring me information as to the progress of the fireships, upon which i now saw that i must mainly rely. on the st, i considered it expedient to address the following private letter to the minister of marine:-- off bahia, n.w. miles, may , . most illustrious sir, in addition to my official letters of the rd and th inst. i beg to acquaint you that, being convinced--not only from the conduct of the crew of this ship during the attack on the th, but from what i observed in regard to the other vessels--that nothing beneficial to his imperial majesty's service could be effected by any attempts to combine the whole squadron in an attack against the enemy--but, on the contrary, from the imperfect and incongruous manner in which the vessels are manned-- consequences of the most serious nature would ensue from any further attempt of the kind. i have therefore determined to take the squadron to moro san paulo, for the adoption of other measures essential under such circumstances, viz. to take on board such officers and men from the bad sailing vessels as will render the _pedro primiero_ more effective than the whole squadron as now constituted. in the first conversation i had with you, i gave you my opinion as to the superior benefit of equipping one or two vessels _well_-- rather than many imperfectly, and i again beg to press on your consideration the necessity of such efficient equipment of all vessels, whether many or few. i must also remind you of the great danger that arises from the employment of portuguese of the inferior class in active operations against their own countrymen, because they neither do nor can consider that the dispute between brazil and the portuguese government, bears any similarity to warfare as ordinarily understood. i have had sufficient proof since leaving rio de janeiro, that there is no more trust to be placed in portuguese, when employed to fight against their countrymen, than there was in the spaniards, who, on the opposite side of this continent, betrayed the patriot governments, by whom they were employed. i shall press this point no further than to say, that so long as his imperial majesty's ships are so manned, i shall consider them as not only wholly inefficient, but requiring to be vigilantly watched in order to prevent the most dangerous consequences. since making my arrangements at the moro, where i left all the squadron except this ship and the _maria de gloria_, i have been constantly off the port of bahia, but could see nothing of the enemy's squadron, till the th, when i learned from an english vessel that they had been as far down as the abrolhos shoals, for what purpose i know not. they consist of thirteen vessels, being the number which we encountered on the th. i am watching an opportunity to attack them in the night, in the hope not only of being able to damage them materially by the fire of this ship, but also in the expectation that, if they are not better disciplined than the crews of this squadron, they will occasion as much damage amongst themselves, as they would sustain if they had an equal force to contend with. in the meantime we are as effectually blockading bahia, as if the enemy did not dare to remove from his anchorage--for both this ship and the _maria de gloria_ outsail them all. we have captured three portuguese vessels, and from the letters found therein, many more are expected from maranham and other ports to leeward, as well as from san mattheos. should the enemy's squadron return to port before i can obtain a favourable opportunity of assailing them at sea, i shall endeavour to attack them at their anchorage, and the government may be assured that no exertion shall be wanting on my part, or on that of the officers now in this ship, to effect their destruction. i may fairly ascribe the prepared state of the enemy, and the great force in which they appeared on the th, and still exhibit--to the information carried by the british ship of war tartar, which was permitted to sail from rio so early after our departure for bahia, and thus served them as effectually as though she had been expressly hired for the purpose. i have the honour, &c. cochrane. to the minister of marine. on the nd we captured another vessel, and reconnoitred the port of bahia, the portuguese squadron being there at anchor. finding this to be the case, i returned to the moro to expedite the fireships--leaving the _maria de gloria_ to watch the enemy's movements. on the th the portuguese admiral again appeared in full force, and approached towards us at the moro san paulo, when we prepared for action, but the hostile squadron withdrew. the same demonstration was made for several days, the enemy not venturing on an attack, whilst, from the causes previously alleged, we were in no condition to take the initiative. on the th i apprised the minister of marine that, when the enemy returned to port, i should make an attempt on them on the first dark night with the flagship alone, pending the equipment of the fireships. at the same time i addressed the following letter to the prime minister, de andrada:-- moro san paulo, th may, . most illustrious sir, with regard to the transactions of the squadron, i beg to refer you to my despatches to the minister of marine, but solicit your attention to a few particulars which appear to me of importance. in the first place, you will observe from the enclosed bahia newspaper, that the maritime force of the enemy is contrasted with that of the squadron under my command. i should be well content were the real disparity of the respective forces no greater than the statement has set forth, but unfortunately, the brazilians, who have never before been at sea, are of little or no use, from their total want of discipline, and of any kind of nautical knowledge; whilst the portuguese seamen in the squadron, are not only useless--but a great deal worse, for the reasons stated in my former letters. the enemy in bahia are in want of all kinds of fresh provisions --though they have been using every means to procure them. some supplies they have lately had from buenos ayres, and even from the cape de verds; but the most surprising fact is that the brazilian governor of san mattheos, near the abrolhos, and the chiefs of other small brazilian ports in that quarter have been loading vessels for the enemy's use--under the simulated destination of rio de janeiro. permit me to suggest that an investigation into this matter is highly essential. from all the information which i can collect, the enemy at bahia are considerably distracted in their councils, which dissensions cannot fail to be increased by seeing their vessels taken in the very mouth of the harbour, and their look-out ships driven under the guns of the batteries by those of his imperial majesty, i may, indeed, say by two ships alone, because in the state of the other vessels and crews i have not deemed it prudent to trust them in the neighbourhood of a port occupied by the enemy. i have no doubt of succeeding--by some means or other--in effecting our object, and that in as short a time as can reasonably be expected--for it is not to be supposed that i should all at once accomplish objects of such magnitude with a force so inferior, and in great part so inexperienced and heterogeneously composed. on this subject i beg to call your attention to the low opinion entertained of our squadron by the enemy, as expressed in the enclosed bahia gazette (no ), which, on that point, is in conformity with my own opinion as previously expressed. i have the honour, &c. cochrane. to the prime minister. the following proclamation from the _bahia gazette_ will shew the nature of these vapourings deliberately inserted by the bahia authorities:-- last week the wind was southerly, with rain, which has rendered it impossible for our squadron to get at the rio squadron, to decide whether brazil shall remain in the fetters of the usurper of rio-- or enjoy constitutional liberty. had they credited me more, we should not have seen on our bar, an enterprising man who ruined the commerce of the pacific, and now thinks to regain the glory he lost. the conduct of lord cochrane verberates in our ears-- examine his conduct in the pacific, and observe that he lost all, and was obliged to abandon everything to the spaniards in peru, afterwards losing his little force in attacks and tempests. the ministry of rio sent for him, giving him the pompous title of "admiral of the brazils," and great promises--thinking that he would bring with him a squadron to help the imperial fraudulence. this is the great wonder, who has come to carry fire and blood to the trusty bahia, bringing with him vessels manned, for the most part, with portuguese sailors--and not leaving in rio a single vessel, from which he did not take even the negro sailors. it is only the _pedro primiero_ that is manned with the adventurous foreigners, so that we shall fall upon the , and by beating her, decide the business of brazil. our squadron is superior in physical force, having at their head brave officers, with plenty of troops. it is commanded in chief by an admiral who has success before him, and who wishes to regain the opinion of the public, so that we may all wait a happy result. commerce--the strong pillar which upholds the constitutional edifice--has promised great recompense to the victorious fleet and their chief, and has precious gifts for those who will shew their gratitude to bahia, and defend their liberty. officers who distinguish themselves, will have a medal representing their victory, which will make them known to the citizens of bahia, who will not be ungrateful. citizens of all classes are ready at a moment's warning to decide the great cause of our liberty, and will measure the greatness of our triumph by the sacrifices made. constance, courage, and union, and we shall see the despotic monster raging and tearing himself to pieces. all we look to, at this moment, is to destroy the rio squadron. the usurper who rules in that capital thinks that, reaching the bar with the squadron of his imaginary empire, we should be attacked on all sides, and compelled to make a shameful capitulation. how much you are mistaken--new-born monster! we have abundant force at our disposal; but in the meantime we must overthrow the plans of the enterprising cochrane, and wait the result of maritime prowess. notwithstanding that the portuguese opinion of the brazilian squadron, as expressed in the official gazette, is couched in terms of contempt, as compared with the efficiency of their own squadron--yet most inconsistently, they did not venture to attack us. the fact was, however, most painful to me, being aware of its truthfulness, and i wrote to the minister of marine, begging him to enable us to intercept the numerous vessels expected at bahia, by procuring three fast-sailing american clippers, armed with or -pounders, in lieu of the useless schooners with which we were encumbered. in addition to the professed contempt of the portuguese authorities for the ships blockading bahia--the proclamation in which these expressions were contained, termed his imperial majesty a "turkish despot,"--his prime minister a "tyrannical vizier," and myself "a coward;" so that i had at least the satisfaction of being maligned in good company. on the nd of june, to my great satisfaction, the portuguese returned to port, and i felt certain that so soon as the fireships in preparation at the moro san paulo were ready, the destruction of the whole was inevitable--the portuguese naval officers being of the same opinion, whatever might be the official boasts of the military commandant. according to the secret correspondence which i had established with brazilian patriots resident within the city, the admiral's consternation on learning that fireships were nearly equipped was excessive--and being in nightly expectation of a repetition of the scene in basque roads; or at least of that which little more than a year previous had been enacted before callao--every precaution was taken against surprise. he was quite right in the conjecture as to what was intended; but did not calculate--as i was obliged to do--on the general want of experience of such matters in the brazilian service. our preparations being, on the th of june, reported to be favourably progressing, i determined to put the attack in execution so soon as the tide flowed late enough in the evening to prevent the enemy from perceiving us in time to disturb or defeat our operations. the difficulty was to find competent persons to take charge of the fireships, so as to kindle them at the proper moment--the want of which had rendered most of the fireships ineffective--as such--in the affair of basque roads in , and had formed one of the principal obstacles when attacking callao in . of the explosion vessel i intended myself to take charge, as i had formerly done in basque roads. on the th of june information arrived that the enemy had resolved on an attempt to destroy the fireships in the moro san paulo, and that the second division of their army was being embarked in transports for that purpose. preparations were at once made to receive them by ordering in the vessels scouring the coast, and by such other precautionary measures as were necessary for the defence of that important station. it was, however, difficult to make a proper defence, for, with the exception of portuguese--who could not be trusted--there were no artillerymen in the brazilian squadron who had any practical knowledge of their duty, even if the guns on the moro could be made to contribute to its defence, for the place was open, and commanded by heights, of which, as we had no troops, the enemy could possess themselves by night or by day. in case they did so, before adequate preparations could be made, i directed the guns to be spiked, that they might not be turned against the ships. no attack was, however, made, the enemy being doubtless deterred by the apparent promptitude in anticipating their movements. on the th of june further information was received that the contemplated attack on the moro had been abandoned, and that the enemy were seriously deliberating on evacuating the port before the fireships were completed, i therefore ordered the _maria de gloria_ to water and re-victual for three months, so as to be in readiness for anything which might occur, as, in case the rumour proved correct, our operations might take a different turn to those previously intended. the _piranga_ was also directed to have everything in readiness for weighing immediately, on the flagship appearing off the moro and making signals to that effect. the whole squadron was at the same time ordered to re-victual, and to place its surplus articles in a large shed constructed of trees and branches felled in the neighbourhood of the moro. whilst the other ships were thus engaged, i determined to increase the panic of the enemy with the flagship alone. the position of their fleet was about nine miles up the bay, under shelter of fortifications, so that an attack by day would have been more perilous than prudent. nevertheless, it appeared practicable to pay them a hostile visit on the first dark night, when, if unable to effect any serious mischief, it would at least be possible to ascertain their exact position, and to judge what could be accomplished when the fireships were brought to bear upon them. accordingly, having during the day carefully taken bearings of the high lands at the mouth of the river--on the night of the th june, i decided on making the attempt, which might possibly result in the destruction of part of the enemy's fleet, in consequence of the confused manner in which the ships were anchored, and from information received that the chief officers were invited ashore to a public ball. as soon as it became dark, we proceeded up the river, but unfortunately, when within hail of the outermost ship, the wind failed, and the tide soon after turning, our plan of attack was rendered abortive; determined, however, to complete the reconnaissance, we threaded our way amongst the outermost vessels, but dark as was the night--the presence of a strange ship under sail was discovered--and some beat to quarters, hailing to know what ship that was? the reply being "an english vessel," satisfied them, so that our investigation was made unmolested. the chief object thus accomplished, we succeeded in dropping out with the ebb tide, now rapidly running, and were enabled to steady our course stern-foremost with the stream anchor adrag, whereby we reached our former position off the mouth of the river. finding from the reconnaissance, that it would not be difficult to destroy the enemy's vessels, huddled together as they were amongst a crowd of merchantmen, i hastened to moro san paulo, to expedite the completion of the fireships. returning immediately to bahia, and again anchoring off the entrance of the harbour, i now learned that the alarm created by our nocturnal visit was excessive; indeed, my informants stated that the exploit had the effect of determining the portuguese admiral to remove as quickly as possible from a locality in which he could no longer consider himself safe. on the th of june, information was again forwarded to me, by persons favourable to the imperial cause, that a council of war had been held, at which it had been resolved to withdraw the fleet to st. catherine's or maranham, and not the fleet alone but the troops also--thus abandoning the city and province of bahia to the imperial squadron; the council judging that i should be well content to permit them to pass to another part of the coast, as their departure would result in the imperial occupation of bahia. the subjoined proclamation issued by general madeira will shew the straits to which the blockading squadron had reduced the city and garrison:-- inhabitants of bahia, the crisis in which we find ourselves is perilous, because the means of subsistence fail us, and we cannot secure the entrance of any provisions. my duty as a soldier, and as governor, is to make any sacrifice in order to save the city; but it is equally my duty to prevent, in an extreme case, the sacrifice of the troops i command--of the squadron--and of yourselves. i shall employ every means to fulfil both duties. do not suffer yourselves to be persuaded that measures of foresight are always followed by disasters. you have already seen me take such once before. they alarmed you, but you were afterwards convinced that they portended nothing extraordinary. even in the midst of formidable armies measures of precaution are daily used, because victory is not constant, and reverses should be provided against. you may assure yourselves, that the measures i am now taking, are purely precautionary, but it is necessary to communicate them to you, because if it happens that _we must abandon the, city_, many of you will leave it also; and i should be responsible to the nation and to the king if i had not forewarned you. (signed) ignacio luiz madeira de mella. were it dignified to allude to the cowardice imputed to me by the same authority, it would be easy to refer to the above enumeration of distresses caused by our two ships having captured all their provisions in the face of thirteen, in every way better manned and equipped. the consternation caused by my nocturnal visit, which decided the evacuation of the city, was described as almost ludicrous. as i had been correctly informed, the portuguese admiral and his officers _were_ at a ball, and information of our appearance amongst the fleet was conveyed to him in the midst of the festivities. "what"--exclaimed he--"lord cochrane's line-of-battleship in the very midst of our fleet! impossible --no large ship can have come up in the dark." we, however, did find our way in the dark--and did not retire till our _reconnaissance_ was as complete as darkness would permit. the lamentations caused by general madeira's proclamation were no doubt faithfully chronicled in the bahia newspapers, one of these declaring "in the last few days we have witnessed in this city a most doleful spectacle that must touch the heart even of the most insensible. a panic terror has seized on all men's minds--the city will be left without protectors--and families, whose fathers are obliged to fly, will be left orphans--a prey to the invaders," &c. &c. a prognostication not at all in accordance with my mode of carrying on warfare, which, as portuguese families afterwards found, both at bahia and elsewhere, was to protect the defenceless and unoffending. the before-mentioned resolution of the council was precisely what i wished, as the evacuation of the port and province by the troops as well as the fleet, must prove more favourable to the imperial cause than if the fleet alone had been destroyed and the military force remained. as i had, however, every reason to believe that it was general madeira's intention to remove the troops to the northern provinces, which would only have shifted the scene of war to another locality, i was determined at all hazards to prevent such movement. on the st of july, information was brought, that, as the fireships were now known to be in readiness for the attack, the portuguese admiral had hastily embarked the whole of the troops in transports, and that a number of merchantmen were also filled with persons who wished to leave bahia under his protection. as it was clear that the total evacuation of the province by the enemy was preferable to an attack which might only end in destroying the ships and driving both naval and military forces on shore to renew their operations--i determined not to interfere with their retreat, till they were clear out of the harbour, when a vigilant pursuit would prevent them from again taking shelter in brazil. the following order was therefore issued to captain beaurepaire, of the _maria de gloria_, captain taylor, of the _nitherohy_, and captain. thompson, of the _carolina_, these being the only vessels on which i could in any degree depend:-- having received information that the enemies of the independence of brazil are about to evacuate the city, and quit the port of bahia--taking under the protection of their ships of war numerous transports in which the military force and stores are embarked, together with all the moveable property, public and private--not excepting even the sacred vases appropriated to religious uses--and as it is highly expedient that the progress of the enemy should be interrupted and impeded as far as is practicable--you are required to be particularly vigilant in watching their escape, and are to endeavour to cut off such of their vessels as you can assail with safety, and are to continue in the execution of this duty so long as you can keep sight of the enemy. cochrane. given on board the _pedro primiero_ this st of july, . to captain taylor, of the _nitherohy_, i gave further instructions to continue the chase as long as he considered it practicable to capture or destroy the enemy's vessels, using his utmost endeavours to disable all having troops on board; and as it was necessary to occupy bahia after its evacuation, i directed captains beaurepaire and thompson, after having captured or disabled all they could, to return forthwith to bahia, and take possession; for which purpose the following order was issued to captain beaurepaire:-- after having executed the previous order, you are to return to the port of bahia, taking upon yourself the command of the naval department afloat in my absence, and it will be your duty to ascertain the nature of the cargoes of the neutral ships now in the port of bahia, or which may afterwards enter, as there are many neutral ships said to have embarked property to a large amount, which has been illegally transferred to such neutrals since the blockade, for the purpose of fraudulent concealment. all such vessels and all such property ought to be detained and subjected to legal investigation in the prize tribunals of his imperial majesty. you will have a perfect right to require this investigation, and though the neutrals may clamour, they cannot lawfully oppose your proceedings therein--advisedly taken. a portuguese frigate being daily expected at bahia, as well as other vessels from portugal and the portuguese colonies, it will be advisable, for the better opportunity of capturing the same, to arrange with the general and commander-in-chief, that the portuguese flag shall be displayed at least on the outer fort or battery on the appearance of such portuguese vessels, or of others whose nationality is doubtful. you are to continue on the service above pointed out until further orders from me, or from the minister of marine, with whom you are to communicate, and convey to him a copy of the present order. cochrane. having learned that a great number of the more influential inhabitants were about to quit bahia with the fleet--and not wishing to involve them in the consequences of war--i addressed the following caution to the junta of bahia:-- gentlemen, understanding that it is in contemplation to abandon the town of bahia, without any security being given not again to resume hostilities against the subjects and territories of his imperial majesty, and as you may not be aware of the difficulty of retiring--whilst hopes may have been held out to you that this is practicable--i must, for the sake of humanity, caution you against any attempt to remove yourselves by sea, unless i have a perfect understanding as to the future intentions of the naval forces which may accompany you, but to whom i have nothing to suggest. i tell you however, that it is in my power to take advantages which may be fatal to your escape, and if, after this notice, you shall sail, you must not lay anything to my charge in the destruction of passengers, for in the obscurity of night it is impossible to discriminate ships in which they may be embarked. if, after this notice, you embark, or continue embarked, it will be to me a subject of great regret, because i have ever desired that the dangers of war should be confined to the military and naval profession. cochrane. to the junta, bahia, to general madeira, commanding the portuguese troops, i wrote as follows:-- understanding that you are about to embark the military forces under your command, with a view to proceed to some of the northern provinces, humanity compels me to declare to you my duty, however painful, to take all measures within my power to dismantle whatever transports may attempt to sail from bahia under convoy of the ships of war. that i have the means of performing this duty, in defiance of the ships of war which may endeavour to obstruct my operations, is a fact which no naval officer will doubt--but which to you as a military man may not be so apparent. if, after this warning, i am compelled to have recourse to the measures alluded to, and if numerous lives should be sacrificed thereby, i shall stand acquitted of those consequences which would otherwise press heavily on my mind. (signed) cochrane. gen. madeira. to the portuguese admiral i addressed the following note:-- sir, i have written to the junta and the general commanding the military force, relative to particulars which i have felt it my duty to submit to their consideration. to you, as a professional man, i have nothing to suggest or request--but merely to express my conviction that, for the sake of humanity, you will give that professional opinion on the subject of my letters--should they be referred to you--which may be expected from a naval officer of your experience. (signed) cochrane. the admiral of the portuguese squadron. on the nd of july, the whole portuguese force, naval and military, got under weigh, and steered out--the troops being embarked in the armed transports and large merchantmen, whilst other vessels were filled with portuguese families and their property--everything moveable being put on board--with the utmost confidence in the protection of their fleet. as only the flagship and _maria de gloria_ were present, we made no attempt to attack them whilst issuing from the mouth of the river, they no doubt ridiculing my warnings as communicated to the junta and the commanding officers. in this, however, they were mistaken; as every thing was in readiness, both on board the flagship and the _maria de gloria_, for immediate chase, so soon as the whole were clear of the port; though i had no intention--as they no doubt interpreted my letters--of attacking thirteen ships of war and numerous armed transports, with two ships alone, so long as they remained within the harbour; but when once out, the superior sailing qualities of these two ships would safely enable us to harass them with impunity. as the merchant brig, _colonel allen_, which had conveyed us from chili, was still with us, and as she might be made useful in looking after the prizes, i adopted her into the brazilian navy under the name of the _bahia_, appointing her master, captain haydon, to the rank of captain-lieutenant. whilst the portuguese were passing out, i wrote and despatched by the _liberal_ schooner, the following letter to the minister of marine at rio de janeiro:-- _pedro primiero_, off bahia, july nd, . most excellent sir, i have the satisfaction to acquaint your excellency that the enemy's squadron have this day evacuated bahia, their resources by sea being no longer available. their ships of war, consisting of thirteen sail of different sizes, and many large merchantmen filled with troops, are now standing out of the bay. it is my intention to pursue them as long as it shall appear beneficial so to do. this ship and the _maria de gloria_ are the only two in sight of the enemy, the _carolina_ having been obliged to return to the moro, in consequence of having lost a topmast, and the _nitherohy_ not having joined. i hope in my next to be able to give you some account of the ulterior objects the enemy have in view, which, whatever they may be, i shall endeavour to frustrate. (signed) cochrane. to the commanders of the other ships, i sent the following order on their joining the pursuit:-- it being improper to weaken the squadron, and impossible to officer and man the vessels which may fall into our hands, you are to adopt the following plan to secure them, viz. to send with the boats crews which board the enemy's vessels a sufficient number of crowbars, for the purpose of breaking up their water casks, leaving only water enough to carry them, on short allowance, into bahia, to which port you are to order them immediately to return. their papers being essential to the justification of this or any other hostile act, the boarding officer will take especial care to secure them. cochrane. in addition to this, the masts of all troopships which might be boarded, were directed to be so far cut away as to prevent their escape--a written order instructing them to return forthwith to bahia, on pain of being treated with great severity if found on any other course. singular as the order may appear, it was in most cases obeyed, and thus the captured vessels navigated themselves into our hands. the portuguese squadron consisted of _don joaõ_, ; _constitucaõ_, ; _perola_, ; _princeza real_, ; _calypso_, ; _regeneracaõ_, ; _activa_, ; _dez de fevereiro_, ; _audaz_, ; _s. gaulter_, ; _principe do brazil_, ; _restauracaõ_, ; _canceicaõ_, ; with between sixty and seventy merchant vessels and transports filled with troops. as soon as they were clear of the port, we fell upon the rearmost ships, disabling their main and mizen masts, so as to render it difficult for them to sail otherwise than before the wind, which would carry them to the brazilian coast, and ordering them back to bahia. the flagship and the _maria de gloria_ then resumed the pursuit, but the latter being employed in looking after the prizes, on the following morning we were alone amongst the enemy's convoy. the next day, july rd, the _carolina_ and _nitherohy_ came up, as did also the _colonel allen_. the frigates captured a number of merchantmen mostly filled with portuguese families--these unfortunate people finding to their cost that my warnings were not empty threats, though they had no doubt been led to ridicule the remonstrance by a misplaced confidence in the protection of their national squadron. many prizes were taken, and as evening closed the frigates dropped out of sight with the captured vessels. it would have been easy for the flagship also to have taken prizes, but about this i cared nothing,--my great object being to prevent the enemy from landing troops elsewhere, and with this view i determined on closely following the ships of war and transports--leaving the brazilian frigates to exercise their own discretion in disabling the convoy. it may be considered an act of temerity for one ship of war thus to chase thirteen; but, encumbered as they were, and, as i knew, short of provisions, i felt assured of accomplishing my object. the enemy--being greatly annoyed at our perseverance in following, and still more so at the loss of so many of the convoy--on the morning of the th, gave chase to the flagship with the whole squadron, endeavouring to hem her in, and at one time we were pursued so closely inshore, that there was some danger of getting embayed, but the handling and superior sailing qualities of the _pedro primiero_ enabled her to out-manoeuvre them and get clear. on seeing this, the portuguese squadron, finding further chase unavailing, gave us a broadside which did no damage, and resumed its position in the van of the convoy, to which we immediately gave chase as before, and as soon as night set in, dashed in amongst them, firing right and left till the nearest ships brought to, when they were boarded--the topmasts cut away--the rigging disabled--the arms thrown overboard--and the officers compelled to give their _parole_ not to serve against brazil until regularly exchanged--an event not likely to happen. keeping well up with them on the th--as soon as night set in, this mode of attack was repeated, when we took a russian vessel filled with portuguese troops, and disabled her in like manner. of the merchantmen within reach we took no notice, as it was impolitic to weaken the crew of the flagship by manning prizes, whilst, as we saw nothing of the remainder of the brazilian squadron, there was no other means of preventing their escape. the prudence of preserving the crew of the flagship entire, was now well exemplified. after taking possession of the russian transport, at dusk, i observed half-a-dozen large ships detach themselves from the main body of the convoy, and suspecting some valid reason for the movement, immediately gave chase. though they crowded all sail, we came up with them on the following morning, and singling out a large frigate-built ship, filled with troops, we fired upon her till she brought to. on boarding, we found her to be the _gran para_, containing--with the others--a division of several thousand troops, destined to maintain portuguese authority in the province of maranham--as, indeed, i had been informed at bahia. the private signals and instructions of the portuguese admiral--obtained by flag-lieutenant grenfell from her captain--put me in possession of the whole arrangement, which was thus luckily frustrated. as it was of importance not to let any of these troopships escape, captain grenfell was ordered to disable the _gran para_, cutting away her main and mizen masts, throwing the arms and ammunition overboard, taking possession of the regimental flags, and compelling the officers, as before, to give their _parole_ not to serve against brazil. this done, the other transports were successively boarded and disabled, so far as was consistent with not leaving them positive wrecks on the water; for with my single ship, to have made prisoners of so numerous a body of troops was manifestly impossible. the brig _bahia_ having opportunely hove in sight, i seized four of the vessels carrying troops, and ordered captain haydon to convoy them to pernambuco, to the president of which province i addressed the following letter:-- pedro primiero, july th, . illustrious and excellent sir, the abandonment of bahia by the enemy, in consequence of the rigours of blockade--and the capture of half of his army, ensigns, artillery, and stores, are events which you will be gratified to learn. part of the captured officers and troops i send in for your disposal, having engaged that they shall be treated after the manner which may justly be expected from the high character of the government of his imperial majesty, and the customary practice of all european states. i have to request that you will be pleased to order their disembarkation without delay. we require seamen to finish the war. if you will be pleased to grant the bounty of dollars per man, as at rio--charging the same to the government--you will render an essential service to your country. i do not mean portuguese seamen--who are enemies; but able seamen of any other nation, and i need scarcely say, that from my knowledge of the character of the men, i should prefer british seamen to all others. i shall probably have the honour of shortly making myself known to you, but that depends on circumstances over which i have no control. if we can come in, permit me to observe, that it would be conducive to the health of my crew to have ready a supply of fresh provisions and fruits, especially lemons and oranges. i hope you will excuse my freedom in mentioning these things, as the health of the men is as conducive to the interests of the empire as are the ships of war themselves. i have the honour, &c. cochrane. sent by the _balia_, captain haydon. by the same opportunity i despatched the following to the minister of marine:-- illustrious sir, i have the honour to inform you that half the enemy's army, their colours, cannon, ammunition, stores, and baggage, have been taken. we are still in pursuit, and shall endeavour to intercept the remainder of the troops, and shall then look after the ships of war, which would have been my first object, but that, in pursuing this course, the military would have escaped to occasion further hostilities against the brazilian empire. such of the enemy's colours as we have had time to take away i have the honour to transmit, and to lay them at the feet of his imperial majesty, and shall shortly forward the remainder. the vessels taken are large and beautiful ships, fast sailers, and resemble, in their appearance, ships of war. the portuguese squadron, and other vessels armed for war, i have every reason to believe are on their route for lisbon. i have also fully ascertained that the troopships which separated from their squadron during the night were destined for maranham. i have the honour, &c. cochrane. the minister of marine. the pursuit was now resumed, but the weather becoming hazy, we saw nothing of the enemy till the th, when they appeared to have recovered the _gran para_. as it became calm, nothing could be done till the th, when we crossed the equator in long. - , making straight for the ships of war, but finding them well together, considered it prudent to defer an attack till they should become separated. on the th they continued united, giving us no opportunity for mischief, yet not venturing to attack us, though only one ship to thirteen. at a.m. on the th, we crowded sail and went in amongst them, firing a broadside within half musket shot at one of the frigates with evident effect, as, from the damage caused, they did not return our fire. whilst tacking to give them the other broadside, our mainsail split in two, and night setting in, we relinquished the pursuit in degrees north latitude. my object in so doing was--that as we had only taken part of the troopships destined for maranham, it was quite possible--as that port lay to leeward--that the remainder might even yet reach their destination; and as the portuguese authority still existed in that--as throughout all the northern provinces--they might again be armed and equipped. the instructions of the portuguese admiral were, moreover, that, in case of separation, they were to rendezvous at the island of fernando de noronha, near which they were fallen in with some days afterwards; so that there were good grounds for anticipating the possibility of their yet reaching their original destination. instead, therefore, of following the enemy's squadron farther, i thought we should better serve the interests of brazil by proceeding direct to maranham, with the double purpose of being beforehand with the enemy's troops, should the attempt be made--and, if practicable, reducing the province to the authority of the emperor; a proceeding which, though not within my orders, was, as i conceived, nevertheless of great importance. accordingly, quitting the portuguese fleet and convoy, during the obscurity of night, we made straight for maranham. thus were the northern provinces entirely rescued from the designs of this armament, which--luckily for the consolidation of the empire--i had been enabled to frustrate; so that the cause of independence became free to develop itself throughout its whole extent. it is satisfactory to record the fact, that the whole military force was captured or dispersed, and its objects averted--by a single ship--without the loss of a man on our part--or the additional cost of a dollar to the imperial government; though, when we left rio de janeiro, it was believed that such objects could only be effected by costly naval and military expeditions combined. during this chase, as i have said, it did not appear a national object to make captures, though many were secured--as officers and seamen must have been detached for the purpose, thereby diminishing our efficiency for the annexation of those provinces where the portuguese authority was still intact; to accomplish which--though such result was not expected by the government--i had formed plans during the pursuit. considering that zeal for brazilian interests would be better shewn by expelling the enemy which remained, i therefore refrained from taking possession of many valuable ships, otherwise completely at our mercy, _though not having done so--then (previous to my experience of the court of admiralty) seemed_ a heavy pecuniary loss to myself, the officers, and crew. such sacrifice should have secured us better treatment than we subsequently endured from the administration of a country whose entire independence was thus obtained by our personal sacrifices. the means of intimidation employed for the expulsion of the portuguese from bahia--the pursuit of the enemy's fleet--and the disabling of the troopships destined for maranham--acts altogether in excess of the imperial instructions--not only freed the northern provinces from the enemy, but, as before stated, saved the brazilian government the delay, expense, and uncertainty of powerful expeditions. these services--undertaken solely on my own responsibility--were productive of the most beneficial consequences to the future career of the brazilian empire, the integrity of which they secured at a blow, or it may rather be said, without a blow, for none of any magnitude was struck; the dread of the fireships and the certainty arising--from the nocturnal visit of the flagship on the th of june, that my plans for making use of them were completed--having determined the portuguese admiral to save his fleet by evacuating bahia. chapter iii. capture of the don miguel--summons to the authorities--reasons for threats held out--proposals for capitulation--proclamations--terms granted to portuguese garrison--declaration of independence--portuguese troops ordered to embark--symptoms of disobeying the order--delight of the people on becoming free--election of a provisional government--letters to the minister of marine. on the th of july, the _pedro primiero_ arrived in the river maranhaõ, and--knowing from the portuguese admiral's instructions found in the troopships overhauled in the chase, that reinforcements were expected--we hoisted portuguese colours, with a view of inducing a belief that the flagship belonged to that nation, and had arrived in support of its cause. the authorities, deceived by this ruse, sent off a brig of war--the _don miguel_, captain garcaõ--with despatches and congratulations upon our safe arrival! but the commander of the brig was disagreeably undeceived by finding himself upon the deck of a brazilian ship. the despatches put me in possession of the enemy's plans and intentions, and from them i learned that some reinforcements had already reached, independent of those which had been intercepted in the recent chase; thus shewing the great importance attached by portugal to the preservation of the wealthy and influential province of maranham. to the surprise of captain garcaõ--now a prisoner of war--i offered to release him and his vessel on condition of his carrying sealed letters to the governor and junta in the city--a proposition gladly accepted. previous to his departure--by a fiction held justifiable in war, and, indeed, necessary under our peculiar circumstances, as having only a single ship to reduce a province--he was duly impressed by the relation of an imaginary number of vessels of war in the offing, accompanied by transports filled with troops, which the superior sailing of the flagship had enabled her to outstrip. captain garcaõ being a seaman and well able to judge as to the sailing qualities of the _pedro primiero_, was easily impressed with this story, and returned to the city with intelligence of an irresistible force about to disembark for its reduction. my letters to the governor and junta were to the same effect; for--as before noticed--having only a single ship, it was necessary to impress on their imagination--that a fleet and army were at hand to add the province to brazil. as this is the only instance within my knowledge of a military force surrendering itself and the province which it defended, to a stratagem of this nature, i shall append the documents by which a result so desirable was effected. to don agostinho antonia de faria, the commandant, i wrote as follows:-- pedro primiero, july , . sir, the naval and military forces under my command, leave me no room to doubt the success of the enterprise in which i am about to engage, in order to free the province of maranham from foreign domination, and to allow the people free choice of government in the same manner as the inhabitants of portugal have decided with regard to their constitution. of the flight of the portuguese naval and military forces from bahia you are aware. i have now to inform you of the capture of two-thirds of the transports and troops, with all their stores and ammunition. i am anxious not to let loose the imperial troops of bahia upon maranham, exasperated as they are at the injuries and cruelties exercised towards themselves and their countrymen, as well as by the plunder of the people and churches of bahia. it is for you to decide whether the inhabitants of these countries shall be further exasperated by resistance which appears to me unavailing, and alike prejudicial to the best interests of portugal and brazil. although it is not customary amongst european nations to receive or respect flags of truce, being armed vessels, yet as a proof that we came here with objects far superior to the seizure of the brig of war just released, i have paid respect to the flag, in the hope that forbearance will facilitate that harmony which all must be desirous should exist between the government of the royal father and that of the imperial son; and in doing this, i only fulfil the gracious intentions of his imperial majesty. awaiting your early reply, i have the honour, &c. cochrane. don agostinho antonia de faria, commanding the portuguese forces. the subjoined was at the same time despatched to the provincial junta;-- illustrious and excellent sirs, the forces of his imperial majesty the emperor of brazil, having freed the city and province of bahia from the enemies of independence--in conformity with the will of his imperial majesty that the beautiful province of maranham should be free also--i now hasten to offer to the oppressed inhabitants whatever aid and protection they need against a foreign yoke; desiring to accomplish their liberation and to hail them as brethren and friends. should there, however, be any who--from self-interested motives--oppose themselves to the deliverance of their country, let such be assured that the naval and military forces which have driven the portuguese from the south, are again ready to draw the sword in the like just cause--and having drawn it, the result cannot be long doubtful. the chief authorities are hereby invited to make known to me their decision, in order that the responsibility of consequences--in case of opposition--may not be imputed to any undue haste in the execution of the duty which i shall have to perform. i have the honour, &c. cochrane. to the illustrious and excellent the provincial junta of maranham. the reader may perhaps conclude, that the threats held out are somewhat inconsistent with my only having a single ship, without a soldier in her; and i must even confess to some compunction at this off-hand sketch of an imaginary fleet and army--but the matter was of the last importance. on the one hand, if my demands were vigorously pressed, there was a strong probability of obtaining them without bloodshed; but, on the other hand, if any delay took place, the enemy would, in a day or two at most, find out that the only force was the flagship, when the acquisition of maranham would be impossible. the sensation caused by the evacuation of bahia gave probability to my representations, and added to the despondency of the portuguese, so that the _ruse_ was completely successful. proposals of capitulation were immediately returned; but, as these were only conditional, i refused to accept them. in order to enforce the terms proffered, we entered the river--never before navigated by a line-of-battle ship--and anchored the _pedro primiero_ abreast of the fort. on the following day, july th, the junta, accompanied by the bishop, came on board, and gave in their adherence to the empire, after which the city, forts, and island, were unconditionally surrendered, though not without subsequent hesitation, which was dispelled by firing a shot over the town, whereupon a flag of truce was sent off, and all demands were complied with. landing a party of marines for the maintenance of order, the portuguese ensign was hauled down by lieutenant grenfell, who hoisted brazilian colours in its place. thus, without military force or bloodshed, was a second great province secured to the empire, neither result being anticipated, nor even contemplated in the orders communicated to me, which were to blockade the portuguese in bahia, and capture or destroy all ships met with--anything beyond this not having entered the imagination of the government. as--considering the circumstances in which i was placed--there was no time to be lost in completing the declaration of independence, i addressed the subjoined instructions to the civil authorities:-- _pedro primiero_, july , . most excellent sirs, it affords me the highest satisfaction that your excellencies have adopted a course by which all hostilities may be avoided, and the tranquillity and prosperity of this province peaceably established upon a secure and permanent basis. the declaration of the independence of brazil under his imperial majesty will at once tranquillise the public mind, and give opportunity to the worthy and patriotic inhabitants to proceed afterwards with a due formality and deliberation to take the oaths, and elect their provisional government. to-morrow, therefore--being the earliest possible day--it maybe well that the said declaration shall be made taking every necessary precaution that the public peace shall not be disturbed by individuals under any pretence. (signed) cochrane. to the inhabitants generally i issued the following proclamation:-- the first admiral of brazil to the inhabitants of maranham. the auspicious day has arrived on which the worthy and public-spirited inhabitants of maranham have it in their power at once to declare the independence of their country, and their adherence to their patriotic monarch, pedro primiero, whose protection has afforded them the glorious privilege of freemen--that of choosing their constitution and enacting their laws by their own representatives assembled to decide upon their own affairs in their own country. that the glory of this day may not be tarnished by any acts of excess--even proceeding from enthusiasm for the cause in which we have embarked--must be the wish of every honourable and well-judging citizen. to these it would be superfluous to offer any advice as to their conduct; but should there be any who, from whatever motives, would disturb public tranquillity, they are hereby warned that the strictest orders are given to bring those guilty of disturbance to the punishment their crime shall deserve. taking the necessary oaths, and the election of civil government, are acts which must be deliberately performed, and for this, the st of august is selected. citizens! let us proceed gravely and methodically, without tumult, haste, or confusion, and let the act be accomplished in a manner worthy the approbation of his imperial majesty, and which shall give no cause for regret, and leave no room for amendment. long live the emperor, and the independence and constitution of brazil. (signed) cochrane. to the garrison of maranham, liberty was granted to remain or depart, as they chose; in the latter case, free egress to europe being permitted, with ensigns, arms, and military honours. of the vessels of war we took possession, giving to the officers and men, the option of entering the service of brazil, or accepting the conditions conceded to the army. as the brazilian people will naturally be interested in all that led to the completion of the integrity of the empire, the terms granted to the portuguese garrison are subjoined. _pedro primiero_, july , . most excellent sir, in reply to your letter of this date, i beg leave to assure you, first, that my utmost endeavours shall be used to protect the persons and property of the citizens of maranham--with the exception of such species of property as, being proved to belong to a hostile party, shall become, according to the laws of war, subject to the decision of the tribunals of his imperial majesty; that the same leniency with respect to all past political opinions shall be used as has been observed under the constitutional government of his most faithful majesty john vi.; and that all persons desiring to remove shall be at liberty to do so, under the usual formalities. secondly,--you are at liberty either to depart to any other country, or to remain in this. thirdly,--the commanding officers, superior officers, and soldiers of the portuguese nation, shall be free to retire to their native country, or to any other quarter; and shall be permitted to embark with their ensigns, arms, and military honours. as independence is to be declared to-morrow, and as the vessels of war now in the port bear the ensigns of portugal--and as i believe the necessary authority is vested in you, i have to request that you will order that ensign not to be hoisted on board the said vessels, in order that the substitution of that of brazil may be made in the manner least offensive to the feelings of the officers--all, or any of whom may remain with their men in the service of brazil, or may consider themselves under the third article relating to the army. i have to express my regret at your indisposition, which has deprived me of the pleasure of seeing you; but, if circumstances permit, i shall avail myself of an early opportunity of paying you my personal respects. (signed) cochrane. to don agostinho antonia de faria, general-at-arms of maranhaõ. on the th the declaration of independence was made amidst the acclamation of the inhabitants generally--those who were adverse to the measure not venturing to make any demonstration to the contrary. still it was important to get rid of the portuguese troops before they found out the _ruse_ which had been practised upon them; for, three days having now elapsed without any appearance of my reputed forces, there was some fear that they might attempt to recover their former position. accordingly i addressed the following letter to general de faria:-- _pedro primiero_, july , . most excellent sir, the declaration of independence having been formally made, and his imperial majesty being declared constitutional emperor of brazil by acclamation of the worthy people of maranham--which important event has happily taken place, not only without disorder, but, to the honour and credit of the inhabitants, with the greatest harmony and regularity--it now becomes my duty, as military chief under his imperial majesty, to take care that no military interference or intimidation shall in any way overawe or influence the choice of the inhabitants in the election of their provisional government. i have, therefore, to request that you will be pleased to direct all the portuguese troops who intend to avail themselves of the third article of the stipulations entered into with regard to the military to repair to the place appointed, and there await the preparations which i shall immediately make for their transportation to lisbon. i have also to beg that you will he pleased to furnish me with a correct list of those who desire to depart, and also of those who choose to remain and take the oaths as brazilian citizens. i have, &c. &c. cochrane. to gen. a.a. de faria. these instructions were promptly complied with by the ex-commandant, and no time was lost in providing ships for the reception of the portuguese troops who wished to avail themselves of permission to sail for lisbon. this leniency was scarcely deserved, for the portuguese authorities had filled the gaols with respectable brazilian citizens, who were treated with great severity; but, for obvious reasons, i was desirous to get rid of the portuguese on any terms. the next step was to provide for the proper administration of government, and this--from the factions which were afterwards found to exist--was a work of infinitely greater difficulty than had been the acquisition of the city. some of the more influential inhabitants, however, offering their services, i formed them into a provisional junta, until a more popular government could be provided. municipal security being thus attained, the portuguese troops were embarked, on the st of august, though not without some difficulty, for, from the non-arrival of my supposed fleet and army, some amongst them began to suspect that a deception had been practised, and many--backed by the militia--refused to embark. upon this, a notice was issued that if the treaty were not instantly complied with, such steps should be taken as would render unnecessary the stipulation of safe conveyance to europe, as i was determined that a solemn engagement should not be violated with impunity. this, as a great portion of the troops were actually on board, and within reach of the flagship's guns, produced the desired effect on the refractory troops ashore, though not till i was compelled to send captain crosbie with a large party to enforce compliance and to disarm the militia, both of which objects he effected without bloodshed. the embarkation being accomplished, and the foreign portion of the militia disarmed, so as to leave the city in the hands of the civil authorities--on the nd of august, i issued a proclamation declaring the commerce of the coast free and uninterrupted; following this, shortly afterwards by another, declaratory of my willingness to accept from consignees and others, two-thirds of the estimated value of portuguese property liable to confiscation--in place of sending the captured vessels to rio de janeiro; which--from the state of the city, as well as from want of seamen to man them--was impossible. to the inhabitants of the city i had been careful to accord complete liberty, exacting, in return, perfect order, which was preserved, and property of all kinds respected; the delight of the inhabitants being unbounded at having been freed from a terrible system of exaction and imprisonment, which, when i entered the river, was being carried on with unrelenting rigour by the portuguese authorities towards all suspected of a leaning to the imperial government. instead of retaliating--as would have been gratifying to those so recently labouring under oppression--i directed oaths to the constitution to be administered, not to brazilians only, but also to all portuguese who chose to remain and conform to the new order of things; a privilege, of which many influential persons of that nation availed themselves. on the st of august the inhabitants of alcantara made a declaration of adherence to his imperial majesty, notwithstanding a report sedulously circulated amongst them that the portuguese troops at maranham were about to recover the city. an assurance from me, that the portuguese troops were embarked, and were under the guns of the flagship, as well as the fire of their own gunboats, which could be turned against them, and that the european militia was disarmed, speedily dispelled all grounds for alarm. the proceedings of the temporary provisional junta being unsatisfactory, especially as regarded their desire for retaliation on the portuguese, i determined to embody a more popular government, though, as yet the election would, of necessity, be confined to the inhabitants of the city only. accordingly on the th of august, in less than a fortnight after my first appearance off the port, a provisional government was chosen by the population, and the city and province were incorporated with brazil, with the national advantage of adding nearly a million of dollars to the annual revenue of the empire; and this without the expense of another expedition to the government, or the loss of time which would have been necessary, and might, had the reinforcements intercepted, gained their destination--have ended in a different result to the integrity of the empire. the first act of the new government was to address a congratulatory letter to his imperial majesty, explaining that they should long before have espoused the imperial cause, but from fear of the portuguese troops. the following is an extract from this letter:-- what was our joy when unexpectedly we saw the _pedro primiero_ summoning our port. oh, th of july, ! thrice happy day, thou wilt be as conspicuous in the annals of our province, as the sentiments of gratitude and respect inspired by the illustrious admiral sent to our aid by the best and most amiable of monarchs will be deeply engraven on our hearts and on those of our posterity. yes! august sire! the wisdom, prudence, and gentle manners of lord cochrane have contributed still more to the happy issue of our political difficulties than even the fear of his force. to anchor in our port--to proclaim independence--to administer the oaths of obedience to your majesty--to suspend hostilities throughout the province--to provide proper government--to bring the troops of the country into the town, but only in sufficient numbers to ensure order and tranquillity--to open the communication between the interior and the capital--to provide it with necessaries--and to restore navigation and commerce to their pristine state--all this, sire, was the work of a few days. grant heaven, that this noble chief may end the glorious career of his political and military labours with the like felicity and success, and that your imperial majesty being so well served, nothing more may be necessary to immortalise that admirable commander, not only in the annals of brazil, but in those of the whole world. a large amount of government and public property in the several departments was seized, in conformity with the imperial proclamation, and an addition made to the brazilian navy of a brig-of-war, the _don miguel_, a schooner, and eight gunboats--besides merchant vessels, some of which were appropriated to the conveyance of the late garrison to lisbon, under engagement to restore their value--a stipulation which was never fulfilled. everything being thus satisfactorily settled, my next step was to inform the minister of marine at rio de janeiro of the extraordinary means by which possession of the city and province of maranham had been obtained; the subjoined letters were accordingly despatched. (secret.) _pedro primiero_, august , . most illustrious sir, your excellency will perceive by the official documents accompanying this, that in order to effect the objects i had in view at maranham, i judged it expedient to create a belief amongst the people and garrison, that a large force was at my disposal, and therefore i used expressions in my public correspondence that were not borne out by the actual circumstances under which i summoned that city, as i had--in fact--no other force than this ship alone, which from the nature of the anchorage could scarcely approach within gunshot--whilst there was neither a soldier nor effective marine on board; but the fear entertained by the hostile government of imperial troops from bahia, whom they understood to be off the bar with the remainder of the squadron, and the sudden appearance of so large a ship as this, produced the effect which i had anticipated, and it is with the greatest satisfaction that i now communicate the occupation of this important city and province, which has been accomplished without effusion of blood, or material disturbance. as soon as i have completed the necessary arrangements here, i propose to return to rio de janeiro, and to have the honour personally to inform you of all particulars. i have, &c. cochrane. minister of marine. with this was transmitted the following official document:-- _pedro primiero_, aug. , . most illustrious sir, i had the honour to inform your excellency by letter, off pernambuco, that we had captured transports containing a moiety of the enemy's army--that we were in pursuit of the remainder--and that i hoped for further success. i have now to acquaint your excellency that, having followed the enemy's squadron to the fifth degree of north latitude beyond the line, until, by capture and dispersion, their convoy was so reduced that only thirteen vessels out of seventy remained with the ships of war, and as the latter were evidently steering for lisbon, and were too strong to be attacked with success by this ship alone--for the remainder of the brazilian squadron had separated in the chase--i judged it advantageous for the interests of his imperial majesty's service, to discontinue the pursuit, and to proceed, with all possible despatch, to maranham, where i arrived on the th ultimo. i have the happiness to acquaint you, for the satisfaction of the imperial government, that maranham is now united to the empire, the inhabitants having proclaimed their independence of portugal on the th, and elected their provisional government this day. i have embarked the portuguese troops for europe, and the militia are disarmed. i have the honour to enclose a copy of the correspondence which has taken place on the occasion, with other papers and documents. we have found here a fine brig of war--a schooner--eight gunboats, and about sixteen sail of portuguese merchant vessels. amongst the other advantages of this important event may be mentioned, that while the expense of an express expedition has been saved, an addition of nearly a million of dollars is made to the revenue of his imperial majesty. i have manned and sent the brig of war to parà, to summon that city--offering to the enemy the same terms as we have granted here. the beautiful new frigate, lately launched at parà, has not sailed for portugal, and i am in expectation that the next account which i shall have the honour to send or bring to your excellency, will communicate the pleasing intelligence that his imperial majesty has no enemy, either on shore or afloat, between the extremities of his empire. i have, &c. cochrane. the minister of marine. chapter iv. capt. grenfell sent to summon para--the junta demands the prize property--my refusal--imperial approval of my services--realisation of prize property--turi assu sends in its adhesion--money captured lent to the junta--its return to the squadron expected--possession taken of para--insurrection at para--misconduct of the maranham junta--their persecution of the portuguese--steps in consequence--manifestation of the national delight--the marquisate conferred on me--vote of thanks by the assemblea geral--my arrival at rio de janeiro--satisfaction with my services--lady cochrane joins me. as the province of parà was now the only one which remained under the authority of portugal, it became of importance to take possession of it, whilst the _prestige_ arising from our acquisition of maranham was in all its freshness; for we had still no other force than the flagship, which was necessary to maintain order there. in the absence of a brazilian ship-of-war, i manned the captured brig _don miguel_--changing her name to the _maranhaõ_--and placed her under the command of an able and gallant officer, captain-lieutenant (now admiral) grenfell, upon whose judicious management every reliance was to be placed. captain grenfell was the bearer of a summons from me to the junta and garrison of parà, dated off the bar, as though a force were at hand to second his operations. in short, he was instructed to employ the same _ruse_ for intimidating the city as had been so successful at maranham--the summons as well as the terms to be granted to the portuguese garrison being similar in both cases. he was further instructed to secure, if possible, the new frigate which had just been launched for the service of portugal, and if successful, to name her the _impératrice_, in honour of the empress--to take command of her--and after the submission of the city to return to rio de janeiro with his prize. the nature of captain grenfell's mission will be apparent from the following extracts from the orders given to him:-- the enclosed orders in portuguese you may show. they purport to be addressed to you at the mouth of the river parà, and to be there dated on board this ship, she being supposed at anchor there; for it is essential to create a belief in the government at parà that you do not come alone, but that the squadron is at hand ready to cooperate. you will therefore fill up the date of the portuguese orders on the day of your arrival at the mouth of the river. you will also fill in the dates of the official letters to the junta, at the same time, without regard to the delay which may arise, from proceeding up the river. you will perceive that my intentions are to effect, by your means, objects _which would otherwise require an expedition_, and therefore the utmost prudence and circumspection are necessary. next to the liberation of parà, the great object is to secure the frigate. if you succeed in obtaining possession of her, and find yourself deficient in men, you are at liberty to leave the brig for the purpose of manning the frigate. i expect everything from your exertions and good management in bringing about the surrender of parà, with all that is important to his brazilian majesty. to return to the state of affairs at maranham. one of the first acts of the new junta--despite their professed admiration of the course i had pursued--was to transmit to me a demand that the property taken from the portuguese should be placed _at their disposal._ my surprise at such a request from men whom i had unexpectedly released from thraldom, and elevated to power, ceased as i became better acquainted with the factions existing amongst them. now that they were invested with power, they were evidently bent on turning it to their own private advantage, by representing to me that if i retained the property of portuguese in maranham--that of brazilians in lisbon, viz. _their own mercantile consignments_--would be confiscated in retaliation, and that, therefore, i ought to restore it! to this i replied, that the captures made by the flagship were strictly in accordance with the decrees of his imperial majesty, no less than with the rights of belligerents as defined by the laws of nations; so that their request was directly opposed to the imperial decrees against all the subjects of portugal, as well as against all who should contribute to continue the brazils under a foreign yoke. the junta was reminded that it was within my power to have imposed upon the portuguese authorities whatever terms i thought proper, but having granted those i had judged best for the interests of the empire to which i was bound, i would adhere to the treaty as it stood, and should any attempt be made to evade it, it would be my duty--however painful--to enforce its fulfilment, as being responsible to his imperial majesty. this specimen of patriotism in a body of men who little more than a fortnight before were imprisoned or in expectation of imprisonment, but now--to save their own interests in lisbon--sought to set his majesty's decrees and my instructions alike at defiance, inspired me with deep distrust of their fitness for the government of the province--it being evident that if the flagship quitted the port, they would construe the functions of government in favour of their own private purposes. i accordingly wrote to the prime minister, andrada, representing the course which had been pursued--concluding with the subjoined advice as to the steps to be taken in order to place the future government on a right basis:-- i beg, through your excellency, to suggest most respectfully to his imperial majesty my opinion that it would greatly conduce to the peace and prosperity of this province, if some able and honourable person should be sent to take the chief authority; for--with all respect to the individuals composing the new junta, and to those from whom succeeding juntas might be chosen--none appear to me to possess either the talents or acquirements necessary for the good government of maranham. i may also add that family connections, together with private and political friendships, no less than enmities--exist here to a degree which can hardly fail to involve the province in internal dissensions, unless averted by the means which i respectfully suggest. i had shortly afterwards the pleasure of receiving the following expressions of satisfaction from his imperial majesty through the prime minister:-- rio, july , . most excellent sir, i have received the secret communications with which you have favoured me, whereby i learn in detail the distinguished conduct which you have pursued since quitting this port, and the various difficulties with which, (to my regret) you have had to contend. these are, however, of such a nature as to be irremediable in our present circumstances; but let us hope they will vanish when the empire is consolidated. meanwhile your excellency--being no less a politician than a warrior, and enjoying to the utmost the confidence of his imperial majesty--is fully empowered to adopt whatever means your judgment may suggest to facilitate the important objects of your commission. on this subject, i also refer to the imperial authority and other documents addressed to you in reply to your communications. i beg to add my personal thanks for the interesting communications with which you have favoured me, of which i shall avail myself in order to accomplish the objects desired to be effected. be assured of the particular esteem and high consideration with which i am, de v. exa. attento venerador e criado, joze bonifacio de andrada e silva. the junta continuing its unreasonable demand, the moveable property captured was embarked on board the _pombinho_, and another vessel--both prizes--for the purpose of being sent to rio de janeiro for adjudication. i then directed the provisional government to furnish me with an account of all money found in the treasury, customs, military chest, and other departments; also of all military stores in the various forts and magazines and of government property of every description, such property having been wholly awarded to the captors by imperial decree of the th of december, , issued to induce foreign seamen to enter the service. on the th of august the portuguese troops were ordered to depart for lisbon--maranham being thus entirely freed from the presence of the armaments upon which the mother country had relied for the maintenance of her northern provinces; this result, wholly unexpected by the imperial government or the nation, having been accomplished within the space of a few months, by measures adopted on my own responsibility. still numerous vessels and much perishable property taken from the enemy, remained on hand--with which it was difficult to deal. from having manned the captured brig-of-war, _don miguel_--as well as the prize vessel, _pombinho_, from the crew of the flagship, it was not expedient further to reduce her efficiency; so that there were no means of forwarding the other prizes and property to rio de janeiro for adjudication. i therefore apprised the minister of marine, that the only course circumstances would permit me to pursue--though not perfectly regular--would be to dispose of them and remit to the government in specie the amount realised; as, in case of my departure from maranham, they were certain to be improperly appropriated. accordingly, an offer was again made to the merchants, to accept two-thirds of their value in specie, and to submit the amount to the further decision of the court of admiralty, i little anticipating at the time the anti-imperial predilections of the members composing the prize tribunal at rio de janeiro. the amount of the seizures effected by the squadron was very considerable, comprising upwards of a hundred and twenty vessels, some of which contained important cargoes. the aggregate amount of these--together with merchandise found in the custom-house--government and other public property and stores--was several millions of dollars, and this by his imperial majesty's decree of the th of december, --promulgated to attract foreign seamen into the brazilian service--was, as before mentioned, the property of the captors; the imperial government, by that decree, disclaiming all share in it,--a stipulation afterwards remorselessly violated. on the th of august, the province of turi assu sent in its adhesion to the empire, this favourable circumstance being however counteracted by the arrival of deputies from the troops of cearà and piahuy, reporting their revolutionary tendency, and demanding payment for their previous service; the piahuy troops--consisting for the most part of indians recruited in the interior--even threatened to march upon maranham and enforce their demand, although they had rendered no assistance. the junta, alarmed at this demonstration, now forwarded to me a request that i would appropriate some portion of the captured property to satisfy the importunity of the mutinous troops. considering that the tranquillity of the province in a great measure depended upon silencing these troops--who were not only clamorous and menacing, but in a state of nakedness and destitution--which rendered it probable that they might help themselves at the expense of the inhabitants--i consented to the application of the junta, placing at their disposal the monies taken in the portuguese treasury, amounting in cash to rs. . $ ( , dollars); that found in the custom-house, to the amount of rs. . $ ( , dollars); and outstanding bills to the amount of rs. . $ ( , dollars); making in the whole rs. . $ ( , dollars): accounts of these sums, and the urgency of their appropriation to the necessities of the public service, being duly forwarded to the minister of marine at rio de janeiro. these sums are thus minutely set forth, because it has been erroneously represented that sixty contos of reis alone ( , dollars), were given up to the junta, though reference to the vouchers themselves would have dissipated this error, which will be found to have an important bearing upon a subsequent part of the narrative. it may be also necessary to explain how "outstanding debts" could be owing to the government. contrary to the english practice of paying duties to the revenue, before goods are cleared from the custom-house, it was the habit of the portuguese authorities to permit their clearance on receipt of bills to be paid after the goods were disposed of; hence merchants became indebted to the government in the amount of such engagements. it was impossible to avoid assisting the junta, in the extremity alluded to, as the neglected troops might have caused a dangerous _émeute_, which would have proved injurious to the interests of his imperial majesty. the assistance rendered to the junta was given at the expense of the officers and seamen, to whom the money of right belonged, and who looked for its repayment as soon as circumstances would permit. on this subject i wrote as follows to the minister of marine:-- maranham, aug. , . most excellent sir, since i had the honour of addressing you deputies have arrived from the troops of cearà and piahuy soliciting payment for their services. the provisional junta of maranham have requested my assistance in this object, and as i consider the tranquillity of this province to depend in a great measure on the speedy payment of these forces, i have placed at the disposal of the junta various funds arising from the capitulation of this place. this will doubtless be considered by the seamen--who are the captors--as an unwarrantable sacrifice of their rights in favour of mutinous troops, who have effected nothing; but feeling confident of support from the imperial government on a matter so essential to the public interest, i have had no hesitation in assuring the seamen that they _will not be losers by their captures being, in the first instance, applied to the relief of the immediate exigencies of the state._ (signed) cochrane. on the th of august, i had the satisfaction to learn from captain grenfell that his mission to parà had been completely successful, the frigate, together with another vessel of war, having been secured, the former being, by my previous directions, named the _imperatrice_, and added to the imperial navy; several merchantmen were also taken and sent to rio de janeiro. the summons despatched by captain grenfell was--as has been said--based upon the same _ruse_ as had been so successful at maranham. in order to produce a more decisive effect, it had been dated off the mouth of the river, as though the squadron was there at anchor to compel submission to the imperial government. the plan was so ably conducted by the talented officer to whom it was entrusted, that although his force consisted of less than a hundred men, the inhabitants of parà, without a dissentient voice--save that of the portuguese commandant--pronounced their adhesion to the government of his imperial majesty, and thus a province, greater in extent than france and england combined, was added to the empire, and the independence of brazil effected to its northern extremity. the only blood shed in the liberation of parà, was that of captain grenfell, who received a severe wound, treacherously inflicted by a portuguese who was hired to assassinate him! this cowardly act was resorted to, on the discovery--when too late--that i was not in the river, as the portuguese authorities had been led to believe. the subjoined is captain grenfell's letter announcing the success of his mission:-- h.i.m.b. maranham, august , . (off parà.) my lord, i have the honour to inform your lordship that your hopes of the union of parà to the empire of brazil are verified. agreeably to your lordship's instructions, and in virtue of the power conferred on me, i opened the communications with the junta, and enclose a letter from the general-at-arms to your lordship, and am glad to inform you that his is the only dissenting voice. i shall pursue the tenor of your lordship's instructions until further orders. i have the honour, &c. &c. j. pascoe grenfell. i had directed captain grenfell--in case of a declaration of independence by the inhabitants of parà--to form a junta, and to adopt generally the same course as had been so instrumental in preserving tranquillity at maranham; giving him, moreover, power to employ the resources at his command in supplying the exigencies of the imperial service generally, as might be necessary. a provisional government was accordingly formed, though not to the satisfaction of a number of refractory persons, who, on the pretence of adhesion to the imperial government, connected themselves with a body of undisciplined troops, and made an attempt to depose the newly constituted junta, which applied to captain grenfell for support. landing his men, the insurrection was with some difficulty put down; but as an ill feeling still prevailed, he considered it necessary to make an example by ordering the trial of five of the ringleaders, who, being condemned, were shot in the public square. on the th of september, i apprised the junta of maranham of my intention to proceed to parà, though--being without instructions from the administration, i really purposed to sail for rio de janeiro; for as the provisional authority temporarily established was not, by any means conducting public affairs in a satisfactory manner, i thought it as well to keep them in ignorance of our real destination, in order that they should believe me within reach, till the imperial government might exercise its own discretion as to the future. the junta of maranham, indeed, appeared to have no other object than to shew how liberty suddenly acquired could degenerate into despotism. it was, for the most part, composed of men, who were not only united by family connections and private friendship, but who were nearly allied, as members of one influential family. no sooner had they been invested with power, than they dismissed all civil and military officers, and filled the vacant situations with their own friends, relations, and dependents, without consideration as to their talents or qualifications, thus equally exciting discontent amongst the brazilians--who were excluded, and the portuguese--who were dismissed. their chief aim was to maintain themselves in power against the will of the people, who, now that tranquillity had been restored, desired a free and general election of a constitutional government throughout the province, in place of that which, of necessity, had been confined to the city only. to put down what they considered disaffection--towards themselves--the junta brought into the city a large body of irregular troops, intending, by means of these, to gratify their resentment against the resident portuguese, who, having taken the oaths of allegiance to the imperial government, were entitled to protection. it appeared, moreover, that the junta and their friends owed large sums of money to some of the more wealthy and influential portuguese, and that they intended to get rid of their debts, by the expulsion of their creditors. as it was sufficiently clear that the junta was determined not to be advised, it became my duty to avert the evils in contemplation, by expediting the change of administration so much desired by the people. therefore, on the th of september, i transmitted to the junta, an order for the election of a more comprehensive government, as they were only intended to remain in power until a general election throughout the province could conveniently take place. satisfactory as was this measure to the public, it was anything but agreeable to the despotic body, at whose ill-advised measures it was aimed; their resource being to increase the ferment amongst the soldiery brought into the city to uphold their authority, and who--partly from motives of revenge, but more from the hope of plunder--were eager to execute the hostile intentions of the junta against the portuguese. an attempt to arrest the president of the camara, senor luiz salgado, by the general-at-arms--who had reason to suspect salgado of intriguing to remove him from office, gave a pretext for disturbance. on the night of the th of september, the troops rose and plundered many portuguese houses, compelling their owners to fly for safety to neutral and other vessels in the harbour. they then deposed the general-at-arms, and chose salgado in his stead, a proceeding which was next day confirmed by a decree of the junta, in conjunction with the camara. addressing a letter to salgado, i firmly refused to acknowledge him as commandant, telling him, at the same time, that his only means of being recognised as a brazilian citizen, was by allaying the ferment he had contributed to raise. i wrote also to the junta and camara, threatening to act in a decisive manner, if these disgraceful scenes were not instantly put an end to, pointing out to them that, as they were the chief proprietors of houses and stores, so they would be the greatest sufferers from anarchy. this step checked the disturbance, but the junta granted the riotous military a gratuity, levied on the portuguese who had been attacked. the more respectable of whom soon after quitted maranham in disgust. it must, however, be stated that these disorders admitted of some palliation, from the consideration that hundreds of brazilians had been transported to lisbon, by the portuguese authorities, when in power; whilst hundreds of others were on my arrival imprisoned at maranham, in the gaols and vessels in the harbour. on my entrance into the city, i released numbers of these, and saved many others from impending incarceration. by the th, though tranquillity was restored, i postponed the election of a general provisional junta till the th of october, hoping that before that period, a reply to my earnest entreaties for instructions, would arrive from the imperial government. it was for the sake of preserving order during the interval, that i had announced my intention of taking the _pedro primiero_ to parà only, well knowing that a belief in her speedy return to maranham would have a salutary influence in maintaining public peace. intelligence of the reduction of maranham, and the annexation of that province, together with the province of parà, to the empire, was received at rio de janeiro with surprise and delight;--surprise, that, in less than six months, without military force, and, in truth, with one ship of war only, so much had been effected--and delight that the empire was cleared of its enemies without the expense and uncertainty of expeditions which had been calculated on. all brazilians were eager to vie with each other in the expression of entire satisfaction with my exertions. his imperial majesty was pleased to reward the services rendered, by creating me marquis of maranhaõ, as the fittest title to commemorate the advantages gained for the empire, at the same time awarding me an estate commensurate with the dignity of the honours conferred; the "assemblea geral, constituente e legislativa" adding a vote of thanks in the name of the nation. the estate, however, _was never given_, notwithstanding that, at maranham, and in other of the northern provinces, numerous fine properties, appertaining to the portuguese crown, were added to the imperial domain. the inconsistency of this was remarkable, seeing that i had been the means of adding to brazil a territory larger than half europe--for which service i was warmly thanked by the emperor, his ministers, and also by the general assembly--the latter body, nevertheless, refusing to confirm the gift of even so minute a portion of the vast territory unexpectedly added to the empire. the subjoined is the imperial order, elevating me to the marquisate:-- his majesty the emperor, taking into consideration the great services which your excellency has just rendered to the nation by assisting to liberate the city of bahia from the unjust lusitanian yoke, and afterwards wisely aiding the honourable inhabitants of the province of maranham in throwing off the said foreign domination, so that they were enabled, according to their desire, to acknowledge his majesty as their constitutional emperor; and desiring to give your excellency a public testimonial of gratitude for these great and extraordinary services (_per estse altos e extraordinarios serviços_) on behalf of the generous brazilian people, who will ever preserve a lively remembrance of such illustrious acts, i deem it right to confer upon your excellency the title of marquis of maranhaõ. my secretary of state will expedite the necessary patent which i communicate to your excellency for your information. god preserve your excellency many years. palace of rio de janeiro, th of november, . (signed) joaÕ severiano maciel da costa. the annexed is the vote of thanks awarded by the _"assemblea geral"_ which, as has been said, refused to recognise his majesty's gift of an estate in order to support in a dignified manner the title which his majesty had graciously been pleased to confer. the reason assigned for this extraordinary proceeding, in a lengthy debate on the subject was, that in granting me an estate his majesty had exercised a feudal prerogative inconsistent with a free country. the general constituent and legislative assembly having been officially informed that your excellency, after having freed the province of bahia from the oppression of portuguese troops, and having pursued them beyond the equinoctial line, led the squadron on your own judgment and responsibility to the port of the city of st. louis of maranhaõ, where, with your accustomed valour and singular good judgment, you dislodged the portuguese troops, who had kept down the patriotism of its generous inhabitants, and accomplished their liberation, so that they proclaimed and spontaneously swore with unanimity their independence of portugal and their decided union with the brazilian empire. the general constituent and legislative assembly, acknowledging the importance of these great services has decreed in this day's session that there shall be given to your excellency in the name of the nation which it represents the thanks due. charged as organs to transmit this resolution to your excellency, we fulfil the task with pleasure, and have the honour to lay the same before your excellency. god preserve your excellency. palace of the assembly, oct. , . martin francisco eibeieo de andeada, joaÕ severiano maciel da costa, miguel calmon du pin e almeida. this vote of thanks by the assembly contains a remarkable error, by averring that i "led the squadron" to maranhaõ, whereas i had only a single ship, and with her singly performed all for which i received the thanks of the nation. in the interval between this recognition of my services and my return to rio de janeiro, an unfortunate change had taken place in the councils of his imperial majesty, introductive of persons more favourable to the interests of portugal than to furtherance of the judicious measures contemplated by his majesty for the consolidation of the newly-constituted empire. to the obstructive aspirations of these persons--in ill-concealed concert with the designs of the parent state--my annexation of the northern provinces necessarily proved fatal; and they ever afterwards regarded me with an animosity which appeared to increase as the empire became, by these, and my subsequent exertions, more firmly established. sailing from maranham on the th of september, the _pedro primiero_ arrived at rio de janeiro on the th of november--the emperor doing me the honour to come on board to welcome me. i immediately forwarded to the minister of marine a recapitulation of all transactions since my departure seven months before; viz. the evacuation of bahia by the portuguese in consequence of our nocturnal visit, connected with the dread of my reputed skill in the use of fireships, as arising from the affair of basque roads; the pursuit of their fleet beyond the equator, and the dispersion of its convoy; the capture and disabling of the transports filled with troops intended to maintain portuguese domination in maranham and parà; the device adopted to obtain the surrender to the _pedro primiero_ alone of the enemy's naval and military forces at maranham; the capitulation of parà with the ships of war to my summons sent by captain grenfell; the deliverance of the brazilian patriots whom the portuguese had imprisoned; the declaration of independence by the intermediate provinces thus liberated, and their union with the empire; the appointment of provisional governments; the embarkation and final departure of every portuguese soldier from brazil; and the enthusiasm with which all my measures--though unauthorised and therefore extra official--- had been received by the people of the northern provinces, who--thus relieved from the dread of further oppression--had everywhere acknowledged and proclaimed his imperial majesty "constitutional emperor." the powers which i had taken upon myself to exercise during this eventful period, were, no doubt; in excess of those conferred by my orders, but, knowing that everything depended upon the annexation and pacification of the northern provinces by the expulsion of the enemy--setting aside my own interests--i considered it better for the welfare of the empire to exceed my instructions, than to entail the continuance of civil war by confining my operations within their scope. in the exercise of this self-imposed duty it may be said that i had also exercised imperial functions, but this was only in the unavoidable absence of imperial instructions, which it was my constant endeavour to anticipate rather than to exceed; that i judged and acted rightly, the elevation to the title of marquis of maranhaõ, before reaching rio de janeiro--the vote of thanks of the legislature, and the warm acknowledgment of his imperial majesty on landing, sufficiently testify. in addition to the gracious reception accorded by his majesty, i received from his own hands a decoration of the imperial order of the cruizeiro, and, though a foreigner, was subsequently nominated to the high office of privy councillor--the greatest honour in the imperial gift to bestow. during my absence from rio de janeiro, lady cochrane--ignorant of my having quitted chili--was on her way to rejoin me at valparaiso, but the vessel in which she embarked, having fortunately put into rio de janeiro, she was at once made acquainted with my change of service, and remained in the capital till my return. the most hospitable attention was paid to her by the royal family, the empress conferring upon her the appointment of lady of honour to her majesty. the relief to my mind on finding lady cochrane at rio de janeiro was very great, for, as there had not been opportunity to apprise her of my departure from chili in time to prevent her return thither, it had been a constant source of regret to me that she would have to endure the discomfort of two tedious voyages round cape horn before she could join me in brazil. the fortunate circumstance of putting into rio happily terminated the embarrassment. chapter v. first effort curtail the imperial power--portuguese intrigue--dismissal of the andradas--the assembly dissolved by force--exile of the andradas--letter to his imperial majesty--my advice partly adopted--and causes ministerial enmity towards me--ratification of my patent--i demand the adjudication of prizes--letter to the minister of marine--offer of personal advantage to foreign claims--squadron remained unpaid--i am appointed a privy councillor--the prize vessels plundered--shameful treatment of captain grenfell--troubles in pernambuco--hostility of the prize tribunal--condemns me to the restitution of prizes--forbids making any captures at all. shortly before returning to rio de janeiro, a total change had taken place in the administration of which josé bonifacio de andrada was the head. as that minister's views were patriotic, he was, in consequence, obnoxious to the portuguese faction, which had made one or two unsuccessful efforts to supplant him, these only serving to confirm his power amongst the people, who justly appreciated his leadership in the cause of independence. becoming, thus, more confident in his position, he was accused, whether rightly or wrongly, of intolerance towards persons who were plotting against him, though, even if the accusation were true, he was scarcely to blame for discountenancing those whose chief aim was to paralyse the independence they were unable to prevent. on the proclamation of the empire, two influential portuguese, in the assembly, endeavoured to impose a condition on the emperor that, before ascending the throne, he should make oath to a constitution framed by the constituent assembly alone, thus reducing his majesty to a cypher in the hands of the legislature. the proposition was plausible enough to those who were anticipating power, but it gave rise to such dissensions, that bonifacio de andrada and his brother sent in their resignations, which, under these difficult circumstances, were accepted by the emperor. a violent tumult amongst the people was the immediate consequence, and his majesty was induced to recall the patriotic andradas to the cabinet--they however, refusing to resume their functions, unless their portuguese opponents were banished; to this the emperor assented, and the andradas returned to office amidst the plaudits of the populace, who drew the carriage of josé de andrada in triumph into the town. as might have been expected, less tolerance was manifested by the triumphant ministers than before, this just but perhaps impolitic course being eagerly seized on by the portuguese faction to excite the apprehension of the patriots, who were somewhat dissatisfied by the revival of what were considered feudal usages; above all, by the creation of an imperial guard of honour, selected from the youth of the principal families, who were required to take an oath "of implicit obedience to his majesty"--this act being especially represented by the adverse faction as evincing a tendency to absolutism. on the th of june, , a project of law had been laid before the assembly, for the expulsion of all portuguese deemed hostile to the cause of the empire. this measure might have originated with the andradas, or not; it was certainly defended in the assembly by antonio andrada. the portuguese party, alarmed by the still impending danger, formed a coalition with the brazilian party, to eject the andradas from the ministry, and having, during a severe illness of the emperor, gained the ascendancy, the now obnoxious ministers were dismissed; and--though the patriots had not calculated thereon--were succeeded by the leaders of the portuguese faction itself, who, to the regret of all true brazilians, effected an immediate change of policy in the government. the chief object of the new administration, appeared to be to limit the functions of the emperor to an extent almost subversive of his authority; his majesty, in the unsettled state of the empire, being comparatively powerless amidst the machinations with which he was surrounded. no constitution had, as yet, been fixed upon--his majesty resenting the former attempt to force upon him a constitution framed solely by the will of the assembly, which was still seeking an opportunity to assert its supremacy. as the city and province abounded with influential portuguese, desirous of overthrowing the new _régime_, and as many of these were in the assembly, there was a total want of unity between the emperor and his legislature, the administration leaning to the side of the latter. about this time, the marquis of palmella had widely circulated a document, appealing to the loyalty of the portuguese, and declaring the policy desired by the mother country; which policy was--to divide brazil into a number of petty states, easy to be intimidated and controlled. as this scheme held out large promise of irresponsible power to influential persons in such anticipated states--it could scarcely fail to be agreeable to many expectants of office, whose interest it therefore was to prevent the consolidation of the empire, by promoting disunion. it was scarcely a secret that some in the administration were favourable to these views, though not openly professing them; so that the patriotic efforts of his majesty were paralysed, and the administration, no less than the legislature, exhibited a policy seriously detrimental to the interests of the empire. indeed, a powerful party in the legislative assembly openly called in question the emperor's authority--even requiring his majesty to divest himself of his crown in their presence. they deprived him of his council of state; denied him a voice in the enactment of laws, and the functions of administration; even objecting to his majesty's exercise of the common prerogative of royalty to confer crown lands as territorial rewards for public services--the latter limitation of the royal prerogative being avowedly directed against the grant of an estate to myself, as spontaneously accorded by his majesty, in gratitude for my recent services to the nation. this was the state of affairs on my return to rio de janeiro, and as his majesty did me the honour to consult with me in his difficulties, i unhesitatingly recommended him to support his dignity constitutionally--despite all attempts made for its limitation by the portuguese faction; which--extraordinary as it may appear--was now said to be countenanced by the andradas, who, though out of office, were still deputies to the assembly, and who--in consequence of their dismissal from power--were considered to be giving opposition to every measure calculated to promote unity between the emperor and the legislature. the brazilian patriots--and with good reason--were becoming alarmed, lest an attempt might yet be made to place portugal and brazil upon their former relative footing, and the emperor, who was thoroughly brazilian--from a conviction that portuguese ascendancy could never be regained--was no less so. matters, at length, rose to such a pitch in the assembly, that the intentions of the factious majority became no longer doubtful, when his majesty somewhat unceremoniously adopted the course pursued in england by cromwell in a somewhat similar predicament, viz. to dissolve the assembly, and, should it prove refractory, to turn the members out by force. cutting short all farther altercation with his legislature, the scene of the english protectorate was re-enacted in brazil; the emperor entering rio de janeiro at the head of a body of cavalry--surrounding the chamber with a military force--planting cannon before it--and ordering its instantaneous dissolution; the members--after in vain remonstrating against this proceeding--being compelled to retire. the andradas were soon afterwards arrested, and exiled--a proceeding impolitic and unjust to men who had laid the foundation of brazilian independence, and who were no less distinguished by their honesty than their ability. by consenting to their exile, his majesty lost three valuable servants, and at the same time placed himself in the hands of a faction which he never afterwards controlled, and which eventually forced him from his throne. as the expulsion of the assembly--whether justifiable or not, it is not my province to inquire--was decisive, it was obviously of the greatest importance to follow it up by some measure which should convince the public that so extreme a course was intended for their good. as yet no permanent constitution had been declared this, therefore, was clearly the moment for its proclamation, no less to satisfy the people--who were heart and soul with the emperor--than to prevent retaliation by the faction which had been thus summarily dealt with. seeing that nothing was promptly acted upon in an emergency involving the stability of government, i addressed to his imperial majesty the following letter:-- rio de janeiro, november , . sire, my sense of the impropriety of intruding myself on the attention of your imperial majesty, on any subject unconnected with the official position with which your majesty has been pleased to honour me, could only have been overcome by an irresistible desire, under existing circumstances, to contribute to the service of your majesty and the empire. the conduct of the late legislative assembly, which sought to derogate from the dignity and prerogatives of your majesty--even presuming to require you to divest yourself of your crown in their presence--who deprived you of your council of state--denied you a voice in the enactment of laws and the formation of the constitution, and who dared to object to your exercising the only remaining function of royalty--that of rewarding services, and conferring honours--could no longer be tolerated; and the justice and wisdom of your imperial majesty in dissolving such an assembly will be duly appreciated by discerning men, and by those whose love of good order and their country supersedes their ambition or personal interests. there are, however, individuals who will wickedly take advantage of the late proceedings to kindle the flames of discord, and throw the empire into anarchy and confusion, unless timely prevented by the wisdom and energy of your imperial majesty. the declaration that you will give to your people a practical constitution, more free than even that which the late assembly professed an intention to establish, cannot--considering the spirit which now pervades south america--have the effect of averting impending evils, unless your imperial majesty shall be pleased to dissipate all doubts by _at once declaring_--before news of the recent events can be dispersed throughout the provinces, and before the discontented members of the late congress can return to their constituents--what is the precise nature of that constitution which your imperial majesty intends to bestow. permit me, then, humbly and respectfully to suggest to your imperial majesty, as a means of tranquillising the public mind--of averting evils at home, and preventing injurious representations abroad--that, _even before the sailing of the next packet for europe_, your majesty should specifically declare the nature of the government you are graciously pleased should be adopted. as no monarch is more happy, or more truly powerful than the limited monarch of england, surrounded by a free people, enriched by that industry which the security of property by means of just laws never fails to create--if your majesty were to decree that the english constitution, in its most perfect practical form (which, with slight alteration, and, chiefly in name, is also the constitution of the united states of north america), shall be the model for the government of brazil under your imperial majesty, with power to the constituent assembly so to alter particular parts as local circumstances may render advisable--it would excite the sympathy of powerful states abroad, and the firm allegiance of the brazilian people to your majesty's throne. were your majesty, by a few brief lines in the gazette, to announce your intention so to do, and were you to banish all distrust from the public mind by removing from your person for a time, and finding employment on honourable missions abroad, for those portuguese individuals of whom the brazilians are jealous--the purity of your majesty's motives would be secured from the possibility of misrepresentation--the factions which disturb the country would be silenced or converted--and the feelings of the world, especially those of england and north america, would be interested in promoting the glory, happiness, and prosperity of your imperial majesty. these thoughts, hastily expressed, but most respectfully submitted to your gracious consideration will, i hope, be candidly appreciated by your imperial majesty, proceeding, as they do, from the heart of your majesty's most faithful and dutiful servant, cochrane and maranhaÕ. his majesty saw good to adopt this advice in part, but in offering it--though instrumental in establishing the political liberties of brazil--i had unconsciously placed myself in the position of a partisan against the powerful faction which influenced the administration, and through them every part of the empire. my unauthorised services after the pursuit of the portuguese fleet and army--resulting in the annexation of the northern provinces--had drawn upon me the resentment of those now in power whose ultimate intentions were thus defeated. that i--a foreigner, having nothing to do with national politics--should have counselled his majesty to banish those who opposed him, was not to be borne, and the resentment caused by my recent services was increased to bitter enmity for meddling in affairs which it was considered did not concern me; though i could have had no other object than the good of the empire by the establishment of a constitution which should give it stability in the estimation of european states. the effect of this enmity towards me personally, was not long in manifesting itself, and fearing the extent to which this might be carried, i lost no time in demanding that the patent under which i had been invested with the grade of "first admiral," should be formally engrossed and registered, according to the engagement of the late prime minister, previous to my departure for bahia. on the th of november, this was accordingly done, and a commission conferring the same pay and emolument as before--without limitation as to time, received the sign manual--was counter-signed by the ministers--sealed with the great seal--and registered in the archives of the empire; his majesty further testifying his approbation of my conduct and services, by directing the transmission of the completed patent without payment of the usual fees. the following are the stipulations of the commission so solemnly conferred--but afterwards shamefully violated without cause, as though fidelity to its engagements formed no part of national honour and good faith:-- i, don pedro, by the grace of god, and the unanimous voice of the people, constitutional emperor and perpetual defender of brazil, hereby make known to those who shall see this my charter patent, that the valour, intelligence, and activity united in admiral lord cochrane, now marquis of maranhaõ, who has so distinguished himself in the different services with which he has been entrusted--giving proof of the greatest bravery and talent; and seeing how advantageous it would be for the interests of this empire to avail itself of the skill of so valuable an officer--consider it beneficial to confer upon him--as by this charter is confirmed--the patent of "first admiral," with the annual pay of eleven contos five hundred and twenty milreas, as well ashore as afloat; and farther in table money, when embarked, five contos seven hundred and seventy milreas--which are the same emoluments as he received in chili. no admiral in the service having any right to consider himself entitled to succeed to the post of first admiral, which i create solely for this occasion for the motives expressed, and from the particular consideration merited by the said admiral. the pay referred to shall be entered in the books to which it appertains, in order to the payments when due. in attestation of that which i have hereby commanded, i give this charter under the sign manual and sealed with the great seal of the empire. given in the city of rio de janeiro on the th day of the month of november, in the year of our lord jesus christ, . second of independence and of this empire. (signed) imperador p. countersigned by all the ministers. from the difference of expression used in this commission, as compared with the temporary commission given previous to my departure for bahia, it is clear that my late services were fully recognised; and from the fact that the new commission was conferred after the war was ended by the annexation of bahia, maranham, parà, and all the intermediate provinces, it is equally clear that my rank and pay--as originally stipulated were conferred without limitation of time--a circumstance which will have to be borne to mind. this being complied with, i requested an order for the speedy adjudication of the prize property surrendered at maranham, the flagship's portion being rs. . $ , or £. , sterling, in addition to the captures made by the squadron generally--no less than one hundred and twenty enemy's ships, with portuguese registers and crews, having been taken, the value, at a very moderate computation, amounting to upwards of , , dollars. as officers and men were anxiously awaiting their prize money, it became my duty to the squadron to urge its stipulated distribution upon the consideration of the government. his majesty directed this to be done, but the prize tribunal appointed--consisting of thirteen members, nine of whom were natives of portugal--was directly interested in defeating the claims of the captors, being inimical to any confiscation of portuguese vessels and property taken in the late campaign. not venturing, as yet, openly to act in this spirit, they adopted the alternative of doing nothing towards adjudicating the prizes. finding this to be the case, and fearing that the portuguese tendencies of the new administration might interfere with the repayment of the sums temporarily supplied to the maranham junta--i addressed the following letter to the new minister of marine, francisco villela barbosa:-- (secret.) rio de janeiro, november , . most excellent sir, in my letter, no. , i communicated to your predecessor my intention of aiding the provisional junta of maranham, in the payment of the auxiliary troops of cearà and piahuy, who being in a naked and destitute condition had become clamorous for their arrears; and i now beg to state that in prosecution of such intention, i placed at the disposal of the junta the monies taken in the portuguese treasury, amounting in cash and good bills to rs. , $ , together with outstanding debts amounting to rs. , $ , and i have also left in their hands the balance which we found in the portuguese custom-house, amounting to rs. , $ . all these accounts i have the honour to convey to you for the information of the imperial government. in addition to these large sums, i left at the disposal of the junta much moveable property which belonged to portuguese individuals in europe, desiring the authorities to render an account of the same for the information of the imperial government. your excellency will perceive that in leaving at maranham these monies, and other property captured from the enemy, instead of bringing them to rio for adjudication, we could be influenced by no other motive than zeal for the interests of his imperial majesty and the good of his people; as by so doing, we enabled the provisional government to meet the present exigencies of the moment, and to quiet the cearà and piahuy troops; whilst the revenue of the province thus remains clear and unanticipated-- being applicable to such purposes as his imperial majesty shall command. all which i trust his imperial majesty will take into his gracious consideration, and be pleased to award such compensation to the officers and seamen as he, in his princely justice, shall deem fit. (signed) cochrane. for some days no notice was taken of this letter, but on the th i received a visit from the minister of marine, bringing what professed to be a verbal message from his majesty, that he "would do every thing in his power for me _personally_." the way in which this intimation was conveyed led me to infer that these personal favours implied a sacrifice on my part of the rights of the squadron, by shutting my eyes to the restoration of the captured portuguese ships and property to the friends and adherents of the ministry, for the purpose of conciliating the portuguese party. taking the message, however, literally--i told the minister that his majesty had "already conferred honours upon me quite equal to my merits--and that the greatest personal favour he could bestow, was, to urge on the speedy adjudication of the prizes, so that the officers and seamen might reap the reward decreed by the emperor's own authority." the policy of the portuguese faction in power, was--now that the squadron had expelled the fleet and army of the mother country--to conciliate their countrymen who remained, and thus to create and maintain an influence which should reduce the imperial authority to the smallest possible dimensions. the first object--if i could be brought to acquiesce--was to restore portuguese property, captured by imperial order, and now the right of the captors--my connivance being supposed to be procurable by offers of personal enrichment! i scarcely need say that the offer failed in its purpose. as the squadron had received no pay during the performance of all its services, it became my duty to urge attention to the subject, and this was apparently complied with, the th of november being appointed for the payment of the men. on that day _three months' pay only_ was offered to them, notwithstanding all they had achieved. this paltry pittance was refused. about this time the extraordinary news was received, that great rejoicings and a general illumination had taken place in lisbon in consequence of the destruction of the brazilian squadron by the portuguese fleet at bahia! this version having, no doubt, been transmitted home subsequently to the affair of the th of may. singularly enough, these ill-founded rejoicings were going on in lisbon at the time the flagship was chasing the portuguese fleet across the equator! it is difficult to say how the portuguese admiral contrived to reconcile this premature vaunt, and the unwelcome fact of his arrival in the tagus, with the loss of half his troops and more than half his convoy. on the nd of december despatches arrived from captain grenfell at parà, stating that he had possession of the new portuguese frigate, which according to my directions, had been named the _imperatrice_. he had also captured another vessel of war, and several merchantmen; thus fulfilling his difficult mission in a way which justified my confidence in his ability, and should have merited the warmest thanks from the government, instead of the treatment he subsequently experienced. on the th of december, his majesty appointed me a member of the privy council, the highest honour in his power to bestow. it was a singular circumstance that whilst his imperial majesty consulted me on matters of importance, and manifested his appreciation both of my opinions and services by the honours conferred--his anti-brazilian ministers were practising every species of annoyance towards myself and the squadron--more especially in the matter of the prizes, the condemnation of which they obstinately opposed. it would be wearisome to enter into details of the annoyance and injury now systematised by the portuguese faction in the administration; nevertheless, in order to appreciate subsequent occurrences, it is necessary briefly to advert to these matters. the personal feeling against myself was easily accounted for from my adherence to the emperor in opposition to interested councils, which imperilled the existence of the empire. these councils his majesty was unable to disregard or to counteract the injury inflicted on the officers and seamen, by the conduct of the court of admiralty towards the squadron; a policy persevered in with the object of annihilating the naval force, for no other reason than that its achievements had rendered itself obnoxious to the portuguese faction--the leaders of which no doubt calculated, that if the officers and crews could be worried out of the service, the dismemberment of the northern provinces might yet be effected by disunion. on the th of december, i wrote to the minister of marine that, as the prize vessels were daily being plundered, an immediate investigation was necessary--they having, by order of the administration, been delivered over to the charge of the inspector of the arsenal, the naval officers in charge being withdrawn. one officer was put in prison for obeying my orders to remain on board his prize till i received an answer from the minister of marine. the ship he had in charge (_the pombinho_) was immediately afterwards given up to a portuguese claim ant, together with all its contents, promiscuously taken from the custom house at maranham, none of which ever belonged to him. a number of additional prizes had been sent in by captain taylor, of the _nitherohy_, who had pursued the scattered ships of the enemy to the tagus, and there burned four vessels under the guns of the line-of-battle ship _don john vi_. for this he was sentenced by the prize council to six months imprisonment, and to forfeit double the amount of his prize money, on behalf of the owners of the property destroyed; it being thus decided by the _quasi_ portuguese prize tribunal that, to destroy enemy's property, in pursuance of his majesty's orders, was a crime! captain grenfell having arrived in the frigate _imperatrice_--captured at parà--bringing with him some forty thousand dollars--the ransom for prizes there taken, as had been done at maranham--the _imperatrice_ was boarded in his absence, and the money carried to the treasury, though by his majesty guaranteed to the captors. captain grenfell was afterwards charged with acting in opposition to the junta at parà, though only carrying out my instructions. upon this charge he was tried and acquitted. in consequence of these and other arbitrary acts, i represented to his majesty the necessity of forming some definite maritime code, which should put an end to proceedings so arbitrary, and proposed the adoption of the naval laws of england as the most experienced and complete. his majesty approving the suggestion, directed me to transmit a memorial on the subject to the privy council, which was accordingly done. by this, and similar suggestions to his majesty, with view to render the navy more efficient, i was widening the breach between myself and the portuguese party in the administration, whose object it was to frustrate any attempt of the kind. it was not long before an overt blow was struck at my authority as commander-in-chief by the preparation of the _atalanta_ for sea without my intervention. imagining that she might be on some secret service, i disregarded the circumstance, till, on the th of december, a notice appeared in the gazette announcing her destination to be for the blockade of monte video, whilst i was mentioned in the gazette, under the limited title of "commander of the naval forces in the port of rio de janeiro." thus, by a stroke of the minister's pen, was i, despite the patents of his imperial majesty, reduced to the rank of port admiral. convinced that this had been done without the sanction or even knowledge of the emperor, i protested against the despatch of the _atalanta_, except through my orders, as well as against the limitation indicated by my new title--contrary to the agreement under which i entered the service, as twice confirmed by imperial commissions--further informing the minister of marine that, although no one could be less ambitious of power than myself, i could not allow an agreement solemnly entered into to be thus violated. the remonstrance as regarded the _atalanta_ was effectual, and she was not despatched; but--as regarded the limitation of my rank--no notice was taken. intelligence now arrived from pernambuco that a strong party was there endeavouring to establish a republic, and that preparatory steps were being taken to throw off allegiance to the empire. the expedition sent by the ministry to put down this rising at pernambuco was a premeditated insult to me, as not having been at all consulted in the matter; and the reason why an inexperienced officer had been sent, doubtless was, that the ministry did not wish the insurrection to be put down. in this respect the expedition fulfilled the wishes of those who despatched it, by having failed. on its return i personally received _his majesty's orders_ that the _pedro primiero_, _piranga_, _nitherohy_, and _atalanta_, should be immediately equipped for important service. it was easy thus to give orders to equip a squadron, but after the treatment received, not so easy to effect it. all the foreign seamen had abandoned the ships in disgust, and to have shipped portuguese would have been worse than useless. i wrote to the minister of marine that the squadron could not be manned unless confidence was restored amongst the men, the shameful proceedings of the prize court having disinclined them to re-enter the service,--even if they did, i could not be responsible for order and discipline, or for the safety of the ships, unless some definite adjustment as to pay and prize money took place before putting to sea. in the face of these remonstrances the prize tribunal adopted an openly hostile course, by altogether denying the right of the squadron to the prizes taken at maranham, or the property there seized in the custom house, and shipped by me on board the _pombinho_ and another vessel. the _pombinho_, as has been said, was declared an illegal prize, and given up to her portuguese owner, together with all public property contained in her, though to this he had not the shadow of a claim, as the whole cargo belonged originally to others, and had been put on board this particular ship by my orders for transmission to rio de janeiro. numbers of similar decisions were made, on the false plea that maranham previously formed part of the brazilian empire, and consequently that all the seizures effected were invalid! i remonstrated that, on our arrival at maranham, the city and province were, and ever had been, in possession of portugal--that the portuguese had by the ordinary capitulations of war delivered up both to an armed brazilian force without question--and that, by a previous decree of the emperor, no less than by the customary usages of war, all enemy's property fell to the captors. the prize court not only overruled the objection, but condemned me to make restitution of all sums received in ransom for property taken at maranham. in one instance the tribunal declared me deserving of corporal punishment (_pena corporal!_) and would, had they dared, doubtless have enforced this, and the restitution to which i was condemned. as the plunder of prize property was becoming notorious, the tribunal directed it to be unloaded, in order to prevent the cargoes from being _damaged!_ but, on the execution of the order it was found that all the valuable portion had already disappeared! how, of course could not be ascertained; but no one doubted. the ships themselves were neglected till they became useless to the original owners, the government, or the captors. thus, of this vast amount of property taken in the campaign, not a _milrea_ was suffered to find its way into the pockets of the officers and men, and the squadron would have been wholly defrauded of its reward, had i not refused to give up to the prize tribunal the comparatively trifling sums received in redemption of the seizures at maranham; these being retained on board the flagship in consequence of the unjustifiable course which the tribunal was pursuing. a plot was, however, formed to seize it by force, but this was met by such measures as were calculated to prevent a renewal of the attempt. the prize tribunal being thus determined to deprive the squadron of the whole of its emoluments, proceeded to condemn the ships of war taken as being _droits_ to the crown, without compensation of any kind, notwithstanding that the before-mentioned imperial decree of the th of december, , awarded all prizes wholly to the captors. the tribunal then issued a decree, that vessels taken within a certain distance from the shore--where alone a blockade could be effective--were not lawful seizures; the effect being that, as the squadron was about to blockade pernambuco it could have no opportunity of falling in with enemy's vessels at sea, and therefore _could not make captures at all!_ thus enemy's ships would be permitted to carry on their revolutionary occupations unmolested; which was, no doubt, the intention of those who framed the resolution, as wishing to defeat the blockade for their own purposes. chapter vi. remonstrance against decree of prize tribunal--settlement of prize question by the emperor--his ministers refuse to conform to it--obstacles thrown in the way of equipment--my services limited to the duration of war--my remonstrance on this breach of faith--ministers refuse to pay the squadron anything--a fresh insult offered to me--offer to resign the command--my resignation evaded--letter to the prime minister--letter to the minister of marine. on the st of january, , i communicated to the minister of marine the contents of a despatch received from captain haydon at pernambuco, in which he apprised me of a plot on the part of the revolutionary government to seize his person and take possession of the imperial brig of war which he commanded; the latter intention having been openly advocated in the assembly. on the th, i addressed to the minister of marine the following remonstrance against the before-mentioned regulation of the admiralty court, that vessels captured within a certain distance of the shore should not be prize to the captor; this regulation being evidently intended as retrospective, with a view of nullifying the captures which had already been made:-- as i have before endeavoured, by anticipating evils, to prevent their occurrence, so in the present instance, i feel it my duty to his imperial majesty to place you, as minister of marine, on your guard against countenancing any such measure in regard either to the vessels captured in the blockade of bahia, or to those taken in the colonial possessions, and under the forts and batteries of the enemy--and also in the case--if such there should be--of vessels captured on the shores of portugal. it is quite clear that these cases of capture are distinct from those in which protection is afforded by independent states to belligerents approaching within a certain distance of neutral shores. but you must be perfectly aware that, if enemy's ships are not to be prize--if captured navigating near the shore no blockade can be effective, as there will be no right to disturb them; besides which the mass of the people engaged in a naval service will certainly not encounter toil and hazard without remuneration of any kind beyond their ordinary pay. should such a decree be really in contemplation, there is nothing to hope from the naval service useful or creditable to the state; and this opinion is founded on more than thirty years' unremitting experience of seamen--that where there is no premium there is no permanent zeal or exertion. (signed) cochrane & maranhaÕ. on the th of january, i communicated to the government the contents of another despatch from captain haydon, at pernambuco, reporting that the new junta there had seized the imperial ship of war, _independencia ou morte_, and had removed the officer in command, at the same time threatening to treat captain haydon as a pirate. the revolt was now becoming serious, and his majesty--anxious to expedite the equipment of the squadron--on the th of february, , sent for me to consult on the subject. having told his majesty the course which had been pursued by the prize tribunal, he said he would see justice done in spite of faction, and asked me to make a moderate valuation of the prize property taken in the late campaign, ascertaining, at the same time, if the seamen were willing to accept a specific sum in compensation of their claims? on asking his majesty what assurance could be given that the administration would carry out such an arrangement, he replied that he would give me his own assurance, and ordering me to sit down beside him, wrote _with his own hand_ the following proposal--now in my possession:-- "_the government is ready to pay to the squadron, the value of the prizes which have been, or may be judged bad, the value thereof being settled by arbitrators jointly chosen, and to pay the proprietors their losses and damages; that in the number of the said prizes, the frigate imperatrice is not included, but the government, as a remuneration for her capture, will immediately give from the public treasury the sum of , milreis to the captors; that the value of the prizes already declared bad, shall be immediately paid, this stipulation relating to all captures up to the present date, february th, and that henceforth captures shall be adjudged with more dispatch, the government being about to decree a provisional arrangement, remedying all errors and omissions that may have occurred._" nothing can be more clear than the above stipulations in his majesty's own handwriting, to pay the squadron immediately the value of their prizes despite the court of admiralty, to pay , milreis for the _imperatrice_, and that even the value of the prizes _adjudged bad_ should be paid, his majesty thus rightly estimating the conduct and motives of the court of admiralty. _not one of these conditions was ever complied with!_ on the st of march, his majesty, through his minister, francisco villela barbosa, informed me that he had assigned , milreis in recompense for the acquisition of the frigate _imperatrice_; stating that, with regard to the other prizes made at parà, they must be sentenced by the tribunal, in order that their value might be paid by the public treasury--the said treasury taking upon itself to satisfy all costs and damages on captures judged illegal; but that with regard to my assertion, that there were amongst them no illegal prizes, the government could not itself decide the question. that his majesty gave the order for payment of , milreis, as compensation for the _imperatrice_, there is no doubt; _but not a shilling of the amount was ever paid by his ministers, nevertheless even within the past few months the present brazilian ministry has charged that sum against me, as having been received and not accounted for!_ it is quite possible, that, in ignorance of the practices common amongst their predecessors of , the present ministers of brazil may imagine that the orders of his majesty were complied with; but if so, the , milreis never reached me or the squadron. had it done so, nothing can be more easy than to find my receipt for the amount, which i defy them to do. considering our difficulties in a fair way of now being settled, i willingly undertook to conciliate the seamen, and having made the low calculation of _rs_. . milreis--a sum scarcely one-fourth the value of the prize property--reported to the minister of marine the willingness of the squadron generally to accept , dollars (about £. , ) in compensation of their full rights; agreeing, moreover, to give up all claim on the imperial government on payment of one-half, and security for the remainder. notwithstanding this easy mode of arrangement, solely brought about by my personal influence with the men, not a milrea was allotted, his majesty's ministers deliberately evading the imperial wishes and promises. on the contrary, the more his majesty was determined to do the squadron justice the more was the portuguese faction in the ministry bent on frustrating the imperial intentions--notwithstanding that, by the revolutionary proceedings in the north, the integrity of the empire was at stake. i may indeed go farther and state with great truth, that whilst his majesty was most anxious for our speedy departure, in order to suppress the revolution at pernambuco, his ministers were, day by day, addressing to me letters on the most insignificant subjects, with the apparent object of delaying the squadron by official frivolities, the necessity of replying to which would prevent my attention to the fulfilment of the imperial wish. the best proof of this is the fact which will be apparent in the course of this chapter, viz.--that although the province of pernambuco was in open revolt, the administration contrived to delay the sailing of the squadron for _six months_ beyond the events just narrated. on the th of february, the following extraordinary _portaria_ was transmitted to me by the minister of marine:-- desiring to give a further testimony of the high estimation in which the marquis of maranhaõ, first admiral of the national and imperial armada, is held, by reason of the distinguished services which he has rendered to the state, and which it is hoped that he will continue to render for the independence of brazil, i deem it proper to name him commander-in-chief of all the naval forces of the empire _during the present war_. the supreme military council is hereby informed thereof, and will cause this decree to be executed. palace of rio janeiro, the rd of february, . third of the independence of the empire, with the rubrica of his imperial majesty. francisco villela barbosa, secretariat of state, th february, . (signed) anastasio de brito, acting chief secretary. the audacity of this _portaria_--setting aside the stipulations of his majesty and his late ministers in my commission, thus rendering it null and void without my consent--was only equalled by its hypocrisy. as a "_further testimony_ of the high estimation in which i was held," &c.--his majesty's ministers were graciously pleased to annul my commission, in order that they might get rid of me at a moment's warning! the document transmitted to me _did not_ bear the rubrica of the emperor, though falsely asserted so to do. if the reader will take the trouble to compare it with my two commissions, he will agree with me in the inference that it was written by barbosa without the emperor's knowledge or consent, with the object of terminating my command--the imperial patents notwithstanding, as will be evident from the expression, "_during the present war;_" the war being _already ended_ by my expulsion of the portuguese fleet and army. no time was lost in remonstrating against this insidious decree. after pointing out to the minister of marine the agreements which had been made with me by the late ministers, and ratified by the imperial sign manual, i addressed his excellency as follows:-- the late decree inserted in the gazette of february th, instead of increasing my official rank and authority--as it professes to do--in effect circumscribes it, because _there was no limitation of time_ in the offer which i accepted from his imperial majesty. but by this decree, my official rank and authority are limited to the duration of the present war. now, if i could believe that the idea of this limitation originated with his imperial majesty himself, i should respectfully and silently acquiesce; but being satisfied--from the gracious manner in which he has been pleased to act towards me on all occasions--that it did not so originate, i can only consider it an intimation of an opinion prevalent in the councils of the state, that myself and services can very well be done without, as soon as the independence of brazil shall be decided or peace restored. as no man can be expected to dedicate his professional services to a foreign country, without having a prospect of some recompence more durable than that which such a limitation as is expressed in the document in question seems to indicate, i am naturally led to inquire whether it is the intention of his majesty's advisers that, on the termination of the present war, _my pay is to cease with my authority?_ or whether i am to receive any permanent reward for services, _the consequences of which will be permanent to brazil?_ because--if no recompence is to be received for public services --however important and lasting in their effects those services may be--it is a duty to myself and family to consider how far i am justified in farther devoting my time to a service from which so little future benefit is to be expected; a consideration the more interesting to me, in consequence of repeated solicitations from the chilian government to resume my rank and command in that state. in saying thus much, you may consider me of a mercenary disposition; but i have received from brazil _no recompence whatever_, beyond the honours conferred by his imperial majesty. if you will peruse the accompanying papers, you will find that when i left chili i had disbursed of my own monies, , dollars, to keep the chilian squadron from starving, which sum, in consequence of my leaving chili, and accepting the offers of his imperial majesty, has not been repaid. this amount his majesty and his ministers agreed to repay on my acceptance of the command; but i declined to seek reimbursement at the expense of brazil, "unless i should perform greater services to the empire than i had rendered to chili; but in the event of such services being rendered to brazil, and of chili continuing its refusal to pay me, then--and not otherwise--i should hope for indemnification." to this stipulation the late ministers gave their assent. it is no proof of an avaricious disposition that i at once acquiesced in the proposition of his imperial majesty, that , dollars only for the _imperatrice_, which is not one-third of her value, should be apportioned to her captors. (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ. i might have added that the squadron had received _no emoluments of any kind whatever_, notwithstanding the spontaneous stipulations of his imperial majesty to pay everything, there not being even an indication of handing over to them the , dollars awarded by his majesty for the frigate captured at parà. on the contrary, i had been condemned in costs and damages to a great amount for having captured portuguese vessels in pursuance of his majesty's orders; so that had the court of admiralty been in a position to enforce these, i should not only be unpaid but be mulcted of a very large sum, as the price of having accepted the command of the brazilian navy! so far from the , dollars awarded by his majesty for the capture of the frigate _imperatrice_ having been paid according to the imperial directions, i received from the minister of marine a letter dated february th, implying that the above sum--one third the value of the vessel--was when paid, to be considered as the _sole_ reward of the squadron. this violation of his majesty's agreement was at once repudiated, and an explanatory letter from the minister of marine--almost as ambiguous as the former--assured me that i had misconstrued his intention, which, however, was not the case, for the , dollars were never paid. on the th of march, a direct insult was offered me by severiano da costa, now first minister, by an intimation to attend in the imperial chapel for the purpose of assisting at the ceremony of swearing to the constitution, but i was distinctly told that i should not be permitted to swear; the reason no doubt being, that, by a clause therein contained, military officers who swore to it, could not be dismissed without trial, and sentence of court martial; so that the not permitting me to swear--coupled with barbosa's _portaria_ limiting my command to the duration of the war--indirectly gave power to the administration to dismiss me at their option, whenever they might deem it expedient so to do. that such desire would arise the moment an opportunity might present itself, was certain, nor should i have waited for its expression, but from respectful attachment to his majesty, and from the expectation of obtaining justice for the squadron, which relied on me for procuring satisfaction of their claims. to have accepted an invitation of this public nature, under circumstances so insulting, was out of the question. i therefore joined lady cochrane at the island of governador, and sent an excuse to the minister expressive of my regret at being prevented by unavoidable circumstances from sharing in the honour of the august ceremony. in consequence of the insulting conduct of the administration, and the impossibility of obtaining compensation for the squadron, notwithstanding his majesty's orders to that effect, i made up my mind to quit a service in which the authority of the adverse ministry was superior to that of the sovereign. accordingly, on the th of march, i addressed to the minister of marine a letter, from which the subjoined is an extract:-- if i thought that the course pursued towards me was dictated by his imperial majesty, it would be impossible for me to remain an hour longer in his service, and i should feel it my duty, at the earliest possible moment, to lay my commission at his feet. if i have not done so before--from the treatment which, in common with the navy, i have experienced--it has been solely from an anxious desire to promote his majesty's real interests. indeed, to struggle against prejudices, and at the same time against those in power, whose prepossessions are at variance with the interests of his majesty, and the tranquillity and independence of brazil, is a task to which i am by no means equal. i am, therefore, perfectly willing to resign the situation i hold, rather than contend against difficulties which appear to me insurmountable. i have only to add, that it will give me extreme satisfaction to find that your excellency is enabled to rear an effective marine out of the materials which constituted the fabric of the old marine of portugal--or any brazilian marine at all, without beginning on principles totally opposite to those which have been pursued since my return to this port. (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ. this proffer of resignation was met by an assurance that i had misconstrued both the acts and intentions of the administration, and the expression of a hope that i would not think of abandoning brazil for which i had done so much. the real fact was, that although the administration was endeavouring to delay the expedition for the suppression of revolution in the north, they were afraid of its results, dreading that a _republican_ government might be established, as was indeed imminent. it was only from a conviction of not being able to meet such an emergency, otherwise than through my instrumentality--that my resignation was not accepted. determined to pursue the course i had now begun, i addressed the following letter to the prime minister:-- rio de janeiro, march , . most excellent sir, the late prime minister, josé bonifacio de andrada e silva, was pleased to express a desire that i should communicate directly with him in all extraordinary difficulties with respect to the naval service. if i have not had recourse to your excellency until the present juncture, it has not been from any doubt of your readiness to accord me similar indulgence, but because the evils of which i had to complain were so palpable, that i conceived a remedy would--of necessity be applied in the ordinary course of things. but now that a system is adopted which must very soon bring the naval service of his imperial majesty to utter insignificance and ruin, i can no longer abstain from calling on your excellency as minister of state for the internal affairs of the empire, to interfere before it is too late. here follow complaints of the wretched state of the squadron--its want of repairs--the neglect of pay--the illegal imprisonment of officers for months without trial and on untenable grounds, &c. &c. by the promises held out last year of punctuality in payment, and of other rewards, foreign officers and seamen were induced to enter the service--believing in the good faith of the government. the result--in the short period that has elapsed--has been the complete expulsion of the enemy's forces, naval and military; all of whom would have been still in arms against the independence of brazil, had it not been for the assistance of the foreign officers and seamen. in the course of these important services, various captures were made and sent for adjudication to rio de janeiro, under the authority of his imperial majesty's orders to make war on the subjects and property of portugal. the captures made in prosecution of the war were--according to the engagements under which the expedition proceeded--to be the reward of the captors in return for the benefits derived by the empire for their exertions. judge then, sir, of the astonishment of the officers and seamen at finding on their return to this port eight months afterwards, that the court of admiralty (chiefly composed of natives of portugal) pretended to be ignorant whether the nation was at war or peace! under this plea they have avoided the adjudication of the prizes--have thrown every impediment in the way of the captors--by giving sentences equally contrary to law, common sense and justice. great quantities of goods in the captured ships have decayed or wholly perished from lapse of time--great quantities more have been stolen--whilst whole cargoes, by the arbitrary authority of an auditor, have been given up without trial, to pretended owners, without even the decency of communication to the captors or their agents. in short, nothing has been done in furtherance of the gracious directions of his majesty, given on the th ultimo, that the prize affairs should be instantly adjusted. it is certainly a hardship to the portuguese gentlemen in the court of admiralty, to be under the necessity of condemning property that belonged to their countrymen, friends, and relations; but if they have undertaken the duties of such an office, they ought not to be permitted to weigh their private feelings against their public duty--nor to bring upon the whole government that character of bad faith, which has been so disgraceful, and has proved so injurious to all the governments which have hitherto been established in south america. even the payment of wages was not made to the _pedro primiero_ till nearly three months after her return, when the seamen-- irritated by the evasion of their dues--had nearly all abandoned the ship; and if the crews of the _nitherohy_ and _carolina_ did not follow their example on their return to port, it was entirely owing to my perseverance before their arrival in procuring this tardy justice. it was a maxim of the emperor napoleon, that "no events are trifling with regard to nations and sovereigns, their destinies being controlled by the most inconsiderable circumstances,"-- though circumstances which have the effect of causing the imperial marine to be abandoned, ought not--in a national point of view--to be regarded as inconsiderable; but whether this be of importance or not, the consequences of such abandonment by men who have so faithfully performed their duty, will be far from beneficial to those short sighted and vain individuals who imagine that the employment of foreign officers is an obstacle to their own advancement. if the present foreign officers are compelled to abandon their situations an explanation must be given of the cause, and public indignation must inevitably fall on the unreflecting heads of the prejudiced or selfish authors of such impolitic injustice. i have heard it stated, as a motive for the delay in condemning the prizes, that the government--in case of a treaty of peace-- might be called upon to refund the value to the original owners. but, sir, let me ask such wretched statesmen, what would have been the situation of brazil, if foreign officers and seamen had refused to enter the service--as would have been the case, had no prize money been promised? in that case, it is true, the vessels in question would not have been taken--but it is equally true that the enemy's troops would not have been starved into the evacuation of bahia, nor their squadron have been intimidated to flee from these shores. military warfare would still have raged in the interior, and the hostile fleet might now have been engaged in the blockade of rio de janeiro itself. would it not be infinitely better that the government should have to pay the value of these prizes even twice over--than that such calamities should not have been averted? but how can it be argued that the government may be required to restore to the enemy prizes lawfully taken in war? is it possible that the victors can be compelled to make humiliating terms with the vanquished? certainly not--unless the means by which victory was obtained are insanely sacrificed, by permitting the squadron to go to ruin and decay. the results which have been obtained could not have been accomplished by any other measures than those adopted by the wisdom of his imperial majesty. is it then justifiable, to suffer the engagements which produced such results to be evaded and set at nought? still more monstrous--decrees have been passed, both by the auditor of marine and the court of admiralty, to punish the captors for the execution of their duty, and by means of pains and penalties to deter them from the performance of it in future. it is even more unjust and inconsistent, that although his majesty's late ministers held out that ships of war were to be prize to the captors, they are now declared to be the property of the state! do those narrow-minded persons who prompted such a decree, imagine this to be a saving to the country? or do they expect that seamen--especially foreign seamen--will fight heartily on such terms? the power which the british navy has acquired arises from the wisdom of the government in making the interests of the officers and men identical with the interests of the state, which gives bounties and premiums even in addition to the full value of the prizes; whilst the insignificance and inefficiency of the navies of governments which adopt opposite principles, sufficiently indicate whether such liberality, or the want of it, is the best policy in maritime affairs. having said thus much on public matters, i shall very briefly trouble you with respect to myself, by stating that, as regards all which does not depend on the uncontrolled exercise of the imperial functions--there has been no respect paid to the written stipulations entered into with me on accepting the command of the brazilian navy, and that since my return from freeing the northern provinces and uniting them to the empire, every promise--written and verbal--has been evaded or set at nought, which facts i am prepared to prove beyond the possibility of contradiction. my nature is not suspicious, nor did i ever become doubtful of promises and professions of friendship till after the third year of my connection with chili--when, having swept every ship of war belonging to the enemy from the pacific, the chilian ministers imagined that they could dispense with my services. they had not, indeed, the candour which i have experienced here, for, after appointing me to a command without limitation as to time, _they did not publicly restrict the duration of that command to the earliest moment that they could dispense with me_. it was their plan--while openly professing kindness and gratitude--to endeavour, by secret artifices, to render me odious to the public, and to transfer to me the responsibility which they themselves incurred by bringing the navy to ruin, and causing the seamen to abandon it, by withholding their pay, and even the provisions necessary for their subsistence. as for the rest, my remonstrances against such conduct were treated in chili just as my representations have been treated here. like causes will ever produce similar effects; but as there was no hostile or spanish party in the chilian state, four years elapsed before the mischiefs could be accomplished, which, by the machinations of the portuguese faction, have been here effected in the short space of four months. truths are often disagreeable to those who are not in the habit of hearing them, and doubly offensive after long experience of the homage of blind obedience and subserviency. i have, nevertheless, always felt it my duty to the governments under which i have served, not to abstain from uttering truths under any dread of offence, because i have ever been impressed with the conviction that speaking truth is not only the most honourable mode of proceeding, but that the time seldom fails to arrive when those who are warned of a wrong line of conduct feel grateful to the man--who at the risk of personal inconvenience, or even punishment--dared to apprise them of their danger. in england--where mischiefs were heaped upon me for _opposing a ministerial vote of parliamentary thanks to an undeserving officer_--the people at once saw the propriety of my conduct, and the government has since virtually admitted its justice. in chili, the ministers who hated me, because they knew me to be aware of their deceitful and dishonest acts, were succeeded by others who have solicited my return. and the worthy and excellent supreme director (o'higgins, whom those ministers, by their wickedness and folly, brought to ruin) found at last, and acknowledged--but too late to attend to my warnings--that i had acted towards him, in all cases, with honour and fidelity. the error and fate of the excellent and eminent person whom i have just named--affords a proof of the folly and danger of the notion--that ministers who have forfeited the confidence of the public by breach of faith and evil acts, can be upheld by military force against public opinion, especially in governments recently constituted. the people respected their supreme director; but when he marshalled his troops to uphold his evil ministers, he fell with them. had he adopted the policy of cromwell, and delivered to justice those who merited punishment, he would have saved himself. permit me to say, in conclusion, that the ministers of his imperial majesty are identified with the court of admiralty, and with the officers whom they maintain in the different departments. let them--i repeat--take heed that the operation of similar causes does not produce like effects; for if the conduct of these individuals shall cause the naval service to be abandoned, and shall thereby--as a necessary consequence--occasion great disasters to the empire, i am convinced that in a short period, all the troops in rio de janeiro will not be able to repress the storm that will be raised against the factious portuguese. it is my fervent hope--that his imperial majesty, by gloriously adhering to the cause of independence and to brazil, will save and unite the largest portion of his royal patrimony in defiance of the blind efforts of portugal, and in spite of the cunning intrigues of the portuguese faction here, to prolong civil war, and create dismemberment and disunion. i have the honour to be, &c. &c. cochrane and maranhaÕ. his excellency joao severiano maciel de costa, chief minister of state, &c. &c. one effect of the preceding letter was--that the court of admiralty requested my consent to give up certain prize property, the object being to construe my acquiescence as regarded a small portion--into a precedent for giving up the remainder. this was firmly refused on the ground of its being a fraud on the captors. chapter vii. ministerial malignity towards me--dangers in pernambuco--portuguese threats--my advice thereon--failure in manning the squadron--plot formed to search the flagship--timely warning thereon--i demand his majesty's interference--which was promptly granted--protest against prize decisions--my advice sought as regarded pernambuco--letter to his imperial majesty--pointing out the annoyance practised--and tendering my resignation--the emperor's intervention--his ministers neglect to fulfil his engagement--confirmation of my previous patents--but with an unjustifiable reservation--prize money devoted to advance of wages--proofs thereof--baseless imputations on me--extracts from log--further distribution of prize money. having failed in inducing the administration to withdraw the _portaria_ issued with a view to nullify the commissions conferred upon me by his imperial majesty,--i waited upon the emperor to beg his interference in a matter no less derogatory to his authority, than unjust to myself. his majesty regretted the circumstance, but having alluded to the difficulties in which he was placed with regard to the administration, begged me to rely on him for justice, assuring me that he would take care that nothing was done which should practically alter my original compact. his majesty was exceedingly anxious that the expedition to pernambuco should not be delayed, but i could only represent to him that nothing whatever had been done to satisfy the seamen, who, in consequence, would not re-enter--that several of the best officers were either in prison on frivolous accusations, or under arrest--that the necessary repairs to the ships were not completed--that no steps had been taken to provide for their equipment--and that, in fact, the greater was his majesty's anxiety to put down the revolution, the more obstructive were the obstacles interposed by the ministry to the accomplishment of his wishes. the ministers now resorted to a clumsy system in order to lower me in popular estimation, by imposing, for my guidance in naval matters, stringent orders about trifles which were absurd or impracticable, non-observance of these being followed by _printed reprimands_ such as were never before addressed to a commander-in-chief, whilst my refutations and remonstrances against such treatment were refused publication. this course was succeeded by another still more unworthy, the ministers so far forgetting the dignity of their position, as to write or cause to be written against me a series of scurrilous articles in the newspapers under the feigned signature of "curioso," these containing matters which could only have come from the minister of marine's office; but as i was able to reply to _anonymous_ attacks through the same channel, i took care that the refutation signally recoiled on the writers, who, finding the course pursued more detrimental to their objects than to mine, relinquished this mode of attack. pamphlets of an atrocious description were then resorted to, the more noticeable of which, was one purporting to emanate from chili, and representing that not only had i effected nothing for that country or peru, but that my very presence in the peruvian waters had been the greatest obstacle to the speedy attainment of independence! a circumstance however occurred which alarmed even the ministers themselves. on the th of april, i received a despatch from captain taylor, commanding the naval force before pernambuco, stating that on the th, the camara of that province had unanimously resolved that they would no longer obey the imperial authority--that the governor appointed by his imperial majesty had been deposed--and that they had elected a president from amongst their own body. this was an extremity upon which the portuguese faction in the administration had not calculated--their object being to encourage disturbance in remote provinces, in order to further their own purposes at rio de janeiro. an attempt to institute a republican form of government was, however, another thing, it being well known that this movement was fostered by merchants and influential citizens with republican tendencies. my advice was now asked as to what was best to be done in the emergency, to which i replied that "no time ought to be lost in sending small vessels to enforce the blockade of pernambuco, which had already been declared by captain taylor; as large vessels would be in imminent danger of being wrecked if anchored upon that open coast at this season of the year." to add to the dangers threatening the empire, intelligence was received that the portuguese had reinforced and refitted their fleet with the intention of returning to brazil and recovering the northern provinces. this course, no doubt, having been determined upon on account of information, that, in consequence of the injustice done to the brazilian squadron, it had been abandoned by the seamen, and was now powerless. i did not offer to accompany any vessels that might be sent to pernambuco; for i had made up my mind not to undertake anything unless some satisfaction were accorded to the squadron. on the rd of may, i, however, addressed to the prime minister a letter stating the plan which, in my opinion, ought to be pursued in the present predicament. the subjoined are extracts:-- drawing a veil over that which has passed--though had my recommendations, given in writing to his imperial majesty on the th of november last--two days after the dissolution of the assembly--been attended to, the rebellion and separation of the northern provinces might have been prevented. passing over the errors committed in the non-employment of the greater part of the naval forces; passing over the disgust occasioned by the conduct pursued towards the seamen, the opposition which had been encountered in every step towards amelioration, and the mischief occasioned by these and many other sources of disunion and paralysation, i say--passing over all these--let me call your excellency's attention to the only means which appear to me practicable to save the country--if not from again devolving to portugal as colonial possessions, yet at least from protracted war, and its attendant calamities. taking it then for granted that an expedition is actually fitting out at lisbon, destined to act against brazil, the question is, how and by what means can that expedition be most successfully opposed? what is the force necessary? and how, under existing circumstances, it can be procured? (here follow plans for the reorganization of the navy, and its mode of operation, in order to prevent the anticipated invasion.) as regards myself, it is my conviction that, though i might be responsible for the discipline and good order of a single ship, i could make nothing of a squadron so manned, as it inevitably must be, and actuated by those feelings which have been excited to the detriment of the imperial service. since the date of my last letter to your excellency, i have received a copy of the laws relative to prizes, and am convinced that these laws differ in no material degree from the maritime code of england, the adoption of which i had solicited; and that the blame of all the disquiet that has been occasioned is entirely owing to the non-execution of the laws by those individuals who have been nominated to dispense justice, but who have perverted it. (signed) cochrane & maranhaÕ. notwithstanding the threatening aspect of affairs in the north, no steps were taken to satisfy the seamen. in place of this i received orders to use my influence with them _to re-enter without payment!_ determined that the government should not have to find fault with any want of effort on my part, i obeyed the order, with what result the following letter to the minister of marine will shew:-- in consequence of the directions from his imperial majesty, communicated through your excellency, to equip the _pedro primiero, carolina_, and _maria de gloria_, with all possible despatch, and to hold them in readiness to proceed on service, i ordered a commissioned officer to visit the different rendezvous which the seamen frequent, and endeavour to prevail on them to re-enter --assuring them that the continuance of their services was the best means whereby to obtain their rewards for captures made during the late campaign. it appears, however, that it will be difficult to prevail on them to engage again in the service, without some explicit declaration made public on the part of the imperial government, stating what they have to expect for the past, and to anticipate for the future; for the conduct that has been pursued, especially in regard to matters of prize, has led them to draw conclusions highly prejudicial to the service of his imperial majesty. (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ. i also protested against the intended arrest of captain grenfell, knowing that there were no grounds for such a step, and more especially against the seizure of his papers, which necessarily contained the requisite proofs in justification of his conduct at parà. the only offence he had committed was his firmness in repressing the seditious acts of the portuguese faction there; and as those whom he had offended had influence with their countrymen connected with the administration at rio de janeiro, a tissue of false representations as to his conduct, was the readiest mode of revenge, so that he shared the enmity of the faction in common with myself, though they did not venture to order my arrest. one instance of the annoyance still directed against myself, on the th of june, is perhaps worth relating. it had been falsely reported to the emperor by his ministers that--besides the , dollars which i refused to give up--specie to a large amount was secreted on board the _pedro primiero_, and it was suggested to his majesty, that, as i was living on shore, it would be easy to search the ship in my absence --whereby the emperor could possess himself of all the money found. this disgraceful insult was on the point of being put in execution, when an accident revealed the whole plot; the object of which was, by implied accusation, to lower me in popular estimation--a dastardly device, which, though contemptible, could hardly fail to be prejudicial to myself, against whom it was directed. late one evening i received a visit from madame bonpland, the talented wife of the distinguished french naturalist. this lady--who had singular opportunities for becoming acquainted with state secrets--came expressly to inform me that my house was at that moment surrounded by a guard of soldiers! on asking if she knew the reason of such a proceeding, she informed me that, under the pretence of a review to be held at the opposite side of the harbour early the following morning, preparations had been made by the ministers to board the flagship, which was to be thoroughly overhauled whilst i was detained on shore, and all the money found taken possession of! thanking my excellent friend for her timely warning, i clambered over my garden fence, as the only practicable way to the stables, selected a horse, and notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, proceeded to st. christoval, the country palace of the emperor, where, on my arrival, i demanded to see his majesty. the request being refused by the gentleman in waiting, in such a way as to confirm the statement of madame bonpland--i dared him to refuse me admission at his peril; adding that "the matter upon which i had come was fraught with grave consequences to his majesty and the empire." "but," said he, "his majesty has retired to bed long ago." "no matter," replied i, "in bed, or not in bed, i demand to see him, in virtue of my privilege of access to him at all times, and if you refuse to concede permission--look to the consequences." his majesty was not, however, asleep, and the royal chamber being close at hand, he recognised my voice in the altercation with the attendant. hastily coming out of his apartments in a _dishabille_ which, under ordinary circumstances, would have been inconsistent, he asked--"what could have brought me there at that time of night?" my reply was--that "understanding that the troops ordered for a review were destined to proceed to the flagship in search of supposed treasure, i had come to request his majesty immediately to appoint confidential persons to accompany me on board, when the key of every chest in the ship should be placed in their hands, and every place thrown open to their inspection; but that if any of his anti-brazilian administration ventured to board the ship in perpetration of the contemplated insult, they would certainly be regarded as pirates, and treated as such." adding at the same time--"depend upon it, that they are not more my enemies, than the enemies of your majesty and the empire, and an intrusion so unwarrantable, the officers and crew are bound to resist." "well," replied his majesty, "you seem to be apprised of everything, but the plot is not mine; being--as far as i am concerned--convinced that no money would be found more than we already know of from yourself." i then entreated his majesty to take such steps for my justification as would be satisfactory to the public. "there is no necessity for any," replied he; "but how to dispense with the review is the puzzle.--i will be ill in the morning--so go home, and think no more of the matter. i give you my word your flag shall not be outraged by the contemplated proceeding." the _denouement_ of the farce is worthy of being recorded. the emperor kept his word, and in the night was taken suddenly ill. as his majesty was really beloved by his brazilian subjects, all the native respectability of rio was early next day on its way to the palace to inquire after the royal health, and, ordering my carriage, i also proceeded to the palace, lest my absence might appear singular. on entering the room, where--surrounded by many influential persons--the emperor was in the act of explaining the nature of his disease to the anxious inquirers--a strange incident occurred. on catching my eye, his majesty burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, in which i as heartily joined; the bystanders, from the gravity of their countenances, evidently considering that both had taken leave of their senses. the ministers looked astounded, but said nothing--his majesty kept his secret, and i was silent. months had now been consumed in endeavours on the part of the administration to give annoyance to me--and on the part of the prize tribunal to condemn me in costs for making lawful captures, this appearing to form their only object; save when a prize vessel could be given up to a claimant or pretended claimant, in outrage of justice, as evinced in the case of the _pombinho's_ cargo, and numerous other instances. to such an extent was this being carried, that i sent protest after protest on the subject. the following will serve as a specimen:-- protest. the marquis of maranhaõ, first admiral and commander-in-chief of the naval forces of his imperial majesty, does hereby protest, on behalf of himself and those employed under his command in the blockade of bahia, and other services of the empire, against the sentence given in the case of the nova constitucaõ, _whereby costs and damages to the amount of four times the value are decreed against the captors of the said vessel_ (taken in the act of violating the blockade of bahia), in performance of duties which the law sanctioned and the service of his imperial majesty required. and further, the said marquis of maranhaõ, on behalf of himself and the captors, does again most solemnly protest against _all sentences of acquittal_ of vessels which violated the said blockade, or which were seized, navigating under portuguese flags or with portuguese registers--and against all proceedings to recover damages against the said marquis and captors _for any capture whatsoever_; his imperial majesty having been graciously pleased to signify that all expenses thus incurred in case of vessels pronounced "_malprisa_," shall be placed to the account of the state. rio de janeiro, july , . the anxiety of his majesty on account of the revolt at pernambuco was meanwhile utterly set at nought, neither severiano, nor his colleague barbosa--though now beginning to be alarmed--shewing the slightest disposition to carry out his majesty's orders for the compromise with the officers and seamen, in order that the squadron might be manned. at length intelligence arrived from the revolted districts, of such a nature as to appear to his majesty fraught with immediate danger to the integrity of the empire, as in truth it was, for the republican nature of the insurrection had become an established fact, whilst the squadron which, months before, ought to have sailed to quell the revolt, was, from, want of men, lying idle in the port of the capital. setting aside all ministerial interposition, i received his majesty's orders to repair at once to the palace, to decide on the best plan of meeting these revolutionary manifestations. my advice was--at once to put them down with a strong hand; but i called his majesty's attention to the ministerial contempt of his orders to satisfy the seamen, and the consequent hopeless condition of the squadron--abandoned because no assurance had been given that past services would be rewarded by the adjudication of the prizes--against which adjudication the tribunal resolutely set their faces, or, what was worse, unwarrantably disposed of the property entrusted to them for adjudication. his majesty was greatly annoyed at learning the continuance and extent of the vexatious opposition to his wishes; but, begging me not to be influenced by the injustice committed, strongly urged the necessity of my using every endeavour for immediate action,--i at once pointed out to his majesty that the only way to accomplish this was, to restore confidence to the men by maintaining public faith with the officers and seamen, giving compensation--at least in part--of their prize money, with recognition of their claims to the remainder. still nothing was done, until, becoming tired of the harassing circumstances in which i was placed, i made up my mind to a last effort, which, if unsuccessful, should be followed by my resignation of the command, even though it might involve the loss of all that which was due to me. accordingly, i addressed to his majesty a letter from which the following are extracts:-- the time has at length arrived when it is impossible to doubt that the influence which the portuguese faction has so long exerted, with the view of depriving the officers and seamen of their stipulated rights, has succeeded in its object, and has even prevailed against the expressed wishes and intentions of your majesty in person. (here follows a recapitulation of injuries and annoyances with which the reader is familiar):-- the determined perseverance in a course so opposed to justice, by those members and adherents of the portuguese faction, whose influence prevails in the ministry and council, and more especially the proceedings of those individuals of that faction, who compose the naval tribunals, must come to an end. the general discontent which prevails in the squadron has rendered the situation in which i am placed one of the most embarrassing description; for though few may be aware that my own cause of complaint is equal to theirs, many cannot perceive the consistency of my patient continuation in the service, with disapprobation of the measures pursued. even the honours which your majesty has been pleased to bestow upon me, are deemed by most of the officers, and by the whole of the men--who know not the assiduity with which i have persevered in earnest but unavailing remonstrance--as a bribe by which i have been induced to abandon their interests. much, therefore, as i prize those honours, as the gracious gift of your imperial majesty, yet, holding in still dearer estimation my character as an officer and a man, i cannot hesitate a moment which to sacrifice when the retention of both is evidently incompatible. i can, therefore, no longer delay to demonstrate to the squadron, and the world, that i am no partner in the deceptions and oppressions which are practised on the naval service; and as the first, and most painful step in the performance of this imperious duty, i crave permission--with all humility and respect--to return those honours, and lay them at the feet of your imperial majesty. i should, however, fall short of my duty to those who were induced to enter the service by my example or invitation, were i to do nothing more than convince them that i had been deceived. it is incumbent on me to make every effort to obtain for them the fulfilment of engagements for which i made myself responsible. as far as i am personally concerned, i could be content to quit the service of your imperial majesty, either with or without the expectation of obtaining compensation at a future period, and could submit to the same sacrifices here as i did on the other side of the continent, even to abandoning the ships which i captured from the enemy--without payment or reward--as i did in chili and peru. after effectually fighting the battles of freedom and independence on both sides of south america, and clearing the two seas of every vessel of war, i could submit to return to my native country unrewarded; but i cannot submit to adopt any course which shall not redeem my pledge to my brother officers and seamen. neither can i relinquish the object which i have equally at heart, of depriving the portuguese faction of the means of undermining the nationality and independence of the empire, to which--notwithstanding their admission to places of honour and trust--they are notoriously and naturally opposed. it is impossible to view the prize tribunal--consisting of natives of the hostile nation--in any other light than as a party of the enemy, who, in the disguise of judges, have surprised and recaptured our prizes, after we had lodged them--as we thought--safely in port. and we have not the slightest reason to doubt that, if suffered to proceed unmolested, they will eventually get them clean out of the harbour, and convey them back to their own country. we do not ask for reprisals upon these people, but simply restitution of the fruits of our labours in the service of your majesty, of which they have insidiously despoiled us, and that no impediment to this act of justice may arise, or be pretended by the individuals in question, we are willing to wait for a still further period--retaining, however, what remains of the prizes in our own custody--until our claims are settled; when we shall punctually surrender them into your imperial hands at whatever moment your majesty shall be pleased to cause the said claims to be duly discharged. we most earnestly beseech your imperial majesty--upon whom alone we depend for justice--to take into your consideration the necessity of withdrawing all control over the naval service and its interests from the hands of individuals with whose country your majesty is at war, and against which, under your imperial authority, we have been employed in active hostilities. it is only by the removal of portuguese functionaries--more especially from the naval department, and the appointment of native brazilians in their stead, that your imperial majesty can reasonably hope to possess the full confidence of your people. such a proceeding would be far more effective for the suppression of the rebellion in the north, than the ill-equipped naval detachment employed on that service. i trust that your imperial majesty will perceive that nothing short of the most thorough conviction in my own mind, with regard to the step now taken, could have led me to adopt it on my own account, or on that of the squadron. to myself, in particular, it must be a source of great anxiety, and in all probability, for a time --before the circumstances are generally understood--it may bring on me a large share of obloquy. my resignation is attended with the surrender of the high honours with which your majesty has graciously invested me, in addition to the honourable situation which i hold under your imperial authority. your majesty may be assured that such sacrifices as these are not made without extreme reluctance, and if there had remained the slightest probability of obtaining by any ordinary means the justice for the squadron, which it is my bounden duty to persevere in demanding, i should have avoided a step so pregnant with disadvantages to myself. (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ. his majesty frankly admitted that the course pursued by his ministers towards the squadron was no less discreditable than injurious to the vital interests of the state, but begged me to reconsider my determination. to prevent further ministerial interposition, at a moment so pregnant with danger, the emperor offered to place at my disposal, for the temporary satisfaction of the men, , milreis in paper currency--not one-tenth of the value of the prizes--if i would endeavour to rally them under the national flag, and merge my own injuries in oblivion, till he should be better able to do us justice. my reply was that, personally, his majesty had ever manifested his desire to fulfil his promises to me, and that i would stand by the integrity of the empire, and its consolidation. it was of the ministers i had to complain, by whom all the imperial promises had been broken, and his majesty's intentions thwarted; but that this would neither interfere with my duty nor gratitude to his majesty, personally; and that if the , milreis were paid, i would endeavour to use the money to the best advantage by inducing the men to return to the ships. the amount was directed to be placed in my hands, with the request that i would proceed to pernambuco, and use my discretion in putting down the revolution, unfettered by orders; his majesty recommending me to withhold payment till the squadron was at sea, in order to prevent delay and desertion. i begged of his majesty to appoint a commission for the distribution of the money, as the responsibility was foreign to my duties. this, however, was overruled with a gracious compliment as to the manner in which my services had uniformly been conducted; being thus pressed i made no further opposition. still the ministers withheld the money, on which i wrote to the emperor, requesting that his majesty would perform the gracious compliment of delivering it on board personally. the emperor at once comprehended the nature of the hint, and insisted on the sum being placed in my hands. on receiving it, i immediately issued a proclamation to the seamen, informing them of his majesty's concession--inviting them to return to their duty--and promising payment to the extent of the funds supplied. the result was, that all who had not quitted rio de janeiro in despair, with one accord rejoined the service, and every effort was made to get the expedition ready for sea. before sailing for pernambuco i was naturally desirous of coming to a definite understanding on the subject of my commission, the patents conferring which had been ruthlessly attempted to be set aside under the signature of barbosa, on the _assumed pretence of authority_ from his imperial majesty, whose _rubrica_, however, was not attached to this violation of our original compact. accordingly, on the th of july, i addressed a letter to barbosa on the subject, and on the th received the following reply:-- his imperial majesty commands, through the secretary of state and marine, that there shall be transmitted to the first admiral commanding-in-chief the naval forces of this empire the enclosed copy of a decree of the th of this month, by which his imperial majesty has judged proper to determine that the said first admiral shall receive _in full_, so long as he shall continue in the service of this empire, _the full pay of his patent_; and, _in the event of his not choosing to continue therein after the termination of the present war of independence, the one-half of his pay as a pension_--the same being extended to his wife in the event of his decease. the said first admiral is hereby certified that the said decree of his imperial majesty is not required to be inserted in his patent, as he requests in his letter of the th instant, the said decree being as valid as the patent itself. palace of rio de janeiro, july th, . (signed) francisco villela barbosa. decree of his imperial majesty, inserted in the _mercurio de brazil_, sunday, st july, . in consequence of what has been represented to me by the marquis of maranhaõ, first admiral and commander-in-chief of the naval forces of the empire, and in consequence of the great services he has rendered, and which we hope he will continue to render to the sacred cause of brazil, i hereby--by the advice of my council of state--determine that the said marquis of maranhaõ shall be paid in full, during the period that he shall remain in the service of this empire, the whole amount of salary due to his patent; and in the case of his _not wishing to continue in the service_ after the termination of the present war of independence, the one-half of the said pay as a pension, the same, in case of his death, being extended to his wife. francisco villela barbosa, of my council of state, minister and secretary of marine, is hereby commanded to promulgate the same, and execute the necessary despatches. given in the palace of rio de janeiro, the th of july, , and the third of independence and the empire. with the _rubrica_ of his imperial majesty. (signed) francisco villela barbosa. this decree nullified the unjustifiable _portaria_ issued by barbosa, limiting my services to the period of the war, which, in reality, had been ended by my expulsion of the portuguese from bahia and maranham. it recognised and established the validity of the emperor's original patents, of which, by the minister's own explanation, it was a continuation, with an extension to lady cochrane; a boon spontaneously granted by the emperor, as a mark of gratitude for services rendered in the preceding year. it was, moreover, clearly left to my own option to continue in the service or to quit it on half-pay, on the termination of the war of independence. if there was any faith to be placed in princes or ministers, nothing could be more definite or satisfactory than the preceding document, with the exception of the phrase, "_in the event of his not choosing to continue therein_," which evidently contained an _arrière pensée_, implying, as was afterwards proved, that when i could be got rid of it would be easy to _compel me_ to retire from the service; but even this alternative was subsequently disregarded--though his imperial majesty, on my thanking him for having so far done me justice against the attempts of his ministers--remarked, "_never mind their injustice--they can't deprive you of that"_--alluding to the stipulations contained in the imperial patents, and this renewed confirmation thereof. the concession of , dollars, as a portion of the prize money so long due to the officers and crews, was actually made to suffice, in place of an advance of wages usually given on the departure of a naval expedition; so that, in fact, the squadron was manned at its own expense! no other payment being accorded by the _government_. as his majesty had requested that the men should not receive their money before going to sea, _the squadron_, with the exception of the flagship, was despatched on its voyage, the crews being satisfied--now that the money was on board--with my promise of payment when they should assemble at the rendezvous appointed. it is requisite to enter into some detail relative to the distribution of prize money thus of necessity substituted as an advance of wages: it being impossible to get the requisite numbers of foreign seamen for the _pedro primiero_ without such advance; and although the frigates which had sailed, manned for the most part with portuguese or brazilian crews, relied upon _me_ for payment of their prize money, the foreign seamen refused even to remain on board the flagship without the usual advance; the officers also were in want of everything, and the men--indebted to tavern keepers--clamorous for payment. as the necessity was urgent, i did not choose that the flagship, under my immediate command, should leave port in a discreditable manner, i therefore took upon myself--notwithstanding his majesty's suggestion to withhold payment till we were at sea--to accommodate the officers and satisfy the crew by the advance demanded; a step, in my judgment, the more necessary, since, as had been the case in the former campaign, i should mainly have to depend upon the foreign officers and seamen of my own ship, for the execution of plans which might become requisite--the best way, therefore, to ensure their zealous co-operation throughout the voyage, was to establish harmony at its commencement by complying with their just demand. the following were the principal sums disbursed on this occasion, as appears from my private memoranda, the vouchers themselves being afterwards transmitted to the minister of marine through captain shepherd, as will subsequently appear:-- dollars. to myself , paid messrs. may and lukin, prize agents, for admiralty court expenses, and commission, at per cent , advanced to squadron generally , ditto to captain crosbie , ditto, to other officers , disbursed at rio, , this sum, about £. , , may appear trivial to the english reader, accustomed to lavish expenditure in all naval expeditions as the most economical way of securing their future efficiency--and hence the mention of such an amount may be deemed superfluous. that this is not the case will presently appear. the reader must not however imagine that i am about to inflict on him an account current of the expenditure of the squadron; but circumstances compel me to a precision in this respect on personal grounds: the brazilian government--though in possession of the documents and vouchers afterwards transmitted by captain shepherd--publicly persisting in the statement that i never furnished accounts of the expedition to pernambuco and maranham--thus leaving the public to infer that the disbursements just narrated, together with subsequent payments, had never in reality been made! in other words, that i induced the crews to go to sea--put down the revolution in the north--spent nine months in pacifying the revolutionary provinces--and yet fraudulently withheld , dollars, the only sum supplied during the whole of the expedition; the seamen meanwhile not only serving without reward, but being content with my monopolizing the portion of the prize-money known by them to have been awarded for the expulsion of the portuguese in the preceding year, and notoriously in my possession! their forbearance being so improbable as to refute itself, being contrary to common sense; even in the absence of the vouchers, which were transmitted to the brazilian government, _but never acknowledged_--i am able however to account for the whole from documents no less convincing than the vouchers transmitted. it is true that nothing but the blind hatred of the old portuguese faction towards me could have originated such charges, and that hatred was greatly increased by my pacification of the revolutionary provinces--this being the death-blow to the intrigues recommended by palmella in favour of the mother country. as, however, the brazilian government did not acknowledge to me the receipt of my accounts, which must either exist to this day in the office of the minister of marine, or must have been destroyed, for the sake of traducing my character in justification of my prospective dismissal--it is incumbent on me to supply, for the information of the brazilian people, explanations which have been repeatedly given to their government, but which have not as yet been made public through the medium of the press--and that not for the information of the brazilian people solely, but of the british public, who, in the absence of official imputations recently promulgated, have never before been put in possession of facts. the brazilian people may rest assured that whenever i received, for the use of the squadron, sums which itself had captured, i could neither then conceal the circumstance nor can i now disavow the fact--giving, however, the reasons which, for the interests of the empire, justified my proceedings. the only instance of this kind which had hitherto occurred was my retention of , dollars captured at maranham, and they who have perused the preceding narrative will be at no loss for the ground of my refusal to surrender to the court of admiralty a sum which would have been returned by that tribunal to their portuguese brethren--nor for my resistance to the plot which the ministers had formed to take it by force from on board the flagship. to return to the advances made to the officers and seamen of the flagship. the following extracts from the original log kept by my secretary will shew the fact of the distribution previously narrated:-- _july th_, . received the , dollars at the treasury, and gave receipt, with captain crosbie and the commissary. deposited the notes in the iron chest on board the _pedro primiero_. _july th_. went on board the _pedro primiero_ to pay advance. (paid may and lukin , dollars.) engaged all day in paying the men. _july th._ went to the _pedro_, with the admiral and lieutenant blake, to pay advance from the prize-money. in the evening the emperor called and announced to the admiral that he was to sail on sunday next. _july st_. on board the _pedro_ paying seamen as before. soldiers came on board. _august nd._ emperor came alongside. admiral embarked. got under way, and set sail in company with the _maranhaõ_ brig and three transports. the preceding extracts shew that not only was an advance made for the good of the service, but this was done with such publicity, that both the emperor and his ministers could not fail to be aware of the circumstance. the further distribution as prize-money, according to his majesty's direction, took place at bahia and pernambuco, as will be shewn in the next chapter. chapter viii. republican government proclaimed at pernambuco--its concordat----the president carvalho--threat of bombardment--a bribe offered to me and refused--the revolt admitted of palliation--it was fast becoming general--intimidation ineffectual--the revolutionists expect foreign aid--pernambuco taken possession of--payment of prize money--the accounts rendered in due course--orders to put down revolt at para--character of the revolution--difficulty in finding proper governors--revolt at ceara--steps taken to suppress it--they prove successful--the insurgent leader killed--measures for preserving tranquillity. on the nd of august, , the imperial squadron again quitted rio de janeiro, the rendezvous being appointed at jurugua, where we arrived on the th, and on the th landed a body of twelve hundred troops under general lima, at alagoas, seventy or eighty miles from the seat of revolt! this notable step being taken in pursuance of strict orders from the administration at rio de janeiro. on the th, the squadron reached pernambuco, falling in, near the entrance of the port, with a number of portuguese vessels quitting the city with passengers; but in consequence of the prize tribunal having _decreed damages_ for the seizure of enemy's ships within a certain distance of the coast, they were permitted to pass unmolested. we did not reach pernambuco too soon, for proclamations had been issued by manuel carvalho paes de andrade, the revolutionary president--denouncing don pedro as a traitor, whose aim it was to abandon brazil to the portuguese; which denunciation, though right in one sense, was wrong as regarded the emperor, whose views were thoroughly national--though the object of his ministers was as thoroughly portuguese. had the pernambucans been aware of the want of concord between the emperor's intentions and those of his ministers, who had forced themselves upon him--the probability is that they would have supported, instead of denouncing his government. the revolution had, however, now taken vigorous root, and the democratic spirit of the pernambucans was not to be trifled with. a republican form of government had been proclaimed, the views of which were on a more extensive scale than was commensurate with the abilities of those propounding them; it being their vain hope to constitute all the equatorial provinces into a federation, on the model of the united states, a project fostered--if not originated--by americans resident in the city. to further this object, an appeal was made to the other northern provinces to repudiate the imperial authority, and to form with pernambuco an alliance, under the title of "confederation of the equator;" the consequence being, that a large proportion of the inhabitants of parahyba, piahuy, rio grande do norte, and cearà, declared in favour of the measure. the annexed is the concordat of the revolutionary provinces:-- in the year of our lord , third year of the independence of brazil, and the rd of august in that year, in the hall of session of the government of the province of pernambuco, there being present, the brazilian citizen, quaresma torreaõ, on behalf of his excellency the president, carvalho paes de andrade, and the illustrious and reverend francisco da costa leixas; josé joaquim fernandez barros, and the citizen josé joaquim germiniano de moraes navarro, on behalf of the province of rio grande del norte, by diploma dated august , , and also the illustrious deputies commissioned by his excellency the governor of the province of pernambuco to treat on behalf of his government, with a view to extinguish dissension in political opinions, which has so greatly retarded the progress of brazil, and of independence and liberty; and, at the same time, to do their endeavour to banish a servile spirit which tends to enthral brazil by a pretended constitution, domineering over the brazilian nation like that of the grand seignior of the ottoman porte. the commission of the government of this province, and the illustrious deputations before-mentioned, having maturely considered these subjects, agree-- first,--that these provinces of pernambuco and rio grande unite in a fraternal league, offensive and defensive, to assemble all their forces against any aggression of the portuguese government, or that of the government of rio de janeiro, to reduce these provinces to a state of thraldom. secondly,--that the said league shall extend to the establishing constitutional liberty throughout the said provinces, and to supplant the servile spirit with which they are infected, and thus avert civil war, engendered by the intrigues at rio de janeiro, the influence of which now pervades the whole of brazil. thirdly,--that to insure the effect of this compact, the government of rio grande must form a body of troops, and place them on the borders of the province of parahyba, to be employed as necessity requires. fourthly,--that this body of troops shall be supported by the province of pernambuco, but shall be afterwards supported by the "confederation of the equador." and that the same may be carried into immediate effect, this concordat shall have full force, after being signed and ratified by their excellencies the presidents of the said provinces of pernambuco and rio del norte. (signed) p. francisco da costa leixas. josÉ joaquim fernandez barros. josÉ joaquim germiniano de moraes navarro. basilio quaresma torreaÓ. manoel de carvalho paes d'andrade, president. _printed at the national press._ carvalho, however, was not the man to carry out such a scheme, his enthusiasm being without prudence or daring; hence, on our arrival--in place of union, the contending factions were engaged in destroying each other's sugar-mills and plantations, whilst carvalho himself had taken the precaution to station a vessel at the island of tamarica, for the purpose of escaping, if necessary, from the turbulence which he had raised, but could not control. on learning this, i felt it my duty to despatch a corvette to seize her, _though at the risk of four-fold damages, according to the regulations of the admiralty court!_ knowing that it would take some time for the troops to come up, i determined to try the effect of a threat of bombardment, and issued a proclamation remonstrating with the inhabitants on the folly of permitting themselves to be deceived by men who lacked the ability to execute their schemes; pointing out, moreover, that persistence in revolt would involve both the town and its rulers in one common ruin; for, if forced to the necessity of bombardment,--i would reduce the port and city to insignificance. on the other hand, i assured them that if they retraced their steps, and rallied round the imperial throne, thus aiding to protect it from foreign influence--it would be more gratifying to me to act the part of a mediator, and to restore pernambuco to peace, prosperity and happiness--than to carry out the work of destruction which would be my only remaining alternative. in another proclamation i called the attention of the inhabitants to the distracted state of the spanish republics on the other side of the continent, asking whether it would be wise to risk the benefits of orderly government for social and political confusion; entreating them not to compel me to proceed to extremities, as it would become my duty to destroy their shipping and block up their port, unless within eight days the integrity of the empire were acknowledged. these threats were held out in the hope that by intimidation a struggle might be prevented, but they failed to produce the desired effect. one result was, however, not a little curious, as originating an offer to myself from the revolutionary president, of a bribe of , milreis, to be shipped immediately on board the english packet anchored off the port, if i would abandon the imperial cause, and come over to the republicans; this offer alluding, in strong terms, to the "infamous treatment with which my services had been met by the administration at rio de janeiro, and warning me that, by adhering to it, i should meet with nothing but continued ill-treatment and ingratitude." the subjoined is the revolutionary president's letter: my lord, frankness is the distinguishing character of free men, but your excellency has not found it in your connection with the imperial government. _your not having been rewarded for the first expedition affords a justifiable inference that you will get nothing for the second._ i therefore use the freedom to assure your excellency the amount of contos of reis, as an indemnification for your losses. the services required from your excellency are to take up the cause of the "confederation of the equator," as adopted by the majority of the northern provinces, whose limits will be the river of francisco da norte. i have the honour to be your excellency's most humble servant, manuel de carvalho paes d'andeade. the letter contained, in addition, an argumentative justification of the revolt, but as it abounds in abuse of the emperor, couched in the most indecorous language, i will not sully these pages by printing it entire. the result predicted by carvalho--as i had learned by experience--was not improbable, but it did not follow that, because the brazilian ministers were unjust and hostile to me, i should accept a bribe from a traitor to follow his example. i therefore transmitted the following reply to his impudent proposal:-- _pedro primiero,_ off pernambuco, aug. , . sir, if i shall have an opportunity of becoming personally known to your excellency, i can afford you proof to conviction, that the opinion you have formed of me has had its origin in the misrepresentations of those in power, whose purposes i was incapable, on principle, to serve. i have, &c. &c. cochrane and maranhaÕ. his excellency m. de c. paes d'andeade. on the th, the junta requested the interposition of the english and french consuls to induce me to give further time for consideration. this i refused, from the dangerous nature of the anchorage, by which the safety of the ships was imperilled. unwilling, however, to injure this fine city, i sent in proposals for capitulation, giving permission to the revolutionary leaders to depart unpunished, together with their property, provided they quitted the brazilian territory--demanding in return the surrender of the forts, ships of war, gunboats, &c. as well as of all public property. in order to prevent waste of time in correspondence, i proposed to carvalho to meet me on board any neutral ship of war, pledging my honour as to his being permitted to return in safety; he nevertheless declined the interview, proposing in return to meet me on shore on an island near the town but--as after his insulting proposal, i could have no confidence in his honour, this was of course declined. still anxious to avoid extremities--from which, after the threats made, i could not consistently refrain--i again wrote to carvalho, that, had he possessed the means of distinguishing between the intentions of the emperor, and the proceedings of a foreign faction, he would not have been in arms against his imperial majesty, by adherence to whom brazil could alone be saved from that anarchy and confusion into which mexico and other south american states had fallen through individual rivalry and the ignorance of their popular assemblies. i further pointed out to him, that if, by procrastination i was compelled to bombard the city, the popular clamour against the insurgent authorities might be followed by melancholy proof to himself how quickly political adventurers may be abandoned or betrayed in the hour of danger, and that he had better yield to reason, what he could not prevent my effecting by force. by writers who could not have known anything of the circumstances--which exist only in my own documents--i have been blamed for this tone of moderation towards the revolutionary president. there were two valid reasons for this course; first, that the conduct of the pernambucans admitted of great palliation, seeing that the distractions resulting from the portuguese faction in the administration at rio de janeiro had been ignorantly construed into acts of his imperial majesty--so that the injured people argued that it would have been better for them to have remained a colony of portugal, than a colony of the government at rio de janeiro--this mode of reasoning not being very far wrong. secondly--and this fully accounts for the moderation complained of--i knew, from the most authentic sources that, in case of attack on the city, carvalho had determined to retire into the interior, there to carry on civil war by enlisting the negro population under his standard; to avert which, i considered that moderation was the best course to induce him and his partisans to quit the empire, which would thus have been well rid of them. it was folly, therefore, to consider the rebellion local, as had been represented to the imperial government, or that its actors and instigators were few and insignificant, for, in truth, as has been said, it had already extended far and wide into the adjacent provinces, i therefore wrote to the minister of marine, that "although it might not be difficult to put down the revolution in the city, which, even the land forces could have already accomplished, had they not been landed at a distance--yet that without great circumspection, the prevention of further revolution in the interior would be a work of time, trouble, and expense; and that even all these would be thrown away, unless the causes which had led to the rebellion, were removed or explained." the time given having expired without acceptance of the terms, it became necessary to make at least a shew of enforcing them, though the water was too shallow to admit vessels of large burden to approach with safety, and the small vessels were ill adapted to the purpose; still i determined to make a demonstration, and as a preparatory step ordered captain welsh, of the _paraguassu_, to shift into the flagship all the english petty officers and seamen; but a heavy swell set in, and as the anchorage was bad, i considered the risk imprudent. the schooner _leopoldina_ was therefore ordered to try the effect of a few experimental shells; but the mortar so shook the vessel, that she had to be withdrawn, it being evident that nothing further could be done till the weather would permit the approach of ships, or that rafts could be constructed--for which purpose timber had been ordered from bahia. little damage was effected by this experiment, for the wealthiest inhabitants had fled into the interior, taking with them all their valuable property. heavy weather having now set in compelled the flagship to run to bahia for safety, the outer road of pernambuco being at this season exceedingly dangerous from the coralline nature of the bottom, as was practically proved by the fact that the _pedro primiero_ lost every anchor but one, so that to remain was certain destruction, and there was no alternative but to make for bahia to procure anchors. nothing had been heard of general lima's force since its debarkation, i was therefore anxious to know what had become of it, and how far it was in a condition to cooperate, the speedy possession of the place being nautically an important point--for, whilst blockading we had intercepted a portuguese vessel, only forty-three days from the tagus, and learned from her letters that a large force was preparing at lisbon, consisting of sixteen ships of war and numerous transports, their destination being pernambuco; this forming sufficient proof that the portuguese government counted on the recovery of those disorganised provinces which had alike revolted against the mother country and the emperor of brazil. on the th of september, the flagship left for bahia, first visiting the island of alexo, where the _cacique_ and _maranhaõ_ were at anchor. from them we learned that general lima's head-quarters were at leimham, his advance guard having joined the troops at mogado, on the banks of a river near cape st. augustine, the revolutionary forces occupying the other bank. on reaching bahia, we received information that the rebel government at pernambuco was in immediate expectation of several fast sailing vessels, ordered by the revolutionary president from north america, and also of two steamers from england. i therefore wrote to the minister of marine to send me some superior sailing vessels, as, if the anticipated expedition from lisbon, or those expected from england and america, made their appearance, four at least of our force would, from their bad sailing, run the risk of being captured on the first appearance of the enemy. on learning the panic which had been created in pernambuco, by the show of bombardment, and its anticipated repetition in earnest on my return, general lima pushed forward towards the capital with no more formidable opposition than a few desultory skirmishes; and on the th of september, with the co-operation of the naval officers and seamen there left, took possession of the city, carvalho retreating into the suburbs, where, breaking down the bridge which united them, he entrenched himself. on the following day, it was said that general lima found in the treasury , dollars; perhaps the same which carvalho had offered to me as a bribe to join the republican party. the _piranga_ arriving at this juncture with a convoy bringing eight hundred additional troops, preparations were made to attack carvalho; but the insurgent president, making his escape on a fishing raft, took refuge on board the british corvette _tweed_, and afterwards got to sea. during the interval which elapsed between my departure for bahia and my return to pernambuco, the distribution of prize money amongst those entitled to it took place, the flagship and the _maria de gloria_ being paid at bahia, and the rest at pernambuco. as his imperial majesty had left me altogether unfettered by orders or instructions, and as he had given the , dollars to be used in furthering the imperial objects, i determined not to regard the advances which had been made at rio de janeiro, as forming any portion of the reward, especially to the flagship, which had, unaided, achieved the more important results of the late campaign, and was therefore entitled to a share commensurate with the arduous exertions of the officers and crew, now again under my flag. the subjoined extracts from the log of my secretary will shew the periods at which the distribution took place:-- _sept. th._ made distribution of prize money in silver. _sept. th to th._ went on board the _maria de gloria_, and paid prize money. _sept. th._ paid capt. crosbie, , dollars in specie. paid other officers dollars. _sept. th._ paid admiral dollars. _sept. th._ paying prize money to the _paraguassu_ and others. _sept. th._ similarly employed. _sept. th._ paying prize money. _oct. st to th._ paying prize money. the following were the amounts disbursed on these occasions, as far as they appear in my private memoranda--some doubtless having been lost:-- dollars. disbursements at rio de janeiro , _(paid squadron as per account, made up sept. , .)_ to petty officers and seamen of flagship, in classes numbered a to y, as per pay books transmitted by _piranha_ , paid captain crosbie , " captain-lieutenants carvalho, grenfell, and shepherd, dollars each , " capt. grenfell, on account of captures at parà , " seven lieutenants, at dollars each , " two lieutenants at dollars each , " six lieutenants at dollars each , " lieutenant ross as prize master " _maria de gloria_ , " _nitherohy, carolina,_ and _paraguassu_, no account, say the same , " brig _bahia_ " officers and men of the _piranga_ , " mr. dean, purser " lieutenant ayre " florencia josé da costa " gratifications to artisans " to admiral , " secretary, for distribution , " may and lukin, prize agents, as per balance of account, july , , ------ , original amount , ------ balance to be accounted for , ====== the above were not the whole amounts paid, but they are all that a search amongst my numerous papers at present furnish; and as the original accounts, as has been previously stated, were sent to rio de janeiro, a more precise balance cannot here be drawn; but even this is sufficient to carry conviction to any reasonable mind, that the sums above stated were disbursed in ordinary routine, and should make the brazilian administration ashamed to say, that "the first admiral never sent in his accounts of the , dollars entrusted to him," thus inducing an unworthy inference that they were not disbursed; though any man possessed of common understanding could never believe that a squadron, constituted as the brazilian marine was, would obey orders and cheerfully act in unison with me, knowing that their prize money was on board--of which i unwarrantably held possession! these explanations are more humiliating to the brazilian administration than to myself--though for so many years the subject of unmerited obloquy from their denial of accounts which must unquestionably have been in the possession of the administration of . but i must carry these explanations yet farther. with the exception of dollars for my own necessities, i took none as my share, though entitled to an eighth in all cases, and to a fourth in the absence of other ships whenever important services were performed by the flagship alone. neither had i received from the imperial government a single dollar of the customary emoluments due to me, though, had these been honestly paid according to the usages of nations and the stipulations of the emperor's decree of december , , my share ought to have been more than double the whole amount entrusted to me to man the ships and satisfy the officers and men. still i did not appropriate the , dollars which remained, after paying the men, but determined to withhold it till i saw what course the prize tribunal at rio de janeiro intended to pursue; and, if that course were not satisfactory, then to appropriate it as a right, although it was wholly inadequate to the services rendered, for which i had been loaded with imperial honours and national thanks, without a shilling of emolument, notwithstanding the capture of a hundred and twenty _bona fide_ enemy's ships--the expulsion of their fleet and army--and the annexation of more than one half the empire. but more of this in another place. on my return to pernambuco, i found general lima in quiet possession of the city, and as the _piranga_ had brought me instructions from his imperial majesty, that, as soon as order was restored, a force should proceed to parà, and depose the, general-at-arms there nominated, i applied to general lima for a small military detachment to effect that object; but he declined--on the ground, that in the present state of affairs in pernambuco, it was not practicable to diminish his force. it was not at parà only that irregularities prevailed: even at maranham serious disturbances had broken out, with the avowed intention, on the part of the insurgents, of deposing the governor acting under the authority of his imperial majesty--to whom this new attempt at revolution was as yet unknown. in short, the order to depose the general-at-arms at parà had unexpectedly resolved itself into the necessity of tranquillizing the whole of the northern provinces, which were only waiting the result of carvalho's measures at pernambuco, openly to declare against the imperial authority. the dissatisfaction in the northern provinces originated solely in the anti-brazilian system of government pursued at rio de janeiro, which in the estimation of all at a distance was portuguese rather than brazilian. as they were either ignorant, or did not believe, that the patriotic intentions of the emperor were overruled or thwarted by the portuguese faction in the administration, which, holding in reality the reins of power, left to his majesty little more than nominal authority. it was not, then, to be wondered at, that the inhabitants of these distant provinces, who, only a year before, had welcomed me as their liberator from portuguese oppression, and as the representative of constitutional authority, should now be dissatisfied with what they rightly considered an unnational system of government--preferring to submit to a bad government of their own choosing rather than to one thus arbitrarily imposed upon them. to avert revolution required able presidents, well skilled in the management of public affairs; but, in place of these, men of an opposite character had, for the most part, been chosen by the administration. it was no less essential that the generals-at-arms, or military commandants, should be temperate and unprejudiced; but those placed in this responsible position used their authority in the most obnoxious and arbitrary manner. it was, no doubt, difficult to find proper men; or, if they existed amongst the brazilians, the jealousy of the portuguese party in the administration prevented their elevation to power; the aim of that faction being disorder, as auxiliary to their anti-imperial views. this had been strikingly evinced by the instructions given to disembark general lima's force at alagoas, instead of near the seat of disturbance; thus entailing loss of time and a difficult and tedious march, which might have ended in failure, had it not been for the distraction caused by the threatened bombardment of pernambuco by water, and the demonstration made to shew how easily it would be effected, when means for a destructive attack were complete; the result was, that--knowing my return from bahia, with everything in readiness for an attack in earnest, could not be delayed beyond a few days, no serious opposition was offered to the occupation of the city by the force under general lima. the reports of increased disaffection in the northern provinces becoming daily more precise, it was necessary to take advantage of the panic which the recovery of pernambuco had occasioned; the more so, as serious commotions had arisen, whilst a strong disposition to revolt was almost universally manifested. as general lima had refused me a military detachment--and as the _pedro primeiro_ and _piranga_ could render him no further assistance, i considered it more in conformity with his majesty's interests to visit the northern ports with these ships; taking also the _cacique_ and _atalanta_, for the performance of services to which the larger vessels were not adapted. the mere presence of these off the disaffected ports would, i knew, suffice to restore order, by affording inferential demonstration that, if force were required, it was ready to be applied. accordingly, leaving at pernambuco the remainder of the squadron, we sailed on the th of october for rio grande do norte, where great confusion prevailed amongst the inhabitants, threatened by the insurgents in the adjacent province of cearà, on account of their abandonment of revolutionary designs in consequence of events at pernambuco. arriving off the rio grande on the th, i requested information from the president, relative to the state of the maritime towns and provinces between rio grande and parà, especially with regard to cearà. the nature of the reply determined me at once to proceed to the latter place, though regretting the necessity of going farther to leeward, on account of the time which would be occupied in getting back to rio de janeiro; yet feeling assured that it would not be satisfactory to his majesty, were we to return without ascertaining more particularly the condition of the north, and without contributing to the restoration of tranquillity. arriving off cearà on the th, i sent a communication to the president, requiring him to make known my arrival for the purpose of restoring order, and promising that all disaffected persons who, within fourteen days, should return to their allegiance, would be permitted to retire quietly to their homes, and would not in any way be molested on account of their previous acts or opinions. a deputation of the inhabitants came off to the flagship, asking me to land as large a force as i could spare, but as general lima had declined to supply a military detachment, it was out of my power to comply; for the roadstead being unsafe, and the flagship nearly aground, i could not dispense with the english seamen, whilst the portuguese portion of the crews was not to be trusted. besides which, the foreign seamen were not adapted to garrisoning a town. the application was, therefore, evaded; but with an assurance to the president that, should the insurgents advance, we would render effectual assistance; reminding him, however, that the inhabitants ought to be induced to adopt amongst themselves, measures for their own protection and preservation of tranquillity, which results were perfectly within their power; and would render unnecessary the presence of military. i however landed a small detachment for the purpose of ascertaining the means of defence, as well as in the hope of exciting the authorities on shore to some degree of activity in their own cause. in case of attack, i promised to disembark for their assistance the whole of the men who could be spared; at the same time giving permission to withdraw to the ships in case of sudden emergency, which might not admit of communication with me in time. this offer produced the best effect in the city, giving confidence to the well-affected, whilst, as the discontented were ignorant of the extent of aid that could be afforded, they deemed it wisest to keep quiet. on the following day, the inhabitants returned to their allegiance, the officiating president hoisting the imperial flag on the ramparts with his own hands, amidst every demonstration of general satisfaction. i next caused despatches to be sent to all quarters of the province, announcing the return of the city to its allegiance, promising oblivion of the past to all who followed the example, and this was succeeded by a general acknowledgment of the imperial authority. confidential agents, entrusted with similar despatches, were likewise sent to the revolutionary forces headed by bizarra, the rebel general-at-arms, the whole of whose troops abandoned him; whilst, by similar agency, the _corps_, under the immediate command of the revolutionary president, araripe, was reduced to a hundred men--even the indians, without exception, abandoning his standard. as one of the first steps towards the pacification of the province, i had published not only a general amnesty, but also a particular amnesty, offering to the insurgent leaders themselves especial pardon, from which, in ordinary general amnesty, they might otherwise imagine themselves excluded, i had, in my own mind, determined upon this as a general course to be pursued, as i could not but see that, in the outset of the revolt, both insurgents and leaders had good cause to be dissatisfied with the central government at rio de janeiro. i had even addressed a letter personally to the revolutionary president, araripe, remonstrating upon the folly of the course he was pursuing, and promising my protection to _himself_, as well as to the other revolutionary leaders, if they would return to their allegiance. he chose rather to withdraw into the interior, with the discontented who adhered to him, intending, no doubt, to wait till the naval force had retired. foreseeing the danger of this, i issued a proclamation, offering a reward for his capture, sufficient to induce the indians who had previously been his supporters to proceed in quest of him, the result being that he himself was killed, and the whole of his followers captured. the indian chiefs, as well as their dependants, were of great service in the restoration of order, combining superior bodily strength and activity, with energy, docility, and unfailing power of endurance --forming, indeed, the best specimens of the native race i had seen in south america. previous to this i had succeeded, without much trouble, in restoring tranquillity to the province of parahyba, which had also been disturbed by the mandates of araripe; the inhabitants complying with his orders, from the immediate danger to which they were exposed by his violence, and being under the impression that rio de janeiro was too far distant to afford them succour. their delight at finding a squadron at hand was, therefore, immediately followed by a repudiation of the insurgent chief, and a return to unqualified allegiance. my next endeavour was to organise an effective force at cearà, and this was accomplished by the embodiment of more than a thousand men, though we had not a soldier in the squadron. various _corps_ were also raised in the towns and villages of the province, and were active in pursuit of the scattered remains of the republican army. having thus assured myself of the complete restoration of order in the capital and province of cearà, and addressed a proclamation to the inhabitants, pointing out to them the folly of being misled by designing persons, who could have no accurate knowledge of matters which formed the ground of complaint against the imperial government, we sailed on the th of november for maranham, which province was found in a state of even greater anarchy than had prevailed at cearà. chapter ix. arrival at maranham--character of disturbances there--i assume the military command--proclamation commanding surrender of arms--condition of the people--corruption of the authorities--murderous propensities--difficulty in detecting assassins--letter to minister of marine--pacification of parahyba--doubts of the president's sincerity--he establishes secret agencies--extraordinary memorials--public complaints of the president--bruce endeavours to intercept them--my reply to the memorialists--letter to the minister of marine--enclosing complaints of the consuls--bruce prepares to resist my authority--complaints of the british consul--he considers my presence necessary--letter of the french consul--detailing shameful atrocities--danger of collision with foreign states--suspension of the president--provision for future government--conduct of the faction at rio de janeiro--no instructions sent fob my guidance--letter to the minister of marine--the ministry had previously deposed bruce--but turned on me for anticipating their own act. we arrived at maranham on the th of november, and ascertained that the city and province--as had been reported--were in a complete state of anarchy, arising from causes almost incomprehensible. the leaders of the army had risen against the authority of the president, miguel bruce, and fighting was going on when we entered the river. the strangest part of the affair was, that both parties declared themselves supporters of the imperial authority, whilst each accused the other of plotting to form a republic. bruce kept possession of the city by means of negro troops, from amongst whom he had also picked his officers, conferring upon them regular commissions; the result being, that their excesses kept the respectable inhabitants in a state of constant terror, so that my arrival was hailed with the greatest satisfaction, and addresses of congratulation were sent in from all quarters, even the ladies adopting the unusual course of sending a deputation to welcome me. i immediately demanded from the president a report of the condition of the province; but before this was presented, memorials from every part put me in possession of the causes of disorder universally prevailing. the general complaint was, that the president had established an autocracy, refusing the co-operation of a council, as required by the constitution, and that under his individual authority, military disorders of all kind prevailed, even to murder, whilst outrages of the most revolting nature were committed amidst cheers of "long live his imperial majesty;" thus using the imperial name as a sanction to the perpetration of acts the most unlawful and injurious. the president bruce was the same individual whom, on the expulsion of the portuguese in the previous year, i had temporarily appointed president to the first provisional junta under the empire, which body was quickly superseded by a government elected by the people. possessing influence amongst the portuguese, of which faction--as afterwards appeared--he was a prominent supporter, he had contrived to get himself reinstated as head of the provincial government, and was apparently following the policy of the portuguese faction in power at rio de janeiro, viz. that of keeping his province in a state of confusion with a view to disgust the populace with the imperial rule, and so dispose them, should opportunity offer, to favour the views of the mother country. this policy, as has been said, was marked out by the agents of portugal; but bruce, with every disposition to favour the views of the parent state, was not the man to be entrusted with political strategy of this nature. the fact being that, though possessed of a certain amount of cunning, bruce was unfit to be entrusted with authority at all--much less to exercise that which recognises no control--so that the disorder which prevailed was rather a natural consequence of his own want of capacity, and arbitrary system of government. finding every one against him, he was gradually throwing himself on the black population for support, promoting emancipated slaves to the rank of officers; and it was generally acknowledged that had it not been for our opportune arrival, both himself and the whites who remained in the city might speedily have fallen a sacrifice to the force which had been organised for his especial protection. on the other hand, the opponents of the president were not only in arms against him, but there were two or three family parties fighting each other under the imperial flag! and carrying their revengeful animosities to an outrageous extent, which threatened the extermination of one, at least, of the contending parties, if not the total ruin of the province. to deal with these parties was, from their mutual recriminations, more difficult than had they declared themselves inimical to the imperial government. in one thing, however, they were all agreed, viz. in opposition to the president; but as his was the constituted authority, this was precisely what i did not intend to sanction. it was clear to me that the first remedy was the appointment of a proper military authority, and as none could be trusted, i apprised the president of my intention to assume the chief military command during my stay, or at least until order was restored, issuing a proclamation to that effect. as hostilities were still going on, i sent an order to both parties to lay down their arms, with which mandate the anti-president party immediately complied, and dispersed; but as the savage blacks under the authority of the president attacked their now unarmed adversaries, and committed great excesses, i seized and put them on board some vessels, anchoring these under the guns of the flagship, and retained the whole as prisoners, thus keeping them out of the way of further mischief. the surrender of the arms was effected by the following proclamation, which also explains my motives for this measure:-- whereas, it is essential to the interests of the empire in general and to the province of maranham in particular, to put an end to all public disturbances, whether arising from the contentions of individuals, or from other causes; and whereas, the constitution has provided not only for the administration of justice in civil cases, but also for the summary trial of military offences. be it henceforth known that--all persons armed, or commanding or acting with men in arms, or aiding and assisting any body of armed men in the support or defence of any persons assuming or pretending to authority as chieftains, or attempting to alter the constitution by force--are hereby subject to military jurisdiction and shall be tried by military law accordingly. but this regulation is not intended to prohibit individuals from meeting together unarmed, for the purpose of uniting in an application for the redress of grievances, or petitioning his imperial majesty on points connected with public or private interests. and whereas, military arms and ammunition have been obtained, by numerous individuals on the pretext of using them for private defence--it being essential to public tranquillity and general good that people should have recourse to the protection of the laws, and not to violence for their security--notice is hereby given, that all persons in possession of such military arms are to deliver them up to the chief military officers in their respective districts, to be deposited in the public armoury. whoever shall be found in possession of arms after the termination of this present month of november, shall be judged according to military law. given on board the _pedro primiero_ this th day of november, . (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ. this proclamation is adduced in order to shew the condition of the province on my arrival, which it does more fully than would pages of description. to these difficulties were now added the chagrin of bruce, at having his military authority superseded, though his civil authority was not only uninterfered with, but supported. still, having the orders of his imperial majesty to use my discretion in tranquillizing the disturbed provinces, it was not my intention to permit his majesty's views to be frustrated by undue deference to a governor, whose folly and despotism combined, had been the chief cause of the disturbances, though i well knew that the course i was pursuing, even though approved by his majesty, would bring down upon me the indignation of the portuguese faction in power at rio de janeiro. the proclamation had the effect of procuring the surrender of arms to a great extent, followed by the disbandment of all irregular forces collected by the contending chieftains, so that apparent tranquillity was everywhere enforced. the great point was to establish permanent order, which, had we gone away, would soon have been broken. as, since the reduction of pernambuco, there was no other field for my active services, and as i had no instructions how to dispose of the squadron, i determined to remain at maranham, and employ myself in consolidating the good already produced, till further commands from his imperial majesty; for having in the preceding year expelled the portuguese from the province, its welfare was a matter of interest to me, and i felt assured that were his majesty acquainted with the want of unity existing, authority would be given to carry out my views. in maranham, as in the other northern provinces of the empire, there had been no amelioration whatever in the condition of the people, and without such amelioration, it was absurd to place reliance on the hyperbolical professions of devotion to the emperor which were now abundantly avowed by those who before my arrival had been foremost in promoting and cherishing disturbance. the condition of the province--and indeed of all the provinces--was in no way better than they had been under the dominion of portugal, though they presented one of the finest fields imaginable for improvement. all the old colonial imposts and duties remained without alteration--the manifold hindrances to commerce and agriculture still existed--and arbitrary power was everywhere exercised uncontrolled; so that in place of being benefited by emancipation from the portuguese yoke, the condition of the great mass of the population was literally worse than before. to amend this state of things it was necessary to begin with the officers of government, of whose corruption and arbitrary conduct, complaints--signed by whole communities--were daily arriving from every part of the province; to such an extent, indeed, was this misrule carried, that neither the lives nor property of the inhabitants were safe, where revenge, or baser motives, existed for the exercise of acts of oppression[ ]. [footnote : numerous original, but lengthy, documents are in my possession proving all these facts.] i therefore addressed a letter to the president, warning him that such things ought not to be tolerated; that reports of excesses committed by those under his authority were reaching me from all quarters, the perpetrators deserving the most severe and exemplary chastisement; that i had determined to investigate these matters; and under the reservation made--of personally acting under extraordinary circumstances--would visit these cases with severe punishment, should the reality come up to the representations made. the recklessness of human life was amongst the more remarkable features of these excesses. only a short time before this, i had granted a passport to captain pedro martins, as the bearer of an offer from an insurgent party to lay down their arms, but he was murdered on his return. this atrocious act, perpetrated, as i had reason to believe, by some factious adherents to the president's party, from motives of revenge, was unfortunate, as affording a pretext for others who were ready to submit, to continue in arms for their mutual protection. i therefore directed that all troops under the authority of the president should remain where they were until further orders from me; and demanded of his excellency to use every endeavour to apprehend the parties guilty of an act so disgraceful to the imperial cause, that they might meet with due punishment. finding no effort made to apprehend the murderers, i addressed to bruce the following letter:-- it is with great regret that i have learned the atrocious act committed by your soldiers against an officer having my passport for the purpose of endeavouring to tranquillize the province, by inducing the dissentient party to lay down their arms. this is a matter so disgraceful to the cause of those by whom it has been perpetrated, that i must enforce on your attention the necessity of exertion to apprehend all persons who may be suspected of having committed this crime, and send them immediately, prisoners, to this city. i have further to direct, in the name of his imperial majesty, that the troops under your command shall remain where they are until further orders from me, as commander-in-chief of the military and naval forces of this province, notwithstanding any authority or order which you may heretofore have received, or which you may hereafter receive--except from me--to the contrary. (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ it is almost needless to say that the guilty parties--though doubtless well known--were permitted to escape with impunity; the president alleging as his excuse, "the insufficiency of the regular troops to preserve the tranquillity of the city;" this remark being intended to throw upon me the responsibility of having secured on board the black savages whom he had organized. my reply was, that--"for what i had done, i was responsible to the supreme government and the public, and if he could not find means to preserve the public tranquillity, i must do so; as he must be sensible that i had acted with propriety in relieving him from a portion of the labour and responsibility which he had hitherto sustained." on the th of november, i forwarded to the minister of marine, at rio de janeiro, a full report of these transactions, from which the subjoined are extracts:-- the completion of the task of tranquillizing cearà in a manner i trust satisfactory to his imperial majesty, was, in a great measure, effected by the pardon promulgated in the name of his majesty--consigning to oblivion those occurrences which would otherwise have agitated the public mind. the only exception made was the intrusive president araripe, and this, because, instead of availing himself of the first proclamation of amnesty, in which he was included, he retired into the interior with a band of robbers, in order to excite further disturbance. the consequence of this obstinate perseverance in disobedience on the part of araripe, has been his death, and the capture of all his followers. the restoration of cearà to its allegiance and tranquillity having been thus accomplished, we proceeded to parahyba, where all was tranquil, the inhabitants having unanimously declared his imperial majesty constitutional emperor, the moment that they became free from the terror of their more powerful and military neighbours at cearà. some dissensions, however, remained in the province. with respect to maranham, things are different: no republican flag has been displayed--nor, as far as i can learn, did any intention exist on the part of the inhabitants of raising the standard of rebellion; the state of civil war in which we found the presidency arising from personal animosities amongst some of the principal families, especially between those families and that of his excellency the president. certain it is, that all were united against the president, who, to protect himself, had recourse to the assistance of the lowest classes of the community, even to emancipated slaves. the result has been, military disorders of all kinds--and there is no outrage which has not been perpetrated. the general complaint against the president is, that the constitution has in no way been put in practice; that he has not established any lawful council; and that he has been guilty of arbitrary acts. the original documents relating to these matters are enclosed for the judgment of his imperial majesty. i humbly hope that his imperial majesty will perceive that, although i had no express authority to interfere in internal disputes, yet it became my duty--on finding the province in a state of civil war--without any general-at-arms, or other military officer of sufficient authority or capacity, to restore public peace--to take upon myself powers which i trust have been used for the benefit of his imperial service. in order that the imperial government may judge of my proceedings, i have the honour to enclose copies of proclamations, and other documents relative to my transactions. (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ. on the th of december i was not a little surprised at receiving from president bruce a letter requiring me to banish certain persons obnoxious to himself, amongst others francisco de moraes, who had been the first to set the example of submission to the proclamation issued on my arrival. this most unreasonable request i refused--writing to bruce that dissensions were not likely to be healed by punishing those who had laid down their arms on the faith of a proclamation issued in the name of his imperial majesty; further assuring him that, if he did his duty, he would not find me remiss in endeavours to relieve the province and himself from the miseries and difficulties with which he had been surrounded. on the th of december i had the satisfaction of receiving a deputy from parahyba, assuring me of the perfect pacification of the town and province. on receipt of this gratifying intelligence i transmitted to parahyba a general amnesty, coupled with advice as to the folly "of rebelling under erroneous impressions of circumstances with regard to his imperial majesty, which could not come within the sphere of their personal knowledge, and hoping that, for the future, they would duly appreciate the beneficence of a sovereign who desired that his authority --limited by the constitution--should be felt by his people only through the exercise of justice and benevolence." it was a vexatious task to be thus constantly exhorting the disaffected in the northern provinces to confidence in the imperial government, because i knew that they had but too good reason to be dissatisfied--not with the emperor--but with his administration, whose hopes were founded on anarchy and intrigue. it was therefore my practice to exhort them to rely on his imperial majesty--it not being within the scope of my duty to draw the distinction between the imperial wishes and the sinister practices of those by whom his majesty was surrounded. during the period of my absence i had been pressing upon the department of marine at rio de janeiro the necessity of a speedy adjudication of the prizes belonging to the squadron, according to the written order of his imperial majesty. on the th of december i received an evasive reply from the auditor of marine, stating that "he did not consider himself in possession of all the laws and regulations whereon his judgment should be founded in regard to seizures made or vessels captured by the naval forces of brazil." a miserable subterfuge!--as though it were any part of my duty to supply an official with "laws and regulations" on such a subject. it was quite evident to me that, despite his majesty's orders, no adjudication was intended, nor was any afterwards made; but in order to prevent complaint of neglect on my part. i transmitted, on the same date, to the auditor the whole of my documents, with a request that they might be returned. from the state of the province on my first arrival, i had entertained suspicions as to the president's sincerity; and as outbreaks were again of frequent occurrence, notwithstanding the general desire for pacification, an investigation into the causes of these elicited the fact that he was secretly sending agents to promote disturbance, for the purpose of revenging himself upon those now disarmed, who, before my arrival, had opposed his arbitrary authority. to such an extent was this carried, that memorials reached me begging my interference, as the memorialists could not now defend themselves. two of these memorials, signed by upwards of three hundred of the respectable inhabitants of the province, were of such a nature as to render hopeless the perfect restoration of order so long as the president was permitted to exercise the autocracy, which, contrary to all the principles of the constitution, he had irresponsibly assumed. in order to account for a step which i subsequently considered it my duty to adopt, it is necessary to give some extracts from one of these memorials, signed by a hundred and fifty-two of the most respectable inhabitants in a distant part of the province:-- "that the most demoralizing excesses are permitted amongst the soldiery, and, in order to preserve his influence with the troops, the president permits them to murder with impunity--even europeans; the perpetrators of these acts being not only unpunished, but rewarded, whilst military commandants and others attempting to repress these disorders are dismissed; so that absolute authority is established--the public money being squandered on the soldiery, in order to support a criminal despotism. "your excellency must have witnessed the state to which the province was reduced on your arrival, the people being compelled to have recourse to arms in order to ward off a multitude of vexations. your excellency must also have observed how quickly they laid down their arms at your summons, of which circumstance the party of the president availed themselves to sack and plunder the towns and villages everywhere in the country; the tears, desolation, and misery of so many villages and estates, accompanied by the blood of the murdered and wounded, remaining eternal monuments of these crimes. "the president and his followers, convinced of the abhorrence with which such atrocities were viewed, availed themselves of the false pretext that such acts were necessary for the imperial service, the people being in rebellion against him. "at the present moment he has given out that he has three thousand men ready to support him in the presidency against the measures of your excellency, and it is a fact that, in various parts of the province, he has troops, militia, and arms; whilst the commandants, appointed by himself, are all ready to execute his measures. "if your excellency should unhappily quit the province, whilst matters are in this state, it will be totally desolated--its commerce annihilated--and its agriculture abandoned; confiscation and terror will be everywhere established, accompanied by rebellion towards the emperor. if you will remain, we, the undersigned, undertake to support the squadron, in the absence of funds from the imperial treasury. "to terminate these evils, we beg to represent to your excellency that there is only one remedy. president bruce must be deposed and sent to rio de janeiro, with his coadjutors, who are well known, in order that his acts may be lawfully investigated, and punished as justice demands; and that, in the interim, there should be elected by your excellency, from amongst the more respectable inhabitants of this province, a person to represent to his imperial majesty the horrible state of things here existing, and to implore his imperial majesty's interposition for its salvation--your excellency, in the meantime, assuming the civil and military government of the province, until his imperial majesty's pleasure can become known. and we further beg of your excellency that you will name able magistrates, of known probity, to the respective districts, and cause oaths to be taken, in order that the respective camaras may proceed to the work of saving the province from tumult and anarchy, by observing faithful obedience to his imperial majesty and by the administration of laws for the government of the people. "maranhaõ, dec. , ." signed by one hundred and fifty-two of the principal inhabitants of the province. a similar document, signed by upwards of a hundred and fifty of the respectable inhabitants of alcantara--upon whom excesses had been committed in no way less reprehensible than at maranham--had been forwarded to me on the th of december; but, as the complaints were of the same nature, it is unnecessary to do more than advert to the circumstance. in addition to these, i received a statistic list of the murders and robberies perpetrated throughout the province, under the agency of those placed in authority by the president. the whole of these documents were retained by me as a justification of any contingency that might arise, and are still in my possession. the maranham memorial reached me on the th of december, and had scarcely been placed in my hands, when a letter arrived from president bruce, deprecating its reception, thus shewing that he had previously been made aware of the contents, and--as i had afterwards reason to believe--had attempted to intercept the memorial, but had failed in so doing. after glancing at the contents, i made him the following reply:-- sir, i have this moment been honoured with the receipt of your excellency's letter, and have to state that the document to which you allude had not been delivered to me five minutes previous to your excellency's communication, and that i have not yet had time to read it. your excellency may, however, rest assured that if the said paper contains any thing injurious to the interests or dignity of his imperial majesty, i shall not fail to take such steps as the occasion may require. all papers that have been presented to me, it is my intention to transmit to rio de janeiro, where the imperial government will judge of the motives of the writers, and of the contents of their communications. (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ. dec. , . my reply to the memorialists was as follows:-- maranham, dec. , . gentlemen, i have read your memorial with attention, and regret that you should have occasion to detail complaints of so painful a nature, the more so as i do not know whether i am authorised to remedy the evils otherwise than by such measures as have been already adopted. according to the constitution, you ought to find a remedy in the laws; but if any authority, commissioned by his imperial majesty, has improperly placed obstacles in the way of law, to his majesty only can an appeal against such conduct be made, for they who attempt to redress evils arising from a breach of the constitution, by violating that very constitution place themselves in an equally disadvantageous position with the object of their accusation. as regards the deposition of the president, which you request, i frankly confess to you, gentlemen, that whatever may be my private opinion as to the course most advantageous to you and the province in general--and even to the president himself--i should feel extremely reluctant, except in a case of manifest and extreme necessity, to take upon myself a responsibility which might possibly subject me to the displeasure of his imperial majesty, and would most certainly expose me to be continually harassed by prejudicial reports and false accusations, supported by artful intrigues, against which neither prudence nor rectitude could effectually avail. to mention an instance of this, within your own knowledge, you all know that, last year, when this province was annexed to the empire, the property of brazilians under the flag of portugal, and of all resident portuguese, was by me respected and unmolested. you know, too, that all the public property of the portuguese government in the arsenals and magazines was left untouched, and it is equally true that upwards of sixty contos of reis ( , dollars) in specie, and one hundred and forty contos ( , dollars) in bills taken in the portuguese treasury and custom house, were left by me in the hands of the government of maranham, for the payment of the army. yet, notwithstanding these notorious facts, it has been audaciously declared by the portuguese authorities composing the prize tribunal at rio de janeiro, that that very army--which i had thus left the means to pay--_had served disinterestedly at their own expense, and that i was a mercenary and a robber!_ i may add, too, that the junta of maranham contributed in no small degree to this calumny, for, after they had secured the money, they refused to give me a receipt, though the sum i had so lent for the use of the army was, and still is, the indisputable property of the officers and men of the ships of war who were instrumental in freeing this province from a colonial yoke. in short, great as is my desire to render you every service in my power, i am not willing to interfere in matters over which i have no express authority--because i do not like to risk the displeasure of his imperial majesty, attended, as it might be, not only with sudden dismissal from my official situation, but even with heavy fines and imprisonment; not to mention the sacrifice of all those pecuniary interests which i possess at rio de janeiro, where i have enemies _eagerly watching for a pretence to deprive me of all to which i have a claim_. neither am i disposed to afford to those persons any opportunity of giving plausibility to those calumnies which they are ever so ready to utter, nor to be under the necessity of placing myself on my defence before the world against their false accusations. i have the honour, gentlemen, &c. &c. (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ. the memorial of the inhabitants of maranham was, together with other complaints, forwarded by me to the imperial government, accompanied by the following letter to the minister of marine:-- december th, . most excellent sir, my letters - , will have acquainted your excellency of our proceedings here up to their respective dates, and will also have afforded the imperial government such information as i could collect regarding the origin and progress of the disputes which have so unhappily prevailed. it was my hope that--by taking their implements of war from the hands of the contending parties, and removing the most disorderly portion of the military--the public mind would have subsided into tranquillity. it appears, however, that--from the constant alarm occasioned by the "_pedestres_," and other irregular troops lately maintained by the president--the public still continue in dread of being exposed to outrages, similar to those lately committed on their persons and property. the terror excited is universal, and as the people must be well acquainted with the character and conduct of persons with whom they have been bred up, i cannot bring myself to believe--however desirous to support a president nominated by his imperial majesty--that all the respectable portion of the population, without exception, entertain fears that are groundless. indeed, from all that i have seen or heard, there is but little reason to hope that his excellency the president has any intention to govern this province on any other system than that of the captains-general, under the old portuguese government; that is to say, rather according to his own will than in conformity with the dictates of justice or equity. certain it is, that, up to the present moment, the constitution has never been put in practice, and even military law has not been adhered to. numerous persons have been banished without accuser or declared crime--others have been thrown into gaol--and the greater portion of the principal people who remained had--previous to our arrival--fled to the woods, to avoid being the objects of the like arbitrary proceedings. the representations which i now enclose to your excellency as a sample of the numerous documents of a similar nature addressed to me, will, at least, lead his imperial majesty to the conclusion that such complaints could not have arisen, and continued under the government of a person calculated to preside over the interests of so important a province. your excellency will find a memorial from the french consul, marked no. , and the other consuls have only been restrained from sending similar representations from the consideration that, on the squadron quitting this port, the consequences might be highly prejudicial to their interests and those whom they represent. i would further state to your excellency the remarkable fact that the president--after having continued a _high pay_ to the soldiery during the existence of those disorders of which they were the instrument--did, at the moment of my taking the command, send me an old order respecting the diminution of the pay of the troops, which order he himself had never put in execution. and it is still more extraordinary, that he since refused _any pay whatever_, to the small number of troops of the line, who are continued in service for the preservation of the tranquillity of the city. since my last letters, i have been using all possible diligence to get the remainder of the firearms out of the hands of the lower classes of the population. many, however, have been withheld--a circumstance which gives additional importance to the extraordinary fact, which i have only by accident learned--that the junta of fazenda, acting under the president, issued an order on the th of december (an attested copy of which is enclosed), _authorising the sale of powder, and that too, under the false pretence that "all motives for suspending the sale of powder had ceased."_ i have not words in which to express the astonishment i felt at this extraordinary proceeding. i shall only add that, as soon as it came to my knowledge, i gave orders that such sale should not be permitted, and i have since directed the whole of the powder in the magazines at maranham to be embarked and deposited in a vessel near the anchorage of the ships-of-war; by which precaution i consider the security of the white population to be in a great measure secured, till his imperial majesty shall be enabled to take such steps as in his judgment may appear necessary. were i to detail to your excellency all the facts that lead my mind to a conclusion that this province will be entirely lost to the empire unless a speedy remedy be applied to the evils which here exist--it would be necessary to trespass upon you at very great length; but as the brother of the secretary of government proceeds to rio de janeiro by the same conveyance as this, your excellency and colleagues will be able to obtain from him such further information as may satisfy your minds regarding the state of this province. (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ. it was not long before i learned that in many parts troops were being secretly organised to support the president's authority against me, but this was met by removing from command those officers who had either permitted or encouraged military insubordination; supplying their places with others upon whom i could better rely. an occurrence, however, now took place which threatened to involve brazil in serious difficulties. from the indiscrimination of bruce's troops in their career of injury and plunder, some renewed outrages had been committed on french subjects; for which the french consul required reparation from me, as having assumed the chief authority; at the same time again demanding passports for himself and the whole of the french residents, in case of my intention to quit the city and leave bruce again in power. the british consul also forwarded additional complaints of similar outrages against his countrymen; but, in place of requiring reparation at my hands, he forwarded representations to his own government, requesting protection against the acts of bruce, at the same time communicating the fact of these representations to me, but declining to furnish me with a copy of his despatch, as i had no direct appointment from the imperial government for the authority i was exercising. the demands of the french consul were, however, pressing; but i could only reply with regard to the outrages committed against french subjects by the adherents of the president:--"i was sorry that it was not in my power to remedy past evils; but that such steps had been taken as would prevent their recurrence for the future." the subjoined is one of the letters of the british consul:-- british consul's office, maranhaõ, dec. , . my lord, understanding that your lordship has an intention of soon withdrawing your presence from this province, i am forced, as the official and responsible protector of british interests in this quarter, to make the following statement, leaving it to be proved by the facts therein set forth that i am, by this course, adopting the only means within my reach, of providing for the interests confided to my attention, a satisfactory security! and that i am, by so doing, not departing from that line of conduct which, as a neutral officer, i am bound to observe. by this time your lordship must be fully aware of the violent character and desolating effects of the late civil commotions throughout this province. these commotions unhappily existed during a protracted period, and whilst they were raging, the regular pursuits of the community were either interrupted by violent party intrigues--suspended by a barbarous warfare--or totally stopped by merciless outrages. notwithstanding this disjointed state of society, and the consequent inefficiency of all constituted authority, the resident british, by general and firm perseverance in a strictly neutral line of conduct, and by calm endurance of not a few unavoidable ills--succeeded in averting from themselves the chief weight of those evils to which all the remaining population were exposed. but though they now feel grateful at having escaped outrage and have passed unhurt amidst general anarchy, still, they recollect, that while by their conduct they were entitled to protection, they nevertheless continued in a painful anxiety for their safety. in this state of uncertain security the resident british continued for several months, and when at last intrigue attempted to force them into the general scene of distress--some being openly threatened--your lordship's providential arrival averted the destruction of many inhabitants, and the dangerous condition of all. into this critical situation were british interests at this place thrown by violent party spirit. that spirit, though at present smothered, cannot be totally extinguished without time. it has unsettled the community at large, and disorganised all the military establishments of the province. after this exposition of facts, i may be allowed to assert, without thereby offering the least disrespect to any constituted authority, that your lordship's presence in this province for the time being is indispensable for the tranquillity and security of all its inhabitants-- because the only means by which legal control can be revived, and consequently an occurrence which must be as desirable and needful to all public functionaries, as i frankly avow it to be to one, who has the honour to declare himself your lordship's most obedient and humble servant, robert hesketh, his britannic majesty's consul. to the right hon. lord cochrane, marquis of maranhaõ, admiral, &c. &c. the letter of the french consul is even more precise, and therefore i subjoin that also:-- vice consulate of france at s. louis de maragnon, monsieur le marquis, dec. , . la position difficile dans laquelle je me suis trouvé depuis trois mois--la délicatesse de celle dans laquelle je suis placé maintenant vis-à-vis m. le président de la province de maragnon, m'imposant le devoir de porter à la connoissance de votre excellence les justes motifs de plainte que j'ai à lui exposer centre la conduite de m. le président bruce envers un agent de sa majesté le roi de france, et venir à ce titre reclâmer un appui que je ne puis plus dorénavant attendre de sa part. la confiance que m'inspire le caractère dont votre excellence est revêtue, et la certitude qu'elle n'ignore pas les intimes relations qui lient la france à l'empire du brésil, me font qu'elle saura apprécier les conséquences graves que doivent entraîner l'avance faite ici aux sujets de mon souverain, et le silence méprisant que garde à cet égard le président depuis un mois que je lui ai demandé la participation du résultat d'une enquête qu'il m'assura avoir été ordonnée par lui. sans m'entendre sur les évènements facheux qui ont désolé cette province depuis cinq mois, pour être hors du but que je me propose je me bornerai à parler de ceux dont je puis garantir l'authenticité et de l'influence du gouvernement de m. bruce pendant cet intervalle sur le bien-être de mes nationaux. lors des premières armamens faits dans la province, pour opposer des forces à une expédition supposée de la part du portugal, un françois établi à caixas, compris dans une mesure générale fut obligé d'autorité de délivrer une partie d'armes dont il ne recût jamais la valeur, malgré un sejour prolongé de plusieurs mois dans le même endroit. quelque modique que soit la somme qu'il s'est vu dans la nécessité de venir reclâmer ici, elle est proportionnée à ses moyens. c'est un tort évident fait à cet homme qui ne put continuer à exercer son industrie dans le lieu qu'il avoit choisi, et fut contraint à un déplacement coûteux qui doit lui retirer toute confiance à l'avenir. l'arrivée des troupes envoyées par le président pour réprimer un mouvement dans l'intérieur immédiatement après le départ de m. josé felix burgos, ne fut signalée dans la ville d'alcantara que par des désordres, les etrangers même n'y furent pas respectés dans cet endroit, qui n'étoit pas encore le théâtre des hostilités. un homme de ma nation y exerçant paisiblement son commerce fut attaqué chez lui, eut les portes de sa maison enfoncées par les soldats, fut temoin deux fois du pillage de sa boutique et forcé pour sauver ses jours d'aller séjourner dans le bois; ce malheureux n'a d'autre ressource maintenant que le travail de ses mains, ce fait contre lequel il eut été de mon devoir de reclâmer vient seulement de parvenir à ma connoissance. les françois établis en cette ville avoient joui jusqu'à l'arrivée dans l'île des troupes armées contre le président d'une trop grande sécurité, pour ne pas révailler contre eux toute la haine dont avoit eut fait preuve déjà les portugais avant l'adhésion de cette province a l'empire du brésil. un acte émané _de leur despotique junte_ avoit malgré les traités fait fermer les loges françoises jusqu'à la reception des ordres précis de leur gouvernement, qui désapprouvait hautement cette mesure. ces mêmes portugais oubliant la générositie avec laquelle les commandants de trois bâtimens de sa majesté le roi de france venoient de sauver un grand nombre de leurs compatriotes lors des derniers troubles du parà, n'écoutant que leur jalousie ne s'efforcèrent qu'à nous perdre dans l'opinion publique _par le plus noires inculpations._ je les considère comme ayant influé puissament sur le malhereux évènement que j'ai eu à dèplorer. malgré l'avertissement que j'avois donné huit jours auparavant au président de la menace qui étoit faite aux françois de leur faire subir le genre d'assassinat usité ici, le septembre, quatre françois été surpris par des assassins, deux furent très maltraités, l'un atteint de plusieurs blessures à la tête et au bras fut reconduit chez lui baigné dans son sang; ses blessures au bras, fracturé en deux endroits laissent encore douter après jours de douleurs aigues s'il ne devra par subir l'amputation. le même jour à la même heure, un françois fut attaqué chez lui malgré le signe de reconnaisance qui distingue depuis les troubles les maisons des françois; des pierres lancées dans sa porte et ses fenêtres pendant un long espace de temps, l'obligèrent à venir lui-même dissiper par des menaces une troupe d'hommes qu'il espéroit ne pas voir échapper à la surveillance d'un porte militaire à proximité de sa maison. m'étant rendu chez le président, lui demander d'abord la punition de ce crime atroce, il eut l'inconvenance de m'objecter que la conduite des françois étoit très repréhensible, je remarquoi ces paroles et le lui fis observer; elles ne pouvoient s'appliquer d'ailleurs qu'à deux individus passés au service du parti opposé, que j'étois venu desavouer lui en demandant expulsion. le président repondant se rendit à ma demande, et me donna l'espoir d'avoir une satisfaction, tant pour l'attentat à la vie des quatre individus de ma nation, que pour l'attaque du domicile d'un françois. néanmoins les jours suivants les désordres continuerant, les françois étoient outragés publiquement; un soldat eut l'audace de poursuivre mon negre dans la maison consulaire et de l'y frapper en se repondant en invectives contre les françois; un enfant de neuf ans fut horriblement maltraité par des soldats, jusqu'aux négres osoient lever la tête, et nous insulter. mr. bruce avoit-il pris du mesures de repression? est-ce la protection que devoit en attendre l'agent d'une puissance amie du brésil? en butte à l'animositie d'une soldatesque indisciplinée, nous courûmes pendant quinze jours le danger le plus imminent, nous attendant à tout instant à voir se réaliser ses menaces de venir nous massacre dans nos maisons. j'ai eu depuis à reclamer contre le violation d'un batimen du commerce françois. malgré trois gardes de la douane, cinq soldats armés furent envoyés à son bord à neuf heures du soir; je les fis retirer le lendemain; ce dernier acte du président qui des lors commença à ne plus garder aucuns ménagemens avec moi, faisant incarcerer un des mes nationaux sans m'en donner avis ainsi que des motifs qui l'y portoient; le pavilion du roi placé au dessus de l'Écusson de france, que je trouvai lacéré, me firent prévoir que je n'avois plus rien à attendre de la protection de l'autorité. monsieur le marquis, je me suis maintenu à mon poste malgré les dangers tant que j'ai eu l'espoir que l'arrivée de votre excellence si desirée de la population entière de la province, viendroit nous délivrer de ce déplorable état de choses. sans connaître les intentions de votre excellence, je vois mr. bruce encore président, non-seulement il ne m'a donné aucune satisfaction, mais encore apporte dans sa conduite, le mépris le plus marqué par un fileure qui ne pent s'interprêter autrement. c'est donc contre lui, monsieur le marquis, que je vieus en solliciter une aujourd'hui pour ce total oubli de ses devoirs envers un agent de sa majesté très chrétienne; cette conduite emporte le refus d'aucun appui de sa part pour l'avenir; d'ailleurs mon caractère publique m'impose de ne pas m'exposer à un outrage, et l'intérêt que je dois à mes nationaux de les soustraire à son implacable vengeance. si votre excellence ne jugeoit pas convenable d'user de ses pleins pouvoirs pour m'accorder la seule garantie qui puisse me permettre de séjourner plus longtemps ici, je viens lui demander de protéger mon embarquement et celui des françois qui restant encore à maragnon. je suis, avec respect, monsieur le marquis, de votre excellence le très humble et très obéissant serviteur, (signé) pl. des sallieres. À son excellence lord cochrane, marquis de maragnon, premier amiral du brésil, &c. &c. the steps alluded to were such as i considered most essential for the safety of the as yet unacknowledged empire; which, through the folly of a provincial governor, was in danger of being jeopardised by collision with powerful european states. as stated to the maranham memorialists, i did not adopt the extreme measure of deposing bruce from the presidential authority, but resolved to suspend him therefrom till the pleasure of his imperial majesty as regarded his conduct should be made known. accordingly, on christmas day, , i addressed to him the following letter;-- maranham, dec. , . sir, it is with extreme regret that i feel myself under the necessity of acquainting your excellency that it is impossible for me to withdraw the squadron from maranham, so long as your excellency continues to exercise the functions of president of this province; because it is evident that if your excellency is left in authority, without the aid of the squadron, you must again have recourse to the assistance of the lowest order of the people, whom, on my arrival here, i found in arms in support of your excellency, against nine-tenths of the upper classes of society, who continue to entertain the greatest terror of being left under the authority of your excellency. to prevent the recurrence of so lamentable a state of things--the loss of lives--and the calamities of every kind which would inevitably ensue, i would respectfully suggest to your excellency the necessity of your withdrawing from office, until the determination of his imperial majesty can be obtained. i can, with great truth, assure your excellency that my intentions are not in any degree dictated by any feelings of personal ill-will towards your excellency. on the contrary, i have a wish to rescue you from a situation of great jeopardy, and it is chiefly with a view of avoiding to do anything that might appear derogatory to your excellency, that i am desirous the change so necessary to be effected should proceed from your excellency's voluntary resignation. but i regret to add that so pressing is that necessity, that it is quite essential that your excellency's determination should be immediate, and therefore i hope to be favoured with your excellency's reply in the course of the present forenoon. permit me to assure you that if it should be your desire to continue in this city in the character of a private gentleman until the determination of his imperial majesty, with respect to your resumption of office, or otherwise, shall be known, no impediment to your excellency's wishes will originate with me; or, if you should think proper to proceed at once to the court of rio de janeiro, a commodious conveyance shall be provided for the accommodation of your excellency, and of those whom you may deem it convenient to accompany you. (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ. bruce did not resign, preferring to accept my offer of conveyance to rio de janeiro, there to await his majesty's decision. complete tranquillity being thus restored to the province of maranham, and not to that only, but also to the adjoining provinces, which had more or less entered into the existing disorders, either as adherents of the insurgent chiefs, or of the president, it became requisite to organize a government. not deeming it politic to elevate to power any member of those families of distinction whose feuds were only dormant on compulsion, i appointed manuel telles de silva lobo, the secretary of government, as interim president; he being entirely unconnected with family factions, well acquainted with the details of government, and of unimpeachable integrity. at the same time i caused the camaras to be re-assembled, so that the administration of law and public affairs might be carried on according to the forms and intentions of the constitution. this suspension of the president was afterwards fully approved of by his majesty, and the more patriotic of his advisers, as only anticipating their intentions, it being a remarkable fact that, at the very time i was suspending him, _an order from his majesty was on its way to supersede him_; information of his proceedings having previously reached rio de janeiro, so that in what had been done, i had only carried out the intentions of his majesty. nevertheless, the occasion--as affording a good opportunity to traduce me--was afterwards eagerly seized by the portuguese faction in the administration. all attempts to injure me in the estimation of the population at rio de janeiro--which was firmly attached to the emperor, and grateful to me for my services--had signally failed; but on his arrival at rio de janeiro the representations of the ex-president whose mal-administration i had summarily checked, were published in every possible shape, whilst the minister of marine unwarrantably withheld my despatches from the public, as well as from his majesty, the consequence of which was that the prejudicial representations of what were termed my arbitrary acts had full effect. it was represented that i, a foreigner, had dared, unauthorised, and on false pretences, to seize on the person of a gentleman occupying the highest position in one of the most important provinces, and had sent him to rio de janeiro as a prisoner, whilst it was i who deserved to be brought to condign punishment for the outrage; and had i at the moment been within reach of the portuguese faction at the capital, which was embittered against me for establishing order, when to further their own anti-imperial designs disorder was alone wished--a summary end might have been put to my efforts for preserving and consolidating the integrity of the brazilian empire. that this vituperation and hostility would be the result i well knew; but as the portuguese party in the administration could scarcely treat me worse than they had done, i had made up my mind to encounter their displeasure. of his majesty's approval i felt certain; and, in return for the uninterrupted favour and reliance, which, notwithstanding the self-interested hostility of his anti-brazilian ministers, i had uniformly experienced at his hands, i had all along resolved to secure that which i knew to be his majesty's earnest wish--the unity of the empire by the pacification of the northern provinces. all attempts to thwart this on the part of the portuguese faction were futile, and even unconsciously favourable to the course i was perseveringly pursuing, though all my despatches to the minister remained unanswered, and no instructions were sent for my guidance. notwithstanding the neglect of the administration to supply the squadron with necessaries, and myself with instructions, in a position foreign to my duties as naval commander-in-chief, and which i had only accepted at the earnest wish of his imperial majesty--i carefully kept the government advised of all that took place. the same ship which conveyed the ex-president to rio de janeiro, carried also the following despatch to the minister of marine:-- maranham, december st, . most excellent sir, i have to acquaint your excellency that a belief that the squadron was about to withdraw and leave the abandoned and disorderly military of this place under the feeble control of his excellency the president, excited a degree of dread in the public mind amounting almost to a state of frenzy--and convinced me that i had no alternative, but either to abandon the principal inhabitants, and, indeed, the whole white population, to the fury of mercenary troops and blacks--or to remain with the squadron until another president should be nominated by his imperial majesty. this last measure, however, upon mature consideration, appeared to be wholly incompatible with the interests of his imperial majesty, not only on account of the violent animosities subsisting between president and people, which, notwithstanding the utmost vigilance on my part, daily disturbed the public tranquillity--but because the presence on shore of nearly the whole of the seamen in the ships of war is requisite to counterbalance the influence and power which the president has obtained over the soldiery and irregular bands, by the impunity with which he has suffered them to act, and by rewards bestowed on persons in the ranks, or of the lowest orders of society. the continued absence of seamen from the ships would, it is evident, endanger the safety of the latter; besides which, the season is now approaching when diseases incident to the climate become prevalent, and would not fail considerably to thin the small force at my disposal. the necessity of adopting some decided measure became every day more urgent. representations continued to pour in from all quarters against the conduct of the president. the consul of his britannic majesty, moreover, having heard that the squadron is about to depart, has written me a letter, of which i enclose to your excellency a copy. i am aware that it is difficult to follow a course, under the circumstances in which i am placed, that when judged of at a distance, and merely on such evidence as can be conveyed by writing, will leave no room for persons to contend that a different line might have been followed with greater advantage; and i am perfectly aware that whether i had left this province, and anarchy had followed, or whether by remaining i had succeeded in preventing that anarchy, _i should equally be exposed to the cavils of those who are always disposed to reprobate the measures actually adopted, whatever they may be_. having, therefore, but _a choice of evils with respect to myself_, i have--without further care as to my personal responsibility--pursued that course which, on full consideration, appeared to me to be most conducive to the interests of his imperial majesty, and best adapted to secure the tranquillity of this province; and i have _reserved for my own security_ such original documents as will satisfy the mind of his imperial majesty on the subject of my conduct in suspending the functions of the president of maranham. a few of the many reasons which have induced me thus to take upon myself a heavier responsibility than would have attached to the adoption of either of the measures before alluded to, will be found on the printed paper which i enclose. in that paper, however, i did not consider it proper to set forth all the facts which have come to my knowledge; such as his tampering through various agents with the troops, artillery, and police, and above all with the disbanded "_pedestres_;" and the sending of emissaries to the distant quarters of the province to excite the people again to rise in arms for his support--though no legal prerogative which the president does, or ought to possess, had been in any way infringed by me or any person acting under my authority. the fact is, that this gentleman, bred up under the despotic captains-general, accustomed to their arbitrary proceedings, to the mal-administration of colonial law, and the absence of everything like fair trial, cannot brook any limitation to his power, and has demonstrated his desire, if not to establish an independent sway, at least to act solely according to his will and pleasure. i am anxious to ascribe his faults rather to the circumstances under which he has unfortunately been brought up, and to his advanced age, than to premeditated evil intentions. i have the satisfaction of adding, that, by the course i have adopted, a desolating civil war has been terminated--the treasury saved further expenditure--and the persons and property of the people have been rescued from destruction, and placed under the protection of the laws. (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ. such was the history of an affair, which would not have been thus minutely detailed, but for the obloquy against me to which it subsequently gave rise; the ministry afterwards declaring that, to serve my own purposes, i had _deposed_ bruce, and appointed lobo in his place--the facts being, that i never deposed him at all, but suspended his functions merely till his majesty's pleasure should be known--and that, at the very period when this took place, _the administration, unknown to me, had deposed him for the same causes which led me to suspend him!_ as will appear in the next chapter. nevertheless, when they found that--acting under the discretion accorded to me by his imperial majesty--i had partially only anticipated their own act, and that vituperation against me in my absence might be turned to their own account, they took up the cause of the very man whom they had deposed, and loaded me with abuse for having outraged the feelings and position of a most excellent person nominated by his majesty to one of the highest offices in the state. chapter x. misrepresentations made in england--letter to the emperor--tendering my resignation--repayment demanded from the junta--conduct of the prize tribunal--no adjudication of prizes intended--letter to the interim president--demanding the sums owing to the squadron--disturbance in para--statement of account to the junta--offer of compromise--imperial decree--right of the squadron to the claim. worn down in health by the harassing duties of the naval, military, and civil departments, the conduct of all these wholly devolving upon me, whilst the ministry at rio, by withholding instructions, neither incurred trouble nor responsibility--and aware that my character was being traduced by every species of malignity which could be devised by the party whose views were destroyed by the successful manner in which those duties had been performed, i was heartily sick of the ingratitude and misrepresentation with which the service of having twice secured the northern provinces to brazil was met on the part of the administration, in addition to their now apparent determination that neither myself nor the squadron should reap any benefit from the prize property taken in the preceding year, notwithstanding that, under the andrada ministry, both had been solemnly guaranteed to the captors. i was, however, even more annoyed on another account, viz. from being apprised that the vilest misrepresentations of my conduct were being sedulously circulated in england by the partisans of the administration. their vituperation in brazil could, to some extent, be met; but the petty meanness of attacking a man in a distant country, without the possibility of his defending himself, was a matter against which no prudence or foresight could guard. determined no longer to contend with an administration, which could thus conduct itself towards an officer whose exertions had been deemed worthy of the highest honours from the emperor, and the warmest thanks from the national assembly, i resolved to request permission from his imperial majesty to retire from so unequal a contest, for i did not choose spontaneously to abandon the command, without at least some compensation beyond my ordinary pay. even setting aside the stipulations under which i had entered and continued in the imperial service--this was at least due to me from the unquestioned fact that to my twice rendered exertions--first as naval commander-in-chief; and, secondly, as a pacificator--the empire owed its unity and stability, _even in the estimation of european governments_, which, now that the provinces were tranquillized and the empire consolidated, exerted themselves to promote peace between brazil and the mother country. accordingly--on new year's day, --i addressed to the emperor the following letter:-- sire, the condescension with which your imperial majesty has been pleased to permit me to approach your royal person, on matters regarding the public service, and even on those more particularly relating to myself, emboldens me to adopt the only means in my power, at this distance, of craving that your majesty will be graciously pleased to judge of my conduct in the imperial service, by the result of my endeavours to promote your majesty's interests, and not by the false reports spread by those who--for reasons best known to themselves--desire to alienate your majesty's mind from me, and thus to bring about my removal from your majesty's service. whilst i have the honour to continue as an officer acting under the authority of your imperial majesty, i shall ever perform my duty to your majesty and to the brazilian people; and i trust that, up to the present day, your majesty has not felt any reason to doubt my sincerity and fidelity to your imperial interests. and if his excellency the minister of marine has failed to lay before the public my despatches, and thereby permitted rumours prejudicial to my character to go forth, i respectfully look up to your imperial majesty for justice. in this hope, i most respectfully entreat permission to refer your imperial majesty to my letter no. , which i addressed to his excellency the minister of marine, from pernambuco, early in october, previous to my departure from that port, announcing my intention of proceeding northward, and the necessity of so doing, for the pacification of the northern provinces; also to my letter of the th of october (no. ), written from rio grande do norte; and no. , dated october th, written from cearà; all of which letters, explicitly describing my proceedings, intentions, and reasons, were duly transmitted, both in original and duplicate, by different conveyances. i trust that your imperial majesty will please to believe me to be sensible that the honours which you have so graciously bestowed upon me, it is my duty not to tarnish; and that your majesty will further believe that, highly as i prize those honours, i hold the maintenance of my reputation in my native country in equal estimation. i respectfully crave permission to add, that--_perceiving it to be impossible to continue in the service of your imperial majesty, without_ _at all times, subjecting my professional character to great risks under the present management of the marine department--i trust that your majesty will be graciously pleased to grant me leave to retire from your imperial service, in which it appears to me that i have now accomplished all that can be expected from me--the authority of your imperial majesty being established throughout the whole extent of brazil._ i have the honour to be your imperial majesty's dutiful and faithful servant, cochrane and maranhaÕ. the permission to retire was neither granted, nor was the request noticed, yet--notwithstanding that the ministerial organs of the press teemed with matters injurious to my reputation, and displayed the most unfair comments on my proceedings--no complaint was officially made to me, as indeed none could be made; this ungenerous mode of attack being resorted to, whilst the whole of my letters and despatches were withheld from public knowledge. on the rd of january, intelligence was received that an outbreak had occurred at caixas, promoted by the adherents of bruce on learning the fact of his suspension from the presidentship. the interim-president, lobo, was anxious to re-arm the disbanded troops against them, but this i forbade, telling him that, "in my opinion a military mode of governing was neither suited to the maintenance of tranquillity nor the promotion of obedience to the law, and that it would be better to give the civil law a trial before proceeding to extremities; and that although some outrages had occurred in the heat of party spirit, yet they would probably cease on the intelligence that president bruce had embarked for rio de janeiro." the result was in accordance with these anticipations, for, on learning this fact, the insurgents immediately laid down their arms--being only too glad to escape further notice. in the expectation that his imperial majesty would approve of the act, and that his ministers could offer no opposition, i considered it my duty to the officers and seamen of the squadron, no less than to myself, to obtain repayment from the junta of maranham--at least in part--of the sums temporarily left for their use in the preceding year. it will be remembered that after the expulsion of the portuguese from maranham in , considerable sums of money and bonds had been taken in the treasury, custom-house, and other public offices, together with military and other stores--and the value of these, though guaranteed by his imperial majesty to the captors, had, with the consent of officers and seamen, been temporarily lent to the then provisional government, for the double purpose of satisfying the mutinous troops of cearà and piahuy, and carrying on the ordinary functions of government--there being no other funds available! at the period of this temporary surrender of the prize property to state exigencies, it was expressly stipulated and fully understood that, as soon as commerce had returned to its usual channels, and with it the customary revenues of the province, the whole should be repaid to the account of the captors. this had not been done, and the officers and men were still losers to the amount, in addition to the non-adjudication of their prizes generally by the portuguese tribunal at rio de janeiro, which, in unprincipled violation of the express decrees of his imperial majesty--asserted that "they knew nothing of prizes, and did not know that brazil was at war with portugal!" though, in the imperial order of march th, --given for the vigorous blockade of bahia, his majesty had explicitly ordered the portuguese to be considered as "enemies of the empire."--"distruindo ou tomando todas as forcas portuguesas que encontrar e fazendo todas damnos possives a os inimigos deste imperio." it was further pretended by the tribunal that bahia and maranham were not foreign ports, but parts of the brazilian empire, though, at the time of my appearance before them, both provinces were then, and ever had been, in possession of portugal; the tribunal, nevertheless, deciding with equal absurdity and injustice, that captures made in those ports, or within three miles of the shore, were unlawful--this decision including, of necessity, the unaccountable declaration, that his majesty's orders to me to blockade the enemy's port of bahia, and to take, burn or destroy all portuguese vessels and property--were also unjust and unlawful! although this was the very purpose for which i had been invited to quit the chilian service. yet, notwithstanding this imperial decision, the tribunal also most inconsistently condemned all ships of war taken (as _droits_) to the crown, without the slightest compensation to the captors. but there was still a more flagrant injustice committed, viz. that whilst the officers and seamen were thus deprived of the fruits of their exertions, they became liable to about twenty thousand milreas in the prosecution of their claims; for no other reason than the unwillingness of the prize tribunal to order condemnations injurious to their friends and native country; for as has been said nine out of the thirteen members of the tribunal were portuguese! it had, therefore, been long apparent that no adjudication in favour of the squadron was intended, and that its services in having united the empire and saved it from dismemberment, would only be met by continued injustice. as the property left with the provisional government of maranham had been used for the benefit of that province, and as no part of it had ever been repaid, i determined that those to whom it was due should not, at least, be defrauded of that portion of their claims, or of a reasonable compromise thereof; and therefore i addressed to the interim-president the following letter:-- to his excellency manoel telles da silva lobo, president interino. sir, the public duties which i had to perform for the service of his imperial majesty, and the pacification of this province, being now happily brought to a termination, it becomes my duty, as commander-in-chief, to call your excellency's attention to some facts concerning the interests of the officers and seamen under my command. on the occasion of my former visit, in , which was so happily instrumental in rescuing this province from the yoke of portugal and annexing it to the empire, i was desirous of rendering the service performed still more grateful to the people by voluntarily granting, in the conditions of capitulation, not only my guarantee for the inviolability of all brazilian property then under the portuguese flag, but also of all the property belonging to resident portuguese who should subscribe to the independence of the empire, and the authority of his imperial majesty. these conditions were most scrupulously observed and fulfilled on my part, without the slightest infringement in any one instance. but--on the other hand--it was expressly set forth in the terms of capitulation, that all property belonging to those who remained in hostility--that is to say, property belonging to the crown or government of portugal, or to absent portuguese (though with respect to the latter a commutation was subsequently consented to) being, according to the laws of war, subject to condemnation to the captors --should be delivered to the captors accordingly, to be, by themselves, subjected to the customary investigation in the prize tribunals of his imperial majesty. amongst other articles of property of this description were, of course, included the money due on the balance of public accounts to the crown of portugal, and this amount--partly in specie and partly in bills--was held in readiness by the capitulating authorities to be delivered when required. but, as my attention was for some time solely directed to the arrangement of public affairs, i neglected to call for the said balance until the new junta of government, chosen under my authority, had taken possession of their office, and obtained the control of the public moneys. after several applications on my part to the said junta, and as many evasions on their part, i had, at last, a personal conference with them on the subject--on which occasion they solicited, as a particular favour, that i would permit the amount to remain in their hands, for the purpose of satisfying the claims of the troops of piahuy and cearà, whom they represented as being clamorous for their pay. to this request i agreed, under the assurance that i should receive bills from the said junta for the amount. these, however, they not only evaded granting, but, when afterwards called upon for a receipt, they declined giving any acknowledgment. to the truth, however, of the main fact, viz., the claims of myself, and the officers and men under my command, your excellency has now the power of satisfying yourself by a reference to the official documents that passed between the functionaries of government and myself, both previous and subsequent to the surrender of the portuguese authorities in this province. the conduct of this junta has proved to be merely a type of that which we have since experienced on a larger scale at the hands of the supreme tribunal of justice at rio de janeiro. but there is a point beyond which forbearance ceases to be a virtue, and i now call upon your excellency to direct that the junta of fazenda, who so unjustly and deceitfully withheld from the officers and men the property above described, shall, with all convenient despatch, proceed to the adjustment of the claim in question. an attested copy of the accounts, signed by the members of the late portuguese junta of government--being in my possession, i enclose a copy thereof, which your excellency can cause to be compared with the original treasury and custom-house books. i likewise enclose to your excellency a copy of a gracious communication which i received from his imperial majesty--the original of which, in his majesty's own handwriting, is now in my possession. this will enable your excellency to judge as to what the understanding and intentions of his imperial majesty really are, with respect to the claims of the squadron--when influenced by the dictates of honour and his own unbiassed judgment. nevertheless--should your excellency consider it necessary, i have no objection to prosecute the claims of the officers and seamen to the balance before alluded to--in the court of admiralty which your excellency is about to convene. but i beg it may be distinctly understood that i hold myself bound not to relax in any way from my determination that these accounts shall be settled, so as to enable me to fulfil the duty which i am engaged to perform to those under my command. (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ. to my annoyance parà became the scene of renewed disturbance, and even the life of the president was threatened. this was disheartening, as evincing a desire on the part of the provinces to pursue--each its own separate course; proving the deep hold which the counsels of palmella had taken to promote anarchy by fostering provincial pride--as a means to promote discord, and thus to reduce the newly-formed empire to insignificance and ruin,--from the same cause which had befallen the liberated provinces of spanish america. not having been furnished with troops, it was difficult to spare a force to meet this new emergency. there was no time, however, for hesitation, so i despatched the _atalanta_ to parà, with a detachment of the best seamen, under the command of lieutenants clarence and reed, upon whose zeal every reliance was to be placed; at the same time sending a recommendation to the president to use the force for the purpose of remitting to me those who had threatened his life, and of overawing those who had been endeavouring to subvert his authority. the junta of fazenda having now assembled, i transmitted to them the following; general statement of the money and other property claimed by the squadron on the surrender of the portuguese authorities of maranham; in conformity to the laws relative to matters of prize, and the gracious decrees of his imperial majesty:-- milreis. treasury and custom-house , in bills and debts , value of artillery, stores, and ammunition, say , , at / th for the squadron , value of stores in the arsenal, including gunboats, launches, boats, and materials of all kinds , , ___________ public property , obligations delivered as portuguese property under the decree of h.i.m. of dec. th, ; by that decree confiscated to the crown, but by the gracious bounty of h.i.m. awarded to the squadron, in his own handwriting, dated th february, , ___________ sum total , together with this statement of account, i forwarded the following offer of compromise, on the part of the squadron, for the payment of one-fourth only:-- his imperial majesty, having--by decree of the th of december, --commanded the seizure and confiscation of all merchandise in the custom-houses of brazil belonging to portuguese subjects--all merchandise so belonging, or the proceeds thereof, in the hands of merchants--and all vessels or parts of vessels belonging to such subjects--i, therefore, in conformity with the said decree, having, on the occasion of the capitulation of maranham, directed, that all persons having property in their hands of the nature set forth in the said decree, should deliver in an account of the same; and the bills and papers herewith annexed having been given up by their respective holders as _portuguese property of the description set forth_, the said bills and papers are now laid before the court of vice-admiralty, in order to the adjudication thereof in conformity to the said decree. but, whereas, the said imperial decree could not be enforced at maranham in the ordinary manner, by means of civil officers acting under the authority of his imperial majesty, by reason of the port and province being under the authority and government of portugal; and whereas, his imperial majesty, in consideration of the annexation of the said port and province to the empire, by the naval means under my command--and generally of other important services--was graciously pleased, by virtue of a grant in his own handwriting, bearing date the th day of february last, to accord the value of the seizures to the officers and men as a reward for their exertions and services; the said officers and men agree to surrender these bills and the property, as set forth in the annexed list, amounting to , , , together with all other claims, for the sum of one-fourth, or , , to be paid by the treasury of maranham by instalments, within the period of thirty days from the date hereof. (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ. the following is the imperial decree alluded to in the preceding letter:-- decree. it being obvious that the scandalous proceedings and hostility manifested by the government of portugal against the liberty, honour, and interests of this empire, and by the captious insinuations of the demagogical congress of lisbon, which--seeing it impracticable to enslave this rich region and its generous inhabitants--endeavours to oppress them with all kinds of evils, and civil war, which has occurred through their barbarous vandalism. it being one of my principal duties, as constitutional emperor and defender of this vast empire, to adopt all measures to render effective the security of the country, and its defence efficient against further and desperate attempts which its enemies may adopt; and also to deprive, as far as possible, the inhabitants of that kingdom from continuing to act hostilely against brazil--tyrannizing over my good and honourable subjects-- deem it well to order that there be placed in effective sequestration, _st_. all goods and merchandise existing in the custom-houses of this empire, belonging to subjects of the kingdom of portugal. _nd_. all portuguese merchandise, or the value thereof, which exists in the hands of subjects of this empire. _rd_. all real and agricultural property, held under the same circumstances. _th_. finally, all vessels or parts of vessels, which belong to merchants of the said kingdom. there being excepted from this sequestration, bills of the national bank, banks of security, and those of the iron company of villa sorocaba. joseph bonifacio de andrada e silva, of my council of state, minister of the interior, and of foreign affairs, shall cause the execution of this decree. given in the palace of rio de janeiro, december the eleventh, , first of the independence of the empire. with the rubrica of his imperial majesty, josÉ bonifacio de andrade e silva. these documents--coupled with the decree of dec. , awarding the above confiscations to the captors--shew so clearly the right of the squadron's claim, and the injustice of the course pursued by the prize tribunal at rio de janeiro, in refusing to adjudge portuguese property to the captors, that further comment is unnecessary. in order, however, to give every possible information relative to a matter which has been, to me, a cause of so much obloquy, i subjoin my letter to the interim president, accompanying the preceding documents:-- sir, i have the honour to enclose to your excellency, two hundred and sixty obligations seized under the orders of his imperial majesty--dated the th december, --which i request you will be pleased to cause to be laid before the junta of fazenda, together with the papers enclosed, in order that the junta may take the necessary steps to the liquidation of the just and moderate claims of the officers and seamen. i further beg your excellency will be pleased to intimate to the junta, that i cannot abstain from taking whatever measures may be necessary to prevent the violation of the laws and regulations of the military service--the infraction of the express engagement of his imperial majesty--and the consequent disorganization of the squadron, so essential for the maintenance of tranquillity, and the preservation of the independence of the empire. (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ. th jan. . chapter xi. imperial approval--continued enmity of the administration--junta refuses to pay the squadron's claim--i persevere in the demand--junta agrees to pay the amount in bills--this refused--arrival of a new president--but without authority for the assumption--intrigues to establish him in office--i order him to quit the province--and send him to para--letter to the president of ceara--international animosities--the squadron left to provide for itself--abuse of authority--explanations to minister of marine--of transactions at maranham--letter to carvalho e mello--anticipating ministerial displeasure--the junta reimburses part of its debt. on the th of january i had at length the satisfaction to receive, through the minister of marine, the emperor's approval of the course pursued in the pacification of the northern provinces, and his confirmation of the changes that had been made in their administration. still not a word of instruction was vouchsafed for my future guidance. the subjoined is the letter conveying his imperial majesty's approval of my acts and judgment:-- his imperial majesty commands the secretary of state of the marine to apprise the first admiral, commander-in-chief of the naval forces of this empire, that his majesty received his despatches by the schooner _maria de gloria_, by which his majesty was informed of his proceedings, and approves of his determination to proceed to the northern provinces, where the fire of rebellion has been lighted, with a view to establish therein the order and obedience due to the said august sovereign, a duty which he has so wisely and judiciously undertaken, and in which course he must continue, notwithstanding the previous instructions sent to him, bearing date the th of october last, which instructions are hereby annulled until he shall attain the highly important objects proposed in the before-mentioned provinces, viz., till they submit themselves to the authorities lately appointed, and enjoy the benefits of the paternal government of his imperial majesty. palace of rio janeiro, dec. , . (signed) francisca villela barbosa. to this letter--annulling my recall after the fall of pernambuco--i returned the following reply:-- no. . most excellent sir, since i had the honour of addressing your excellency in my letter, no. , i have not had any further intelligence from parà; i therefore conclude that the officers and seamen whom i detached there, will be sufficient to aid the president in maintaining good order. here, nothing particular has happened, beyond the collecting of a few runaway soldiers and vagabonds in the woods. a party detached in pursuit of them, dispersed them all, and brought in several prisoners yesterday. i have received your excellency's communication by the schooner _maria de gloria_, and _feel highly gratified that his imperial majesty has been pleased to approve of the course which i have pursued for the termination of dissensions in the northern provinces. since the gracious communication of his imperial majesty, i feel less weight of responsibility in the course which circumstances have compelled me to follow, with a view to restore order in the province of maranham._ i hope soon to inform your excellency that the task which his imperial majesty has been further pleased to confide to me, of causing the newly-appointed authorities to be acknowledged, is accomplished; but i beg respectfully again to add my opinion that these northern provinces will not long continue in a state of tranquillity, unless the provincial forces are shifted to other quarters of the empire. in fact, if attention be not paid to this, i consider that these provinces will shortly be entirely lost, both to the empire of brazil and to portugal. (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ. jan. , . the continued absence of even the slightest instructions for my guidance--coupled with the imperial approval of all i had done upon my own responsibility, naturally implied that it was considered better to leave me entirely unfettered by orders, which, if given at all, must be issued in ignorance of the actual state of things which required renovation. in this light i should have regarded the omission to direct my conduct, but for the warnings privately received, to be careful what i was about, for that, despite any apparent public approval of my proceedings, my enemies in the administration were on the watch for some act which might be construed to my disadvantage, and thus become the pretext for blame which should outweigh the praise accorded. the opportunity i felt had already been afforded by the suspension of bruce from the presidency, notwithstanding that this--as has been seen--was fully justified by circumstances, and was not resorted to without deliberate consideration, and the deepest conviction of its necessity. still, any opposition to the suspension of bruce could only be factious, for, on the nd of december, the minister of marine had in anticipation forwarded to me a list of new presidents and generals-at-arms, every person in authority throughout the whole extent of the northern coast being changed--with the exception of the president of parà; so that there was every reason to anticipate that even the strong measures which i had been compelled to adopt with regard to bruce would meet the views of his imperial majesty. on the st of january, the interim president apprised me that the junta refused to liquidate any part of the claim made in behalf of the squadron. upon this refusal, i wrote to the junta that, such being their decision, i would hold them personally responsible that no bills, debts, nor claims of any kind beyond the current expenses of government should be paid, till this prior claim--in honour and justice due to the officers and seamen, who had generously advanced their prize money to meet state exigencies--should be liquidated; adding, that the seamen _relied on me for justice_, and if my warning were not attended to, i should be compelled to take such steps as the necessity of upholding the interests of the crown and the efficiency of the naval service appeared to demand. in taking this step, i frankly admit that it was the only way to obtain from the government of maranham even a compromise for the amount owing by the province to the captors. i had every confidence in his imperial majesty that as far as lay in _his_ power justice would be done, as evinced by the acknowledgments given in his own handwriting in opposition to the measures of his ministers, on whom, or the prize tribunal, no reliance could be placed; the former having done all in _their_ power to thwart my efforts in his majesty's service, whilst the tribunal, acting by the sanction or in conformity to the known wishes of the ministry, had delayed adjudication, with the evident intention of _evading it altogether_, except in cases which gave a colour for condemning me in damages, in which respect--apparently their only object--they were prompt enough. i therefore determined that as a specific portion of the prize property taken at maranham in , had, at its own request, been given up to the provisional government, upon the express understanding of repayment --without which it could not have been thus surrendered--the junta should be made to preserve their own good faith, as well as mine, to the squadron, which, relying on my promises, had been influenced temporarily to devote to the exigencies of the state that which by imperial decree, as well as according to the laws of all nations, was their undoubted right. my orders to the junta of fazenda not to pay any claims--with the exception of the ordinary expenses of government--till those of the squadron had been satisfied, were, however, almost superogatory; for, on a visit of inspection to the arsenal on the nd of february, it appeared that they had established a system of not paying any debts, even those incurred for the provisions of the squadron, the contract prices being set down at _treble the market price!_ this overcharge was accounted for by the merchants on the ground of dilatory payments, which could only be obtained at all from the junta by fees to those whose duty it was to pass the accounts! to counteract this, i requested the interim president to forbid any further purchases on the part of the provincial government, as, in future, i would make them myself, and, what was more to the purpose, pay for them. by limiting the demand of repayment to one-fourth only of the amount captured from the portuguese government, i was not pressing at all severely upon the resources of the province, which is one of the richest in brazil; nor should i have put them to any inconvenience had i demanded repayment of the whole, _as i justly might have done_. on the th of february, the junta of fazenda sent me a verbal communication to the effect that they would give the sum agreed upon in commutation of prize money due to the captors--_in five bills, payable in five months_. as i knew that, in case of my departure, these would not be worth the paper upon which they were written, i refused the offer, adding that, after the course pursued by the prize tribunal at rio de janeiro the seamen had no faith in promises. finding that the junta shewed every disposition to evade the demand, i requested a personal interview with that body, intimating that i expected all the members to be present. at this interview, i told the junta that all the documents necessary in support of the claim had been laid before them, these being too precise to admit of dispute--that they had no right in law, justice, or precedent, to withhold the portion of the prize property left at maranham, by the request of the provisional government, no funds of their own being then available to meet the exigencies which had arisen--and therefore they were in honour bound to restore it. i was induced to adopt this step, not only on account of the evasive conduct experienced at the hands of the administration at rio de janeiro, but because i knew that negotiations were actually pending for the restitution of all the portuguese property captured, as a basis of the projected peace between portugal and brazil; in other words, that the squadron--whose exertions had added to the empire a territory larger than the whole empire as it existed previous to the complete expulsion of the portuguese--was to be altogether sacrificed to a settlement which its own termination of the war had brought about. so barefaced a proceeding towards those whose services had been engaged on the express stipulation of a right to all captures is, perhaps, unparalleled in the history of nations; and, as both officers and men looked to me for protection, i determined to persevere in demanding from the government of maranham--at least a compromise of the sums which the captors had, in , lent to its pressing exigencies. no small amount of obloquy has been attached to me with regard to this act of justice, the only one the squadron was ever likely to obtain; but the transaction involved my own good faith with both officers and men, who had lent the money solely on my assurance that the government at rio de janeiro could not do otherwise than refund the amount--so important was it at the time, that the pressing difficulties of the province should be promptly met. a man must have a singularly constituted mind, who, in my position, would have acted otherwise. to this subject it will be necessary to recur. on the th of february, i was surprised by an intimation from pedro josé da costa barros, of his intention to assume the presidency of maranham, founding his pretensions upon a letter addressed to bruce, whom i had suspended. at first--believing that he possessed the requisite authority--i invited him to take possession of the office, but finding that he had no patent to shew for the appointment, i considered it my duty to his majesty not to admit such pretensions till their validity was established, and therefore told barros that he must await the official communications from rio de janeiro, before i could acknowledge him as president--for that tranquillity being now restored, i would not have the minds of the people again unsettled on the mere presumption of his appointment. in this arrangement barros appeared to acquiesce, but being a well-known partisan of the portuguese faction, he was soon surrounded by the adherents of that party in maranham. on the th of march, a series of allegations was forwarded to me by the party of barros against the interim president, but as they were of the most insignificant nature, and unsupported by proof, i refused to pay attention to them. they were shortly afterwards followed by a letter from barros to the same purport, but without any specific accusation against lobo, whom he nevertheless represented as about to fly from maranham in order to evade the punishment due to his crimes! upon this i addressed to him the following letter demanding specific charges against the interim president:-- maranham, th march, . sir, i have received your excellency's letter, in which the interim president, manuel pellas da silva lobo, is charged with an intention of departing from maranham in a sudden and clandestine manner, and in which your excellency calls on me to adopt measures for the prevention of his flight. i must, however, represent to your excellency that, since i have been in this province, so many reports have been made to me with the greatest confidence, impeaching the character and motives of individuals--all of which have proved unfounded--that i feel it impossible to act with any propriety on your excellency's intimation--without being furnished with proof of the truth of the allegation. your excellency, i am persuaded, is too honourable to propagate so serious a charge without believing it to be well founded, and i cannot doubt that you will have the candour to admit that i am entitled to be made acquainted with the grounds on which your excellency's belief rests, before proceeding to any measure of severity against the party accused. i have further to request that your excellency will be pleased to say _for what crime, or crimes_, the president interino is supposed to be about to abandon--not only this province--but to flee from his native country? (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ. to pedro josÉ de costa barros. the charges against lobo, i well knew to have been fabricated for the purpose of getting me to place him in arrest, and instal barros in the presidency. this plot failing, i learned, on the following day, that arrangements had been made for the forcible seizure of the interim president's person without any specific cause for dissatisfaction with his government, which was in all respects just and excellent. finding the spirit of intrigue thus again manifested for the neutralisation of all my efforts to restore order and prosperity to the province--to the discomfiture of the intriguants--i again, on the th of march, declared martial law. such was the terror inspired by this act in the minds of those who had fomented renewed disorder, that, anticipating summary retribution from me, they prepared for the flight of which they had accused an innocent man. on learning this, i despatched a vessel with a competent officer to cruise at the mouth of the port, under orders neither to let ships nor passengers leave without passports counter-signed by myself. having received a letter from josé feliz de azevedo e sa, the president of cearà, warning me of the intentions of barros, who had come from that province, i was confirmed in my determination that the good which had been effected at maranham should not be neutralised by one who had no authority to shew for his interference. accordingly, i wrote to barros the following order to quit the province forthwith, until his majesty's intentions with regard to him should be made known:-- march th, . sir, your excellency having acquainted me that the president interino intended to fly from justice, at the same time calling upon me to take precautionary measures to prevent his escape, without setting forth any crime of which he had been guilty; and further, with regard to my letter requesting that you would make known the nature of the delinquency which impelled the said president interino to fly from the province, you have not considered it necessary to give the slightest explanation. now, as i have ample reason to believe the whole allegation to be a fabrication--as i know that your excellency--instead of waiting, as is your duty, for communications from his imperial majesty --has, by your countenance, suffered to be stirred up a spirit of dissension and party, and as i understand the laws which i have been compelled to call into operation to prevent greater evils. i have to acquaint your excellency that i have provided a convenient conveyance for your excellency and suite, in order that you may reside in the neighbouring province of parà, until the arrival of orders from his imperial majesty; and that my barge will be at the service of your excellency and suite at any hour to-morrow, between sunrise and sunset, in order to proceed to the anchorage of the _pedro 'ro_, where you will find the _cacique_ ready for your reception. (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ. to pedro josÉ de costa barros. barros strongly remonstrated against this proceeding; but knowing that the machinations of his party had been the direct cause of renewed disorders, i resolved not to give way; telling him that he had only himself to blame, by not having abstained from meddling with public affairs till the arrival of competent authority from his imperial majesty. accordingly, i insisted on his immediately embarking on board the _cacique_, in charge of captain manson, for conveyance to parà, to the president of which province i addressed the following letter:-- maranham, th march, . most excellent sir, since i had the honour of writing to your excellency, pedro josé de costa barros, who arrived from cearà with the intention to take upon himself the office of president here--has unfortunately been the occasion of stirring up old animosities, which i had hoped experience might have taught him the advantage of leaving dormant. had barros been provided with proper authority under the sign manual of his imperial majesty, the difficulties that have occurred since his arrival might have been prevented; though i am extremely apprehensive that if ever he shall be invested with such authority, still greater evils will befal the province. the portuguese party are in favour of barros, and have expressed their sentiments unequivocally, and this your excellency knows is sufficient to raise up the native brazilians against him. the portuguese and some others had combined to place barros in the presidency by force, which intention i happily frustrated by arriving in maranham with a considerable reinforcement from the _pedro primiero_, at midnight--when the attempt was to have occurred. to put a stop to proceedings so injurious to the interests of his imperial majesty and the public, i have felt it necessary to remove barros from maranham until his commission shall arrive, or until his majesty's pleasure respecting the appointment of manoel telles da silva lobo, shall be known. barros therefore proceeds in the _cacique_ (which is the bearer of this) to parà--where having no pretensions, he will have no partisans, and will be inoffensive. i have not time, nor would it be of any utility to occupy your excellency with a minute detail of the affairs of this province, whilst your excellency has so much to do in that under your immediate superintendence: i am convinced that in all i have done, i have acted in conformity with the true interests of his majesty and his people, and am in no degree under any apprehension that the malevolent aspersions of self-interested or disappointed individuals will have the least influence on any candid mind, when a real statement of facts shall be laid before the public. i shall be gratified if your excellency attains the satisfaction of preserving the province of parà free from those party dissensions, the danger and inconvenience of which are best known to those who are obliged to be on the watch to counteract them. (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ. to josé feliz de azevedo e sa, the president of cearà, i addressed the subjoined letter of thanks for the warning he had given me respecting barros:-- maranham, march th, . most excellent sir, i have to offer your excellency many thanks for your kind letter, informing me, by anticipation, of the character of an individual whose principles and plans i was not long in discovering. scarcely had he placed his foot on the soil of maranham, when he was surrounded by all the portuguese of the city, who expressed their joy at his arrival in no equivocal manner. to give you a history of his intrigues would require pages. suffice it to say, that--after having attempted to thrust himself into the government within forty-eight hours after his arrival,--without having any lawful commission from his imperial majesty--and being defeated in that object--he placed himself at the head of a faction, brought charges against the president interino, and on the night of the th formed a plan to seize his person! this, however, i defeated, and as his charges against lobo were entirely false and malicious, i have sent him off to parà, there to await the determination of his imperial majesty. the intrigues here are so numerous, and there are so many interests to reconcile, that the harmony now restored will probably cease with the departure of the force under my command. but it is obvious that the squadron cannot remain here for ever to watch over private broils and feuds of so contemptible a nature. the only thing of which i am seriously afraid, is the influence and number of the portuguese settled here, should they find a president desirous of promoting their views and supposed interests. (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ. there was great difficulty to act for the best in this matter: but whether barros were appointed to the presidency or not, the course taken was the only one even temporarily to ensure public tranquillity. if appointed, it was evident, from his acts, that he had been selected by the administration to put in execution their anti-brazilian projects; whilst the portuguese party in maranham unequivocally expressed their intention to revive the old animosities between themselves and the native brazilians; thus causing a renewal of disorder which i was determined not to permit, in favour of one who had no patent to shew for his assumption of authority. this monstrous state of affairs--fostered by the imperial administration--was a natural consequence of their portuguese predilections, and could not have existed, except from want of union amongst the brazilians themselves, who, unskilled in political organization, were compelled to submit to a foreign faction, unable to carry out its own views, and only powerful in thwarting those of the patriots. their policy was the more reprehensible, for even the government of the mother country conceded that brazil was too extensive and powerful to be again reduced to a state of colonial dependence, and therefore confined its aims to the northern provinces, the portuguese party in the administration seconding the intentions of the parent state; both, however, shutting their eyes to the fact, that, if these were separated from brazil, they would become disorganized in a vain attempt to imitate the constitution of the united states--by whose more enlightened citizens they were greatly influenced--and, as a consequence, would be lost both to the parent state and the empire. as it was, all i had effected for their annexation and tranquillization was regarded with perfect hatred by the portuguese residents in the provinces as well as by the administration, who did everything in their power to thwart my measures for the union and consolidation of the empire. during the whole of this period, i repeat that i had received no communication from rio de janeiro, with the exception of the letter before mentioned, with the rubrick of his imperial majesty, thanking me for the course i had pursued. though no instructions were sent for my guidance, nor any fault found with my acts, yet, from private sources, i was advised that my success in restoring order to the northern provinces had greatly embittered the administration against me, as having destroyed the hopes of portugal--expressed through palmella--of profiting by disorder. i was also left to provide for the pay and maintenance of the squadron, one vessel only with supplies having been forwarded since our departure from rio de janeiro, in the preceding august! notwithstanding this marked neglect, i took care to keep the administration well advised of all my proceedings, and the causes thereof, the following being extracts from my letters to the minister of marine, respecting the events just narrated:-- no. . maranham, march th, . i beg to acquaint your excellency, for the satisfaction of the imperial government, that i have caused the provinces which required military assistance, to furnish pay and provisions for the ships immediately under my command; and further, that i have required the government of maranham to pay, as a recompence to the officers and seamen, _one-fourth part_ of the amount of money and bills, and _one-fifth part_ of the value of the military stores surrendered by the portuguese authorities on the th of july, . thus the imperial government at rio de janeiro will be relieved from considerable disbursement, and the officers and seamen--notwithstanding the great additional trouble to which they have been put--will be satisfied, so far as regards their claim to the value of their captures in compensation for their services at maranham. i cannot refrain from drawing the attention of the imperial government to the abuses which exist in every department of the provincial government, where, notwithstanding the great revenue derived from various sources, the junta of fazenda possess so little credit, that their bills have actually been sold at per cent. discount, and i am credibly informed that no money can, at any time, be received from the treasury without a heavy per centage being given to the inferior officers; but how such per centages are afterwards disposed of, is to me unknown. the price at which provisions were being purchased by the intendente for the use of the squadron being exorbitant, i instituted a minute inquiry, the result of which was the discovery of a fraudulent system which i abolished by purchasing our own provisions. american salt beef, for which the provincial government charged milreis the barrel, i have purchased for milreis--pork charged milreis, i buy for - / milreis. bread is charged milreis the quintal, whilst the english sloop-of-war _jaseur_ is purchasing it at milreis, for bills on england. indeed, the abuses here of all kinds are too numerous to be detailed by letter, and to endeavour to put a stop to them, unless under the express authority and protection of the imperial government, would be a thankless task. * * * * * no. . maranham, march th, . the difficulties with which i have had to contend in this province have been greatly increased by the arrival of pedro josé de costa barros on the th of last month--when intrigue within intrigue was set on foot by different parties, and which--if barros were placed in power--i clearly foresaw would end in anarchy and bloodshed--and probably in the destruction of all the portuguese part of the community, whose unequivocal reception of a partisan president excited at once the jealousy and distrust of the brazilians. under these circumstances, i felt that the only course to be adopted, for the prevention of serious evils, was to defer the introduction of barros into authority, and to leave lobo as president interino, until further directions from the imperial government. this additional degree of responsibility i took upon myself with the less reluctance, as barros had no other authority to assume the government than a letter to bruce, whom i had previously been compelled to suspend from office and send to rio--to whom, therefore, such letter could not be delivered. besides which, having appointed lobo to be president interino, until his majesty's pleasure should be known, i could not consistently consent to his removal from office until his majesty was acquainted with his appointment, and had expressed his pleasure thereon. * * * * * no. . maranham, march th, . as i observe by the lisbon newspapers that most of the vessels acquitted by the court of admiralty have arrived at lisbon, i beg to call your excellency's attention to the fact that i have received no reply to my letter addressed to your excellency on the st of august last, requesting to know whether, in addition to the loss of the property, _which ought to have been condemned_, i was personally liable to the enormous costs and damages decreed against me by that tribunal. * * * * * no. . maranham, march , . in my letter, no. , i acquainted your excellency of the course pursued with regard to pedro josé de costa barros, who, under the mistaken counsels of a faction here, would have again involved this province in scenes of bloodshed and confusion. it is neither my duty nor inclination to become a tool in the hands of any faction, whose views are contrary to the true interests of his imperial majesty, and, were they countenanced and protected, would infallibly involve all brazil in civil war and anarchy. i contented myself, however, with continuing the usual precautions, which were sufficient to prevent disasters till his majesty's pleasure, with regard to recent occurrences in this province, should become known, of which i have been in daily expectation for some time past; but barros--after agreeing to await the expected instructions--considered that he had gained over a sufficient party to overthrow the government by violent means, and addressed to me the letter a, which was considered by him a sufficient pretext to warrant the imprisonment of the president interino, during my temporary absence on board the flagship, whence, it was supposed, i should not be able to arrive in time to prevent the execution of that violent measure; and i regret to add, that, in this plot--so prejudicial to his majesty's interests, and so disgraceful to the parties concerned--persons whose duty it was to have at once combatted such unjustifiable proceedings took an underhand but active part. the letters of barros, a and b, will sufficiently shew the violence of his prejudices, his credulity, and precipitancy in acting upon false information and reports, as well as his total ignorance of law and justice, in requiring the seizure of an individual without specifying either crime or accuser. i enclose to your excellency all the correspondence which has taken place between barros and myself, together with the proclamation which i felt it my duty to issue for the maintenance of order; for the legal department here now profess to consider that, although the constitution has been granted and accepted, they have no authority to put it in practice--hence, between the ancient and new laws, justice is at a stand. (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ. to these and all my previous communications no reply was returned either in the way of approval or otherwise. there was, however, one member of the administration, luiz josé carvalho e mello, who had ever been my friend, being himself a man of patriotic and enlightened views, but without the influence to counteract the designs of his portuguese colleagues. as i knew from private sources, that this silence had its objects, i addressed to carvalho e mello the following letter:-- maranham, march nd, . most excellent sir, by the arrival of my despatches transmitted by the _george_ and other ships, your excellency will have been successively informed of such public transactions and occurrences as seemed to me worthy of the attention of the imperial government. but notwithstanding that three months and upwards have now elapsed since the date of my first communications, i have the misfortune (for so i must call it) to be left without any precise or applicable instructions from rio de janeiro. the responsibility, therefore, rests entirely on my shoulders, and i feel this the more--being aware that not only shall i meet with no support from the majority of the ministry itself--but that the most powerful faction in rio de janeiro will represent every thing i have done--or may do--in the blackest colours. i console myself, however, with the knowledge that i possess the means of exposing the falsehood of every allegation that can be brought against me. i have acted towards his imperial majesty and the brazilian nation, in the same manner as i should have done for my native sovereign and country; and i must say--that, had i freed the shores of england from a superior hostile force, and rescued half the country from the dominion of an enemy--the british government would not have left me to seek the fruit of my labours, and those of the officers and seamen who served with me, in the manner in which i have been compelled to seek them in brazil; and would never have subjected me to the necessity of having recourse to measures capable of being so perversely represented as to obscure for a time that credit to which i am entitled for the successful conduct of the naval war. i am, however, resolved never to be deterred, by fear of consequences, from using every endeavour within my power to obtain justice for all who have continued to perform their duty in the imperial service. and i have the less hesitation in persevering in this resolution--because it cannot be denied that i have strictly limited the claims of the naval service to such rewards as would have been admitted to be due, under similar circumstances, in the navy of england. i have used the freedom to say thus much to your excellency as my friend--because i am well aware that the old cry of the portuguese faction in rio will be set up against me the moment they hear that i have caused the junta of fazenda of this province to pay a part of the amount of the money and bills taken on the surrender of the portuguese authorities at maranham. this, of course, though only one-fourth of the amount due, _will be represented as an outrageous robbery_; but i again say, that it is not from the portuguese faction at rio, that i expect either credit or justice. their object is sufficiently evident, namely--_the expulsion of every foreign officer from the service, by means of privation and insult, in order that they may fill the ships with their portuguese countrymen and dependents_; a result which i should lament to witness, because fraught with mischief to his imperial majesty and brazil. i feel myself much shaken in health by the great heat of the climate, and the anxiety occasioned by the peculiar circumstances in which i have been placed; all of which i might have saved myself under the plea of want of instructions, but for my desire to promote the real interests of his imperial majesty, by once more accomplishing that which his majesty, in his instructions to me of the st of july last, was graciously pleased to describe as "_of no less importance than the integrity and independence of the empire_." i am, with great respect, your excellency's devoted friend, and obedient servant, cochrane and maranhaÕ. on the th of march, the junta--finding that i would not listen to any farther evasion--paid contos (£. ) in bills, and contos (£. ) in silver, as the first instalment of the , dollars (£. , ) for which the restoration of , dollars (£. , ) had been commuted. the disbursement of this sum amongst the officers and men entitled to it, is fully narrated in the concluding chapter, containing a full statement of the disbursement of this and other monies charged against me, which statement is accompanied by vouchers fortunately retained in my possession, these placing the proper disbursement of the money amongst its rightful owners beyond doubt or question. chapter xii. i quit maranham for a cruise--bad state of the frigate--connivance at illicit trade--we are compelled to proceed to england--the frigate reported to the brazilian envoy--who cheats me of £. , --his assumption that i had abandoned the service--my contradiction thereof--order to return to rio--reasons for not doing so--brazilian envoy tampers with my officer--who acquaints me therewith--envoy stops pay and provisions--declares that the brazilian government will give me nothing!--captain shepherd's reply--i prepare to return to rio--the envoy dismisses me from the service--without reason assigned--he declares that i voluntarily abandoned the service--receipts foe accounts transmitted to brazil--these denied to have been sent. the anxiety occasioned by the constant harassing which i had undergone--unalleviated by any acknowledgment on the part of the imperial government of the services which had a second time saved the empire from intestine war, anarchy and revolution--began to make serious inroads on my health; whilst that of the officers and men, in consequence of the great heat and pestilential exhalations of the climate, and of the double duty which they had to perform, afloat and ashore, was even less satisfactory. as i saw no advantage in longer contending with factious intrigues at maranham--unsupported and neglected as i was by the administration at rio de janeiro, and as i knew that my immediate return to the capital would instantly be followed by resident contention, i resolved upon a short run into a more bracing northerly atmosphere, which would answer the double purpose of restoring our health, and of giving us a clear offing for our subsequent voyage to rio de janeiro. accordingly--after paying both to officers and crews their share of the prize money refunded by the junta of maranham (see concluding chapter), i shifted my flag into the _piranga_, despatched the _pedro primiero_ to rio, and leaving captain manson, of the _cacique_, in charge of the naval department at maranham, put to sea on the th of may. on the st we crossed the equator, and meeting with a succession of easterly winds, were carried to the northward of the azores, passing st. michael's on the th of june. it had been my intention to sail into the latitude of the azores, and then to return to rio de janeiro; but strong gales coming on we made the unpleasant discovery that the frigate's maintopmast was sprung, and when putting her about, the main and maintopsail yards were discovered to be unserviceable. a still worse disaster was, that the salt provisions shipped at maranham were reported bad; mercantile ingenuity having resorted to the device of placing good meat at the top and bottom of the barrels; whilst the middle, being composed of unsound provisions, had tainted the whole, thereby rendering it not only uneatable, but positively dangerous to health. for the condition of the ship's spars i had depended on others, not deeming it necessary to take upon myself such investigation; it is however possible that we might have patched these up, so as to reach rio de janeiro, had not the running rigging been as rotten as the masts, and we had no spare cordage on board. the state of the provisions, however, rendered a direct return to rio de janeiro out of the question, the good provisions on board being little more than sufficient for a week's subsistence of the crew. on ascertaining these facts, i convened the officers for the purpose of holding a survey on the state of the ship and provisions, they all agreeing with me as to the impracticability of attempting a six weeks' voyage with defective masts and rigging, and only a week's provisions on board, at the same time signing a survey to that effect, which document is now in my possession. it was therefore determined to put into some port for the purpose of refitting; but here another difficulty presented itself. portugal was still an enemy's country. had we made a spanish port, the prominent part i had taken in depriving spain of her colonies in the pacific would have ensured me a questionable reception. a french port too was unsuitable, as france had not acknowledged the independence of brazil. to enter an english harbour was attended with some risk of annoyance to myself, in consequence of the enactments of the "foreign enlistment bill," the provisions of which had been specially aimed at my having taken service in south america though before that bill was passed, so that i did not consider myself to come within the meaning of the act. still the point was debateable, and were it raised, might subject me to considerable personal inconvenience, the more so as being in command of a foreign ship of war belonging to an unacknowledged state. the necessity was, however, urgent, and taking all circumstances into consideration, i resolved, notwithstanding the foreign enlistment bill, to stretch on to portsmouth, and there procure provisions, anchors, cables, and stores, indispensable for the use of a ship of war; the frigate being so destitute of all these, that, had i been fully aware of her condition before quitting maranham, i should have hesitated to put to sea. in passing the azores, we overtook the brig _aurora_, which left maranham ten days before the _piranga_, cleared out for gibraltar under brazilian colours. she was now steering direct for lisbon under a portuguese ensign, in company with a portuguese schooner; this circumstance clearly shewing the kind of intercourse carried on between brazil and the mother country by connivance of the authorities. though both vessels were within my grasp i did not molest them, in consequence of having received private information of a decree passed by the supreme military council at rio de janeiro on the th of october, from the tenor of which decree, had i made further captures from the enemy, i should have incurred additional penalties, as acting contrary to the obvious intentions of a majority of the council, though their views had not been officially communicated to me. i had, however, stronger reasons for not molesting these vessels. knowing that both were bound for lisbon, i felt certain that they would carry the news of our approaching the shores of portugal with a view to mischief--and that a knowledge of the proximity of a brazilian ship of war, with the further consideration of the injury she might do to the trade of that nation in case of rupture of the pending negociations, could not fail to inspire a desire for peace on the minds of the mercantile portion of the population, who had hitherto been chiefly instrumental in delaying the paternal intentions of his portuguese majesty with regard to the independence of brazil as now firmly established under the government of his descendant and heir apparent. the effect anticipated was, in reality, produced by their report, so that we contributed in no small degree to hasten the peace which was shortly afterwards established. another motive for not molesting these vessels was, that being compelled, for the reasons before stated, to resort to an english port, at a time when i knew the british government to be carrying on negociations for peace between portugal and brazil, i felt it better to abstain from hostilities against portuguese vessels or property--considering that a contrary course might impede the reconciliation which was desirable both for the interests of his imperial majesty and his royal father; a result scarcely less advantageous to england on account of her rapidly extending commerce in brazil. we sighted the english coast on the th of june, and on the following day came to anchor at spithead, our available provisions being entirely expended. my first step was to inquire of the authorities at portsmouth, whether, in case of the _piranha's_ saluting, the compliment would be returned with the same number of guns? the inquiry being answered in the affirmative, the salute was fired, and replied to; thus, for the first time, was the flag of his imperial majesty saluted by an european state, and the independence of brazil virtually acknowledged. my next step was to report the arrival of the _piranga_ at portsmouth, to the chevalier manoel rodriguez gameiro pessoa, the brazilian envoy in london; at the same time informing his excellency of the circumstances which had unavoidably led to our appearance in british waters, and requesting him to forward the means of paying the men's wages. this requisition was complied with, to the extent of two months' pay to the men. as it was contrary to the law or usage of england to assist in the equipment of ships of war belonging to foreign belligerent states, the articles required for the re-equipment of the frigate could not be furnished from the royal arsenal--the duty of providing these, therefore, devolved upon the brazilian envoy, who soon afterwards represented that he was without means for the purpose, thus impeding the equipment of the frigate. the men being also without fresh provisions or the means to procure them, were beginning to desert, i advanced £. , in order to keep them together, giving the chevalier gameiro an order for this amount on my bankers, messrs. coutts, and taking his receipt for the amount, for which i drew a bill upon the imperial government at rio de janeiro, which was _protested, and has not been paid to this day!_ on the th of august, i was surprised at receiving from the envoy a letter charging _me personally_ with the amount he had advanced to the _piranga_, and also with £. , an alleged error of account in payments made at maranham; his excellency concluding with the extraordinary declaration, that--"having received from my bankers, messrs. coutts and co. the sum of £. he had placed against it the amount advanced, the transaction leaving me indebted to the legation in the sum of £. !" though the legation could not have anything to do with the assumed error arising from transactions at maranham. on the st of august, i received a letter from the brazilian envoy to the effect that he had perceived in the newspapers a report that i had accepted from the government of greece the command of its navy--and wished to know if there was any truth in the assertion. to this inquiry i replied that so long as i continued in the brazilian service i could not accept any other command; that the greek command had been offered to me whilst in brazil, in the same manner as the brazilian command had been offered to me whilst in the service of chili; and that, soon after my return to portsmouth, the greek committee, zealous in the cause which they had adopted, had renewed their offers, under the impression that my work in brazil was now completed. at the same time, i assured the envoy that as, in the case of chili, i did not accept the brazilian command till my work was done, neither should i accept a greek commission till my relations with brazil were honourably concluded, but that nevertheless the offer made to me on behalf of greece was not rejected. this reply was construed by the chevalier gameiro into an admission that _i had_ accepted the greek command, and he addressed to me another letter, expressive of his regret that i should have "come to the resolution to retire from the service of his imperial majesty the emperor of brazil, in the great work of whose independence i had taken so glorious a part, (a grande obra da independencia, v. e'a teve tao gloriosa parte) regretting the more especially that his august sovereign should be deprived of my important services (prestantes servicios) just at a moment when new difficulties required their prompt application," &c. &c. these expressions were probably sincere, for, since my departure from maranham, serious difficulties had arisen in the river plate, which afterwards ended with little credit to the brazilian cause. but _i had not accepted the greek command_, and had no intention of so doing otherwise than consistently with my engagements with brazil. on the th of september, i therefore addressed to the envoy the following letter:-- edinburgh, th sept. . most excellent sir, i regret that your translator should have so far mistaken the words and meaning of my last letter as to lead your excellency to a conclusion that i had taken the resolution to leave the service of h.i.m. the emperor of brazil, or, in other words, that it was i who had violated the engagements entered into with the late ministers of his imperial majesty in . whereas, on the contrary, the _portaria_ published in the rio gazette on the th of february, , was promulgated without my knowledge or sanction, and the limitation of my authority to _the existing war_ was persevered in by the present ministers, notwithstanding my remonstrance in writing, both to the minister of marine and the minister of the interior. your excellency ought not therefore to be surprised, if--threatened as i am with this _portaria_--i should provide beforehand against a contingency which might _hereafter_ arise from an occasion happily so nigh, as seems to be the restoration of peace and amity between his imperial majesty and his royal father. with regard to any communications of a pressing nature relative to the equipment of the _piranga_, your excellency may consider captain shepherd authorised to act, in my absence, in all ordinary cases. and that officer, having instructions to acquaint me whenever the _piranga_ shall have two-thirds of her complement of men on board--i can at any time be in london within two days of the receipt of such communication, and most assuredly before the complement can be procured. i have the honour, &c. cochrane and maranhaÕ. to chevalier manoel rodriguez gambiro pessoa. notwithstanding that my engagements with brazil rested on the original patents conferred upon me by his majesty, of which the validity had been further established by the additional documents given before my departure for pernambuco--the latter completely setting aside the spurious _portaria_ of barbosa, limiting my services to the duration of the war--i nevertheless felt confident that, when my services were no longer required, no scruples as to honourable engagements would prevent the ministry from acting on the spurious documents, though promulgated without my knowledge or consent, against every principle of the conditions upon which i entered the brazilian service. no blame could therefore attach to me, for not rejecting the offer of the greek command, in case a trick of this kind should be played, as i had every reason to believe it would be--and as it afterwards in reality was. on the th of september, the brazilian envoy forwarded to me an order from the imperial government at rio, dated june th, and addressed to me at maranham; the order directing me to proceed from that port to rio immediately on its receipt, to give an account of my proceedings there--though despatches relating even to minute particulars of every transaction had, as the reader is well aware, been sent by every opportunity. his majesty, when issuing the order, was ignorant that i had quitted maranham, still more that on the day the order was issued at rio de janeiro, i had anchored at spithead, so that obedience to his majesty's commands was impossible. acting on this order, the chevalier gameiro took upon himself to "require, in the name of the emperor, the immediate return of the _piranga_, so soon as her repairs were completed, and her complement of men filled up." as i knew that the order in question would not have been promulgated by the emperor, had he known the effect produced by the presence of the _piranga_ in the vicinity of portugal; and as, in everything i had accomplished in brazil, his majesty had placed the fullest confidence in my discretion, i felt certain that he would be equally well satisfied with whatever course i might deem it necessary to pursue, i did not therefore think it expedient to comply with the requisition of the envoy, assigning the following reasons for using my own judgment in the matter:-- edinburgh, oct. , . most excellent sir, i have this day been favoured with your letter containing a copy of a _portaria_ dated june th, wherein his imperial majesty, through his minister of marine, directs my immediate return from maranham to rio de janeiro, leaving only the small vessels there; which order you will observe i had anticipated on the th of may, when i left the imperial brig-of-war _cacique_ and the schooner _maria_ in that port. since then, his excellency the minister of marine is in possession of duplicates of my correspondence mentioning the arrangements i had so made in anticipation of the imperial order; and of my official communications--also in duplicate--transmitted on my arrival at portsmouth, by your excellency's favour, with your despatches. these will have acquainted his imperial majesty with the cause and necessity of our arrival at spithead--as well as with my intention there to wait a reasonable time before the departure of the _piranga,_ in order to learn the result of the negociations with portugal. i have only to add that, by some inadvertence, your excellency's secretary has sent me the copy instead of the original order addressed to me by order of his imperial majesty, which mistake may be remedied on my return to town. i am gratified to learn that there is less difficulty in procuring men than i had anticipated under the regulations respecting foreign seamen. i have the honour, &c. cochrane and maranhaÕ. the chevalier gameiro. shortly previous to this, the chevalier gameiro addressed a letter to lieutenant shepherd, under the title of "commander of the _piranga_!" unjustifiably informing him officially that _"i had retired from the service of his majesty the emperor of brazil!"_ notwithstanding my letters to him in contradiction. indeed, the letter just quoted is sufficient to shew that not only had i not relinquished the service, but that i refused to obey gameiro's order to proceed to rio, because i knew that if the frigate returned to brazil, the impression her presence had produced on portugal would be altogether neutralized, and the negociations for peace might be indefinitely prolonged; so that his order to run away from the good which had been effected, was so truly absurd, that i did not choose to comply with it. had the negociations for peace been broken off, i had formed plans of attacking portugal in her own waters, though with but a single frigate; and i had no reasonable doubt of producing an impression there of no less forcible a character than, with a single ship, i had, two years before, produced on the portuguese fleet in brazil. the order was, therefore, one commanding me to run away from my own plans, of which the envoy however knew nothing, as i did not feel justified in entrusting him with my intentions. on receiving the above-mentioned intimation to proceed to rio de janeiro--without my intervention, lieutenant shepherd very properly forwarded the envoy's letter to me--when, of course, i apprised him that he was under my command, and not under that of the chevalier gameiro. at the same time i wrote to the latter, that "it would be the subject of regret if anything should cause the spurious decree of the th of february, , to be brought into operation, but that, _at present, being in full possession of my office and authority_, my opinion was in no way changed, that the _piranga_ should be first fully equipped, and then wait for a reasonable time for the decision of those important matters in discussion." finding that lieutenant shepherd would not fly in the face of my authority, the envoy finally resorted to the extraordinary measure of stopping the seamen's wages and provisions. on the th of october, lieutenant shepherd wrote to me, that "in consequence of their wages not being paid they had all left off work, and though clarence did all he could to pacify them, and get them to return to their duty, they had determined not to go to work until they were paid." on the th, lieutenant shepherd again wrote, "that gameiro having ceased to supply the frigate with fresh provisions, he had, on his own responsibility, ordered the butcher to continue supplying them as usual." on lieutenant shepherd waiting upon the envoy to remonstrate against this system of starvation, he replied--and his words are extracted from lieutenant shepherd's letter to me, that as "his lordship did not think proper to sail at the time he wished, he would not be responsible for supplying the frigate with anything more--nor would he advance another shilling." in all this, gameiro--acting, no doubt, on instructions from the portuguese faction at rio--resorted to every kind of falsehood to get the officers to renounce my authority and to accept his! of the character of the man and his petty expedients, the following extract from lieutenant shepherd's letter of the th of october, will form the best exponent:-- i have had another visit from general brown, when he began a conversation by mentioning the evils which would arise from the feeling between your lordship and gameiro, who was at a loss how to act, as he had no authority over you--gen. brown suggesting how much better it would be for me to place myself under gameiro's orders. finding that i refused--on the following morning he called again, and told me that he had seen gameiro, and had heard that the misunderstanding between your lordship and him was at an end, but that gameiro wanted to see me. on this i waited on gameiro, who after some conversation told me that if i had any regard for his imperial majesty's service, i should never have acted as i had done. i told him that all i had done had been for the good of the service, and that i was ready to put to sea as soon as i received your lordship's orders. he then asked me if i was the effective captain of the ship? and whether i was not under the orders of captain crosbie? i told him that i was not acting under the orders of captain crosbie, but that i was captain of the ship by virtue of a commission from the emperor, and by an order from lord cochrane. he then said--are you authorised to obey the orders of captain crosbie? and i said, i was not. suppose you were to receive an order from captain crosbie, would you obey it? i said i would not. then you consider yourself the lawful captain of that ship? i do. upon this gameiro remarked, "you are not an officer of lord cochrane's, but of the imperial government. it is impossible for lord cochrane to return to the brazils as the admiralty court there _has sentenced him to pay £. , sterling, and his command will cease as soon as peace is made between brazil and portugal! besides, lord cochrane's motive for detaining the_ piranga _is the expectation on his part of receiving £. per annum at the termination of the war, which the government will never give him_!" finding that this made no impression on me, he began to threaten, saying that "he would state to his government that all delay was occasioned by me, and that i should have to answer for it." i told him that, in the event of my sailing without your orders, i subjected myself to be tried by a court-martial for so doing, and leaving your lordship behind. he answered that "i must be aware that he was the legal representative of his imperial majesty, and that he would give me despatches of such a nature as would not only exonerate me from all blame, but would shew the great zeal i had for his imperial majesty's service." i asked gameiro--if i were to act in such a manner, what would people think of me? the answer was, "_never mind what lord cochrane says, you will be in the brazils and he in england, and i will take upon myself all the blame and the responsibility._" he gave me till the evening to think of his proposals, and if i would not consent to them, he had other means of sending the _piranga_ to sea. he further requested me to keep this secret from your lordship, as if you heard of it you would come post and stop it; adding that if i would consent, he would send a sufficient number of men in a steamboat, with every kind of store and provisions required to complete us, and we were to sail immediately. this deep laid plot of gameiro's was not to be carried on as portuguese plots are in general, but was to be done--using his own words--_at a blow_, before anybody could know anything about it. with this i send a copy of my answer to gameiro's proposals, and a letter representing the state of the ship. i have the honour to remain your lordship's obedient servant, ja's. shepherd. such were the underhand expedients of a man who was silly enough to tell the secrets of his government, as regarded the intended injustice of the brazilian ministry towards me--in spite of stipulations thrice ratified by the emperor's own hand. but in confiding them to lieutenant shepherd, the envoy's want of common honesty, no less than of common sense, did not perceive that he was imparting iniquitous projects to a brave and faithful officer, who would not lose a moment till he had apprised me of the whole. i should be unjust to the memory of captain shepherd did i not give his written reply to the infamous proposals of gameiro, a copy of which was enclosed to me in the preceding letter. copy of my answer to gameiro's proposals, sent in portuguese, and translated by mr. march:-- most excellent sir, in answer to the wishes of your excellency to place myself under your immediate orders, i have to acquaint you that i have this morning had a letter from lord cochrane, stating that he had received letters from your excellency of such a nature as to require his immediate presence in town, where he intends to be on monday next. this alone--you must be aware--will entirely preclude the possibility of putting into execution the arrangements which you wished; the celerity of the admiral's movements being such as to preclude all hope of effecting them. i am sorry to add, that all our men have this morning left the ship in a complete state of mutiny, occasioned by their not having received their last two months' pay, and i much fear that it will be now more difficult than ever to get her manned--as, from their having been so long kept in arrears, and leaving their ship without being paid, has irritated their feelings to such a degree, that i have no hesitation whatever in saying that they will do all in their power to prevent others from joining her. i have the honour to remain your obedient humble servant, james shepherd. to his excellency manoel rodriguez gameiro pessoa. on the th of october, i received from the brazilian legation in london, further orders from the imperial government, dated august th, , to return with the _piranga_ to rio de janeiro--and with these i made preparations to comply, notifying to gameiro my readiness to sail--by the following letter:-- london, nov. , . most excellent sir, having informed your excellency on the st of october, that previous to quitting maranham i had anticipated the imperial resolutions, and having in my letter of the th further made known to your excellency that the _piranga_ should sail for brazil on or as soon after the th of this month as the wind would permit, your excellency will perceive that there is nothing remaining of the imperial decree to be executed, unless the _piranga_ (which i much doubt) should be enabled to put to sea before the early day which i have fixed for departure. (signed) cochrane and maranhaÕ. his excellency manoel rodriguez gameiro pessoa. this declaration of my readiness to comply with his imperial majesty's orders did not, however, suit the envoy, nor did it fall in with his instructions from the brazilian ministry, which, no doubt were, as soon as peace was proclaimed, _to get rid of me without satisfying my claims_--this course being, indeed, apparent from what the envoy, as just shewn, had communicated to lieutenant shepherd. (see page .) on the rd of november, peace between portugal and brazil was announced, and the independence of the empire acknowledged; gameiro being, on the occasion, created baron itabayana, whilst i--to whose instrumentality the peace--as a consequence of the consolidation of the empire had been mainly owing, _was to be ignominiously dismissed the service_! on the th of november--four days only after the announcement of peace--gameiro took upon himself the execution of the spurious ministerial decree issued by barbosa on the th of february, , which _had been abrogated by the emperor, through the same minister, in the july following, as a prelude to my employment in the tranquillisation of the northern provinces_. gameiro did not venture previously to apprise me of the act lest i should resist it--but insultingly sent an order to the officers of the piranga to "disengage themselves from all obedience to my command." (se desligaõ de toda subordinacaõ a o ex'mo s'r marquez do maranhaõ), thus unjustifiably terminating my services--as i was on the point of returning, in obedience to the order of the emperor. the subjoined is the order alluded to:-- _to_ captain shepherd, _commanding the piranga, still refusing supplies whilst i held the command._ having received the two letters which you addressed to me on the th of this month, enclosing three demands for various articles for the use of the frigate, i have to reply that i persist in my resolution not to furnish anything to the frigate unless she is placed under the immediate orders of this legation, which i shall only consider accomplished when i shall receive a reply signed by yourself, and by all the other officers, declaring that--in compliance with the orders of his imperial majesty, contained in the two portarias of th of june and th of august last--_you all place yourselves under the orders of this legation, and cast off all subordination to the marquis of maranhaõ!_ dated london, th november, . (signed) gameiro. as this was done without the slightest motive existing or assigned, there was no doubt in my mind but that barbosa and his colleagues in the ministry had instructed gameiro to dismiss me from the service whenever peace was effected; indeed, he had so informed lieutenant shepherd by the letter before quoted. to resist a measure--though thus insultingly resorted to--in the face of the imperial order to return, was out of the question, as the instant consequence would have been a disgraceful outbreak between the brazilian and portuguese seamen of the _piranga,_ in the principal war port of england, to my own scandal, no less than to that of the imperial government. i had, therefore, no alternative to avert this outrage but by submitting to the forcible deposition from my authority as commander-in-chief. this act of the envoy--_based upon the deliberate falsehood that his imperial majesty had ordered the officers not to obey me, no such order existing_ in either of the portarias mentioned--precluded my obedience to the imperial command to return to rio de janeiro, for being no longer acknowledged as "first admiral of brazil, and commander-in-chief of the national armada," i could only have accompanied the _piranga_ as a passenger, or rather _quasi_ prisoner; and to this, in either capacity, it was impossible, without degradation, to submit. i had no inclination to place myself at the mercy of men who had taken advantage of a spurious decree to dismiss me--now that--in spite of their opposition--the destiny of the empire had been irrevocably decided by my having counteracted their _anti-national_ views whilst carrying out the intentions of his imperial majesty. as will presently be seen, it was falsely represented by gameiro, to the imperial government, that i had _voluntarily abandoned the service!_ though, from the letter just quoted--ordering the officers to "disengage themselves from all subordination to me," this subterfuge of my having _dismissed myself_ is obviously false. i will not, therefore, trespass on the patience of the reader by dilating upon the subject; suffice it to say that, not choosing to return to rio de janeiro as a passenger, i had no dignified alternative but to give up the frigate to the command of the senior officer, captain shepherd; confiding to him all accounts of monies distributed for the imperial service, with the vouchers for the same--taking the precaution to send however the duplicate receipts given by the officers on account of the monies paid by the junta of maranham--and retaining the originals in my possession, where they now remain, and will be adduced in the statement of account forming the concluding chapter of this volume. for these accounts--which the brazilian ministers _deny ever to have received_--captain shepherd gave me, under his own signature, the following acknowledgment--now in my possession; a photograph of which, together with photographs of other important documents has long since been sent to the brazilian government:-- received from lord cochrane, marquess of maranhaõ, the key of the iron chest, in which the prize lists and receipts for the disbursement of public monies have been kept during his excellency's command; which key and chest i engage faithfully to deliver to the accountant-general of his imperial majesty's navy, or to the proper authority at rio de janeiro, taking his receipt for the same. on board h.i.m.'s ship _piranga_, november th, , ja's shepherd. the denial by the brazilian administration--of the accounts and receipts thus acknowledged by captain shepherd, and the absence of any ministerial communication on the subject, forms an unworthy imputation on the memory of a gallant officer, who a short time afterwards nobly died in action in the cause of brazil. it was utterly impossible that captain shepherd should have done otherwise than have delivered them, for he was a man upon whose honour no reproach could be cast. there are only two ways to account for their not having been delivered, if such be the case. st, that gameiro on the delivery of the frigate to the legation obtained possession of the chest in which they were deposited, and withheld them to justify my dismissal by casting the reproach upon me of having appropriated the amount--an act of which the brazilian government may judge whether he was capable; or, ndly, that from the same reason they were purposely withheld or destroyed by the ministers who had been so inimical to me. the present brazilian administration is happily composed of men of a different stamp, and it becomes them, for the sake of the national reputation, to institute the strictest search for the documentary evidence adduced, as no man will believe that i withheld documents which could alone justify my acts. and here i must be permitted to remark, that the documentary evidence adduced in this volume proves the history, and not the history the documents. if any question be made as to their validity or fidelity, _i hereby call upon the brazilian government to appoint a commission, or authorise their embassy to compare the extracts with the originals in my possession, so that no manner of doubt or question shall attach to them._ my object in now producing them is, that i will not voluntarily go to my grave with obloquy, cast on me by men, who, at the outset of brazilian independence, were a misfortune to the empire no less than to myself; men who not only pursued this shameful line of conduct towards me who was unable to resist it,--but towards his imperial majesty,--who, by similar practices, was eventually disgusted into an abdication of his throne and an abandonment of the country--to which he had given one of the freest constitutions in existence--achieved under the imperial watchword, "independencia ou morte." chapter xiii. i am dismissed the service by the brazilian government--without any acknowledgment of my services--inconsistency of this with former thanks--though dismissed i am tried as a deserter--and am refused all compensation--report of recent commission on the subject--false representations--but partially true conclusions--my original patents never set aside--untrue assumptions as to my dismissal--my claims founded on the original patents--less than half the interest due paid--opinions of eminent brazilians thereon--my services tardily acknowledged--no act of mine had annulled them--the estate conferred, not confirmed--promises on account of chili unfulfilled--the whole still my right. having been thus unceremoniously dismissed from the imperial service--without doubt, by order of the brazilian ministry to their envoy in london, i was some months afterwards surprised by the receipt of a letter from the imperial government, dated december st, , and signed "visconde de paranagua," informing me that his imperial majesty had ordered all my pay and other claims to be suspended till i should return to rio de janeiro to justify myself and give an account of my commission--this being now out of my power, as i had been deprived of command, and the frigate in which i came to england had returned, by order of the envoy, to rio de janeiro. without, however, giving me time to do this, i received another letter from the same authority, dated dec. , containing my formal dismission from the service--this shewing that gameiro had previous instructions to act in the way narrated in the last chapter. the following is the official letter dismissing me from the command of the navy, and from the post of first admiral:-- his majesty the emperor, informed of that which your excellency has set forth in your letter no. , dated the th of november last, has been pleased to determine that your excellency shall fulfil the orders already several times transmitted to you, and further in compliance with the order of the th inst., a copy of which i inclose, you are to return to this court, where it is necessary you shall give an account of the commission with which you were entrusted. his majesty is much surprised that, after having taken the frigate _piranga_ to a foreign port, and having there remained in despite of the baron itabayana, you should have adopted the extraordinary resolution, not only _to abandon that frigate, but also to retire from the service of the emperor_, without having returned to give an account of your proceedings _previous to your dismissal from the command of the naval forces, and from the post of first admiral_ of the national and imperial armada. all which i communicate for the information and execution of your excellency. god preserve your excellency. palace of rio de janeiro, dec. th, . (signed) visconde de paranagua. to the marquis of maranhaõ. from this extraordinary document it is plain that gameiro had written to the imperial government the same falsehood, as he had used when endeavouring to seduce lieut. shepherd from his duty to me as his commander-in-chief; viz. that i had voluntarily retired from the service, because the admiralty court having condemned me in £. , _damages, i durst not return to rio de janeiro!_ though i announced to him my readiness to sail in the frigate. the jesuitical nature of the preceding letter amply proves its object and motive. it does not dismiss me--but _it calls on me to come and be dismissed_! carefully addressing me, however, as "marquis of maranhaõ," and not as first admiral, thereby intimating that i was _already dismissed_! as there can be no mistake about the meaning of the document, it is not worth while to discuss it--the reason why it is adduced being to shew that i was not only dismissed by the envoy gameiro, but in a little more than a month afterwards by the imperial government itself; which for thirty years reiterated in reply to my often pressed claims--that _i dismissed myself by abandoning the service of my own accord_! not a word of acknowledgment was ever given for having a second time saved the empire from dismemberment, though this service was entirely extra-official, it being no part of my contract with the brazilian government to put down revolution, nor to take upon myself the responsibility and difficult labour of reducing half the empire to the allegiance which it had perhaps not without cause repudiated--at the same time, of necessity, taking the management of the whole upon myself. this had been done at the pressing personal request of his imperial majesty, in face of the decree of the court of admiralty _that no prizes should be made within a certain distance of the shore_; so that no benefit, public or private--arising from the operations of war--could result from blockade; yet i had a right to expect even greater thanks and a more liberal amount of compensation in case of success, than from the first expedition. not a word of acknowledgment nor a shilling of remuneration for that service has ever been awarded to this day; though such treatment stands out in glaring inconsistency with the imperial thanks and honours--the thanks of the administration--and the vote of the general assembly, for expelling on the first expedition enemies not half so formidable as were the revolutionary factions with which i had to contend in the northern provinces. neither in brazil nor in england had i done anything to forfeit my right to the fulfilment of the explicit stipulations set forth in the imperial patents of march th, and november th, . his imperial majesty had all along marked his approbation of my zealous exertions for the interests of the empire--designating them "_altos e extraordinarios servicios_."--and desired that i should have the most ample remuneration; having, in addition to every honour in his power to confer, granted me an estate, which grant was by the portuguese faction strenuously and successfully opposed, and not this only, but every other recompence proposed by his majesty as a remuneration for my services. the object being to subvert whatever had been effected by my exertions, though, but for these the inevitable consequence would have been the establishment of insignificant local governments in perpetual turmoil and revolution, in place of an entire empire in the enjoyment of uninterrupted repose. had i connived at the views of the anti-imperial faction--even by avoiding the performance of extra-official services--i might, without dereliction of my duty as an officer, have amply shared in their favours; but for my adherence to the emperor against their machinations, that influence was successfully used to deprive me even of the ordinary reward of my labours in the cause of independence. as soon as the compulsory deprivation of my command, by the envoy gameiro, became known in rio de janeiro--where, doubtless, it was expected--a great outcry was raised against me, _as though my non-return had been my own act_. the press was set in motion, and every effort was used to traduce me in the eyes of the brazilian people, from whom the truth of the matter was carefully withheld; the whole, eventually, terminating with a mock trial in my absence, when it had been placed out of my power to defend myself. at this trial i was accused of contumacy--stigmatised as a deserter, though, as has just been seen, formally dismissed by the government, in confirmation of my dismissal by the envoy in england--and not only this, but i was declared by the creatures of the administration in the national assembly, to merit punishment as a deserter! such was my reward for first consolidating and afterwards preserving the empire of brazil. never dreaming of the advantage which might thus be taken by the administration of the act of their envoy--on the th of february, , i drew a bill upon the brazilian government for the remainder of my pay up to the period of my dismissal by itabayana. this was refused and protested, as was also another afterwards drawn. this course clearly indicated the intention of the administration not to pay me anything, now that they had dismissed me from the service. to have returned then to prosecute my claims against such judges, would have been an act of folly, if not of insanity; my only alternative being to memorialize the emperor, which for many successive years i did without effect--the execution of the imperial will unhappily depending on the decision of his ministers, who, little more than five years afterwards, partly forced, and partly disgusted his majesty into an abdication in favour of his infant son, don pedro de alcantara, now emperor of brazil; committing the guardianship of his family to josé bonifacio de andrada, who, like myself, had been forced into exile from the hatred of the very men who had so bitterly persecuted me, but had been permitted to return to brazil from which he never ought to have been exiled. for more than twenty years did i unceasingly memorialize successive brazilian governments, but without effect. at length the administration which had so bitterly visited its hatred on me passed away, and it became evident to his present imperial majesty, and the brazilian people, that i had been most shamefully treated. nearly at the same time i had fortunately succeeded in convincing the british government that the obloquy for so many years heaped upon me was unmerited; and lord clarendon warmly espoused my cause, as did the hon. mr. scarlett, the british minister at rio de janeiro; these excellent personages taking the trouble to investigate the matter, a boon which i had in vain solicited from any of their predecessors; though, had the favour previously been granted, it would have had the effect of explaining my conduct in brazil as satisfactorily as, i trust, this volume has done to the reader. the result of this was a commission, appointed by the brazilian government, to inquire into the case of the squadron generally. the following is an extract from their report, so far as regards myself:-- lord cochrane. the first in rank and title assuredly is lord cochrane, earl of dundonald, and marquis of maranhaõ, first admiral and commander-in-chief of the national armada during the war of independence. the fame of the services rendered by lord cochrane in chili, as commander-in-chief of the squadron of that republic induced the imperial government to invite him to accept a similar command in brazil, so long as the war of independence should last, with the promise of the same advantages which he there enjoyed. accepting the invitation, he was appointed by the decree of the st of march, , with the pay of . milreis, being the same as he had in chili, conferring upon him, by communication of the same date, the command of the squadron which was being equipped in the port of this city; and by decree of the rd of february, , the command-in-chief of the naval forces of the empire during the war of independence. it was afterwards decreed, on the th of july, , that he should enjoy the said pay in full, so long as he continued in the service of the empire; and _in case of his not desiring to continue therein_ after the war of independence, one half of the said pay as a pension, which, in the event of his decease, should revert to lady cochrane. lastly, by a _portaria_ of the th of december, , it was decreed that all his muniments and rights should be suspended, and he was dismissed by a decree of the th april, . justice demands that we shall acknowledge (says the commission) that the services of lord cochrane in the command of the squadron, put an end to the war more speedily than had been expected; but if his services were great, it is impossible to conceal that unqualified and arbitrary acts of the most audacious daring were committed by him and by the ships under his command, occasioning to the national treasury enormous losses, particularly by the heavy indemnification of an infinite number of bad prizes, which it was obliged to satisfy; and truth demands that we should declare that if the pretended claims are suspended, the fault was entirely his own, from having disobeyed the repeated orders of the imperial government, which commanded his return to this court to give account of his commission, aggravated by the crime of having withdrawn himself from the empire for england with the frigate _piranga_, and there remaining with that frigate, notwithstanding the reiterated orders of the imperial government, for more than two years, pretending that he had not received the said orders, which at last were ordered to be communicated to him through the brazilian minister resident in london. all this is amply proved by different official documents, some of which documents are from the claimant himself, this justifying the suspension of the payment of his claims, no less than the crime of his obstinate disobedience; and, indeed more by the indispensable obligation by which he was bound to give accounts of the sums which he received on account of prizes to distribute to the squadron under his command, which distribution he himself acknowledged in his letter of the th of november, , wherein he says, "i shall forward to the imperial government an account of the money received from his imperial majesty for distribution to the seamen, as well as other sums to the account of the captors." having traced this outline relative to the services and excesses of lord cochrane, the commission now proceeds to discuss his claims. first,--his annual pay is . milreis, which was owing to him from the st of august to the th of november , when he left the service of the empire. the claimant founds his demand on the decree of the st of march , added to and confirmed on the th of july, . the second decree says,--"i deem fit, by the advice of my council of state, to determine that the said marquis of maranhaõ shall receive, so long as he is in the service of the empire, the pay of his patent ( . milreis), and in case of his not choosing to continue therein after the termination of the present war, the half of the said pay, as a pension, the same being extended, in case of his death, to lady cochrane." the said enactment being so positive that at the sight thereof, the commission declares, that _it cannot do otherwise than confirm the right of the claimant to the prompt payment of the pension due to him._ in this report there are many inaccuracies. it is stated that when in chili i accepted "the brazilian command during the war of independence" only.--"_viesse occupar igual commando no brazil emquanto durasse guerra da independencia._" this is contrary to fact, as will be seen in the first chapter of this volume, where both the invitation to accept the command, and my conditional acceptance thereof are given. to repeat the actual words of the invitation, _"abandonnez-nous, milord, à la reconnaissance brésilienne--a la munificence du prince--à la probité sans tache de l'actuel gouvernement--on vous fera justice"_ &c. &c. it was neither "princely munificence"--"ministerial probity"--nor "common justice," to dismiss me from the service without my professional and stipulated emoluments, or even the arrears of my pay, the very moment tranquillity had been established as a consequence of my exertions, and so far the commission decided; though they ought to have added, as was well known, that my command in chili had been without limitation of time, and therefore my brazilian command, as expressed in the imperial patents, was not accepted under other conditions. the above opinion, expressed by the commission, could only have been given to justify the spurious decree of barbosa, in virtue of which, though set aside by his imperial majesty, i was dismissed by gameiro, that decree--under the hypocritical pretence of conferring upon me a boon--limiting my services to the war, _after the war had been terminated by my exertions;_ the object being to get rid of me, and thus to avoid condemning the prizes captured by the squadron. nevertheless, the promises held out to me in chili, were most honourably admitted by his imperial majesty and his first ministry--and were moreover twice confirmed by imperial patent, counter-signed by the ministers, and registered in the national archives. these patents _have never been set aside by any act of mine,_ yet to this day their solemn stipulations remain unfulfilled. the commission complains that the treasury was caused to sustain "enormous losses by the indemnification of an infinite number of bad prizes, which it was obliged to satisfy." i deny that there was _one bad prize,_ all, without exception, being captured in violation of blockade, or having portuguese registers, crews, and owners. but even if they had been bad--his majesty's stipulation, in his own handwriting (see page ), provided that they should be paid by the state. the fact was, as proved in these pages beyond contradiction, that they were given back by the portuguese members of the prize tribunal to their own friends and relations--this alone constituting the illegality of the captures. some--as in the case of the _pombinho_'s cargo--were given up to persons who had not the shadow of a claim upon them. the squadron never received a shilling on their account. again, the commission declares that i was dismissed the service on the th of april, ; whereas i have given the letter of gameiro, dismissing me, on the th of november, , and the _portaria_ of the imperial government, dismissing me, on the th of december, in the same year! this renewed dismissal was only a repetition of the former unjustifiable dismissals, adding nothing to their force, and in no way alleviating their injustice. the imputation of "the crime of obstinate disobedience" has been so fully refuted in this volume, that it is unnecessary to offer another word of explanation. finally, the commission decided that the "imperial act of july , , _is so positive that, at the sight thereof, the commission declares it cannot do otherwise than confirm the right of the claimant to the prompt payment of the pension due to him._" but if the commissioners had examined this act of his imperial majesty more closely, together with the explanatory letter of barbosa, accompanying it, they would have seen that the decree of july th, , was not only additive to the imperial patents, but admitted _to be confirmatory of them_, by barbosa himself, notwithstanding his own spurious decree, nullified by his imperial majesty, but afterwards unjustifiably acted upon. (see page .) if i have any claim at all for the numerous and important services which i rendered to brazil, it is founded _on the original patents_ granted to me by his imperial majesty, without limitation as to time, which i solemnly declare was not even mentioned--much less stipulated--as the patents themselves prove. the decree awarding me half pay as a pension, "in case _i did not choose_ to continue in the service," has no reference to me. i never left the service, but--as even admitted by gameiro, in his negotiations with lieutenant shepherd--was most unjustifiably, and by wilful falsehood, _turned out of it_, in order to rid the administration of my claims on a hundred and twenty ships, and a vast amount of valuable property captured in lawful warfare, under the express directions of his imperial majesty. why also is no compensation awarded to me for my extra-official services in putting down revolution in the northern provinces--an act, or series of acts--in my estimation, of far greater importance and difficulty than the expulsion of the portuguese fleet and army? every historian of brazil has spoken in high praise of my execution of this almost impracticable task--but coupled with the infamous lie derived from the government that, for my own personal benefit, i robbed the treasury at maranham of , dollars; though in the concluding chapter _i will print in full the receipt of every officer under my command for his share of the money returned by the junta_, the original receipts being now in my possession for the inspection of the brazilian government, or of any commission or persons it may choose to appoint for that purpose. were these services nothing, just as half the empire had declared itself republican? was my refusal to accept a bribe of , dollars from the revolutionary president of pernambuco the act of a man who would afterwards conduct himself as has been falsely imputed to me? the brazilian government cannot refuse to inspect or authorise the inspection of the originals of documents contained in this narrative, and if they consent, i have no fear but that the national honour will yet do me justice. it is not justice to have awarded to me the above-named pension merely--even on the assumption of the commissioners that i did leave the service of my own accord--for that sum is _less than one half the simple interest_ of the amount of which for thirty years i was, even by their own admission, unjustly deprived. this may be a cheap way of liquidating obligations, but it is not consistent with the honour of a nation thus to delay its pecuniary obligations, and then _pay the principal with less than half the interest_! i feel certain that when making an award--which they admit could not be avoided--the commissioners inadvertently lost sight of this obvious truth. let me refer the brazilian government to the officially recorded opinions of honourable men on the commission, or "_seccoes_," when commenting upon this very inadequate reward about to be given after the lapse of thirty years of unmerited obloquy, which would have sunk any man unsupported by the consciousness of rectitude to a premature grave. senor alvez bhanco e hollanda declared that "as a commemoration of the benefits which brazil had derived from lord cochrane, there was no other conclusion than that _he ought to be paid the whole sum which he claimed, for which the 'assemblea geral' should ask a credit_." senor hollanda cavalcante, in taking into account the requisition of lord cochrane, was "altogether of the opinion expressed by senor alvez branco--that his lordship as well as others should have the whole amount claimed." viscount olinda, in the council of state, gave his opinion that "lord cochrane shall be paid the various demands he has made. he repeated his opinion that this course alone was consistent with the dignity of the government, or the services of the admiral. he (viscount olinda) well remembered the great services of lord cochrane, and these ought not to be depreciated by paltry imputed omissions. it appeared to him little conformable to the dignity of brazil, to enter, at this distance of time, into questions of money with one to whom they owed so much." viscount parana "was of opinion that _no responsibility for captures rested on the officers who had made them, they acting under the orders of the government, which took the responsibility on itself_. justice demanded this view of the matter, and even the acquittal of many of the prizes might be attributed to _a change of ministerial policy_." senor aranjo vicuna. "there is no necessity for continuing the suspension of lord cochrane's pay. it ought to be paid as remuneration for important services, the benefits whereof were not diminished by any subsequent conduct on the part of his lordship." "it was the opinion of the council that lord cochrane's pension ought to be paid, notwithstanding any question as to the limitation of prizes, or any defects in the prize accounts."--_correio mercantil_, aug. , . yet notwithstanding these expressions of opinion, less than half the interest of even the limited sum admitted to be due to me was awarded. the commissioners admit in the preceding report that _my speedy annexation of the portuguese provinces was unexpected_, and this alone should have made them pause ere they awarded me less than half the interest of my own money, withheld for years--themselves retaining the principal--the amount received, being, in reality, insufficient to liquidate the engagements which i had of necessity incurred during the thirty years of neglect to satisfy my claims--now admitted to be beyond dispute. their admission involves the fact that the "_unexpected_" expulsion of the portuguese fleet and army _saved brazil millions of dollars in military and naval expeditions_ against an organised european power, which only required time to set at complete defiance any efforts which brazil herself was in a condition to make. it was, in fact, a question of "_speedy_" annexation, or no annexation at all, and it was this consideration which impelled me to the extraordinary measures adopted for the intimidation of the enemy, in the absence of means for their forcible expulsion. but is it generous to reward a service of such admitted importance, by giving me less than half the interest of a sum--acknowledged as a right which could no longer be withheld? is it not ungenerous to exclude me from my share of the prize-money taken in the first expedition, though a prize tribunal is at this moment sitting in rio de janeiro to consider the claims of officers and men, nine-tenths of whom are dead? is it not ungenerous to have engaged me in the extra-professional service of putting down revolution and anarchy in the northern provinces, and when the mission was successfully accomplished, to have dismissed me from the imperial service without one expression of acknowledgment or the slightest reward? but to put generosity out of the question--is it wise so to do? that, says burke--"can never be politically right which is morally wrong." brazil, doubtless, expects other nations to keep faith with her, and it is not wise on her part to afford a precedent for breaking national faith. the _amazon_ is a rich prize, and may one day be contested. what reply would brazil give to a power which might attempt to seize it, under the argument that she broke faith with those _who gave her the title to this, the most magnificent river on the face of the earth_, and that therefore it was not necessary to preserve faith with her? it would puzzle brazilian diplomatists to answer such a question. from what has been adduced in this volume, it must be clear to all who have perused it with ordinary attention that brazil is to this day in honour bound to fulfil the original stipulations solemnly entered into with me, and twice guaranteed under the imperial sign manual, with all the official ratifications and formalities usual amongst civilized states. this _i claim individually_; and further--_conjointly with the squadron_--my share of the prize-money conceded to the captors by imperial decree, without which customary incentive neither myself, nor any other foreign officer or seaman, would have been likely to enter the service. my _individual claim_, viz. the pay stipulated in the imperial patents, was agreed upon without limitation as to time, as is clear from the expression that i should receive it whether "afloat or ashore," "_tanto em terra como no mar_," _i.e._ whether "actively engaged or not"--whether "in war or peace." i have committed no act whereby this right could be cancelled, but was fraudulently driven from the imperial service, as the shortest way of getting rid of me and my claims together. these are no assertions of mine, but are the _only possible deductions_ from documents which have one meaning, and that incontestible. i claim, moreover, the estate awarded to me by his imperial majesty, with the double purpose of conferring a mark of national approbation of my services, and of supporting the high dignities to which--with the full concurrence of the brazilian people and legislature--i was raised as a reward for those services, the magnitude and importance of which were on all hands admitted. to have withheld that estate, after the reasons assigned by his imperial majesty for conferring it, was a national error which brazil should not have committed, and which it should, even now, be careful to efface; for by approving the dignities conferred, and withholding the means of supporting them, it has pronounced its highest honours to be worthless, empty sounding titles, lightly esteemed by the givers, and of no value to the recipient. had this estate cost anything to the brazilian nation, a miserable economy might have been pleaded as a reason for withholding it; but even this excuse is wanting. any territorial grant to myself could only have been an imperceptible fraction of the vast regions, which, together with an annual revenue of many millions of dollars--my own exertions, _without cost to the empire_, had added to its dominions "_unexpectedly_" as the commission appointed to investigate my claim felt bound to admit. if brazil value its national honour, that blot upon it should not be suffered to remain. with regard to the sum owing to me by chili, for which, in the event of its non-payment, both his imperial majesty don pedro i. and his minister josé bonifacio de andrada made the brazilian nation responsible. the discussion in the national assembly testifies to the validity of the claim, which therefore rests upon the generosity no less than the good faith of brazil, for whose interests, in accordance with the most flattering promises, i was induced to quit chili. to this day, chili has not fulfilled her obligations to me; the miserable pittance of £. , which--by some process i do not now care to inquire into, she has fixed upon as ample remuneration for one who consolidated her liberties and those of peru, supporting her navy at its own expense during the operation--constituted no part of my admitted claim for the capture of valdivia and other previous services, involving no dispute. payment of this sum ( , dollars) was promised at the earliest possible period by the then supreme director of the republic--but to this day the promise has never been redeemed by succeeding chilian governments. with regard to this claim, founded on the concessions of his late imperial majesty and his minister, i am content, as before said, to leave the matter to the generosity of the brazilian nation. the other, and more important claims, i demand as a right which has never been cancelled, and which a strict sense of national honour ought not longer to evade. if it be evaded, the documentary history of the whole matter is now before the world--and let the world judge between us. i have no fears as to its decision. chapter xiv. proclamation for payment of officers and men--log extracts in proof thereof--the sum given up to the squadron disbursed--denial thereof by the brazilian government--though made to serve as advance of wages--the amount received at maranham fully accounted for--by the receipts of the officers--officers' receipts--extracts from log in further corroboration--up to my arrival in england--all our prizes monopolized by brazil--the conduct of the brazilian government unjustifiable. the whole dispute raised by the brazilian administration as a pretext for evading my claims, has been--as the reader is now aware--about the sum of , dollars, _given out of the proceeds of our own captures, which cost nothing to the government; but were made to serve as a substitute for the usual advance of wages!_ also about , dollars ordered by his imperial majesty as compensation for the _imperatrice_ frigate, captured by captain grenfell at parà--but _never paid_, and therefore never accounted for. finally, with regard to , dollars reimbursed by the authorities of maranham, as a compromise for four times the amount generously surrendered by the squadron to the necessities of the province in --on promise of repayment. as regards the whole of the sums, it is alleged that _i never furnished accounts of their expenditure, and therefore they are charged against me, as though not expended at all._ for the disbursement of the first item of , dollars, i have already stated sufficient to satisfy any reasonable person. the accounts set forth at page , shews that a balance remained in hand from the , dollars put on board at rio de janeiro, of , dollars. i shall now state what became of this sum. and first let me adduce the following proclamation:-- by his excellency the marquis of maranhaõ, first admiral, &c. &c. whereas, many officers and seamen are here employed who were not present, last year, at the capitulation of the hostile authorities, and seizure of portuguese funds and property at maranhaõ; and whereas it is condusive to the interests of his imperial majesty, that all those officers and seamen who have now contributed to the restoration of tranquillity, good order, and obedience to his imperial majesty, shall receive encouragement and reward; it is hereby directed that three months additional pay shall, without deduction, be distributed _as a gratuity_ to the said officers and men. given under my hand, this th day of february, , cochrane and maranhaÕ. i had, it is true, no authority for making this extra payment, but at the same time, i had the authority of his imperial majesty to devote the , dollars to the good of the service--thus clearly leaving its disbursement to my discretion; and this appeared to me to be properly exercised in rewarding those who had been performing double duty afloat and ashore, in the arduous task of putting down, and keeping down revolt and anarchy. on this principle, i had previously doubled the pay of some of the officers, without whose incessant exertion, i could not have effected the tranquillization of the province. it is true that the principle adopted was opposed to that pursued by the administration, viz. neither to acknowledge these extra services nor reward them; but such a course neither accorded with my judgment nor discretion. the sums paid as above were entered in the usual manner in a pay book, acknowledged by the signatures of the recipients--attested by the officers--and, as has been said, duly forwarded to the imperial government. i shall now give some extracts from the log before quoted in reference to these and other transactions:-- _january th_, . his lordship left at hesketh's his last two months' pay, received this month, and also two months' pay for captain crosbie. paid other officers and men two months' pay. _ th_. employed in sorting the paper money in the small iron chest. _found its contents to be only_ , dollars. (this was all that now remained of the , dollars received at rio de janeiro.) _ th_. officers having been paid, the men received to-day two months' pay. _ th_. admiral took to hesketh's three bags of dollars (each containing dollars, the remainder of money which i had brought from chili, and which therefore had nothing to do with the brazilian government). _february th_. paid third payment of prize-money to clewley, clare and january. _ th_. paid prize-money to march and carter. _ th_. paid lieutenant shepherd , dollars. _ th_. paid commissary, escrivaõ, and pilot. _march st_. paid portuguese doctor. _ rd_. paid corning's account for ship provisions. the above payments, with others disbursed in pursuance of my proclamation, were all made out of the balance of the , dollars aforesaid, and , dollars which had been in my possession ever since the capture of maranham; the latter being the amount which i had refused to give up to the prize tribunal at rio de janeiro, well knowing that it would be returned to their portuguese friends and connections. when these payments were made, a few hundred dollars alone remained. as this , dollars was the indisputable property of the squadron before it was assigned for distribution amongst those to whom it belonged--on this ground alone it scarcely became the government to raise doubts about its proper application; for they well knew that if it were not distributed, the fact could not be concealed from the officers and men, who would not have submitted quietly to my retention of their money, as has been shamelessly imputed to me. not only was the whole disbursed--but the accounts, as has been stated, were faithfully transmitted to the brazilian authorities at rio de janeiro, as appears by captain shepherd's receipt, adduced in the present volume, and years ago photographed, and transmitted with a memorial to the brazilian government, which, nevertheless, on the th of april, _in the present year_, published in its official organ, the _correio mercantil_, a report on the prizes made during the war of independence--excluding me from a share, on _the ground of not having delivered my accounts_. the following is an extract:-- (after enumerating the prizes, and estimating their gross value at , dollars--_not one-fourth of the real amount_--the commission goes on to say:--) referring to what has been stated, it appears that the first admiral and commander-in-chief of the squadron from its commencement to the conclusion of the war, _had a right to his share of all prizes_--and so the commission has judged in regard to the total value, amounting to the said sum of , milreis up to the th of february, . _from that sum, however, must be deducted , dollars given to the admiral on account of prize-money for distribution, which it does not appear by any document that he made_. it also appears by the report of the junta of maranhaõ, of the th of october, , that the said admiral received the further sum of , dollars at different times, there appearing , dollars under the title of indemnification for prizes made by the squadron in the port of that city, to be divided as such. _this division does not seem to have been made_. from this it appears that the said admiral must be charged as having received the sum of , dollars on account of prizes to be divided amongst the squadron; with the addition of , dollars which he received also by decree of the rd of february, to be, in like manner, divided amongst those who co-operated in the annexation of the province of maranhaõ, and the capture of the frigate _imperatrice--seeing that there is no evidence that such distribution took place_--thus increasing the sum due to , dollars, of which the said claimant is bound to give account to the imperial government. in consequence of the determination of the regulations let this decree be printed and published. rio, april , . (signed) joaquim josÉ ignacio, _chefe de esquadra_, president. antonio josÉ da silva, _contador da marinha_. josÉ baptista lisboa, _auditor e secretario_. this document, so recently promulgated, after the decision of the _seccoes_ in , and the expression of opinion given by the most eminent men of brazil (see page ), that i ought to have the whole of my claims--is really wonderful. but the false assertions it contains must be met. and first--the receipt of the , dollars for the _imperatrice_, i altogether deny, and can be easily convicted of untruth if my receipt for that sum can be produced. it is worthy of note, that the date of the decree for the payment of this sum is carefully given in the preceding document, but the data of my acknowledgment of having received is annulled for the sufficient reason that no acknowledgment was ever given. the , dollars, i trust that i have sufficiently accounted for, as well as for the vouchers sent to rio by captain shepherd, whose receipt i took for the chest containing them. but the , dollars with which the government charges me--even supposing the accounts to be lost--destroyed--or purposely made away with--was not the property of the brazilian government, but of the squadron, who received it only as part payment of ten times the amount due to them! this sum though the property of the squadron, was made to serve _as an advance of wages_, no less than as prize-money; and does the brazilian government imagine that any squadron could be sent to sea without money? or that any reader of common sense will acquiesce in the assertion that under such circumstances it was not properly disbursed, even though i had not shewn _its precise disbursement_? the brazilian government well knows that the men composing the squadron were of so mutinous a character, that the slightest deviation from their rights would have been met with instant insubordination. did this ever occur, even in the slightest possible degree? it is no fault of mine, if the accounts were destroyed, as i have no doubt they were, from pure malice towards myself, in order to bring me into an amount of disrepute, which might justify the withholding of my claims according to the stipulations of the imperial patents. by whom this infamy was perpetrated, it is impossible for me to say--but that it was perpetrated--there cannot be the smallest possible doubt. it is altogether unnecessary to say another word about the , dollars for the _imperatrice_, or the , dollars for distribution--as the evidence adduced is sufficient to satisfy any man not determined to be unconvinced. i now come to the amount alleged to have been received from the junta of maranham, viz. , dollars, "at different times," which i have no doubt is perfectly correct, though that portion of it under the title of "indemnification for prizes"--is incorrect, the amount being , dollars--_minus_ the discount, and not , dollars as represented. the difference is not, however, worth notice. deducting this sum from the total of , dollars, would leave , dollars to be accounted for otherwise than as "indemnifieation." this also is, no doubt, correct. the inhabitants of maranham cheerfully agreed _to pay and subsist the squadron_, provided it remained amongst them to preserve the order which had been restored, and the offer was accepted by me. the , dollars thus went for the pay and subsistence of the squadron during many months of disturbance; and if it prove any thing, it is the economy with which the wants of the squadron were satisfied, despite the corruption of the authorities, in paying double for provisions, because the merchants could only get paid at all, except by bribes to their debtors. does the brazilian government mean to tell the world that it sent a squadron to put down revolution in a territory as large as half europe, _without receiving a penny in the shape of wages_, except their own , dollars of prize-money--that it never considered it necessary to send to the squadron a single dollar of pay whilst the work was in process--and that it now considers it just to charge the whole expenses to me as commander-in-chief, though the expedition did not cost the government any thing? yet this is precisely that which the brazilian administration has done--with what justice let the world decide. i aver that the accounts were faithfully transmitted. the imperial government of the present day, says that the accounts are not in existence--_not that i did not transmit them_! surely they ought to blame their predecessors, not me. let this history decide which of the two is deserving of reprobation. i now come to the , dollars--or rather , dollars received from the junta of maranham as "indemnification,"--respecting which the commission unjustly asserts that "_no division appears to have been made!_" the untruth of this imputation, the most atrocious of all, is very easily met _by the publication of every receipt connected with the matter_; and to this i now proceed, requesting the reader to bear in mind that in my letter to the minister of marine (see page ), i announced my intention of retaining for my own justification all _original documents_, sending to the government, copies or duplicates. the whole of the subjoined receipts are now in my possession, and i demand from the brazilian government their verification, by its ministerial or consular representatives in great britain. receipts of officers, and others for their proportion of , dollars paid by the junta of fazenda of maranham in commutation of , dollars--the value of prize property left for the use of the province on its acquisition from portugal in ; the duplicates having been sent by me to the imperial government, the originals now remaining in my possession. , . received from the right hon. lord cochrane, marquis of maranhaõ, and commander-in-chief of the imperial armada, the sum of five thousand milreis, being four thousand one hundred and thirty-seven, or one-third of the admiral's share of prize-money; and eight hundred and sixty three to account of double pay for services on shore. david jowett, maranhaõ, th march, . chief of division. * * * * * received of the right hon. lord cochrane, marquis of maranhaõ, first admiral of brazil, and commander-in-chief of the naval forces of the empire, the sum of five hundred milreis, as a recompence for extra services as commandant-interim of his imperial majesty's ship _piranga_, during the absence of chief of division jowett, on service on shore at maranhaõ during four months past. march nd, . james wallace. witness, w. jackson. * * * * * received this th day of march, , of the right hon. lord cochrane, marquis of maranhaõ, first admiral of brazil, and commander-in-chief of the naval forces of the empire, the sum of ten thousand milreis, on account of a distribution of eighty contos of reis, being part of certain monies received from the junta of fazenda of maranhaõ. t. sackville crosbie. _rs._ , . * * * * * , . received of the right hon. lord cochrane, marquis of maranhaõ, first admiral and commander-in-chief of the naval forces of the empire, the sum of five thousand milreis, being the amount of additional pay to all the subordinate officers and seamen of his imperial majesty's ship _piranga_, who have served on shore at maranhaõ, between the th day of november, , and the th day of march, . david jowett, chief of division, commandant of the _piranga_. maranhaõ, th march, . * * * * * received this th day of march, , of the right hon. lord cochrane, &c. &c. the sum of one thousand five hundred milreis, on account of a distribution of eighty contos of reis, being part of certain monies received from the junta of fazenda at maranhaõ. w. jackson, _rs._ , . capt.-lieut. and secretary. received this st day of march, , of the right hon. lord cochrane, marquis of maranhaõ, &c. &c. the sum of one thousand milreis, on account of an allowance of one-half per cent. for my trouble in the distribution of prize-money. w. jackson, , . capt.-lieut. and secretary. * * * * * received this st of march, , of the right hon. lord cochrane, &c. &c. the sum one thousand five hundred milreis, on account of a distribution of eighty contos of reis, being part of certain monies received from the junta of fazenda of maranhaõ. ja's shepherd, , . first lieut. of _pedro primiero._ * * * * * _pedro primiero,_ march , . received from the right hon. lord cochrane, &c. &c. the sum of one thousand milreis, on account of a distribution of eighty contos of reis, being part of certain monies received from the junta of fazenda of maranhaõ. , . s.e. clewley. * * * * * _pedro primiero_, march th, . received from the right hon. lord cochrane, &c. &c. the sum of one thousand milreis, on account of a distribution of eighty contos of reis, &c. &c. , . francis clare. * * * * * naõ nacional e imperial, _pedro iro_, march , . recebei do excellentissimo lord cochrane, &c. &c. a quartier de hum contos de reis, pro conta de huma divisiaõ de octento contos de reis, senda parte de certos dinheiros recebidos da junta da fazenda do maranhaõ. francisco de paulo dos santos gomez. , . * * * * * officers' receipts precisely similar receipts, on same date, from the following officers: francisco adeiao pera............................... , manoel s. sinto .................................... alexander josÉ (remainder illegible) ............... * * * * * received from the right hon. lord cochrane, &c. &c. the sum of five hundred milreis, on account of a distribution, &c. &c. . g. march. * * * * * maranhaõ, th march, . received from the right hon. lord cochrane, &c. &c. the sum of five hundred milreis, on account of a distribution, &c. &c. . w. jannary. * * * * * th march, . received from the right hon. lord cochrane, &c. &c. the sum of five hundred milreis, on account of distribution, &c. &c. . david carter, second lieut. * * * * * received, april th, , of the right hon. lord cochrane, &c. &c. the sum of one thousand four hundred and eighty milreis, being prize-money due to capt.-lieut. g. manson. for capt.-lt. manson, , . w. jannary. * * * * * received of the right hon. lord cochrane, &c. &c. the sum of one thousand milreis, on account of a distribution of eighty contos of reis, being part of certain monies received from the junta of fazenda of maranhaõ. , . geo. manson. april , . * * * * * received of the right hon. lord cochrane, &c. &c. the sum of four hundred and eighty milreis, on account of prize-money due to me. . geo. manson. maranhaõ, april , . authoriso se josé perea de sua excellencia marques do maranhaõ recober e quantier de quinhentos milreis. march th, . (name illegible.) . * * * * * maranham, march , . received of lord cochrane, &c. &c. the sum of two thousand six hundred and five milreis, being the amount of my account for provisions supplied to the brazilian squadron. , . leonard coming. * * * * * received, the th of april, , of his excellency lord cochrane, &c. &c. one hundred and ninety-five milreis, being additional pay for extra duty on shore for five months. rs. . g. march. * * * * * received, april th, , of his excellency lord cochrane, &c. &c. four hundred and eighty milreis, being additional pay for extra duty as secretary to his lordship for the period of five months. . w. jackson. * * * * * received, april , , of the right. hon. lord cochrane, &c. &c. thirty-nine milreis, being a month's additional pay for extra services at maranham. . francis drummond. * * * * * received, april , , of the right hon. lord cochrane, &c. &c. sixty-nine milreis, being additional pay for sixty days' extra service at maranham. . joseph fitzcosten. * * * * * received, april rd, of his excellency the marquis of maranhaõ, &c. &c. twenty-three dollars for my services as prize master of the vessels _dido_ and _joaninho_. . c. rose, second lieut. * * * * * received, may th, , of mr. w. jackson, two hundred and eighty-five milreis, part of prize money due to me. . ja's shepherd. * * * * * _piranga_, spithead, july , . received of mr. w. jackson, secretary to his excellency the marquis of maranham, &c. &c. the sum of two hundred and thirty-five pounds sterling, in order to pay the same as prize-money to those persons, late of the _pedro primiero_, but now belonging to this frigate, to whom the sum is due. £. or , . * * * * * there is, however, _one omission_. the payment of the crews is not adduced, because the pay books were sent with duplicate receipts to rio de janeiro by the _piranga_. but as no reasonable man will imagine that i publicly paid the officers and _neglected payment to the crews_, the omission is of the least possible consequence. but lest the payment of the crews may be disputed, i subjoin the following extracts from the log before quoted, from the commencement of the payment, to its termination. dates and particulars. . march th. received from the junta of maranham, contos (£ , ) in bills, and contos (£ ) in money. " th. writing new book of distribution. " th. captain crosbie brought contas (£ , ). went with him to hesketh's, where i found that he had received contos (£ , ) for himself. " th. lord cochrane paid jowett , dollars as prize-money and double pay. " th. , dollars paid to jowett's officers and men as double pay. paid march his further share of prize-money, dollars. took at admiral's desire dollars for my distribution of the contos in part received--from which it appears that i am to have half per cent, for distribution. march nd. received two months' pay to the st of february. went on board the _piranga_, and made wallace a gratuity from the admiral of dollars. " th. paid shepherd, clewley, clare, commissary, doctors escrivaõ, jannary, and the pilot, a proportion of contos, in course of payment by the junta. went on board the _piranga_, and paid prize-money to carter and a number of men. " th. paying prize-money to such of jowett's men as were absent on shore on the th. " th. paying prize-money to such of the _pedro's_ people entitled thereto, as are to remain on board that ship. " th. making book for distribution of double pay to those who have served on shore. april th. counting out the money for double pay to the men who did shore service. " th. paid part of the men their additional pay. " th. paying the additional pay. " th. paying additional pay. sent capt. manson by january dollars prize-money. " th. a decree arrives by the _guarani _from the imperial government, directing the interim president that no money shall be paid to the squadron on account of the taking of maranham. admiral suspects barros to be at the bottom of it. " th. went on shore with the admiral, with sixteen bags of dollars, besides clewley's bag and mine. " th. paid inglis and his men additional pay. " th. admiral proposed to hesketh to ship cotton to the extent of forty or sixty contos, to which mr. hesketh (british consul) agreed. " th. remainder of the money from the junta promised to-morrow. april th. captain crosbie received , dollars as his further share. received dollars, seventy-six for distribution. more money from the treasury. may th. wrote to the junta, with further demand of , dollars to make up the stipulated amount. " th. paying his lordship's bills. " th. paying his lordship's bills. " th. received my last three months' pay to the th of april. " th. received the remaining money from the treasury. " th. sailed in the _piranga_. " th. sent sixty dollars by pilot to two soldiers on shore. june th. captain crosbie appointed captain of the fleet, with rank of chief of division. july nd. at portsmouth. agent arrived from london with two months' pay. " th. paying prize-money to men who had not been paid. received two months' pay to the st instant. " th. paid john skirr £. for wounds. the amount paid by the junta was, in fact, , dollars, partly in bills, from which a discount of dollars had to be taken. but these trifles are unworthy of notice: i have thus accounted for every shilling received from the brazilian government for the use of the squadron--to the satisfaction of my own conscience, and, i trust, to the satisfaction of all who may read this narrative. from what has been herein stated, it is obvious that brazil was, by my instrumentality--though with inadequate means--entirely freed from a foreign yoke, not only without national cost, but with positive gain, arising from the vast territories and revenues annexed--as well as from prizes, the value of which alone exceeded the cost of all naval equipments. it is true that, after a lapse of thirty-five years, a profession is made of adjudicating these prizes--but as nearly all the claimants are dead, and as an intention is manifested to retain my share, unless i produce accounts already transmitted--brazil will have thus monopolized the fruits of our exertions in the cause of independence--achieved without trouble or thought to the imperial government. for, beyond the usual orders on the departure of the squadron, not a single instruction was given--all being left to my discretion, and accomplished on my sole responsibility. even the favourable contraction of a loan in england--the acknowledgment of brazilian independence by european states--and the establishment of permanent peace--were the direct consequences of my services, but for which brazil might still have presented the same lamentable specimen of weakness without, and anarchy within, which forms the characteristics of other south american states. can any government then justify the conduct pursued towards me by brazil? can any government believe that the promises held out to me as an inducement to accept the command--may be optionally evaded after the more than completion of my part of the contract? the services rendered were fully acknowledged by those with whom that contract was made, and only repudiated by their factions successors, to whom brazil owed nothing but prospective confusion. can any one, then, judge otherwise--than that the present brazilian government is bound, in honour and good faith, to fulfil the national contract with me--not only on account of professional services accomplished--even beyond national expectation; but also on account of extra-official services which did not come within the scope of my professional duties, viz. the pacification of the northern provinces? that the fulfilment of these obligations is due, i once more quote the imperial invitation to adopt the cause of brazil:--"_votre grace est invitée, pour--et de part le gouvernement du brésil, à accepter le service de la nation brésilienne; chez qui je suis dûment autorisé à vous assurer le rang et le grade nullement inférieur à celui que vous tenez de la république. abandonnez-vous, milord, à la reconnaissance brésilienne;_ À la munificence du prince; À la probitÉ sans tache de l'actuel gouvernement; on vous fera justice; on ne rabaissera d'un seul point la haute considÉration--rang--grade--caractÈre--et avantages qui vous sont dÛs." "venez, milord, l'honneur vous invite--la gloire vous appelle. venez, donner À nos armes navales, cet ordre merveilleux et discipline incomparable de puissante albion." note: project gutenberg also has an html version of this file which includes the original illustrations. see -h.htm or -h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h/ -h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h.zip) tales of giants from brazil by elsie spicer eells author of "fairy tales from brazil" with illustrations by helen m. barton [illustration: "o fishes of the river, have you seen my own dear mother?"] new york dodd, mead and company copyright, by dodd, mead and company, inc. vail-ballou company binghamton and new york foreword brazil is the land of the giant among all the rivers of the world. it is the land of giant fruits and giant flowers. of course it is the land of giant stories too. years ago when the portuguese settlers came to brazil they brought with them the folk-tales of the old world. just as european grass seed, when planted in our brazilian gardens, soon sends forth such a rank, luxuriant growth that one hardly recognizes it as grass, so the old portuguese tales, planted in brazilian soil, have grown into new forms. the author gratefully acknowledges her indebtedness to the brazilian story tellers to whose tales she has listened, and to the collection of dr. sylvio romero, "contos populares do brazil," from which some of the "giant tales" have been adapted. contents chapter i the princess of the springs ii the fountain of giant land iii the boy and the violin iv the most beautiful princess v the little sister of the giants vi the forest lad and the wicked giant vii how the giantess guimara became small viii the adventures of a fisherman's son ix the beast slayer x the quest of cleverness xi the giant's pupil xii domingo's cat illustrations "o fishes of the river, have you seen my own dear mother?" the youngest prince watched the lemon tree carefully every day he saw standing before him the most beautiful maiden he had ever dreamed of there in the hall stood the most enormous giant she had ever seen the giant's daughter, guimara, was very much pleased with d. joaõ immediately a great flock of pigeons appeared with the lovely princess borne safely upon the butterfly's wings, the prince swiftly escaped the next day the cat dug up pieces of gold and carried them to the king tales of giants from brazil i the princess of the springs once, long ago, the moon giant wooed the beautiful giantess who dwells in the great river and won her love. he built for her a wonderful palace where the great river runs into the sea. it was made of mother-of-pearl with rich carvings, and gold and silver and precious stones were used to adorn it. never before in all the world had a giant or giantess possessed such a magnificent home. when the baby daughter of the moon giant and the giantess of the great river was born it was decreed among the giants that she should be the princess of all the springs and should rule over all the rivers and lakes. the light of her eyes was like the moonbeams, and her smile was like moonlight on still waters. her strength was as the strength of the great river, and the fleetness of her foot was as the swiftness of the great river. as the beautiful spring princess grew older many suitors came to sing her praises beneath the palace windows, but she favoured none of them. she was so happy living in her own lovely palace with her own dear mother that she did not care at all for any suitor. no other daughter ever loved her mother as the spring princess loved the giantess of the great river. at last the sun giant came to woo the spring princess. the strength of the sun giant was as the strength of ten of the other suitors of the fair princess. he was so powerful that he won her heart. when he asked her to marry him, however, and go with him to his own palace, the spring princess shook her lovely head. "o sun giant, you are so wonderful and so powerful that i love you as i never before have loved a suitor who sang beneath my palace window," said she, "but i love my mother, too. i cannot go away with you and leave my own dear mother. it would break my heart." the sun giant told the spring princess again and again of his great love for her, of his magnificent palace which would be her new home, of the happy life which awaited her as queen of the palace. at length she listened to his pleadings and decided that she could leave home and live with him for nine months of the year. for three months of every year, however, she would have to return to the wonderful palace of mother-of-pearl where the great river runs into the sea and spend the time with her mother, the giantess of the great river. the sun giant at last sorrowfully consented to this arrangement and the wedding feast was held. it lasted for seven days and seven nights. then the spring princess went away with the sun giant to his own home. every year the spring princess went to visit her mother for three months according to the agreement. for three months of every year she lived in the palace of mother-of-pearl where the great river runs into the sea. for three months of every year the rivers sang once more as they rushed along their way. for three months the lakes sparkled in the bright sunlight as their hearts once more were brimful of joy. when at last the little son of the spring princess was born she wanted to take him with her when she went to visit her mother. the sun giant, however, did not approve of such a plan. he firmly refused to allow the child to leave home. after much pleading, all in vain, the spring princess set out upon her journey alone, with sorrow in her heart. she left her baby son with the best nurses she could procure. now it happened that the giantess of the great river had not expected that her daughter would be able to visit her that year. she had thought that all the rivers and lakes, the palace of mother-of-pearl, and her own mother heart would have to get along as best they could without a visit from the spring princess. the giantess of the great river had gone away to water the earth. one of the land giants had taken her prisoner and would not let her escape. when the spring princess arrived at the beautiful palace of mother-of-pearl and gold and silver and precious stones, where the great river runs into the sea, there was no one at home. she ran from room to room in the palace calling out, "o dear mother, giantess of the great river, dear, dear mother! where are you? where have you hidden yourself?" there was no answer. her own voice echoed back to her through the beautiful halls of mother-of-pearl with their rich carvings. the palace was entirely deserted. she ran outside the palace and called to the fishes of the river, "o fishes of the river, have you seen my own dear mother?" she called to the sands of the sea, "o sands of the sea, have you seen my darling mother?" she called to the shells of the shore, "o shells of the shore, have you seen my precious mother?" there was no answer. no one knew what had become of the giantess of the great river. the spring princess was so worried that she thought her heart would break in its anguish. in her distress she ran over all the earth. then she went to the house of the great wind. the giant of the great wind was away, but his old father was at home. he was very sorry for the spring princess when he heard her sad story. "i am sure my son can help you find your mother," he said as he comforted her. "he will soon get home from his day's work." when the giant of the great wind reached home he was in a terrible temper. he stormed and raged and gave harsh blows to everything he met. his father had hid the spring princess in a closet out of the way, and it was fortunate indeed for her that he had done so. after the great wind giant had taken his bath and eaten his dinner he was better natured. then his father said to him, "o my son, if a wandering princess had come this way on purpose to ask you a question, what would you do to her?" "why, i'd answer her question as best i could, of course," responded the giant of the great wind. his father straightway opened the closet door and the spring princess stepped out. in spite of her long wanderings and great anguish of mind she was still very lovely as she knelt before the giant of the great wind in her soft silvery green garments embroidered with pearls and diamonds. the big heart of the giant of the great wind was touched at her beauty and at her grief. "o giant of the great wind," said the spring princess, as he gently raised her from her knees before him, "i am the daughter of the giantess of the great river. i have lost my mother. i have searched for her through all the earth and now i have come to you for help. can you tell me anything about where she is and how i can find her?" the giant of the great wind put on his thinking cap. he thought hard. "your mother is in the power of a land giant who has imprisoned her," he said. "i happen to know all about the affair. i passed that way only yesterday. i'll gladly go with you and help you get her home. we'll start at once." the giant of the great wind took the spring princess back to earth on his swift horses. then he stormed the castle of the land giant who had imprisoned the giantess of the great river. the spring princess dug quietly beneath the castle walls to the dungeon where her mother was confined. you may be sure that her mother was overjoyed to see her. when the spring princess had led her mother safely outside the castle walls she thanked the giant of the great wind for all he had done to help her. then the giantess of the great river and the spring princess hastened back to the wonderful palace of mother-of-pearl set with gold and silver and precious stones, where the great river runs into the sea. as soon as she had safely reached there once more the spring princess suddenly remembered that she had stayed away from her home in the palace of the sun giant longer than the three months she was supposed to stay according to the agreement. she at once said good-bye to her mother and hastened to the home of the sun giant, her husband, and to her baby son. now the sun giant had been very much worried at first when the three months had passed and the spring princess had not come back to him and her little son. then he became angry. he became so angry that he married another princess. the new wife discharged the nurses who were taking care of the tiny son of the spring princess and put him in the kitchen just as if he had been a little black slave baby. when the spring princess arrived at the palace of the sun giant the very first person she saw was her own little son, so dirty and neglected that she hardly recognized him. then she found out all that had happened in her absence. the spring princess quickly seized her child and clasped him tight in her arms. then she fled to the depths of the sea, and wept, and wept, and wept. the waters of the sea rose so high that they reached even to the palace of the sun giant. they covered the palace, and the sun giant, his new wife, and all the court entirely disappeared from view. for forty days the face of the sun giant was not seen upon the earth. the little son of the spring princess grew up to be the giant of the rain. in the rainy season and the season of thunder showers he rules upon the earth. he sends upon the earth such tears as the spring princess shed in the depths of the seas. ii the fountain of giant land long ago there lived a king who was blind. he had employed all the wise physicians in the kingdom, but all to no avail. not one of them did a single thing to restore his lost eyesight. one day a little old woman came to the door of the palace begging alms. she said to the servant at the door, "i wish to say a word to the king who is blind. i know a sure cure for his blindness." the servant led the little old woman into the king's presence. he was sitting upon the royal throne with his royal crown upon his head, but his blind eyes were bandaged and his royal face was sad because he could no longer see the bright sunlight shining upon the deep blue sea from the window of the palace, nor the lords and ladies of the court before him in their gorgeous garments of purple and cloth of silver and cloth of gold, nor of the face of the queen. "o royal majesty," said the little old woman as she bowed low before him, "there is only one thing in the whole world which will restore your lost eyesight. it is the water of the fountain of giantland. bathe your eyes in that water and your lost eyesight will be restored at once." "how can i obtain this wonderful water?" asked the king. "giantland is a long distance from my kingdom and i do not know the way there." the king, the queen, and all the courtiers held their breaths to listen to the reply of the little old woman. "your majesty will need to build a strong fleet to sail up the great river which leads to giantland," she said. "the expedition will need as its leader a prince with a brave heart, for there will be many perils on the way to test his mettle. the fountain of giantland is at the summit of a long steep rocky mountain, and it can be reached only by a prince who ascends the mountain looking neither to the right nor to the left. all along the way stand huge giants ready to enslave one the moment he stops looking straight ahead. if one should succeed in climbing the mountain the fountain is there at the summit, but it is guarded by a dragon. one can approach it only when the dragon is asleep. many princes have tried this quest and all have failed. if you should be able to send a prince brave enough and wise enough to succeed, there at the top of the mountain he will find a little old woman who will tell him whether or not the dragon is asleep." with these words the little old woman withdrew from the royal presence. the king pondered over her advice. then he sent for the three princes and told them the story. "o my father, i am brave and wise," said the eldest prince as soon as he had heard his father's words. "i will go upon this quest. i will bring you a bottle of the water of the fountain of giantland that your sight may be restored." the king ordered a great fleet to be prepared to sail up the river to giantland. he collected an enormous sum of money to provide for the prince. the whole kingdom buzzed with preparation for the journey. the prince planted an orange tree in the palace garden and said to his younger brother, "keep close watch of this tree. if its leaves begin to wither you will know that some evil has befallen me. come to my aid." the eldest prince set out with a great fleet and his pockets lined with gold. he anchored in many harbors along the way. the prince was very fond of gaming and there were many opportunities to play. before he had reached giantland he had lost the golden linings from his pockets. after the prince had sailed up the great river which leads to giantland he saw the steep rocky mountain towering before him. he set a bottle for the water of the fountain of giantland carefully upon his head and slowly ascended the steep path. he kept his eyes fixed straight ahead. soon, however, he heard giant voices shouting at him. from the corners of his eyes he could see giant forms along the pathway. he forgot that he must look neither to the right nor to the left. the moment the prince turned his eyes a giant immediately seized him and made him his slave. "you shall be my slave for ever and a day," said the giant, "unless you have gold enough in your pockets to pay your ransom." the prince had no gold. at home in the palace garden the leaves of the orange tree which the eldest prince had planted began to wither. his younger brother noticed it at once and went to the king. "o my father," said he, "i know that my brother has fallen into trouble. i must go to his aid." the king at once prepared another great fleet. he provided the prince with even more gold than his brother had taken with him. every one in the whole kingdom did his best to hasten the preparations. in the palace garden the prince planted a lemon tree and called the youngest prince into the garden. the youngest prince was playing with his dogs. he was a mere boy. "keep close watch of this lemon tree while i am away," said the prince. "if its leaves begin to wither you will know that i am in trouble. come to my aid." the prince sailed up the great river which leads to giantland. he anchored at many harbors and took part in many _festas_. by the time he had reached giantland he had spent all his gold. at home in the palace garden the youngest prince watched the lemon tree carefully every day. he watered it and pruned it. he took splendid care of it. [illustration: the youngest prince watched the lemon tree carefully every day] when at last the prince set out to climb the mountain which leads to the fountain of giantland he felt very brave and very wise. he climbed steadily on and on, looking neither to the right nor to the left, even though he heard the voices of the giants shouting at him, and from the corners of his eyes could see the giant forms along the pathway. suddenly he heard the voice of his own brother, the eldest prince, weeping as the giant gave him blows. at that sound he forgot all about looking straight ahead. the moment the prince turned his eyes from the pathway straight ahead of him a giant seized him and made him his slave. "you shall be my slave for ever and a day," said the giant, "unless you have gold enough to pay your ransom." at home in the palace garden his little brother was watching the lemon tree. the very moment its leaves began to wither he noticed it and ran at once to the king. "o my father," he cried as soon as he was in the king's presence. "my brother is in trouble. i must go to his aid." "you, my son, are only a lad," said the king. "how can you succeed when your two older brothers have failed? i cannot bear to let you go. you are all i have left. i prefer to remain blind the rest of my days. o, why did i ever listen to the story the little old woman told me about the water of the fountain of giantland?" the youngest prince begged so hard to go that at length his father granted his request and prepared a fleet for him. he gave him all the gold he could collect in the kingdom. the prince set out with brave heart. he sailed on his way steadily although at every harbour there were voices which bade him linger. there were games and feasting and fair maidens. soon the youngest prince had reached giantland. above him rose the rough steep rocky mountain. before he started to make the ascent he first stuffed cotton in his ears. then he carefully placed upon his head a bottle to fill with the water of the fountain of giantland. he climbed up the steep mountain looking neither to the right nor to the left. through the cotton in his ears he could faintly hear the giant voices calling him. from the corners of his eyes he could see the giant forms along the pathway. he resolutely kept his eyes fixed straight ahead and steadily climbed upward though the path was very rough and full of stones. the cotton in his ears prevented him from hearing the voices of his two brothers crying out when the giants beat them. at length the lad was in sight of the fountain at the summit of the mountain. the little old woman was standing in the path, watching his ascent. as soon as he came near to her he took the cotton out of his ears so that he might hear what she had to say to him. "you have arrived at a safe moment," the little old woman told him. "the dragon is asleep." the little old woman helped the prince fill the bottle with water from the fountain. then she said, "the dragon which guards the fountain is an enchanted princess. no prince has ever before been brave enough and wise enough to reach this spot. in a year and a day from this moment her enchantment will be broken. come again and claim her as your bride." the little old woman gave the prince a ring, and the prince drew a ring from his own finger and gave it to the little old woman. "when the enchantment is broken put my ring upon the finger of the princess," he said. "expect me back in a year and a day. i'll be sure to come." the prince made his way back down the steep slope of the mountain, guarding his bottle full of the water of the fountain of giantland with the utmost care. when he was half way down the mountain he saw his two brothers standing in his path. "_viva_," cried they. "you have been successful. you have a bottle full of the water from the fountain. now if you also have your pockets full of gold you can pay our ransom and we will return with you to our father's kingdom." "my pockets are still lined with gold which my father gave me," said the youngest prince. "help yourselves. it is yours if it can serve you." there was more than enough money to pay the ransom of his two older brothers. when they were sailing down the great river towards home the two older brothers plotted against the youngest prince. "come," said one to the other. "how can we let our father know that it was our little brother who succeeded in this quest? let us cast our brother ashore. then we will go together to our father with the water from the fountain of giantland. when his sight is restored we will share his blessing and the honors of the kingdom. we will claim no knowledge of our youngest brother." this is what the two eldest princes did. the youngest prince was cast ashore when he was asleep. after many long weary wanderings he found refuge in the hut of a poor fisherman and hired out to work for him. the king's eyesight was restored immediately when he had bathed his eyes in the water from the fountain of giantland. the two princes were given all the honors of the kingdom. the whole kingdom, however, mourned the loss of the little prince. the king and queen never gave up hoping that he would come back to them. the queen carefully laid away all the clothes which had belonged to the youngest prince so that they would be ready for him if he should return to the palace. every day she shook them out with loving care, so that the _baratas_ and white ants would not eat holes in them. a year and a day flew swiftly by. the huge dragon which had guarded the fountain of giantland escaped from her enchantment and was restored to the form of a beautiful princess. the little old woman and the princess watched and waited for the return of the prince according to his promise. "some evil must surely have befallen the lad," said the little old woman. "let us go in search of him. i know he was a lad who would not break his word." the little old woman and the beautiful princess who wore the prince's own ring upon her finger came to the palace of the king. when the king had listened to the story they told, the guilty princes were called before him. they were forced to confess their evil deed. they were immediately thrown into prison. the anger of the whole kingdom was kindled against them. then the king and the queen and all the court sailed in their swiftest ships to the place where the little prince had been cast ashore. the little old woman and the beautiful princess who wore the prince's own ring upon her finger went with them. at length after much searching they found the fisherman's hut and the prince working for the fisherman. the king and the queen and all the court wept tears of joy when they beheld the youngest prince alive and well. the queen wept again when she noticed the poor rough clothing which the prince was wearing. she had brought with her the prince's favourite suit of cloth of gold which she had laid away carefully. when the prince put it on it was a trifle tight and a little bit too short for him, as he had grown so much in the year. nevertheless he looked very handsome in it when he stood before the beautiful princess and claimed her as his bride. the fisherman was greatly astonished at all the proceedings, for he had never dreamed that it was the king's son who had been working for him all the year and sleeping on a mat at his side on the floor of his rude hut. "he may be a prince, but he is the most faithful lad who ever worked for me," said the fisherman. "he is indeed a prince," cried the courtiers, "and the bravest, most faithful prince which any land in all the world ever boasted of." "his princely deeds have proven to all the world that he is fit to reign as king over our fair land when i no longer live," said the king as he gave the prince and the beautiful princess his royal blessing. iii the boy and the violin once upon a time there was a man who had an only son. when the man died the son was left all alone in the world. there was not very much property--just a cat and a dog, a small piece of land, and a few orange trees. the boy gave the dog away to a neighbour and sold the land and the orange trees. every bit of money he obtained from the sale he invested in a violin. he had longed for a violin all his life and now he wanted one more than ever. while his father had lived he could tell his thoughts to his father, but now there was none to tell them to except the violin. what his violin said back to him made the very sweetest music in the world. the boy went to hire out as shepherd to care for the sheep of the king, but he was told that the king already had plenty of shepherds and had no need of another. the boy took his violin which he had brought with him and hid himself in the deep forest. there he made sweet music with the violin. the shepherds who were near by guarding the king's sheep heard the sweet strains, but they could not find out who was playing. the sheep, too, heard the music. several of them left the flock and followed the sound of the music into the forest. they followed it until they reached the boy and the cat and the violin. the shepherds were greatly disturbed when they found out how their sheep were straying away into the forest. they went after them to bring them back, but they could find no trace of them. sometimes it would seem that they were quite near to the place from which the music came, but when they hurried in that direction they would hear the strains of music coming from a distant point in the opposite direction. they were afraid of getting lost themselves so they gave up in despair. when the boy saw how the sheep came to hear his music he was very happy. his music was no longer the sad sweet sound it had been when he was lonely. it became gayer and gayer. after a while it became so gay that the cat began to dance. when the sheep saw the cat dancing they began to dance, too. soon a company of monkeys passed that way and heard the sound of the music. they began dancing immediately. they made such a chattering that they almost drowned the music. the boy threatened to stop playing if they could not be happy without being so noisy. after that the monkeys chattered less. after a while a tapir heard the jolly sound. immediately his threetoed hind feet and fourtoed front feet began to dance. he just couldn't keep them from dancing; so he, too, joined the procession of boy, cat, sheep, and monkeys. next the armadillo heard the music. in spite of his heavy armour he had to dance too. then a herd of small deer joined the company. then the anteater danced along with them. the wild cat and the tiger came, too. the sheep and the deer were terribly frightened, but they kept dancing on just the same. the tiger and wild cat were so happy dancing that they never noticed them at all. the big snakes curled their huge bodies about the tree trunks and wished that they, too, had feet with which to dance. the birds tried to dance, but they could not use their feet well enough and had to give it up and keep flying. every beast of the forests and jungles which had feet with which to dance came and joined the gay procession. the jolly company wandered on and on until finally they came to the high wall which surrounds the land of the giants. the enormous giant who stood on the wall as guard laughed so hard that he almost fell off the wall. he took them to the king at once. the king laughed so hard that he almost fell off his throne. his laugh shook the earth. the earth had never before been shaken at the laugh of the king of the giants, though it had often heard his angry voice in the thunder. the people did not know what to make of it. now it happened that the king of the land of giants had a beautiful giantess daughter who never laughed. she remained sad all the time. the king had offered half his kingdom to the one who could make her laugh, and all the giants had done their very funniest tricks for her. never once had they brought even a tiny little smile to her lovely face. "if my daughter can keep from laughing when she sees this funny sight i'll give up in despair and eat my hat," said the king of the land of giants, as he saw the jolly little figure playing upon the violin and the assembly of cat, sheep, monkeys and everything else dancing to the gay music. if the giant king had known how to dance he would have danced himself, but it was fortunate for the people of the earth that he did not know how. if he had, there is no knowing what might have happened to the earth. as it was, he took the little band into his daughter's palace where she sat surrounded by her servants. her lovely face was as sad as sad could be. when she saw the funny sight her expression changed. the happy smile which the king of the land of giants had always wanted to see played about her beautiful lips. a gay laugh was heard for the first time in all her life. the king of the land of giants was so happy that he grew a league in height and nobody knows how much he gained in weight. "you shall have half my kingdom," he said to the boy, "just as i promised if any one made my daughter laugh." the boy from that time on reigned over half of the kingdom of giants as prince of the land. he never had the least bit of difficulty in preserving his authority, for the biggest giants would at once obey his slightest request if he played on his violin to them. the beasts stayed in the land of the giants so long that they grew into giant beasts, but the boy and his violin always remained just as they were when they entered the land. iv the most beautiful princess long ago there was a king who was very ill. he wanted a hare killed to make him some broth. his only son, the prince, set out to find one. as the prince walked along the path to the forest a pretty little hare ran out of the hedge and crossed his path. he at once started in pursuit. the hare was a very swift runner. the prince followed her into the deep forest. suddenly the hare ran into a hole in the ground. the prince kept in sight of her and soon found to his dismay that he was in a big cave. at the very rear of the cave there was the most enormous giant he had ever seen in his life. the prince was terribly frightened. "oh, ho!" said the giant in such a deep savage voice that the cave echoed and re-echoed with his words. "you thought you'd catch my little hare, did you? well, i've caught you instead!" the giant seized the prince in one of his enormous hands and tossed him lightly into a box at one end of the cave. he put the cover on the box and locked it down with a big key. the prince could get only a tiny bit of air through a little hole in the top, and he thought that he never could live. hours passed. sometimes the prince slept, but more often he lay there thinking about his sick father and what he could ever do to get out of the box and back once more to his father's side. suddenly he heard the key turn in the lock. the cover was lifted, and he saw standing before him the most beautiful maiden he had ever seen or dreamed of. "i am the hare you followed into the cave," said she with a smile. "i am an enchanted princess and, though i have to take the form of a hare in the daytime, at night i am free to resume my own shape. you got into this trouble following me into the cave and i am so sorry for you that i am going to let you out." [illustration: he saw standing before him the most beautiful maiden he had ever dreamed of] "you are so beautiful that i could stay here for ever and gaze into your lovely eyes," said the prince. "you would see only a hare in the daytime," replied the princess. "it is not always night. besides, the giant may return at any moment. he just went out on a hunting trip because he thought that you would not make a sufficiently big supper for him. don't be foolish. i'll show you the way out of the cave and then you must hurry home as fast as possible." the prince thanked her for all her great kindness to him and acted upon her advice. he went home by the nearest path, but when he reached the palace his father was already dead. the palace was wrapped in mourning. the prince was so overcome with grief that he felt that he could not keep on living in the palace. after his father's funeral he went away as a wanderer. he changed clothes with a poor fisherman whom he met by the river, for he did not wish to be recognized as the prince. dressed as a poor fisherman he wandered from one kingdom to another. he caught fish for his food, and he soon recognized the fact that the net which the fisherman had given him as part of his outfit was a most wonderful net. the biggest fish in the sea could not break through. "this net must have the special blessing of _nossa senhora_ upon it," said the prince. in the course of his wanderings the prince arrived at a city where a great _festa_ was being held. the palace was decked with gay banners. every afternoon the messenger of the king rode up and down the city streets proclaiming, "the princess of our kingdom is the most beautiful princess in all the world." the prince remembered the beautiful princess who had let him out of the giant's cave. "surely this princess cannot be as beautiful as she," said the prince. "i am going to see this princess with my own eyes and find out." accordingly the prince went to the palace gate to watch for the princess. soon she came to the balcony and leaned over the railing. she was very beautiful, but her nose was just a tiny bit crooked. she did not compare at all with the princess of the cave. "this princess is not by any means the most beautiful one in the world," said the prince dressed as a fisherman. "i know where there is a princess who is much more beautiful." the people standing by heard him. his words were at once reported to the royal guards. they seized him roughly and took him to the king. "so you are the fisherman who says that my daughter is not the most beautiful princess in the world?" said the king sternly. "you say, i hear, that you know a princess who is much more beautiful. i am a just king or else i should order that you be put to death immediately. as it is, i'll give you the chance to prove what you say. if you are unable to fulfil your boast and show me this princess who in the opinion of my court is more beautiful than my daughter, you shall lose your life. remember that you will have to bring her here to my court to have her beauty proven." "thanks, your majesty," said the prince. "if you will allow me two weeks to fulfil the contract, and if you'll prepare a _festa_ for the night two weeks hence, i'll endeavour to present the most beautiful princess in the world to your assembled court." the king was astonished at the fisherman's words, for he had not thought that a poor fisherman like him knew many princesses. however, he allowed him to depart in search of the princess. then the prince hurried home and once more walked toward the forest by the same path he had gone the day he went in search of the hare for his father's broth. he soon found the place where the hare had crossed his path, and he did his best to remember the course they had followed as he pursued her into the forest. in the forest he saw evidences of what looked like a flood. the water had washed away every trace of the entrance of the cave. he dug and dug at the place where he thought it ought to be. he found nothing which seemed like the cave's entrance. he dug and dug at a new place near by and soon he found his way barred by a massive door. the entrance to the cave was securely shut by it. the prince knocked at the door with all his might. soon the door was opened a tiny bit and the face of a little old woman looked out. "i am the _ama_ of the princess," she said. "i think you are the prince she was expecting to return to deliver her from all the terrible calamities which have befallen her." "what has happened to my beautiful princess who saved my life?" asked the prince. "i am indeed the prince, but i am surprised that you should recognize me in my fisherman's garb." "the princess told me that i would know you by the smile in your eyes," replied the old _ama_. "i did not look at your clothes at all. i looked at your eyes. you have the smile in them though your face is sad. come into the cave, and i will tell you all that has happened." when the prince was inside the cave she hastily barred the door and said, "when the giant returned he was terribly angry at the princess because she had let you escape. he seized her roughly and put her into the box in your place. the princess had thrown away the key to the box when she let you out; and, search as he would, the giant was unable to find it again anywhere. that made him even angrier than before. all day he sits on the top of the chest when the princess is in the form of the hare. at night when he goes away he causes a great river to flow around the entrance to the cave. he has placed a huge fish as guard to the entrance. this fish swims up and down before our door and calls out such vile names at the princess, that, when she is in her own form, she stays in the box and stuffs cotton in her ears. you got here just as the giant had left. the water must have risen as soon as you were inside our door. i hear the fish now." even as she spoke the prince heard the voice of the fish. it said such terrible words that the prince was glad that the princess was in the box with cotton in ears. "you get into the box with the princess," he said to the _ama_. "i am a good swimmer and i am going to open the door and swim out. the box is made of wood that will float; so, inside of it, you and the princess will float out to safety." "how will you ever swim past this terrible fish?" asked the old _ama_. "do not fear," replied the prince. "i have with me a net which is so strong that the biggest, fiercest fish in the world cannot break it. i will catch the fish in it. just wait and you will see. in the meantime take the cotton out of the ears of the princess and tell her that i am here. quiet her fears and stay in the box for a few moments." the old _ama_ got into the box as the prince had commanded. then he unbarred the great door. the fish swam at him fiercely, but the prince quickly entangled him in his strong net. holding him fast in the net, the prince swam up to the surface of the water and was soon on the bank of the raging river. then he killed the fish and scaled it and put the scales in his pocket. the box had floated up to the surface of the water as the prince had said it would. the prince threw his net over it and drew it to land. the _ama_ and the beautiful princess stepped out. the princess was so lovely that the prince fell upon his knees before her. the sight of her great beauty almost blinded his eyes. "i knew all the time that you would come back again," said the princess. "i knew that you would deliver me from my troubles, but you have been a long time getting here." the prince told the princess all that had happened to him. "you saved my life from the giant," said he. "i am very glad to have had an opportunity to save your life for you. now i must ask you to again save my life." then he told about the _festa_ at which he must display the most beautiful princess in the world or forfeit his life. "i'll gladly go to the _festa_ with you," said the princess. "it is fortunate that it is held at night." the princess and her _ama_ travelled quickly with the prince to the kingdom which claimed to possess the most beautiful princess in the world. it was already the night of the appointed _festa_ when they arrived. the king's army was drawn up to slay the prince. no one dreamed that the poor fisherman would be able to bring any princess at all with him, much less a beautiful one. the prince hid the princess in the box which the old _ama_ carried on top of her head. when the poor fisherman stood before the king with an old _ama_ standing by his side, a great laugh ran through the king's court. "we knew that the fisherman would never be able to bring a princess more beautiful than our own lovely princess," said the courtiers one to another. "but see what he has brought in her place!" then they laughed and laughed until they could hardly stand. the king's soldiers stepped forward to seize the fisherman to put him to death. "grant me just one moment more of life," begged the prince. the king nodded his head and the prince put his hand into the pocket of his fisherman's coat. he pulled out a handful of silver scales. the most beautiful silvery cloud filled the room. "just a moment more," begged the prince. then he pulled a handful of golden scales from out his pocket. the most beautiful golden cloud filled the room. "please just another little minute," asked the prince and he pulled out a handful of jewelled scales from his pocket. the most wonderful sparkling cloud of jewels fell about them. as the cloud cleared away there stood the most beautiful princess any one had ever seen or dreamed of between the old _ama_ and the prince in the fisherman clothes. the soldiers drew back. the king looked at the floor and so did all the courtiers. "you have won your wager," said the king when he could find his voice. "our daughter is not the most beautiful princess in the whole world. i see myself that her nose is a tiny bit crooked." the prince and princess and the old _ama_ went back to the prince's own kingdom where the wedding of the prince and princess was celebrated with a great feast. from the moment that the fish scales fell upon the princess her enchantment was broken and she never became a hare again. she and the prince lived together happily in the prince's palace, and the giant never troubled them again, though they were always careful to keep away from the forest. v the little sister of the giants once upon a time there was a little girl who was very beautiful. her eyes were like the eyes of the gazelle; her hair hid in its soft waves the deep shadows of the night; her smile was like the sunrise. each year as she grew older she grew also more and more beautiful. her name was angelita. the little girl's mother was dead, and her father, the image-maker, had married a second time. the step-mother was a woman who was renowned in the city for her great beauty. as her little step-daughter grew more and more lovely each day of her life she soon became jealous of the child. each night she asked the image-maker, "who is more beautiful, your wife or your child?" the image-maker was a wise man and knew all too well his wife's jealous disposition. he always responded, "you, my wife, are absolutely peerless." one day the image-maker suddenly died, and the step-mother and step-daughter were left alone in the world. they both mourned deeply the passing of the kind image-maker. one day as they were leaning over the balcony two passers-by observed them, and one said to the other, "do you notice those beautiful women in the balcony? the mother is beautiful, but the daughter is far more beautiful." the step-mother had always been jealous of the daughter's loveliness, but now her jealousy was fanned into a burning flame. the wise image-maker was no longer there to tell her that she was peerless. the next day the mother and daughter again leaned over the balcony. two soldiers passed by and one said to the other: "do you observe those two beautiful women in the balcony? the mother is beautiful, but the daughter is far more beautiful." the step-mother flew into a terrible rage. she now knew that it was true as she had long feared. the girl was more beautiful than she. her jealousy knew no bounds. she seized her step-daughter roughly and shut her up in a little room in the attic. the little room in the attic had just one tiny window high up in the wall. the window was shut, but angelita climbed up to open it in order to get a little air. the next afternoon she grew weary of the confinement of the little room, so she dug a foothold in the wall where she could stand and look out of the window. her step-mother was leaning over the balcony all alone when two _cavalheiros_ passed by. one said to the other, "do you observe the beautiful woman in the balcony?" "yes," replied the other. "she is a beautiful woman, but the little maid who is kept a prisoner in the attic is far more beautiful." the step-mother became desperate. she ordered the old negro servant to carry the girl into the jungle and kill her. "be sure that you bring back the tip of angelita's tongue, so that i may know that you have obeyed my order," she said. angelita was very happy to be taken out of the little attic room, and set out for a walk with the old negro with a light heart. they walked through the city streets and out into the open country. soon they had reached the deep jungle. "where are we going?" the girl asked in surprise. "we are taking a walk for our health, _yayazinha_," replied the old negro. soon they were so far in the jungle that the path was entirely overgrown. no ray of light penetrated through the deep foliage. angelita became frightened. "i'll not go another step if you do not tell me where you are taking me," she said as she stamped her little foot upon the ground. the old negro burst into tears and told angelita all that her step-mother had commanded. "i could not hurt one hair of your lovely head, much less cut off the tip of your little tongue, _yayazinha_," sobbed the old man. angelita stood still and thought. "go back to my step-mother," she said to the old man. "on the way you will see plenty of dogs. cut off the tip of a little dog's tongue and carry it home to my step-mother." this is what the old negro did. the step-mother believed him and thought that he had slain her step-daughter according to her command. angelita, in the meantime, wandered on and on through the jungle. the big snakes glided swiftly out of her path. the monkeys and the parrots chattered to keep her from being lonely. she wandered on and on until finally she came to an enormous palace. the front door was wide open. she went from room to room, but the palace was entirely deserted. there was not a neat, orderly room in the entire palace. "i can make these lovely rooms neat and clean," said angelita. "they surely need some one to do it!" she found a broom and went to work at once. soon the whole palace was in order once more. everything was clean and bright. just as angelita was finishing her task she heard a great noise. she looked out of the door, and there were three enormous giants entering the house. she had never dreamed that giants could be so big. she was frightened nearly to death and scrambled under a chair as fast as she could. when the giants came into the house they were amazed to find everything in such splendid order. "this is a different looking place from what we left," said the biggest giant. "what dirty, disorderly giants we have been, living here all by ourselves," said the middle-sized giant. "i just realize it, now that i see what our house looks like when it is neat and clean." "what kind fairy could have done all this work while we were away?" said the littlest giant, who was not little at all, but almost as big as his enormous brothers. the three giants fell to discussing the question. they could not guess how their house could have been made so clean. their voices were so very kind, in spite of being so loud and heavy, that angelita decided she dare come out from under the chair and let them see who had done the work for them. she quickly crawled out from her hiding place. "what lovely fairy is this?" asked the biggest giant, looking at her kindly. he thought that she really was a fairy. "this is the loveliest fairy i ever saw in all my life," said the middle-sized giant. "how did such a lovely fairy ever happen to find our dirty, disorderly palace?" asked the littlest giant who was not little at all. angelita told the three giants her story. her beauty and her sweet ways completely entranced them. "please live with us always here in our palace in the jungle and be our little sister," said the biggest giant, and the middle-sized giant and the littlest giant, speaking all at once. their three big deep voices all together made a noise like thunder. angelita lived in the palace with the three giants after that. every day when they went out to hunt she would take the broom and make the palace neat and clean. they called her "little sister" and loved her with all their big giant hearts. all was well until a little bird went and told angelita's step-mother that she was alive and living in the depths of the jungle with the three giants. when the step-mother heard about it she was so angry that she thought she could never be happy as long as angelita was living in the world. she consulted a wicked witch as soon as she could find her shawl. the wicked witch gave the step-mother some poisoned slippers. "these will cause the immediate death of any person who puts them on," said the wicked witch. then she showed the step-mother just how to reach the palace where angelita lived in the depths of the jungle with the three giants. angelita's step-mother followed the directions which the witch had given her and easily found the giants' palace. angelita was so happy living with the giants and keeping house for them that she had forgotten what fear was like. she was not frightened at all when she heard some one clap hands before the door one day when the giants were away. she went to the door; and, though she was very much surprised to see her step-mother, she invited her into the house. her step-mother gave her a loving embrace and kissed her upon both cheeks. "dear child, it is a long time since i have seen you," she said. "i have brought you a little gift to show you that i have not forgotten you. it is only a poor, mean little gift, but it is the best i could bring." angelita was touched at her step-mother's gift and accepted it with hearty thanks. as soon as her step-mother had gone she untied the red ribbon around the package and opened it. inside was a pair of leather slippers. angelita looked at the little slippers. they were like the slippers which her dear father, the image-maker, had once brought home to her. "how kind it was in my step-mother to bring these slippers to me," she said as she put them on. as soon as the slippers were on angelita's feet, she fell dead just as the wicked witch had promised the step-mother she would do. her step-mother was watching through the window, and when she saw angelita dead she hurried home in joy. "now i, alone, am the peerless beauty," she said. when the three giants came home to dinner they knew at once that there was something wrong. there were dirty tracks on the floor and dirty finger prints upon the door. "who made these dirty marks?" said the biggest giant. "what has happened to our dear little sister that she has not cleaned them away?" asked the middle-sized giant. "i am afraid there is something wrong with little sister," said the littlest giant who was not little at all. they clapped their big hands before the door, but no smiling little sister ran to meet them. they entered the big hall of the palace with a bound. there in the middle of the floor lay angelita, just as she had fallen when she put on the poisoned slippers which her step-mother had given her. "what evil, has befallen our dear little sister?" said the biggest giant. "who could have slain our little sister whom we loved so much?" said the middle-sized giant. "who will keep house for us now that our dear little sister is dead?" asked the littlest giant. then the biggest giant and the middle-sized giant and the littlest giant all began to sob so loud that it shook the earth. "our dear little sister is dead! what shall we do! what shall we do!" the giants could not go into the city to give their little sister christian burial, but they built a beautiful casket out of silver and carried it to the path which led to the city. then they hid themselves to watch and make sure that some one found it to carry to the burying place. soon a handsome prince passed by on horseback. he noticed the silver casket at once and opened it. the girl whose still form lay inside was the most beautiful maid he had ever gazed upon. "this dead maid is my own true love," he said and he carried the silver casket home to his own palace. he commanded that no one should enter the room where he placed the silver casket, and this aroused the curiosity of his little sister at once. at the very first opportunity she slipped into the room. she opened the casket and was surprised to see the beautiful quiet maid. "you are very lovely," she said to the still form, "all except your slippers. i think they are very ugly." with these words she pulled off the leather slippers. angelita gave a deep sigh, opened her beautiful eyes, and asked for a drink of water. the little sister called the prince at once. when he saw angelita was really alive he could hardly believe the good fortune. he asked that the wedding night be celebrated immediately. angelita begged that she might go back into the deep jungle and invite the three giants to the wedding. the biggest giant, the middle-sized giant, and the littlest giant who was not little at all, came to the wedding feast. after that they visited their little sister often at her new home; and, when she had children of her own, it was the funniest sight one ever saw to see the biggest giant hold the tiny babes upon his knee. vi the forest lad and the wicked giant once upon a time there was a man who took his wife and tiny baby son into the deep forest to make their home. with his own hands he built the house out of mud, and he made for it a thatched roof from the grass of the forest. for food they depended upon the fruits of the forest and the beasts which they killed in the hunt. they lived like hermits, seeing no one. as the baby son grew into a large strong boy he learned from his father all the secrets of the forest. he grew wise as well as strong. from his mother he heard stories of their former life in the great city which had been their home before they went to live in the forest. these were the tales he loved to hear best of all. very often when his father went out into the forest to hunt the boy would beg to remain at home with his mother. while his father was away she would sit on the ground before their hut and unfold to the boy all her memories of their old life. "father," said the lad one day after his father had returned from his hunting trip, "i am tired of living here in the forest all by ourselves. let us return to the city to live." "your mother has been telling tales to you," replied his father. "i will see to it that she never mentions the city to you again. we left the city to save our lives. let me never hear from you another word about returning to the city." after that the lad was made to accompany his father when he went out hunting. there was no more opportunity to hear the tales he loved from his mother's lips. nevertheless he hid away in his mind all that his mother had told him of their old life; and at night, when the fierce storms in the forest or the sound of the wild beasts would not let him sleep, he often lay awake upon his mat on the floor of the hut, pondering over the stories she had told. at last the father grew sick of a fever and died. now that the lad and his mother were left alone in the forest the lad said, "come, let us return to our home in the city. let us not stay here alone in the forest any longer. i must live in my own life the tales you have told me of the _festas_ and the dancing, the great tournaments, and the songs at night under the balconies of the fair maidens." the lad's request was so urgent that his mother could not have refused him, even if she, in her own heart, was not longing for a return to the life of the city. accordingly, they took all their possessions, which consisted only of a horse and a sword, and set out for the city. the lad and his mother reached the city at nightfall. they went from one street to another, but saw no living being. they knocked and clapped their hands before all the doors of the city, but no one responded. at last they reached the street where their old home had been. the lad was delighted to see what a big handsome house it was. "no wonder my mother longed to return to a home like this," he thought. "how could she ever have endured the rude hut in the depths of the forest?" the doors of the beautiful house stood wide open. the lad and his mother entered, and passed from one room to another. his mother saw one room after another with everything unchanged. she recognized one object after another just as she had left it. there was one room in the house which was securely barred on the inside, however. the lad and his mother spent the night in their old home. in the morning they again walked about the deserted streets of the city. they saw no one and heard no living sound. it was like a city of the dead. they grew hungry at length; and the lad went outside the city to seek for food in the forest, according to the custom which he had known all his life. the mother returned to her old home to await the coming of her son. as soon as she went upstairs she saw that the barred door was wide open. there in the hall stood the most enormous giant she had ever seen. the great halls of the house were high, but the giant could not stand up in them without stooping. [illustration: there in the hall stood the most enormous giant she had ever seen] "who are you and what are you doing in my house?" roared the giant in such a terrible voice that the house trembled. the woman who had lived so many years in the forest was not easily frightened. "who are you and what are you doing in my house?" she shouted at the giant in the loudest tones she could muster. one might have expected that the giant would have killed her instantly, but on the contrary her bold answer pleased him exceedingly. he laughed so hard that he had to lean against the wall to keep from falling. "so you think that this is your house, do you?" said the giant as soon as he could regain his voice. "well, i'll tell you what we can do. i like you, and we can share this house if you will consent to be my wife." "i am not alone," said the lad's mother as soon as she could recover from her surprise sufficiently to find words. "my son is with me and i am expecting him any moment to return from the forest whither he has gone to procure food for us." "i can dispose of your son very quickly, just as i have destroyed all the inhabitants of this city," said the giant with a frown. "you cannot dispose of my son so easily as you may think," replied his mother. "he has grown in the deep forest and is very strong, far stronger than the city dwellers. besides his great strength, he is surrounded by the magic circle of his mother's love." "i do not know what the magic circle of a mother's love is like," said the giant. "i don't remember having seen one anywhere. nevertheless i like you, and because i like you i will endeavour to dispose of your son as painlessly as possible. i believe you say you are expecting him any moment. just lie down here and pretend that you are sick. when the boy comes in tell him that you have a terrible pain in your eyes. as you have lived long in the forest you will know that the best remedy for a pain in your eyes is the oil of the deadly _cobra_ of the jungle. send the lad out into the jungle to obtain this oil for you, and i promise you he will never return alive. i'll go back into my room and bar the door so the boy will never see me, but i shall listen through the wall to know whether you carry out my command." at that very moment they heard the lad's footsteps and his gay voice at the door. the giant went inside his room and barred the door. the lad's mother lay down with a cloth over her eyes, moaning in loud tones. "the giant little knows the strength and skill of the lad whose mother i am," she said to herself as she smiled amidst her moans and groans. "o dear little mother, what evil has befallen you during my absence?" asked the boy as he entered the room. his mother complained of the pain in her eyes just as the giant had instructed. "the only thing which will cure me of this terrible affliction is the oil of the _cobra_," she said. the boy well knew the dangers which attended securing the oil from the deadly _cobra_ of the jungle, but never in his life had he disregarded a request from his mother. he at once set out for the jungle; and, in spite of the perils of the deed, he succeeded in obtaining the oil which his mother had requested. on the way back to the city, the boy met a little old woman carrying a pole over her shoulder from which there hung, head downward, several live fowls which she was taking to market. it was really the holy mother herself who had come to aid the lad in answer to his mother's prayer. "where are you going, my lad?" asked the old woman. the boy told his story and showed the precious oil which he had obtained from the _cobra_. "the day is coming, the day is coming, my lad, when you will, in truth, need the _cobra's_ oil," said the little old woman. "but that day is not today. today hen's oil will serve your purpose just as well. you may kill one of my hens and use the hen's oil, but leave the _cobra's_ oil with me so that i may keep it safely for you until the day when you will require it." the boy heeded the advice of the little old woman and killed one of her hens. he left the _cobra's_ oil with her and took the hen's oil in its place to his mother. because his mother had nothing at all the matter with her eyes, the hen's oil cured them just as well as the _cobra's_ oil. there was no one who knew the difference, except the boy and the little old woman. when the boy had gone out the giant came in from his own room and said, "in truth your son is a brave lad. i did not dream that he would have the courage to go in search of the oil of the deadly _cobra_, much less succeed in his quest." "you do not know the great love we bear each other," said the lad's mother. "i am going to demand a new proof of your son's strength and skill," said the giant. "tomorrow you must complain of the pain in your back and send the boy in search of the oil of the porcupine to cure it. this is my command." the next day the woman had to complain of a pain in her back just as the giant had commanded. there was nothing else which she could do. the boy at once went in search of a porcupine, and succeeded in slaying one and getting the oil. on his way back to the city the lad again met the little old woman who was really _nossa senhora_. "leave the oil of the porcupine with me, my son," said she when she had heard his story. "i will keep it for you until the morrow when you will have great need of it. today hen's oil will serve your purpose just as well." because the boy's mother had nothing at all the matter with her back she was cured with the hen's oil which the boy brought, just as easily as if it had been the porcupine's oil. the giant came out of his room and said, "in truth, lad, you are a boy of great skill and strength." the boy had not seen the giant before and he was very much surprised. before he even had time to recover from his amazement the giant had seized him and bound him securely with a great rope. "if you are really a strong boy you will break this rope," said the giant. "if you are not strong enough to break it i shall cut you into five pieces with my sword." the boy struggled with all his might to break the great rope. it was no use. he was not strong enough. the giant stood by laughing. when the lad's mother saw that he could not break the rope she fell upon her knees before the giant and cried, "do what you will to me, but spare my son!" the cruel giant laughed at her request. when she saw that she could not keep him from slaying the boy, she said, "if you will not grant my large request i beg that you will listen to just a tiny, tiny, little one. when you cut my son into five pieces do it with his father's sword which he has brought with him from the little hut in the forest where we used to live. then bind his body upon the back of his father's horse which he brought with him out of the forest and turn the horse loose, so it may travel, perchance, back to the forest from which i brought my lad to meet this terrible death." the giant did as she requested, and the horse bore the slain boy's body along the road to the forest. outside the city they met the little old woman who was really _nossa senhora_. she took the parts of the lad's body and anointed them with the porcupine's oil. then she held them tight together. they stayed securely joined. "are you lacking anything," she asked the boy. the boy felt of his legs, his arms, his ears, his nose, his hair. "i am all here except my eyesight," he said. the little old woman anointed his eyes with the _cobra's_ oil. his sight was immediately restored. then he knew that the little old woman was indeed the holy mother. she vanished as he knelt to receive her blessing. the boy in his new strength quickly hastened back to the city. it was night and the giant was asleep. he seized his father's sword and plunged it into the giant's body. the giant turned over without awakening. "the mosquitoes are biting me," he muttered in his sleep. the boy saw the giant's own enormous sword lying on the floor. it was so heavy he could barely lift it, but mustering all his strength he drove it into the giant's body. the giant died immediately. "the magic circle of a mother's love, with the holy mother's help, will guard a lad against all perils," said the boy's mother when she heard her son's story and saw the giant lying dead. vii how the giantess guimara became small once upon a time a prince called d. joaõ went hunting with a number of companions. in the deep forest he became separated from his comrades and soon found out that he was lost. he wandered about for a long time, and at last he spied what looked like a mountain range in the distance. he journeyed toward it as fast as he could travel, and when he got near to it he was surprised to find out that it was really a high wall. it was the great wall which bounds the land of the giants. the ruler of the country was an enormous giant whose head reached almost to the clouds. the giant's wife was nearly as enormous as he was, and their only child was as tall as her mother. her name was guimara. when the giant saw d. joaõ he called out, "o, little man, what are you doing down there?" d. joaõ narrated his adventures to the giant, and the giant said, "your story of your wanderings interests me. it is not often that little men like you pass this way. if you like you may live in my palace and be my servant." d. joaõ accepted the giant's offer and stayed at the palace. the giant's daughter guimara was very much pleased with d. joaõ. he was the first little man she had ever seen. she fell deeply in love with him. her father, however, was very much disgusted at her lack of good taste. he preferred to have a giant for a son-in-law. accordingly he thought of a plot to get d. joaõ into trouble. [illustration: the giant's daughter, guimara was very much pleased with d. joão] the next day he sent for d. joaõ to appear before him. "o little man," he said to him, "they tell me that you are very proud of yourself and that you are boasting among my servants that you are able to tear down my palace in a single night and set it up again as quickly as you tore it down." "i never have made any such boast, your majesty," replied d. joaõ. he went to guimara and told her about it. "i am an enchantress," said guimara. "leave it to me and we will surprise my father." the very next night guimara and d. joaõ tore down the giant's palace and set it up again exactly as it was before. the giant was greatly surprised. he suspected that his daughter had meddled with the affair. the next day he sent for d. joaõ and said to him, "o little man, they tell me that you say that in a single night you are able to change the isle of wild beasts into a beautiful garden full of all sorts of flowers and with a silvery fountain in the centre." "i never said any such thing, your majesty," replied d. joaõ. he told guimara about it and she said that it would be great fun to escape from her room that night and make over the isle of the wild beasts into a lovely garden. accordingly guimara worked hard all night long helping d. joaõ to make the isle of the wild beasts over into a garden full of all sorts of beautiful flowers and with a silvery fountain in the centre. the king was greatly surprised to see the garden in the morning and he was very angry at guimara and d. joaõ. guimara was so frightened at her father's terrible wrath that she decided to run away with d. joaõ. she counselled him to procure the best horse from her father's stable for them to ride. at midnight guimara crept out of her room and ran to the place where d. joaõ was waiting for her with the horse, which travelled one hundred leagues at each step. they mounted the horse and rode away. early the next morning the princess guimara was missed from the royal palace. soon it was discovered that d. joaõ was gone too, and also the best horse from the stables. the giant talked over the matter with his wife. she told him to take another horse which could travel a hundred leagues a step and go after them as fast as he could. the giant followed his wife's advice, and soon he had nearly caught up with the fugitives, for they had grown tired and had stopped to rest. guimara spied her father coming and turned herself into a little river. she turned d. joaõ into an old negro, the horse into a tree, the saddle into a bed of onions, and the musket they carried into a butterfly. when the giant came to the river he called out to the old negro who was taking a bath, "o, my old negro, have you seen anything of a little man accompanied by a handsome young woman?" the old negro did not say a single word to him, but dived into the water. when he came out he called the giant's attention to the bed of onions. "i planted these onions," he said. "aren't they a good crop?" the bed of onions smelled so strong that the giant did not like to stay near them. the butterfly flew at the giant's eyes and almost into them. he was disgusted and went home to talk it over with his wife. "how silly you were," said the giant's wife. "don't you see that guimara had changed herself into a river and had changed d. joaõ into an old negro, the horse into a tree, the saddle into a bed of onions, and the musket into a butterfly? hurry after them at once." the giant again went in pursuit, promising his wife that next time he would not let guimara play any tricks on him. the next time that guimara saw her father coming she thought of a new plan. she changed herself into a church. she turned d. joaõ into a _padre_, the horse into a bell, the saddle into an altar and the musket into a mass-book. when the giant approached the church he was completely deceived. "o, holy _padre_," he said to the priest, "have you seen anything of a little man, accompanied by a handsome young woman, passing this way?" the _padre_ went on with his mass and said: "i am a hermit _padre_ devoted to the immaculate; i do not hear what you say. _dominus vobiscum_." the giant could get no other response from him. at last he gave up in despair and went home to talk things over with his wife. "of all stupid fools you are the most stupid of all," said his wife when she had heard the tale. "don't you see that guimara has changed herself into a church, d. joaõ into a priest, the horse into a bell, the saddle into the altar, and the musket into the mass-book? hurry after them again as fast as you can. i am going with you, myself, this time, to see that guimara does not play any more tricks on you." this time the fugitives had travelled far when guimara's parents overtook them. they had almost reached d. joaõ's own kingdom. guimara threw a handful of dust into her parents' eyes, and it became so dark that they could not see. guimara and d. joaõ escaped safely into his own kingdom. when they had started out on the journey, guimara had said, "o, d. joaõ, whatever happens, don't forget me for one single minute. think of me all the time." he had promised and he had remembered her every instant on the journey. however, when they reached his own kingdom, he was so happy to see home once more after all his adventures that he thought he had never before been so happy in all his life. after one has been living in giantland it is very pleasant to get home where things are a few sizes smaller and a bit more convenient. then, too, it was very pleasant for him to see all his friends again. he was so happy at being home that, just for one little minute, he forgot all about guimara. when d. joaõ remembered guimara he turned around to look at her. when he saw her he could hardly believe his eyes. instead of being a tall, tall giantess with her head up in the clouds, she reached just to d. joaõ's own shoulder. d. joaõ was so surprised that he had to sit down in a chair and be fanned. he couldn't say a single word for eighteen minutes and a half--his breath had been so completely taken away. "it is a good thing that you happened to think of me just as soon as you did," remarked guimara. "i was getting smaller and smaller. if you had neglected to think of me for another minute i should have faded away entirely and you would have never known what had become of me." when guimara became small she lost her power as an enchantress entirely. her lovely eyes were always a trifle sad because d. joaõ had forgotten her that one little minute. she never went back to giantland but reigned as queen of d. joaõ's kingdom for many years. viii the adventures of a fisherman's son long ago there was a man and woman who lived in a little mud hut under the palm trees on the river bank. they had so many children they did not know what to do. the little hut was altogether too crowded. the man had to work early and late to find food enough to feed so many. one day the seventh son said to his father, "o, father, i found a little puppy yesterday when i was playing on the bank of the river. please let me bring it home to keep. i have always wanted one." the father consented sadly. he did not know how to find food for the children, and an extra puppy to feed seemed an added burden. he went to the river bank to fish that day with a heavy heart. he cast his net in vain. he did not catch a single fish. he cast his net from the other side with no better luck. he did not catch even one little _piabinha_. suddenly he heard a voice which seemed to come from the river bed itself, it was so deep. this is what it said: "if you will give me whatever new you find in your house when you go home i will give you fisherman's luck. you will catch all the fish you wish." the man remembered the request which his seventh son had made that morning. "the new thing i'll find in my house when i get home will be that puppy," said the man to himself. "this will be a splendid way to get rid of the puppy which i did not want to keep anyway." accordingly the man consented to the request which came from the strange voice in the depths of the river. "you must seal this covenant with your blood," said the voice. the man cut his finger a tiny bit with his sharp knife and squeezed a few drops of blood from the wound into the river. "if you break this vow the curse of the river giant will be upon you and your children for ever and ever," said the deep voice solemnly. the fisherman cast his net where the river giant commanded, and immediately it was so full of fish that the man could hardly draw it out of the water. three times he drew out his net, so full that it was in danger of breaking. "truly this was a fortunate bit of business," said the man. "here i have fish enough to feed my family and all i can sell in addition." as the fisherman approached his house with his enormous catch of fish one of the children came running to meet him. "o father, guess what we have at our house which we did not have when you went away," said the child. "a new puppy," replied her father. "o no, father," replied the child. "you have not guessed right at all. it is a new baby brother." the poor fisherman burst into tears. "what shall i do! what shall i do!" he sobbed. "i dare not break my vow to the river giant." the fisherman's wife was heartbroken when she heard about the business which her husband had transacted with the river giant. however she could think of no way to escape from keeping the contract which he had made. she kissed the tiny babe good-bye and gave it her blessing. then the fisherman took it down to the river bank and threw it into the river at the exact spot from which the deep voice had come. there in the depths of the river the river giant was waiting to receive the new born babe. he took the little one into his palace of gold and silver and mother-of-pearl with ornaments of diamonds, and there the baby received excellent care. time passed and the little boy grew into a big boy. at last he was fifteen years old and a handsome lad indeed, tall and straight, with eyes which were dark and deep like the river itself, and hair as dark as the shades in the depths of the river. all his life he had been surrounded with every luxury, but he had never seen a single person. he had never seen even the river giant. all he knew of him was his deep voice which gave orders in the palace. one day the voice of the river giant said, "i have to go away on a long journey. i will leave with you all the keys to all the doors in the palace, but do not meddle with anything. if you do you must forfeit your life." many days passed and the lad did not hear the voice of the river giant. he missed its sound in the palace. it was very still and very lonely. at last at the end of fifteen days he took one of the keys which the river giant had left and opened the door which it fitted. the door led into a room in the palace where the boy had never been. inside the room was a huge lion. the lion was fat and well nourished, but there was nothing for it to eat except hay. the boy did not meddle with anything and shut the door. another fifteen days passed by, and again the lad took one of the keys. he opened another door in the palace which he had never entered. inside the room he found three horses, one black, one white, and one chestnut. there was nothing in the room for the horses to eat except meat, but in spite of it they were fat and well nourished. the boy did not touch anything and when he went out he shut the door. at the end of another fifteen days all alone without even the voice of the river giant for company, the lad tried another key in another door. this room opened into a room full of armour. there were daggers and knives and swords and muskets and all sorts of armour which the boy had never seen and did not know anything about. he was very much interested in what he saw, but he did not meddle with anything. the next day he opened the room again where the horses were kept. this time one of the horses,--the black one,--spoke to him and said, "we like hay to eat very much better than this meat which was left to us by mistake. the lion must have our hay. please give this meat to the lion and bring us back our hay. if you will do this as i ask i'll serve you for ever and ever." the boy took the meat to the lion. the lion was very much pleased to exchange the hay for it. the lad then took the hay to the horses. all at once he remembered how he had been told not to meddle with anything. this had been meddling. the boy burst into tears. "i shall lose my life as the punishment for this deed," he sobbed. the horses listened in amazement. "i got you into this trouble," said the black horse. "now i'll get you out. just trust me to find a way out." the black horse advised the boy to take some extra clothes and a sword and musket and mount upon his back. "i have lived here in the depths of the river so long that my speed is greater than that of the river itself," said the horse. "if there was any doubt of it before, now that i have had some hay once more i am sure i can run faster than any river in the world." it was true. when the river giant came back home and found that the boy had meddled he ran as fast as he could in pursuit of the lad. the black horse safely and surely carried the lad beyond his reach. the black horse and his rider travelled on and on until finally they came to a kingdom which was ruled over by a king who had three beautiful daughters. the lad at once applied for a position in the service of this king. "i do not know what you can do," said the king. "you have such soft white hands. perhaps you may serve to carry bouquets of flowers from my garden every morning to my three daughters." the lad had eyes which were dark and deep like the depths of the river, and when he carried bouquets of flowers from the garden to the king's daughters the youngest princess fell in love with him at once. her two sisters laughed at her. "i don't care what you say," said the youngest princess. "he is far handsomer than any of the princes who have ever sung of love beneath our balcony." that very night two princes from neighbouring kingdoms came to sing in the palace garden beneath the balcony of the three princesses. the two oldest daughters of the king were proud and haughty, but the youngest princess had love in her heart and love in her eyes. for this reason she was one whom all the princes admired most. the lad from the river listened to their songs. "i wish i looked like these two princes and knew songs like theirs," said he. just then he caught sight of his own reflection in the fountain in the garden. he saw that he looked quite as well as they. "i too will sing a song before the balcony of the princesses," he decided. he did not know that he could sing, but in truth his voice had in it all the music of the rushing of the river. when he sang even the two rival musicians stopped to listen to his song. the two older princesses did not know who was singing, but the youngest princess recognized him at once. the next day a great tournament took place. the lad from the river had never seen a tournament, but after he had watched it for a moment he decided to enter. he went to get the black horse which had carried him out of the depths of the river and the arms he had brought with him from the palace of the river giant. with such a horse and such arms he carried off all the honours of the tournament. every one at the tournament wondered who the strange _cavalheiro_ could be. no one recognized him except the youngest princess. she knew who it was the moment she saw him and gave him her ribbon to wear. the next day all the _cavalheiros_ who had taken part in the tournament set out to slay the wild beast which often came out of the jungle to attack the city. it was the lad from the river who killed the beast, as all the _cavalheiros_ knew. when they returned to the palace with the news that the beast had been slain, the king said, "tomorrow night we will hold the greatest _festa_ which this palace has ever witnessed. tomorrow let all the _cavalheiros_ who are here assembled go forth to hunt for birds to grace our table." the next day the _cavalheiros_ went out to hunt the birds, and it was the lad from the river who succeeded in slaying the birds. none of the other _cavalheiros_ were at all successful. the two neighbouring princes who were suitors for the hand of the youngest princess made a contract. "we cannot let this stranger carry off all the honours," said one to the other. "you say that you killed the beast, and i will say that it was i who killed the birds." that night at the _festa_ one prince stood up before the king and told his story of slaying the beast, and the other prince stood up and told how he had killed the birds. the other _cavalheiros_ knew that it was false, but when they looked around for the _cavalheiro_ who had done the valiant deeds they could not find him. the lad from the river had on his old clothes which he wore as a servant in the garden and stood at the lower part of the banquet hall among the servants. when the king had heard the stories of the two princes he was greatly pleased with what they had done. "the one who killed the beast shall have a princess for a bride," said he, "and the one who killed the birds he too shall have a princess for his bride." the youngest princess saw the lad from the river standing among the servants and smiled into his eyes. the lad came and threw himself before the king. "o my king," said he, "these stories to which you have listened are false, as all these assembled _cavalheiros_ will prove. it is i who killed the beast and all the birds. i claim a princess as my bride." all the assembled _cavalheiros_ recognized the lad in spite of his changed appearance in his gardening clothes. "_viva!_" they shouted. "he speaks the truth. he is the valiant one of us who killed the beast and the birds. to him belongs the reward." the youngest princess had a heart filled with joy. the wedding feast was celebrated the very next day. the river giant found out about it and sent a necklace of pearls and diamonds as a wedding gift to the bride of the lad whom he had brought up in his palace. the fisherman and his wife, however, never knew the great good fortune which had come to their son. ix the beast slayer once upon a time there was a man and his wife who were very poor. the man earned his living making wooden bowls and platters to sell and worked early and late, but wooden bowls and platters were so very cheap that he could barely support his family no matter how hard he worked. the man and his wife were the parents of three lovely daughters. they were all exceedingly beautiful, and the man and his wife often lamented the fact that they did not have money enough to educate them and clothe them fittingly. one day there came to the door of the poor man's house a handsome young man mounted on a beautiful horse. he asked to buy one of the poor man's daughters. the father was very much shocked at this request. "i may be poor," said he, "but i am not so poor that i have to sell my children." the young man, however, threatened to kill him if he refused to do his bidding; so finally, after a short struggle, the father consented to part with his eldest daughter. he received a great sum of money in return. the father was now a rich man and did not wish to make bowls and platters any longer. his wife, however, urged him to keep on with his former occupation. accordingly he went on with his work. the very next day there came to his door another young man, even handsomer than the other, mounted upon even a finer horse. this young man made the same request that the other had done. he wanted to buy one of the daughters. the father burst into tears and told all the dreadful happenings of the day before. the young man, however, showed no pity and continued to demand one of the daughters. he made fearful threats if the man would not yield to his request, and the father became so frightened that he at length parted with his second daughter. the first young man had paid a great sum of money, but this one paid even more. though he was now very rich the father still went on making bowls and platters to please his wife. the next day when he was at work the handsomest young man he had ever seen appeared riding upon a most beautiful steed. this young man demanded the third daughter. the poor father had to yield just as before, though it nearly broke his heart to part with his only remaining child. the price which the young man paid was so very great that the family was now as rich as it had once been poor. their home was not childless very long, for soon a baby son came to them. they brought up the boy in great luxury. one day when the child was at school he quarrelled with one of his playmates. this taunt was thrown in his face: "ah, ha! you think your father was always rich, do you? he is a rich man now, it is true, but it is because he sold your three sisters." the words made the boy sad, but he said nothing about the matter at home. he hid it away in his mind until he had become a man. then he went to his father and mother and demanded that they should tell him all about it. his parents told the young man the whole story of the strange experiences through which they had obtained their wealth. "i am now a man," said the son. "i feel that it is right that i should go out into the world in search of my sisters. perhaps i might be able to find them and aid them in some way. give me your blessing and allow me to go." his father and mother gave him their blessing, and the young man started out to make a search through all the world. soon he came to a house where there were three brothers quarrelling over a boot, a cap, and a key. "what is the matter?" asked the young man. "why are these things so valuable that you should quarrel over them?" the brothers replied that if one said to the boot, "o boot, put me somewhere," the boot would immediately put him anywhere he wished to go. if one said to the cap, "o cap, hide me," immediately the cap would hide him so he could not be seen. the key could unlock any door in the whole world. the young man at once wanted to own these things himself, and he offered so much money for them that at last the three brothers decided to end their quarrel by selling the boot, the cap, and the key and dividing the money. the young man put the three treasures in his saddle bag and went on his way. as soon as he was out of sight of the house he said to the boot, "o boot, put me in the house of my eldest sister." immediately the young man found himself in the most magnificent palace he had ever seen in his life. he asked to speak with his sister, but the queen of the palace replied that she had no brother and did not wish to be bothered with the stranger. it took much urging for the young man to gain permission from her to relate his story; but, when she had once heard it, everything sounded so logical that she decided to receive him as her brother. she asked how he had ever found her home, and how he had come through the thicket which surrounded her palace. the young man told her about his magic boot. in the afternoon the queen suddenly burst into tears. her brother asked what the trouble was. "o dear! o dear! what shall we do! what shall we do!" sobbed the queen. "my husband is king of the fishes. when he comes home to dinner tonight he will be very angry to find a human in his palace." the young man told her about his magic cap and comforted her fears. soon the king of fishes arrived, accompanied by all his retinue. he came into the palace in a very bad temper, giving kicks and blows to everything which came in his way, and saying in a fierce, savage voice, "_lee, low, lee, leer_, i smell the blood of a human, here. i smell the blood of a human, here." it took much persuasion on the part of the queen to get him to take a bath. after his bath he appeared in the form of a handsome man. he then ate his dinner, and when he had nearly finished the meal his wife said to him, "if you should see my brother here what would you do to him?" "i would be kind to him, of course, just as i am to you," responded the king of the fishes. "if he is here let him appear." the young man then took off the magic cap by which he had hidden himself. the king treated him most kindly and courteously. he invited him to live for the rest of his life in the palace. the young man declined the invitation, saying that he had two other sisters to visit. he took his departure soon, and when he went away his brother-in-law gave him a scale with these words: "if you are ever in any danger in which i can help you, take this scale and say, 'help me, o king of the fishes.'" the young man put the scale in his saddle bag. then he took out his magic boot and said, "o boot, put me in the home of my second sister." he found his second sister queen of even a more wonderful palace than his eldest sister. her husband was king of rams and treated the newly found brother of his queen with great consideration. when the young man had finished his visit there the king of rams gave him a piece of wool saying, "if you are ever in any peril in which i can help you pull this wool and ask help of the king of rams." with the aid of his magic boot the young man went to visit the home of his youngest sister. he found her in the most magnificent palace of them all. her husband was king of pigeons. when the young man departed he gave him a feather telling him if he was ever in any danger that all he had to do was to pull the feather and say, "help me, o king of the pigeons." all three of the young man's brothers-in-law had admired the power of his magic boot and they had all advised him to visit the land of the king of giants by means of it. after having left each of his three sisters full of happiness in her costly palace he felt free to act upon this advice, so by means of his magic boot he again found himself in a new country. he soon heard on the street that the king of the land of giants had a beautiful giantess daughter whom he wished to give in marriage if she could be persuaded to choose a husband. she was such a famous beauty that no one could pass before her palace without eagerly gazing up in hopes of seeing her lovely face at the window. the giant princess had grown weary of being the object of so much attention, and she had made a vow that she would marry no one except a man who could pass before her without lifting his eyes. the young man became interested when he heard this and at once rode past the palace with his eyes fixed steadily on the ground. he did not give a single glance upward in the direction of the window where the beautiful giant princess was watching him. the princess was overcome with joy at the sight of the handsome stranger who appeared as if in response to her vow. the king summoned him to the palace at once and ordered that the wedding should be celebrated immediately. after the wedding the giant princess soon found out that her husband carried his choicest treasures in his saddle bags. she inquired their significance and her husband told her all about them. she was especially interested in the key. she said that there was a room in the palace which was never opened. in this room there was a fierce beast which always came to life again whenever it was killed. the giant princess had always been anxious to see the beast with her own eyes, and she suggested that they should use the key to unlock the door of the forbidden room and take a peep at the beast. her husband, however, gave her no encouragement to do this. he decided that it was too risky a bit of amusement; but one day when he had gone hunting with the king and court the princess was overjoyed to find that the magic key had been left behind. she at once picked it up and opened the forbidden door. the beast gave a great leap, roaring out at her, "you are the very one i have sought," as he seized her with his sharp claws. when her husband and father returned from their hunting trip they were very much worried to find that the princess had disappeared. no one knew where she was. after searching through the palace and garden all in vain they went to the place where the beast was always kept. the prince recognized his magic key in the door, but the room was empty. the beast had fled with the giant princess. once more the young man made use of his magic boot and soon was by the side of the princess. the beast had hidden her in a cave by the sea and had gone away in search of food. the giant princess was delighted to find her husband whom she had never expected to see again and wanted to hasten away from the cave with him at once. "you have got yourself into this affair," said her husband. "i can get you out again, i think, but i believe that it is your duty to at least make an effort to take the beast's life. perhaps when he comes back to the cave you can extract from him the secret of his charmed life." the princess awaited the return of the beast. then she asked him to tell her the secret of his charmed life. the beast was very much flattered to have the giant princess so interested in him, and he told it to her at once. he never thought of a plot. this is what he said: "my life is in the sea. in the sea there is a chest. in the chest there is a stone. in the stone there is a pigeon. in the pigeon there is an egg. in the egg there is a candle. at the moment when that candle is extinguished i die." all this time the prince had remained there, hiding under his magic cap. he heard every word the beast said. as soon as the beast had gone to sleep the prince stood on the seashore and said: "help me, o king of the fishes," as he took out the scale which his brother-in-law had given him. immediately there appeared a great multitude of fishes asking what he wished them to do. he asked them to get the chest from the depths of the sea. they replied that they had never seen such a chest, but that probably the sword-fish would know about it. they hastened to call the sword-fish and he came at once. he said that he had seen the chest only a moment before. all the fishes went with him to get it, and they soon brought the chest out of the sea. the prince opened the chest easily with the aid of his magic key, and inside he found a stone. then the prince pulled the piece of wool which his second brother-in-law had given him and said, "help me, o king of the rams." immediately there appeared a great drove of rams, running to the seashore from all directions. they attacked the stone, giving it mighty blows with their hard heads and horns. soon they broke open the stone, and from out of it there flew a pigeon. the beast now awoke from his sleep and knew that he was very ill. he remembered all that he had told the princess and accused her of having made a plot against his life. he seized his great ax to kill the princess. in the meantime the prince had pulled the feather which his third brother-in-law had given him and cried, "help me, o king of the pigeons." immediately a great flock of pigeons appeared attacking the pigeon and tearing it to pieces. [illustration: immediately a great flock of pigeons appeared] just as the beast had caught the princess and was about to slay her, the prince took the egg from within the slain pigeon. he at once broke the egg and blew out the candle. at that moment the beast fell dead, and the princess escaped unharmed. the prince carried the giant princess home to her father's kingdom and the king made a great _festa_ which lasted many days. there was rejoicing throughout the whole kingdom because of the death of the beast and because of the safety of the lovely princess. the prince was praised throughout the kingdom and there is talk of him even unto this very day. the prince had cut off the head of the great beast and the tip of its tail. the head he had given to the king, but the tip of the tail he kept for himself. the beast was so enormous that just the tip of its tail made a great ring large enough to encircle the prince's body. one day, just in fun, he twined the tip of the beast's tail around his waist. he immediately grew and grew until he became a giant himself, almost as tall as the king of the land of giants, and several leagues taller than the princess. it is not strange that a man who became a giant among giants should be famous even until now. x the quest of cleverness once long ago there lived a king who had a stupid son. his father sent him to school for many years hoping that he might learn something there. his teachers all gave him up as hopelessly stupid, and with one accord they said, "it is no use trying to teach this lad out of books. it is just a waste of our valuable time." at length the king called together all the wisest men of his kingdom to consult with them as to the best way to make the prince wise and clever. they talked the matter over for a year and a day. it was the unanimous opinion of the wise men of the kingdom that the lad should be sent on a journey through many lands. in this way he might learn many of the things which his teachers had not been able to teach him out of books. accordingly the prince was equipped for his journey. he was given fine raiment, a splendid black horse upon which to ride, and a great bag full of money. thus prepared, he started forth from the palace one bright morning with the blessing of the king, his father, and of all the wise men of the kingdom. the prince journeyed through many lands. in one country he learned one thing, and in another country he learned another thing. there was no country or kingdom so small or poor that it did not have something to teach the prince. and the prince, though he had been so insufferably stupid at his books, learned the lessons of his journey with an open mind. after long wanderings the prince arrived at a city where there was an auction going on. a singing bird was being offered for sale. "what is the special advantage of this singing bird?" asked the prince. "this bird, at the command of its owner, will sing a song which will put to sleep any one who listens to it," was the reply. the prince decided that the bird was worth purchasing. the next thing which was offered for sale was a beetle. "what is the special advantage of this beetle?" asked the prince. "this beetle will gnaw its way through any wall in the world," was the reply. the prince purchased the beetle. then a butterfly was offered for sale. "what is the special advantage of owning this butterfly?" asked the prince. "this butterfly is strong enough to bear upon its wings any weight which is put upon them," was the answer. the prince bought the butterfly. with his bird and beetle and butterfly he travelled on and on until he became lost in the jungle. the foliage was so dense that he could not see his way, so he climbed to the top of the tallest tree he saw. from its summit he spied in the distance what looked like a mountain; but, when he had journeyed near to it, he saw that it was really the wall which surrounds the land of the giants. a great giant whose head reached to the clouds stood on the wall as guard. a song from the singing bird put this guard to sleep immediately. the beetle soon had gnawed an entrance through the wall. through this opening the prince entered the land of the giants. the very first person whom the prince saw in the land of the giants was a lovely captive princess. the opening which the beetle had made in the wall led directly to the dungeon in which she was confined. the prince had learned many things on his journey, and among the lessons he had learned was this one: "always rescue a fair maiden in distress." he immediately asked what he could do to rescue the beautiful captive princess. "you can never succeed in rescuing me, i fear," replied the princess. "at the door of this palace there is a giant on guard who never sleeps." "never mind," replied the prince. "i'll put him to sleep." just at that moment the giant himself strode into the dungeon. he had heard voices there. "sing, my little bird, sing," commanded the prince to his singing bird. at the first burst of melody the giant went to sleep there in the dungeon, though he had never before taken a wink of sleep in all his life. "this beetle of mine has gnawed an entrance through the great wall which surrounds the land of the giants," said the prince to the captive princess. "to escape we'll not have to climb the high wall." "what of the guard who stands on top of the wall with his head reaching up to the clouds?" asked the princess. "will he not spy us?" "my singing bird has put him to sleep, too," replied the prince. "if we hurry out he will not yet be awake." "i have been confined here in this dungeon so long that i fear i have forgotten how to walk," said the princess. "never mind," replied the prince. "my butterfly will bear you upon his wings." with the lovely princess borne safely upon the butterfly's wings the prince swiftly escaped from the land of the giants. the giant on the wall yawned in his sleep as they looked up at him. "he is good for another hour's nap," remarked the prince. [illustration: with the lovely princess borne safely upon the butterfly's wings, the prince swiftly escaped] the prince returned to his father's kingdom as soon as he could find the way back. he took with him the lovely princess, and the singing bird, and the gnawing beetle, and the strong-winged butterfly. his father and all the people of the kingdom received him with great joy. "never again will the prince of our kingdom be called stupid," said the wise men when they heard the account of his adventures. "with his singing bird and his gnawing beetle and his strong-winged butterfly he has become the cleverest youth in the land." xi the giant's pupil long years ago there lived a little boy whose name was manoel. his father and mother were so very poor that they could not afford to send him to school. because he did not go to school he played all day in the fields on the edge of the forest where the giant lived. one day manoel met the giant. the giant lived all alone in the forest, so he was very lonely and wished he had a little boy like manoel. he loved little manoel as soon as he saw him, and after that they were together every day. the giant taught manoel all the secrets of the forests and jungles. he taught him all the secrets of the wind and the rain and the thunder and the lightning. he taught him all the secrets of the beasts and the birds and the serpents. manoel grew up a wise lad indeed. his father and mother were very proud of him and so was his kind teacher, the giant. one day the king's messenger rode up and down the kingdom with a message from the king's daughter. the king's daughter, the beautiful princess of the land, had promised to wed the man who could tell her a riddle she could not guess. all the princes who had sung of love beneath the palace window had been very stupid. the princess wished to marry a man who knew more than she did. when manoel heard the words of the messenger he said to his father and mother, "i am going to the palace to tell a riddle to the princess. i am sure i can give her one which she cannot guess." "you are an exceedingly clever lad, i know, my son," replied his mother, "but there will be many princes and handsome _cavalheiros_ at the palace to tell riddles to the princess. what if she will not listen to a lad in shabby clothing!" "i will make the princess listen to my riddle," replied manoel. "what riddle are you going to ask the princess?" asked manoel's father. "i do not know yet," replied the lad. "i will make up a riddle on the way to the palace. i am going to start at once." the kind giant who had been the lad's friend gave him his blessing and wished him luck. the lad's mother prepared a lunch for him to carry with him. his father sat before the door and boasted to all the neighbours that his son was going to wed the king's daughter. manoel took his dog with him when he went on his journey, because he wanted some one for company. manoel journeyed on and on through the forests and jungles and after a time he had eaten all the lunch his mother had given him when he went from home. when he became hungry he spent his last _vintem_ for some bread from a little _venda_ in the town he passed through. he went on to the forest to eat the bread, and before he tasted of it himself he gave a piece to his dog. the dog died immediately. the bread was poisoned. even as manoel stood by weeping for his faithful dog, three big black buzzards flew down and devoured the dead beast. they fell dead immediately. just then the lad heard voices, and soon he saw seven horsemen approaching. the men were robbers, and though they had much gold in their pockets they had no food. "i am hungry enough to eat a dead buzzard," said the captain of the robbers. the robbers greedily seized the three buzzards and devoured them at once. the seven men immediately died from the poison. "the buzzards stole the body of my dog, so they became mine," said manoel. "the seven robbers stole my three buzzards, so they became mine, too." he took all the gold from the pockets of the seven robbers and dressed himself in the garments of the captain of the robbers because they were finest. he mounted the horse of the captain of the robbers because that was the best horse. the lad rode on toward the palace of the king. after a time he became thirsty and pushed the horse into a gallop. the horse became covered with sweat, and with the horse's sweat he quenched his thirst. soon he arrived at the royal palace. dressed in the robber's fine garments and mounted upon the robber's fine horse, manoel had no difficulty in being admitted to the palace. he was taken at once before the princess to tell his riddle. the princess saw in manoel's eyes all the secrets of the forests and jungles which the kind giant had taught him. "here is a youth who will tell me a riddle which will be worth listening to," said the princess to herself. all the princes and _cavalheiros_ from all the neighbouring kingdoms had told her such stupid riddles that she had been bored nearly to death. she could always guess the answers, even before she had heard the end of the riddle. this is the riddle which manoel told the princess: "i went away from home with a pocket full; soon it became empty; again it became full. i went away from home with a companion; my pocket-full killed my companion; my dead companion was the slayer of three; the three killed seven. from the seven i chose the best; i drank water which did not fall from heaven. and here i stand before the loveliest princess in the land." the princess listened to the riddle carefully. then she asked manoel to say it all over again. the princess thought and thought, but she did not have a good guess as to the answer to the riddle. no one in all the palace could understand manoel's riddle. "you have won my daughter as your bride," said the king, after he had used all his royal wits to solve the riddle and could not do it. when manoel explained his riddle to the princess, she said, "_nossa senhora_ herself must have sent you to me. i never could have endured a stupid husband." xii domingo's cat once upon a time there was a man who was very poor. he was so poor that he had to sell one thing after another to get food to keep from starving. after a while there was nothing left except the cat. he was very fond of his cat, and he said, "o, cat, let come what will, i'll never part with you. i would rather starve." the cat replied, "o good master domingo, rest in peace. you will never starve as long as you have me. i am going out into the world to make a fortune for us both." the cat went out into the jungle and dug and dug. every time he dug he turned up silver pieces. the cat took a number of these home to his master so that he could purchase food. the rest of the pieces of silver the cat carried to the king. the next day the cat dug up pieces of gold and carried them to the king. the next day he carried pieces of diamonds. [illustration: the next day the cat dug up pieces of gold and carried them to the king] "where do you get these rich gifts? who is sending me such wonderful presents?" asked the king. the cat replied, "it is my master, domingo." now the king had a beautiful daughter. he thought that this man domingo must be the richest man in the whole kingdom. he decided that his daughter should marry him at once. he made arrangements for the wedding through the cat. "i haven't any clothes to wear at the wedding," said domingo when the cat told him that he was to marry the daughter of the king. "never mind about that. just leave it to me," replied the cat. the cat went to the king and said, "o king, there has been a terrible fire in the tailor shop where they were making the wedding garments of my master, domingo. the tailor and all of his assistants were burned to death, and the entire outfit of my master domingo was destroyed. hasn't your majesty something which you could lend him to wear at the wedding?" the king sent the richest garments which his wardrobe afforded. domingo was clothed in state ready for the wedding. "i have no palace to which to take my bride," said domingo to the cat. "never mind. i'll see about it at once," replied the cat. the cat went into the forest to the great castle where the giant dwelt. he marched straight up to the big giant and said, "o giant, i wish to borrow your castle for my master domingo. will you not be so kind as to lend it to me a little while?" the giant was very much insulted. "no, indeed, i'll not lend my castle to you or your master domingo or anybody else," he shouted in his most terrible voice. "very well, then," replied the cat. he changed the giant to a piece of bacon in the twinkling of an eye and devoured him on the spot. the palace of the giant was a very wonderful palace. there was one room decked with silver, and one room decked with gold, and one room decked with diamonds. a beautiful river flowed by the garden gate. as domingo and his bride sailed down the river to the garden gate in the royal barge, they saw the cat sitting in the window singing. after that they never saw him again. he disappeared in the jungle and went to make some other poor man rich. perhaps he will come your way some day. who knows? "_quem sabe?_" they say in brazil. the end transcriber's note: the drawn-on caption for the illustration "the giant's daughter, guimara, was very much pleased with d. joaõ" spells the young man's name "d. joão." the illustration is the only place this spelling occurs. courtesy of the digital library@villanova university (http://digital.library.villanova.edu/)) motor stories thrilling adventure motor fiction no. june , five cents motor matt in brazil _or_ under the amazon _by the author of motor matt_ [illustration: _"look out behind you glennie!" shouted motor matt as he hurried forward._] _street & smith, publishers, new york._ motor stories thrilling adventure motor fiction _issued weekly. by subscription $ . per year. entered according to act of congress in the year , in the office of the librarian of congress, washington, d. c., by_ street & smith, _ - seventh avenue, new york, n. y._ no. . new york, june , . price five cents. motor matt in brazil; or, under the amazon. by the author of "motor matt." contents chapter i. the cachalot. chapter ii. john henry glennie, u. s. n. chapter iii. the meeting in the harbor. chapter iv. ah sin's clue. chapter v. off for the amazon. chapter vi. villainous work. chapter vii. rubbing elbows with death. chapter viii. a dive for safety. chapter ix. putting two and two together. chapter x. under the amazon. chapter xi. hand-to-hand. chapter xii. boarded! chapter xiii. a prisoner--and a surprise. chapter xiv. the old slouch hat. chapter xv. para. chapter xvi. a desperate risk. in the hands of the enemy. characters that appear in this story. =motor matt=, a lad who is at home with every variety of motor, and whose never-failing nerve serves to carry him through difficulties that would daunt any ordinary young fellow. because of his daring as a racer with bicycle, motor-cycle and automobile he is known as "mile-a-minute matt." motor-boats, air ships and submarines come naturally in his line, and consequently he lives in an atmosphere of adventure in following up his "hobby." =dick ferral=, a young sea dog from canada, with all a sailor's superstitions, but in spite of all that a royal chum, ready to stand by the friend of his choice through thick and thin. =carl pretzel=, a cheerful and rollicking german boy, stout of frame as well as of heart, who is led by a fortunate accident to link his fortunes with those of motor matt. =ensign glennie=, representing the u. s. government on board the _grampus_ during her long trip around south america. =tolo=, a valiant though unscrupulous japanese patriot anxious to die for his country. =mr. brigham=, our consul at para, brazil, who proves to be the right kind of man for the job. =clackett=, } =speake=, } the crew of the submarine marvel. =gaines=, } chapter i. the cachalot. "look at the chart, dick. unless i'm off in my reckoning, those blue things in the distance, that look like clouds, are the mountains of trinidad." "right-o, matey! the gulf of paria is to the south, and right ahead of us is the boca drago, or dragon's mouth, the entrance to the gulf. what's our first port-of-call?" "georgetown. that's where we're to pick up the midshipman." "but we're two days ahead of time, and he won't be expecting us. why not put in at port-of-spain for a little social call? i was there once, on the old _billy ruffin_, and it's a fine place for getting on your go-ashores and seeing the sights." "this is a business trip, old chap, and not a sightseeing excursion. our schedule has been made out for us, and we've got to follow it through. it's a big responsibility we're under, and if anything should happen to the _grampus_, there'd----" at this moment a tremendous shock interrupted motor matt. the big steel hulk of the submarine stopped dead, reeled for an instant like a drunken man, and then rebounded sternward against the push of the propeller. accompanying the weird manoeuvre was a fierce thrashing of the waves outside. sunk level with the surface of the sea, conning tower awash, the _grampus_ had been proceeding at a good clip on her southward journey. motor matt and dick ferral were in the periscope room, matt with his attention divided between the periscope table, the steering wheel, and the small compass, and dick on his knees beside a locker on which were a number of admiralty charts. dick was thrown sidewise by the shock, and matt only saved himself a fall by taking a convulsive grip on the spokes of the steering wheel. "fore-rudder will not work, sir!" cried speake through the tube communicating with the engine room. one admirable thing about the king of the motor boys was that he never got "rattled." under any and all circumstances he kept his head. "stop your motor, gaines!" he cried instantly through another of the tubes, then, whirling to still another, he called: "prepare to empty the ballast, clackett!" the ready "aye, aye, sir!" that came through both tubes proved that those in motor room and tank room were on the alert. the hum of the engine died slowly, and muffled sounds from the tank room showed that clackett was calmly attending to his work. in time of accident no man could leave his post, for the safety of the submarine, and the lives of those within her, might depend upon an instant compliance with orders. iron-nerved men formed the crew of the _grampus_, for each had been selected by captain nemo, jr., with that quality in mind. meanwhile motor matt had been studying the top of the periscope table carefully. "so far as i can make out," said he, in a puzzled tone, "there is nothing above." "the orinoco brings down a lot of drift, matey," put in dick, "and we may have struck a log floating between two waves. if our rudder has been damaged----" he was interrupted by another blow, fully as severe as the first. but this stroke came from the side and not from forward, and hurled the submarine over so far that every loose article slammed to starboard, and it seemed as though the boat must surely turn turtle. "start the turbines, clackett!" roared matt through the tank-room tube; "empty the ballast tanks!" "sorry to report, matt," came the instant response of clackett, "that the turbines are disabled an' won't work." matt was astounded. "then empty the tanks by compressed air!" he cried. "sharp's the word, clackett!" the hiss of air, fighting with the water in the tanks, was heard. at once the boat began to ascend and presently the slap of waves against the outer shell proved that they were on the surface. "take the wheel, dick," called matt, and leaped up the iron ladder into the conning tower. the lunettes, or little windows in the tower, were frosted with spindrift, and matt threw open the hatch and pushed head and shoulders over the top. "great spark-plugs!" he cried; "a whale!" "a bull cachalot!" exclaimed dick from below, staring through the periscope. "vat iss dot, tick?" the voice of carl pretzel, none too steady, floated up to matt from the periscope room. carl was not on duty and had probably come up to find out what was going on. "why," went on dick, excitedly, "a cachalot is one of the hardest fighters in the whole whale family. we probably ran into that old blubber-head while he was taking his morning nap, and he's got his mad up. by the figurehead of the old harry! see him spout! we're going to have trouble with him, matt! his head's like india-rubber, and he could poke it through the plates of the _grampus_ and never hurt himself." matt had got his head out of the hatch just in time to snatch a glance at the flukes of a big whale disappearing in the sea. he signaled half-speed ahead by the engine-room jingler. the elevation of the periscope ball gave dick a much more extensive view of the surface than it did matt from the top of the conning tower. the whale had come to the top again, and, while matt was able to see the geyser-like column of water the creature threw up, dick could take in the cachalot's immense proportions. "he's lumpy all over," announced dick, "and every lump is an old harpoon mark. he's a veteran, mates, and he's coming right at us. he'll stave in the plates, matt! dodge him!" "tell speake and clackett to put a whitehead in the port torpedo-tube!" called matt. dick immediately repeated the order, and carl clattered below to help. "they can't get the tube loaded, matt," cried dick, "before the cachalot will be on us." "we'll have to meet his first charge," answered matt calmly; "there can't be any dodging." there came a low _thump_ from forward, followed by a gurgling splash. from that matt knew that the bow port had been closed and that the water was being blown out of the tube by compressed air. then a faint rattle told him the breech door was being opened preparatory to loading the torpedo. by then matt was able to see the charging whale. he was a tremendous fellow, and he was making straight for the submarine with all the force in his great body. the water flashed away from his shining sides, and a long trail of foam unrolled behind his churning flukes. "i'll do the steering from here, dick!" shouted matt, laying hold of the patent device which enabled one to steer from the tower. matt headed the boat so as to meet its strange antagonist bow on. whale and submarine came together with a terrific impact. for an instant the whale seemed stunned, sheered off a little, and the sharp prow raked his side. the next instant the _grampus_ was beyond the whale. matt, looking behind, could see the huge cachalot leaping clear out of the water, and falling into it again with a splash like some mountain dropping into the sea. the whale was terribly wounded, and bleeding, but the wound seemed only to have increased his pugnacious disposition. "watch the periscope, dick!" roared matt. "can you see him? he's out of sight from here." "he's sounded, mate," answered dick, his tense voice proving the strain his nerves were under. "i'm hoping he'll leave us now, and---- sink me! there he is again! he's coming for us like an express train." a spouting of reddened water gave matt the location, and he put the _grampus_ about, so as to face the danger and bring the cachalot in front of the port torpedo tube. "tell them to make ready in the torpedo room!" shouted matt. "they must fire the whitehead the moment i give the word." dick repeated the order. the torpedo was contrived so as to travel at a certain distance under water. if discharged at too great a distance from the whale it would sink to its normal depth, and so miss the charging monster altogether. matt, watching the cachalot with sharp eyes, awaited the right moment for letting the whitehead go. the whale left a bloody track as it hurled itself nearer and nearer. "fire!" shouted matt suddenly. a gurgling swish, a spluttering cough, and a thud followed. the surface of the sea directly ahead of the submarine was full of ripples that marked the passing of the deadly infernal machine. "full speed astern!" cried matt. dick repeated the order to gaines. barely was the motion of the propeller reversed when whale and torpedo met. there was a dull roar, and the sea lifted high in a veritable flurry. the _grampus_ slid backward rapidly, rocking on the troubled waters. then, the lifted waves having descended, the whale was seen torn cruelly and lying on his back. already the triangular fins of sharks were in evidence, rushing from every direction upon the prey. matt descended to the engine room and found dick steering with one hand and wiping the perspiration from his face with the other. "a tight squeak, matey!" dick muttered. "we're out one torpedo, but you saved the boat." speake, meanwhile, had been taking the turbine to pieces. he now appeared in the periscope room with a wooden sieve half full of small fish. "mullet for dinner, matt!" he laughed. "a shoal of fish was bein' chased by the cachalot. the draught-holes of our turbines was open an' the fish run in. no wonder the turbines wouldn't work!" "good enough," answered matt laughing, "if you can call anything good that put our turbines out of commission at a time when we needed them. have some of them for dinner, speake." he turned to dick. "lay our course for the port-of-spain, old chap," he added. "we'll put into the harbor and look the submarine over to see whether her bow has been damaged any. i'll go below and have a look at the fore-rudder. possibly we can tinker that up temporarily. it would never do to pick up the midshipman with the _grampus_ at all out of commission." "aye, aye, old ship!" responded dick heartily. they were to call at the port-of-spain, after all, and dick ferral was mightily pleased with the prospect. chapter ii. john henry glennie, u. s. n. the anchor of the steamship _borneo_ splashed into the yellow waters of the gulf of paria, the boat continuing onward until the anchor had taken a grip on the muddy bottom. the _borneo_ was from venezuelan ports, and at la guayra had picked up no less a personage than john henry glennie, ensign, u. s. n. the steamer carried a queer assortment of passengers, and they were all around ensign glennie as he sat well aft on the grating beside the hand-steering gear. venezuelans were chattering like magpies; little brown youngsters were rolling over and over around glennie's feet; a british engineer was talking with a jew pearl buyer from margarita island--the spanish coming queerly from their alien lips; a german coffee-planter was exchanging small talk with the wife of a dutch officer who lived in curaçoa; and there was the usual ragtag and bobtail of english and brazilians, all of whom gave the youth in the naval uniform more or less curious notice. but the youth, his suit case on a table at his elbow, seemed absorbed in his own thoughts. judging merely by appearance, ensign glennie's thoughts were far from pleasant. his fingers drummed sharply on the table top, and there was a frown of discontent on his face as his eyes fixed themselves gloomily on the trinidad hills that lay back of the town of port-of-spain. in all conscience, the ensign had enough to trouble him. several days previous, he had been detached from the united states cruiser _seminole_ at la guayra on special duty. incidentally, the commander of the _seminole_ had entrusted him with a packet of important papers to be delivered to mr. brigham, the united states consular representative at para, in the mouth of the amazon river. in the course of his duty, ensign glennie was to call at para; also the course of his duty demanded that he proceed to georgetown, british guiana, and there await the arrival of a certain boat in which he was to take passage around "the horn." ensign glennie, let it be known, was descended from a line of massachusetts notables who first came over in the _mayflower_. his father was a boston nabob, and there was a good deal more pride and haughtiness about glennie than was good for him. no sooner had he been cut loose from the _seminole_ on detached duty, than he proceeded to hire the services of a body servant--a sphinx-like little jap by the name of tolo. how tolo came to be in la guayra at the very time the ensign landed there, and why he should insinuate himself into the particular notice of glennie and ask for a job, were mysteries not destined to be solved for some time. the prime thing to be taken account of here is that tolo did present himself, and was hired. for two days he brushed the ensign's clothes, polished his boots, and performed other services such as fall to the lot of a valet who knows his business. then, after two days of faithful service, tolo disappeared; and, about the same time, the packet of important papers likewise vanished. glennie led the authorities in a wild hunt through la guayra, and after that through caracas, but tolo was not to be found. what on earth the little jap wanted with the papers, glennie could not even guess, but that he had them seemed a certainty. returning to la guayra, glennie found that the authorities there had discovered that tolo had taken passage, on the very morning he had turned up missing, on a tramp steamer bound for trinidad and port-of-spain; and the authorities further stated that tolo had formerly been employed as a waiter in the _fonda_ ciudad bolivar, which fronted the esplanade of the capital city of the island. ensign glennie changed his plans forthwith. instead of proceeding direct to georgetown he would gain that port by way of trinidad, stopping long enough in port-of-spain to hunt up the enterprising tolo and secure the papers. so this was why glennie happened to be on the _borneo_; and it was also the reason he was not so comfortable in his mind as he might otherwise have been. as a commissioned officer in the united states navy he had been entrusted with important dispatches. if he did not recover the dispatches, and then proceed with the rest of the duty marked out for him, a black mark would be set against his name that would interfere with his promotion. glennie was worried as he had never been before in his life. his one desire was to serve uncle sam with a clean and gallant record. his father, the boston nabob, expected great things of him, and glennie, being puffed up--as already stated--with rather high ideas regarding his family, expected them of himself. therefore the loss of that packet of official papers caught him like a slap in the face. it made him squirm, and he was squirming as he sat by that table on the grating, felt the _borneo_ reach the end of her scope of cable and come to a stop with her mud-hook hard and fast. the water was too shoal for a large boat to get very far inshore, and glennie was among the first to tumble into the launch that soon hove alongside. when he had scrambled off the launch at the landing, he hailed a queer-looking cab and ordered the dusky driver to carry him, as rapidly as possible, to the _fonda_ ciudad bolivar. the ensign did not pay much attention to the scenery as he was jostled along--his mind was too full of other things for that--and presently he went into the wood and stone building that faced the _plaza_ and proceeded to make frantic inquiries regarding a waiter by the name of tolo. to all of these eager questions the venezuelan proprietor of the hotel gave a negative shake of the head. "there must be some mistake--the señor americano has surely been wrongly informed. there has never been such a person as the japanese employed in the _fonda_. the waiters were all venezuelans, and no japs were ever employed. perhaps this tolo had worked in the old hotel that had been burned during the great fire?" glennie's trail, faint enough at best, had run into thin air. he was at the end of it, and it had led him nowhere. going off into one corner of the wineroom, the ensign dropped down at a table in an obscure corner, rested his chin in his hands, and wondered dejectedly what he should do next. he was not very well acquainted with orientals, or the brand of guile they used. he had heard of japs insinuating themselves into fortifications flying the united states flag and making drawings and jotting down memoranda of the guns, stores, and number of men. he had laughed contemptuously at such yarns, although heartily agreeing with the expediency that had suggested such a move on the part of the men from nippon. like all others in the sea and land service of the great republic, ensign glennie knew that it wasn't so much the forts, or the guns, or the ammunition, as it is the unconquerable spirit of the men behind the guns that count. but where was the tactical advantage to be gained by a jap in stealing an envelope addressed to a consular agent tucked away in a brazilian town at the mouth of the amazon? the only advantage which glennie could think of was that of _pecuniary gain_. tolo had stolen the packet in order to demand money for its return. glennie had plenty of money, and he began to think he had fallen into a grievous error by running away from la guayra without giving tolo a chance to communicate with him. and yet there was the information developed by the la guayra police, to the effect that tolo had sailed for port-of-spain. however, this might be as unreliable, as that other supposed discovery, namely, that tolo was working at the _fonda_ ciudad bolivar. nevertheless, no matter what theories glennie might have, now that he was in port-of-spain, and could not get out of the town again until the next steamer sailed, it would be well to look around and thus make assurance doubly sure that tolo was not on the island. although ensign glennie was not at all sanguine, he immediately left the _fonda_ and conferred with the city officials. a description of tolo was given, handbills offering a reward for his apprehension were struck off and posted in conspicuous places, and the island telegraph lines and the cables to the mainland were brought into requisition. glennie had to work fast and thoroughly. before many days he must be in georgetown, ready to go aboard the ship that was to carry him south, and if he did not recover the important packet before he was picked up, then there would be a reprimand, and perhaps a trial for dereliction of duty. he winced at the thought and redoubled his efforts. but he was "going it blind." the wily tolo might be a thousand miles away and rapidly increasing the distance between him and his erstwhile employer. yet, be that as it might, ensign glennie could not give over his hopeless labors. he fought against fate with all the glennie firmness and resolution. fate had no business trying to backcap one of the glennies, anyhow. family pride swelled up in him as the skies of hope continued to darken. all he did was to cable his governor for a few thousand dollars and then begin scattering it wherever he thought it might do some good. three days ensign glennie was in port-of-spain, then one morning as he came down into the office of the _fonda_ he heard an excited group talking about a mysterious under-water boat that had just bobbed up in the harbor. glennie pricked up his ears. "what's the name of the boat?" he asked. "the _grampus_," was the answer. that was enough for the ensign. he settled his bill, grabbed up his suit case, and rushed for the landing. he had hardly got clear of the hotel before a chinaman, with a copy of one of the handbills, presented himself and asked for john henry glennie. the chinaman was told where the ensign had gone, and he likewise made a bee-line for the waterfront. here, at last, was a possible clue--and it was sailing after glennie with kimono fluttering and pigtail flying. chapter iii. the meeting in the harbor. events in this world, no matter how seemingly incomprehensible, usually happen for the best. if the _grampus_ had not had her fight with the cachalot she would not have put in at port-of-spain, and if ensign glennie had not lost his dispatches he would not have put in there, either. the damage to the fore-rudder had been insignificant. some of the iron bars protecting the rudder had been twisted and bent by the whale's flukes, and motor matt had repaired the damage while coming through the boca drago into the gulf. the submarine was riding high in the water a quarter of a mile off shore, the stars and stripes fluttering gayly from the little flagstaff forward. a small boat was in the water and a colored boatman was rowing two lads around the bow of the _grampus_. three men and another boy were forward on the submarine's deck, evidently assisting in an examination of some sort. glennie had the skipper of the launch lay alongside the small boat. "hello, there!" called glennie. "is that boat the _grampus_?" "yes," replied one of the lads in the other boat. "i'm looking for matt king, otherwise motor matt." "you mean you're looking at him and not for him. i'm motor matt." "well, i'm ensign glennie. what the dickens are you doing at port-of-spain?" "what the dickens are _you_ doing here? we were to pick you up at georgetown." "what i'm doing here is _my_ business," said glennie, stiffening. "i wasn't expecting you for two or three days yet, and expected to be in georgetown by the time you got there." matt stared at the haughty young man in the trim uniform. dick ferral, who was in the boat with him, gave a long whistle. "then," said matt coolly, "i guess our reason for being here is our own business. we were expecting to find a midshipman, glennie, and not----" "_mister_ glennie," struck in the ensign. "i'm a passed midshipman and a commissioned officer." dick got to his feet, pulled off his cap, and bowed. "_mister_ glennie!" he exclaimed, with an accent on the "mister" that was not entirely respectful. "our brass band has been given shore-leave, so we can't muster the outfit and play you aboard. it's a little bit hard, too, considering our limited number, to dress ship." a smothered laugh came from the deck of the _grampus_. glennie stared at ferral, and then at speake, gaines, clackett, and carl. the latter, grabbing the flag halyards, dipped the ensign. "oof ve hat a gannon, misder glennie," yelled carl, "ve vould gif der atmiral's salute." a flush ran through the ensign's cheeks. "who is that person, king?" demanded glennie, pointing to dick. "mister king," corrected matt. "this, mr. glennie," proceeded the king of the motor boys with mock gravity, "is my friend, mr. dick ferral. the dutchman on the boat is another friend--mr. carl pretzel. the hands are mr. speake, mr. gaines, and mr. clackett. this colored gentleman is mr. scipio jones. now that we are all acquainted, mr. glennie, may i ask you if you are coming aboard to stay?" "i am," was the sharp rejoinder. "those were my orders from the captain of the _seminole_." matt caught a rope which carl threw to him and stepped to the rounded deck of the _grampus_. "the submarine's all right, dick," said he, "and hasn't a dent in her anywhere. go ashore and get the gasolene. have you the hydrometer in your pocket?" "aye, aye, matey," answered dick. "then be sure and test the gasolene thoroughly." as dick was rowed away he once more removed his hat ostentatiously in passing the launch. ensign glennie disregarded the mocking courtesy and motioned his boatman to place the launch close to the submarine. "take my grip, my man," called glennie to gaines, standing up and tossing the suit case. gaines grabbed the piece of luggage. "why didn't you whistle, mr. glennie?" he asked, dropping the suit case down the open hatch of the conning tower and listening to the smash as it landed at the foot of the iron ladder. "we're well trained and can walk lame, play dead, an' lay down an' roll over at a mere nod." the ensign ignored gaines' remarks. climbing to the rounded deck he faced motor matt with considerable dignity. in spite of the ensign's arrogance there was about him a certain bearing learned only at annapolis and on the quarterdeck of american warships--a bearing that predisposed the king of the motor boys in his favor. "we had a fight with a cachalot, mr. glennie," said matt, unbending a little, "and thought best to put in here and look the _grampus_ over to see if----" "you were guilty of gross carelessness," interrupted glennie, "by risking the submarine in such a contest. but possibly you are ignorant of the fact that a bull cachalot has been known to attack and sink a full-rigged ship?" "ach, vat a high-toned feller id iss!" grunted carl disgustedly. "he vill make it aboudt as bleasant on der poat as a case oof measles." matt frowned at carl. "it was either sink the cachalot or run the risk of being stove in," said matt. "we'll have to have a little talk, mr. glennie, so you had better go below to the periscope room." the ensign nodded, climbed over the top of the tower, and disappeared. "that there uniform makes him top-heavy, matt," scowled clackett. "the quicker you pull some o' the red tape off o' him the better it'll be for all of us." "he's all right, boys," said matt, "and i'll bet he's a good fellow down at the bottom. he forgets he's not on the _seminole_, that's all." when matt got down into the periscope room he found glennie examining one corner of the suit case, which was badly smashed. "i regret to note, mr. king," said he, "that there is a serious lack of discipline aboard this boat. such a thing could never be tolerated in the service. we are to take a long and hazardous journey, and i shall insist on having the men keep their places." "you are not here to insist on anything, mr. glennie," replied matt, coolly placing himself on one of the low stools that were used as seats. "my own duties, and yours, are pretty clear in my mind. let's see if i have the situation exactly as you understand it. "the owner of this boat, captain nemo, jr., is recovering from a sick spell in belize, and he has sold the _grampus_ to the united states government for one hundred thousand dollars, conditional upon the submarine's being taken around the horn and delivered safely to the commandant at mare island navy yard, san francisco. for this long cruise i have been placed in charge of the boat. you are aboard as representative of the government, merely to observe her performance. have i got it right?" glennie nodded. "upon my report," said he, "will largely depend the acceptance or rejection of the craft when she reaches mare island. don't overlook that point. a lack of discipline will get us all into trouble, and may result in the loss of the----" "i will attend to the discipline," said matt stiffly. "if the boat behaves well, you can find no fault with the way i manage her. i must ask you not to bother me with any remarks as to how the _grampus_ is to be run. i and my friends are not in the naval service, but we all know the submarine perfectly and understand what is expected of us. "the cruise we are to make is one that no submarine ever made before. it is full of dangers, and unforeseen difficulties are going to bob up and will have to be dealt with. the _grampus_ is equal to the work, and in due time she will be delivered to the commandant at mare island, but i want, and will insist on having, a perfectly free hand. a friendly footing is what i desire among all on board, more than anything else." matt smiled and stretched out his hand. "just a minute, mr. king," said glennie, pursing up his lips. "i understood that i was to be here in an advisory capacity. from your talk i take it that you consider yourself the whole works, and that i am to play the rôle of an innocent bystander." "i am to manage the boat," returned matt firmly. "then," cried glennie, "if you get us into serious difficulties, i am to say nothing, but bear the brunt of your mistakes along with the rest of the men?" "do you know anything about submarines?" "a graduate of annapolis is equipped with all the knowledge he can possibly need in his work." "theoretical knowledge," qualified matt. "have you ever had any practical experience on a submarine?" "no." "then, if i get into difficulties, i don't think you could give any advice that would help us out." the ensign bowed coldly. "have you a cabin reserved for me?" he inquired. matt nodded toward a bulkhead door leading to a steel room abaft the periscope chamber. "we have fixed up a place in there for you," said he. "then, inasmuch as i am a passenger, i will proceed to eliminate myself and keep out of your way." without taking matt's hand he picked up his suit case and started. at the door he paused while a hail came down from the hatch. "hello dere, vonce! matt!" "what is it, carl?" answered matt. "dere iss a chink feller alongsite, und he say dot he vant to see misder glennie." "a chinaman!" muttered glennie, pausing. "why does he want to see me?" "vell, he say dot he tell you somet'ing aboudt a feller mit der name oof dolo, und----" a shout of joy escaped glennie, and he dropped his suit case and jumped for the ladder. "wait, mr. glennie," said matt, "and i'll have the chinaman come down." "very good," said glennie, smothering his impatience and dropping down on the locker. chapter iv. ah sin's clue. the chinaman came scuffling down the ladder in his wooden sandals. he wore an old slouch hat pulled low over his ears, and when he stepped from the last rung to the floor of the periscope room, he shoved his hands into the wide sleeves of his blue silk blouse and stood looking around him in gaping amazement. "i'm mr. glennie," said the ensign impatiently. "do you want to see me?" "allee same," answered the celestial. "you makee that, huh?" he added, pulling the crumpled handbill from one of his sleeves and holding it in front of the ensign's eyes. "you givee fitty dol if china boy tell where you findee japanese man?" "yes," replied glennie, stirring excitedly. "givee fitty dol. china boy know." "i don't pay in advance. savvy the pidgin? tell me where tolo is, then, if i find him, you get the money." the chinaman was silent. "who are you?" demanded glennie. "me ah sin." "where's tolo?" "my wanchee fitty dol first. me tellee, you no givee. my savvy pidgin allee light?" "you're an insolent scoundrel!" cried glennie hotly. "i'm an officer and a gentleman, and if i say i'll give you fifty dollars, i'll do it." ah sin ducked humbly, but he remained firm. "melican men plenty slick," said he, with a gentle grin, "but china boy plenty slick, too." "if you won't trust me," returned the puzzled ensign, "how can i trust you?" it seemed like a deadlock, and ah sin wrinkled his parchment-like face. "how you likee hire china boy?" he cried. "my cookee glub, blushee clo's, makee plenty fine man. workee fo' twenty dol. tolo him no stay in tlinidad; him makee sail fo' pala." "para?" burst from glennie. that was the port to which the important papers were consigned. if tolo had gone there with them, it may have been for the purpose of treating with the consular agent direct. "all same," pursued the chinaman. "you makee hire china boy, takee him by pala, pay twenty dol fo' wages, then givee fitty dol when you findee tolo. huh?" "how do you happen to know where tolo is?" demanded glennie skeptically. "my savvy tolo. makee work on landing when he takee boat fo' pala. him makee come on one boat flom ven'zuel', makee go chop-chop on other boat fo' pala. ah sin makee chin with tolo. him say where he go in pala." glennie grabbed at this straw of hope like a drowning man. ah sin's information might not be dependable, but it was the only clue that had come glennie's way, and he decided to make the most of it. "there's your twenty dol," said he, throwing a gold piece to the chinaman. "you're hired. make yourself scarce out there while i talk with the skipper of this boat." he nodded toward a door in the forward bulkhead, and ah sin, after grabbing the coin out of the air and biting it to make sure it was genuine, faded from the room. "we've got enough hands aboard," said matt, "without taking a chinaman on." "you don't understand the situation, mr. king," returned glennie, "and i shall have to explain to you." it was hard for the ensign's pride to be compelled to confess the loss of the packet. but, if he had matt's help--which, in the circumstances, was necessary--it followed that he would have to let matt know the details connected with the missing dispatches. matt listened attentively. "the chink may be fooling you, mr. glennie," he said, after the ensign had finished. "possibly," was the answer; "but i can't afford to pass up his information. the submarine was to call at para, anyway, and we might just as well carry the chinaman that far. you must realize what it means for me to recover those papers. suppose i had to report that they were lost, and could not be found? good heavens!" and glennie drew a shaking hand across his forehead. "i'm willing to help you, of course," said matt. "you're in duty bound to do that! if i had to report the loss of the papers because you refused to give me your aid, it wouldn't sound very well, eh?" "do you want me to put all this in the log?" "no, certainly not! i want you to keep quiet about it--in the event that the dispatches are recovered. if they're not found, then--then--well, everything will have to come out." "were the dispatches important?" "they must have been, or they would have been sent by mail and not entrusted to me." "what does the jap want with them?" "probably it's a play for money. that's the way i size it up." "but he pulled out of la guayra. if he had wanted money he would have hidden himself away in that place and opened negotiations with you." "the chink says tolo has gone to para. that may mean that he is intending to open negotiations with brigham. great scott! we've got to get away from here in short order. can't you start for brazil at once?" "i had planned to lay over here for the rest of the day, and to-night----" "but everything may depend on the quickness with which we get to brazil!" "well, i'm willing to start just as soon as dick gets back with the gasolene. we'll get along, after that, until we reach rio, unless there's some extra cruising in the amazon." "i'm obliged to you, mr. king." glennie half extended his hand, but matt did not seem to see it. now that the ensign wanted aid in his time of trouble, he appeared anxious to get on the friendly footing which matt had mentioned a little while before. but matt, once rebuffed, wasn't going halfway to meet him on that ground. "it seems to me, mr. glennie," said he, "that there is something more behind this than just a desire, on the jap's part, to sell his dispatches to the highest bidder. the japs are wily little fellows, and as brave as they are wily." "what else can you make out of it?" queried glennie, with a troubled look. "nothing; only the theft strikes me as queer, that's all. if the papers were so important, i should think you ought to have kept them in your possession every minute." "i did," protested glennie, a gleam of resentment rising in his eyes over the implied rebuke. "they were under my pillow, and tolo, who came and went in my room just as he pleased, must have taken them while i was asleep." "speake has been doing the cooking for us," remarked matt; "but if we've got to have the chinaman along we'll make him earn his pay and take the cooking off speake's hands." "i'm more than willing to have you consider ah sin one of the crew. he'll probably be useful to me in para, and not until we get there." "there are not many japs in la guayra, are there?" queried matt, with a sudden thought. "tolo is the only one i saw," answered glennie. "then it's a little queer he should be there at the same time you were. there was a japanese war vessel in belize a day before we left the harbor, and i understood she had called at venezuelan ports. do you think tolo could have deserted from her?" "the japs never desert." "was tolo a sailor?" "he said he was a servant, and that he had come to la guayra from caracas." "but the authorities told you he had been a waiter in a hotel in port-of-spain?" "that was wrong, for the proprietor of the _fonda_ didn't know anything about tolo." "could you find out anything about him in caracas?" "no." "then it's a cinch the jap wasn't telling you a straight story. it's my impression he hired out to you just to get the packet of papers." "bosh!" scoffed glennie. "you're giving him credit for more cunning than he deserves. take it from me, he just saw how careful i was of those papers and made up his mind, on the spur of the moment, that he could make a few dollars by stealing them and selling them back to me, or else to brigham at para." "there's more to it than that," averred matt. the king of the motor boys was somewhat worried, for, if there was a plot, it was possible it was not aimed at ensign glennie alone, but perhaps at the _grampus_ as well. this suspicion was only vaguely formed in matt's mind, but it was one of those strange, inexplicable "hunches" which sometimes came to him and which events occasionally proved to be warranted by results. it must have been generally known in belize that the _grampus_ had been sold to the united states government for a large sum, conditional upon her safe delivery at mare island; and perhaps it was equally well known, on the _seminole_, at least, and maybe in la guayra, that ensign glennie was to accompany the submarine on her passage around the horn. all this knowledge, of course, could have been picked up, and perhaps used by unscrupulous persons. but what could such unscrupulous persons be hoping to gain by any crooked work? matt's thoughts were carrying him far afield. not only that, but they were bumping him into a stone wall. giving over his useless speculations, he once more turned to the ensign. "as i said before, mr. glennie," he remarked, "this cruise of ours is not going to be a picnic. a whole lot depends on its success, and every man on board must be----" at that moment he was interrupted by a sudden roar from below--a detonation that shook the steel fabric of the submarine in every part. the peculiar smell of burned gasolene rolled into the periscope room through the open bulkhead door. "great moses!" gasped glennie, leaping up. "what was that?" a tramp of heavy feet on the deck proved that those outside the shell had heard the noise and were rushing toward the conning-tower hatch. matt, without pausing an instant, darted through the door and dropped down the hatch leading to the tank room and the motor room. chapter v. off for the amazon. motor matt considered himself personally responsible for the safety of the _grampus_. the boat had been placed in his charge by captain nemo, jr., her owner, and the captain's faith in the king of the motor boys was unlimited. matt was to take the submarine to mare island navy yard and collect one hundred thousand dollars for her from the government. those were his instructions, and the captain not only expected them to be carried out to the letter, but he also expected to pay motor matt well for doing it. all this responsibility, it may be, had got on matt's nerves a little, so that he was apt to shy at imaginary dangers. but this fact in no wise interfered with his coolness and courage. the whole under part of the submarine's hull was filled with smoke--a smoke that had the acrid smell of burned gas. on hands and knees, matt groped his way through the haze, pulled a switch, and set an electric ventilator fan at work. the fan soon cleared the ship, and the first figure matt saw was that of the gasping chinaman. he was on his knees in the tank room. in front of him lay a twisted and broken gasolene tank--a small reserve reservoir sometimes used to help out the larger tank when the fuel in it was running low. this auxiliary tank had not been used for a month, but had hung empty from a rack in the tank room. at the chinaman's side lay a cigarette and a half-burned match. "what the deuce happened?" cried glennie, creeping after matt. "your chinaman tried to light a cigarette," answered the young motorist, quick to reason out the cause of what had happened. "he was under an auxiliary gasolene reservoir, and the match set it off." "thunder, matt!" exclaimed gaines, who had dropped down below after glennie, "there hasn't been any gasolene in that tank for a month." "the vapor was there, all the same." "nonsense!" exclaimed glennie. "vapor wouldn't stay in that tank for a month. it would escape and find its way out." "gasolene vapor is heavier than air," said matt; "and it would remain indefinitely at the bottom of the reservoir. a little of it probably leaked through the bottom of the feed pipe, so that the match set it off. luckily for the chink there wasn't very much of it." "gee, klismus!" babbled ah sin. "me tly smokee, something go _boom_! no likee devil-boat!" "have you any more cigarettes?" demanded matt sharply. ah sin dug a handful out of the breast of his blouse. "is that all?" demanded matt. "no gottee allee mo'." "don't strike any more matches," went on matt sternly. "you're going with us to para, and you're going to do the cooking. take him in hand, speake," he added to speake, who had dropped down behind gaines, "and show him how we do that part of our work on the _grampus_. keep an eye on him, and see that he doesn't blow up the boat." "never did like a bloomin' chink, nohow," grumbled speake. "if he gits too blame' troublesome, i'll break his scrawny neck. come on here, yaller mug!" speake made off forward, toward the torpedo room, and ah sin meekly followed. just then a thump on the deck, and a loud hail, announced that dick had arrived with the gasolene. "rig the hose, gaines," called matt. "clackett, get the pump on deck. we've got to get the fuel into the tank in short order and then slant away for the amazon and para." while gaines and clackett busied themselves, matt and glennie went up to the periscope room. carl was just climbing the ladder to help dick. glennie, without further talk, picked up his suit case and went on to the room that had been set apart for his use. "dot ploomin' shink vill ged us all indo some hot vater," grunted carl. "i guess not," returned matt. "speake is looking after him." "vat iss a shink anyvay," went on carl, "but some monkies mit der tails in der wrong blace?" clackett came with the pump and passed it to dick, who was in the boat with the barrel of gasolene. the pump was rigged, the end of the hose clamped on, and clackett and dick got busy pouring the fuel through the hose and into the big tank below. while they worked, clackett explained to dick that they were to make a quick departure for the amazon. dick was disappointed, for he had hoped for a night's shore-leave in port-of-spain, where he had some friends. when he learned that business of glennie's had all to do with their short stay in port, dick was inclined to be resentful. the ensign had not made much of a hit with ferral--nor with any of the rest of the submarine's complement, for that matter. dick, however, did no more than grumble. if motor matt thought it necessary to pull out for the amazon in such short order, then there was nothing more to be said. matt knew what he was about. dick alone, of all the submarine's crew, had been the only one to set foot on shore. as soon as the gasolene was transferred, and the boatman paid for his services, the anchor was taken in and the _grampus_ laid her course for the serpent's mouth and began her long voyage toward the amazon. dick took the wheel. matt, studying the charts, gave him the course. glennie came out of his room and watched the two lads while they were at work. everything was going well, and the rhythmical hum of the motor echoed through the boat from the engine room. glennie walked over and took a look at the periscope. in the mirror were reflected the slowly receding shore line and the distant mountains that arose behind the town. "you fellows seem to know your business," remarked glennie. "aye," growled dick, "and we mind it, mr. glennie." the ensign turned from the periscope and went up on deck. "why are you keeping the boat so high in the water?" he called down. "he knows so much, matey," said dick to matt, "why not let him figure that out for himself?" "because," matt answered, shaking his head at dick, "we can make better speed when we're riding light. once out of the gulf of paria, though, the sea will probably be so rough we'll have to submerge." the ensign continued to ask questions and matt continued to answer them until speake announced dinner. the meal was served to the crew at their different stations, ah sin carrying the plates and the steaming cups of coffee. after the meal matt went up on deck with glennie, and dick did the steering from the top of the conning tower. the gulf of paria was a great watery plain, over which the waters of the orinoco spread themselves before mingling with the sea. the ensign, feeling that he was disliked, drew back into his shell and bore himself with a chilly reserve. along toward three o'clock matt relieved dick and sent him below to sleep. directly after supper dick would have to relieve gaines and stand his trick at the motor, and it was necessary for him to get a little rest. carl would also have to relieve clackett, and, in order to be fit for his duties, the dutch boy had turned in immediately after dinner. he was sleeping on the floor of the periscope room, and dick curled up on the locker. the afternoon saw the _grampus_ well across the gulf, and by five o'clock she changed her course to south by east, leaving the densely wooded hills of trinidad far behind with the coast of venezuela in plain view to starboard. ah sin, having been duly instructed as to his duties, prepared the supper on the electric stove, and served it. speake relieved matt at the steering gear, and when dick went below to take gaines' place at the motor, matt sprawled out on the locker to catch his own forty winks. a stiff sea was running, and the _grampus_ was submerged to a depth that merely left the periscope ball clear of the combers. as the darkness deepened, speake had carl put the turbines at work, throwing out sufficient water ballast to lift the conning-tower lunettes clear of the waves. the electric projector was then turned on, and a ray of light shot through the forward lunette and marked the submarine's path through the tumbling sea. for some hours everything went well. then abruptly the motor began to sputter and misfire, lessening the speed of the boat and throwing her--now that she was riding higher and with the top of the conning tower awash--more at the mercy of the waves. loose furniture began to slam around the periscope room. matt was thrown from the locker, and sat up, wondering what had gone wrong with the motor. "what's the matter down there, dick?" he called through the motor-room tube. "i'm a feejee if i know," dick answered. "you'd better come down, old ship, and take a look." matt was soon at his chum's side. his keenly trained ear was usually able to locate any ordinary trouble, but this time he was puzzled. the ignition was all right, and the supply pipe from the tank was clear. nevertheless the motor sputtered and jabbered with a wheezy but unsuccessful attempt to do its full duty. the platinum, in the blade or spring of the commutator, will, in rare cases, get loose and cause misfiring, but that was not the cause of the present trouble. another rare cause, resulting in similar symptoms, lay in the loosening of the carbon pole in the cell of a battery. but, just now, the batteries were not at fault. finally, as a last resort, matt examined the gasolene that was being fed into the carburetor. a few drops in the palm of his hand aroused his suspicions. the next moment the hydrometer test was made and water was found in the gasolene. "how did it get there?" demanded dick. "the gasolene has worked well enough all afternoon and so far during the night." "none of the gasolene you bought in port-of-spain has been used as yet?" "not a drop." "well, connect up the carburetor with the storage reservoir. if there is a little water in the carburetor, it will soon work out. after that, empty this tank, strain the gasolene through chamoiskin, and then give the tank a compressed-air treatment. i'll send clackett to help you." "but how, in the name of sin, did water get in that tank?" cried the perplexed dick. as matt turned to crawl away, he picked up a six-inch ebony cylinder, about the size of a lead-pencil, from near the tank. it was a chopstick! "has the chinaman been here?" he asked. "not that i know of," answered dick. "why?" "nothing," said matt, but he was doing some tall thinking as he stepped into the torpedo room, aroused clackett, and sent him aft to lend dick a hand. chapter vi. villainous work. gaines and ah sin were also sleeping in the torpedo room. as soon as clackett had left, matt bent down over the chinaman and shook him roughly. the celestial started up and stared blankly into the stern face of the young motorist. "wha'chee want?" he asked. "is this yours?" inquired matt, producing the chopstick and studying the chinaman's face attentively as he did so. the brim of the old slouch hat--which the yellow man had kept on while sleeping--shaded his eyes, so that matt's view was not as good as he would have liked to have it. so far as matt could discover, not a shadow of guilt crossed ah sin's face. thrusting one hand into the breast of his blouse he drew out the mate to the chopstick matt was holding, a grateful grin split his countenance, and he caught the piece of ebony out of matt's hand. "me losee um, huh?" he chuckled. "my no savvy how me losee um." "go up the hatch to the periscope room," ordered matt. if ah sin was surprised at the command he cloaked his feelings admirably. without a word he left the torpedo room, climbed to the deck above, and gained the periscope chamber. matt pounded on the door of glennie's quarters, and the ensign quickly opened the door. "what's wanted?" he asked. "take this chinaman in there with you, mr. glennie," said matt, "and watch him." "what's he been doing?" "i don't know that he's been doing anything. i just want him watched, that's all, and you can do it better than any one else." glennie stared for a moment, then jerked the chinaman inside and closed the door. as matt turned away, he was conscious of the steady song of the cylinders. again the motor had taken up its cycle properly--proof that the gasolene secured by dick in port-of-spain was of the right sort. "i'll take the wheel, speake," said matt. "go to the torpedo room and turn in." "what was wrong with the motor?" queried speake, as he gave up the wheel. "water in the carburetor." "chink put it there?" "why should he do that?" returned matt. "that's too much for me, matt, unless he did it by mistake, same as he exploded the gas in that reserve tank." "i don't know how the water got in the tank, speake, and it may have been accident quite as much as design." speake left matt to his lonely vigil. the gleam of the little searchlight, reaching out ahead of the submarine, flung an odd picture on the periscope mirror. the edges of the mirror were shrouded in darkness, out of which jumped the smooth, oily billows. the waves flashed like gold in the pencil of light. matt, holding the _grampus_ to her course, looked into the periscope absently. he was thinking of the motor's recent trouble, and of the chopstick lying by the gasolene tank, turning both over in his mind and wondering aimlessly. suddenly he lifted his head. an odd note was mixing itself with the croon of the motor and the whir of the ventilator fans. the noise was not caused by anything aboard the submarine, of that matt was positive. it was like the thrashing of a large propeller, growing rapidly in volume as matt listened. under water sounds are carried far. the noise matt heard was caught by the submerged hulk of the _grampus_ and reëchoed as by a sounding-board. "half-speed, dick," he called through the engine-room tube. as the pace slackened, matt's eyes again sought the periscope mirror. abruptly, out of the gloom that walled in the glow of the searchlight, rushed a steamer, its blotted outline crossing directly the submarine's course. there were lights along the steamer's rail, but it was plain her lookouts were asleep or they would have seen the _grampus'_ searchlight. instantly the young motorist was galvanized into strenuous activity. "full speed astern--on your life!" he shouted to dick. at the same time matt put the wheel over, hoping to make a turn and get the _grampus_ on a parallel course with the steamer. but there was not room, nor time, enough for the turn. unless the motor stayed the _grampus_ she was bound to crash into the other vessel. dick, however, got the propeller to turning the other way just at the critical moment. the speed of the submarine slackened in answer to the reverse pull, and the stern of the steamer swung by into the gloom with a margin of scarce a dozen feet, leaving the _grampus_ bobbing in her troubled wake. "all right now, dick," called matt in a voice that shook somewhat. "drive her ahead." "what was wrong?" inquired dick. "we just missed a collision with a steamer. your quick work saved us." dick gave a long whistle, and went on with his work. "a miss is as good as a hundred fathoms, old ship," he answered lightly. the ringing orders and quick work with the engine had aroused none of the sleepers. carl could be heard babbling excitedly in the tank room, but otherwise the ship's complement was quiet. it was with a distinct feeling of relief that matt caught the first gleam of day as it was reflected by the periscope. as the morning advanced and brightened, he raised a black smudge, as of steamer smoke, on the port quarter. the smoke was bearing along in the direction the submarine was going, and matt wondered if that was the steamer they had barely missed running into during the night. gaines relieved dick, clackett took carl's place, and speake came after ah sin and ordered him below to get breakfast. when the chinaman was fairly at work, speake returned to the engine room and took the wheel. glennie showed himself when breakfast was ready, and he, matt, dick, carl, and speake ate their breakfast in the periscope room. "we must be off british guiana," remarked glennie, stirring the condensed milk and sugar into his coffee. "will you put in at georgetown, mr. king?" "we won't have to do that, now that we've picked you up at port-of-spain," replied matt. "we've got to make quick time to the amazon." "iss dot shdeamer der vone ve come pooty near running indo lasdt night?" queried carl, taking a look into the periscope. "it's about an even guess whether it is or not." ah sin, who happened to be in the room, took a look at the periscope for himself. "did we come near having a collision last night?" queried glennie, looking up quickly. matt, who wished to be agreeable, narrated the incident. "we made a lucky miss of it," remarked the ensign, when matt had finished. "i've no desire to go to the bottom in a steel sarcophagus like the _grampus_. strange i slept through it all, but i was tired, and i suppose i slept rather sounder than usual. that chink," he added, putting down his cup, "is a poor coffee-maker. or is it the coffee itself that tastes so rank?" "it's poor stuff," spoke up speake, "an' i was jest goin' to say something about the taste. the chink did better yesterday than he's doin' this mornin'." "id purns ven id goes town, like id vas a dorch-light brocession," observed carl luminously. "i don'd like dot, but i vas hungry, so i trink him. whoosh!" "it's certainly hot and bitter," said matt, and put down his cup after two or three swallows. "that steamer is gettin' closer to us, matt," announced speake, fumbling with the wheel and looking at the periscope. "steady, there, speake!" cautioned matt. "i don't know what's the matter with me," muttered speake, "but my nerves are all in a quiver. she's small, that steamer; one funnel, black, with a red band. i don't jest recollect what line--that--is." he drawled out the last words. "py shiminy grickets!" said carl, "i feel sick py der shdomach, und eferyt'ing iss virling und virling." "dowse me," put in dick, "i'm dizzy, too!" "and i," murmured glennie, setting aside his plate and empty cup. "i--i believe i'll lie down." he got up from the stool on which he was sitting, and floundered to the top of the locker. pushing a hand around to his hip pocket, he drew out a revolver that interfered with his comfort, dropped it on the floor, and fell back limply. dick tried to get to his feet, but his limbs gave out, and he fell sprawling upon carl. at the same moment carl straightened out with a gasp, and speake let go of the wheel and pitched forward to his knees. there he swayed unsteadily for an instant, trying to speak, but the effort was beyond him, and he slowly crumpled downward. a horrible sensation of helplessness was growing upon matt, and with it there dawned on his mind a hazy suspicion of villainous work. he struggled upright and staggered to the wheel. "gaines!" he called huskily through the motor-room tube. no answer was returned. glennie floundered up on one knee. "what--in the fiend's--name--is the matter?" he gasped chokingly. "clackett!" cried matt through the tank-room tube. still there was no answer. at just that moment, when matt was positively sure that all on the ship were caught in the awful spell, ah sin shambled through the door. with all his failing strength matt flung himself on the chinaman. before ah sin could dodge out of the way matt's arms went round him and his slouch hat was jerked off. with the hat came the long queue, leaving ah sin's closely cropped head in plain sight. "t--tolo!" gurgled glennie, a wild, incredulous look crossing his face. he made a superhuman effort to get off the locker, but the last particle of strength left him in a flash, and he rolled backward. chapter vii. rubbing elbows with death. matt had neither the time nor the strength to manifest any surprise over the startling revelation made by glennie. not only that, but his brain was in such a condition it was well-nigh incapable of surprise. in that critical moment when he felt a terrifying helplessness surely but steadily creeping over him, he centred every effort on the attempt to make ah sin a prisoner. swiftly as a lightning flash the idea struck through matt's brain that the chinaman had all to do with the baffling situation aboard the _grampus_. if matt could drag him down and secure him he felt that, at a later moment, the treacherous celestial might be dealt with as his evil deeds justified. but the work the king of the motor boys had mapped out for himself exceeded his powers. there was none to come to his aid. below, in the tank room and motor room, was a silence undisturbed by human voice or movement, and there, in the periscope chamber, the only noise to be heard was the deep breathing of matt's unconscious friends and the rattling sounds of the scuffle going forward between the young motorist and ah sin. the slouch hat and the false queue were kicked into one corner. ah sin's long, lean fingers were gripping matt's throat. there was no look of hate, or anger, or even of determination in the chinaman's face; the expression was blank and saturnine, as though he was merely a tool, operated by wires like a puppet and carrying out the will of some one in high authority. suddenly, putting forth all his strength, ah sin lifted matt by the throat and threw him bodily across speake and against the edge of the locker. matt tried to rise, but found it impossible. the awful weakness held him in thrall and was fastening gyves upon his wrists. soon he would be utterly helpless, like those lying around him, and what would ah sin then do to the _grampus_? a spasm of alarm and apprehension rushed through the young motorist. was this to be the end of the submarine's voyage? was the sale of the boat to the government destined never to be consummated? vaguely matt thought of captain nemo, jr., lying sick in that house in belize, of his unswerving confidence in the king of the motor boys, and of his tremendous disappointment if anything happened to the submarine during her daring cruise. all this brought every ounce of matt's failing strength back to him. he shoved his hand along the side of the locker and twined his fingers about the grip of the revolver dropped by glennie, then, with a despairing effort, he lifted himself on one elbow and again directed his gaze at the chinaman. ah sin had not been idle. he was holding something in his hand--a round object from which hung a long, black string. the chinaman was lighting a match and touching the flame to the end of the string. matt could not see very distinctly, for everything in the periscope chamber, even the chamber itself, was reeling about him in fantastic lines. the glow at the end of the black string sputtered and hissed. stepping over to one corner, ah sin placed the round object on the floor with exceeding care, pulling out the string so that it lay in a straight line, the burning end pointed toward the centre of the room. for a moment ah sin knelt and stared. his face was still inscrutable, his eyes showing nothing more than a mild interest in his fiendish work. a bomb! the realization broke over matt's benumbed brain like a thunder-clap. ah sin was seeking to blow up the submarine, annihilating not only the boat, but those aboard as well. on matt alone depended the salvation of the _grampus_ and her crew. and he was almost helpless in the grip of the baneful spell that had fallen over every one on board, with the exception of the chinaman! matt lifted the revolver unsteadily. a report rang out, sending wild echoes clattering through the steel hull. the bullet missed the kneeling chinaman, struck clanging against the curved iron plates, glanced against the bulkhead above the locker, and dropped flattened and harmless at the side of glennie. owing to matt's unsteady hand the chinaman had escaped the bit of lead, but he was startled and frightened. leaping up he whirled and peered at matt. the latter still clutched the revolver, but his hand swayed back and forth as he leveled it. ah sin made a quick jump toward matt, evidently with the intention of disarming him; but there was something in the lad's wide, straining eyes that caused him to change his mind. swerving aside he rushed at the ladder, mounted swiftly, and disappeared through the hatch. with a fierce effort matt concentrated his wandering wits upon the bomb. someway, somehow, he must reach the infernal machine and extinguish the fuse. dropping the revolver, he rolled over and over, a lurch of the boat, running erratically with no guiding hand at either wheel or motor, helping him to reach the foot of the periscope table. with the utmost difficulty he caught the legs of the rigidly secured table and pulled himself to his knees. the cup, from which he had taken only a few swallows of coffee, stood on the floor just below the end of the table, and not more than a foot from the burning fuse. by a miracle the cup had not been overturned. for him to reach the fuse in his weakened condition was impossible; but, if he could regain his feet and kick the cup over the coffee that remained in it might quench the fire of the fuse. three times he endeavored to draw himself erect by means of the table, but succeeded only in dropping backward as though pushed by a heavy, resistless hand. but the fourth time he managed to remain upright, trembling with the strain he had put upon himself. it seemed a trifling thing to overset the coffee-cup, but motor matt had never planned a harder task. there are but few things in this life, however, that will not yield to pluck and determination, and fortune favored matt in his grave fight. the _grampus_ pitched forward, rising aft and making a steep incline of the floor. matt's feet slipped, and he lost his hold on the table. as he came heavily down he shot against a stool, which was overturned and upset the cup. the liquid in the cup had slopped over the sides, and with the overturning a miniature wave of brown rolled along the inclined floor. there followed a hiss as it engulfed the tiny blaze at the end of the fuse, and then a little spiral of smoke eddied upward. this much matt saw, and a fierce exultation ran through him. the bomb was harmless--but where was ah sin? would he not come back, discover what matt had accomplished, and again set a match to the fuse? this might happen, but there was nothing motor matt could do to prevent it. he had taken only a few swallows of the coffee, and to this, and to his superior powers of endurance, was due the fact that he had kept his senses and a remnant of his strength long enough to accomplish what he had. but now a wave of darkness rolled over him. as unconscious of what was taking place around him as he was helpless to prevent further disaster, his head fell back and he lay as one dead among his silent and motionless companions. chapter viii. a dive for safety. as matt was the last one to lose his senses, so he was the first to recover. and here again his superior endurance must have scored in his favor. always in the pink of physical condition, and striving constantly to keep himself so, his powers of recuperation were quick to react and reassert themselves. he sat up, dazed and bewildered, and was some moments in picking up the chain of events where it had been dropped. by degrees he lived over the events that immediately preceded his lapse into unconsciousness, and thoughts of the treacherous ah sin brought him staggering to his feet. the _grampus_ was yawing and tumbling about in the waves, completely at the mercy of wind and currents. seizing the wheel, matt brought the submarine to her course and lashed the wheel with his twisted handkerchief. pausing by the foot of the ladder he looked up into the conning tower. the hatch was open. what had become of the chinaman he asked himself. had he, confident that the boat would be blown up, gained the deck and thrown himself into the sea? matt had heard of fanatics of that sort--carrying out orders given by a higher power and then immolating themselves on the altar of what they supposed to be their duty. the japs were noted for self-sacrifices of that kind, and ah sin was not a chinaman, but a little yellow man from the land of the mikado. how long matt had remained unconscious he had no means of knowing. resolved to discover what had become of the supposed chinaman at all hazards, matt climbed laboriously up the ladder. the cool, salt air, pouring down the hatch, served still further to revive him and bring back his strength. at last, when he braced himself in the opening and was able to cast a sweeping glance over the waves, the sight unrolled before him brought a startled exclamation to his lips. a cable's length from the submarine was a dory manned by smartly uniformed yellow sailors. hove to, half a dozen fathoms beyond the dory, was the steamer with the black funnel and the red band, her port rail lined with figures that were evidently watching the _grampus_. between the dory and the submarine was a swimming figure, which matt had little difficulty in recognizing as being that of tolo, otherwise ah sin. tolo was swimming and looking behind, and the eyes of those in the dory were on the _grampus_, the men at the oars turning their heads to look over their shoulders. it seemed plain that they were expecting an explosion, and that they were hurrying to get tolo out of the way of it. matt's blood ran cold as he thought of the heinous plot that had so nearly been carried out by the disguised japanese. policy was back of the murderous plan, but was it a policy dictated by a powerful nation, or merely by a set of misguided men, acting on their own accord? the young motorist had no time to debate this point. a shout of consternation greeted his appearance at the conning-tower hatch. the officer in the dory spoke to his men, and all turned their faces the other way and bent their backs to the oars. it flashed over matt, in a twinkling, that the crew from the steamer were still of the opinion that they could destroy the submarine, and that they were hastening to get aboard the craft in order to carry out their nefarious designs. without losing a moment, matt drew back into the tower and closed and barred the hatch. lurching down the ladder he called desperately to his companions. speake and dick were sitting up, staring blankly at each other. when matt appeared they fixed their bewildered eyes on him. "wake up!" cried matt, springing to dick and shaking him vigorously. "get your wits together, dick, and be quick about it." "keelhaul me!" mumbled dick. "there was dope in that coffee." "that's right," seconded speake, rubbing a hand across his forehead. "never mind that now," went on matt hurriedly. "enemies are upon us! that steamer you saw in the periscope, speake, is hove to a little way from us, and our motor is slowed until we have scarcely steerage-way. a boat is coming toward the _grampus_, and we shall be boarded before you can say jack robinson. we've got to make a dive for safety. rouse yourselves, both of you! to the motor, dick! speake, attend to the tanks--fill them for a twenty-foot submersion. you----" something struck against the side of the submarine, and a jar followed as of some one springing to the deck. "there they are!" shouted matt. "below with you--quick!" speake and dick got unsteadily to their feet. matt's ominous words alarmed them, and did more than anything else to clear the fog from their minds. making their way stumblingly through the door they lowered themselves down the hatch. several more ringing thumps on the deck proved to matt that others had come aboard. presently there was a banging on the hatch cover. "open!" cried a muffled voice with a queer foreign intonation. "open so that we can talk!" "who are you?" roared matt, his voice sounding like thunder in the confined space. "young samurai, patriots of nippon, sons of the rising sun, independent protectors of the kingdom. open!" matt forced his way up the ladder again. slant eyes were pressed against the lunettes and met his. already, however, water was entering the ballast tanks and the _grampus_ was beginning to settle. "our flag is the stars and stripes," yelled matt, shaking his fist at the eyes on the other side of the thick glass, "and you dare not lay a hand on us! if your mikado knew what you were about----" "our mikado knows nothing," interrupted a voice. "we----" the fact that the submarine was diving came suddenly home to those on the deck. already the waves were creaming over the curved plates, drawn into a flurry by the suction as the boat went down. the eyes disappeared from the lunettes, and the japanese scrambled for their boat. another moment and the conning tower was submerged and matt could hear the waters gurgling over the hatch cover. sliding down to the periscope room he looked into the periscope. some of the sailors were in the water, and others, in the boat, were desperately busy getting them aboard. for a moment only matt was able to use the periscope, and then the waters closed about the ball, the valves protecting the ball from an inrush of water closed, and the _grampus_ was more than fifteen feet down. "twenty feet, matey!" came the voice of dick. "that will do, speake," called matt. the tanks were closed. "drive her ahead, dick!" cried matt. the motor was speeded up and the _grampus_ hustled onward below the surface. while matt unlashed the wheel and brought the boat more directly into her course, a loud boom and a splash were heard. "what's that?" demanded speake. "the steamer is firing at us," answered matt. "let 'em shoot," laughed dick. "a heap of good it will do them to drop shot into the sea." "how's gaines, dick?" "coming along full and by, forty knots. he's sitting up and beginning to take notice." "how about clackett, speake?" "he jest asked me to tell him where he was," replied speake, "so i guess he'll soon be able to take hold." "good! we're coming out of this a whole lot better than i had dared to hope." "dot's righdt," spoke up carl, coming suddenly to a sitting posture. "how do you feel, old chap?" asked matt. "i peen lying dere on my pack trying to guess id oudt," carl answered. "that's about the way i stack up, mr. king," said glennie, turning over on his side so he could face matt. "where are we?" "we're twenty feet down and headed for the delta of the amazon, mr. glennie." "didn't you lose consciousness, like the rest of us?" "yes; but i wasn't out of my head so long. i was the last to go and the first to come to." "how do you account for that?" glennie sat up on the locker, as he put the question, and began rubbing his head. "i didn't drink so much of that bitter coffee as the rest of you did," replied matt. "that's right," muttered glennie; "i was forgetting about the coffee. it was drugged--it must have been." "yah, so helup me!" growled carl. "der shink vas oop to some funny pitzness, und he has peen efer since he come apoardt der poat. shinks iss pad meticine, anyvays. ve ought to haf droon him oferpoard on cheneral brinciples." "where's ah sin now?" queried glennie, looking around the room expectantly. "the last i saw of him," said matt, "he was in the water swimming toward a small boat." glennie started to his feet, astounded. "in the water?" he echoed. "do you mean to say you allowed the scoundrel to get away, mr. king? and all the time you knew just how much his presence meant to me!" matt gazed fixedly at the ensign. "your head must still be troubled with that dope the supposed chinaman put in the coffee," said he calmly. "it was lucky that i was able to do what i did, and, as for the chinaman getting away, i could no more help that than any of the rest of you. but it was a lucky thing for us that he _did_ get away, i can tell you that." "vat pitzness you got finding some fault mit motor matt?" snapped carl, making a truculent move in glennie's direction. "you vas a bassencher--don'd forged dot--und matt vas der skipper. ve ought to call him gaptain, only he von't allow id; but, all der same, he iss der gaptain oof der poat, und you vill keep some shdillness mit yourseluf oder i vill pat you on der pack mit mein fist. yah, so, misder glennie!" "that will do, carl," said matt. "draw back into your shell now, and keep some stillness yourself. i can handle my own end with mr. glennie." carl flung off to the other side of the room, tramping heavily to show his impatience and disgust. "i presume," said the ensign reflectively, "that you did the best you could, mr. king, so i have no fault to find with you. but you understand that ah sin was my only hope for locating those important papers in para." matt stared, wondering if glennie had forgotten the discovery he had made just before he had lapsed into unconsciousness. "i had a mighty queer dream about that chinaman," pursued glennie. "i thought you had a fight with him, matt, and that, during the scuffle, his old slouch hat came off, and the queue along with it. and i was under the impression that ah sin wasn't a chinaman at all, but tolo, that rascally jap." "that wasn't a dream, mr. glennie," answered matt, "but is literally what took place." "is that a fact?" cried the ensign. "look ad here vonce!" called carl. he had picked up the slouch hat and the attached queue and placed them on his head. "great moses!" muttered glennie, reeling back against the wall. "how i've been fooled! and i never recognized the scoundrel in his chink make-up! well, i guess i deserve all the bad luck that's coming my way. i've been a dunderhead ever since the _seminole_ dropped me in la guayra." "whoosh!" exclaimed carl, disgustedly, pulling off the hat and pigtail and throwing them into the locker. "i don'd like der shmell oof der t'ings," and he dropped the locker lid and turned away. "vat's dis, hey?" he inquired, picking up the bomb. chapter ix. putting two and two together. "that," said matt, "is a bomb. while i lay on the floor, all but helpless, the disguised jap set fire to the fuse and planted the bomb in the corner." glennie stared aghast. carl mumbled to himself, and very carefully returned the bomb to the place where he had found it. "he vas a plackguard!" growled carl, backing away from the bomb and shaking his fist at it. "der sgoundrel vould haf plowed us py some smidereens. i don'd like chaps any more as i do shinks." "you must be mistaken!" gasped glennie. "either that, or else tolo is a madman! why, the explosion of that bomb would have wrecked the submarine and killed us all." the ensign shuddered. "it would have been barbarous!" he went on, worked up by the enormity of the crime that had been planned. "as an act of war, it would have been savage enough, in all conscience, but here we are at peace with all the world, and under the protection of old glory!" "i can't help that, glennie," said matt grimly. "we've got to take the facts as we find them. i managed to get hands on the revolver you dropped, and had strength enough to fire one shot. the bullet missed its mark, and tolo jumped up and started for me. but i guess the revolver scared him off, for he whirled around before he got very close and darted up the conning-tower ladder." "he left the fuse burning?" "yes; and evidently expected a blow-up." "why wasn't there a blow-up?" "well, the coffee that had got me into trouble got us all out of it. i fell, knocked over a stool, the stool knocked over the cup, and the coffee was spilled out and flowed over the burning fuse." "that's the most remarkable thing i ever heard!" declared glennie. "modor matt's luck," chuckled carl. "i vould radder be mit matt, und haf a biece oof his luck, dan any blace vat i know. ven he has some goot fordunes, he has to pass dem aroundt to der fellers vat iss mit him--vich means me, for i vas alvays aroundt." "go on, mr. king," said glennie. "what happened after that?" matt, attending to his steering and keeping an eye on the periscope, told how he had lost consciousness for a few moments, had revived, lashed the wheel, and climbed to the hatch. the rest, including how he, dick, and speake had made a dive for safety, came rapidly and in the fewest possible words. "from all of which it appears," remarked glennie quietly, when the recital was done, "that we owe our lives to motor matt. but i can't understand this tolo business. why was he playing the part of a chink?" "so you wouldn't know him," said matt, "and so he could still be with you." "but what was the use?" "that seems plain," went on matt, wondering a little at the ensign's failure to see the game that had been attempted. "as i figure it, mr. glennie, there is a japanese secret society consisting of a number of misguided young men who call themselves sons of the rising sun. their government does not sanction their acts, and presumably knows nothing about them. these independent protectors of the kingdom have heard of this wonderful submarine ship invented by captain nemo, jr., and they are well fitted to understand its possibilities in time of war." "granting all that, just what has it to do with the actions of tolo?" "i'm coming to that. tolo, i take it, is a member of the young samurai society. no doubt the society has had spies in central and south america. these spies reported that the _grampus_ had been sold to the united states government, conditional upon her making a safe passage around the horn and up the western coast to mare island. i don't suppose that the sons of the rising sun were at all pleased with this information. they are enthusiasts, and probably don't care a rap for their own lives, or for the lives of any other people, so long as they can do a good stroke of work for nippon." "but tolo," put in the ensign impatiently, "what of him?" "probably, too," continued matt, "it was known that the _seminole_ had dropped you at la guayra, and that you were to accompany the submarine on her long cruise. tolo was commissioned to watch you, get aboard the submarine if possible, make sketches, and then destroy her." "but do you consider what a crime that amounts to? that it is virtually an act of war and might embroil two countries?" "it is an act of piracy, mr. glennie. the steamer from which the japs came was not flying the japanese flag, nor any other flag, so far as i could see. they're working on their own hook." "then they are liable to be caught and punished by their own government!" "of course; but the sons of the rising sun have the bit in their own teeth and are going their own pace. i'll bet something handsome they'd sacrifice their steamer and their own lives, into the bargain, if they could be sure of destroying the _grampus_. the japs are fanatics on the subject of patriotism--everybody knows that. but to go on with tolo. he hired out to you, found a chance to steal your dispatches, and thought advisable to take them. probably he thought they contained information of value to the young samurai. after that he disguised himself as a chinaman--not a difficult task for a jap--and called on us in the harbor at port-of-spain. he was cunning enough to hand you that yarn about knowing tolo, and to hang out regarding the fifty dollars so that he could get you to take him down the coast to the amazon. on the way, tolo was snooping around and learning all he could about the boat. the blowing up of the gasolene tank was probably an accident, but mixing water with our fuel was done with a purpose." "what purpose?" "to delay us, and make it possible for the steamer to come near. this morning tolo must have heard how we had narrowly escaped running the steamer down during the night, and i am sure he knew the steamer was hanging around our course just before he went down to get breakfast. he had come aboard the _grampus_ equipped with his bomb and his drugs, and it's a wonder his scoundrelly plans did not carry. of course," matt added, after a long silence, "i am only putting two and two together, and making a guess. the guess may be close to the truth, or wide of it, but that's the way i size up the facts that have come to us." "you haf hit der nail righdt on der headt, py chiminy!" declared carl. "der sons oof der rising sun vas afder us, aber dey vill findt dot ve don'd vas ashleep. ve're a leedle punch oof badriots ourseluf, you bed you, und an american feller has got id ofer der chap like anyding." carl puffed out his chest and slapped his wishbone. "i am sure you have made a good guess, mr. king," said glennie, "and the way you have argued the thing out is mighty convincing. it shows us what we're up against during this cruise, and i'm wondering why the captain of the _seminole_ didn't tip me off." "it's likely he didn't know anything about these sons of the rising sun," replied matt. "we've only been able to get a line on them by facing considerable danger, and taking a lot of hard knocks." "ven dose leedle fellers whipped rooshia," put in carl, "dey got puffed oop like i can't tell. dere iss some chips on deir shoulters all der time now, und they ought to be knocked off." "don't make a common mistake, mr. pretzel," cautioned glennie. "the japanese government has always been a good friend of the united states, and----" "der handt vat dey holdt oudt to us iss der gladt handt," interrupted carl, "und der odder vat dey haf pehind deir pack iss toupled oop und ready to shtrike! yah, so helup me!" "there are hotheads in japan just as there are in our own country," proceeded glennie; "but both governments are on friendly terms and will always be so. the mikado's government doesn't know what these sons of the rising sun are doing, so what happens is just a little private war between them and us, with the _grampus_ as the bone of contention." "vell," and carl wagged his head decidedly, "ve got our teet' on der pone und dey can't shake us loose." "that's right," laughed matt. "mr. pretzel is a jingo," said glennie. "but what am i to do about those dispatches?" "we'll go right on to the amazon and para. when we get there, mr. glennie, i'd advise you to make a clean breast of everything to mr. brigham. perhaps he can help you get hold of the papers in some way." the ensign shook his head gloomily. "i see what will happen to me," he muttered, "but i guess i can face the music, all right. i'm sorry for the governor, though, when the news gets to boston." at this moment speake came in and began clearing up the scattered tin dishes that had been used in serving the morning meal. he reported gaines and clackett as feeling all right, and actively engaged in their duties. matt ordered the ballast tanks emptied so as to bring the submarine within a dozen feet of the surface. at this depth the periscope ball cleared the waves, the automatic valves opened, and those in the periscope room were able to take a look at the surface of the sea. the steamer was nowhere in sight--there was not even a smudge of smoke on the horizon. the _grampus_ was lifted further until the conning tower was clear of the waves. speake took the wheel, matt studied the chart and gave him the course and then turned in for a little sleep. dick and carl likewise sought a little rest; and while the king of the motor boys and his chums slept, the submarine plowed onward toward brazil at a swift pace. chapter x. under the amazon. three days and nights of uneventful traveling brought the _grampus_ to santa rosa bay directly in the great mouth of the amazon. para river, to the south, is not generally considered as an arm of the river, although unquestionably it forms a part of the vast delta. the mouth of the amazon matt knew to be two hundred miles wide, and full twenty-seven fathoms deep. it is full of islands, and a bar, running seaward from one of these islands, caused the _grampus_ an unforeseen delay. feeling positive that the mysterious steamer had reached the amazon ahead of them, or that she was perhaps watching along the coast; most of the latter part of the submarine's journey toward the para had been made under water. the boat was submerged when she reached the amazon, and the run across santa rosa bay was by periscope alone. matt saw the little rocky island, whitened with seabirds, and supposed he was giving it a wide berth. he did not suspect the presence of the bar, and the chart, most unaccountably, did not show it. the first news of trouble was contained in an announcement by gaines, from the motor room. "propeller's out of commission, matt." this was alarming information. with the propeller useless, the submarine would drift helplessly in the current unless stoutly anchored. quickly as possible the ballast tanks were emptied and the boat brought to the surface. matt, turning the wheel over to speake, rushed into the conning tower, threw open the hatch and made a survey of the situation. there were no boats of any kind in the vicinity of the _grampus_, and consequently no hope of being towed into safe quarters while repairs were being made. matt, when he broke out of the hatch, was confidently expecting to find the submarine being whirled out to sea by the swift current, but, to his surprise, the boat was setting in toward a small cove of the island. he got out on the deck for the purpose of making further observations. dick and glennie followed him. "what do you make out, matey?" queried dick. "from the looks of things, we're floating upstream." "we're in a back-set of the current," matt answered, studying the river in the neighborhood of the island. "that uplift of rocks parts the stream, sends the current around the upper part at sharp angles, and below, where we are, the current sucks back inshore." "a dangerous coast to run into," remarked glennie. "that cove looks like a quiet place for shipping a new propeller," said matt. "you ought to have a dry-dock for that, hadn't you?" "that would be fine--but we haven't got it. the next best thing is to shift all the weight forward and throw the propeller out of water. we can do that if our forward anchor can find holding ground on the bottom of the cove." matt stepped back to the conning tower. "speake!" he called. "aye, aye!" came back from speake. "send clackett to the torpedo room, and tell him to let go the forward anchor as soon as i give the word. carl might go down and help. when i give the word, i want the anchor dropped _at once_!" speake could be heard talking through the tank-room tube. matt, standing by the tower, watched sharply while the submarine drifted closer and closer to the rocks. the cove did not measure more than fifty feet across at its mouth, and was semi-circular in shape, and not more than fifty feet wide, measuring from a line drawn between the rocky headlands at the entrance. the shore was buttressed by high bowlders. the current was bearing the submarine into the cove midway between the headlands--the line of drift being straight toward the farthest point inland. dick had a hand lead, and forward at the bow he heaved it constantly. "mark three!" he cried. "eighteen feet," said glennie. "how much do you draw, mr. king?" "we ought to have ten feet," answered matt. "sharp with it, dick," he added anxiously. "we must get as close inshore as we can." "quarter less three!" called dick. "sixteen and a half," muttered glennie; "shoaling rapidly. you'd better get that mud-hook down, mr. king." "two and a half!" announced dick, then: "two and a quarter!" and finally: "mark twain!" matt was not as close to the shore as he wanted to be, but twelve feet was as little water as he dared keep under the _grampus_. "let go the anchor!" he yelled to speake. speake promptly repeated the order, and only a very short scope of cable was run out. the nose of the submarine was brought up short and the stern moved around into the cove as though on a pivot. "the anchor's not fast!" cried glennie. "it's dragging!" matt had already discovered that. the anchor afforded sufficient resistance to keep the bow of the boat toward the entrance of the cove, but they were sliding stern-first farther into the shoaling waters. dick hurried aft and began heaving the lead close to the stern. "two and a half!" he cried. "great guns!" exclaimed glennie. "wouldn't that knock you? it's deepening!" "mark three!" shouted dick. "three fathoms," murmured glennie, "and within two jumps of shore! the rocks must lie steep-to. the current's responsible for that." the pull of the anchor continued to draw the boat around so that she was drifting broadside on. "deep four!" reported dick, and began coiling up the line. the submarine was rubbing against the rocks, and there was no room to cast. "good luck," said matt gleefully, "even if it does come out of a damaged propeller. we can pass a couple of cables ashore and tie up to the rocks. on deck, speake!" he called through the hatch. "there's some old hose and canvas in the storeroom, and you, and clackett, and gaines had better bring it up. fetch a couple of cables at the same time." matt leaped to a shelf notched out of one of the rocks, climbed to the top of the bowlder, and picked out the stones most convenient for mooring. when the cables were brought up and bent to their stanchions, the spare ends were passed ashore. while he was making them fast, clackett, gaines, speake, and carl were festooning the old hose over the submarine's side and padding the plates with canvas blankets as fenders against the jagged rocks. "now," called matt, talking from the top of a bowlder and looking down on the deck of the _grampus_, "the next thing is to weight the forward part of the boat so that the propeller will be thrown up clear of the water. move everything possible from aft. if the anchor has taken hold, a little pulling on the chain may help. if this don't fill the bill, then we'll pile rocks on the bow and force it under that way. now, then, get busy, all hands." speake, carl, gaines, and clackett went below. matt began tossing loose stones to dick, and he built them up forward of the flagstaff, passing ropes around the pile in order to hold it to the deck when the boat began to cant forward. by degrees the bow went deeper and deeper, and the stern rose. at last, after some two hours of trying work, the propeller was brought into view. the blades were fairly buried in a mass of ropy seaweed. matt gave vent to a relieved laugh. "it won't be necessary to ship a new propeller, after all," said he. "traveling under the amazon is hard on the screw. that bar was covered with seaweed, and the propeller twisted itself up in it. pass a rope aft and secure it to the periscope guys. you can hang to the rope, dick, slip over the stern, and cut away the grass." "easy enough," answered dick, dropping on the deck to pull off his shoes and stockings, and roll up his trousers. "we'll clear away that propeller in a brace of shakes." "while you're at it," said matt, "i'll mosey off around the island and see what it looks like. i'll not be gone long." he dropped from the top of the bowlder, and vanished. glennie looked after him as though he would have liked an invitation to accompany him, and stretch his legs on hard earth, but he did not follow. instead, he picked up a coil of rope, and began securing an end to one of the wire periscope guys. "i'll attend to that, mr. glennie," said dick, still with an undue emphasis on the "mister." "you're an innocent bystander, you know, and are here to look on." glennie dropped the rope, flushed, and drew back. matt had not asked him to go on the exploring expedition, and now dick refused to have him render even trifling aid. "i'm sorry you fellows have taken such a dead set at me," said glennie. "you told us where we stood when you first came off to us from the port-of-spain landing," returned dick. "i don't see that you've got any kick coming because we took you at your word." glennie started to say something, but closed his mouth suddenly, and left the words unspoken. perhaps he was beginning to see where he was at fault. while he stood by the conning tower, watching dick move aft with the rope in his hands, a sharp cry came suddenly from among the rocks. "dick! clear the propeller, and sink the boat in----" it was matt's voice; although faint, it was unmistakable, and each word was strangely clear-cut and distinct. dick halted and faced about. "something's happening to matt!" he cried. the next moment he dropped the rope and started to spring ashore. but glennie was already on the rocks. "you heard what he said!" shouted glennie. "clear the propeller and sink the boat! i'll help king if he needs help--but your duty is clear." the ensign whirled about and jumped from the bowlder. as he disappeared, dick saw his revolver glistening in his hand. chapter xi. hand-to-hand. from what matt could see of the island as the _grampus_ drifted into the cove, and from the further observations which he made while standing on the rocks and helping dick, he knew that it could not be very extensive. probably it would have covered an acre of ground, if measured in a square, but its surface was vastly greater than that, inasmuch as it consisted of barren hills and valleys. matt's intention, when he left the submarine, was to climb to the highest point and take a look around. he was still worrying about the mysterious steamer, and the no less mysterious japs. from what he had heard and read of the japanese, he understood that dogged persistency was a national trait. if the sons of the rising sun had made up their minds to destroy the submarine, it would take more than one rebuff to discourage them. that they were still on the trail of the _grampus_ matt had not the least doubt, and if they should happen to sight the boat in the cove, and make an attack while the propeller was being cleared, they would stand a fair show of success. in looking for the steamer matt did not intend to confine his gaze to seaward, but to give fully as much attention upstream as below. he had already selected the hill he was going to climb, and picked out the narrow valley that would lead him to its base. a little scrambling over rough ground brought him to the valley. projecting rocks, weather-stained and wind-worn, rose to right and left. flocks of gulls arose out of them, alarmed by his approach, and winged away across the river. the valley was not over twenty feet wide, and angled back and forth sharply on its way to the hill. matt stepped off at a brisk gait, for he would have to be quick if he finished what he had in mind by the time dick and the rest had cleared the propeller and got the boat once more in trim. matt was not expecting any trouble on the island, and, as usual, it was the unexpected that happened. the flapping of the birds' wings made a noise that drowned the crunch of his footsteps in the gravel. this, it may be, accounted for the surprise that met him as he rounded a sharp turn, for his approach was not heard, and he came suddenly face to face with a creeping savage. the native was nude, save for a short kirtle that hung from his waist, and he was carrying an ugly-looking spear. it seemed clear that the fellow was creeping up on the boat. his surprise was as great as matt's, and for a brief space both stood staring at each other. then, as matt's gaze wandered farther on along the valley, he saw four other natives, all of whom had been on their hands and knees and had leaped erect the moment the young motorist presented himself. then it was that matt lifted his voice and shouted the warning heard by dick and glennie. matt did not finish what he was saying, for a suggestive movement of the native's spear hand made it necessary for him to take quick action to protect himself. like lightning the king of the motor boys leaped forward, and his fist shot out straight from the shoulder. a grunt was jolted from the lips of the stricken native, and he staggered backward. this caused the hand holding the spear to rise quickly, and the spear point caught in matt's leather jacket, which was unbuttoned and flying open. the native fell backward, keeping a convulsive grip on the spear, and dragging matt down with him. in a twinkling the other four savages had surrounded matt and were menacing him with their spears. the spear points were of steel, ground to a sharp point. they had a greenish, corroded look, which suggested that they had been poisoned. judging this to be the case, matt put forth every effort to avoid being pricked or scratched by the flourished weapons. seizing the handle of the spear held by the man who had fallen, matt wrenched it away and swept it around his head in a circle. the other four savages leaped back to the edge of the circle and continued their hostile demonstrations. the fellow on the ground, who evidently possessed a large amount of courage, reached up abruptly and caught hold of the spear. with exultant shouts, the other four began to close in. hampered in using the spear, matt found it necessary to change his tactics. releasing the weapon, he laid hold of the native to whom it belonged, grabbed him about the waist, and flung him heavily against the foremost of his companions. the men were all of short stature, although heavily muscled and of great strength. the human missile launched by matt overset the first of the four advancing indians, and this man, in his turn, tumbled backward and knocked down another. the remaining two were between matt and the end of the valley it would be necessary for him to traverse in order to regain the boat. flourishing his fists and shouting an angry command for them to clear his path, he leaped directly at them. one of them launched his spear. matt ducked downward, and the weapon whipped over his head, just grazing his cap. this unarmed native was the one matt speedily made up his mind to pass. but again the unexpected happened. as matt dashed forward a stone gave way under his foot. he sought vainly to recover his balance, and plunged headlong and rolled over and over. before he could get up all the natives were upon him. it looked, just at that moment, as though nothing could save him. yet he did not give up. rising to his knees, he caught the ankles of one of his foes and jerked his feet out from under him. a fierce order in an unknown tongue was given, and four figures sprang with murderous celerity to obey it. at that juncture--a critical juncture for motor matt--the sharp, incisive note of a revolver rang out. one of the savages, with a cry of pain, stepped backward, dropped his spear, and clasped his right wrist with his left hand. there followed another shot, accompanied by a sound of running feet in the shingle and the loud voice of glennie: "get away from there, you scoundrels! i'll give you a taste of more metal if you don't clear out." the second bullet had done no harm, but the natives, not knowing how many men were following glennie, whirled and made off, one of them picking up the fallen spear as he went. "are you hurt, king?" panted glennie, coming to a breathless halt beside matt. "not at all, glennie," matt answered; "but i had a tight squeak of it." "shall we chase those rascals?" "no," was the answer as matt regained his feet; "we'll make tracks back to the _grampus_, and thank our lucky stars that we got out of this as well as we did. there may be a lot more of the indians hiding among the rocks, and i've a notion that their spear points are poisoned. we'll not give them a chance to dig their spears into us, if we can help it." watching behind cautiously, matt and glennie immediately set out on their return to the boat. "i didn't think there was a human being anywhere near the island, apart from ourselves," said matt. "when those rascals came face to face with me the surprise was mutual--and far from pleasant, so far as i was concerned. did you hear me yell?" "that's what brought me ashore," said glennie. "ferral was bound to come; but i told him he had better carry out orders regarding the ship and let me go. this six-shooter carried the day." "and saved my life," added matt. "i'll not forget that, mr. glennie." a flush of pleasure ran through glennie's face. "bosh!" he exclaimed. "you'd have done the same for me, if our positions had been reversed." by that time they were at the place where it was necessary for them to leave the valley and pick their way through the scattered bowlders to the shore of the cove. while they were climbing the rocks, carl suddenly thrust his head out from behind one of them. "hoop-a-la!" he cried joyfully. "id vas matt, himseluf! my olt bard, modor matt, alife und kicking like alvays! matt, der sighdt oof you makes me so habby as i can'd dell!" "same here, old ship!" chimed in the voice of dick, as he showed himself beside carl. dick was armed with an old harpoon, and carl carried a hatchet. "you're a nice pair, i must say!" cried matt. "the last order i gave instructed you to clear the propeller and sink the _grampus_." "the propeller is cleared, matey," said dick; "but you wouldn't catch carl and me going to the bottom of the cove in the _grampus_ until we had found out what became of you. we heard a couple of shots, and nothing could keep us from coming ashore, after that. who did you mix up with?" "five savages. i don't know whether they live on the island, or whether they came from the river bank. anyhow, i came front to front with them, and they were creeping in the direction of the boat." "den dey knowed der poat vas in der cove!" said carl, casting a cautious look behind, in the direction of the valley. "vas dere more as fife, matt?" "i don't know. five are all i saw. we'd better get away from here as soon as we can, though, and get up the river to para." a moment later the boys reached the shore of the cove and found speake unloosening the cables. "all right, matt?" called speake. "yes; but in a tearing hurry," matt answered. "is the _grampus_ ready for sea?" "she's as fit as a fiddle! clackett is putting the stuff below back where it belongs, and we just dumped that load o' rock off the bow." matt, dick, carl, and glennie dropped on the submarine's deck. in short order the cables were hauled aboard, coiled, and stowed, and speake leaped from the rocks and was caught and steadied by matt as he came down. matt got into the tower and signaled the engine room. the motor got busy, and the cheerful splash of the propeller was heard. slowly the _grampus_ picked her way out of the cove, those on her deck watching the receding rocks for some sign of the savages. but they saw none. chapter xii. boarded! in order to reach the arm of the river that led to para the _grampus_ had to pass through a little strait known as south channel, then on by tucuria and around cape magoari. dick, carl, and glennie remained on deck, dick using a pair of binoculars, and matt attending to the steering from the top of the tower. they were traversing the tortuous channels without the chart to guide them, and most unexpectedly they found that what they supposed to be south channel had emptied them out into the river close to the island where matt had had his recent exciting experience. "well, wouldn't that put a kink in your hawser?" cried dick. "here we are back at our old stamping-grounds once more, after racing around for an hour and getting nowhere." "und dere iss der leedle cove!" cried carl. "vat a funny pitzness--gedding losdt on der amazon." "we couldn't have been in south channel," said the chagrined matt. "this is new country to me," observed glennie; "but i looked at the chart early this morning, marked the location of south channel, and could have sworn we started into it when we left this island." "come below, you fellows," called matt disgustedly. "you can take the wheel, dick, and steer by the periscope while i overhaul the charts. there's no sense wasting time and gasolene like this." matt dropped down the ladder and the rest followed him. "we're mixed up, gaines," matt called through the motor-room tube, "and a pilot who knows the coast would be mighty handy about now. quarter speed while we study the maps. dick," matt added, "run circles off the island while we get our bearings." matt opened the locker and dug up the chart. laying it on one of the stools, he examined it, with carl and glennie looking over his shoulder. "here's where we are now," said matt, sticking a pin in the chart, "and there's the entrance to south channel just below mixiana island." "the passage we got into by mistake," remarked glennie, "was that crooked little passage that runs into mixiana island, bends around in the shape of a big 'o,' and then lets us out again at the same place we went in." "exactly," agreed matt. "it was easy to make the mistake." "easy, yes; but i ought to have been sure. we should have had the chart on deck with us, but i thought i had the thing firmly fixed in my mind." "a chart is a hard thing to carry in your mind." "i'm beginning to think so myself. head south by east, dick," matt went on to his chum. "you'll know the passage we took when you see it. skip that, and head into the one west of it." "sou' by east it is, matey," answered dick. "if you wanted to," suggested glennie, "you could pass to the north of mixiana island and get to cape magoari by going around it. it looks to me as though that would be our shortest course." "short, yes; but it would take more time." "how so?" "well, if we went to the north of mixiana island we would be in the open bay, and that pesky jap steamer may be standing off and on, hoping to get sight of us. in order to avoid that, we should have to run submerged, which would mean no more than half-speed, the best we could do. by going through south channel we won't need to fear the steamer, and can run on the surface, and put every ounce of our motor's power into moving ahead." "correct," said glennie. "i find that there are a good many things about running a submarine that i have yet to learn." dick gave a grunt as he bent over the periscope table. his face was hidden by the periscope hood, so the disgusted expression which he wore could not be seen. dick ferral did not easily forgive a slight. from the first, glennie had struck him "on the wrong side," and it would take time before dick got over his dislike. carl, in this respect, was like dick. neither of the boys could ever forget the lordly air assumed by the ensign when he hove to alongside the submarine in the launch. the "mister" which glennie had imposed upon them still rankled in their bosoms. up to that moment off port-of-spain there had been no "misters" on the _grampus_. the formality demanded by glennie had been a strain on the friendly relations of the crew--and perhaps on the crew's temper as well. glennie heard dick's grunt, even though he could not see the disgusted expression on his face, and he whirled and stared sharply at dick's back. "tiscipline iss going to der togs on dis ship," mourned carl in mock dejection. "oof ve don'd haf more tiscipline dere iss going to be some drouples, ain'd it? fairst t'ing you know i vill haf to be calling my olt bard misder matt, und my odder olt bard misder tick, und den oof somepody ton't call me misder i bet you i preak his head." "that will do, carl," said matt, noting the flush that crossed glennie's face. "that's all right, mr. king," spoke up the ensign. "i started that, and they're within their rights, i suppose, when they rub it in. all i can say is that i didn't understand your method of running this boat. now, in the navy, we have to have discipline; we have to have our gun crews, our watches, and all that; and we have to insist on a certain amount of respect from subordinates. the admirals require it from the captains, the captains from the commanders, the commanders from the lieutenants, and so on down through the various ranks of commissioned officers. even a passed midshipman," and he smiled a bit grimly, "has the pattern always before him, and he is taught to exact his due from all the non-coms. but, as i say, i didn't understand how matters were when i boarded the _grampus_. i--i am sorry i took the stand i did." just how much it cost glennie to make that apology probably none of the boys, not even matt, could realize. but he made it right manfully, and matt stepped toward him and put out his hand. "say no more, old fellow," he cried heartily. "we all of us get out of our course a little, now and then. before we get through with this cruise the lot of us are going to understand each other a whole lot better. carl----" matt turned with the intention of making his dutch chum take the hand he released, but carl had faded mysteriously out of the periscope room. whether he expected what was coming, or not, and dodged away to avoid meeting the issue, matt could only guess. "dick," and matt turned to his sailor chum, "i want you----" "here we are," cried dick, "just taking the entrance to south channel. and it's the right channel, too, old ship, because we slammed right past that other one where we go in and come out the same place." glennie could not fail to note how both carl and dick had avoided matt's attempt to put him on more friendly footing with them. there was a noticeable constraint in his manner, but he did not allow it to interfere with his stating the desire he had in his head. "when i came aboard," he went on, "i believed i was merely the representative of the united states government, that i was to look on, keep hands off, and write up my own log. but i can see very plainly where i can be of service to you, matt; and i can also see where, by helping you, i can get a much better insight into the capabilities of the _grampus_. i should like to have you let me do my part in running the boat. if you want me for quartermaster, i can spell you, or mr. ferral; with a little instruction, i could also run the motor, or do the work in the tank room. if it would be any help, i might even learn to cook the meals. all i want is to be useful--and to learn the _grampus_ from top to bottom, inside and out, as well as you know her." dick gave another grunt; but this time it was more subdued. the idea of any one learning the _grampus_ as well as the king of the motor boys knew her! in order to do that, a fellow would have to be born with a working knowledge of explosive engines in his head--just as matt had been. "thank you for that, glennie!" said matt. "you can get busy right now, if you want to." "just tell me what i'm to do," glennie answered. "go up on deck and keep a sharp lookout while we're passing through the channel. we must be vigilant, even when we can see no reason for it. wily enemies are after us, and eternal watchfulness is the price of success, fully as much as it is of liberty." "aye, aye, sir," said glennie, and started forthwith up the ladder. "he's too top-heavy, matt," scowled dick, pulling his head away from the periscope. "he's a good fellow at heart, dick," averred matt. "we're all going to like him a whole lot when we know him better." dick sniffed and jerked his chin over his left shoulder. "if he takes hold on this boat he'll make a monkey's fist of everything. i don't like the cut of his jib, nor the soft-sawdering way he overhauls his jaw-tackle now that he sees his first bluff didn't go. if----" there was a muffled shout and a bounding of feet on the deck. a wide grin parted dick's face. "there he goes--in hot water already." dick ducked back into the periscope hood. but the periscope did not show the deck of the _grampus_, nor the waters immediately adjacent, being constructed for reflecting objects at longer range. matt hurried up into the tower. the moment he was able to look over the hatch he was thrilled by what he saw. a dugout canoe was alongside the steel hull--and it had evidently brought three natives from the neighboring shore. they were exactly the same kind of savages matt had encountered on the island--perhaps, even, they had formed part of the same crowd. one of the savages had gained the deck forward. glennie had caught his spear, and the two were struggling for possession of the weapon. a second native was climbing up the rounded deck with the apparent intention of attacking glennie in the rear. the third of the trio kept to the canoe, paddling, and keeping it alongside. so intent were all three of the indians on the struggle which glennie was carrying on that they did not notice matt. swiftly the young motorist got out of the conning tower. "look out behind you, glennie!" shouted motor matt as he hurried forward. chapter xiii. a prisoner--and a surprise. matt's shout acquainted the savages with the fact that there were two whites to be dealt with instead of one. the scoundrel in the canoe dropped his paddle and picked up a spear. the dugout dropped a little behind, but the savage brought the ungainly craft nearly to the conning tower with two sweeps of the paddle. the next moment he let his spear fly, and there came a blood-curdling whoop from the tower hatch. carl, as usual, happened to be in the way of trouble. he had flung through the periscope room and chased after matt up the ladder. matt avoided the spear by dropping to his knees. it passed over his head, snapped carl's cap off his shock of tow-colored hair, and carried it on for a dozen feet, dropping out of sight with it beneath the water. "vat a vay iss dot!" bellowed carl. "tick, handt me oop a gun, or a gannon, or somet'ing. matt, look oudt a leedle! ach, himmelblitzen!" carl forgot the loss of his cap, forgot even that he had asked dick for a weapon, and scrambled to get out of the tower and go to his chum's aid. the savage who had been climbing up the rounded deck had made a spring for glennie's back. motor matt leaped about the same time, grabbing the native before he could do the ensign any harm. matt, and the man he was holding, fell to the deck, rolled over the rounded plates, and splashed into the water. "a rope!" howled carl, jumping up and down on the deck to attract dick's attention; "a rope! matt iss in der vater mit a inchun, und he vill be trowned!" dick came hurrying up the ladder with a coil of line. "here!" he cried, tossing the coil to carl. "get busy, mate. i'll lay the _grampus_ closer, and mind matt gets hold of the rope." matt and the native were still struggling. the fact that they were in fifteen or twenty fathoms of water did not seem to impress either of them with the necessity of swimming to keep afloat. when they first tumbled into the water, there was a great splash, and they disappeared; when they came up, they were puffing like porpoises, but matt had his hands around his antagonist's throat, and the savage was hanging to matt's hair. "help glennie!" sputtered matt, who, by then, was some distance astern. "capture that man!" "glennie be hanged!" growled dick. "we'll save our old raggie, no matter what happens to the blooming ensign." carl, standing ready to heave the rope, was mixed up in the ensign's battle by an unexpected trend of it which nearly knocked him overboard. the two, still twisting and striving for possession of the spear, struggled toward the conning tower and collided with the dutch boy. the matter of self-defense suddenly presented itself to carl, and he dropped the rope and went for the savage like a tiger. it wasn't the spear carl wanted, but the savage himself. the ensign was eliminated, and carl and the native went down on the deck, rolling and pummeling. "ju-jutsu!" exclaimed the ensign, astounded at the science the untutored savage was showing. "great moses, he's using ju-jutsu and trying to break pretzel's arm!" "save the arm, then!" snorted dick. "run that spear through the swab." glennie didn't impale the savage on the point of the spear, but he used the handle, and gave the arm that was bending carl's a stout thump. a gasp escaped the savage's lips, and his arm dropped away as though paralyzed. carl rolled over on top and got his fingers about his antagonist's throat. "gif me der rope!" he cried. "misder glennie, schust put a leedle piece oof der rope aboudt der feller's handts!" dick ferral was not paying much attention to the fight carl and glennie were having. they were two to one, and there could not be much doubt as to the result of the contest. dick's worry was reserved for matt, for it seemed as though the savage in the water was bending every effort to drag matt under and drown the two of them. the other savage in the dugout was paddling like mad in an effort to get alongside the combatants. it had taken some time and space for the submarine to turn about on her course, and dick was now driving her straight for the two in the water. so far as dick could see, both matt and the savage were almost at the last gasp. how they ever kept afloat at all was a mystery. as the boat shot in between the dugout and the pair in the water, the third savage could have thrown his spear to good effect--if he had had it. but he did not have it, and all he could do was to paddle off and furtively await the issue. the submarine glided alongside matt and the indian, and dick immediately made a discovery that took his breath. the savage was yellow in spots--half yellow and half mahogany color. "here, matt!" cried the voice of glennie as he knelt on the deck while the submarine slowed in answer to dick's signal. "drop that fellow and catch this rope!" "i can't drop him!" gurgled matt. glennie reached over with the spear and tapped the savage on the head. instantly the fellow, with a fierce snarl, let go of matt and vanished under the hull of the _grampus_. matt, thus left with his hands free, caught the rope and was dragged aboard. glennie snaked him to the top of the deck, and, for a space, the young motorist lay there. "did you capture the other fellow?" asked dick, as soon as he had rested a minute. "he's tied to the other end of the rope that i used for pulling you in," replied glennie. "good enough! did you notice how that rascal i was fighting with changed color in the water?" "keelhaul me!" cried dick. "i saw that! was it war-paint he had on?" "no war-paint about it, dick," declared matt. "there was a yellow skin under that brown paint." "und dis feller iss der same vay!" called carl. "look ad here, vonce!" all eyes turned in the direction of the dutch boy. he was sitting on his enemy's chest, holding him down, and there were dabs of brown pigment all over carl's face. his hands were fairly coated with it. "these savages have a yellow skin, matt," said glennie, "and it must be that they paint themselves a brown color when they go on the warpath." "if what i have read is true," returned matt, "there are no savage tribes at the mouth of the amazon. all the indians in these parts are at least half civilized." "then where did these rascals come from, and why have they attacked us in this venomous manner?" "they came from that island where we cleared the propeller," said matt. "these are members of that gang?" "don't you recognize them, glennie?" "they all look alike to me. of course, i suspected they were from the same tribe, but i didn't know they were the same men. there were five of them on the island." "you wounded one of the others. probably one of the fellows stayed behind to look after the wounded man's injury." "but how could they get here in that dugout, and lay us aboard, like they did? we're a good ways from that island." "no doubt, dick," said matt, "they surmized that we would take the south channel on our way to para. while we were meandering around in that blind passage they were paddling for this place, and getting ready to attack us." "i like their nerve!" muttered dick; "three of 'em tryin' to capture the _grampus_!" "you don't think they live on that island, do you?" asked glennie. "they live on an island, all right," returned matt, "but it's a good many thousand miles from here." carl took a furtive look at motor matt. "you vas joshing!" exclaimed carl. "if you fellows had your eyes," smiled matt, "there wouldn't be any joshing." "some of that chink's dope is still fogging your brain, old ship," observed dick. "but what's the use of talking? you've got your prisoner, mr. glennie. better bring him downstairs. first thing you know he'll be in the water, and take carl along with him." "nod me!" piped carl. "dere iss a rope aroundt his handts, und i'm holting him on der top oof der teck. aber, i guess, ve might schust as vell dake him by der beriscope room." "look at him first," suggested matt. "glennie, you give him a close observation. i'm surprised at you fellows." glennie, dick, and carl were at a loss to know what matt was driving at. walking over to the prisoner the ensign bent down and stared at him. "what!" he gasped, straightening up and peering excitedly at matt. "tolo!" "now you've struck it," laughed matt. "those supposed savages were merely a detachment of our old friends, the japs. i discovered that as i dropped into the water. that's why i called out as i did. here's our resourceful acquaintance, tolo. first he's a jap, next he's a chinaman, and now he's a native of the amazon. there's no telling what he'll be next time if we allow him to get away from us. take him below, and let's have a talk with him." glennie and carl, between them, succeeded in getting tolo down the tower hatch. before matt went below he took a look behind. the dugout was far in the distance, with two men at the paddles. from this evidence it was plain that matt's antagonist had gained the canoe and was now, with his companion, paddling swiftly away to rejoin the rest of their friends. chapter xiv. the old slouch hat. "i'm a dunderhead, all right," glennie cheerfully admitted when they were all in the periscope room with the prisoner, lashed hand and foot, lying before them. "i saw this rascal try a ju-jutsu trick on carl, in an attempt to break his arm, and yet i never suspected that he was a japanese, let alone tolo!" "it's plain enough now, isn't it, glennie?" queried matt. "these yellow men are always hard to identify, but this fellow is certainly ah sin, otherwise tolo. notice how closely his hair is clipped. he had to have a close haircut when he got into his chinese disguise. all the rest of those make-believe savages had long hair." "i wonder where the rascals came from? their steamer wasn't anywhere in sight." "it's tucked away among the islands. this, you know, is a peaceable country, and the japs would have to be wary in carrying out their designs upon the _grampus_. i'll bet those fellows know all about our route, and what ports we expect to call at. it was easy for them to get into the mouth of the amazon ahead of us, and then wait for us to come along." a sudden idea occurred to glennie, and he went down on his knees and began searching the jap. inasmuch as the only garment the jap wore was a short kirtle, the search did not consume much time. glennie got up disappointedly. "the packet isn't there, eh?" asked matt. "no." "he was probably wise enough to leave it on the steamer." "where it has already been opened, no doubt, by the leader of these sons of the rising sun. i'm in as deep as ever, and the capture of tolo hasn't helped me." the dejection in glennie's voice was too pronounced to be passed over. "don't take it so hard," urged matt. "go to mr. brigham, in para, and tell him the whole story. perhaps a way can be found to make tolo talk." "we'll try him now," said glennie, a flash of forlorn hope crossing his face. "why do you want to treat me like this, tolo?" he queried, addressing the prisoner. "what i do i do for nippon," was the slow answer. "banzai, nippon!" "panzai!" exclaimed carl. "dot's a funny vay to yell hooray, ain'd it? panzai! ach, du lieber!" "you stole my dispatches, there in la guayra," went on glennie, still addressing himself to the prisoner. "what sort of way was that to treat me?" "for nippon," muttered tolo; "all is for nippon, for my beloved country." "nippon!" grunted carl. "vy don'd he say chapan, like a vite feller? my, sooch a savageness as some nations haf!" "what did you do with those dispatches?" demanded glennie. "i will say nothing," answered tolo, with careful emphasis. "your country will be held to account for this, proceeded glennie severely. "my country has nothing to do with it. i am a son of the rising sun, and i should like to die for my country. if my hands were free, and i had a sword, then--hari-kiri! it is pleasant to kill oneself for one's country." "guff!" growled dick. "hear him talk--and all for effect." "you're wrong, dick," said matt. "the poor fellow means every word he says." "und he say dot it vas bleasant to tie for vone's country!" murmured carl. "i don'd agree mit dot. i vould radder lif for my gountry. a deadt hero don't amoundt to nodding, aber a live feller iss aple to do t'ings vat count. yah, so helup me! id iss pedder to lif for vone's gountry as to tie for id." "there's a whole lot of sense in that, mr. pretzel," said glennie. "t'ank you for nodding," returned carl, with mock politeness. "i know dot pefore you shpeak id oudt, misder glennie." the ensign looked at carl in a disappointed way, for it must have been plain to him that he wasn't breaking the ice any, so far as carl and dick were concerned. "you pretended to be ah sin just so you could get aboard this boat, and destroy it, didn't you?" glennie pursued, still focusing his attention on the prisoner. "i am saying nothing," was the reply in calm, even tones. "why did you and your companions make an attack on this boat?" put in matt curiously. there was no response. "you three didn't think you could take her away from the lot of us, did you?" still no answer, merely a cool, passive glance. "you can't rattle him, matey," put in dick, "nor get him to say anything that's incriminating. he's tolo, hard and fast, and it's not so queer why he and his two comrades hove alongside of us. they were engaged in some quiet work, and when mr. glennie went on deck, according to your orders, he interrupted them and sprung a fight where no fight was intended." "now, dick," said matt whimsically, "_you're_ the deep one. just what do you mean by that?" "suppose there was a bomb in that dugout," continued dick; "and suppose those fellows fastened it to the side of the _grampus_, fired the fuse, and then paddled silently away. what would have happened. will dynamite cause damage sideways as well as up and down?" matt gave a startled jump--a jump that caused his wet clothes to rustle, and the water to slosh around in his shoes. "great spark-plugs!" he exclaimed. "you've got your finger on the right button, dick! that was a point that bothered me tremendously--why three men should try such a foolhardy thing as making an attack on a submarine with a full complement below decks. now i understand, and the whole situation clears. tolo and his companions stole up alongside of us to put a bomb somewhere about the hull of the _grampus_. by luck, glennie went on deck in time to frustrate the design. by jupiter, but it was another narrow escape!" "once in a while," grinned dick, "i blunder onto something that's worth telling." "i should say so!" "excellent reasoning, mr. ferral!" approved glennie. the grin left dick's face on the instant, and a frown took its place. he turned to the periscope abruptly. matt was surprised at the depth of feeling which this action on the part of his chum made manifest. glennie settled back grimly on the locker. carl began to hum a dutch song under his breath--and for that dick and matt were thankful. if he had sung the song aloud they would have had to throw something at him. a certain captain pierce-plympton, in belize, had set the fashion, and now, whenever carl burst into song he had to dodge everything that was handy. in the embarrassing silence that followed dick's action, matt began to take off his shoes and socks. "i've got to get into something dry," he remarked. "you fellows better make sure tolo is well lashed, and then take him into mr. glennie's room. that, glennie," matt added, removing his water-logged coat, "used to be our prison chamber." "a good place for me, then," observed glennie, with a side glance at dick and carl. "you might get off the locker a minute," went on matt. "i've an outfit of clothes somewhere in that long box you're sitting on." "pardon me!" glennie got up and helped carl examine the prisoner's bonds. while they were busy with that, matt began rummaging for his dry clothes. about the first thing he laid hands on was the old slouch hat with its attached queue. "wow!" cried matt. "what did you put this in here for, carl? it looked like a snake." with that matt jerked the hat and queue out of the locker and hurled them across the room. as he was about to return to the locker again and go on with his rummaging, matt caught a gleam in the prisoner's eyes that caused him to straighten up and watch tolo more carefully. tolo's gaze was on the hat. for once he was betrayed out of his grim passiveness, and there flamed in his eyes something unusual--and significant, to matt. the king of the motor boys studied tolo's face keenly. the jap's eyes continued to rest on the hat until he saw that matt was watching him, then the eyes turned away absently and lost their telltale gleam. "vat's der madder mit der feller?" muttered carl. "he seemed to vake oop, for a minid, und now he iss like he alvays iss. vat ails him?" "queer he took on that sort of look all of a sudden," mused glennie. "probably he t'ought oof somet'ing mit a bomb in id," suggested carl. "i moof ve tie somet'ing heafy aboudt his neck und make him shvim agross der amazon. hey?" no one seconded carl's suggestion. matt arose, walked over to the hat and queue, and picked them up. tolo paid no attention, or did not seem to. with the old slouch hat in his hand matt sat down on a stool and began feeling of the crown with his fingers. "vat's dot for?" chirped carl. "i tell you," said dick, "our old raggie has still got a twisted brain. tolo's coffee is continuing to have its effect." matt laughed, suddenly turned the old hat over, tore out the lining, and pulled forth a crumpled envelope, closed with a red seal. glennie gave a yell. "my dispatches!" and, with that, he staggered across the small room, grabbed the envelope, and waved it above his head. "my dispatches!" he repeated, his voice husky. "i thought so," said matt. "they have been in that old slouch hat, in the locker, ever since we made that dive to get away from the japs." "und i pud dem dere," remarked carl pompously. "how mooch iss id vort'?" chapter xv. para. ensign glennie was a happy man. in that blissful moment, when he was hugging his dispatches, he wanted to be friends with everybody, and would have shaken hands as rapturously with dick and carl as he did with matt. "before you do too much rejoicing, glennie," said matt, "you'd better first examine the envelope, and see if it has been tampered with." an examination showed the seal to be intact. "i don't believe tolo had any right to tamper with it," said glennie. "what i mean is, that those other sons of the rising sun who are leading the expedition against the _grampus_, would probably demand that they be allowed to open the dispatches with their own hands. tolo didn't have time to see the others of the young samurai between the time he left la guayra and the time he presented himself to me, in the rôle of ah sin, on board the _grampus_." "ah sin!" commented carl. "i nefer t'ought vat a goot name dot vas for der feller. ven he dook dot he dook der vone vat fitted." "we can begin to understand, too," spoke up dick, "why he never took off that old hat. he kept it on so the letter wouldn't get away from him." "and so that we wouldn't see him without the queue," added matt. "if he had removed the hat, dick, he would have been recognized." "by jove, fellows!" said glennie, "i'd like to do something to celebrate." "ain't you fellows getting hungry?" called speake through the torpedo-room tube. "i'll jump in and scrape together a meal, if you say so. i reckon we can all get a square feed in para, in the mornin'." "get us something, speake," answered matt. "that's the way we'll celebrate, glennie," he added to the ensign. "it's the biggest streak of luck i ever had in my life!" declared glennie. "and you brought it to me, matt!" "dot's vat i say," cried carl. "anypody vat dravels mit modor matt iss pound to haf some oof der luck vat comes py him. i know, pecause i have hat id meinseluf. ain'd dot so, tick?" "luck hands around her favors to everybody that ships with matt, matey," agreed dick. "it don't make any difference whether they're entitled to the favors or not, they get 'em." this last remark may have been a bit of a slap at glennie, but the ensign was too happy to notice it. "what gave you the notion of looking into that hat, matt?" inquired glennie. "i'd have thrown it overboard to get it out of the way." "why, glennie," answered matt, "you and carl both saw what i did, and spoke about it." carl and the ensign exchanged astonished glances. "now you haf got me some more, matt," said carl. "vat's der answer?" "didn't the prisoner seem to wake up and brighten perceptibly a little while ago?" "yah, i rememper dot." "so do i." "well, he did it when i threw the hat out of the locker. his eyes followed it as it flew across the room, and they rested on it as it lay on the floor. i read a good deal of concern in that glance--more concern, in fact, than the old headgear and the attached queue called for. there could be but one thing to make tolo act like that, and i figured that he had put the envelope in there. it's not a new place for hiding things, boys. lots of people, out in the western part of the united states, stow valuable things away in their sombreros." "nod me any more," wailed carl. "subbose i hat peen foolish enough to pud my money in dot cap oof mine? den vat? id vould now be in der pottom oof der ocean. dalk aboudt your glose shafes! vy, dot chap feller vat looked like a safage, sent dot shpear so near my headt dot he dook a lock oof hair along mit der cap. i don'd like dot. shpears iss pad pitzness. vat for dit der chaps use shpears ven refolfers is handtier?" "they were playing a part, carl," said matt, "and whenever a jap plays a part he does it well. if tolo and those with him had had firearms they would have been playing out of their character." "dey don'd got mooch character to be oudt oof, anyvay. dey hat bombs, und safages don't haf dose." "the bombs weren't in sight." a few minutes later speake came up with the supper. after the meal was out of the way, speake took dick's place at the wheel in order to give him a chance to rest, and later assume gaines' place at the motor. carl went down to give clackett a rest, and matt stretched out on the locker. it was midnight when the _grampus_ rounded cape magoari and turned into the para arm of the amazon. the port of para was seventy-five miles up the river, and matt decided to submerge the _grampus_, pass the rest of the night on the river bottom, and then ascend to the town with daylight to help. this arrangement enabled all hands to sleep, and morning found the submarine's complement fresh and ready for whatever fate held in store. the ascent of the river was made on the surface of the stream, with all who could be spared on deck, searching the shipping with careful eyes. matt and his friends were looking for the mysterious steamer that carried the fighting contingent of the sons of the rising sun, and were vastly relieved when they failed to sight the vessel. it was nearly noon when the red roofs of para came into view. the river, opposite the town, was about twenty miles wide, but so cut up with islands that the steamer with the black funnel and the red band might have lain among them and so escaped observation. however, matt and his companions chose to think that the young samurai were too discreet to make them any trouble in a peaceable port. the _grampus_ was moored alongside a wharf, and a gayly uniformed harbor official came aboard to learn the submarine's business, and to find whether there was any need of a customs inspector. the sight of glennie, and his declaration that the boat had merely put in at the port to give some of her crew a chance to pay their respects to mr. brigham, the united states consul, was enough. matt, although he fancied the boat secure, did not intend taking any chances. dick, carl, and speake were to be left aboard as an anchor watch, while matt and glennie called on the consul, and gaines and clackett whiled away a few hours in the river metropolis. the prisoner was to be left in the steel room until the consul should advise what had better be done with him. consul brigham, matt and glennie quickly learned, lived on the finest avenue in para--the estrada de sao josé. through this thoroughfare bordered with a colonnade of royal palms, matt and glennie were driven on their way to the consulate. in the office of the consulate was a gentleman in shirt sleeves and white duck trousers. his feet were elevated on the top of a table, and he was trying to keep himself cool with an immense palm-leaf fan. the sight of a united states naval uniform brought the consul to his feet immediately. "mr. brigham?" asked glennie. "what's left of him, my dear sir," was the answer. "i've melted considerably during this spell of hot weather. you'd naturally think the trade winds, which blow continually in this section, would temper the air. but trade winds, my dear sir, are not what they're cracked up to be." glennie introduced himself, and then presented matt. mr. brigham smiled expansively, and drew a bandanna handkerchief over his perspiring brow. "i've been expecting the pair of you," he announced, shaking each by the hand. "expecting us?" queried glennie, astonished. "sure. read that." the consul tucked a cablegram into glennie's fingers. it had come from belize, and was signed by the captain of the _seminole_. glennie read it aloud: "motor matt and ensign john henry glennie, u. s. n., will reach para in submarine _grampus_. glennie carries dispatches for you. read them, and see that both matt and glennie understand them thoroughly." "nice, long message, eh?" queried brigham, slapping glennie on the back. "plenty of useless words, but what does the captain of the _seminole_ care? uncle sam stands the cable toll, and, besides, on grave matters it is well to be explicit. hang a few extra dollars, anyway. where's the dispatches?" glennie imagined how he would have felt if he had been obliged to report, in view of that cablegram, that his dispatches had been lost and not recovered. "i want to tell you something about those dispatches before you read them, mr. brigham," said the ensign. "well, sit down, my lads. what's the good word, ensign?" thereupon glennie told the whole story connected with the loss of the dispatches and their final recovery. everything went in, and a half hour was consumed in the telling. more than once brigham whistled and puckered his brows ominously. but he was absorbed in the narrative. when it was done, he reached his hand toward matt. "pardon me, youngster," said he, "but i never miss a chance to shake hands with a live one. possibly it's because i've lived so long in this dead place, where you can't turn around without having some sluggard tell you 'mañana.' you're the clear quill, and i'll gamble you'll get along. if i was younger, blamed if i wouldn't like to trot a heat with you myself. put 'er there!" matt, flushing under the compliment given him by the consul, allowed his hand to be wrung cordially. "now," said brigham, "look out of the windows at the beautiful palms while i go through these papers." the consul was all of half an hour getting the gist of his dispatches. "i'm ready for you two lads," he presently called. matt and glennie returned to the chairs they had previously occupied. they were surprised at the change that had come over mr. brigham's face. on their arrival, it had been bright and smiling, while now it was dark and foreboding. "i guess you lads know how it feels to be in the jaws of death, and just slip out before they close," said he, "but you don't know the whole of it, not by a jugful. of all the high-handed proceedings i ever heard of, this certainly grabs the banner. now, listen." chapter xvi. a desperate risk. "did you know, motor matt," asked the consul, by way of preface, "that captain nemo, jr., right there in belize, had been approached by an agent of the japanese government and offered two hundred thousand for something he's selling to our government for just half that?" "no, sir," answered matt. "but i know the captain well enough to feel sure that he wouldn't sell the _grampus_ to any other country but the united states, not if he was offered a million. he has invented a submarine that is better than any other craft of its kind that was ever launched, and the captain is patriotic enough to want his own country to reap the benefit." "exactly. captain nemo, jr., is a man after my own heart, by gad! well, he refused the offer, and two days later he received a warning signed simply, 'the sons of the rising sun,' saying that if he did not reconsider the _grampus_ would be sunk in the bottom of the ocean. how was that for audacity? but the captain thought it was all bluff--the japs have learned a lot from us, my lads, and bluff is not the least of their acquirements. "the captain said nothing to you, motor matt, about this warning from the sons of the rising sun. he treated it with silent contempt, well knowing that you would do everything possible to safeguard the submarine without any unnecessary talk from him. "now, from what you lads have told me, we must change our minds about that warning being a bluff. if it was a bluff, then the japs are trying to make good. but the japanese government knows nothing about this. if the high boys among the japs in tokio knew, they would be the first ones to send a warship after these precious sons of the rising sun. the young samurai are going it on their own hook; they're going to help their beloved country whether the country wants them to or not. "the _grampus_ is a good thing. the japs are able to tell a good thing when they see it, and that's what makes the sons of the rising sun so hungry either to buy the submarine or send her to the bottom in such a way that she can't come up. they're a lot of hotheads, that's what they are, and they don't care a picayune what happens to them just so they can get in some wild stroke that, in their overheated estimation, may benefit nippon. "i don't know as we can blame them. it hasn't been so mighty long since they broke through their chrysalis of heathendom, and they are drunk with their success in their late unpleasantness with russia--russia, a country that has been our firm friend ever since the pilgrims landed on plymouth rock. "well, you have faced desperate risks, and you may be compelled to face more. i wish i could assure you that there were no more troubles in sight, but the japs are a persistent race, and whenever young firebrands like these sons of the rising sun get started at anything they never know when to let go. but," and here the consul brought his fist emphatically down on the table, "i don't think you can possibly meet any greater dangers than you have already met and successfully passed through. bearing that in mind, i'd be willing to bet every dollar i've got that motor matt will make good, and deliver this old catamaran at mare island, right-side-up with care, and everybody smiling--except, of course, the sons of the rising sun. i'll back young america against young japan any day. catch my drift? that's about all. come in and eat with me--we have to eat, you know, no matter how hot it is. after dinner we'll look after mr. tolo, and i'll give matt a letter to an agent who will supply him with gasolene, or any other old thing that happens to be necessary in order to make a submarine go. there won't be any water in the gasolene, either. come on, now, and let's try and be cheerful. heaven knows you boys have got enough ahead of you to make your hair stand on end like quills on the fretful porcupine, but what we're not sure of hadn't ought to trouble us." matt and glennie had a good dinner, and after it was over the consul went with them to the _grampus_ and gave the craft a sizing. he was charmed with the boat, and all the useful odds and ends of machinery with which she was packed. following that, he went to the prison chamber and surveyed tolo as he lay bound and helpless on the floor. "you're a nice young patriot, i must say!" exclaimed the consul, as he looked down on the quiet, uncomplaining japanese, "but you met more than your match when you went up against motor matt. where are the rest of your rascally outfit?" "i speak nothing, honorable sir," replied tolo, "not because of any disrespect for you, but out of regard for my dear nippon." the consul stared, and then he groaned. "high-handed outrage stalks the seas," he muttered, "and this poor fool calls it love of country! well, well! i wonder what commodore perry would say if he could hear that? the japs are our great and good friends, all right, but we don't count for much when there's a little thing like a patent boat on the programme. i'll take care of you, my lad," he added to tolo. "you'll stay in para until the first united states warship comes along, and then you'll travel to the states and give an account of yourself." a few minutes later the consul left the boat, and, an hour after he was gone, police officers arrived and carried the misguided tolo to the municipal bastile. that was the last matt and his friends ever saw of him. matt and glennie refused a pressing invitation to stay all night at the consul's palatial home. they explained to him that, in view of the vague dangers threatening them and the _grampus_, they felt as though they ought to stay with the boat. mr. brigham commended their zeal, repeated his encouraging auguries for their ultimate success, and warned them again of dangers ahead. "desperate risks are what you're to take," said he. "it may be that you have clipped the claws of the dragon, and that nothing more will be heard of the sons of the rising sun. that's the bright side of the picture, but please don't look at it. in a case of this kind it is better to expect the worst; then, if better things come to you, they will be in the nature of a happy surprise." on the second day of their stay in para dick went ashore and got their supplies. it had been on the schedule that the _grampus_ was to put in at rio, but mr. brigham advised the boys to give that port a wide berth. "your itinerary," he explained, "is probably known to these hotheaded japs. the way to fool them is by dodging the itinerary and putting in at the places where you are not expected." "we'll have to stop somewhere before we round the horn," said matt; "and i believe we'll call at----" "don't tell me!" protested the consul. "don't tell any one in para, or even talk it over among yourselves until you are well away at sea. then, when you speak the name of your next port of call, go down to the ocean bed and whisper it. do you think i'm piling it on? well, perhaps so, but i am only trying to let you understand how necessary it is to keep your own counsel. i'm mightily interested in you, and in your ultimate success, and what advice i give i give earnestly, and trust you will take it so. you'll get around the horn, all right, and you'll get to mare island, and the _grampus_ will become part and parcel of our country's navy, perhaps with ensign glennie in command. that's a cinch, my lads; but what you're to go through before you reach 'frisco is a horse of another color. don't be overconfident. remember what i say, and keep your eyes on the dark side of the picture. good-by, and luck go with you." on the morning of the third day after their arrival at para the _grampus_ slipped down the river toward the open sea. she carried confident hearts and determined wills--and, in spite of the fact that all had their eyes on the "dark side of the picture," there was plenty of hope and also of good cheer in the stout steel hull of the submarine. for the king of the motor boys was in command. he had brought the _grampus_ through many perils, and all had faith to believe that he could bring her through many more. the end. the next number ( ) will contain motor matt's defiance; or, around the horn. tell tale sparks--clipping the dragon's-claws--the overturned boat--gallant work--the five chilians--treachery--turning the tables--the man-of-war--aboard the "salvador"--the tightening coil--dick on his mettle--desperate measures--a dive for liberty--english reach--sandoval explains--northward bound. motor stories thrilling adventure motor fiction new york, june , . terms to motor stories mail subscribers. (_postage free._) single copies or back numbers, c. each. months c. months c. months $ . one year . copies one year . copy two years . =how to send money=--by post-office or express money-order, registered letter, bank check or draft, at our risk. at your own risk if sent by currency, coin, or postage-stamps in ordinary letter. =receipts=--receipt of your remittance is acknowledged by proper change of number on your label. if not correct you have not been properly credited, and should let us know at once. ormond g. smith, } george c. smith, } _proprietors_. street & smith, publishers, - seventh avenue, new york city. in the hands of the enemy. jim dean's face looked ugly when the portuguese, who was called da silva, deliberately thrust the muzzle of a revolver against his chest. "you confounded disgrace! what are you going to do?" he inquired spitefully. "you putty-colored dago, do you think you can intimidate me with your theatrical performances? man, i've looked inside more gun muzzles that you've ever heard of." "this, then, is the last the senhor shall have the pleasure of examining," answered the portuguese imperturbably. the insults he waved aside with his lemon-colored left hand, and he blew out between his lips a serene stream of cigarette smoke. "the senhor is what you call a fire-eater, is it not? but even with a good appetite it is possible to eat too much. is the senhor going to take his last meal?" da silva talked leisurely as though he enjoyed the conversation. he looked carelessly around the trading office, where in orderly confusion lay books and papers containing records of many a cargo of cotton, palm oil, rubber, mahogany logs and the like from the opulent interior. for this, the highest trading station on the bawa river, was the channel through which the produce of a vast savage country went to the coast, where cotton goods of pronounced colors went in exchange for lumps of wild rubber, and where square-face gin or various jimcracks bought so much oil or kernel. jim dean managed this factory, from which he had to account to a board of directors in liverpool for his doings, and for his profits and losses. of late there had been losses, for from the wild interior had come tales of caravans attacked, of laden canoes cut off, of villages, where stores were accumulated, raided, with rumors and threats of worse things. so far as he was personally concerned, this present incident was the apex of the unexpected. he was sitting in his office sweating at his books when three natives, coming in as he supposed on trading business, without ceremony, gripped him in their odorous arms, flung a grass rope about him, and trussed him up like a fowl ready for the roast. a fourth man, da silva, had superintended the operation. "i'd give six months' wages to have a quarter of an hour at handling you with bare fists," snapped dean. "i should hate touching your hide with my fingers, but i'd do it like i might have to lift a bit of dirt out of my food." "the senhor makes it no easier for himself," said the portuguese with a show of teeth. "you just put your gun away and give me my hands free and i'll show you something," returned dean spitefully. the patience of the dago man suddenly came to an end. he withdrew his eyes from sight of the brown river beyond the veranda, whither they had dreamily wandered, and suddenly set them viciously on the white man. "i'm going to give you three minutes," he said. "if you are still acting the fool, then i shall shoot. you know what i want. down river at the bawa factory is a steamer just arrived from a british port. among her cargo are a thousand rifles, with ammunition. for purposes of my own, not unconnected with my desire to be top dog in this portion of africa, i want to get possession of those arms, and to do so i want to send such a message to the coast as will insure the steamer hurrying up the river with this part of her cargo aboard. therefore, you will write on the company's note paper, in your own hand, something to the effect that the station is in the extremest danger, that the whole hinterland is risen, and that unless you have arms and ammunition in plenty sent you at once, the whole factory and those in it will be wiped out of existence. it's a million to one they'll send the steamer up, for it would be the quickest, and there's deep water all the way. now, i'll dictate the exact words to you. you won't mind writing it, anyhow, because it's true." "and when the ship comes up, what then?" asked dean. "i make arrangements to acquire the cargo on--well, on easy terms," answered the half-breed with a smile. "all right, you disgrace of two continents, you do all the arranging. i'm not in it. you shoot, my friend." it was quite true that jim dean had looked into death's face more times than once, but he had hardly been nearer making his exit than during the next five seconds; for da silva's revolver muzzle was pressed over his heart and an angry finger was on the trigger. then the half-blood hesitated, not because he had either fear or scruples, but because dean at the moment was worth more to him alive than dead. he had great ambitions, for the realization of which the cargo of arms was necessary, and he could think of no better way of obtaining them than by using dean in the way he had indicated. "on the whole, i think shooting would be too sudden," he said. "if you refuse to do as i say i will invent a method of putting you out of this world of misery that will give you the longest dose of pain that a human body can stand. savvy?" jim dean did understand. da silva had in the hinterland an unsavory reputation for a ferocity that, rumor said, stood at nothing, and he was credited with one or two dark doings in the back no-man's land that will not bear repeating. he lighted another cigarette, and with malicious deliberation he detailed the manner in which he would inflict death on the other which had something with a slow fire in it and added refinements, and then he retired to make arrangements for the exit, as he termed it, leaving dean under the guard of one negro. these circumstances set dean thinking furiously, and after a while he decided that though a death by torture might be picturesque, there would not be much common sense in submitting to it when there was a way out, which, though humiliating enough, might yet afford him another chance. with his life he might get the game into his own hands--with death was the end of the game. "all right," he said. "you've got the bulge on me this time. just free my hands, and i'll write what you say." da silva dictated with his finger on the trigger of his weapon, and the muzzle of it somewhere between dean's shoulder blades. * * * * * macfarlane, manager of the coast factory on the bawa river, ran across the strip of sun-scorched beach and tumbled into a dugout boat of cottonwood, and with a speed that indicated he was handling matters of great urgency, he pushed the boat out into the yellow stream and paddled for all he was worth toward the rusty tramp steamer which lay in mid-river. lettering under her stern indicated the double fact that she was classically called the _athena_, and that she hailed from liverpool. an inspection of her decks would have shown that in the midday heat her crew were resting. the steam winch sizzled, the drip from a steam pipe falling on the hot iron deck almost dried before it touched the plates, the heat rose from the iron hull as from a stove; there was probably not a bearable spot in the ship. macfarlane came up the ladder in a hurry, and he mounted to the chart room on the little bridge deck with a speed that made some eyes open in surprise. captain bingham, who was reclining on a locker dressed in pajamas open at the chest, looked mild surprise at the agent's hurry, when the latter thrust into his hand a somewhat crumpled piece of paper and bade him read it. "a nigger has just brought it," he said. "dean, our man up the river, is in danger. in fact, you might say more. the whole back of the country is in danger. there's a rising in progress, and the first thing they'll attack is the upper factory, that being the sign and token of white aggression. their cry is the black man's country for the black man, which may be all right, only we're white men, and we're here, and we want to keep on our trade. now, i shouldn't be surprised if there isn't some one at the back of all this. there's a brainy, unscrupulous beggar called da silva, who's portuguese. he's got some sort of a crack-brained notion of a black republic with himself as president, and incidentally owner of our factories and trading posts. he's been in the hinterland for the last six months to my knowledge, and up to no good, i'll stake my swizzle stick. if this trouble is da silva's palaver, you can bet it's going to be a jugful, and the thing in such a case, or any other like it, is to blow the froth off it early. strike a blow at once. here's dean writing in a hurry saying that while he has men he's no arms worth reckoning, and that practically the fate of the whole colony depends on his having enough rifles and ammunition in his hands within twenty-four hours." "you're making me hotter than i was," breathed the skipper of the _athena_. "what do you want? i'm not an advice merchant." "if you'll read what dean's written you'll see he says that if i have any arms, the best way is to charter the best steam craft i can put hands on, put the stuff on it, and send her upstream. now, there are a dozen cases of rifles in your hold, which were going into portuguese territory. they haven't been unloaded yet, see?" "i can see you are going to put me in for something that my owners don't reckon on," said bingham with a laugh, opening the jacket of his pajamas, and throwing out his broad chest. "i reckon your owners value the trade on this bit of coast," said macfarlane dryly. "it means losing it all if dean doesn't get his guns. and there's a twenty-foot channel all the way upstream." "if we can keep in it--i know. this old craft is no mud plugger. still, with more cargo out of her she'll swim a bit higher. i'll just rouse up that crew of mine. and you get your boats around sharp, because i'm going to make that cargo buck." thereafter came a continual roar for many hours of both fore and aft steam winches, and the way the cargo was vomited out of the _athena's_ hold was a pretty good record for that river mouth. half an hour before sunset the _athena's_ anchors broke mud, and with her plimsoll and the red streak of her watermark high up out of the brown wash, she started nosing her way up against the current. the night fell suddenly like the quick closing of shutters, and from the river and the dank vegetation on its banks rose the mist that spelled fever and sickness. there was a ladling out of quinine that night to all hands. macfarlane took a double dose. this river with its sickening smell of crushed marigolds, where the mangroves threw hideous twisted roots into the slime, and noisome creatures sprawled in the gloom, had a breath of poison. "i'm hanged if i don't think," said the agent, as he took his second dose of quinine wrapped in a cigarette paper, "that we'd be better off with da silva in possession and us at home. i'm homesick. and this is west africa. my stars! listen to the splashing of that crocodile!" the skipper swore softly when a little shiver went through the hull. "that's the bottom," he said. "that deep channel may be there, but it takes keeping in. now, if you take my tip, you'll get those shooters of yours unpacked. your man may want a few in a hurry. gosh! there's the bottom again. it'll be no soft thing if we get stuck, either for us or your man." but they went up the waterway in safety till dawn came, when captain bingham breathed more freely. "all the same, i'm not enjoying myself," he said. "the salt sea is a dashed sight more to my liking. how much further is it?" "we shall strike it this evening," said macfarlane. "if we had been crows we could have got there in one-third the distance. this river winds about some." it was the long, roundabout journey that the vessel had to go which enabled the plotter, da silva, to get news of her approach, and of the success of his plans, for the native runner, who had in the first place conveyed the letter, forced from dean, by way of direct forest paths, went back the same way, carrying promise of immediate assistance. therefore the half-blood went on with his arrangements. to begin with, he sent runners out to various villages both near and distant, whence fighting men could come. he sent word that for each man there would be a rifle and cartridges, and that the war to regain the black man's country for the black man was ripe to commence. and then he constructed a simple, unsuspicious arrangement for trapping the ship that was nosing her way up the river. four hundred yards down from the strip of sun-baked beach in front of the trading factory the river was divided by a lush, swampy island into two channels. the near one was the only practicable way, and this he carefully filled up by dropping a couple of giant cottonwoods from the bank into it. the parts of the trees above the water lopped off till their presence was inconspicuous, and so came about as he intended the catching of the _athena_ like a jackal in a trap. going many miles at half speed, more miles at dead slow, the ocean tramp, making her uncertain way up this muddy channel into the heart of africa, did not arrive within sight of her destination till close on midnight. "we're close now," macfarlane was saying. "why not give a tootle on our siren just to buck up dean, and give his enemies a shiver if they are near?" bingham got hold of the string, but with the first stabbing of the tropic night by the shrieking whistle there came a sudden shiver through the ship, a violent scraping, and a bumping on the plates below water. the siren stopped short, and the telegraph handle was suddenly dragged over to full speed astern while captain bingham said things. the propeller swirled up whirlpools of mud, and cast up enough crushed marigold smell to choke them; but the ship did not move, and captain bingham let his soul go out in bitterness. "we've got to wait till daylight, anyhow," he said finally. "we're fast, and we can't do anything till we can see what's holding us." meanwhile things were happening ashore. for three days jim dean had sweated, a prisoner in his own office. he had seen little of da silva, one big negro, who smoked black cigars all day long, and wore a nautical cap, being his guard. the black seemed to possess the faculty of infinite wakefulness. if he ever slept he did not seem to. his eyes were always open, dreamily watching the smoke from his tobacco. dean thought and thought, and produced nothing. the negro was twice his size, armed and wakeful. he, while not trussed up, had the area of his activity circumscribed by a thong fastened round his waist and made fast to the floor. the odds were too great for any effective dealing with the situation, until by accident he alighted on a small possibility of at least freeing himself. and with freedom of movement much was possible. he wriggled on the floor. a prick in the calf of his leg betrayed the point of a nail sticking up in the floor. he altered his position so that he could get a bend of the thong against the nail point, and then he tried gently rubbing it, or rather letting the nail peck at the hide. there was not much strength in the nail, so that the operation had to be done with care; but it was done ultimately, and when there fell on dean's surprised ears the fragmentary shriek of the steamer's siren he was both ready and able to go! he fell on the negro as though a steel spring propelled him, and he bowled him over, and hammered the black head on the floor before the brain inside the woolly skull had awakened to what was happening. it was a thick skull, but the blow was in proportion, and the big body rolled over on the floor. possessing himself of the black's revolver, sheath knife, and belt, and the nautical cap to save his head from thorns, dean slipped out from the veranda and down into the garden. but this had not been done without some noise, and as dean ran away toward the gate of the inclosure, he heard voices in the darkness, and cries of warning and alarm. the door of the inclosure was fast. precious moments were wasted unbolting it. by the time he was fleeing across the strip of beach he knew he was pursued. he ran along the water's edge as far as he could till the thick brake of mangroves, which succeeded the beach, prevented him, for they grew right to the edge of the water, and the giant twisted roots snaked far out into the very slime of the river itself. he struck into the thick mass of vegetation, away from the river, but keeping as near parallel to the bank as he could. ropes of prickly creeper held him again and again. boughs of sickly sweet blossoms dashed against his face, and to force his way through the tangled mass of greenery he had to slash out with his knife at almost every step. then he made for the river bank again. he could hear the pounding of the ship's propeller, and he rightly guessed she was struggling to get free from the trap that she had got into. he came out upon the river bank and picked his way through the sprawling roots of the mangroves. he sank knee-deep into the slime, then he made a plunge and bore out into the river. he could see the steamer scarce a hundred yards away, and he put his best work into his swimming, not the less because he knew there were crocodiles in the water. he had not covered more than half the distance when he heard the sound of paddles no great way off. he looked over half a shoulder, and he saw a dug-out canoe shoot from the shore with half a dozen paddles at work. he swam till every muscle and sinew ached with the strain. he tore through the water, and grasped a rope that hung over the cathead of the _athena_, thirty yards ahead of the pursuing canoe. he was over the edge of the forecastle just as the canoe came below. a moment later, with the water dripping from him, he had turned, and was firing at the black heads that sprang up above the cathead. a short spear plunged at his head, and stuck quivering into the forecastle planks; but two big splashes followed his shots, and there came a discordant chorus of yells from below, that a moment later was broken into by a deep-throated cry of inquiry from the bridge. "you are trapped, that's all," answered dean, taking aim at the retreating canoe. "gad, is that jim dean?" macfarlane came running forward. "have you had to swim for it at the finish? are we too late with the arms?" "no, you're just in time," said dean, watching the effect of his shot, "that is, if you have some men who can use them." "you said you'd got plenty." "i'd better own up," said the young man, "although it hasn't a pleasant taste in my mouth. i wrote that letter at da silva's dictation with a pistol at my head. there was likewise a pleasant alternative of being spitted over a slow fire. he wants this cargo himself. odds are on it that we shall get an attack before dawn." "then, by the great james, we'll have some handshakes ready for them," declared captain bingham. "now, you just loosen out some of our cargo, mr. macfarlane." * * * * * the expected attack came about half an hour before dawn, when the white mists at the river edge were thickest. half a dozen big canoes filled with men shot out from the banks. there were one or two firearms among them, but these were discharged at too great a range for savage marksmen, and they did no more than emphasize the alarm, though that was not needed, for watchful eyes had kept a careful lookout on the _athena_ all night. "they'll be monkeys, and a bit over, if they climb up here," observed macfarlane; for the ship with no cargo in her stood high out of the water, but the attack had been arranged by a brain. the first canoe to reach the vessel's side wasted, for savages, little time in shouting and brandishing spears, but straightway made casts with looped lengths of grass rope, and before the defenders were quite up to the move half a dozen black bodies were swarming up toward the mizzen chains. shots accounted for three, but the other three got up to the rail, and it was an ugly fight before accounts were settled. each canoe was supplied with these ropes, which were cast with amazing skill, and wherever there was the slightest hold or projection there was a rope quickly looped over, and a black body swarming up the next instant. axes and cutting knives hacked at them, but many a savage got aboard, and there were gashes and spear thrusts in plenty among the crew of the _athena_ when dawn broke. the affair finished just as the sun slipped up over the trees, with the canoes, such as had men to propel them, paddling away to the shore, while two others drifted downstream, with only dead and wounded men in them. the daylight showed half a dozen blacks, either dead or badly wounded, on the ship's decks, and the second engineer lying on the fidley with a gashed head and wounded thigh. "and there's ane de'il ah hae made prisoner after a vera bonny fecht," said the scotch bosun. "ah'm thinking he's no' a'together a nigger. the scoondrel's a bit tae yellow." they found the dago, lying on the main deck, panting and furious, clothed only in a loin cloth, with half a dozen of his own grass ropes around him. "sae ye're the captain o' this dirty crood, air ye?" observed the bosun critically, as the half-blood lay there swathed in the grass rope. "mon, ye started something outside yere weight. but perhaps ye'll be useful. when we've had a bite o' something tae eat, we shall want a few hondy niggers tae chop awa' the trees we've rinned upon, and mebbe ye can whustle up a few." but while they were snatching a hasty scrap of food, the prisoner, unwatched for a few minutes, managed to partly wriggle out of the rope, and to crawl toward an open sally port. they heard him splash over the side, and a moment later, as they saw him swimming, in spite of rope-encumbered legs, he was seen to suddenly turn over in the water and to cast a look of fear back at them. the next moment he gave a shriek, and sank from sight. a little eddy in the brown water showed only for a moment where he had disappeared. "a crocodile," said dean with a shudder. "and i swam over there myself last night. poor beggar. when you're ready i should like to go ashore. i expect my office will be a bit upset." latest issues brave and bold weekly all kinds of stories that boys like. the biggest and best nickel's worth ever offered. =high art colored covers. thirty-two big pages. price, cents.= --two chums afloat; or, the cruise of the "arrow." by cornelius shea. --in the path of duty; or, the fortunes of officer dan deering. by harrie irving hancock. --a bid for fortune; or, true as steel. by fred thorpe. --a battle with fate; or, the baseball mascot. by weldon j. cobb. --three brave boys; or, adventures in the balloon world. by frank sheridan. --archie atwood, champion; or, an all-around athlete's career. by cornelius shea. --dick stanhope afloat; or, the eventful cruise of the _elsinore_. by harrie irving hancock. --working his way upward; or, from footlights to riches. by fred thorpe. --the fourteenth boy; or, how vin lovell won out. by weldon j. cobb. --among the nomads; or, life in the open. by the author of "through air to fame." --bob, the acrobat; or, hustle and win out. by harrie irving hancock. --through the earth; or, jack nelson's invention. by fred thorpe. --the boy chief; or, comrades of camp and trail. by john de morgan. motor stories the latest and best five-cent weekly. we won't say how interesting it is. see for yourself. =high art colored covers. thirty-two big pages. price, cents.= --motor matt's red flier; or, on the high gear. --motor matt's clue; or, the phantom auto. --motor matt's triumph; or, three speeds forward. --motor matt's air-ship; or, the rival inventors. --motor matt's hard luck; or, the balloon house plot. --motor matt's daring rescue; or, the strange case of helen brady. --motor matt's peril; or, castaway in the bahamas. --motor matt's queer find; or, the secret of the iron chest. --motor matt's promise; or, the wreck of the _hawk_. --motor matt's submarine; or, the strange cruise of the _grampus_. --motor matt's quest; or, three chums in strange waters. --motor matt's close call; or, the snare of don carlos. --motor matt in brazil; or, under the amazon. --motor matt's defiance; or, around the horn. --motor matt makes good; or, another victory for the motor boys. tip top weekly the most popular publication for boys. the adventures of frank and dick merriwell can be had only in this weekly. =high art colored covers. thirty-two pages. price, cents.= --frank merriwell's patience; or, the making of a pitcher. --frank merriwell's pupil; or, the boy with the wizard wing. --frank merriwell's fighters; or, the decisive battle with blackstone. --dick merriwell at the "meet"; or, honors worth winning. --dick merriwell's protest; or, the man who would not play clean. --dick merriwell in the marathon; or, the sensation of the great run. --dick merriwell's colors; or, all for the blue. --dick merriwell, driver; or, the race for the daremore cup. --dick merriwell on the deep; or, the cruise of the _yale_. --dick merriwell in the north woods; or, the timber thieves of the floodwood. --dick merriwell's dandies; or, a surprise for the cowboy nine. --dick merriwell's "skyscooter"; or, professor pagan and the "princess." --dick merriwell in the elk mountains; or, the search for "dead injun" mine. _for sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any address on receipt of price, cents per copy, in money or postage stamps, by_ street & smith, publishers, - seventh avenue, new york =if you want any back numbers= of our weeklies and cannot procure them from your newsdealer, they can be obtained from this office direct. fill out the following order blank and send it to us with the price of the weeklies you want and we will send them to you by return mail. =postage stamps taken the same as money.= ________________________ _ _ _street & smith, - seventh avenue, new york city._ _dear sirs: enclosed please find_ ___________________________ _cents for which send me_: tip top weekly, nos. ________________________________ nick carter weekly, " ________________________________ diamond dick weekly, " ________________________________ buffalo bill stories, " ________________________________ brave and bold weekly, " ________________________________ motor stories, " ________________________________ _name_ ________________ _street_ ________________ _city_ ________________ _state_ ________________ a great success!! motor stories every boy who reads one of the splendid adventures of motor matt, which are making their appearance in this weekly, is at once surprised and delighted. surprised at the generous quantity of reading matter that we are giving for five cents; delighted with the fascinating interest of the stories, second only to those published in the tip top weekly. matt has positive mechanical genius, and while his adventures are unusual, they are, however, drawn so true to life that the reader can clearly see how it is possible for the ordinary boy to experience them. _here are the titles now ready and those to be published_: --motor matt; or, the king of the wheel. --motor matt's daring; or, true to his friends. --motor matt's century run; or, the governor's courier. --motor matt's race; or, the last flight of the "comet." --motor matt's mystery; or, foiling a secret plot. --motor matt's red flier; or, on the high gear. --motor matt's clue; or, the phantom auto. --motor matt's triumph; or, three speeds forward. --motor matt's air ship; or, the rival inventors. --motor matt's hard luck; or, the balloon house plot. --motor matt's daring rescue; or, the strange case of helen brady. --motor matt's peril; or, cast away in the bahamas. --motor matt's queer find; or, the secret of the iron chest. --motor matt's promise; or, the wreck of the "hawk." --motor matt's submarine; or, the strange cruise of the "grampus." --motor matt's quest; or, three chums in strange waters. to be published on june th. --motor matt's close call; or, the snare of don carlos. to be published on june st. --motor matt in brazil; or, under the amazon. to be published on june th. --motor matt's defiance; or, around the horn. to be published on july th. --motor matt makes good; or, another victory for the motor boys. price, five cents at all newsdealers, or sent, postpaid, by the publishers upon receipt of the price. street & smith, _publishers_, new york transcriber's notes: added table of contents. italics are represented with _underscores_, bold with =equal signs=. retained some inconsistent hyphenation from the original ("dugout" vs. "dug-out"). page , expanded oe ligature in "manoeuvre" to oe; ligature retained in html edition. page , removed unnecessary quote before "the ready." page , "curaçoa" is probably a typo for "curaçao" but has been retained in case it is an archaic spelling. page , corrected typo "hapened" in "anything happened to the submarine." page , corrected typo "ferrall" in "i can spell you, or mr. ferral." page , corrected "let go of dick" to "let go of matt." https://archive.org/details/southamericato-d clemrich transcriber's note: text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). south america to-day a study of conditions, social political, and commercial in argentina, uruguay and brazil by georges clemenceau formerly prime minister of france g. p. putnam's sons new york and london the knickerbocker press copyright, by g. p. putnam's sons the knickerbocker press, new york introduction i have been asked for my impressions as a traveller in south america. i had no sooner promised them than a difficulty presented itself. i have no notes of my journey, and i should be sorry to have them, for it is annoying to record impressions in black and white at the precise moment when one feels them most vividly. and i pass over in silence the hour when it is wisdom to remain quiet. the task of christopher columbus was lightened by one fact. america was there, stationary, in the middle of the sea, only waiting for some one to knock against it. i even found in brazil an eminent senator for the state of saint paul, señor almeida nogueira, who declared that the principal event of that friday, october th, was the discovery--by the original americans--of europe in the person of the great genoese. they had this advantage over him--they had not left their homes. what was i going to discover in my turn, at the risk of being myself discovered?--unknown countries?--unheard-of peoples?--virgin civilisations?--or simply points of comparisons for new judgments on myself and on my country? our self-satisfaction will not allow us readily to admit that we have anything to learn from young communities, though we are too ready to talk in generalities about them. we cannot deny, however, that their effort is fine, and tends continually toward success. in such a result the least quick-sighted of us must be interested. facility of communication has multiplied the points of contact between the men of every country. one of our first needs is to correct the vague or false conceptions of the different human societies borne by this globe in a tumult of joy and misery towards destinies unknown. because there was no one to contradict them, travellers of ancient times were able to give full play to their wildest imaginings. a proverb even sanctions their lack of veracity. when our good herodotus related that the army of xerxes dried up the rivers on its passage, the athenians, perhaps, were not astonished. christopher columbus himself died in ignorance of the continent on which he had landed, convinced that he had reached the east coast of asia. to-day it is another matter. from the poles to the torrid zone are at work innumerable explorers who only succeed painfully in discovering the new at the price of being verified by their rivals. the incidents which accompanied the probable discovery of the north pole by commander peary showed the danger of rash assertions, even when denial seemed only possible from seals and white bears. i enjoy, happily, the great advantage of having discovered nothing. and, as i am less ambitious of astonishing my contemporaries than of suggesting reflections by the way, i shall perhaps escape offending the susceptibilities of those formidable savants who, having theorised upon everything, can only see everything from the standpoint of their studies. statisticians had better avoid me; i have nothing to tell them. having no preconceived notions, i shall not attempt to make facts square with them. having in mind voltaire's expression that the most mischievous ignorance is that of the critic, i confess that my own criticism of old civilisations makes me indulgent towards new experiments outside europe. i am of my time and my country, and at the end of a long career i submit with equanimity to the public the opinions and judgments i have gained. i do not share the prejudices current in paris against the suburban dwellers of villers-sur-marne or st. cloud. our comic journals and our plays have inflicted the same kind of torture upon the south americans. having ridiculed them for so long, has not the moment come when we should study them, not merely to flatter ourselves at their expense, but as a people who, more than any other, are our intellectual children, and to ask ourselves whether we cannot sometimes learn something from them? it is not in three months that one gets definite ideas as to the future of these vast territories, where a work of civilisation is going on which will inevitably change the political and social equilibrium of the planet that to-day is still, in effect, european. it is always difficult to report faithfully what one has seen, for there is an art in seeing as in telling. without claiming to have achieved it, i venture to hope that my observations, impartially recorded, will bear the seal of good faith and be of some use to the reader. it is obvious that the towns of south america, though some of them are very fine and well laid out, cannot, by reason of their recent history, offer monuments comparable with those of europe. one not infrequently hears a remark of this sort: "have you seen that old church over there? it is at least forty or fifty years old!" the towns derive their chief interest from their situation and surroundings; their internal features are only those which europe has been pleased to send them in superabundance. there remain the land and the people, two worthy subjects of study. the land, rich in undeveloped forces, calls for new energies. as it only becomes valuable through human labour, everything depends upon man's activity. in the depth of his soul, at once ingenuous and complex, are inscribed all the mysteries of the past, all the secrets of the future. admitting that american civilisation is of recent origin, it must be said that the american peoples, far from suffering from growing pains, as we are fond of imagining, are really old races transplanted. like us, they bend under the weight of a heavy history of glory and human suffering; they are imbued with all our traditions, good or bad; and they are subject to the same difficulties, whilst manifesting their vital energies in an environment better adapted to their display. then, again, let us not fail to distinguish between latin america of the south and anglo-saxon america of the north. let us refrain as well from generalities, sometimes unjustifiable, regarding the parallel development of two orders of civilisation, and the future destinies which, in hours of crisis, may appear uncertain, of old historic races. i shall deal only with latin america, without, however, losing sight of the great republic of the north, where i lived nearly four years. since neither jefferson nor washington foresaw the economic evolution which, in a little more than a hundred years, was to be realised by their infant republic, it behoves me to be modest in my prophecies. but, if i firmly believe that, in spite of the "historic materialism" of karl marx, commercial interests are not the only factors in civilisation; if i take from an eminent writer in brazil, señor arinos de mello, the curious information that in , at kilometres from the coast, at the house of his great-grandfather, who had never seen the ocean, a company of amateurs played the tragedies of voltaire--i must conclude that the influence of ideas, inherited from our forefathers, is not less certain or durable than that of international trade relations. this i say with no intention of depreciating the importance of such commerce as, even at that time, served as the vehicle of ideas--just as the good sailing ship transported a copy of voltaire's _mérope_ or _mahomet_ from rotterdam to pernambuco, and a train of mules took a month to complete the journey. it should remind us that moral influences are not inferior in results to monetary affairs. we french have allowed ourselves to be outstripped in economic matters at too many points of the globe. yet, notwithstanding our mistakes, our eighteenth century--with the revolution which was its inevitable outcome--has constituted for us a patrimony of moral authority which we should seek not only to preserve, but also, if possible, to enlarge. g. c. contents page introduction iii chapter i. the outward voyage ii. montevideo and buenos ayres iii. buenos ayres (_continued_) iv. foreign colonists in argentina v. argentine education, hospitals, and asylums vi. argentine types, manners, and morals vii. argentine politics viii. pampas life ix. farming and sport x. rosario and tucuman xi. uruguay and uruguayans xii. rio de janeiro xiii. brazilian society and scenery xiv. brazilian coffee index south america to-day south america to-day chapter i the outward voyage the _regina elena_ is in harbour. a great white boat vomits volumes of black smoke from its two funnels, whilst the siren sounds the familiar farewell. two gangways, on which luggage and passengers are jostling desperately, present the peculiar spectacle of departing crowds. on a dais of multi-coloured sunshades, the wide hats of beautiful genoese women offer their good wishes to the little veiled toques of the travellers. people stop in the narrowest part of the gangway to laugh and cry together. vainly the human flood tries to break through the obstacle. the current, according to its strength, carries the living mass of feathers and ribbons back to the landing-place or pushes it on to the deck, where, in a perfect maze of movement and exclamations, it continues to stop the traffic. not far away, heavily laden with nondescript burdens, the silent emigrant forces his way to the lower deck, dragging old parents and young children after him. do not imagine the emigrant leaving italy for the argentine to be the miserable human specimen one generally sees. he is neither more nor less than a workman moving from one hemisphere to another. we shall meet him again on board. strongly attached to family life, his peculiarity is to move about with his wife and progeny. the difference in seasons allows him, after cutting corn on the pampas, to return to italy for the harvest. often he settles down in the argentine under the conditions which i shall explain later, and takes strong root there. often, again, the love of his native land speaks louder than his love of adventure, and the steamship companies are glad to profit by the circumstance. the siren has blown its last authoritative blast; the last visitors have returned to land; the huge monster glides gently out to sea. one sees nothing but waving handkerchiefs and hears nothing but parting words. we are off. "good-bye." the grand amphitheatre of white marble and sunburnt stones glides slowly past us, dazzling in the warm light. already our eyes were looking with curiosity and hopefulness towards the liquid plain. are we flying from europe, or is europe flying from us? from this moment we shall look to see america surge up from the horizon on the day ordained. the first impressions of the boat are excellent: it is admirably fitted up; clean as a new pin, with good attendance. we are welcomed in a most charming manner by the captain, de benedetti, a _galant 'uomo_, who advertises his french sympathies by flying a french flag. a fortnight in a handsome moving prison, with floods of salt air to fill one's lungs, and the marvellous panorama of sky and sea, shot with luminous arrows. our daily promenades are those of prisoners condemned to walk in an eternal circle. as long as land is in sight, our eyes linger on the blue line of mountains, which speaks to us of the country which, in spite of the revolving screw, our hearts refuse to leave. the ligurian coast, crowned by alpine heights; provence, rich in memories, blue mountains darkened by the dying day; grey spots, which represent toulon and marseilles. a choppy, rather rough sea, complicated by a ground swell, as we cross the bay of lyons, tries the ladies, who had hitherto been very lively. they retire to their cabins, whence issue sinister sounds. but let us pass on. to-morrow's sun will illumine the joyous hospitality of barcelona. never did land look so fascinating to me. i have crossed the atlantic eight times without ever feeling that kind of anticipated regret for the old continent. youth longs for the unknown, but age learns to fear it. the passengers lunched on shore. then came a visit to the _rambla_, sad and deserted under the grey sky. we linger over our first letters home, which can neither be called letters from abroad nor letters of farewell. a cab carries us about in a haphazard way, past modern houses which are a disgrace to spain and our epoch, and past façades of convents burnt down in the last revolution. finally, we are driven back to the quay, where, since morning, a crowd of fruit-sellers, picturesquely attired in red and yellow, have been selling their wares to the emigrants, forbidden by the regulations to land at the ports of call. nets attached to long poles, filled with provisions of all sorts, are offered to the passengers on the lower decks and held at a safe distance until the sum, which has been volubly disputed, falls into the outstretched apron below. but the signal is given. the teeming market disappears, and, without more ado, we put out to sea. in the dusk of the evening we discern the white summits of the sierra nevada, in whose shadow lie granada and the alhambra. we shall pass gibraltar in the night, and at dawn to-morrow we shall have only the blue monotony of the infinite sea. it is five days' steam to st. vincent, in the cape verde islands. the passengers shake down, grouping themselves according to national or professional affinities. stretched on arm-chairs of excessive size--which turn the daily walk into a steeplechase--fair ladies, wrapped in shawls and gauzes, and profoundly indifferent to the comfort of others, try to read, but only succeed in yawning. they chatter aimlessly without real conversation. the cries of the children create a diversion, and a badly-trained dog is a fruitful topic for discussion. the men sit down to bridge, or smoke innumerable pipes in the winter garden. i catch scraps of business talk around me. the boldest foot it on the deck, but their enterprise does not please the gentler passengers, who are in quiet possession of the only space available for exercise. soon, under the guise of sops to the ravenous ocean appetite, piles of plates, glasses, and decanters, complicated with stools and travelling rugs, encumber the passageway. as the soft roll of the ship causes a certain disturbance of the crockery, the pedestrian, young or old, has always a chance of breaking his leg--a contingency to which the ladies appear to be perfectly indifferent. the piano suffers cruelly from sharp raps administered by knotty juvenile fingers. an italian lady sings, and one of my own countrywomen sketches a group of emigrants. in the primitive setting of the steerage everybody is already at home and appears happy. attentive fathers walk and play with their offspring and occasionally smack them by way of showing them the right path. mothers are nursing their babies or washing clothes. i am told that there are no fewer than twenty-six nursing mothers out of a total of six hundred third-class passengers on board. amid the italian swarm, brightly coloured groups of syrians stand out. the women, tattooed, painted, and clad in light-coloured draperies, sometimes covered with silver ornaments, fall naturally into the dignified and statuesque pose of the oriental. a few are really handsome, with a sort of passive sensuality of bearing. it is said that the syrians are the licensed pedlars of the pampas. a visit between decks shows that the ventilation is good and that cleanliness is insured by incessant application of brush and hose. the sick bay is well kept. one or two patients are in the maternity ward awaiting an interesting event before the equator can be reached. the food is wholesome and abundant. the italian government keeps a permanent official on board who is independent of the officers of the ship, and sees that the regulations concerning hygiene and safety for this class of passengers are rigorously carried out. frightful abuses in former days necessitated these measures, which are now entirely efficacious. we are looking forward to calling at st. vincent as a welcome break in the monotony of our days. however, thanks to wireless telegraphy, we are no longer cut off from the world on this highly perfected raft which balances our fortunes between heaven and sea. one cannot help feeling surprised when presented with an envelope bearing the word "telegram." some one has sent me his good wishes for the voyage from france by way of dakar. then by the same mysterious medium the passengers of a ship we shall meet to-morrow wave their hats to us in advance. on several occasions i have had the pleasure of receiving messages of this sort; they are incidents in a day. from time to time we can read the despatches of the news agencies posted in the saloon. i leave you to imagine how, with our abundant leisure, we discuss the news. from st. vincent to the island of fernando de noronha, the advanced post of brazil, i do not think we were ever more than two days out of range of wireless telegraphy. when it is compulsory to have a wireless installation on board all ships, collisions at sea can never occur. i visit the telegraph office situated forward on the upper deck. it is a small cabin where an employee sits all day striking sparks from his machine as messages arrive from all parts of the horizon; the sound reminds me of the crackling of a distant mitrailleuse. here one must not allow the mind to wander even with the smoke of one's cigarette. through a technical blunder our unfortunate telegraphist, without knowing it, sent the information to montevideo that we were in danger. in consequence, we learnt from the newspapers on our arrival that the government was sending a state ship to our help. we thus experienced the sweet sensation of peril without danger, whilst the employee guilty of the error found himself discharged. we shall not profit by the call at st. vincent, since we arrive in the night. it is in vain that they tell us that the cape verde islands are nothing but a series of arid, yellow rocks; that st. vincent can only show commonplace houses and cabins with the inevitable cocoanut-trees; that the "town" is only inhabited by negroes who pick up a living from the ships that put in here to coal; whilst the english coal importers and real masters of this portuguese possession live up in the hills. nevertheless, we are disappointed of an opportunity to stroll on shore towards a clump of trees, apparently planted there with the object of justifying the name of the place, which is in reality the most barren spot. on our way we had passed the denuded rocks which somebody tells us are called the canaries. st. vincent, it seems, is a second edition of the canaries--only more sterile. we have no difficulty in believing it when at nightfall the _regina elena_ stops at the bottom of a deep black hole dotted with distant lights, of which some are fixed to the bows of small craft or tugboats drawing coal lighters, which dance up to us on the waves. suddenly, as in the third act of _l'africaine_, under the orders of an invisible nelusko, we are invaded on the starboard and port side by a dual horde of savages. they are fearful-looking blacks, with grinning masks, clothed in coal-dust, who swarm like monkeys up the shrouds and fall on deck with the laugh of cannibals. we are assured that our lives are not in danger, and, in fact, they are no sooner amongst us than, attacked with sudden shyness, they offer in a low voice and in a language in which french and english are strangely mixed, an assortment of cocoanuts, bananas, and bags made of melon seeds, to which they seem to attach great importance. once more we fall back on the small events of our daily life on board, of which the principal is to find the point in the southern horizon by which the speed of the ship can be calculated, under given conditions of wind and tide. on the new york crossing, the americans make of this detail an excuse for a daily bet. i notice that the south americans are less addicted to this form of sport. the first impression made upon me by these south american families with whom i am thrown in daily contact is eminently favourable. simplicity, dignity, and graciousness are what i see: i find none of the extravagance ascribed to them by rumour. only on one point am i led to make a criticism: their children seem to enjoy the utmost license of speech and action. henceforth our only subject of conversation is the probable date on which we shall cross the equator. the _regina elena_, with a displacement of , tons, did knots on her trials. if she makes or now, we are satisfied. the sea is calm: not a stomach protests. in these latitudes the storms of the north atlantic are unknown. we shall make the crossing from barcelona to buenos ayres in fifteen or sixteen days. a long rest for any one leaving or seeking a life of excitement. we amuse ourselves by watching troops of dolphins, divine creatures, passing from the joys of the air to those of the sea with a facile grace. what legends have been created about these mammals! from the most ancient times they have been the friends of the seafarer! they save the shipwrecked, and surrender to the charms of music. according to homeric song, it was from the dolphin that apollo borrowed the disguise in which he led the cretan fishermen to the shores of delphi, where later his temple was built. how true to life is the undulating line of the bas-reliefs on the monument of lysicrates, in which the tyrrhenian pirates, transformed into dolphins, fling themselves into the ocean, as though in feverish haste to try a new life! souvenirs of this old tale surge in my brain until i hear a voice saying harshly: "all these filthy beasts ought to be killed with dynamite, for they destroy the nets of the fishermen." good-bye to poetic legend! friendship between man and the dolphin ends in utilitarian holocausts! civilisation has not yet stamped out the flying-fish. it is still left to us to enjoy the spectacle of the great sea-locusts in flight, rising in flocks into the air to escape from their greedy comrades in the water, and dappling the wide blue plain with their winged whiteness. they remind me of the story of the traveller who was readily believed when he declared he had found at the bottom of the red sea a horseshoe belonging to the cavalry of pharaoh swallowed up in their pursuit of the hebrews. but when he talked of flying-fish, he found no credence anywhere! it is true men have told so many tales that it is not easy to know when it is safe to show surprise. a daily increasing and heavy heat meets us as we draw near the line. light flannel suits are brought into requisition, and breathing becomes difficult to redundant flesh. we are in the _black pot_--skies low, heavy with iron-grey clouds; an intermittent, fine rain which cools nothing; a glassy sea; no breeze stirring. it feels like the interior of a baker's oven. we take refuge in the dangerous electric fan which is unequalled for adding a bad cold to the disagreeable sensation of suffocation. nothing remains of the famous ceremony of christening the passenger who crosses the line for the first time. the innocent performance is now converted into a ball, with a subscription for the crew. passengers on the lower deck waltz every evening with far less ceremony, to the strains of an accordion, varying the entertainment by playing at _morra_, the national game. they stand up in couples and aim terrific blows at each other's faces, accompanying the movement with savage cries. if you watch carefully you will find that in this game of fisticuffs the closed hand is stopped just in time and, at the same moment, a certain number of fingers are shot out. simultaneously a voice cries a number, always less than ten; and the game consists in trying to announce beforehand how many fingers have been pointed by the two partners. this sport, which has the advantage of requiring none but nature's implements, is a great favourite with the italians. often, in the early morning, from my berth, i used to hear an alarming barking in the direction of the bows, which seemed to be the beginning of a deadly quarrel, but was in reality merely the fun of the _morra_. brazilian territory is now in sight--fernando de noronha. it is a volcanic island three days off rio de janeiro. successive streams of lava have given strangely jagged outlines to the peaks. a wide opening in the mountain lets in a view of the shining sea on the other side of the island. three lofty poles of wireless telegraphy stand out among the foliage. they say that these posts were set there by frenchmen. goodluck to them! captain de benedetti pays me the compliment of celebrating the fourteenth of july. the queen's portrait is framed in the flags of the two nations. in the evening we have champagne and drink healths. an italian senator, admiral de brochetti, expresses, in well-chosen language, his appreciation of the friendship of france and i echo his good wishes for the sister nation. is there any better relief from the exhaustion of a sleepless night in the tropics than a solitary walk beneath the starry firmament of the southern hemisphere? naturally, i sought the southern cross as soon as it had risen above the horizon. it was another disillusionment caused by an inflated reputation. where are ye, o great bear and pleiades, and where the belt of orion? on the other hand, words fail to describe the alpha of argo. every morning, between three and four o'clock, i see on the port side a sort of huge blue diamond which appears to lean out of the celestial vault towards the black gulf of the restless sea as if to illumine its abysses. i receive the most powerful sensation of living light that the firmament has ever given to me. if there is in any part of infinite space a prodigious altar of celestial fire, that focus must be canopus. it was assuredly there that prometheus stole the heavenly spark with which he kindled in us the light of life. there, too, vesta watches over the eternal hearth of sacred fire in which is concentrated a more divine splendour than even that of a tropical sun. but now the earth calls us back to herself, or, rather, it is the stormy ocean that rouses us, for as we approach the immense estuary of la plata a tempest of icy wind blows suddenly upon us from the south. this is the _pampero_, the south wind, the wind from the pampas, which blows straight from the frozen tops of the andes. a heavy swell makes the _regina elena_ roll in the great yellow waves, for already the clay of the rio de la plata is perceptible in the sea and gives it the aspect of a vast ocean of mud. to-morrow morning we shall be in montevideo. chapter ii montevideo and buenos ayres through the vaporous atmosphere of the sky-line appear the serrated edges of montevideo, the capital of uruguay, which was formerly a province of the argentine, but is to-day an independent republic. in the current language of buenos ayres, uruguay is known simply as "the oriental band," and when you hear it said of any one that "he is an oriental," know that by this term is not meant a turk or a levantine, but the inhabitant of the smallest republic in south america, hemmed in between the left bank of the uruguay, brazil, and the sea. quite apart from the question of size, the argentine and uruguay have too much in common not to be jealous of each other. the argentinos would appear to think that the prodigious development of their country must ultimately have the effect of bringing back uruguay to the fold. this may be so; but it is also quite possible that the "oriental band" in her pride will continue to cherish her independence. meantime, while leaving to the future the solution of the question, there is a little friction between them. uruguay's revolutionary shocks usually originate in argentine territory, across the river. the argentine government is certainly averse to any leniency towards those who incite to civil war, but it is not always able to exact obedience. south american ways! it is hardly necessary to add that the leaders of an unsuccessful party are wont to take refuge in buenos ayres--ten hours distant by the fine boats on the estuary--and that the natural magnet of commercial prosperity enlarges this political nucleus by the powerful factor of trade. there are no less than fifty thousand orientals[ ] in the argentine capital, and the daily traffic between the two cities may be judged by the crowd assembled morning and evening on board the _piroscafi_. a brisk walk round the city to obtain a first impression of south america was the most i could do in a stop of a few hours. the landing was somewhat laborious owing to a heavy sea. the president of the republic was obliging enough to send me a greeting by one of his aides-de-camp, and placed at my disposal the most comfortable of boats, which, after dancing gaily for a while on the waves, finally landed us without too much trouble. the docks, constructed by a french firm, are nearly approaching completion. the great european vessels could here, as at rio, moor alongside the quays. why should the _regina elena_ lie off outside? a question of red-tape, such as i found later at rio de janeiro, exposes travellers to the annoyance of transhipping when every accommodation exists for mooring inside the harbour. thus on these latin shores i found a familiar feature of my own bureaucratic land. beside the french minister, who is a friend, numerous journalists of pen and kodak came to offer a cordial welcome to their _confrère_. m. sillard, an eminent engineer from the "central" school at the head of the french colony here, is in charge of the harbour works. he has succeeded in winning for our country the esteem of every class of the population. the motor-cars start off. the first visit is to the post-office where i am greeted by a cordial montevidean whom i do not recognise but whose first word reveals an _habitué_ of paris. i have travelled by a long road to find out here the boulevard atmosphere! there can be no two opinions about montevideo. it is a big, cheerful town, with handsome avenues well laid out. some fine monuments denote a capital city. streets animated but not too noisy; sumptuous villas in the suburbs; subtropical vegetation in gardens and parks; a pleasant promenade amid the palm-trees by the sea. the dwelling-houses are for the most part of the colonial type. a very lofty ground-floor, with door and windows too often surcharged with ornament resembling the sugar-icing of the italian pastry-cook, and calculated to convey to these sunny lands an idea of cheap art. the unexpected thing is that the first floor stops short at its balconies as if sudden ruin had overtaken the builder. i found this feature repeated _ad infinitum_ wherever i went. the most modest of citizens, as soon as he can turn his back on his primitive cabin of corrugated iron, makes a point of arousing the admiration of the public with the decorative balcony of a first floor that will never be built. roofs flat and without chimneys: the climate allows of this. occasionally a balustrade that almost gives the illusion of a finished building, but that the balcony, cut off short at a height of from two to three feet, leaves you again in doubt as to its object. the drawing-room windows are naturally in the front of the house, and here ladies in their indoor dress have no objection to showing themselves for the delectation of passers-by. but let us say at once that in these countries where the blood is hot misconduct is rare. men marry young, and the demands of a civilisation as yet untouched by decadence leaves little energy for pleasure that must be sought elsewhere than on the strait path. i will not say but what the great attraction of paris for many south americans is precisely the pleasure of the novelty it offers in this respect. it is sufficient for me to set down what came under my notice: happy homes and regular habits; a tranquil enjoyment of a life of virtue. the living-rooms are always grouped around a _patio_ with its colonnade bright with trees and flowers, and here their occupants enjoy the utmost privacy with an absence of street noises. these are the impressions gathered in a hasty walk, since my first visit was necessarily for the president of the republic and my time was strictly limited. the presidential palace was a modest-looking house, distinguished only by its guard. many of the soldiers show strong signs of mixed blood. curiously enough the sentry is posted not on the pavement but out in the street, opposite the palace. as traffic increases, this rule will need to be changed. the president was not in his office. i was cordially received, however, by the minister of foreign affairs, who was like the most obliging of parisians. a few steps from the palace i met the president of the republic, with a small crowd round him, and easily recognisable by his high hat. i was careful not to interrupt him. he is going to do me the honour of receiving me when i return to the capital of uruguay. señor williman is a compatriot, the son of a frenchman, of alsatian origin. before his election he was professor of physics, and he has not thought it necessary to allow his political duties to interfere with his educational work; twice a week he lectures in the college, where he becomes again the happy schoolmaster whose pupils have not yet developed their powers of contradiction. this charming democratic simplicity is in curious contrast with our own persistent efforts to save as much of the ancient autocratic machinery as possible from the revolutionary shipwreck. it is agreeable to be able to testify to the great personal influence that m. williman wields in this land of latin dissension. we must get back to the ship, which is announcing its departure. with what pleasure shall i revisit montevideo! there is perhaps more of a french atmosphere about the capital of uruguay than any other south american city, and it has just enough exotic charm to quicken our pleasure at finding french sympathies in these foreign hearts. we get a view from the deck of the _regina elena_, as we pass, of the _cerro_, which is something like the mont-valérien of paris, and which in this land of flat alluvial soil assumes a very great importance. like its prototype, it is crowned with a bristling line of fortifications, and uruguay is so proud of this phenomenon that it has placed the _cerro_ in the national arms, where it figures in the form of a green sugar-loaf; no good oriental omits to tell you that there is nothing like it in the argentine. under the stinging breeze of the persistent _pampero_, our "screw" began to turn again in the heavy, clayey waters, with a slow, regular rhythm. to-morrow at daybreak we shall be looking through our glasses at the port of buenos ayres. the estuary of the rio de la plata (silver river[ ]) that we have now entered is a veritable sea. though this immense sheet of water is practically landlocked, there is no trace of land on the horizon. it is said to be as wide as the lake of geneva is long, not far short of thirty miles, spreading to nearly five times these dimensions at its mouth, after a course of kilometres. the area covered by the estuary is larger than holland. two big rivers, the uruguay and the parana, pour their waters into this enormous _cul de sac_, which is often ruffled by an unpleasant sea, as at this moment, and, after their junction at the small town of nueva palmira, in uruguay, they project into the atlantic a huge volume of water drawn from a vast watershed representing one quarter of south america. the tide is felt nearly a hundred miles above the confluence. montevideo, kilometres from buenos ayres, seems to guard the entrance of this inner sea, whilst the argentine capital, situated on the opposite shore, is almost at the extremity of the bay. clay deposits, silted down by a relatively weak current, clog the estuary and require constant dredging to keep the channel open to vessels of large tonnage. this is the problem which faces the port authorities of buenos ayres. at last the town comes in sight. from out the grey clouds driven by the _pampero_ there emerge the massive shapes of the tall elevators--those lofty cubes of masonry so dear to north america. neither church steeples nor any other prominent monuments. low, prosaic banks, barely distinguishable from the water, a few clumps of palms here and there, unbroken plains, an utter absence of background to the picture. we are preceded by two pilot boats, their flags flying in honour of the president of the republic, who is lunching on board a training ship within the harbour. very slowly the _regina elena_ brings up at the quayside. the gangway is put out, and behold a delegation of the argentine senate, accompanied by an officer from the president's military household, sent to welcome me. a deputation from the french colony also arrives, having at its head the governor of the french bank of rio de la plata, m. py. cordial handshakes: a thousand questions from either side. friendly greetings are exchanged, some of them taking almost the form of brief harangues in which the mother-country is not forgotten. journalists swarm round us. as might be expected, the _prensa_, _nacion_, and _diario_ have each a word to say. i offer my best thanks to the members of the senate. farewell to the excellent captain with my best wishes. then i get into the motor-car which ten minutes later drops me at the door of my hotel. i am in the argentine republic. henceforth i must keep my eyes open. buenos ayres first. it is a large european city, giving everywhere an impression of hasty growth, but foreshadowing, too, in its prodigious progress, the capital of a continent. the avenida de mayo, as wide as the finest of our boulevards, recalls oxford street in the arrangement of its shop-fronts and the ornamental features of its buildings. it starts from a large public square, rather clumsily decorated and closed on the sea side by a tall italian edifice, known as the _palais rose_, in which ministers and president hold their sittings; it is balanced at the other end of the avenue by another large square with the house of parliament, a colossal building nearly approaching completion, with a cupola that resembles that of the capitol of washington. every style of architecture is to be seen, from the showy, the more frequent, to the sober, comparatively rare. the finest building is without question that of the wealthy _prensa_, which we shall visit later. there is an epidemic of italian architecture in buenos ayres. everywhere the eye rests on astragals and florets, amid terrible complications of interlaced lines. i except the dainty villas and imposing mansions which call public attention to the dwellings of the aristocracy. i suppose that the business quarters of all cities present the same features. the commercial quarter of buenos ayres is the most crowded imaginable. highways that seemed spacious twenty or thirty years ago for a population of two or three hundred thousand souls have become lamentably inadequate for a capital city with more than a million. the footway, so narrow that two can scarcely walk abreast, is closely shaved by a tramway, which constitutes a danger to life and limb. the traffic is severely regulated by a careful police. but so congested with foot passengers do certain streets become of an afternoon that they have had to be closed to vehicles. in spite of the wisest of precautions, the problem of shopping in the chief business district is not easily solved. to stroll along, or, still worse, to pause to look in at a shop window, is out of the question. politeness demands here that the honours of the road be paid to age as to sex; so if by chance, in the confusion, you come upon a friend, you must stand on the outer edge of the pavement so as to check as little as possible the flood of human beings driven inwards by the almost continuous passing of the tramway. it is only just to add that this means of locomotion, which is universally adopted here, is remarkably well organised. still, there are occasions when one must go on foot, and the municipal government, which has laid out elsewhere broad highways in which cabs, carriages, and motors may take their revenge for the scanty accommodation afforded them in the overcrowded centre, is faced with the urgent necessity of laying out hundreds of millions of francs in a scheme for street improvement that cannot be much longer postponed. one of the peculiarities of buenos ayres is that you can see no end to it. since on the side of the pampas there is no obstacle to building operations, small colonial houses, similar to those that attracted my notice at montevideo, make a fringe on the edge of the city, that extends ever farther and farther into the plain in proportion as building plots in the city area--the object of perpetual speculation--rise in value. some of brick, some of plaster or cement, these villas make comfortable quarters in a land where no chimney-stacks are needed. the quality of the building, however, goes down naturally as one draws nearer the pampas. the lowest end of the scale offers the greatest simplification: walls of clay dried in the sun, with a roof of corrugated iron, or the more primitive _rancho_, supported on empty oil-cans, placed at convenient distances, with the spaces filled in with boughs or thatch. one hardly knows whether this outer edge of habitations can fairly be included in the city area or not. the motor-car has been travelling so long that a doubt is permissible. the track is only a more or less level, earth road, which just allows the car to run over its surface but cannot be said to add anything to the pleasure of the drive. the drawback in this country is the absence of wood, of stone, and of coal. no doubt in the more distant provinces there are still fine forests, which are being ruthlessly devastated either for _québracho_ (the tree that is richest in tannin), or for fuel for factory furnaces; but the cost of transport is so great that the more prosperous part of the republic gets its timber from norway. uruguay, on the other hand, supplies a stone that is excellent both for building and for macadam and paving: a heavy expense. as for coal, it is the return cargo of english vessels which carry as inward freight frozen meat and live cattle. without comparing in density of shipping with the ports of london, or new york, or liverpool, a noble line of sea-monsters may be seen here stretching seven miles in length, most of them being rapidly loaded or unloaded in the docks by powerful cranes. the scene has been a hundred times described, and offers here no specially characteristic features. i should need a volume if i tried to describe the plan and equipment of the docks of buenos ayres. those who take an interest in the subject can easily get all the information they need. the rest will be grateful to me for resisting the temptation to quote long lists of figures copied from technical reports. here it will suffice for me to state that there are two ports--the _riachuelo_ and the "port of the capital." the former is a natural harbour formed by a stream of the same name. it is used as the auxiliary of the other, which is finely fitted with every appliance of modern science. more than , craft, sail and steam, come in and out annually, including at least from overseas. the big grain elevators have been described over and over again. those of buenos ayres are no whit inferior to the best of the gigantic structures of north america. each can load , tons of grain in a day. to one there is attached a mill said to be the largest in the world. covered by way of precaution with the long white shirt that stamped us at once as real millers, we wandered pleasantly enough amongst the millstones and bolters which transform the small grey wheat of the pampas into fine white flour. our beauce farmers accustomed to heavy ears of golden wheat would not appreciate this species, which, moreover, requires careful washing. we were told that it is the richest in gluten of all known species. diabetics know, therefore, for what to ask. the slaughter-houses of the negra, round which i was taken by m. carlos luro (son of a frenchman) form a model establishment in which no less than oxen are killed daily, without counting sheep and pigs--a faithful copy of the famous slaughter-houses of north america. the beast, having reached the end of a _cul de sac_, is felled by a blow from a mallet and slips down a slope, at the foot of which the carotid artery is cut. after this operation, the body is hooked up by a small wagon moving along an aerial rail, and is then carried through a series of stages which end in its being handed over in two pieces to the freezing chambers to await speedy shipment for england--the great market for argentine meat. the whole is performed with a rapidity so disconcerting that the innocent victim of our cannibal habits finds himself in the sack ready for freezing, with all his inside neatly packed into tins, before he has had time to think. "we use everything but his squeals," said a savage butcher of chicago. veterinaries are in attendance to inspect each beast, which in the event of its being condemned is immediately burnt. the first colonists, arriving by sea, naturally built their town close to the port. the capital now, in its prosperity, seeks refinement of every kind, and laments that the approach to the seacoast is disfigured by shipping, elevators, and wharves. the same might be said of any great seaport. buenos ayres in reality needs a new harbour, but it looks as if the present one could scarcely be altered. it is naturally in this part of the town that you find the wretched shanties which are the first refuge of the italian immigrants whilst waiting for an opportunity to start off again. here is to be seen all the sordid misery of european towns with the accompaniment of the usual degrading features. i hasten to add that help--both public and private--is not lacking. the ladies of buenos ayres have organised different charitable works, and visit needy families; as generosity is one of the leading traits in the argentine character, much good is done in this way. there are no external signs of the feminine degradation that disfigures our own public streets. why is it that this swarm of italians should stop in crowded buenos ayres instead of going straight out to the pampas, where labour is so urgently needed? i was told that the harvest frequently rots on the fields for want of reapers, and this in spite of wages that rise as high as twenty francs per day. there are a good many reasons for this. in the first place, such wages as this are only for a season of a few months or weeks. then again, these italian labourers complain that if they venture far from the city, they have no protection against the overbearing of officials, who are inclined to take advantage of their privileged position. i do not want to dwell on the point. the same complaints--but more detailed--reached me in brazil. both the argentine and brazilian governments, to whom i submitted the charges brought against their representatives, protested that whenever any abuse could be proved against an agent he was proceeded against with the utmost rigour of the law. there can be no doubt as to the good faith of the authorities, who have every interest in encouraging the rapid growth of the population in the pampas. besides, it must be borne in mind that the elements of immigration are never of the highest quality. still, i should not be surprised to learn that there was occasion for a stricter control in the direction i have indicated. so far, i have said nothing of the beauties of the city. it is a pity that amongst the attractions of buenos ayres the sea cannot be counted. a level shore does not lend itself to decorative effect. a mediocre vegetation; water of a dirty ochre, neither red nor yellow; nothing to be found to charm the eye. so i saw the sea only twice during my stay at buenos ayres--once on arrival, and again when i left. during the summer heat, that section of the population which is not compelled to stay flees to mar del plata, the trouville of buenos ayres, a charming conglomeration of beflowered villas on an ocean beach. a perfectly healthy city. no expense has been spared to satisfy the demands of a good system of municipal sanitation. avenues planted with trees, gardens and parks laid out to ensure adequate reserves of fresh air, are available to all, and lawns exist for youthful sports. the zoölogical and botanical gardens are models of their kind. a fine racecourse, surrounded by the green belt of foliage of the argentine bois de boulogne, is known as palermo. a frenchman, the genial m. thays, well known amongst his european colleagues, has entire control of the plantations and parks of buenos ayres. m. thays, who excels in french landscape gardening, takes delight in devoting his whole mind and life to his trees, his plants and flowers. he is ready at any moment to defend his charge against attacks--an attitude that is wholly superfluous, since the public of buenos ayres never lets slip an opportunity of testifying its gratitude to him. wherever he discovers a propitious site, the master-gardener plants some shoot which will one day be a joy to look upon. he has laid out and planted fine parks. he has large greenhouses at his disposal, and any prominent citizen, or any association popular or aristocratic can, for the asking, have the floral decorations needed for a fête delivered at his door by the municipal carts. in his search after rare plants for the enrichment of his town, m. thays has visited equatorial regions--the argentine, bolivia, brazil. as his ambition vaults beyond the boundaries of buenos ayres, he has conceived a project, already in process of execution, of founding a great national park, as in the united states, in which all the marvels of tropical vegetation may be collected. the falls of iguazzu--greater and loftier than those of niagara--would be enclosed in this vast estate on the very frontiers of brazil. apart from these plans of conquest, which make him a rival of alexander, m. thays is a modest, affable man, who takes a good deal of trouble to look as if he had done nothing out of the common. were i but competent i would describe the organisation of his botanical garden, which is superior to any to be found in the old continent. more amusing is it, perhaps, to follow him through the various sections in which the characteristic flora of every part of the world is well represented. the argentine, as may be supposed, has here the larger share. here are displayed specimens of the principal species of flora to be found in the district lying between the frozen regions of tierra del fuego and the equator: the antarctic beech, the carob palm, the _québracho_ (rendered extraordinarily durable by the quantity of tannin it contains, and in great request for railway sleepers), walnut, and the cedar of tucuman or of mendoza--which, by the way, is not a cedar. it is from its wood that cigar boxes are made. it is used in the woodwork of rich houses, for it is easy to handle and highly decorative by reason of its warm colouring. its fault is that it warps; wherever you find it in house fittings, doors and windows refuse to open or shut as they should. but you should see m. thays doing the honours of the _ombu_ and the _palo borracho_. the _ombu_ is the marvel of the pampas, the sole tree which the locust refuses to touch. for this reason alone, it has been allowed to grow freely, though not even man has found a way to utilise what the voracious insects of providence decline. for the _ombu_ prides itself on being good for nothing. it does not even lend itself to making good firewood. it is only to look at. but that is sufficient. imagine an object resembling the backs of antediluvian monsters, mastodons or elephants, lying in the shade of a great mass of sheltering foliage. heavy folds in the grey rind denote a growing limb, a rounded shoulder, a gigantic head half concealed. these are the tremendous roots of the _ombu_, whose delight it is to issue forth from the soil in the form of astonishing animated objects. when by foot and stick you have ascertained that these living shapes are in reality mummified within a thick bark, you turn your attention to the trunk itself and find it hollow, with a crumbling surface. another surprise! the finger sinks into the tree, meeting only the sort of resistance that would be offered by a thin sheet of paper. and now fine powdery scales of a substance which should be wood, but, in fact, is indescribable, fall into your hand. they crumble away into an impalpable dust, which is carried off by the breeze before you have had time to examine it. now you have the secret of the _ombu_. its wood evaporates in the open air; at the same time there spring from its strangely beast-like roots young and living shoots of the parent tree. since it is impossible to burn the non-existent, you cannot, obviously, have recourse to the _ombu_ to cook your lunch. here is an example in the vegetable world of paradox, which has no mission in life but a glorious uselessness. if it were but beautiful i should recommend the _ombu_ to poets who profess to prefer the beautiful to the useful. but as its appearance does not impress the beholder, the wisest course is to impute its existence to momentary abstraction on the part of the creator. the _palo borracho_, on the other hand, is extremely useful, though not without a touch of capriciousness. its popular name, which signifies "the drunkard," has been given to it on the ground that it seems to stagger; but such a name is a libel. this peaceful denizen of the forest has nothing to do with the alcoholic world. nor can it be said to attract human society, for its strange trunk, strangled in a collar of roots, and bulging in its middle parts, bristles with innumerable points, short and sharp, which prevent all undue familiarity. these thorns fall with age, at least from the lower part of the tree, but as they exist elsewhere, even on the smallest twig, no animal, from man to monkey, can venture upon its branches. the trunk, if tapped with a cane, returns a hollow sound. the tree is, in fact, empty, needing only to be cut into lengths to give man all he needs for a trough. the indian squaw uses it to wash her linen, and the wood, exposed to the double action of air and water, becomes as hard as cement. the unripe fruit, the size of a good apple, furnishes a white cream, which, if not quite the quality demanded for five o'clock tea at rumpelmayer's, still supplies the natives with a savoury breakfast. later, when the fruit comes to maturity, it bursts under the sun's rays into a large tuft of silky cotton, dotting the branches with white balls and furnishing admirable material for the birds with which to build their nests. it is for this reason that the species is known as the "false cotton-tree." the exceedingly fine thread produced by this tree is too short to be spun, but the indians, and even europeans, turn it to account in many different ways. soft pillows and cushions are made with it, and i can speak personally of their comfort. m. thays was not the man to let us leave without seeing his plantations of _yerba-maté_. every one knows that _maté_, the paraguay holly, is a native of paraguay, whence it spread to chili, brazil, and the argentine. its leaves, dried and slightly roasted, yield a stimulating infusion that is as much enjoyed by the south american colonists as by the natives. like kola, tea, and coffee, _maté_ contains a large proportion of caffeine, which renders it a good nerve tonic and, at the same time, a digestive. i have tasted "paraguay tea," or "jesuits' tea," on several occasions, but cannot honestly say i like it. the palate, however, ends by getting used to anything. i have a friend who drinks valerian with pleasure. all south america delights in the peculiar aroma of the strengthening but, on first acquaintance, certainly unpleasant _maté_. existence in the pampas is strenuous. the days are past when a cow was lassoed to provide a beefsteak for your lunch. the favourite stimulant of the _rancho_ is the _yerba-maté_ which puts new life into the exhausted horseman. everywhere in town and country, the first rite in the morning is _maté_-drinking. men and women carry the little gourd around, into which each in turn dips the tube of the _bombilla_, a perforated disc which travels from mouth to mouth, in the company of devotees. in the old days, it was the tradition of _maté_-making to give the first infusion--poured off quickly, but invariably slightly bitter--to the servants. growing familiarity with the herb has practically set aside this practice: in fact, while it is, and probably always will be, the favourite drink of the masses, the aristocracy and _bourgeoisie_, though still appreciating _maté_, drink in preference china tea or santos coffee, like good europeans. yet the consumption of _maté_ has increased enormously with the population. it has been calculated that an argentino spends twice as much in a year on _maté_ as a frenchman on coffee. until the last few years the argentine republic, independently of its home production, imported from brazil and paraguay millions of kilogrammes, estimated at millions of francs. as might be expected, the argentine government has shown itself anxious to encourage the cultivation of _maté_. the difficulty lay in the germinating process. in certain provinces of the argentine, _maté_ grew wild, but when sown the crops were a failure. after many trials, m. thays discovered that the seed only sprouted after long soaking in warm water, and that, strangely enough, the plants thus produced could be propagated without repeating this preliminary process. it appears that in the ordinary course of nature, the fertilising process takes place in the stomach of birds. the jesuits had made the same discovery, but on their expulsion they carried the secret away with them. m. thays rediscovered it. more than once an attempt has been made to introduce the habit of _maté_-drinking into europe. i do not think it will easily come about. it would, nevertheless, be a great boon if _yerba-maté_ could with us, as in south america, be substituted for the alcohol which is threatening us with irrevocable destruction. i cannot leave the botanical garden without noting the pleasing effect of the light trellises which are a feature of all large gardens here. in this fine climate, where winter's cold is practically unknown, neither shrubs nor flowers need the protection of glass. an arbour of trellis-work with gay flower-borders forms a winter garden without glass, in which sun and shade, cunningly blended, throw into delicate relief the beauties of the plants. it is not quite the open air, and neither is it the greenhouse. let us call it a vast cage of decorative vegetation. footnotes: [ ] the census of shows only twenty-nine thousand. [ ] the estuary, which is not a river, and which contains not a particle of silver, was thus named from a few native ornaments discovered in its bed by the first comers. chapter iii buenos ayres (_continued_) botany and zoölogy are sister sciences. we leave the plants to inspect the beasts in the company of m. thays, who is always glad to see his neighbour m. onelli. the governor of the zoölogical garden of buenos ayres is a phlegmatic little man, franco-italian in speech, and the more amusing in that his gay, caustic wit is clothed in a highly condensed, ironical form. what a pity that his animals, for whom he is father and mother, sister and brother, cannot appreciate his sallies! not that it is by any means certain that they do not. it seems clear that they can enter into each other's feelings, if not thoughts, since an intimacy of the most touching kind exists between the man and inferior creation, to whose detriment the rights of biological priority have been reversed. i should like to pause before the llamas, used as beasts of burden to carry a load of twenty-five kilogrammes apiece, or before the vicuñas, whose exquisite feathery fur is utilised for the motor-car, and whose private life would need to be told in latin by reason of the officious interference of the indian in matters that concern him not a whit. m. onelli has housed the more prominent groups in palaces in the style of architecture peculiar to their native land, and this gives to the gardens a very pleasing aspect. but first let us enjoy the animals. it is amazing to see the two monstrous hippopotami leap from the water with movements of ridiculous joyfulness in response to the whistle of their governor-friend, and, on a sign from him, open their fearful caverns of pink jaws bristling with formidable teeth to receive with the utmost gratitude three blades of grass which they could easily cull for themselves beneath their feet if these manifestations of joy were called forth by the delicacy and not by friendship. the great beasts became human at sight of their master, if one may thus describe ferocity. the puma, a sort of yellow panther whose colour has apparently won for him the name of the american lion, came running up to offer his back to the caressing hand of his friend with a hoarse roar that seemed to express rather helpless rage than voluptuousness. the puma is perhaps the commonest of the wild beasts of the northern provinces of the argentine, for it retreats from before the approach of man, and is more successful than the jaguar or the panther in escaping the traps or the guns of the hunter. m. edmond hilleret, who has killed several, told me that at santa ana, near tucuman, it was impossible to keep a flock of sheep, as they were always devoured by the pumas in spite of all the efforts he made to protect them. "yet," he added, "notwithstanding my dogs and my peons the puma can never be seen. he is quite a rarity." after a short palaver with some delicious penguins newly arrived from the southern ice, with their young, which would die of spleen if they were not fed with a forcing pipe, like an english suffragette, we pause before the grey ostrich of the pampas, which has been nearly exterminated by the cruel lasso of the _gaucho_. the grey american ostrich, which should be safe from our barbarous ways since his tail feathers offer no attraction for ladies' hats, is interesting by certain peculiarities in his domestic habits. to the male is left the duty of hatching the eggs, the female preferring to stray. by way of compensation, the paternal instinct is the more keenly developed in the father in proportion as the mother--reprehensible bird!--neglects her duties. thus before beginning to sit on the eggs, he sets carefully aside two or three of them, according to the number of young to be hatched, and when the little ones leave their shells, he opens them with a sharp blow from the paternal beak, and spreads in the sunshine the contents of the eggs his foresight had reserved; the appetising dish attracts thousands of flies who promptly drown themselves therein to make the first meal of the fledglings. admirable instance of the contradictory processes of nature designed for the preservation of existing types. but we have come to the palace of the elephants. there are half a dozen of them beneath a vast dome, and the sight of m. onelli rouses them all. the heavy grey masses sway from side to side, large ears beat up and down, while the small eyes wink; the trunks are flung inquiringly round, eager for any windfall. one amiable and tame elephant, the youthful fahda, born on the place, hustles her colossal friends, to clear a way to m. onelli, who talks to her affectionately, but is unable to respond as he should to her pressing request for cakes. the governor gives us the reason of their friendliness. "we have no secrets from each other," he remarks gently. and it was truer than he thought, for the young trunk was softly introduced into his tempting pocket, and brought out a packet of letters which were forthwith swallowed. thereupon exclamations as late as fruitless from the victim, who thus witnessed the disappearance of his correspondence down the dark passages of an unexpected post-office from which there is no hope of return.[ ] m. onelli kindly offered us a few minutes' rest in his own _salon_. but what did we find there? the housemaid who opened the door to us carried a young puma in her arms, and i know not what sort of hairy beast on her back. the gnashing of white teeth proceeded from under the chairs and coiled serpents lay in the easy-chairs. indeed, we were not the least tired! palermo must be visited. the celebrated promenade starts nobly at the recoleta, where the lawns and groves are seen in a setting of harmonious architecture. carriages of the most correct british style, drawn by superb horses, and noisy motor-cars dash swiftly by. but for the groups of exotic trees one might be in the bois. palermo begins well. unfortunately, we suddenly find before us an avenue of sickly coco-palms, whose bare trunks are covered with dead leaves, giving an unpleasing perspective of broom-handles. this tree, which is so fine in brazil, is not in its element here. when planted in rows, even in the streets of rio, it is more surprising than beautiful. it is in groves that it best displays its full decorative qualities. i take the liberty of suggesting that m. thays should pull up the horticultural invalids and plant eucalyptus or some other species in their place. but we are not yet at the end of our troubles. less than two hundred yards down, the railway traverses the avenue on a level crossing. a gate, generally closed, a turnstile for pedestrians, a station, and all the rest of it. after a wait of ten minutes, the train duly passes, and then the motor-car plunges into a roadway, full of ruts, leading to a dark archway which carries another railway across the promenade, making an ugly blot on the landscape. and now we reach a further marshy road, bordered with young plantations, which leads across a leafless wood dividing the railway track from the estuary of la plata. a succession of trains on one hand, and a muddy yellow sea on the other: as a view it is not romantic. gangs of labourers are at work on the roads, which are badly in need of their attentions. no doubt some day this will be a superb promenade. it is only a question of making it, and the first step must be to clear away the railway-lines with their embankments and bridges. this is probably the intention, since i was assured that the level crossing would shortly be swept away. that will be a beginning. m. bouvard is not likely to overlook the importance of the matter. my only fear is lest the situation should make it impossible for palermo ever to attain to imposing proportions. but one thing is certain, if m. thays can get a free hand, the city will not lack a park worthy the capital of the republic. need i say that squares and parks alike are superabundantly decorated with sculpture and monuments both open to criticism? there is nothing more natural to a young people than a desire to acquire great men in every department as early as possible. yet idealism that is to be materialised must, one would think, have its base set solidly on established facts. in a country whose population offers a mixture of all the latin races, art could not fail to flourish. it will free itself from its crust as fast as public taste is purified. works such as those of m. paul groussac, or the fine novel by m. enrique rodrigues larreta,[ ] the distinguished minister of the argentine republic in paris, are evidences of the development of literary taste on the banks of the rio de la plata.[ ] the sculptor does not appear to have reached quite the same point, but i hasten to add, for the sake of justice, that our own hewers of marble, with a very few prominent exceptions, expose nothing in buenos ayres which is calculated to throw into too dark a shade their _confrères_ of across the ocean. france, italy, and spain supply some fairly fine statuary for the latin confraternity. but, as might be readily imagined, a legitimate desire to write history on every square and market-place has given a profusion of monuments to soldiers and politicians. the same mania has been pushed to such extremes in our own land that it would ill become me to make it a subject of reproach to others; nevertheless it behoves us to acknowledge that the argentine republic has, both in times of war and of peace, produced some great men. it suffices to mention the names of san martin (whose statue is being raised at boulogne-sur-mer and at buenos ayres) and of sarmiento. if genius were always at the disposal of governments, the wish to perpetuate to all eternity the renown a single day had won for them might readily be pardoned. but men of genius are rare, and they are apt to make mistakes like other men. and for the rest, the statues that are put up to their memory serve merely to inspire in our breasts a few philosophic reflections on the danger of a permanent propaganda of mediocrity! besides, the sculptor has this defect--that he forces himself on the attention of the passer-by. we are not compelled to purchase a poor book or to go into ecstasies over all the chauchard collection, whereas we are unable to avoid the sight of the statue of two-shoes by thingummy. my only consolation is that such monuments will not prevent the advent of other supermen in the future, who, like those of the past, will raise their own monuments in a surer and better manner by their own glorious achievements. but it is time to leave these men of marble and come to the living, of whom i have so far said not a word. my remark as to the european aspect of buenos ayres at first sight must be taken as referring merely to its outdoor life. i do not speak of the business quarter, which is the same in all countries. the man who is glued to the telegraph wire or to the telephone, waiting for the latest quotations in the different parts of the globe in order to build on them his own careful combinations, is, notwithstanding his patriotism, an international type whose world-wide business connection must in time modify his own characteristics and make of him the universal species of merchant. at the same time, the population of any large european city, while preserving in its general outline the special characteristic evolved by its own history, does yet show a certain trend in the direction of some well-defined types of modern activity whose attributes are the outcome of natural conditions of civilisation the world over. but when transplanted outside europe, the original characteristics are inevitably modified by the new environment, and the result will be a striking differentiation--north america is an example of this. in the eyes of our ancient europe, with its venerable traditions and its base of primeval prejudice, the man who ventures to strike a new root in a colony beyond the sea will have to expiate his new prosperity by some extravagances which will expose him to the fire of the satirical pressman or playwright. this is the reason why south america, having undoubtedly borne in common with every country of europe some few fantastic types of high and of low ideals, suddenly finds herself represented to the public, for the greater entertainment of the boulevard, as being exclusively peopled with those strange creatures we have christened _rastaquouères_, whose privilege it is to lead a life that is ever at variance with all the laws of common-sense. if all we ask is a joke at the expense of our neighbours, the gauls of paris may give rein to their wit. still, it may be useful for us all to know that these so-called _rastaquouères_, leaving to petty tyrants the whole field of ancient history, have not only secured to their country by their steady labour its present prosperity, but have also founded in their new domain a european civilisation which is no whit inferior in inspiration to that which we are for ever vaunting. they learn our languages, invade our colleges, absorb our ideas and our methods, and passing from france to germany and england, draw useful comparisons as to the results obtained. we are pleased to judge them more or less lightly. let us not forget that we in our turn are judged by them. and while we waste our time quarrelling about individuals and names, they are directing a steady effort toward taking from each country of europe what it has of the best, in order to build up over yonder on a solid base a new community which will some day be so much the more formidable that its own economic force will perhaps have as a counterbalance the complications of a european situation that is not tending toward solution. in spite of everything, france has managed to maintain so far friendly and sympathetic relations with the republic. latin idealism keeps these south american nations ever facing toward those great modern peoples that have sprung from the roman conquest. i cannot say i think we have drawn from this favourable condition of things all the advantage we might have derived from it, both for the youthful republics and for our latinity, which is being steadily drained by the huge task of civilisation and by the vigorous onslaught that it is called on to sustain from the systematic activity of the northern races. the great anglo-saxon republic of north america, tempered by the same latin idealism imported in the eighteenth century from france by jefferson, is making of a continent a modern nation whose influence will count more and more in the affairs of the globe. may it not be that south america, whose evolution is the result of lessons taught to some extent by the northern races, will give us a new development of latin civilisation corresponding to that which has so powerfully contributed to the making of europe as we know it? it is here no question obviously of an organised rivalry of hostile forces between two great american peoples, who must surely be destined both by reason of their geographical situation, as also by mental affinities, to unite their strength to attain to loftier heights. the problem, which ought not to be shirked by france, will be henceforth to maintain in the pacific evolution of these communities the necessary proportion of idealism which she had a large share in planting there. in following such a train of thought, how can we help pausing for an instant to consider the pan-american congress which so fitly closed the splendid exhibition of the argentine centenary? with the sole exception of bolivia, every republic of south america sent a representative to the palace of the congress to discuss their common interests--an imposing assembly, which in the dignity of its debates can bear comparison with any upper chamber of the continent of europe. for my part, i sought in vain for one of those excitable natures, ever ripe for explosion--the fruit, according to tradition, of equatorial soil. i found only jurisconsults, historians, men of letters or of science, giving their opinions in courteous language, whose example might with advantage be followed by many an orator in the old continent. not, of course, that passions were wholly absent from these debates. in these new countries, where the strength of youth finds a free field for its display, and where revolution and war are the chief traditions of the race, warmth of feeling has too frequently transformed the political arena into a field of battle. but by degrees, as the community takes form and acquires greater weight in every domain of public life, there grows up an imperious need of organised action, and the youthful democrats themselves end by realising that a people can only govern itself when its citizens have proved themselves capable of self-discipline. of all the problems which might naturally present themselves in a pan-american congress, those that might be expected to call forth implacable opposition were rigorously eliminated. an exchange of views took place, and each delegate was able to report to his principals a number of conclusions calculated to pave the way to future understandings. when the congress threw out the proposal to generalise the monroe doctrine and apply its principle to the whole of the south american continent, the representative of a large state said to me: "we shall separate without accomplishing anything." "it is already much to have avoided all conflict," i replied, "and if you had really accomplished nothing you would still have been useful in that you had met, talked together, understood one another, and parted on good terms." perhaps the man whose position was the most delicate of all was mr. henry white, the delegate of the great northern republic, and the distinguished diplomat so popular in parisian society, who contributed to the utmost of his power towards finding an equitable solution of the franco-german conflict at the algeciras conference. at the congress of buenos ayres, the delegate of washington had, like the representative of uruguay, one vote only, and his efforts were directed to making his collaborators forget that he was a "big brother," a very big brother, faintly suspected of tendencies towards an hegemony. it took all the gracious affability of mr. white to disarm the distrust aroused more especially by the proposal to place southern america under the banner of the monroe doctrine, and thus the congress could be dissolved without a word of any but good-will and american brotherhood. the pan-american congress was the natural outcome of the great international exhibition by which the argentine republic celebrated the centenary of its independence. the great fairs of older times existed with very good reason. there was every advantage to be gained by bringing together at stated times the produce of different districts at a period of the world's history when the deficiency of means of communication placed insurmountable obstacles in the way of producer, merchant, and consumer. to-day, thanks to steampower, every city in the world offers a permanent exhibition adapted to the needs of its public, and the traveller wastes his time when he endeavours to bring back from his journeys some article unknown to his countrymen. for this reason the finest of international exhibitions can reserve no surprises to its visitors. and as for experts, or specialists in any branch of commerce or industry, he is to be pitied who awaits the opening of one of these universal bazaars in order to obtain information on some detail of his business. there remain evidently the amusements and entertainments which in such gatherings are naturally intended to arouse the pleasure-loving instincts of crowds. but civilisation has pretty well surfeited us with such amusements, which are now better calculated to tempt than to satisfy us. and when the friendly city that summons us to such a show is situated , kilometres from our shores, it requires a more powerful attraction than this of the "already seen" to induce us to undertake the expedition. for all these reasons and without seeking any others the buenos ayres exhibition could not be a success either in the way of money or of the concourse of peoples. an unfortunate and ultra-modern strike retarded the arrangements to such a point that on the anniversary day, may th, only the section of _ganaderia_ (cattle-breeding) was ready. notwithstanding a multitude of difficulties, pavilions were put up, in which were amassed and docketed in the usual fashion some of those products which the greed for gold brings to all the depots of the world. a few special side-shows were remarkably successful. of these may be mentioned the english exhibit of the railway industry and the german section of electricity. some of the buildings were never completed, as that of the spanish section. france, i regret to say, did not distinguish herself. the omission is inconceivable when one considers what a market might in this way have been found for our manufactures. apart from some interesting displays by dressmakers, jewellers, and goldsmiths, exhibited in a tasteful pavilion slightly resembling bagatelle, and called the palace of applied art, we found nothing to send. i admit that for france this was not sufficient. england, however, exhibited a magnificent state railway-carriage--said to be worth two millions--which she presented to the president of the republic. it is a luxury that the english might very well permit themselves, since almost all the railways of the argentine are in their hands. and why, if you please? because the engineer who one day invited tenders for the construction of the first argentine railway-line found in paris no support, and from our capital (i have it from his own lips) he turned to london, where the enterprise was carried to colossal proportions. we could hardly help being represented in the art and sculpture pavilions. i can honestly say that our exhibit, well-organised, was highly creditable to the nation. but, without any tremendous effort, we might have done much better! we reckoned, perhaps, on the argentine millionaires coming to paris to look for the works we failed to exhibit in their capital. if only millionaires were concerned, i should say nothing. but it is precisely because the art education of the argentine people is as yet rudimentary, as might also be said of more than one nation in ancient europe, that we ought to have attempted to arouse a wider public interest instead of appealing merely to connoisseurs, who are in the habit of getting what they want in the picture-galleries of the old world. some excellent examples were shown, no doubt; that was the least we could do. our home artists would not risk the experiment of creating a kind of exhibition-museum, which might have been a revelation of french art and have had the effect of arousing the need of the beautiful which is latent in every nation, and at the same time inviting that intelligent criticism which is a powerful factor in the development of taste in connoisseurs. there is no art museum worthy the name in the argentine republic. you must exist before you can add adornment. if, however, i may judge by what i saw in a few private galleries, the time is at hand when the need for large art collections will be fully acknowledged in the south as it is now in the north; there, forty years ago, i know by personal observation that the ground was less fully prepared than it is to-day in the argentine, while now we see the treasures of europe being eagerly bought up in order that the new world may soon vie with the old on this point. i must not omit to say a word on the retrospective exhibit of "colonial days." a centenary celebration implies a history and a past, and this history is remarkably well illustrated by the instruments of civilisation now in the hands of the founders. what a contrast there is between the more than sumptuous railway-carriage of which i spoke just now and the archaic coaches, fat-bellied barouches, and merovingian chariots which used to pick a painful way across the pathless pampas, transporting from plantation to plantation families that had but little prospect of ever amassing more than they needed for a bare daily life. utensils of the simplest, bespeaking a time when wood was scarce. weapons of the clumsiest, undressed skins as a protection from the occasional blasts of the _pampero_. in a period when the horse was the universal means of locomotion--he still is as a matter of fact, to a very great extent, since in the country the little children must mount their ponies to go to school--the equipment of the horseman was a pompous bedizenment in spanish guise, from his heavy brass ornaments to the rowels of monstrous spurs. all this belongs to the ancient times of scarcely fifty years ago, and when you meet a _gaucho_ on his thick-set horse, his feet in weighty wooden stirrups hanging vertically like wheels, you realise that the modern miracle of iron roads has not been able to entirely wipe out the primitive machinery of a world of colonists. the section of argentine produce--cattle, timber, plants, fruits, cereals, etc.--is specially interesting to foreigners. to describe it would be to write the economic history of the land. i heard on all sides that the cattle exhibits were exceptionally fine. i am not astonished, now that i have seen in the shows and on the _estancias_ (farms) the finest of stock for breeding purposes. we know that out on the pampas the rearing of horses and horned cattle as well as of sheep has developed enormously. i shall have occasion presently to return to the subject when i speak of the famous freezing-machines which supply the english markets with meat slaughtered in buenos ayres--to say nothing of the live cattle exported. the only detail that i shall give here is that the event of the day has been the purchase by a meat-freezing company of five oxen for beef at the price of , francs apiece (£ ). this looks like madness, and perhaps it is. we are beginning to learn in europe to what point the craze for advertisement is carried by americans. i only quote this fact because it throws more light on certain traits of character than any number of traveller's tales could do. grain-growing--wheat and maize--like that of flax (of which they burn the stalks for want of knowing how to utilise them) has recently grown enormously. i shall return to this subject also later on, when i speak of the pampas, with their immense stretch of arable land between the andes and the sea, yielding every kind of harvest without manure and almost without labour. wherever the locomotive makes its appearance there blossoms forth a fertile strip of country on either side of the line, which on the plan of the administrators symbolises an instant rise in value of the property whose produce has henceforth a quick means of transport to its market. had i not firmly resolved to abstain from quoting figures and facts cut out of books of statistics, i could easily dazzle the reader by showing him the fantastic increase in the crops of maize alone, standing in gigantic ricks round the _estancias_, pending the moment when they will be handed over to the gigantic elevators to be flung on board the english and german cargo-boats. strolling through the galleries in which are accumulated the exhibits of argentine agricultural produce, you are forced to admire the variety of species yielded by a soil that produces clover two and a half yards in height! i say nothing of the fruits and vegetables, because at that season of the year i could not try them. neither seemed to me to compete with european varieties. as for the tropical fruits, with the exception of the oranges and pines, they are astonishing, i confess, but i cannot give them any other praise. in the section of argentine timber is to be seen in the front rank the "false cedar" and the marvellous _québracho_, of which i have already spoken. no other wood can be compared with this in respect of the quantity of tannin it contains. for this reason the immense forests of the northern provinces are being devastated to supply the manufacturers. railway-sleepers and stakes for the wire-fencing that marks out the immense stretches of pampas are the principal employment for _québracho_, irrespective of the extraction of tannin. as the demand increases, and the idea of replanting does not seem to have occurred to the argentinos, it is reasonable to foresee the moment when the government of the republic, having neglected to husband its resources, will have only vain lamentations to offer to its customers. the day may be far distant; i do not dispute it. such an improvident policy is, none the less, reprehensible. how many years, moreover, must elapse between the planting of the young _québracho_ and its maturity? indeed, the same remarks might be made of all the other species of timber. when you have seen tree-trunks that were many centuries in growth falling bit by bit into the maw of a factory furnace, without any attempt being made to replace them, when you have been saddened by the spectacle of the marvellous brazilian forests blazing in every direction to make room for coffee plantations that will presently spring up amongst the charred trunks, you realise keenly that there is no more urgent need in these great countries than a complete organisation of forestry. if in some parts of brazil the soil will no longer yield freely without the help of manure, the water system, at all events, remains unchanged. in the argentine pampas the case is very different, for the reason that the watercourses disappear into the ground before reaching the sea. when the immense forests of the highlands have disappeared to make way for plateaux open to wind and sun, can we doubt but that the already terrible scourge of drought will be still further aggravated, and its disastrous effects on cattle and harvests be even more redoubtable than they are at present? i must resist the temptation of dwelling on the interesting exhibits of the south american republics. i should never finish. neither must i wander any farther from the argentine capital to set down reflections that will more fitly suggest themselves later. nevertheless i cannot leave the exhibition without mentioning the extraordinary establishment in which the rural society holds its annual cattle-shows--vast stables and stalls, constructed according to the latest pattern on english model farms. there is accommodation perhaps for more than horned cattle, or horses, and for or probably in the paddocks, while sheep can be penned under a single roof, the whole completed by an enclosure for trials with seating accommodation for persons. these shows take place every year in october. they are closed by a sale at which the beasts are put up at auction. no better system of gauging the progress of the breeding industry could be devised. as many as animals have been brought together for these shows, collected from all parts of the country, including stallions of the best breeds, durham and herefordshire cows, to say nothing of pigs, llamas, and poultry. agricultural machinery and dairy implements also find a place here, of course. it is in this colossal cattle-rearing city that the greatest effort of production ever made has been concentrated. i saw at rosario a magnificent cattle show. but the great fair of buenos ayres outdoes anything to be offered elsewhere of the kind. i shall have to return to the subject when i come to the _estancias_ and the vast herds that belong to them. here it suffices to note that the argentine breeders do not shrink from any expense in order to obtain the most perfect stallions. england is, of course, the chief market for the frozen meat, which is carried as return cargo by the coaling-boats. naturally the farmers of the pampas endeavour to suit the tastes of their customers. this is why the finest specimens of british cattle-farms find their way every year to buenos ayres. it is not surprising that the horse-breeders have adopted the same course, though full justice is done to the qualities of french breeds. still, the english breeder best understands how to make an outlet for his wares, whilst the french prefers to sit in the sun on the plains of caen to wait until the foreigner comes to ask him as a favour for his animals. footnotes: [ ] one word about m. onelli's interesting work, _À travers les andes_, an accurate account of his journey in patagonia. when describing to me the customs of the natives, he was good enough to promise me a few arrowheads collected in the course of his expedition. they reached me the following day with this letter: "my dear sir,--after rummaging amongst my drawers, i finally found the arrowheads you wanted. the book which accompanies them, a humble homage to yourself, describes the places in which i found them. if you are good enough to glance at it you will find several photographs of the descendants of the makers of these arrows. the tchuleches indians, who to the number of rather more than live in the southern half of patagonia, say, when shown one of these arrowheads, which are to be found all over the arid plateau they inhabit, that they were the usual weapon of the indians of olden times who travelled on foot. we know that they did not know the horse until a hundred and fifty years ago, at most, and, in fact, one may say that the stone age represented by these arrowheads only ended in patagonia a half-century ago. the arrows to be found in patagonia demonstrate in a contrary manner the influence of civilised industries, since the heads the most clumsily made are the most modern. the indians lost little by little the art of making them when they learnt to make the shafts of fragments of knife-blades, or of iron obtained from the christians, and since then they have completely abandoned the work to adopt firearms. in the preparation of guanaco skins, the indian women, naturally more conservative than the men, still use the old system of scraping the under side of the leather with scrapers made of stone, in every way similar to the tool used by prehistoric man in european lands. nowadays, having no means of making them, they search in their leisure moments in the ancient dwellings of their forefathers in order to find a flint scraper, which they carefully use and preserve. "the arrow age still subsists in the north of the republic among the indians of the chaco forests. their arrows are made of hard wood. on alluvial soils no flint can be found, just as none can be had in the province of santa fé, and nearly throughout the whole of the province of buenos ayres (a region larger than all france), without a single pebble!--a fact which renders it extremely difficult to keep up good roads across a flat country of crumbling soil without lime. the highway is turned into soft mud by traffic and rain; yet observe the enormous increase of railway lines. "as for the art of making arrowheads, the stone age still reigns among the onas and lakaluf, natives of terra del fuego; but alas! the art has degenerated. the natives of the seacoast, always on the lookout for a whale, dead or wounded, and for fragments of wrecks of sailing vessels rounding cape horn, have discovered that bottle glass is the easiest material to work upon for their arrows, and their poor language is thus enriched with a new word; to express 'glass' they say 'botel,' by the natural _quid pro quo_ of a tongue which in adopting a new word confuses the name of the object with that of the material of which it is made. "the opaque black arrowhead is of basalt, the most abundant kind of rock in patagonia, but also the most difficult to use in the manufacture of such small objects. obsidian--the little black point of flint--is more generally used. "the twisted forms are moulds of flint of the inside of a tertiary fossil mollusc, the 'turritella,' very common in the strata of the rio santa cruz cliffs, and which indian women often wear as ornaments. in the hope you will excuse my bad french, since i have had the presumption to write direct to you instead of being translated into good french, "i am, my dear sir, yours, etc., "clement onelli." [ ] _la gloire de don ramire._ [ ] i quote these two names because they are best known among us in france. but argentine literature cannot be dismissed in a word. the struggle for independence could not fail to inspire songs to be caught up from ear to ear and sung everywhere, and in the same way the spread of education has naturally turned many minds to literary composition. the struggle with the metropolis and the flame of civil war irresistibly impelled the individual into the arena to take public action, and from the vortex there issued a new nationality. it is from such a period of strife that the first history of a people takes its origin, and the record of deeds wrought under the influence of such excitement is the material from which a nation's archives are derived, fixing for ever the memory of actions that will be revered by the generations to come. in this way, the noble harangues of moriano moreno to the provisional government, the eloquent proclamations made by general belgrano after the battles of salta and tucuman, the noble letters of san martin are impressive lessons for all humanity; time can have no effect on the exalted nobility of thought and artistic mode of expression that are here held up before us. under the savage dictatorship of rosas, all voices were silenced. still, sarmiento from his exile in chili launched from the heights of the andes his virulent pamphlets against the odious tyrant. when liberty was regained, press and rostrum sent forth a legion of writers and orators, at whose head we must place bartolome mitré and nicolas avellaneda. to come down to our own time, the list of distinguished writers meriting each a special notice would be long indeed. chapter iv foreign colonists in argentina it is now time to return to the city to get a little better acquainted with its inhabitants. as a matter of fact, the features upon which i have touched--the town, port, promenades, palaces, settlers' houses, agricultural products, manufactures, or commerce--do more or less reveal the native, and although i have said nothing of his person beyond that he looks very like a european, my reader has certainly gathered some light as to his way of living. to the argentine _extra muros_, the citizen of buenos ayres is the _porteño_--that is, the man of the port, the townsman kept, by the sea, in constant contact with europe, and more readily undertaking a trip to london or paris than to tucuman or mendoza. on his side, while professing great esteem for the provincials (for in the argentine patriotism amounts to mania), the _porteño_ is inclined to pity those who pass their lives far from the capital; while the countryman mocks good-humouredly at his strange compatriot who knows naught of the _campo_, whence are brought to his door the corn and cattle which are the outcome of the highest and mightiest efforts of their common national energy, and which by his means are to be exchanged for european produce in an ever-widening and developing trade. this is, however, but a superficial judgment that we may permit ourselves to make; but if we look more closely into the national character, we shall perceive that if the _porteño_ is the nearer to europe and hastens thither on the smallest pretext; if he is more thoroughly steeped in european culture; if he takes more interest in the doings of the old world, attaching the greatest importance to its opinion of his own country; if it is his dearest ambition that the youthful argentine republic shall comport herself nobly among the old peoples of a weary civilisation; if it is his constant care to obtain from beyond sea the advantages gained by experience, to be turned to account by his own nation--we should be greatly mistaken in assuming that european contact or descent could lead either citizen or farmer, _porteño_ or _estanciero_, to prefer to his own land that old continent which his forefathers deserted, in the hope, already realised, of finding on this virgin soil, fertilised by his own labour, a better chance of success than the old world could offer him. while the physiognomy of the streets of buenos ayres is wholly european in symmetry, style, and even in the expression of the faces to be seen thereon, yet this people is argentine to the very marrow of the bones--exclusively and entirely argentine. new york is nearer to europe, and new york is north american in essence as completely as buenos ayres is argentine. the difference is that in new york, and even in boston or chicago, north americanism is patent to all eyes in type, in carriage, and in voice, as much as in feeling and manner of thinking; whereas the piquancy of buenos ayres lies in the fact that it offers the spectacle of rabid argentinism under a european veil. and, strangely enough, this inherent jingoism, which in some nations that shall be nameless assumes so easily an offensive guise, is here displayed with an amiable candour that is most disarming, and instinctively you seek to justify it to yourself. not satisfied with being argentine from top to toe, these people will, if you let them, argentinise you in a trice. to tell the truth, there are some (i have met a few) who speak ill of the country--and these critics are people who have not even had the excuse of having been unsuccessful in their business affairs here. there are systematic grumblers everywhere, who endeavour to give themselves importance by finding fault with their surroundings. those who are not pleased with their stay in a foreign country should remind themselves that nobody prevents them from returning to their own. i have already mentioned that many italians cross the sea for the harvesting in the argentine, and then, taking advantage of the difference in the seasons, return home to cut their home corn. this backward and forward movement has grown enormously. but in the long run the attraction of a land that overflows with energy defeats atavistic proclivities and weakens roots that are centuries old. and as soon as the settler has become the owner of a few roods of the new soil, he is irrevocably lost to europe. i have not sought to conceal the fact that the largest number of immigrants make the mistake of stopping at buenos ayres, whose population is thus increased out of all proportion with the development of argentine territory. this mass of working people, who necessarily remain easily accessible to european influences, offers apparently an excellent field for revolutionary propaganda. anarchists and socialists spare no pains to make proselytes here, in order to strengthen their hands. a violence of speech and action has in this way given to certain strikes a truly european aspect. still, in a country in which there is a constant supply of work, it is hardly possible that disturbances arising rather from doctrine than from existing social evils can take any hold on or materially affect any considerable extent of territory. if i am to believe what i heard in all parts, the russian anarchists have a specially redoubtable organisation. to mention only the most recent of events, it is known that the chief of police, who had directed in person some ruthless repressive measures, was killed in the street by a bomb thrown by a russian, who was protected from the full severity of the law by his tender age.[ ] last june, a few days before i left europe, a bomb was thrown by some unknown person in the colon theatre, falling in the middle of the orchestra and wounding more or less seriously a large number of persons. the colon theatre, in which opera is given, is the largest and perhaps the handsomest theatre in the world.[ ] the open boxes of the pit tier, like those of the first two tiers and orchestra, present, when filled with young women in evening dress, the most brilliant spectacle that i have ever seen in any theatre. in such a setting, imagine the catastrophe that could be caused by a bomb![ ] the injured were carried out somehow or other, the house was emptied amid loud and furious outcries, and, the damage having been repaired in the course of the following day, not a woman in society was absent from her place at the performance of the evening. this is a very fine trait of character which does the highest honour to the women of argentine society. i am not sure that in paris, under similar circumstances, there would have been a full house on the night following such a disaster. it is easy to understand, however, that the fury of the public found expression in an act of parliament of terrible severity, directed immediately against any suspicious groups. the criminal in the present case has not yet been discovered, though during my stay in buenos ayres there occurred a sensational arrest which led the authorities to believe they had laid hands on the guilty man. a state of siege was in some sense declared, lasting all the time i was in buenos ayres; and the government obtained extraordinary powers, to be used only against organisations believed to be anarchical. the penalty generally imposed was transportation to terra del fuego, under conditions that no one would or, perhaps, could describe to me. i am without the necessary returns for establishing the results obtained. some complaints reached me from the more populous quarters affirming that the innocent had been punished; all i could do was to hand them over to the authorities. i can testify that in my presence, in any of the circles of buenos ayres society that i was able to observe, no anarchist outrages were on any single occasion the subject of conversation. more than once i led up to it. the reply invariably was that the question was one for public authority, that the government was armed and would take action, and if further powers should prove necessary they would be granted. then the topic was changed. there is no doubt that the argentine government, like that of great britain, is resolved to finish, once for all, with crimes which arouse only horror in all the civilised world. in the course of a hasty visit i had occasion to pay to the police department, in the company of the city superintendent, señor guiraldès (at the very moment of the arrest of the man who was believed to have thrown the bomb in the colon theatre), i could see that not only is the force a very powerful one, but that it has at its head men of energy and decision who are determined to repress deeds of violence, of which all or nearly all are committed by persons not of argentine nationality.[ ] while on the subject, one may note that the argentine police have adopted and perfected the system of identification of criminals by the marks of the thumb. first the imprint of all ten fingers is taken, so as to make mistake impossible and arrive at absolute certainty; then, acting on the principle that it may be as useful to identify an honest man as a bandit, identification certificates are issued to the public, for a small fee, containing an enlargement of the thumb imprint. a crowd of people waiting at the door of the office that makes and furnishes these documents showed that the public fully appreciated their usefulness. young men and old were submitting in silence to have their ten fingers smeared with a sort of wax not easily removed by soap and water. each in turn departed well pleased that the stigma of "unknown" would never be attached to his grave. it appears that it has become the fashion to register one's thumb at the police-station before starting on any journey. señor guiraldès told us that his own son, now in europe, had taken this precaution before exposing his person to the risks of the elements and the unceremonious manners of parisian _apaches_. in the days of the stage-coach parisians used to be laughed at for making their wills and taking out passports before starting on a journey to Étampes. now behold! by other routes we have returned to the good old days. and funny as it may appear to those of us who like to believe that civilisation in south america is more or less rudimentary, it is precisely this country which thus, in scientific fashion, guards against the barbarous ways of the capitals and even the country districts of europe. there was recently a story of an argentine who was drowned on our coast and whose body was subsequently washed up on shore, with the head frightfully mutilated. as, however, the telltale thumb had been preserved he was quickly identified. if this story had been told me in time i should certainly have allowed as much of my person as was necessary to be dipped in wax instead of venturing to start on my homeward journey without the simple proofs of identity which would suffice to place beyond doubt the status of any jonah in the depths of a whale. as it is, in spite of my imprudence, i reached home with my head still on my shoulders. pure luck! never again will i trust myself at sea without this elementary precaution, which would so radically have changed the fortunes of ulysses in rocky ithaca. after this digression, which is only excused by the importance of the subject, i want to finish what i began to say about the rabid argentinism of our friends. i had a great surprise one day when speaking respectfully of the fine qualities of the spaniards. some highly cultured men present interrupted me, and criticised severely the race from which they had sprung in terms one might have expected from an anglo-saxon, but not from a latin. therefore i must ask my readers not to imagine that the argentinos are merely spaniards transplanted to american soil. no! the real argentino, though he would never confess it, seems to me convinced that there is a magic elixir of youth that springs from his soil and makes of him a new man, descendant of none but ancestor of endless generations to come. that there is indeed a regenerating influence in this youthful land is proved by the power it wields over newcomers of whatever origin. the italian in particular is argentinised before he is _argenté_. in the provinces, as in buenos ayres, i had a hundred thousand examples of this before my eyes. you ask a child, the son of an immigrant, whether he speaks italian or spanish. he answers haughtily, "at home we all talk argentine." another, unable to deny that he was born in genoa, although he claimed argentine nationality, murmured by way of excuse, "i was so little." i may add that in the primary schools where these replies were made to me the teaching was the epitome of argentine patriotic spirit, as might be guessed from the pictures and inscriptions on the walls.[ ] but alsace-lorraine and poland are witness to the fact that unless the heart be wholly won authority may labour in vain. as i want to be wholly sincere here, i must admit that the french take this argentine contagion with remarkable facility. i should grievously wrong our own excellent colony, however, if i did less than justice to its ardent patriotism. it is only when tried that love grows and grows purer. in absence the fatherland seems the dearer in proportion as it is connected with the recollection of sufferings that left us stripped of all but honour. the public work of the french colony speaks loudly for it. its most important achievement is the french hospital, founded long ago, but, thanks to its governor, m. basset, and its chief physician, dr. g. lauré, it is invaluable. as i was leaving the building after a visit i shall not soon forget, the chairman of the board of directors showed me a bust of pasteur standing among the trees, and asked what i thought of a suggestion to place near it a figure of lorraine. although the symbolism in the two statues would be entirely different, i warmly concurred in the plan. there is, after all, a delicate connection between these two manifestations of the soul of france--the desire for knowledge and the courage to hold. these men, who have presented to the city of buenos ayres a monument worthy of france in commemoration of the friendship of the sister republics, and who, on the occasion of the floods in paris of last year, sent a cheque for , francs to assuage the worst of the distress, never miss an opportunity of showing their loyalty to the mother-country. yet how many sons of france one meets at every step who have gone over to the argentine, head and heart, beyond all possibility of return! one large manufacturer of the port of buenos ayres is a nephew of a member of our national assembly of . i noticed, when inspecting his very remarkable establishment, that he speaks french less fluently than spanish, while his two brothers, who pay frequent visits to paris, have become thorough argentinos. again, i might take the case of one of our most eminent compatriots who left france in his twentieth year, but who has remained french to the very marrow of his bones. his son is an official of high position in the argentine. doubtless his marriage with a woman of the country laid the foundation for this south american family. the atmosphere of the home is naturally altered, and his material interests, indissolubly riveted to the soil that feeds him and his family, attune the settler insensibly to new ways, and gradually transform his whole habit of mind to the new pattern. can anybody explain why this is not the case with the french who try their fortune in north america, and why in canada the two races live side by side in all harmony but never mix? it must be that "blood is thicker than water," as says the english proverb, and that the latin element blends more readily with a latin agglomeration than with an anglo-saxon community. here i have seen, over and over again, that after two or three generations nothing remains of the original stock but the name. i know of but one instance where the latin organism has been completely assimilated by a northern race, and that is the french emigration to germany in consequence of the revocation of the edict of nantes. but in that case a community of religious fervour, strengthened by an odious persecution, was the active agent in the blending of the latin mind and character with that of germany. we all remember that the first german governor of alsace-lorraine was the descendant of a french emigrant. some of us may recall the furious address of the learned dubois-reymond to the youth of prussia in , urging them over the frontier of the land from which their ancestors were driven by the sabres of the dragoons of louis xiv. to return once more to our franco-argentinos, i ought to say that the severe application of french military law but too often embitters them against the mother-country. in its haste to increase its population, the argentine awards nationalisation to the children of foreigners born on argentine soil, and nationalisation carries in its train military service. it is the same system adopted by ourselves in algiers toward spanish colonists. the consequence is that the son of french parents duly registered at the french consulate, in order to preserve for him his father's nationality, finds himself later called simultaneously to serve under two flags on opposite sides of the ocean. what is he to do? in the argentine, where military service is very short, are all his future prospects, while in france no place has been kept open for him. if france were in danger and called to him for help he would not hesitate, but, failing that, his actual surroundings make it hard for him to decide. the majority respond to the call to the argentine flag, and by so doing fall into the class of _insoumis_ on french soil, except in cases where the father, with a forethought that cannot be approved, has omitted to register the birth at the consulate. if i remember rightly, ten only out of forty youths called up leave buenos ayres annually to answer to their names at the french roll-call. one wonders whether the result be sufficient to justify steps that might easily trouble our relations with the french colony in this country. for the young _insoumis_ can never set foot on french soil without finding the _gendarmerie_ after him. yet his business will call him inevitably to europe. where will he take his orders when france has shut her doors to him? england, belgium, switzerland, and germany are open to him. i heard recently a story about a frenchman of buenos ayres who ventured to lille, and had only just time, at a warning from a friend, to escape over the border. i need not dwell on the matter, but it is easy to see how detrimental the present state of the law is to french families living in the argentine, brazil, and other american countries, as well as to france herself. we manage in this way to drive from the national fold a number of young men who would in time of danger respond heartily to a call from the motherland. wherever i went i heard the same cry. the consuls and the french minister could only reply, "it is the law." but the frenchman who follows the flag in some foreign land demands an alteration in a law which ought not to be applied with the same rigour to youths living in basle, brussels, geneva, and to those who have found a field for their activities across the sea. to me it seems only justice to establish a distinction in our legislation between these two categories of french subjects. for example, i heard of the case of an eminent politician--m. pellegrini, the son of an inhabitant of nice, and therefore french--who, in his youth, got into difficulties in the way described with the french recruiting service, and who later, having risen to the position of president of the argentine republic, received the grand cordon of the legion of honour. the red ribbon or the council of war--which seems the more appropriate reward to citizens of this kind? of course, we must all regret that valuable citizens should thus be taken from france at the moment when she needs every one of her children. at the same time we must consider that a frenchman who has become argentine is by no means lost to france, as might be the case in the united states, for instance, where the latin is rapidly submerged by the irresistible flood of anglo-saxonism. in the argentine, on the contrary, the northern races prove merely a useful element of methodical intelligence and tenacity, which is in time engulfed by the great latin wave. there are important german colonies in brazil, and even in the argentine. both english and north americans have prosperous manufactories there. yet in a race that has preserved integrally its latinity, all this is of but secondary interest, and the tendency remains to travel steadily in the track of peoples of latin stock, among whom it may without presumption be said that the french exert the most powerful influence. for this reason any frenchman of average intellectual and moral value who becomes incorporated in the argentine nation must almost infallibly at the same time--for i doubt if any frenchman is ever really un-frenched--materially aid in permanently strengthening french prestige. what are we to think of men like m. paul groussac, who holds an eminent place in buenos ayres, but who would equally in his own land have reached the very front rank? m. groussac, having gone through our naval training school, set out to see the world. one day, his pockets empty, he arrived at buenos ayres, where courageously he hired himself as _gaucho_--that is, keeper of the immense flocks of the pampas, whose members run into their thousands--and he undertook to drive a train of mules to peru. he accomplished the journey successfully, covering the same route four times in all, each journey taking four months. later we find him acting as schoolmaster. in tucuman he carried on the work of the french outlaw, jacques, who, having escaped to the argentine after the _coup d'état_ of december d, devoted himself entirely to public education on lines taken up later and developed by president sarmiento. we had the pleasure of seeing in the place of honour at the training college of tucuman the portraits of the two french founders, jacques and paul groussac. from time to time the latter brother has published various literary works, notably some short stories in which argentine life and character are brilliantly set forth, and the name of their author has achieved a wide celebrity. then m. hilleret, the great french sugar manufacturer of santa ana, placed a large capital at the disposal of paul groussac with which to start a daily paper destined to reveal, in the person of its editor-in-chief, a writer of remarkable force. to-day you may hear that paul groussac is the leading spanish writer of our times, which by no means prevents him from contributing some brilliant articles to our own _journal des débats_, amply proving his mastery of his mother-tongue, not to mention a curious study by him of that literary enigma the _don quichotte_ of avellaneda. in a public library was founded by decree of the first revolutionary junto, on the initiative of secretary moreno. it was opened march , , its nucleus being drawn from the convent libraries. in , after the proclamation of buenos ayres as capital of the federation, the public library became the national library, and in paul groussac was appointed governor. in an interview with president roca, who cannot be accused of any partiality for him, groussac obtained a grant of the building intended, alas! for public lotteries, in which the library might be installed. he set to work immediately. the national library of the argentine, under the control of m. groussac, is now without a rival in south america, and can bear comparison with many similar institutions on the old continent.[ ] one of the pet hobbies of m. groussac is now to open a french _lycée_ in buenos ayres, with the support of both governments. his eldest son, an argentino, has just been appointed to the post of under-secretary of state in the office of public instruction by m. saënz peña. strangely enough all the fine qualities of this illustrious compatriot of ours have been lost sight of for the reason that through some defect--i had almost said vice--in his character he has won the reputation of being the surliest of bears. having myself also, to some extent, a reputation for being less than amiable i wondered whether the two of us might not come to blows if we met. considering in some sort my bald head a protection, i ventured into the bear's den, and found only the most affable and genial of men, whose claws were of velvet and his tusks of sugar. thus we made friends at once, and i found that the much-dreaded beast had nothing terrible about him, unless it was a strong accent of the gers. since that day i have done my best to dispel so injurious a prejudice against the man. i can only explain its prevalence by the words of tacitus, who remarked of his father-in-law, agricola, "he chose rather to offend than to hate." it is a rare enough trait among men this, which leads them, like alceste, to declare their real opinion rather than stoop to the indignity of falsehood. it may very easily happen that in this way such men may offend the talker who asks only cheap flattery, though actuated themselves by the kindliest feelings towards their fellow-men. if we consider for a moment the sentiment aroused in us by the general practice of using words to conceal our thoughts, we must recognise that we are the first to suffer by this universal weakness--not to say cowardice--in that we only expect from others what we ourselves give, namely, hypocritical phrases, leading to crooked actions, and causing that silent but lasting dislike which forms the principal obsession in the life of many among us. if it is a less offence to inspire than to harbour dislike, let us absolve the men who fail to win universal regard, but who are nevertheless wholly incapable of harming a creature. unless i am misinformed, we shall soon have the pleasure of seeing paul groussac in paris. a chair of history of the argentine republic has been founded at the sorbonne, and there is talk of offering it to him. certainly no one could better perform its duties. yet it would surprise me if he could in this way break off his multitudinous engagements in the argentine. they say he will in person open the course of lectures. i can promise an intellectual treat to his hearers. i did not hear of any germans or englishmen who had, to the same extent as the italians and the french, undergone transformation into argentinos. the german, whose fundamental roughness--to call it by no stronger name--is frequently masked by good humour, works his way into all classes of society, but without losing any of his original traits. m. mihanowitch, who is at the head of a colossal business of river and sea transportation, must, notwithstanding his austrian origin, be considered as an argentino, though he is surely of slav blood. the english invariably retain their individuality. i am told that in patagonia, where they are carrying on sheep breeding on a scale that leaves australia in the rear, they have built up cosy dwellings, where every night they change into their smoking-jackets for the family repast, and never miss taking a holiday of two or three months in their native land. they never become argentinos. this, however, does not prevent their being at the head of the business world of la plata, where they exert a powerful influence on the industrial and commercial life of the people. it would have greatly interested me to study the foreign colonies more closely, but time was lacking. of the spanish, the only man i was able to see anything of was m. coelho, the distinguished governor of the spanish bank of la plata, whose untiring energy reaches out daily in new directions; he gave me many proofs of kindness, for which i am sincerely grateful. it is certain that the recent visit of field-marshal von der goltz to the argentine must prove useful to german influence. as we know, it is the germans who are responsible for the present organisation of the argentine army. their government, wiser than some others, did not hesitate to send to la plata some of their most skilled officers, who were naturally received by argentine society with the deference that was their due. the eminent legal scholar, professor enrico ferri, lately re-elected deputy of the group that we should call "independent socialists," is and has long been the official mouthpiece of the italian colony. gifted with a perfect urbanity, an impartial mind, lofty ideals, and generous eloquence, he quickly attracted the notice of the public, and soon vanquished the suspicions of the extreme right, who feared his socialist views, and the opposition of the extreme left, who bore him malice for having broken away from them. m. saënz peña's cabinet has been well advised in calling on m. enrico ferri to take over the management of the penitentiary system. i have mentioned the principal features of the french colony, and shall hope to be forgiven if lack of space has prevented me from doing full justice to its members. i have spoken of m. py, the distinguished governor of the banque française de la plata, who is admirably assisted in his work by the manager, m. puisoye. it would be unpardonable to omit the name of mme. moreno (of the comédie française), who has so thoroughly mastered the spanish tongue that she has opened and carried to success a _conservatoire_, in which she trains pupils for the stage. it would be the less excusable to forget this lady in that she is frequently to be met at receptions, where her elocution, both in prose and in poetry, delights her parisian-argentine public. whilst waiting for the académies to confer on women the right to be learned, let us venture to proclaim their cleverness even when it is but an adjunct to feminine charm. footnotes: [ ] the death penalty, abolished in uruguay, does still exist in the argentine republic, but executions are rare. the last dates several years back. the condemned man is shot by the troops. [ ] the colon theatre seats no less than persons. the third tier is reserved for ladies only; the acoustics are excellent; the most renowned artists appear on its stage. there is also another opera-house. [ ] impossible to exaggerate the horror of the scene. a high official personage told me that he had never beheld such pools of blood. [ ] the fire brigade, admirably organised as i had an opportunity of observing, is armed like the paris corps, and can thus be employed to reinforce the city police if necessary. [ ] it appears that on the day of the national fête the pupils of the primary schools have to take an oath of fidelity to the flag, which is called the _juro de la bandera_, and is accompanied by speeches and patriotic songs that cannot help making an impression on the children. [ ] in the library numbered , volumes; in , , ; and in , , . chapter v argentine education, hospitals, and asylums if the different foreign elements contributed by the latin peoples fuse so readily into an argentine race, it is none the less true that spanish metal bulks the heaviest in the ore. language, literature, history, give a bias from which none can escape. the ancient branch transplanted to this youthful soil sends up its shoots towards another heaven, but the original sap circulates unendingly in the living tree. the argentine is not, and firmly refuses to be, a spanish colony. it has successfully freed itself from the historic shackles--those of theocracy, first of all--which have so disastrously tied and bound the noble and lofty impulses of a people eminently fitted to perform exalted tasks. and hence, notwithstanding a large alluvion from italy, symbolised by the monument to garibaldi, notwithstanding the growing influence of french culture, the atavism of blood preserves an indelible imprint which will characterise the argentine nation down to its most distant posterity. the visit of the infanta isabella on the occasion of the centenary fêtes in honour of the independence was a happy thought on the part of the spanish government. the princess, escorted by m. perez caballero, the present spanish ambassador in paris, was everywhere received with rapturous enthusiasm. it was easy to see that the struggles of the past, now relegated to the annals of the dead, had left no bitterness in the people's heart. there was universal pleasure at the graceful action of the now reconciled parent in thus stretching a hand to the son who, with impetuous ardour, had thrown off the yoke of dependence, and the public found a subtle pleasure in showing that the chivalrous courtesy which is part of the tradition of the race had lost none of its flower in this american land. after the severe measures taken to repress anarchical violence, a rumour spread that the life of the president of the republic was in danger. perhaps there was nothing in it. unfortunately, it was one of those things that can only be verified by experience. at all events, the infanta isabella chose to ignore the danger. with the utmost simplicity, but also with the utmost courage, she showed herself everywhere by the side of the chief of the state, and to the lasting credit of the argentine reputation, everywhere she was greeted with hearty applause. here, then, is a base, immutably spanish through all the changes that one can foresee, together with a fusion and perfect assimilation of the latin elements in the immense influx of european civilisation: such is the first condition of argentine evolution to be seen and studied in the city of buenos ayres. to make the picture complete, we must notice an important contribution of indian blood that is very marked everywhere. i shall return to this later. as for the national character, since i am only jotting down a traveller's impressions, and not attempting to present to my readers a didactic study, it is, i think, better to allow its features to spring naturally from the subject under consideration as we go along, rather than first to make statements that i must next attempt to prove. i have already mentioned the extreme kindness of señor guiraldès, the city lieutenant, who is for the argentine capital what m. de selves is for paris. like our own prefect, he is appointed by the president of the republic, and i may say that although there are inevitably from time to time differences with the municipal council, the system has given good results as applied to a place in which there are so many conflicting elements. señor and señora guiraldès, like all the upper class of argentine society, possess the most perfect european culture, and they do the honours of their city with a charming grace that delights the foreign visitor. now that i am at a distance from them, i consider that i may with propriety pay sincere homage to their courtesy. whenever i found i had a little time to spare i used to telephone to señor guiraldès, who had once for all placed himself at my disposal. he invariably replied by hastening to my door, and together we consulted as to tours of inspection; it was agreed that i should choose the institutions to be visited so that there might be no suspicion of collusion. in this way i was enabled to visit all the state or municipal establishments that interested me. when by chance we found some evidence of official oversight, señor guiraldès's satisfaction was boundless. "at least," he cried, "you will not tell me that your call had been announced beforehand." then, to check any inordinate vanity, i told him the tale of an adventure that happened once to a certain minister of the interior who visited the prison of saint lazare. a ring at the bell. "i want to see the governor." "he has gone up to town." "then i will see the chief clerk." "he is away on leave." "the chief warder?" "he is laid up." "can i speak to the sister superior?" "she has just gone out." "well, are any of the prisoners at home?" the gaoler, smiling amiably: "i believe so." argentine officials, like their french brethren, are both fallible and zealous, and while it was impossible that in so many visits there should be no ground for criticism, yet i am anxious to declare publicly how admirably kept were the schools, of whatever degree, the hospitals, asylums, refuges, and prisons; they were not only adapted to all the requirements of therapeutics, hygiene, and the canons of modern european science, but they showed a genuine effort to do better than the best. i should have been glad to have there some of those who make a practice of disdaining these countries that started very long after us, but that can already give us some salutary lessons through institutions such as those i have named, which are here brought to a pitch of perfection that is in many cases unknown with us. my readers will not expect me to take them with me round all the establishments that i visited with señor guiraldès. they would fill a book, and i should need to dip into the innumerable volumes of reports and notices which argentine benevolence added to my personal luggage. this, however, does not come within my subject. none will be surprised that the schools attracted my attention first. the school question is too vast to be handled here in detail. but i saw professional schools (_Écoles industrielles de la nation_), and primary schools that would be models in any land. all the arrangements irreproachable, and the children scrupulously clean. demonstration lessons in abundance. lessons on the land and its mineral, vegetable, and animal productions, specimens of each being passed from hand to hand, accompanied by explanations summarised in synoptic tables. a lesson on the anatomy and physiology of the lungs was illustrated by the breathing organs of an ox and a sheep (higher primary class for young girls), which appeared to awaken great interest among the scholars. specimens in pasteboard coloured like life, showing the different parts of the organism, allow these rudimentary demonstrations to be carried fairly far. the primary schools, under the management of the national educational council, are free, and include the school material obligatory in theory for children of from six to twelve years of age. but the population of buenos ayres grows more rapidly than its schools. hence the inconvenient expedient has been adopted of dividing the pupils into two categories, one attending school of a morning and the other of an afternoon, with the result that one half the children are always wandering about the streets while the others are drinking at the fountain of knowledge. this is a system that has nothing to recommend it. it is difficult to understand why the argentine capital postpones making a pecuniary sacrifice which is certainly not beyond its means, and which is imperatively necessary. the criticism is the more justifiable in that untold sums have been spent on certain buildings which are veritable palaces, as, for example, the president roca school. about a hundred private, lay, or denominational schools, kept for the most part by foreigners, take in the children who are crowded out of the public schools. at buenos ayres, as in other parts of the country, the number of pupils in this category is far too large. there are provinces where the deficit of schools is such as to constitute a real scandal in a civilised nation.[ ] i shall never forget the heart-broken tones of a child of ten whom i met in the pampas of the buenos ayres province and whom i questioned as to his occupations. "i want to go to school. papa does not want me to." the father was a mexican. the eyes of the child thus condemned by paternal stupidity to mental darkness were full of intelligence. how much trouble we take to make the best of our land! how apathetic we are when it is a question of developing the greatest force in the world, that which sets in motion all the rest--human intelligence! is it not inconceivable that in france, after nearly half a century of labour, we still find every year a large number of wholly illiterate men among the conscripts called up to serve with the flag? this state of affairs, which is sad enough at home, would be reckoned a great success in the _campo_, where distances are such that the children have to go to the primary schools on horseback, as i have elsewhere mentioned. but when a school is within reach, the folly of parents must not be permitted to debar their children from its advantages. the municipal and state schools are entirely undenominational. this rule obtains throughout the argentine, where it is accepted without a murmur. the numerous religious orders have their own private schools in virtue of the recognised principle of liberty of teaching. it might surprise a european to see that the catholic clergy of the argentine do not attempt to fight the undenominational character of the public schools which elsewhere has aroused such violent hostility. to my mind this cannot be explained by a want of religious fervour amongst priests and monks in the argentine. but circumstances which it would take too long to explain have taught the argentine clergy to make an _outward_ practice of toleration. if questioned on the subject, the argentino will reply: "our clergy hold themselves aloof from politics." and this seems to be the case. the religious world appears to be no party to political differences. the social influence of the roman hierarchy is none the less powerful on what remains of the old colonial aristocracy and (with few exceptions) on the women of the class known as superior. practically, the official relations of church and state in the argentine approach very close to separation. i shall say nothing of the secondary schools and colleges, of which i saw but little. they are placed under the immediate control of the minister of public instruction. there are no resident students. this, in the opinion of all, is the weakest spot in their educational scheme. amédée jacques, one of the exiles of our december _coup d'état_, introduced our classical curriculum into the argentine, but it met with no success. since that time, here, as at home, there has been strife between the partisans of the classic and those of modern, or even technical, education. great battles have been fought, and the only result is that the cause of education has suffered from both parties. the opening of a french _lycée_, which i have reason to believe will shortly take place, may help to restore the classics to the position which in my opinion they ought to hold in every civilised country. in certain branches higher education has made great strides. law and medicine in particular have a staff of eminent men in their colleges. any man who has made his mark in europe is sure of a choice audience there, drawn from both professors and students. i had the pleasure of being present at the first of enrico ferri's lectures at the law schools. his subject was social justice. the powerful and glowing eloquence of the orator was never displayed before a public better prepared to profit by his lofty teaching on humanitarian equity. it is not in vain that so many young argentines have made their way to the universities of france, italy, and germany. as soon as i set foot in the hospitals here i had an impression that i was in the full stream of european science, and that the argentinos were determined to be second to none in the perfection of their organisation. i noticed an excellent bacteriological institute managed by a compatriot of ours, m. lignères, and some agricultural schools that are turning out a competent body of men for the development of the pampas. the hospitals impressed us very favourably. the new hospital for contagious diseases, situated some kilometres from the centre of the town, comprises a series of model buildings, all strictly isolated, of which each is devoted to a special disease. at the rivadavia hospital, for women only, the _cobo_ wards (for pulmonary tuberculosis and surgical operations) are particularly admirable. everywhere the latest improvements as regards the appliances for the patients, the sterilising halls, and operating theatres, and also as regards surgical appliances. nothing has been overlooked that can increase the efficaciousness of the hospital schools: amphitheatres for classes, diagrams, specimens, etc. the laboratories are so luxurious that they would make our own hospital students envious. it was here that dr. pozzi, our eminent compatriot, performed in may, , a series of operations, every one of which proved successful; while his german fellow-practitioner, whose scientific acquirements are unquestionable, met with very different results. the same may be said of dr. doléris, who held a course of demonstration lessons in buenos ayres, and whose operations were also crowned with entire success. the rivadavia hospital has a fine _annexe_ of supplementary work: consultations for outpatients, electro- and radio-therapy, dispensary, etc. i must also mention the sumptuous recreation-rooms for the use of convalescents, and the gardens, exquisitely kept. in the maternity wards (at alvear as at rivadavia) we find the same care for ultra-modern comfort, combined with the strictest cleanliness. i must not forget a very curious obstetrical museum with diagrams, anatomical specimens, and a series of admirable preparations exemplifying the different stages of gestation. a small cradle should be noticed (a german invention, i believe), ingeniously attached to the mother's bed and taken down with a single movement of the hand. very happy instance of simplification. everywhere--in the design of the buildings, in the fittings, laboratories, sterilising- and operating-rooms--the influence and products of germany were patent. on the other hand, the french culture of doctors and surgeons, masters and pupils, was easily discernible, and all were greatly indebted to the classics of our paris and lyons faculties. i could not see the evidences of this in the hospital libraries without remembering regretfully the churlish reception that is given in some of our hospital schools to modest foreign _savants_. at the same time, i will not conceal the fact that protection of the most extreme sort flourishes among the argentine physicians, who are very anxious to defend themselves against european competition. i was told that there are no less than thirty-two examinations imposed on a doctor from the paris faculty before he is permitted to write out the simplest prescription for a _gaucho_ of the pampas. we may be allowed to find these measures highly exaggerated. there is a splendid asylum for aged men kept by french sisters of charity in a condition of the daintiest cleanliness, and managed by ladies of the city. the argentinos claim that their women are very zealous in all charitable works. doubt was thrown recently in the chamber on this statement. i am not competent to judge. one original institution--the widows' asylum--is a sort of settlement composed of small apartments of one or two rooms, on a single floor. in the courtyard opposite the gate is a small shed, in which is placed a stove for open-air cooking, possible in this fortunate climate all the year round. the rents are very low for widows having more than four children. the lunatic colony of lujan, to which its founder and manager, dr. cabred, has given the significant name of the open door, deserves a more detailed description. it consists of an estate of six hundred hectares on the pacific line seventy kilometres from buenos ayres, and here twelve hundred patients are accommodated in twenty villas--graceful _chalets_, surrounded by gardens and containing each sixty patients. these villas are fitted up with everything necessary for clinotherapy and balneotherapy, with fine recreation-rooms. the colony is enclosed by a line of wire; not a wall, not a wooden fence--everywhere unrestricted freedom and a wide, open horizon. we have erected a monument in paris to the memory of pinel, in which he is represented as breaking the chains which mediæval ignorance heaped on the mad inmates of bicêtre as late as . but if you visit our asylum of sainte-anne, you are tempted to ask in what this "modern" establishment differs from an ordinary prison. i hasten to add that in the other asylums of the department of the seine we are beginning to develop the open-air treatment. long ago the system of placing certain patients out in the country amongst peasant families was planned and adopted. the open door treats all mental patients, of whatever degree of madness, on the plan known out here as "work performed in liberty." in the confusion of cerebral phenomena the widest freedom is given to the reflex action of unconscious or quasi-unconscious life. if a patient has learnt a trade, he finds at once in the open door an outlet for his energies, for it is with the labour of the lunatics that the carpentering, masonry, scaffolding, etc., of these villas was executed. those who have no trade are given a technical education, and often acquire great skill. the difficulty is to persuade the newcomer to begin to work. if he refuses, he is left alone. "he is left to feel dull." then he is invited to take a walk, and once on the spot where work is proceeding, he is offered a tool that he may do as the others are doing. "i have met with only one refusal," said dr. cabred. "one patient tried calmly to prove to me that life was not worth the labour necessary to preserve it. i must confess that he nearly convinced me, and i often try to find the flaw in his reasoning, though never, as yet, with success. it is a little hard when the apostle of lunatic labour is brought to ask himself if the lunatic who refuses to work is not acting on a better reasoned conviction than his more submissive companions. at any rate, he is the only man in the colony who does nothing. he spends his time reading the paper or dreaming, without saying a word. when i go to see him he mocks at me, declaring that it is i who am the fool, and, indeed, to support his laziness is not, perhaps, the action of a sane man." there is not a strait-waistcoat or a single appliance for restraint in the whole colony. excitement or attacks of violence all yield to the bath, which is sometimes prolonged to twenty-four or thirty hours if necessary. separate _chalets_ for the manager and his staff, for the water reservoir, the machinery, laundry, dairy, kitchens, workshops, theatre, chapel. outside, agricultural labour in every form, from ploughing to cattle rearing. only the superintendents who direct the work are sane, or supposed to be. in spite of this assurance it is not without alarm that one watches madmen handling red-hot irons or tools as dangerous for others as themselves. as may be supposed, they are not put to this kind of work until they have been subjected to long trials. our visit to the open door lasted a whole day, and still we had not seen everything. from first to last we were followed by a mad photographer, who took his pictures at his own convenience and reprimanded us severely for rising from lunch without first posing for him. four days later a series of photographs, representing the various incidents of our day at the open door, was sent to me, bound in an album--by a madman, of course, and sent by another madman to a person mad enough to believe himself endowed with reason. need i add that we had been received to the strains of the _marseillaise_ and the national argentine hymn, performed by a mad band, which, all through lunch, played the music of its repertoire! ever since, i have wondered why a certificate of madness is not demanded from every candidate for admission to the opera orchestra. as for journalism, do you suppose that no room was found for it in the open door? the excellent dr. cabred is not a man to make such omissions. we were duly presented with a copy of the _ecos de las mercedes_, a monthly paper, written and published by the madmen of the open door, with the intention, perhaps, of making us believe that other journals are the work of individuals in full possession of their common-sense--prose and poetry; articles in spanish, italian, and french; occasionally a slight carelessness in grammar and in sequence of thought, but, on the whole, not wandering farther from their subject than others. finally, to wind up the day's proceedings, we were treated to a horserace ridden by lunatics. sane beasts mounted by mad horsemen, galloping wildly, by mutual consent, in a useless effort to reach a perfectly vain end. is not this the common spectacle offered by humanity? meantime, one honest madman of mystic tendencies, decorated with about a hundred medals, pursued us with religious works, from which he read us extracts, accompanied by his blessing. i wondered whether this form of exercise was included in dr. cabred's programme, since he claims to make his lunatics perform all the acts of a sane community. a similar scruple occurred to me at noon, when i was invited to take a seat at a well-spread table. "is your cooking done by madmen?" i inquired, not without anxiety. "we have made an exception in your favour," was the contrite reply. and now another question arose to my lips. "since you have clearly proved that the mad are capable of performing any kind of task, will you tell me why you give yourself the lie by placing at the head of the open door a man who appears to me in possession of all his faculties?" "yes; that is a weakness," replied the doctor, laughing. "but, after all, what proof have you that i am not literally fulfilling all my own conditions? did i not tell you that one of my patients, who may quite possibly be the most enlightened of us all, pronounced me a raving lunatic when i invited him to work? if he is right, then all is as it should be at the open door." i did not wish to vex the kindly doctor, who is the architect of so admirable a monument, but there was still a doubt in my mind: was it possible to give the illusion of freedom to these madmen by merely suppressing the walls? they offer no resistance when called to co-operate in all kinds of open-air labour, and find, if not a cure, at least relief from their malady in this simple treatment; but did they really believe themselves free? i did not ask the question, for the answer was given by an old french gardener, one of the inmates of the open door, who, over-excited by our presence there, suddenly began to rave. "for twenty-five years," he shrieked, "you have kept me prisoner here!" here, then, was a man whose life was spent out of doors at the work with which he had been familiar all his life, and, although no sign of restraint was visible, he was conscious of imprisonment. it is true that modern determinism has reduced what we call our "liberty" to the rigorous fatality of an organism which leaves to us merely the illusion of free will,[ ] while imposing on us the impulse of some superior energy that we are forced to obey. oh, madness! oh, wisdom! oh, vacillating sisters! is it indeed true that you wander hand in hand through the world? to whatever philosophic solution our own madness or reason may lead us, let us hasten to conclude the subject by stating that the open door is a model establishment, which, thanks to dr. cabred, enables the argentine to give the lead to older peoples. i will only add that it is the rarest thing for a patient to escape (if i may use so unsuitable a word), since the natural conditions of the surrounding pampas would render life therein impossible; and the lunatics on the way to recovery who are given leave of absence to stay a few days with their friends before being finally set at liberty invariably return punctually to the colony. who can tell if some lunatic, restored to reason, might not secretly refuse to believe himself cured, and elect to pass the rest of his days happily at work under the glorious sky amongst these peaceful creatures, where the troubles and worries of the world, with the eternal competition and conflict which are the scourge of our "sane" existence, are unfelt and unknown? such a case might lead dr. cabred to put up a similar establishment for the wise. from the lunatic asylum to the prison is not such a leap as some of us may think. the asylum lifts out of the relative orderliness that we have managed to establish in the conditions of civilised life all those who, by lack of mental balance, might introduce unbearable disorder. and might not this elemental definition be equally applied to the one or the other class of unfortunates? i beg my reader not to be alarmed at the fearful gravity of the problem. if it be true that no philosopher has ever been able to find a solid foundation for the right that man has assumed to "punish" his fellows for transgressing his laws, at least all will readily admit that, notwithstanding some obvious imperfections, society has attained to manifest superiority over the state of barbarism in which brute force alone rules, and that it is therefore inadmissible that those who would transgress the general laws on which society has been based should be allowed to destroy the fabric so laboriously built up. in moving out of its path those who would live within its pale in defiance of its laws, society but exercises its natural right.[ ] the real question open to dispute is rather the treatment to be meted out to these rebels. in the primitive code of the _talion_ nothing was more simple--an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth--thou hast killed; i kill thee. thou hast inflicted injuries; i in my turn shall injure thee, and i expect to deter thee from future crimes by fear of the pain in store for thee. such "justice" has the double advantage of being speedy and readily comprehended of a rudimentary intelligence as long as the temptation has been resisted. but when evil instincts, that none asks of nature, have caused the fall of delinquents, the morbid moral sense, more or less distorted, which urged them on to violent deeds, makes them conscious solely of the violence of which they are now the object, and drives them to take sinister revenge. thus they are prevented from exercising their calmer judgment, from which, by the mere force of reaction, there might spring a desire and hope for a new life within the pale of the established order of things. and seeing it had been left for --the epoch of a universal outburst of fraternity, manifested first by the permanent institution of the guillotine--to give us in pinel a man of enough simple common-sense to break the chains that bound the mad, is it unreasonable to think that without freeing criminals (since not even at the open door are the lunatics let loose upon the public) one might yet seek some system of improvement and reformation to be applied in the establishments in which we keep our prisoners? there will always be some incurables--that is certain; but because incurables exist in every hospital and asylum, ought we to argue therefrom that it is useless to fight against an evil that is beyond human powers? the reader may suppose that i should not have ventured to set down these considerations of social philosophy without a good reason. the principles i have thus summarised, at the risk of wearying those who look only for amusement, are now held by every criminalist worthy the name. but since this new conception makes its way very slowly with even the best-intentioned of governments, which are the more strongly imbued with the prejudices of the masses in proportion as they are the more impregnated with the democracy, and since the transformation of our existing prisons would be very costly, we have as yet not got farther than the inclusion of the words "reform" and "amendment" on programmes that are very far from being put in execution. shall i give an example? it is evident that the time-sentence must inevitably restore a prisoner sooner or later to society. is not, therefore, the public interest bound up in his returning with a good chance of leading a regular life, and not falling back into the disorder that was the cause of his temporary removal? and is not the very first condition of this fresh start the possession of a trade with sufficient skill therein to ensure some chance of success? if, then, we can give technical instruction in our prisons, and at the same time improve the intellectual and moral standard of the prisoner; and if, on his discharge, we can place the man whom society has thus--temporarily only--removed from its midst, in a position immediately to earn an honest living, instead of throwing him on his own resources, to be again confronted with the same temptations--would not society in this way infinitely multiply the sum total of the probabilities that its money and trouble would have the desired effect? i think, in theory, this argument will be readily admitted. unfortunately, the difficulty is that it is much more economical to draw an immediate profit from prison labour than to reverse the problem and spend more in order to place an instrument of reform in the hands of the delinquent, with always, of course, a risk of failure. in the united states great progress has been made in this direction, and if i appear to have gone a long way round to introduce my readers to the central (men's) prison of buenos ayres, my excuse is that to my mind the argentine republic has far surpassed all that has been attempted hitherto in this department of work. and to say truth, i feared that in bluntly and without comment giving a description of what i have been permitted to see, i might jar the spirit of routine that has taken hold of certain communities, notwithstanding their revolutionary changes of appellation. i shall say nothing of the material side of the place, which very much resembles our own prisons. the prisoners are locked into their cells at night, but by day they are told off into the different workshops which are intended to perfect them in their own trades or give them a new one. the wages question is placed on much the same basis as with us, except that, the food being more abundant, the men are able to put aside the greater part of what they earn. (the diet consists principally of _perchero_--boiled beef--the staple article of food amongst the masses.) conversation is allowed, but only in a low voice, and as long as work is not hindered thereby. rations are distributed in the cells by the prisoners themselves, who take their meals with the door open, and frequently add a cigarette to the menu. there are books in every cell, with the essentials of school stationery. there are fourteen classes and fourteen masters. all the inmates attend the adult classes, which include such subjects--in addition to the theory of their own special technical work--as history, hygiene, morality, and in each an examination is held at the end of the year. both governor and masters testify to the general application of the pupils. the land surveying class grows with special rapidity, in view of the constant demand for surveyors in the pampas. a vast lecture-hall, which makes a theatre when required, is decorated with drawings, casts, and charts by the hand of the pupils. lectures are given both by masters and prisoners when the latter are sufficiently advanced, or when their former studies have qualified them for the task. on one occasion m. ferrero, who has, i believe, published an account of his visit to the central prison of buenos ayres, was present when a prisoner gave a lecture on prehistoric america. "and the old offenders?" i asked as i went out. "there are some," replied the governor, "but not many. our system of re-education is powerfully backed up by the permanent offer of work from all parts of the pampas. moreover, the greater number of our crimes are what are called 'crimes of passion.' the italian and spaniard are equally prompt with the knife. a large number of these men have killed their man in a fit of furious excitement, but they will be thought none the less of for their 'irritability' when they return home. our point of view is this: every time a man commits an offence or a crime, it becomes the duty of the community to begin, immediately, the work of re-education. probably in no country shall we ever do all we might for the individual offender. but when one member of the social corporation falls he must be made over again. this is what we are trying to do, and i admit it is the greatest joy to us to see the success of our efforts. i have seen most of the prisons of europe. did you notice amongst our inmates that expression of the tracked beast which you find on all your prisoners? no. our inmates have one idea only--to begin life again and to prepare, this time, for success. this is the secret of that tranquil, confiding air of good children at their task which you must have observed on so many faces; and this, perhaps, takes the place of repentance, which is not given to all." "and you are not afraid your comfortable building will prove an attraction to people who are at a loss to know what to do with themselves?" "that has not happened so far. such a fear--though i cannot believe you are speaking seriously--shows you do not take into account the superior attraction for every human creature of liberty." with that i left, having learnt a very interesting lesson from the argentinos, whom so many europeans are generously ready to teach. footnotes: [ ] the census of showed that public instruction had since , the date of the last census, made great progress. in these ten years the argentine has opened new schools. in , per cent. of the population were in the schools; in , per cent. the lainez act enjoined on the national educational council the duty of opening elementary schools, giving the minimum of instruction, wherever they were needed. in the census of every child from five to fourteen years was made the subject of a separate card of psychophysical details on the initiative of dr. horacio g. pinero. this card contained twenty-one questions: age, nationality, parentage, height, weight, thoracic measurements, size of the head, weight of the body, anomalies, deformities, stigmata, anterior diseases, sight, hearing, objective perception, attention, memory, language and pronunciation, affectionateness, excitability, temper. [ ] "if the idea of liberty be in itself a force, as fouillée maintains, that force would be scarcely less if some wise man should one day demonstrate that it rested on illusion alone. this illusion is too tenacious to be dispelled by reasoning. the most convinced of determinists will still continue to use the words 'i will' and even 'i ought' in his daily speech, and moreover will continue to think them with what is the most powerful part of his mind--the unconscious and non-reasoning part. it is just as impossible not to act like a free man when one acts as it is not to reason like the determinist when one is working at science" ("la morale et la science," by henri poincaré, _la revue_, june , ). [ ] "if some day morality were forced to accept determinism, would it not perish in the effort to adapt itself thereto? so profound a metaphysical revolution would doubtless have less influence on our manners than might be thought. penal repression is not of course in question; what we now call crime and punishment would be known as disease and prevention, but society would preserve intact its right which is not to punish but simply to defend itself" (henri poincaré, _loc. cit._). chapter vi argentine types, manners, and morals i had very good ground for stating that a salient characteristic of the argentinos was a desire, not only to learn from europe but to carry to the farthest possible pitch of perfection every institution begun, whether public or private, and to surpass their model. the obvious danger in all rapidly-developed colonial settlements is the acceptance of the "half-done," an almost obligatory condition in the early stages of development, and one whose facility of attainment is apt to militate against the persistency of effort after that precision of completion which alone can give good results. this defect, in fact, constitutes the principal reproach brought by the systematic northerners against the impulsive latin races, whose temperamental traits lead them to content themselves with a brilliant start, leaving thereafter to imagination the task of filling in the blanks left in the reality by this unsatisfactory method of operation. i confess that in setting out for south america i was prepared to find that i should need the greatest indulgence if i would escape the danger of offending by discourteous but candid criticism. this was due to the fact that i was insensibly influenced partly by a few sociologists who discuss these matters carelessly, and partly by the folly that leads us to overlook the claims of consanguinity and urges us ever along those paths that england and germany have opened. but not at all. if the prodigious expansion of the great north american republic may have inclined me to fear for the south american republics anything approaching to comparison, it is my belief that any impartial observer will rejoice to recognise the robust and generous development of some of the most promising forces of the future, in young communities that are clearly destined to attain to the highest grades of human superiority. in buckle, who was a man of no ordinary mental calibre, did not fear to write in his _history of civilisation_ that the compelling action of land and climate in brazil was such that a highly civilised community must shortly find a home there. the event has amply justified the bold prophecy. in the south american republics, as in the united states and elsewhere, there are different degrees of fulfilment, of course. at the outset, while waiting for land to acquire value, all peoples have had to be satisfied with an approximate achievement. but in the argentine, uruguay, and brazil, to speak only of countries i have visited, it is plain that nothing will be left half done, and the capacity to carry all work methodically forward to its end, in no matter what field of labour, promises well for the future of a race. you do not require to stay long at buenos ayres to find that this quality exists in a very high degree in the argentino. i have mentioned the european aspect of buenos ayres--the least colonial-looking, probably, of any place in south america. but i noticed at the same time that the argentino refuses to be simply a spaniard transplanted, although _society_, in buenos ayres, traces its descent, with more or less authenticity, from the _conquistadores_, and did originally issue from the iberian peninsula. if we go farther and inquire what other influence, beside that of soil and climate, has been exercised over the european stock in the basin of the rio de la plata, we are bound to be struck with the thought that the admixture of indian blood must count for something. the negro element, never numerically strong, appears to have been completely absorbed. there is very little trace of african blood. on the other hand, without leaving buenos ayres, you cannot fail to be struck by some handsome half-castes to be seen in the police force and fire brigade, for example, and the regularity of their delicate features is very noticeable to even the observer who is least prepared for it. the indian of south america, though closely akin to the redskin of the north, is infinitely his superior. he had, indeed, created a form of civilisation, to which the _conquistadores_ put brutally an end. there still subsist in the northern provinces of the argentine some fairly large native settlements which receive but scant consideration from the government. i heard too much on the subject to doubt the truth of this. not but what many savage deeds can be laid to the charge of the indians, as, for example, the abominable trap they laid for the peaceful crevaux mission in bolivia which led to the massacre of all its members. still, in equity we must remember that those who have recourse to the final argument of brute force are helping to confirm the savages in the habit of using it. in the interest of the higher sentimentality we must all deplore this. but our implacable civilisation has passed sentence on all races that are unable to adapt themselves to our form of social evolution, and from that verdict there is no appeal. not that the native of the south is incapable, like his brother of the north, of performing a daily task. i saw many natives amongst the hands employed by m. hilleret in his factories in tucuman. neither can it be said that there is any lack of intelligence in the indian. but the fact remains that he finds a difficulty in bending the faculties which have grown rigid in the circle of a primitive state of existence to the better forms of our own daily work, and this renders it impossible for him to carve out a place for himself in the sunlight under the new social organism imported from europe by the white men. with greater power of resistance than the redskins of the other continent, he, like them, is doomed to disappear. yet in one respect he has been more fortunate than his kinsmen of the north, and will never entirely die out, for he has already inoculated with his blood the flesh of the victors. i am not going to pretend to settle in a word the problem of the fusion of races. i will only observe that the inrush of indian blood in the masses--and also to a very considerable extent in the upper classes[ ]--cannot fail to leave a permanent trace in the argentine type, notwithstanding the steady current of immigration. and if i were asked to say what were the elemental qualities contributed to the coming race by the native strain, i should be inclined to think that the indian's simplicity, dignity, nobility, and decision of character might modify in the happiest way the turbulent european blood of future generations. after all, the argentino who declines to be spanish has, perhaps, very good reasons for his action. here, he has succeeded, better than in the iberian peninsula, in ridding himself of the moorish strain, which, though it gave him his lofty chivalry, has yet enchained him to the oriental conception of a rigid theocracy. why should not native blood have taken effect already upon the european mixture, and, with the aid of those unknown forces which we may class under the collective term of "climate," have prepared and formed a new people to be known henceforth by the obviously suitable name of "argentinos"? all i can say is that there are argentine characteristics now plainly visible in this conglomeration of the latin races. the objection may be made that the "yankee" shows equally strongly marked characteristics, which distinguish him from the anglo-saxon stock, while we know that he is unaffected by other than european strains. this is undeniable, and in his case soil, climate, and the unceasing admixture of european types suffice to explain modifications which are apparently converging towards the creation of a new type or sub-type. it is remarkable that the character of the americanised englishman, having passed through a phase of puritan rigidity in the north and aristocratic haughtiness in the south, has, for some inexplicable reason, burst out into a temperament of highly vitalised energy that may be summed up in the characteristic formula of a universal "go-aheadedness." the south american, on the contrary, having started with every kind of extravagance in both public and private life calculated to destroy the confidence of europe, is obviously now undergoing a settling-down process with a marked tendency to adopt those principles of action of which the north is so proud, while at the same time retaining his affection for latin culture. it is easier to generalise about the argentine character than to penetrate beneath its surface. it is naturally in "society," where refinement is the highest, that traits which best lend themselves to generalisation are to be seen in strongest relief. the american of the north is, above all, highly hospitable. if you have a letter of introduction, his house is open to you at once. he establishes you under his roof and then leaves you to your own devices, while keeping himself free to continue his daily occupation. the argentino receives you as kindly, though with more reserve. although i know but little of the business world, i saw enough of it to gather that money enjoys as much favour there as in any other country; but the pursuit of wealth is there tempered by an indulgent kindliness that greatly softens all personal relations, and the asperities of the struggle for life are smoothed by a universal gentleness charming to encounter. in their family relations the differences between the social ideals of the north and south american are plainly visible. the family tie appears to be stronger in the argentine than, perhaps, any other land. the rich, unlike those of other countries, take pleasure in having large families. one lady boasted in my presence of having thirty-four descendants--children and grandchildren--gathered round her table. everywhere family anniversaries are carefully observed, and all take pleasure in celebrating them. the greatest affection prevails and the greatest devotion to the parent roof-tree. not that the argentine woman would appear to be a particularly admirable mother according to our standard; for, on the contrary, it is said that her children are turned out into the world with very bad manners. how, then, are we to explain the contradictory fact that such children become the most courteous of men? perhaps a certain wildness in youth should be regarded as the noisy, but salutary, apprenticeship to liberty. all that can be seen of the public morals is most favourable. the women--generally extremely handsome in a super-spanish way, and often fascinating[ ]--enjoy a reputation, that seems well justified, of being extremely virtuous. i heard too much good about them to think any evil. they were, from what i could see, too carefully removed from the danger of conventional sins for me to be able to add the personal testimony that i have no doubt they merit. as to their feelings, or passions, if i may venture to use the word, i know nothing and therefore can say nothing. are they capable of the self-abandonment of love, of experiencing all its joy and all its pain--inseparable as these but too often are? they did not tell me, so i shall never know. the most i can say is that they did not give me the impression of being made for the violent reactions of life as we know it in our daily european existence. i hope no one will see in this statement a shadow of criticism. it is, indeed, a compliment if you will admit that in an argentine family love's dream is realised in the natural, orderly course of events. but if it were otherwise, it would still be to the highest credit of the women that in their _rôle_ of faithful guardians of the hearth they have been able to silence calumny and inspire universal respect by the purity and dignity of their life. above all, do not imagine that these charming women are devoid of conversational talent. some ill-natured critics have given them a bad reputation in this respect. their principal occupation is evidently paying visits, and they gossip as best they can under the circumstances, considering that neither their friends nor their foes give any ground for tittle-tattle. this deficit might cause conversation to languish. dress and news from the rue de la paix are a never-failing topic.[ ] may not this be true in other lands? it has also been said that the beauties of buenos ayres are as prone to speculate in land as their menkind. it is quite possible. none will be surprised to learn that they gave me no information on this head either. they are credited, too, with being very superstitious, and are supposed to attach great importance to knowing exactly what must not be done on any given day of the week, or to what saint they should address their petitions. here, again, i can give no authentic information. naturally, had i been present at any of their meetings, the first condition of an exclusively feminine company would have been unfulfilled. it seems to me more reasonable to believe that the many works of public charity in which the ladies of buenos ayres take a share would account for much time and also for much talk. further, i may in all sincerity remark that if female education be not one of the points in which the argentine republic has left us behind, it is none the less a fact that i was happy enough to meet many charming women who were perfectly capable of sustaining a thoroughly parisian kind of conversation supported by a fund of general information. and, moreover, they added a charm of geniality and real simplicity that are not too common on the banks of the seine. i have not spoken of shopping, which is the main occupation of the fair sex in north america, for the reason that at buenos ayres i saw none. i mentioned that the footwalks of the business quarter--including florida, the handsomest and busiest of the streets--were blocked to such an extent that it was impossible to walk there two abreast. you do not expect to hear that there are any elegant toilettes in the crowd. and, in fact, in the central streets no women go afoot for pleasure. some go about their business with hasty step, and that is all; the others receive the tradesmen at home, or take their chance of calling in the motor-car, which, after five o'clock, will probably not be allowed in the street to which they want to go. what is left, then, for the daily stroll? only the wide avenues of the suburbs, where there is no particular attraction, and palermo--the unique and inevitable palermo, or rather, a part of palermo, with the recoleta, which makes a fine beginning for a public promenade. in these circumstances it is evident that the aspect of the pavements of buenos ayres suffers by the absence of the fair sex. it might be thought that at palermo, where the walks lead amongst flowers, lawns, and groves, our argentinos would recover the use of their limbs and guard against their dangerous tendency to an over-abundance of flesh. not at all. social conventions do not allow of this. our classics, men of mature mind, were fond of saying, with the apollo of delphi, that excess in all things is bad. buenos ayres has not yet reached to this degree of wisdom, and its female society, not satisfied to follow closely after virtue, seeks to add to their fame the spice of a reputation that leaves absolutely nothing to be said. for this reason they guard against even a chance encounter that might appear compromising. and so the fair sex only consent to walk on the palermo under the protection of a rigorous rule of etiquette which enacts that to stop and talk on a public road with a lady whom one may meet later in the day in some _salon_ is a sign of unpardonable ill-breeding. decidedly we are far from europe. to complete the exotic air of the place, know that all husbands are jealous, or, at least, so they say, and it must be supposed there is some foundation for the statement. as far as i was able to judge, they are as amiable as their wives, and appear by no means to harbour tragic intentions towards any man likely to arouse their resentment. no. but if by chance, after dinner, you remain chatting quietly with one or two ladies, and in the inevitable ebb and flow of a _salon_ you find yourself for a moment left alone with one, be sure that her husband, more genial than ever, will promptly appear on the scene to claim his share in the talk. at home this would appear strange, since we do not impose the spectacle of our private intimacies upon the public. yet may not this very air of detachment upon which we insist lead, both in public and in private, to some of the tragedies of life? is it wrong for a married couple to love each other? and when two hearts are united in this way how can a feeling so powerful fail at times to betray itself by some outward manifestation? let us take heed lest, in laughing at others, we denounce ourselves. a man in a very high position, who is the father of a lad of twenty, volunteered to me the information that in the whole course of his married life he had nothing to reproach himself with, and that if by some misfortune he had transgressed the marriage law, he should have considered himself wholly unworthy of the woman who had given her whole life to him. no doubt the woman in question, who happened to be standing near us as we talked, fully merited his homage. yet i wondered, as i listened to his noble and simple speech, whether one could find many frenchmen to make in all candour such a confidence to a perfect stranger, or, supposing one found such a one, could he say as much without an embarrassed blush? whatever may be the secret opinion of my reader, i hope he will agree with me in thinking that the advantage in this delicate matter is decidedly on the side of the argentino, whose sane morality is the best of auguries for the community he is trying to found. i should like to say something about the argentine girl. the difficulty is that i never saw her. every one knows that in north america the young girl is the principal social institution. she has got herself so much talked about that neither europe nor asia can help knowing her. in argentine society, as in france and in latin countries generally, the young girl is a cipher. she may be seen, no doubt, in the home, at concerts, where she figures in large numbers for the satisfaction of our eyes, at palermo, at the tigre,[ ] and the ice palace--very respectable--where she skates under her mother's eyes, and, finally, at balls, whose joys and special rites are the same the world over. but all this does not make of the south american girl an element of conversation and social doings as in the united states. she remains on the edge of society until the day of her marriage. at the same time, the argentine girl must not be supposed to resemble very closely her sister in latin europe. less educated, perhaps, but more vivacious and less timidly reserved, she shows greater independence, they tell me, at mar del plata, which is the sole common meeting-ground for wealthier families, since the pampas offer no resource outside the _estancia_.[ ] at the colon theatre and at the opera she is seated well in view in front of the box, making the whole ground floor an immense basket of beribboned flowers, and there, under the eye of her parents, the young men who are friends of her family are permitted to pay their respects to her. must it be confessed? it is said that she makes use of borrowed charms, applied with puff and pencil, following in this the example of her who should rather prevent than abet? this must, however, be libel, for whenever i ventured a query on the point, i was met with a shrug of the shoulders and a burst of laughter. in such a case, the man who can laugh sees always more than smoke. the father is not a negligible quantity, whatever may be said of him. i saw very plainly that it is entirely untrue that he takes no interest in his children's upbringing. i may have come across a few specimens of idle youth engaged in flinging their _piastres_ into the gutter, but as regards heads of families, there is no comparison between the number who here are seeking distractions, illicit or otherwise, for a useless existence and those of the same type to be seen in any capital of europe. but while i have here said nothing that is not strictly true, i am not trying to represent the argentine husband as the phoenix of the universe. money is so plentiful that it may well be responsible for some sins, and, on occasions, i suspect that the city can supply opportunities of committing them. even so, it is wise to maintain the strictest reserve on the subject, for buenos ayres smacks strong of the small country town, and there is abundance of pointed arrows for culprits who allow themselves to be caught. still, as long as society has not decreed the total suppression of the bachelor.... none can deny that gambling occupies too large a place in the life of a certain number of the newly rich. but are we indeed justified in pretending to be more scandalised at what takes place amongst our neighbours than at home? what might i not write about the development of our _casinos_? to satisfy this vice in the masses the argentinos have established lotteries, which now add to the temptations, powerful enough already, provided by race meetings. the evil is universal; i can but note it. the form of gambling which is special to buenos ayres is unbridled speculation in land. in europe it is constantly stated that all the work of buenos ayres, as of the pampas, is done by foreigners, whilst the argentino himself sits waiting for the value of his land to treble, quadruple, decuple his fortune without effort on his part. this might easily be true, since the value of property has risen with giddy rapidity of late years. sooner or later, of course, there must be a reaction; this is obvious. but until that day dawns it must be admitted that, in a country where every self-respecting mortal owns a bit of land, large fortunes have been realised before the fortunate proprietor has raised as much as a finger. our fellow-countryman m. basset told me that on his own estate the rise in value of his waste ground allowed him to recoup himself for all he lost on his arable land. under these circumstances, it is really not surprising if prices form a general subject of conversation. it was, in fact, on a larger scale, but with less excitement, a repetition of the fair of mississippi stock, in the rue quicampoix, with this difference, that there is here some foundation for it, though it is by no means inexhaustible. but while there is no denying that land speculation occupies a special place in argentine life to-day, it is also incontestable that all ranks of society are here, as elsewhere, devoting their energy to some great agricultural, commercial, or cattle-rearing enterprise. the _estancia_ needs a head. herds of ten thousand cows must be well looked after if they are to be productive in their three departments--dairy, meat, or breeding. the magnificent exhibits that we see at shows are not raised by the sole grace of god, and the "big argentinos" with whom i had the privilege of chatting not only spoke of their _estancias_ with a wealth of detail that showed a close interest, ever on the watch for improvements, but also frequently i was given to understand that they had other business which claimed part of their time. and many of them surprised me by their readiness to discuss topics of general interest that happened to be engrossing the attention of europe at the time. the growing interest taken in all kinds of labour on the soil and the need of perfecting strains of cattle both for breeding and for meat have led the larger owners to group themselves into a club, which they call the jockey club. the name suffices to denote the aristocratic pretensions of an institution that has, nevertheless, rendered important services to the cause, as well for horned cattle as for horses. the sumptuous fittings lack that rich simplicity in which the english delight. the decorations are borrowed from europe, but the working of the club is wholly american. the greatest comfort reigns in all departments of the palace, whose luxury is not allowed to dissemble itself. the cuisine is thoroughly parisian. fine drawing-rooms, in which the light is pleasantly diffused. a large rotunda in empire style is the show-place of the club, but, like napoleon himself, it lacks moderation. a severe-looking library, reading-rooms, banqueting-rooms, etc. to explain the amount of money either amassed or flung away here, it must be remembered that all the receipts taken at the race-courses--less a small tax to the government--come back to the jockey club, which is at liberty to dispose of them at will. hence the large fortune of the establishment, which has just purchased a piece of land in the best part of buenos ayres, for which it gave seven millions; and here it is proposed to erect a palace still more grandiose. i saw in the papers that the jockey club intends to offer to the government the building they now occupy in the rue florida, and it is believed that the foreign office will be moved there. you see, the argentine cattle breeders have found very comfortable quarters and enjoy themselves there. m. benito villanueva, the chairman of the jockey club, is a senator, extremely prominent in the business world, who joins the most superlative form of north american "go-aheadism" with the graceful urbanity of european _bongarçonnisme_. he is in close touch with all classes in the capital, and if he cannot be said to have a hand in everybody's business, it is certain he could if he would. people who have never set eyes on him speak of him by his christian name, and as there are not two "benitos" of that calibre this is accepted as a matter of course. very unceremonious, very quick of perception, and with a dash of the modern aristocrat in his bearing, he is a manager of men who would make any sacrifice to gain his end. his small black eyes are as bright as steel, and gave me an impression that it would not be agreeable to have him for an enemy. like any man who combines politics with large business interests, he has his adversaries, but he appears entirely oblivious of them. his _estancia_, the "eldorado," with its racing stables and prize cattle, the senate, which he attends with great regularity, and the innumerable commercial enterprises in which he is engaged (to say nothing of the admirable jockey club), make him one of the busiest men in buenos ayres. nevertheless, he always found time to waste in my company, and showed me much both in and out of buenos ayres. i found every one in the capital obliging to a degree, and it would be rank injustice to place m. benito villanueva in a category by himself under this heading. i will only say, therefore, that if many equalled him, none surpassed him. who better fitted to do the honours of the palermo racecourse than m. villanueva? modern arrangements, elegant fittings; no convenience missing. the jockey club stand has a first-class restaurant on its upper story, where its members who are just sufficiently interested in the racing to make their bets can enjoy at the same time the pleasures of the table and a view of the winning-post. betting is fabulously high. but the racecourse is open to the same objection as palermo. what is to be said of the hideous embankment of yellow clay that bars the landscape? surely the setting of a racecourse is not without its importance. as far as the convenience of the situation goes, this one leaves nothing to be desired. but really, seeing the small part played in an afternoon's racing by the events themselves, how is it that the artists who laid out this hippodrome neglected to provide a lovely view for the joy and repose of the visitors' eyes? they talk of masking the slope by plantations, but the trains that traverse the course from one end to the other will still remain visible. i have nothing against this form of amusement, though i think it almost a pity not to reserve it for the delectation of the _ranchos_ out on the pampas, since there is no part of the plain where it might not be enjoyed. then the displaced railway would allow of a cutting which would let in a great flood of light as far down as rio. the racing public, from horses to humans, being everywhere the same, there would be nothing to say of either professionals or spectators, had i not noticed that the fair sex of buenos ayres, as seen in the stands, were wearing with confident grace the latest creations of parisian fashions, and more than made up in quality for their possible inferiority in quantity as compared with a longchamp gathering. i will not say that there were not a few errors in technical details here and there. but it was pleasant to see that some of our audacious parisian freaks, contrary to what one might imagine, find only the faintest of echoes in these brilliant meetings. the reason is that the cunning display of eccentricities by beauties who have nothing to lose cannot here, as at home, react on the toilettes of society women by consequence of a universal search after novelties whose sole object is to attract attention. the reason is simple. in buenos ayres there is no _demi-monde_, for the few belles who cross the ocean to come here are birds of passage merely, and cannot be said to form a class. when present they avoid the grandstands of the racecourse and take refuge in the paddock, where their loneliness makes them rather an object of public pity. still in señor villanueva's company, i had the pleasure of visiting the tigre, the finest recreation ground open to the inhabitants of buenos ayres. but do not be misled by the name to fancy that it is a menagerie. there were, it appears, in distant ages, some few great cats that ventured as far as the mouth of the parana in order to steal a breakfast at the expense of the citizens of the capital. times have greatly changed. it is now the honest argentino who comes here to get a meal after having taken proper steps to ensure the absence of the tiger. the delta of the parana is formed by an inextricable network of channels, dotted with innumerable islets, whose luxuriant vegetation has won for them the pretty name of a "venice of gardens." in all this floating land imagine trees of every kind leaning over the water as though attracted by the moving reflection of their foliage; call up a picture of orchards in the glory of their spring or autumn dress; fling amongst the groves an orgy of wild and cultivated flowers; people the shade of the branches with large and small boats filled with merry young people, whose song and laughter blend with the music of the oars, and you will have an idea of the pastimes that the tigre can offer. _quintas_, _chalets_, built on piles, hotels, restaurants, wine-shops, resorts of all kinds, suited to all classes of society, provide a peaceful asylum for fête days and holidays, far from the turmoil and bustle of buenos ayres. following the stream upwards, past miles of wood and water, there are still more picturesque sites to be visited, where man has not yet set his hand, and the boat glides in and out of these beflowered waterways as far as parana, whence come the big boats from paraguay laden with oranges, their decks shining in the sunlight like some quaint palace of ruddy gold. the tigre is reached by railway in twenty minutes, and a skiff bespoken in advance awaits you at the station. but señor villanueva, whom nothing can daunt, wanted to try a new road, said to be just finished, in his motor-car. now, carriage roads are not a strong point in this country, where no stones are to be found. however, after a journey that recalled at times the passage over the rollers at auteuil lock, we duly and miraculously reached the tigre without quite wrecking the car, but not without some damage to our more sensitive and intimate organs. wherefore we were assailed by a longing for the _chaises-longues_ and easy-chairs of our hotel, which drew us forthwith to the booking-office of the railway-station, whence modestly and quickly we made our way back. since the subject of hotel furnishings thus comes under my pen, why not say at once that in the argentine, as in brazil, the internal arrangements of the houses show that the greater part of the time is spent out of doors? italy, with its open-air life, was naturally the land to which the argentino turned for architects to supply florid furniture, meant rather to look at than to use; and when to this is added cheap german goods with their clumsy designs, one may be pardoned for finding a lack of grace as of comfort, to a french way of thinking.[ ] in aristocratic _salons_ the best parisian upholsterers have at least left their mark--with a little overcrowding in effect, if the truth must be told. in a few, where "antiques" were discernible, there were evidences of an appreciation of just proportions and simplicity. but my criticisms must be taken in the most general way possible. it is in the hotels that one feels the farthest from europe, and this in spite of a manifest attempt to do things well. a continual change of servants and a bad division of labour ensure infinite discomfort for the traveller. there is, it is true, central heating, but it works badly. is the _pampero_ blowing? the pipes of the radiators shake the window-panes with their tempestuous snorting and bubbling, waking you out of your sleep with the suddenness of their noise; but they diffuse only cold air.[ ] an electric heating apparatus, hastily put in, must be used to supplement the other. do you want to lock up some papers? you may, perhaps, after a long search, find a key in your room, but it will assuredly fit none of the locks. as i was tiresome enough to insist, the manager, anxious to oblige me, ordered his own safe to be placed in my apartment, with all his accounts therein. when i found the drawer that was placed at my disposal, i found money in it! oh, marvellous hospitality! to the new houses in the town chimneys are being added. the european who comes to the argentine for the winter months--june, july, august--can be delighted with the change. but, meantime, he suffers keenly from the cold, for if the sun shines perseveringly in a cloudless sky, an icy south wind will prove very trying to europeans who are not accustomed to such sharp contrasts.[ ] as for the summer season, which i have not tried, every one talked of its charms, the greatest being, apparently, to go and wipe one's brow at the tigre, at mar del plata, or on the _estancia_, in default of the mountain resorts within reach of the brazilians. it is difficult to speak of argentine cookery--which is rather international than local--always excepting those households that boast a french _chef_. the influence of italy, with her macaroni and her cheese, predominates. the vegetables are mediocre; the fruit too tropical, or, if european, spoilt by the effect of the tropics. lobsters and european fish, imported frozen, are not to be recommended; table water is excellent. the national dishes, _puchero_, or boiled beef, good when the animal has not been slaughtered the same morning; _asado_, lamb, roasted whole--savoury souvenir of my excursions in greece, where it is to be met under the name of _lamb à la palikare_. i might add a long list whose sole interest would be the strange-sounding names given to familiar dishes. still, as the main conditions of man and communities are necessarily unvarying, is it not in appearances and forms of expression that we find variety? footnotes: [ ] i might instance a statesman who has all the externals and probably also the prudent wisdom of a pure _cacique_ of olden times. [ ] i shall not take the liberty of attempting a description of argentine beauty. let me only mention their large black eyes, heavily shaded, the delicately golden skin, beneath which there pulses a generous blood, and the sweet and ever youthful smile. [ ] "six dresses are sufficient for me for one season in paris; in buenos ayres i want quite a dozen," says an argentine belle who was until recently a member of the parisian diplomatic world. the more limited circles of argentine society and the proportionately keener rivalry of personal luxury may explain the difference. [ ] this is the name applied to the group of islands forming the delta of the parana. [ ] an estate devoted to agriculture and cattle rearing. [ ] the dearness of living in buenos ayres and especially of rents is a common theme among travellers. [ ] i understand there is a scheme for adding a system of central cooling for summer use in hotels and private houses in hot climates. nothing would be easier or more useful. even in our own land there are many days in the season when we should be glad of cool radiators. [ ] it is often said that buenos ayres has a "nice winter." this is strictly true. the sun is rarely wanting, and the _rôle_ of the mistral is played by the pampero with great success. chapter vii argentine politics writing about a country, with no dogmatic intention, but drawing at haphazard from memory impressions received, has this advantage, that instead of setting down general theories that are always open to argument, certain living traits may be seized upon which, by the very fact that they are open to more than one interpretation, demand the constant collaboration of writer and reader. the method--if one may apply so big a word to so small a result--gives me an opportunity of making a few observations about the organisation and working of the argentine government. it seemed quite natural to the intellectuals of a democratic republic that a democrat should come out to talk to them about democracy, to discuss the serious problems it presents and the solutions that time is more or less rapidly working out for them. nevertheless, it is not without some legitimate trepidation that one faces a public completely unknown, proud probably of its achievements, ardently hopeful certainly for the future, and inclined, no doubt, thanks to the very sincerity of its labours, to be carried away by an excess of jealous susceptibility. i was quickly reassured. the consciousness of a great work accomplished, a keen appreciation of the finely organised effort whose astounding results are revealed anew each day, give to the argentine people too just a confidence in the value of their activity for them to see more in any courteous criticism than a good opportunity of improving on their past--on condition, naturally, that the criticism appear to be well founded. the critic is thus disarmed, and lets fall his weapons for fear lest a shaft intended only to graze the skin should penetrate deeper and inspire a weakening doubt in the mind of men who are engaged, body and soul, in a tremendous struggle after social progress. in matters of government the argentinos are neither better nor worse off than any people of europe where freedom of speech has begun its work. but, notwithstanding the astonishing rapidity of assimilation that distinguishes this land, there is as yet too little homogeneity in the masses for the possibility of any influence from below, on the problems of the day, apart, of course, from matters that make appeal to patriotism, which inevitably provoke unanimity. there are many other countries of which, in spite of appearances to the contrary, the same might be said. here, as elsewhere, politicians, who are the more or less official mouthpieces of that vague concourse of general opinions which we call the mind of the public, may very easily mistake the ephemeral demands of a party for the permanent interest of the country. a point to be noticed is that faction fights, which have for so long brought bloodshed into the cities and villages of south america, are now disappearing. it is scarcely possible, none the less, for all traces of violence to depart, leaving no reminder of movements which have made of political changes one long series of hysterics. autocracy and sudden upheavals are inseparable. this is the lesson that the races of the iberian peninsula have best learnt from their governors. in brazil, where an admirable economic movement goes hand in hand with a remarkable development of orderly progress and civic peace, recent events have shown what fires are smouldering beneath the molten streams of a dying volcano. it is to be hoped that our friends will not be found lacking either in the patience or the courage necessary to impose on the public a salutary respect for law! in uruguay, a land of latin amiability, the rage of revolution has frequently broken out; and if, to all appearances, there is calm to-day, whites and reds still exhibit mutual hostility without troubling to find reasons that might explain, if not justify, recourse to arms. the argentinos appear farther removed from the danger of revolutionary shocks. "wealth has quieted us," said a politician. this is no new thing. all activities profit by undisturbed work and lose by deeds of violence. lucrative labour and the fear of losing what has been acquired go to make up a fund of prudence. but while, happily, in the argentine there is no present menace of revolution, i cannot deny that in the provinces i often heard rumours of it. insurrection seemed imminent. precautions were taken to protect arsenals. and when i inquired the reason for such a movement, i was invariably told that no one knew, but that no doubt there were malcontents. one need not go as far as the argentine to seek for them. as all these alarms ended in nothing, i must put them down as a verbal echo of a vanished epoch. i can but admire the profound peace that has succeeded to the fury of the past, for the argentino who, in revolution, exposed his person so light-heartedly did not fear to take the life of his enemy. but can it be affirmed that in no department of the administration there has survived some trace of the cavalier methods of former days? is it true that some officials do as they like with the people committed to their charge, and inflict treatment that is passively borne for the moment, but may lead to terrible reprisals later? it was often stated in my hearing, but i could never obtain any proof. i shall not make myself the echo of slanders and calumny, which, in all lands, are the weapons used by public men against each other. i will only take the liberty of reminding my argentine friends that one never need fear excess on the side of a watchful control over government offices. m. thiébaud, the minister of france, presented me to m. figueroa alcorta, the president of the republic.[ ] he gave me the most cordially courteous of receptions, prompted, of course, by the respect and friendship that argentine statesmen have for france. the president's first words were an inquiry as to whether i was as comfortable at the palace hotel as at the _hôtel du mouton_, in chantonnay (vendée). this showed me that the president of the argentine republic was a reader of the _illustration_, for a photograph of that more than modest establishment was recently published in the columns of the review on the occasion of an expedition i made to my native country, when i put up at the little inn. i assured him that the resources of buenos ayres were infinitely superior, and from this we wandered off into a very interesting talk about our two countries. m. figueroa alcorta was vice-president of the republic when the death of president quintana called him to the supreme _magistratere_. i fancied that a good many people found it hard to forgive him this unlooked-for good fortune. some journalists thought it funny to create for him the reputation of a "jettatore," an inexhaustible subject for spiteful tales in the opposition sheets. they say the story has not been without influence on the feminine world, specially prone to superstition. m. figueroa alcorta appears to bear the misfortune with calm courage. he talks of the argentine with a modesty that does not exclude a just pride, and for france he had only sympathetic admiration. let me say also that president saënz peña, whom i twice saw in buenos ayres, is a devoted friend to france and french culture. it is my duty to add that m. saënz peña's attention has been called to certain lapses in the administration, and he is firmly resolved to put an end to them. the minister of foreign affairs, m. de la plaza, has, since my journey, become vice-president of the republic. he is rather heavy and cold in appearance--with the silent gravity of the _cacique_, it is said--but he is a man of profound culture and keen mind, and it is not impossible that his taciturnity and slowness of speech are merely diplomatic. he enjoys the reputation of being a thorough anglomaniac, but this, fortunately, does not preclude him from being also a francophil.[ ] i must mention the minister of public works, m. ramos mexia, who was continued in his important office by president saënz peña when the cabinet was new-formed. in a country where great public works are constantly being undertaken, an upright mind and an iron will, united to a spotless reputation, are all needed to resist the overtures of the large european firms that are clamouring for contracts. a vast field for quarrels, more or less veiled personal attacks, and unending recriminations. i do not want to recriminate myself, or, indeed, to touch on any delicate questions; yet i must regret the preference that has been shown for krupp cannon, when innumerable experiments have demonstrated the infinite superiority of french guns. i have already pointed out that england, by our wilful negligence, managed to obtain the right of building practically the whole of the railway system. she has done the work to the satisfaction of the public, and the same may be said of the way germany has installed the electric systems. france triumphs in the ports of rosario, montevideo, pernambuco, bahia-blanca, and rio grande do sul. that is all i can say, for at the moment there exists the keenest european competition in the harbour works of mar del plata and buenos ayres. some complain that ramos mexia has been too favourable to england. he is, however, first and foremost an argentino, and he uses his right to take the best from each country. if there has been in the past some little friction, i fancy it is now over; it hardly could be otherwise, for m. ramos mexia is a warm admirer of french culture, and as well acquainted with our classics as our contemporaries, beside being a regular attendant at the lectures at the sorbonne and collège de france whenever he is able to take a little recreation in paris. need i add that mme. ramos mexia is the most french of all the argentinos whom i met--french in the graciousness of her welcome and french in charm of conversation. we know that in the argentine (and perhaps in all south american republics, with the exception of chili) ministers are not responsible to parliament. in chili, parliamentary coalitions amuse themselves by knocking over ministers like ninepins. in the argentine it is the rule--to which there are exceptions--for ministers to follow the president, whose agents they are, having the sole function of obtaining from the chambers the funds required to carry on the administration. before i weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of this system, which was imported ready-made by south america from the north, let me record the surprise i felt when i discovered that, notwithstanding the absurd stories told of the lack of measure in "hot countries," a south american assembly could give a lesson in dignity to more than one european parliament. in england, as we know, measures have been taken to prevent personal questions from being introduced into debates, where the interests of the public alone occupy members' attention. here the chivalrous temperament of castile suffices as a guarantee against excesses of language or abuses at the hands of the majority. for instance, in some cases a speaker is granted only ten minutes in which to give the merest sketch of his bill. if the orator be a member of the minority, however, speaker and chamber make it a point of honour to let him take as long as he likes. if he goes too far the rule is applied; but this, i was assured, never happens. finally, "it is our constant rule," said a member well qualified to make the statement, "not to let slip allusions in the course of a debate that might hurt the feelings of a colleague. this requires no effort. it is just a habit one can acquire." may the "habit" be shortly acquired in all lands! now that the tide of free civilisation is setting towards a dissolution of all autocratic powers, from russia to persia, and even to china, instituting the parliamentary system which we have come to regard as the best instrument for controlling and liberating the democracy, it is a remarkable fact that, in practice, parliament is much criticised, more particularly in countries where it was only obtained after long and painful struggles. the reason, to my mind, must be sought in the unpardonable waste of time in debates, where free rein is given to a puerile love of theatrical display. in the absence of any salutary check on the humours of orators, too little attention is given to bringing the discussions to a practical conclusion. a good reformer should be able first to reform himself. it is less the parliament than the executive that attracts the european observer of american institutions. this is because parliament is dominated by the executive, instead of being itself the dominating power. the south american republics hastened to copy the constitution of the united states of the north, which is the original creation of the revolution of , and adapted, in a marvellous degree, to the needs, idea, and sentiment of the country. adopting its text, if not its spirit, the south americans fell into the same error as europe has done in copying the english constitution in the letter, but not in the spirit and sense given to it by the people whom it justly claims to express. without entering on a discussion that would lead me too far, i could not refrain from remarking that in actual working the north american institutions have become distorted in south america, a change rendered inevitable by the different level of public education and the geographical distribution of the population. it was in the nature of things that the earliest civilisation should partake of the constitution of states or provinces destined later to form a federation, but as long as the motherland imported the sovereign authority from outside, the struggles between a budding liberty and an unchecked autocracy were unceasing. once self-government had been proclaimed, it became obligatory to constitute such elements of public life as should make its exercise possible. now, for this, it is not enough to draw up a code of principles. we cannot, then, be surprised if the south american races, fondly attached to their own institutions, which maintain the principle of an autonomy of federated states and provide for their idealism a verbal satisfaction, inestimable, as they think, are yet (just like other nations now undergoing democratic evolution) far enough from an adequate realisation of their idea. we can scarcely expect any concerted political action from men (often of foreign birth) who are scattered all across the pampas and separated by enormous distances. and, as regards the cities, great or small, a political _élite_ will more easily organise itself--especially where an absence of public opinion facilitates the abuse of power--than will the "sovereign people" be brought to exercise their sovereignty (and this we see even in europe). hence the evils often made public, which are but striking examples of what we see elsewhere; notably, the indifference of the electoral body, evidenced by the contemptibly small number of voters who answer the summons to the ballot--and of these few some have been brought thither by who knows what means! to this public apathy must be added the abstention of the middle classes, always difficult to incite to a common political action, who thus leave a wider field than is desirable to the machinations of the professional politician, with his methods, direct or indirect, of bringing pressure upon the elector. i have no hesitation in speaking of the evil. but at the same time i must point out that if the mind of the public--such as the intellectual _élite_ of the nation have made it--experiences some difficulty in getting used to the slow methods of organised political action, the independent spirit and personal dignity of the citizens are so strong[ ] that a force of public opinion is gradually evolving which, in spite of some backsliding, will soon be powerful enough to impose its decisions on the world of political intrigue. for instance, it is frequently said that the president of the republic does, in effect, nominate his successor by reason of his authority with the state legislature, and there is a grain of truth in the assertion. yet if it were strictly true, the same party would remain in perpetuity in power, and this we know is not the case. thus public opinion, when it pronounces itself with sufficient decision, can, with the help of a wholesome fear of revolt, vanquish all resistance and bring in its candidate. in this way any eventual abuse of personal influence is, in effect, prevented, and this is precisely what happened in the case of the election of m. saënz peña. i fear that nowhere are institutions worked according to rule. before throwing stones at the argentine, let us look at our own deficiencies. the weak place in south american constitutions, as organised on the theory of jefferson, appears to us europeans to lie in the fact that too much power is vested in the individual. in our continent this would open the door to the danger of a reconstitution of the forces of the past, whose only hope now lies in the possibility of a surprise. in america a federation of divided powers offers so many different centres of resistance (providing always that each state government enjoys a real autonomy) to any attempt at usurpation. the american of the south is no less attached than his brother of the north to the principle of autonomy of states. it only remains for him to make it a reality. as a matter of fact, moreover, the theoretic independence of ministers and parliament does not hold together, in view of the omnipotence of the representative assemblies in matters of finance. this system has the advantage of making a series of crises impossible, but a minister must, and always does, disappear when a succession of votes proves that he no longer possesses the confidence of parliament. in america, as in europe, the press is the highest power after the government. i say "after," because we must believe the constitution. it is, however, only too true that the moral paralysis that distinguishes certain "popular leaders," whose chief anxiety is to trim their course to every wind that blows, leaves to any one who claims to speak in the name of public opinion a degree of authority before which the individuality of the pretended governing body, in spite of its pomp of speeches, is apt to disappear. but although the press plays unquestionably a very important _rôle_ in the argentine, it did not appear to me that the evil went as far as this. not but what, perhaps, the man who owns a newspaper is as much inclined here as anywhere to make the most use he can of its influence. but in a land that calls out the best in any man, even the latin, usually so easy a prey to the designs of the political revolutionary, manages to preserve enough independence of character to offer an effective resistance to projects that are too flagrantly opposed to his own calmer views. argentine statesmen, worthy the name, are not content to hold opinions of their own; they are perfectly capable of the tenacity necessary to put a scheme into execution and carry it through. clearly the advantages that go to make up the success of the argentine republic would count for nothing were there no strong minds to grasp the higher principles of public interest and no strong hearts to enforce their practice. the argentine is a battlefield where every kind of moral force, including politics and sociology, is now in the full heat of action, and exposed to all the chances and changes common to weak humanity. public activity is here, as in all countries, manifested chiefly by means of parties, a necessity, practically, which has at least as many advantages as disadvantages. casuists have argued much about the relative qualities of "human" parties and those of any given intellectual symbol. the argentine government is not based upon a traditional or historic fact, but on a theory of right in which originates an organisation of justice and liberty that can only pass from principle to practice when the citizens are capable of clothing its bare bones with the living sinews of action; but this fact in no sense changes the problem, since man without the intellectual symbol or idea can be only a disturbing force, and the idea in politics has no value apart from the man who can give it life. the old-fashioned press of ideas has made prodigious strides since the days of armand carrel, and the modern reader is more especially greedy for facts. with these before him he forms his own opinions, and the most the writer can do is to prepare the way towards a given deduction, without being able to discount its acceptance with any certainty. in reality, the argentine press is no better and no worse than that of any free countries; and, whether as regards news or party politics, the newspapers are extremely well conducted.[ ] not but that you may find occasional violence of language, as happens everywhere, but there are extremes which the public will not tolerate. there are no pornographic press and no pictures of a kind to defile the eyes of every passer-by. on this we may congratulate a race whose healthy energies find too continuous employment in the sunshine for them to develop any tendency towards the excesses of "civilised" corruption. the _prensa_ is, as we all know, the leading newspaper of the south american continent. under the skilful control of its founder, m. paz, the _prensa_ has reached a state of prosperity which, within the limits of its field of action, makes it the equal of any advertising agency in the world. it is a paper that has to be reckoned with by every party, for although not officially attached to any group of politicians, it obviously seeks--while maintaining the principles of democratic evolution--to hold the balance between all parties, ready if necessary to intervene at the critical moment. just now its general editor is m. ezequiel paz, who seems in every way capable of carrying on his father's work. m. zeballos is credited with being the fount of inspiration of the paper. the ex-minister of foreign affairs is at the same time a literary man, a legal expert, and a historian. his writings on questions of law are highly esteemed in europe. an untimely dispute with brazil drove him out of office, and gave him the leisure he is turning to account now. m. paz is enjoying a well-earned rest in europe, but he retains supreme control of the sheet; and a gorgeous palace that he is building in the best part of buenos ayres would appear to point to an intention of returning to the country before long. if he does i cannot help pitying him, for he will require nothing less than the court of louis xiv., or perhaps of xerxes, to fill this showy dwelling. the business quarters of the _prensa_ are in the avenue of may, and if smaller in dimensions, they are no less magnificent. the building is one of the sights of the city. how shall i describe it? it would fill a volume. every department of the paper is lodged in a way that unites the most perfect of means to the end in view. simplicity of background, a scrupulous cleanliness, comfort for every worker therein, with a highly specialised method that gathers together all the varied workers on the staff to direct them towards their final end and aim, namely, promptness and accuracy of news. with all this there are outside services, such as a dispensary, so complete it would need a specialist to catalogue it, and suites of apartments that are placed at the disposal of persons whom the _prensa_ considers worthy the honour. i confess that i thought less luxury in this part of the building would have been more to the taste of the poor distinguished men who are lodged there, since a comparison with their own modest homes would be wholly to the disadvantage of the latter. the _nacion_ is a party organ in the best sense of the word, following the exalted traditions of bartolome mitre. it has been compared with our _temps_. my friend antonio piñero exercises considerable influence here over the descendants of the great statesman. but for the quiet and invaluable help given by the _nacion_, all of whose interests lay in the opposite direction,[ ] we should never have succeeded in getting the law establishing literary proprietorship through parliament. it is my duty as well as my pleasure to take this opportunity of offering my grateful thanks in the quarter where they are due. the _diario_, in its turn, deserves special mention on account of its editor, m. manuel lainez, senator, who has a rare command of the most refined of parisian critical talent, the sting of which does not exclude mirth. m. lainez is one of those journalists who excel in detecting the weak spot in men and things and take a delight in driving home the shaft of a caustic phrase. he dissects with ease, and disguises the depth of his own knowledge under a thin veil of irony. i know of no more charming talker. whether or no his wit has injured his political prospects is a point i am not able to decide. then i must mention the _argentina_, which seemed to me an honest news organ; and finally, i must not neglect the photographic papers, the _p. b. t._ and the _caras y carietas_, in which the spoken word gives place to the picture, according to the formula lately invented amongst us. both have a large circulation. we all remember the words that ibsen has placed in the mouth of his "enemy of the people" about papers being edited by their readers. no doubt the gazette, nowadays, seeks less to establish an idea than to conform to the supposed feelings of the masses in whose hands is the key of success. its educational influence has, of course, been in consequence greatly reduced; still, a remnant exists. the culture, slow but inevitable, of the masses must in time have a good influence on the press that caters for them. photography, when genuine, and the cinematograph, which vitalises it, have a real educational value. the trouble is that nothing is sacred to the argentine photographer. he is omnipresent and enjoys the execrable privilege of being at home in all homes. you give a dinner-party to friends or relations. with the dessert there appear some pale persons, draped in black, who disturb servants and guests to set up their complicated lenses on the spot that strikes their fancy. then comes the blinding flash and a poisonous puff of smoke, and the master of the house hastens to thank the intruders for the outrage. the _diable boiteux_, who lifted the roofs of houses, has been surpassed. when an unfortunate argentino wants to offer his heart (always accompanied by his hand) to the lady of his choice, let him begin by doubly locking all the doors and hermetically closing the shutters, if he wishes to be safe from intrusion! i alluded just now to the voting of the law of literary property.[ ] as may be supposed, such an excellent act was not carried through without long preparation. i could give a list of men who, on both sides of the ocean, worked in favour of this act of justice and literary honesty. from the moment that argentine statesmen realised that purely intellectual labour had proprietary rights in the same way as every other kind, and that to defraud its owners of the proceeds was to place themselves outside the pale of civilisation, they made it a point of honour to yield to the representations made to them from all parts of the world. is it not extraordinary that a law which was diametrically opposed to the interests of persons particularly well placed to defend them should have been voted unanimously without a single protest? all honour to the argentine republic, not only for the act itself, but for the nobility with which it was performed. it would be an affectation on my part to pass over in silence the public which did me the honour to come to listen to my lectures on democratic evolution as it manifests itself in history and in contemporary events. the subject is not wildly amusing. it is, however, one of those that are of surpassing importance to-day, and none can ignore it. unfortunately, the general public cannot acquire any trustworthy knowledge of it by scrappy reading indulged in between the hours of the day's work; and if in the tumult of party passion the public are to be of any real service to their government in solving it, the problem calls for more than a hasty and summary judgment founded on insufficient data. and yet was it not too much to expect of people who are engrossed all day by their own affairs to come to listen to the statements of a public man, against whom there must necessarily be some prejudices on a question of pure doctrine? the majority of workers are not free of an afternoon, and the "upper classes," even the most cultured--in europe, at least,--are too distrustful of democratic movements in general to waste an hour on a subject that worries them. happily, the history of american peoples has never been embittered by race hatred engendered by centuries of oppression, and revolts of which it is to be hoped that we have now seen the end. in the north, as in the south, a formula frightens nobody. society has been built up on a new idea embodied in language that was once the terror and scandal of the old world. when put in practice, however, these ideas and their verbal expression have stood the test of a century of trial; and the "practical" men of the new continent, while no less alive to social needs than any others, are, perhaps, more ready than the rest of us to make an experiment that can be recommended by right and by reason. there is here neither middle class nor aristocracy in the sense that we attach to those terms in the old world. all are workers who, having reached the top rung of the ladder, are ready to hold it steady for other feet to climb, rather than to overturn it and retard the advance of those behind. thus, beside the small aristocracy formed of the last vestiges of the original spanish colony, i had the pleasure and honour of finding a large public of european culture and wide intelligence, eager to hear what any european might have to say about an idea whose course he was honestly seeking to trace, whether bearing on the political and social experiences of europe or on the more or less rational experiments of which their own land is the theatre. their unbiassed criticism and independent opinions are all one could hope to find in an audience one is trying to influence. the very best public possible, prepared to surrender or resist according to the intrinsic value of the arguments presented. the element of resistance came, perhaps, from the feminine section, slightly actuated by snobbishness, and either holding itself aloof by way of protest against the possible utterance of ideas too bold to be acceptable, or attending the lectures in order to get some understanding of the subject so as to discuss it afterwards. as regards language, there was no difficulty. every one here understands french, reading and speaking it like the speaker himself, and showing by their gestures that no shade of meaning was lost on them. what better could one wish? by the grace of winged words the mind of france has flown across the ocean, and we may rejoice in the fact and found great hopes for the future on it. it is therefore with the greatest pleasure that i offer my heartfelt gratitude to this admirable audience for their constant kindliness and for the encouragement that i found in their remarkable idealism and determination. footnotes: [ ] i take this opportunity of thanking m. and mme. thiébaud for the friendly welcome i found at the french legation. [ ] if to argentine diplomacy the rigidity of our famous chapel on the quai d'orsay be unknown, they have none the less given us first-class men--such, for instance as the present minister for foreign affairs, m. ernesto bosch, who is much esteemed in the french political world, and his worthy successor in paris, m. enrique rodriguez larreta. [ ] it pleases me to note the triumph of pride over vanity shown in the fact that the argentinos have deliberately renounced the childish folly of orders. [ ] thanks to the difference in the clocks, the buenos ayres newspapers are able to publish in their morning editions news appearing at the same time in london and paris. [ ] the _nacion_ publishes a library of translations of the best works in french (fifty per cent. of the whole), english, russian, german, italian, to say nothing of spanish and argentine works in the original. [ ] i regret to say that brazil is backward in this respect. let us hope she will not let russia get ahead of her! chapter viii pampas life every capital is a world in itself--a world in which national and foreign elements blend; but to understand the life of a nation one must go out into the country. a vast territory, ten times the size of france, extending from patagonia to paraguay and bolivia, will naturally offer the greatest diversity of soil and climate, representing differing conditions of labour as well as of customs and sometimes of morals. our ancient europe can in the same way show ethnical groups with sufficiently marked features (such as in our french provinces) which a long history has not been able to destroy or even to modify. it is quite another matter when, on a continent with no history at all, you get men of every origin spread over it, brought thither by a community of interest and in the hope of cultivating the soil by their labour. i have already said what racial characteristics subsist. the colonist will, of course, at first do all he can to remain what the land of his birth has made him; the first evidence of this is his tendency to fall into groups and form national colonies. but the land of his adoption will in time surely force upon him the inevitable conditions of a new mode of life, the very necessity of adapting himself to changed conditions making of him a new creature, to be later definitely moulded by success. the pampas are not the argentine. they form, however, so predominant a part that they have shaped the man and the race by imposing on them their organisation of agricultural labour and the development of their natural resources. whilst manufactures are still in a rudimentary state and are likely to remain so for a long time to come owing to the lack of coal, the pampas from the andes to the ocean offer an immense plain of the same alluvial soil from end to end, ready to respond in the same degree to the same effort of stock-raising or agriculture. an identical stretch of unbroken ground, with identical surface, identical pools of subterranean water, no special features to call for other than the unchanging life of the _campo_. naturally, the first experiments were made in the most rudimentary fashion on the half-wild herds of cattle that could not be improved unless the european market were thrown open. as soon as this outlet was assured the whole effort of skill and money was directed towards the improvement of stock, and the progress made in a few years of work far exceeded the brightest hopes of those early days. and as at the same time a powerful impetus was given to wheat-growing, the pampas from one end to the other of their vast extent immediately took on a dual aspect: cattle farms (herds grazing on natural or artificial pastures), and acres of grain (wheat, oats, maize, and flax)--this is the only picture that the pampas offer or ever can offer to the traveller. the system of cattle-breeding, primitive in the extreme at a distance from railroads, improves in proportion as the line draws nearer; wherever the iron road passes there is an immediate development of land under cultivation. all this goes to make up a man of the _campo_--the _estanciero_, colonist, peon, _gaucho_, or whatever other name he may be called. certain conditions of living and working are forced upon him from which there is no escape. whether landed proprietor, farmer, servant, or agricultural labourer, the vastness of the plain which opens in front of him, the distance between inhabited dwellings, the roughness of the roads, leave him no other means of communication but the horse, which abounds everywhere and can be unceremoniously borrowed on occasion. the man of the _campo_ is a horseman. he is certainly not an elegant horseman, whose riding would be appreciated at the saumur cavalry school. no curb; only a plain bit is used, whose first effect is to bring down the animal's head and throw him out of balance, whilst his rider, to remedy this defect, raises his hands as high as his head. to the unsightliness of this picture is added an unstable seat. as very often happens in similar circumstances, instinct and determination more or less making up for all mistakes, the rider manages approximately to keep on his beast's back, thanks partly to the fact that the horse is rarely required to go at more than a moderate pace over level ground. the hoof never by any chance can strike on a stone, though it may be caught in a hole; the active little _creole_ horse excels in avoiding this danger. one can ask no more of him. (i shall have something to say later of the way wild horses are broken in.) on his enormous saddle of sheepskin, the peon or _gaucho_, his hat pulled well down over his eyes, his shoulders draped in the folds of the _poncho_,--a blanket with a hole in it for the head to pass through,--is encumbered with a whip whose handle serves on occasion as a mallet, and a lasso, with or without metal balls, coiled behind his saddle. he makes a picturesque enough figure in the monotonous expanse of earth and sky, where _rancho_ or tree, beast or man, stand out in high relief against a background of glaring light. without sign or syllable, his eyes fixed on the empty horizon, the man passes through the silence of infinite solitude, rising like a ghost from the nothingness of the horizon at one point to sink again into nothingness at another. when riding in a troop, they talk together in low tones. there are none of those outbursts of fun that you might expect in a land of sunshine. it is the gravity natural to men brought face to face with nature in the pitiless light of sky and earth where no fold or break in the surface arrests the glance or fixes the attention. still, there are those gigantic herds of horned cattle or horses which fill an appreciable portion of the melancholy plain--"green in winter, yellow in summer." i say nothing of the great flocks of sheep because there were none in the districts which i visited. when you talk of a herd of ten thousand cows, you make some impression on even a big farmer of the charolais. well, i can assure you that out in the pampas ten thousand head of cattle is a small affair. you see a dark shadow that rises on the horizon that might be either a village or a group of haycocks, until the vague shifting of the mass suggests to your mind the idea of some form of life. the lines show clearer, groups break off and stand out, pointed horns appear, and at last you find you are watching the tranquil passage of a monstrous herd, whose outlines are stencilled in black upon the whiteness of the sky-line like the chinese shadow pictures i saw on one occasion at the _chat noir_ (in montmartre) when the flocks of the patriarchs were flung upon the sheet. so distinct are the shapes here that you lose the sense of distance and are astonished at the harmony of nonchalant impulse, as irresistible as slow, which can thus set in movement this huge living mass and make it pass before us like a vision of fate. the dream fantasy is the more striking because it changes so rapidly. withdraw your eyes a moment from the picture, and it is entirely altered. the heavy mass of migrating cattle seems now to have taken root at the opposite extremity of the horizon, whilst in the depths of the luminous distance shadowy patches of haze more or less distinct betoken further living bodies, some stationary, some in motion. these are mirages of the pampas of which none takes any heed; but upon me they made a powerful impression, for i saw in them the whole tragedy of this land, from the tuft of grass on which the eyes of the beast first saw the light down to the last step of that fateful journey which ends at the slide of the slaughter-house. the rapid travelling of the motor-car multiplies one's point of view. the vast estates on the pampas, which run from two to a hundred square miles in extent, are further divided into large sections bounded by wire fencing to limit the wandering of the herds. the roads are marked out by a double row of wire. what dust and what mud may be found thereon, according to weather conditions, may be imagined, since there is not the smallest pebble to be found there. yet vehicles do, it appears venture along these paths, and even arrive at their destination. you may also meet flocks of sheep and oxen on them, and families of pigs engaged in breakfasting on a sheep that has been relieved of its skin. in less than an hour its bones, picked clean, are scattered along the way, where in process of time they will contribute precious phosphates to the soil. naturally, on such a "road," the automobile does not yearn to travel; rather does it prefer the green smoothness of the immense prairie. here there are no police regulations to annoy the motorist. no other law but your own fancy and a certain thought for the savoury lunch that is awaiting you at the next _estancia_. when you reach it you will discover that the monstrous herds on the horizon were merely these gentle creatures, placid in their happy ignorance of the fell designs that are the hidden causes of man's kindness to them. do we astonish them? or are they wholly indifferent? their eyes are fixed on our panting machines as ours are on the grazing beasts, and not a spark is struck by the meeting of the two intelligences, the one so calmly definite and the other too soon checked in its effort to understand. obedient to the _rebenque_ (whip) of the peon, the herd, which in motion looks so threatening, allows itself to be stopped or led by the cries and rapid movements of the horsemen going at a hand-gallop. the sight of any object that waves in the wind (whether coat or _poncho_) is equally effectual. if one expects the cows, which are penned for milking (three quarts a day as an average), the only apparent relations between man and beast consist in the easy use of this instrument of terror. nothing is done for the flock except to provide the mill which automatically feeds the water-troughs, and to see to the safe arrival of the bulls intended to improve the breed, and to select those from the herd destined for the freezing machines; for all their other needs providence is expected to provide--quite a different _régime_ from that prevailing in our french stock-farms. of shelter against wind or sun there is none. the grass is there when the drought has not burnt it up, also an ugly thistle which no one troubles to pull up and which sometimes overruns the pasture. of nature's scourges, the drought is the most to be feared, for it falls with fearful suddenness on great stretches of the _campo_. in the absence of rain, neither turf nor forage nor harvest can be looked for; for the cattle, death is certain. winter in any case is a hard season for them. their coats lose their gloss, their flanks fall in, and their pointed bones witness to their sufferings, which the icy breath of the _pampero_ does nothing to assuage. with the spring comes the hope of rain. but if this hope is betrayed, nothing can save innumerable herds from starvation and death. forage is always stored for the more precious of the stock, but to feed the herd is out of the question. the pampas then become one vast cemetery where hundreds of thousands of dead cattle are lying in heaps beyond all possibility of burial. it is the custom to leave the body of the beast that dies by the way to the tender mercies of the wind and the sun, the rain and the earth, into whose wide-open pores the remains are little by little absorbed. the birds of prey and dogs are valuable assistants but wholly insufficient. one of my friends told me that it was by no means uncommon for the dogs to return to the farm from the _campo_ bearing a horrible smell about them. for my part, if i was often revolted by the spectacle of putrefying carcasses lying about the pampas and seen either on my walks or from the railway-train--some even lying festering in pools close to dwelling-houses--i cannot say that my olfactory nerves were ever troubled. i occasionally spoke of the danger of poisonous fly-bites, but i got only vague replies. in my personal experience, whenever i met something disagreeable on my walks about the pampas, the carcass was invariably completely mummified, the skin being so thoroughly tanned that the object might have been carefully prepared for a museum of comparative anatomy. but when death was recent, and the summer season had set in, with its attendant flies, i should certainly avoid the neighbourhood. it will surprise no one to hear that i took the liberty of calling the attention of two or three statesmen to the dangers of this unfortunate custom and the detestable impression it is bound to make on travellers. the reply invariably was that the argentine was suffering, and would, no doubt, continue to suffer for some time to come, from a lack of hands and that the thousands of animals which under normal conditions perished in the pampas could never find grave-diggers. when, therefore, a dry season killed off as many as ten thousand sheep on a single ranch, there was no alternative but to bow to the inevitable. we see that cattle-rearing in the argentine has its ups and downs. at every turn nature intervenes with its elements of success or disaster. man's _rôle_ is to furnish a minimum of labour, and by the force of circumstances, he is compelled to reckon on quantity for his modicum of success; but the fact does not prevent his successful efforts to improve the quality. as i have already said, he will give any prize to secure a fine strain. it is naturally from england that he gets his stock for breeding, since the customers for his meat are chiefly english. on all hands i was told that the results were most satisfactory. as regards their breed of horses, the result is manifest. but as for the cattle, i take the liberty of disagreeing with those who declare that the argentine can send to our slaughter-houses at la villette meat as fine as our own at half its price. if, however, i am firmly convinced that our palate would not readily be satisfied with the frozen meat that seems to please the english, i am quite aware that there is a distinction to be drawn between the choice beasts, generally magnificent, that make such a show at exhibitions and the common run of the average flock, amongst which truth compels me to admit there are some very indifferent animals. it will require a long time and a change of system on the cattle-rearing farms for the argentine ever to equal the fine products of our french breeders. it cannot be otherwise as long as the young animal, bred somewhat at haphazard and born on the open camp between the corpses of some of its relations, is left to grow up as best it can, exposed to every change of temperature. everywhere i came upon young calves abandoned by their mothers as soon as born, and only sought out when the time for feeding came round; it cannot be said that the stock would bear comparison with the average produce of a norman or charolais byre. not all the quality of its mother's milk will suffice to make up for the ground lost by neglect. as i have said, the troops of horses seem to have lost the least. i speak less of their appearance than of their action, which often seemed to me remarkable. you cannot imagine the pleasure it is to glide swiftly across the pampas in a motor-car with a troop of young horses on either side of you, neighing and galloping to keep up with the machine. but do not, pray, call them "wild horses." tradition to the contrary notwithstanding, i believe there are no wild horses in the argentine. there are horses, and there are horsemen who treat them brutally under the pretext of breaking them in. this is a survival of ancient times which not even the universality of the horse in civilised countries can destroy. any english squire will get more out of a young horse by quiet skill and kindness than can ever be obtained by the useless and cruel lasso, to which i shall return later. i have shown you the pampas alive with the swarms of their new civilisation. we are far enough from the romantic descriptions so dear to story-tellers. we all know now that the redskin of north america bears no resemblance to the portraits painted of him by chateaubriand or fenimore cooper. the pampas, in full process of evolution, are getting more human and losing their distinctive features. they were once as bare, to quote the joke of a poet, now a member of the académie française, "as the speech of an academician"; man has undertaken to raise up orchards, groves, and even forests. once they were the refuge of more or less innocent beasts. the son of adam, by the mere fact of his presence, treads out all life that cannot be made of use to himself. i said that the _ombu_ was the only tree that flourished in the pampas, for the simple reason that the locusts devour every other vegetable product, including clover, crops, and trees of all sorts. the damage caused by these insects, which descend in clouds and destroy in a moment the harvest, is only too well known by our algerian colonists. wherever the cloud descends vegetation vanishes. in a few hours every leaf is gone from the tree, and only the kernel, clean and dry, is left on the branch as a mute witness of the irreparable disaster. i did not see the locusts, but i was shown the result of their work, most conscientiously carried out. men who have put long months of toil into their land see, with impotent rage, all the fruit of their toil swept off in the twinkling of an eye. the government lays out some millions yearly to assuage in some sort the mischief done. but the only remedy applied up to the present consists in making such a din on the approach of the baneful host as to induce them to go on farther and land at a neighbour's. as altruism, this course is not above reproach. another way is to dig ditches in which to bury them alive, but this is mere child's play. if you inquire the origin of the scourge you will get the sulky reply that the pest comes from chaco, and that some men have travelled thither to verify the statement, but the country proving impenetrable, the project has for the moment been abandoned. i hasten to place these insufficient data before the european public. alone victorious over the locusts by the repugnance it inspires, and over man by its glorious uselessness, the _ombu_ here and there spreads its triumphant arms near some ranch; occasionally, on the pasturage of the _campo_, it may be seen extending its shelter to some quadruped that shuns the rays of the sun. around his _estancia_ the farmer plants his orchard and his ornamental thicket, which will flourish or not at the will of the insects. after the passage of the destructive horde it requires at least two years for the country to recover. the eucalyptus, owing to its rapid growth, gives very good results, but the favourite tree in the pampas is the _paraiso_--the tree of paradise--which is admirable rather for its flower than its form, and withstands to some extent the locust, through sheer force of resistance. occasionally one comes upon a small wood, in which the _ornevo_--the cardinal--sings and the dove coos. for the _campo_ has a whole population of running or flying creatures, whose principal virtue is that of being satisfied with little in the shape of a shelter. the gardens and parks of the _estancias_ provide a natural asylum for a world of winged songsters, in whom man, softened by isolation, has not yet inspired terror. but the pampas in their nudity are not without signs of life. there is the guanaco, smaller than the llama, larger than the stork, which has already retreated far from buenos ayres. the grey ostrich, formerly abundant, has been decimated by the lasso of the _gaucho_, who, at the risk of getting a kick that may rip him open, attacks the beast that struggles wildly in the bonds of the cruel rope, drags out his handsomest feathers, and then lets him go. the really "wild" ostrich has disappeared from the pampas. numbers may be seen from the window of the train, but they are all confined in fenced parks, and are really in captivity. i cannot be expected to give a list of all the creatures that swarm on or under the soil of the _campo_. there is nothing to be said about the prairie-dog, which has been systematically destroyed on account of the damage it does. i must mention the _tatou_, a small creature with a pointed muzzle, something between a lizard and a tortoise, and with the shell of the latter. it burrows into the ground, as certain of our european species do. the _gaucho_ considers its flesh excellent, declaring that it tastes like pork. perhaps the surest way of getting the taste of pork is to address oneself to the pig himself, here popularly known as the "creole pig," a lovable little black beast that plays with the children in tiny muddy pools in the neighbourhood of the ranches. passing by the hare (imported from europe), the small partridge, and the martinette (_tinamou_), to which i shall return presently, i may mention the plover (abundant) and the birds of carrion, which settle all disputes for the possession of the ground according to the dictates of a boundless appetite, and the small owl, so tame that it rises every few yards with a cheerful cry to come down again a few yards farther on, following all your movements with a questioning eye. at the mouth of its burrow, or on the stake that marks the boundary of the ranch, its pretty form is a feature in the landscape. finally, i must not forget the _ornevo_, to be found near the _estancias_ and in the woods, a charming, tame little bird, that chatters all the time like a good many people, and builds a mud nest in the branches, in the shape of an oven divided into two apartments, whose tiny door opens always to the north, whence comes the warmth. if you lose yourself in the forest you need no compass but this. the _gauchos_ hold the bird in pious respect. legend has it that he never works on sundays at his nest. here is one who wants no legislation for a _repos hebdomadaire_ any more than he does for the regulation of the liquor sale. oh, the superiority of our "inferior brethren"! i heard a good deal about the great lakes in which thousands of black-necked swans and rose-pink flamingoes may be seen at play. i was never able to visit these fascinating birds. to make up for this m. onelli presented me with two handsome black-throated swans, which, however, were not able to stand the climate of normandy. having thus sketched the principal features, it remains to fill in the picture of the ranch and _estancia_. i have shown you the primitive cabin of the robinson crusoe of the _campo_. i have drawn a picture of the colonist and the _gaucho_; it is not necessary to go back to him again. i have shown the diverse elements of his existence. the railway has not changed anything in it except by abolishing the interminable rides of earlier days and the tiresome monotony of convoying freight waggons to the town markets. the railway, moreover, brings within reach of the ranch the conveniences of modern furniture. in the huts of the half-castes, near tucuman, the only piece of furniture i saw was a pair of trestles, on which was laid the mat which served as seat, bed, or table--the kitchen being always outside. in the pampas, dwellings that look modest, and even less than modest, generally boast an easy-chair, a chest of drawers, with a clock, a sewing-machine, and gramophone, which, when fortune comes, is completed by a piano. the gramophone is the theatre of the pampas. it brings with it orchestra, song, words, and the whole equipment of "art" suited to the æsthetic sense of its hearers. thus on all sides dreadful nasal sounds twang out, to the great joy of the youth of the colony. the morals of the _campo_ are what the conditions of life there have made them. men who are crowded together in large cities are exposed to many temptations. when too far removed from the restraint of public opinion, the danger is no less great. in all circumstances a witness acts as a curb. in the pampas as it used to be, the witness, nine times out of ten, became an accomplice. between the menace of a distant and vague police force and the ever-present fear of the indian, the _gaucho_ became a soldier of fortune, prepared for any bold stroke. with his dagger in his belt, his gun on his shoulder, and the lasso on his saddle-bow, he rode over the eternal prairie in search of adventures, and ready at any moment for the drama that might be awaiting him. to his other qualities must be added a generous hospitality, that dispensed to all comers his more or less well-gotten goods; he had in him the material for an admirable leader in revolutionary times. i saw no revolutions, and i hope the argentine has finished with them for ever; but the periodic explosions that have taken place there are not so ancient but that an echo of them reached my ear. i shall leave out of the question, of course, all more remote circumstances that might serve at hazard to put a body of adventurers in motion. you were on the side of general x or general z, according to the hopes of the party; but, in reality, that had little to do with it. when the signal was once given a military force had to be organised, and the means adopted were admirably simple. any weapon that could be of use in battle was picked up, and a band would present themselves at the door of an _estancia_. "we are for general x. all the peons here must follow us. to arms! to horse!" and the order would be obeyed; otherwise, the _estancia_ and its herds would suffer. with such a system of recruiting, troops were quickly collected, and a few such visits would suffice to bring together a very respectable force of men. my friend biessy, the artist, with whom i had the pleasure of making the journey, witnessed just such a scene one day at an _estancia_ which he was visiting. he was chatting with the overseer when the man, hearing a suspicious sound, flung himself down and put his ear to the ground. a moment later he rose, looking anxious. "there are horsemen galloping this way. what can have happened?" and sure enough, a minute later, there appeared a band of men so oddly equipped that at first they were taken for masqueraders. it was carnival time. the leader, however, came forward and called on the overseer to place all his peons at the service of the revolutionaries. biessy himself only escaped by claiming the rights of a french citizen. and do not imagine that all this was a comedy. the dominant sentiment in their camp was by no means a respect for human life. on both sides these brave peons fought furiously, asking no questions about the party in whose cause they happened to be enrolled. the overseer of a neighbouring _estancia_, who was talking with m. biessy when called to parley with the revolutionaries, was shot dead a few hours later for having offered resistance to them. if men are thus unceremoniously enrolled--i use the present tense because one never knows what may happen--it may be imagined the horses are borrowed still more freely. a curious thing is that when the war is over, and these creatures are again at liberty, they find their way back quite easily to their own pastures. the overseer of one _estancia_ told me that the last revolution had cost him horses, of which , that had been taken to a distance of from to kilometres, returned of their own accord. how they contrive to steer their course over the pampas, with their inextricable tangle of wire fencing, i do not undertake to explain. when i inquired of the overseer whether it were not possible to steal one of his horses without being discovered, he replied, "oh, it is like picking an apple in normandy! it often happens that a traveller on a tired horse lassoes another to continue his journey. but on reaching his destination he sets the animal at liberty, and he invariably makes his way back to the herd." i have already spoken of the time when the _gaucho_ would fell an ox to obtain a steak for lunch. in some of the more remote districts it is possible that the custom still subsists. but it is none the less true that a growing civilisation and the railway, which is its most effectual and rapid instrument, are changing the _gaucho_, together with his surroundings and his sphere of action. the _gaucho_ on foot is very like any other man. his flowing necktie of brilliant colour, once the party signal, has been toned down. his _poncho_, admirably adapted to the climatic conditions of camp life in the _campo_, is now used by the townsmen, who throw it over their arm or shoulder according to the variations in the temperature. the sombrero, like the slashed breeches or high boots, is no longer distinctive. there remains only the heavy stirrup of romantic design, more or less artistically ornamented, but now often replaced by a simple ring of rope or iron. the days of roystering glamour are passed. the heavy roller of civilisation levels all the elements of modern existence to make way for the utilitarian but inæsthetic triumph of uniformity. yet a little longer and the life of the _campo_ will be nothing but a memory, for with his picturesque dress the type itself is disappearing. the modern _gaucho_ has preserved from his ancestors the slowness in speech, the reserved manner, and scrutinising eye of the man who lives on the defensive. but to-day he is thoroughly civilised, and can stroll down florida street, in buenos ayres, without attracting any attention. it is in vain that the theatre seeks to reproduce the life of the _campo_, as i saw it attempted at the apollo. what can it show us beyond the eternal comedy of love, or the absurdities of the wife of the _gaucho_ who has too suddenly acquired a fortune? both subjects belong to all times and all countries, in the same way as every dance and every song are common to any assembly of young humanity. long before the gramophone was invented the guitar was the joy of spanish ears to the farthest confines of the pampas. between two outbreaks of civil war, when men were rushing madly to meet death, joyous songs and plaintive refrains alternated beneath the branches of the _ombu_, where the youth of the district met, and the sudden dramas of the ranch made them the more eager to drink deep of the pleasure they knew to be fleeting. they danced the _pericou_ and the _tango_, as they still do to-day; but the audacious gestures in which amorous spain gave expression to the ardour of its feelings have now passed into the domain of history. the "creole balls," where may be seen graceful young girls in soft white draperies, dancing in a chain that resembles our _pastourelle_, have been reproduced on postcards and are familiar to all. there are, there will ever be in the pampas--at least, i fondly hope so--graceful young girls dressed in white and destined to rouse the love instinct which never seems to sleep in an italian or spanish breast. but the trouble we take to reconstruct on the stage, for the edification of travellers from europe, the real _tango_, in all the antique effrontery of its ingeniousness, proves that the heroic age, made up of the _naïf_ and the barbarous, is fast losing its last vestiges of character in the wilderness of civilised monotony. the _tango_ is disappearing rapidly. on the other hand, at rio de janeiro, in the flower of my seventieth year, i actually figured in the official quadrille of the president of the republic, to the shame of french choregraphy. alas! alas! chapter ix farming and sport roman civilisation ended in those _latifundia_ which, amongst other causes, are usually considered to have brought about the ruin of italy. the immense estates of the argentine _campo_ were not built up, however, by the expropriation of small farmers, as was the case in decadent rome. they are simply the result of wholesale seizure of land at the expense of the savages who were incapable of utilising it. without discussing the origin of all landed property, or to what extent our legal principles and our practice agree, i simply note the fact that the _conquistadores_ and their descendants set down as _res nullius_ whatever it suited them to appropriate. the principle once established (this is the commencement of every civilisation), there remained only to fix the approximate extent of land likely to satisfy the appetite of the european newcomer. do you remember a fine story, by tolstoy, of a man who was given, by i know not what tribe of the steppe, as much land as he could walk round in a day? once started, the sole idea of the poor wretch was continually to enlarge the circumference. it was only at the price of a tremendous effort that he completed the circle, falling dead at the moment of accomplishing his journey. the first settlers, who followed the genoese, took probably less trouble, though their greed was as great. but as the land depends for its value on labour, the result for tolstoy's hero and for the _conquistadores_ was not so very different. thus, when the first ploughshare turned the first sod, the estate, whatever its proportions, had to bear some relation to human capacity. the large domains of to-day--measuring from two to a hundred square miles--have proceeded from still larger ones, and gradually, as the much-needed labour comes forward to undertake the task, we shall see the further cutting up of preposterous holdings. this is inevitable in the near future, and this alone will render possible scientific farming, which is highly necessary for the development of agriculture. a farmer who knows nothing of manure of any sort, who is making his first experiments in irrigation, and who burns his flax straw for want of knowing how to utilise it, will, for a long time to come, continue to swamp the markets of europe with his grain and his meat, but only on condition that he is satisfied with small profits and gives quantity in place of quality. these are the conditions of life on the _campo_, such as i have tried to sketch them. it remains for me to introduce the chief agent in this huge movement of cattle-rearing and agriculture, who, in his own person and that of his overseers, administers the pampas; he is the owner of the _estancia_, the _estanciero_. the word _estancia_--since it represents something non-existent with us--is not easy to translate. let us put it down as the most sumptuous form of primitive ownership. i might call it the seat of an agricultural feudalism if the peon were a man to accept serfdom--something resembling a democratic principality, if the two words can be coupled together. when we meet him on the boulevard, the _estanciero_, who talks of his immeasurable estate and his innumerable herds, seems to us a fabulous creature. it is quite another matter to see him on horseback amidst his peons in the pampas, which, in default of the customary features of private property, appears in its nakedness to be nobody's land--that is to say, everybody's land. the contrast between the _estanciero's_ personal refinement and the english comfort of his family abode, and the primitive rusticity of the surrounding country, suggests the inconsistencies of barbarism undergoing the civilising process. as i have already observed, the results obtained are due to a progression of efforts in which the chief, even if assisted by an overseer, necessarily plays a large part. for although it is easy to dazzle the european with fantastic figures, without sacrificing the truth, it is wise to remember that success is not automatic, and that from the elements alone (to say nothing of locusts) serious difficulties are to be expected. m. basset, whose competence is beyond question, told me that, having lost money in conducting experiments on a large estate, he decided to sell the place. in the meantime land had gone up in value, and he was able to recover himself on the sale of the unworked plots. "i should have made a lot of money," he concluded, "if i had not farmed any of my land." this shows that in the argentine, as elsewhere, there are risks to be run. the _estanciero_ takes these risks, but if he were content to wait on chance to enhance the value of his land, he would not contribute as largely as he does to the wealth of the rue de la paix. we are always being told that the word dearest to creole indolence is _mañana_ ("to-morrow"), but the exigencies of economic success tend to modify customs. the argentino, like the yankee, is more and more inclined to do over-night the work that might be put off to the morrow. at all events, absenteeism is unknown on the _estancia_, for this would spell ruin at short notice. it is true the _estanciero_ has the reputation of mortgaging freely his estates, and, when a good harvest makes it possible, of hastening to purchase more land so as to increase his output. what can i say, unless that every economic error must be paid for sooner or later, and that in spite of whatever may remain of "creole indolence," all are forced in the end to seek their profits in an improvement of the system of cultivation? _grand seigneur_ i called him--a _grand seigneur_ on colonial soil, where his dwelling is a rustic palace that is something between a farmhouse and a mansion. simple in structure, wood being the principal element, it is built on the ground-floor, colonial fashion. the comforts of english life are reflected in the large rooms, and both furniture and the domestic arrangements are admirable. large and rich pieces of furniture belong to the days when difficulties of travelling made a provision of the sort indispensable. large bookcases, filled with heavy volumes, denote a time before the coming of the railway to scatter on the winds leaves from the tree of knowledge. here is every inducement for reflection--paintings, or, rather, pictures; massive plate, goldsmiths' work won as prizes in cattle shows, whose medals fill large frames, to say nothing of photographs of prize beasts. and, better than all the rest, was the hospitality of other times. now that every one travels without ceasing, the ancient hospitality has lost its savour. there still linger vestiges of it in those countries where civilisation is not advanced enough to protect the traveller from unpleasant contingencies. let me hasten to add that amongst these one need not count the risk of starvation in an _estancia_. no doubt the abundance of cattle counts for something. in any case, the _estanciero_ is admirable in this respect. i wish i could give unstinted praise to the _upchero_, the _asado_, of which i have already spoken. but i shall not be able to do that until the argentino has got out of the habit of handing the meat to the cook while it is still warm, for this requires a power of mastication which european debility denies to our jaws. all kitchen-gardens are alike, and you cannot expect to find the pleasure-gardens of an _estancia_ laid out by a lenôtre. even if that miracle had been worked, what good would it be when the locusts had passed over it? in one _estancia_, near buenos ayres, considered the handsomest in the argentine, which the kindness of its owner throws open to any foreign visitor, i beheld a park of a thousand hectares, where, amid the groves of tall trees, animals wander, giving the illusion of wildness. the grey ostriches that are there imagine, perhaps, that they are free. we admire some handsome bulls which are stalled here. the eucalyptus, planted sometimes singly and sometimes in broad avenues, towered above us at a height no other tree could rival. in this favoured spot the rich vegetation has nothing to fear from the locusts. every species grows freely, as it will. for this reason, the overseer, anxious we should miss none of the rare species on which he prides himself, led us, with an air of mystery, to the edge of a low hill, where, with an authoritative gesture, he stopped us before an ordinary-looking tree, destitute of leaves, which had to me a familiar air. "yes, it is an oak you are looking at. an old european oak in the argentine. what say you to that?" i admit with prejudice that it is an oak, though at the same time confessing that i have seen others more favourable. and at the risk of being misunderstood, i acknowledge that it is not european flora that most interests me in the argentine republic. the special feature of this fine park is the quarter reserved for the bulls. the specimens i saw, which were led past us, are magnificent beasts, bearing witness to methodical and prolonged selection. the best english breeds are gloriously represented, not only in the beasts imported from europe, but also in argentine-bred animals, which would do honour to any country. the management and staff of the stables are entirely english. stallions of world-wide fame are paraded by english stud-grooms that we may admire beauty of line united to beauty of action. now we were to see the trainers at work, not upon "wild" horses, since they belong to bygone days, but simply upon young animals that have not yet been ridden. as a matter of fact, the problem here is exactly the same as with us, but i venture to think that our system is vastly superior. the colts are collected in an enclosure called the corral. pray do not conjure up a picture of mazeppa's steed, with fiery eye and bristling mane, as depicted in the favourite chromo. there is nothing here but ardour of youth and grace of movement. the object is to accustom the horse to man and his needs. this our norman boys quickly achieve by a mixture of skill and kindness which does not preclude firmness of hand. the system of the argentine peon is very different. first he catches the neck of the animal in a noose and leads him out of the enclosure to a piece of rough ground. there, with a few movements of the lasso, the limbs are so tied that the simplest movement must make the unfortunate victim lose his balance and bring him heavily to earth at the risk of breaking his bones. the creature is terrified, naturally. meantime, five or six men run in upon him--each an expert in his own way; and when he is so bound he can no longer move, the bit is adjusted and a sheepskin saddle adroitly buckled. all that now remains is to set the animal on his feet so that the horseman may mount. the rope is then relaxed as swiftly as it was tightened, and the colt, on his four feet, firmly held by the head, his eyes blindfolded, might perhaps get over his fright if his two forefeet were not still tied together by a last knot to prevent him running away. the peon gives the signal, and as the last loop is removed he leaps into the saddle and urges his mount straight ahead with the air of riding a savage brute and with a lavish use of his riding crop. two horsemen, called "sponsors," accompany him, rending the air with their cries and beating the creature with pitiless crops. by the time he has travelled two hundred yards in this way the horse is mad with terror, and asks nothing better than to be allowed to stop. perhaps there are exceptions; i did not happen to see them. on the other hand, i did see poor beasts that offered not the slightest resistance, and whose angelic gentleness should have disarmed the executioner. it appears that when this performance has been gone through five or six times the colt surrenders unconditionally. in the days when horses were wild upon the prairies these practices might have had some excuse. nowadays we have different ideas. all these branches of work require, as may be supposed, a fairly complete set of buildings. consequently, around the farmer's house there are outbuildings of every style of architecture which make the _estancia_ a sort of small village, whence radiates the work undertaken on the pampas. thus ordered and thus spent, life in the fields is a "solitude" broken every moment by great herds and _gauchos_ ever on the march. it has nothing to daunt even a man who is anxious not to lose touch with his fellow-creatures in these days of extreme civilisation. therefore it is not surprising that a stay of some months at the _estancia_ forms an agreeable part of the programme which the daily life of the argentine landholder forces on all his family. the railway is never far off, since it brings colonists and is responsible for the whole agricultural movement. railway construction proceeds at the normal rate of about five hundred kilometres per annum. the provinces of buenos ayres, of cordoba, of santa fé, which alone furnish eighty per cent. of the agricultural exports, are naturally the most favoured; and also, naturally, it is on the pampas, the immense reservoir of fertilising energy, that is concentrated the maximum of labour for the extension of the means of communication that are so swiftly and richly remunerative. thus it is not too difficult to move about in the _campo_. moreover, the motor-car--running now on a road, now on the great green carpet where movable gates provide a passage through the wire fencing--facilitates a pleasant interchange of neighbourly relations. i have said that absenteeism is unknown in the _estancia_. often the head of the family, when kept for some reason in the city, confides the management of the estate to one of his sons, who in this way turns to magnificent account the grand energy of youth and manhood in intensely interesting work. what more natural than for the family to gather in the fine summer months beneath the shade of the farms, amid its herds so full of life, to enjoy the beauty of the harvest ripened with the warm kisses of the sun? the rides are unending beneath the pure sky of the long mornings, in the strengthening breeze which sets the blood coursing through the pulses with renewed force. in brazil i heard people pity the argentinos because they lacked the resource of the mountains in the great heat of summer. the andes are, indeed, too far distant even with the railway that now crosses them. (the transandine line is now working between the argentine and chile--forty hours' run from buenos ayres to valparaiso or santiago.) but the costly pleasures of a sojourn at mar del plata are quickly exhausted. the _estancia_ offers a beautiful retreat of active and fruitful peace. there are visits to the farmers who, little by little, are coming to reside on the domain of the _estancia_ (purchasing the ground originally taken on lease, and grouping themselves in such-wise that villages are in process of formation), or the continual inspection of the herds (_rodeo_). another occupation is watching over the harvest which spreads across the pampas. there are daily pretexts for trips that combine pleasure with usefulness. the tall ricks grow in numbers, the grain falls to the snorting measure of smoking engines, the lean native cattle of the pampas yield their place to monstrous durhams, to herefords, with their handsome white heads, to percherons, to boulonnais, to lincoln sheep, with their heavy fleeces. it is by no means certain that the amusements of trouville or vichy are superior to those of the _estancia_. we may be allowed to think that the "gentleman-farmer" has chosen the better part. i have said nothing of game-shooting. we must admit that in this respect the resources of the pampas are greater than those of france. hares and partridges are on the programme, as they are with us. m. py told me he had tried to acclimatise the quail--in vain. some thousands of birds were let loose in a selected part of the pampas and disappeared for good. the history of the hare is very different. about fifty years ago some germans liberated a few couples at various points of the pampas, and the same animal which at home produces only one or two young each year began to swarm like the rabbit. several families every year--and what families! the result, disastrous for farming, is that from eighty to a hundred hares may be reckoned to every hectare, and you cannot walk on the pampas without perceiving a pair of long ears that spring up out of the grass every moment. the flesh has a poor reputation, perhaps for the reason that here they neglect that elementary operation which follows immediately on the death of the animal in our country. the partridge, smaller than ours, is a solitary creature. its flesh is white and rather insipid. the martinette (_tinamou_), a sort of intermediary between the partridge and the pheasant, is the best of the pampas game. one may hunt it without turning to right or to left--certain always of not returning with empty hands. the favourite amusement is the _rabat_, or the "rope," and shooting from the motor-car. for the _rabat_ horsemen are needed. a dozen or two of peons ride off at a gallop in no matter what direction, since the game is everywhere, to meet at a point out of sight and return at the top of their speed to the sportsmen. then, long before you hear their shouts or see their outlines on the horizon, there suddenly appears along the uncertain line at which earth and sky meet a swarm of creatures which rush and cross each other in every direction. whether the mass is near or far off it is impossible to say, since there are no objects to measure by. if far, all these black spots on the luminous background may be horns. to our inexperienced eye they give the illusion of a herd of oxen. then suddenly the truth becomes manifest. you have before you some hundreds of hares, which will quickly be within gunshot. but the animal is sharp to discern the danger, and, in less time than it takes to write it, the troop that was heading in a mass straight for the line of fire melts away until only the foolish ones at the back are left to continue their course with the acquired momentum. in this way the carnage, which promised to be terrible, resolves itself into ten or twelve more or less lucky shots apiece. this is inevitable, since the wire fence which effectually stops horses and cattle is powerless against running game. the day when the destruction of the hare is decided upon, which is certainly desirable, it will only be necessary to fence in three sides of an enclosure and drive the game towards the opening. in the present state of affairs the mere sight of three or four hundred hares running straight towards the guns, even though they make a right-about turn just in time, is an entertainment much appreciated by europeans. shooting _à la corde_ has a different aspect. the mounted peons form up to make a line of beaters a hundred yards apart. but, unlike our own _battues_, the beater precedes the shooter, instead of walking towards him. the reason is that every peon is attached to his comrade to right and to left by a rope of twisted wires, which sweeps the ground and puts up every living creature to the guns, which follow behind at the pace of a horse's walk. the hare does not wait till the rope reaches him. often he gets away out of reach. but there is such an abundance of game that none misses the animal that may escape. the important point is for the peons to keep well in line, else huntsmen and horsemen are likely to get a charge of lead. at the eldorado, m. villanueva's place, this happened twice or three times in the same day. the partridge (always flying singly) and the martinette are never weary of marking time. they run before one without haste, and apparently determined not to fly away. it occasionally happens that a sportsman tires of his game and wants to end it. several times i left the line of guns and ran upon the enemy, which, without any excitement, still kept its distance and never gave its pursuer the satisfaction of seeing it even hasten its step. you look around for a stone, a bit of wood, or a lump of earth, which should have the effect of driving off the creature. on the pampas is neither pebble, nor stick, nor clod of earth. you have no resource but to swear and make violent gestures that have no effect at all. the martinette, too, has a way of glancing sideways at you which expresses a profound contempt for the entire human race. all generous minds are sensitive to rudeness and feel a just vexation when thus treated. the rapid chase is the more painful that you have very soon before you several martinettes and as many partridges which fly backwards and forwards, leaving you in doubt at which to point your weapon, while, at the same time, you know that in leaving the line of fire you expose yourself to all the guns which may be tempted, by fur or feather, to aim in your direction. there is only one way out of this critical situation that i know of. it is to fling your cap at the running bird. he will fly off then and keep his distance. the victory would be yours afterwards were it not that the chase under a sun that would seem hot even in summer has left you out of breath. to take aim while struggling for breath is to risk missing the bird. happily, both partridge and martinette have a straight, low, and heavy flight, which permits you to return to the _estancia_ without dishonour. such are the peripatetics of this amusing form of sport, in which, all along the line, firing is incessant. the steady walk of the guns is only checked by the rope getting caught occasionally on some tuft of grass, or by an encounter, not at all rare, with the carcass of horse or ox in process of decomposition. having left on his own initiative, he at least escapes from man's ferocity. you pass without even having to hold your nose, so thoroughly does the strong, purifying air of the pampas carry away in its boundless currents every germ that cannot be returned to the soil to perform the eternal labour of fertilisation. on all sides the last vestiges of clean and fretted bones tell us how lives now ended are taking on new forms of life, and in the gentle murmur of the grass that bends to the breeze the huge white skeletons that brave the blue of heaven have all the eloquence of philosophy in their tale of the supreme defeat of living matter beneath the irresistible triumph of fatality. with no other break in the horizon but the distant _ombu_, a group of _paraisos_, a ranch, or travelling herd, the murderous band pursues its way. the walking is good, and the motor-car, which follows slowly in the rear, is at hand to pick up the weary sportsman. but before that point is reached one is tempted to cast off, little by little, articles of clothing which rapidly become a burden under the sun's rays. a shirt and trousers are already much. even so, a rest becomes necessary, and those who have any acquaintance with m. villanueva will guess that there was present a cart laden with refreshments. halts like these, in the precious shade of the car, are not without charm, if you have taken the wise precaution to put on something warm. when the incidents of the day have been thoroughly discussed the chase is resumed, but if you are really done up do not imagine your fun is over. the auto will take your place in the line of march behind the rope of peons, and, apart from the game of running after martinettes, nothing is changed. the endless prairie is so truly a billiard-table of turf that not a jolt need be felt, and, after a few attempts, one gets the knack of firing from the car with a good average of successful shots. the hare suffers most; martinette and partridge get off more easily. it must be admitted that the experienced chauffeur is a powerful auxiliary. in any case, if you are shooting the less brilliant, the pleasure of sport in repose, varied by all sorts of unforeseen circumstances, more than compensates for the misses and lends a flavour to the sport that is lacking in european shooting parties. better still--the day is slowly dying: soon the party will break up, but the shooting will go on all the same. the silent peons come up to say good-night. dumbly, with courteous gestures, final greetings are exchanged, and then the order is given to set the helm for eldorado. but there is still light enough to see by. so here we are zigzagging across the pampas in complicated turns and twists, as one spot or another appears more favourable for game. and the slaughter is terrific, for hares abound. martinette and partridge, with their dark plumage, have nothing to fear from us now. in the faint light of the setting sun the hare makes still an admirable target, and plover and falcon offer supplementary diversions. the gay little owl alone finds grace with the guns. and when the "dark light" of the poet left us no resource but to shoot at each other, pity or perhaps fear of the last agony sufficed to make us hold our hand. the gentle horned beasts moved out of our way, fixing on us their stupidly soft eyes, and leaving us wholly remorseless, while in the freshening breeze and empty blackness of sky and land we burst in upon the lights of hospitable eldorado. this simple tale of a day's sport in the pampas has no other merit than that of being strictly accurate. the argentinos might very well content themselves with the pleasures they have ready to their hand at all seasons of the year, for in these regions, half-way between barbarism and civilisation, the gamekeeper is unknown. but man can never be content with what is offered to him. therefore the wealthy _estanciero_ takes infinite trouble to get thousands of pheasants sent out to him from our coverts, so that he may breed them in his preserves. in districts that are not menaced by the locusts the birds will be let loose shortly in the woods, and the argentine will then pride herself on shooting such as that of saint-germain. it is because of this approaching change that i have set down these impressions of a day's sport in conditions which will soon belong to a vanished age. chapter x rosario and tucuman the traveller with only a few weeks at his disposal in this immense country of overflowing activity cannot pretend to make a very profound and detailed study of it. i am here setting down only those things that i saw, but, at the same time, i endeavour to show their significance, and to give some idea of their social import, while leaving my readers to judge for themselves. it is, of course, the subjective method, and is full of pitfalls, but it is, also, useful inasmuch as it sheds much light on the subject if used with discrimination. my friend jules huret, who has been inspired to reveal to the criminally incurious french public certain countries which they persistently ignore, takes all the time he needs to collect a voluminous amount of material, which he then proceeds to place before his readers in accordance with the strictest canons of the objective method. we know how successful he was with north america and germany. he has marshalled before us so orderly a procession of men and things, that to my mind he has defeated his object, and left us no inducement to undertake the journey for ourselves and to obtain first-hand impressions by the direct contact which is worth all the books in the world. huret is now publishing in the _figaro_ the result of a year's close study of the argentine. he has taught and will still teach me much, no doubt, and i strongly recommend every one to read his admirable work. but in their way i still venture to claim for my unpretentious notes the virtue of creating in my readers a desire for further information, for the simple reason that they will assuredly want to test my views in the light of their own experience. humanity, nowadays, is moving at high speed, and the chief interest that most men attach to each day's events is the opportunities they may afford for to-morrow's energy. but the real value of the "event of the moment," to which the press attributes more and more importance, lies in the revelation it may bring of those general laws that we must all understand. hence the living appeal made by cursory reflections, irrespective of what may be the verdict of the future thereupon, since our "truths" of to-day can never be more than successive eliminations of errors. these generalities are intended to explain the spirit in which i prepared to leave buenos ayres, and drew up an itinerary that was necessarily curtailed by the limited time that remained to me. i had been told: "at cordoba you will find a city of monks; mendoza affords a charming picture of fine watercourses lined with poplars, vines in profusion, and a remarkable equipment for the wine industry; at tucuman, there are fields of sugar-cane with dependent refineries and, also, the beginnings of an extensive forest." with irrigation-works, poplars, vines, monks even, i was already familiar: so without hesitation i headed for tucuman, with a brief halt at rosario, the second city of the argentine republic. in its external aspect rosario de santa fé differs but little from buenos ayres. there is the same florid architecture, the same desire to do things on a large scale, the same busy spirit, though naturally on a smaller scale. rosario exists by reason of its port, which commands the parana. the prodigious extension of the town is due to the building of numerous railway lines, which have produced an enormous development of agriculture in the provinces of santa fé, cordoba, and santiago del estero. the cereals grown in these provinces, representing one half the total exported by the argentine, are carried by these railways, whilst the parana furnishes a waterway several thousands of kilometres in length for coasting vessels on the upper river and from paraguay as far as the mouth of the rio. a volume might be written of its docks, built by a french firm under the management of m. flandrin, a compatriot and native of my own vendean village. there is a peculiar charm about meetings of the sort. a journey of many days has brought you to the unknown land, where, with the help of some imagination, any strange event is possible. after sundry adventures, the curtain rises, and the first face that meets your eye, the first voice you hear, belong to your native place. names, scenes, and memories rush in upon the mind with a train of unexpected impressions and emotions. to think i had come all this way to be confronted with that special spot of earth to which through all travels and all life's changes we remain so firmly bound! far away in the distant brazilian mountains, i met a charming vendean woman, whose tongue had kept that accent of the _langue d'oil_ which belonged to rabelais. when sancho, from the height of his waggon, beheld the earth no larger than a grain of millet, his sense of proportion was truer than ours. only, instead of being so many hazel-nuts upon the millet, as sancho thought, men are, in reality, merely imperceptible particles in a restricted space, bound to collide at the least movement. my philosophy did not prevent my feeling great pleasure at meeting m. flandrin, who is as unpretentious as he is kind, and who is a credit to his native land. we made a tour of inspection of the docks, and the inevitable trip by boat round the harbour. all i can say of the port thus hastily seen and already described in many technical publications is that, in spite of tremendous natural difficulties, it has been satisfactorily accomplished, thanks to the tenacity of the engineers and the admirable method adopted.[ ] moored alongside the quays were a number of english and german cargo-boats (amongst which, i saw but one french, alas!) taking in grain at the rate of tons per hour. the docks were begun in . they were designed to cope with an average tonnage of , , , and it was at that time believed impossible to attain that figure before some thirty years at least. by , however, it had been reached and passed, and a contract for their enlargement was immediately given to a french firm. under these conditions, it is easy to understand how a town numbering , inhabitants in should, in , contain nearly , . this, also, explains a rivalry that exists between the second city of the republic and santa fé, the historic capital of the province. rosario complains, with some show of reason, that the enormous fiscal contribution paid by her to the national exchequer does not procure for her the advantages to which her population entitles her. the deplorable deficiency of schools in rosario is more especially a subject of loud recrimination. i cannot but think that this claim will be before long admitted. as for the æsthetic future of the city, i can say nothing. when i saw it, it was disfigured in every direction by extensive road-making operations, thanks to which there will, in all probability, be open spaces enough, one day, to arouse the admiration of visitors. an excellent and modern hotel seems a good augury for the future. as usual, the welcome i received far exceeded anything i could have expected. but the municipal improvements scheme had occasioned a fever of speculation in land values, and the one subject of conversation was the fabulous fortunes to be realised in this way--so much so, indeed, that i was strongly tempted to spend a few _sous_ on a plot of land which by now or a little later perhaps might be worth a hundred millions. if rosario has made a fortune out of the incredible increase of its corn harvests, it must not be supposed that cattle-rearing is neglected in the province of santa fé. by a fortunate coincidence, i arrived on the day of the opening of the great annual cattle show. the president of the agricultural society happens to be one of the most distinguished politicians, not only of the province but of the republic, and, by his kindness, i was able to glean much information on general topics, and, at the same time, inspect some samples of agricultural produce that would not have been out of place in the first of our european shows. the surrounding provinces, including that of buenos ayres, had sent up some of their finest specimens of horses and horned cattle. as usual, there was a superabundance of british breeds to be seen; but our norman horses were well represented, too. to tell the truth, the dual capacity of my guide, who was no less eminent as statesman than as cattle-breeder, caused politics to somewhat overshadow agriculture in our talk, and i found out that señor lisenadro de la torre was the leader of a party that is aiming at the overthrow of the cabinet now in power, whose majority, he informed me, was based on those very administrative abuses that i had already noted. the tendency is to use and even abuse authority to coerce the electors, who are unorganised for the defence of the public interests against private ambitions,[ ] "an evil that spreads terror," as may truly be said, and one of which rosario does not hold a monopoly. on this theme the clear-headed politician, with his concise manner of speech and decided tones, gave me a rapid sketch of the situation by a brief examination of the enemy's country. and i rejoiced to see that abuses common, more or less, in all old countries, and whose remedy lies only in private endeavour, have in this new community of the argentine provoked the same keen intelligence and determination as others which i noted. under whatever form of government, the worth of a country lies in its men--that is, in its sum total of disinterested activity. a race that can show the development of intelligence and character that have so struck me in the course of this journey can afford to await with tranquil courage the solutions of the future. as it is my desire to leave no dark corners unexplored, i must make a reference to the strange hints of revolution that i heard at rosario and, later, at tucuman. "a certain military leader would be displeased if full satisfaction were not given him. there was every reason to fear a movement. dispatches from the government recommended a careful guard over rifle magazines," etc. i was, however, pretty soon convinced that all these rumours were but the expiring echo of a bygone condition with very little foundation in actual fact. here in rosario we are not far removed from the life of buenos ayres. to-day the distance from one city to the other ( kilometres) can be covered in five hours. the last part of the journey, which terminates at tucuman ( kilometres from the capital), gives us the impression of a complete change of country. at daybreak, in full sunshine, the first discovery i made was that we were travelling through a cloud of dust that entirely concealed the landscape. with a kindness for which i can never be sufficiently grateful the president of the republic, señor figueroa alcorta, had lent me his own coach for the journey. i slept in an excellent bed, with windows carefully closed and blinds drawn. but the argentine dust knows no obstacles. for this reason the prophecy in the book that we shall all return to dust seems to me already fulfilled. my beautiful bedroom, my luxurious dressing-room, with its welcome douche, my clothes, my luggage, and my person, all were wrapped in a thick veil of fine red dust, ugly in appearance and dangerous to respiration. yes, while i was sleeping in all confidence, the imperious dust had taken possession of train, passengers, and all that was visible to their dust-filled eyes. the stations: merely a stack of red dust; man: a vermilion-coloured walking pillar; the horseman, or vehicle: a whirlwind of dust. horror! to my wrath a beautiful white shirt was discovered blushing rosy as a young girl surprised. i washed with red soap and dried with red towels my carmine-coloured face. here is the explanation of the complexion of the indian! tucuman is in sight--tucuman, the land of cacombo, the faithful servant of candide. none can have forgotten that the governor of buenos ayres, moved by the beauty of the lovely cunégonde, was on the point of despatching candide when he was saved by cacombo. but what follows marks the difference between candide's times and our own, for candide and cacombo in their flight paused in "a beautiful meadow traversed by streams of water," where befell the double adventure of the monkeys and the mumps, whereas for us meadow, rivulets, monkeys, and mumps all resolve themselves into universal dust. i strain my eyes to discern some features of the country: a dismantled forest is dying in the dust; some lean cattle are grazing, on clay apparently; enormous cactuses, like trees; flocks of small white birds with pink beaks, known as "widows" (_viudas_); and, from time to time, the beauty of a flight of cackling parrots, making in the sunlight flashes of emerald in the dusty air. the _marseillaise_! the tricolor! the governor, the french colony!--this is tucuman's reception of me. handshakes, salutes, welcoming words with affectionate references to the distant fatherland. an admirable official motor-car, but execrable roads where the best of _pneus_ finds so many obstacles to jump that it becomes quite dizzy, as is shown by its continued stagger. the first impression given by tucuman after the jolting and shaking of the road is that of a colonial land. everywhere the "half-house," hastily put up, but rendered charming by its _patio_, and comfortable by the disposition of its rooms to take advantage of the shade. the indian half-caste is king in tucuman, "the garden of the republic," whose women, they say, are more beautiful than flowers. everywhere, in fact, one sees bronzed faces in which two impassive black eyes shine with the brilliance of the diamond. a long, lingering glance which says, i know not what, but something that is totally un-european. simplicity, dignity, with few words, slow gestures, an imposing harmony of bearing. i know not whether one day the dominant race will succeed in modifying or effacing the native traits. at present, nothing seems to touch the indelible imprint of american blood. a few of the women are very handsome. the french colony in tucuman is larger than i thought. i shall see it when i return from santa ana, where i am going to visit m. hilleret's manor. as we pass, i notice broad avenues well laid out: the place de l'indépendance, on which there stands the statue of general belgrano, in remembrance of the battle of tucuman ( ), and the new palace of the governor, which is impressive. from sixty to eighty thousand inhabitants. the town very commercial. the country broken, with high mountains. fertile plain suitable for growing sugar-cane, tobacco, oranges, and the most beautiful flowers. large and noble forests that are being ruthlessly devastated to supply fuel for factory furnaces. uninterrupted cane-raising all the way to santa ana, where m. hilleret, who came to the argentine as a labourer on the railway, set up a sugar factory,[ ] thanks to which--and to protection--he was able, at his death, to leave a fortune of a hundred millions. we were magnificently received in a hospitable mansion that betrayed the taste of a parisian architect.[ ] a park and garden bearing traces of a recent attack from locusts. specially beautiful were the tufts of bamboo, and the false cotton plants with their big balls of white down, amid which a tiny grey dove cooed softly like a wailing child. what can i say of the factory that has not already been said? it is admirably managed. the cane is automatically flung on a slope down which it drops beneath heavy rollers. two thousand workmen are employed, half-castes for the most part--a few are pure indians,--and a small number of french foremen. there is a picturesque scene in the town of a morning, when troops of women, old and young, followed by a procession of children, come to market and fill their wooden or earthenware bowls with provisions, balancing them on their heads; their parti-coloured rags, gaily patched, add a piquant touch to the faces, whose firm lines seem set in bronze, all vitality and expression being concentrated in the dark fire of their eyes. the workmen's quarters are indescribable slums. on both sides of a wide avenue there are rows of tiny low houses from which the most rudimentary notions of hygiene or of comfort are, apparently, carefully banished--dens rather than dwellings, to speak accurately, so destitute are they of furniture. women and old men sit immovable in the dust, the _bombilla_ between their lips, in an ecstasy of _maté_. children moving about on all fours are scarcely distinguishable from the little pigs which are grubbing in the rubbish-heaps. ineffable smells issue from boiling cauldrons and stewpans, whilst in the darkness of the doorway the nobly draped figure of the guardian of the hearth stands, speechless and motionless, surveying the scene. according to european ideas, these folk are wretched indeed. yet the climate renders existence easy and they appear to find quiet pleasure in it. we may be permitted to imagine for them a happier future and higher stage of civilisation, which they will achieve when they draw a larger share of remuneration from the monument of labour their hands have helped to put up. laws for the protection of labour are unknown in the argentine, which is explained by the backwardness of industry there. although life beneath this beautiful sky must undoubtedly offer many conveniences, and although the mill-owners whom i met seemed to me both humanely and generously inclined, factories such as those i visited can scarcely exist much longer without the labour question being brought before the legislators. members of parliament with whom i discussed the point appeared favourably disposed, though inclined to defer remedies indefinitely. the fields of sugar-cane can be visited without fatigue by train. we passed teams of six or nine mules--up to their knees in dust--on their way to the factory with loads of cane grown at a distance from the railway. the drivers, sitting postilion-wise on their leaders, raised their whips with threatening cries that made the lash unnecessary. but who could have imagined that it took so much dust to manufacture sugar! out in the fields the peons, armed with the long knife that is always stuck in the back of their belts, cut the cane and with two dexterous turns of the blade divide it into lengths for the presses, leaving the foliage and part of the stalk for the cattle. at the wayside station there were five or six dilapidated cabins, in which the numerous progeny of the cane-cutters seemed to be thriving. in appearance they formed a temporary encampment, nothing more. the huts are made out of odds and ends picked up at haphazard, and follow a simple principle of architecture which requires a space of some twenty or thirty centimetres between the floor and the palisade--for it can scarcely be called a wall--to insure a circulation of air. thus, one could, at a pinch, sleep in the place without arousing the smallest envy in the four-footed beasts that are happily slumbering under the starry heavens. children, pigs, and donkeys live together in friendly promiscuity. women, bearing in their arms their latest-born, appear on their threshold dumbfounded, apparently, at the sight of strangers. in my own language, i ask one of them for permission to glance at the interior of her hut. she stands aside, and i look in, not venturing more than a single step. the only attempt at furniture is planks laid across trestles, with rags of clothing (incredibly dirty) doing duty for mattress or blanket. a movable stove adapted to open-air cooking, and four stakes in the earth, on which are laid bits of anything that comes handy, with tree trunks for seats--this constitutes a rough-and-ready dining-room. scattered about on the ground are different utensils for the use of man and beast. then a commotion. a naked baby, who is sucking a sugar-cane, suddenly sees its treasure carried off by a lively little black pig. a fight and loud screams. biped and quadruped come to blows, and the effect of excitement on the dormant functions of infant life is such that it is the child who succeeds in worsting the pig. the latter noisily protests. then, there being no such thing as justice on earth, it is the child who is carried off and set on the heap of rags whose odorous dampness will at nightfall soothe its sleep. m. edmond hilleret, the eldest son of the founder of the factory of santa ana, had invited us to a tapir-hunt. to camp out in the forest for three days did not in the least daunt us, but a member of the society for the protection of animals having urged upon me the shamefulness of letting dogs loose upon so inoffensive a beast, and providence, with the same intention probably, having smitten our hunter-in-chief with appendicitis, followed by an operation, our shooting was directed humbly against the parrots. i speak for my companions; as for my own part, i announced the most pacific intentions towards the birds of the forest. peons on horseback and light carts start off in an ocean of dust. the only way is to get in front of the procession and leave to your friends the duty of swallowing your dust. as a lack of altruism on the part of my comrades had inflicted this experience on me as we went, i took care to return the compliment on the way back. the forest, which belongs to the factory, is generally denominated "virgin" for the sake of effect. but my regard for truth compels me to state that it was not even _demi-vierge_, for there are herds grazing in the clearings, peons keeping watch, and woodcutters and colonists unceasingly busy dragging away its veils with a brutality that is never slaked. such as it is, however, with its inextricable wildnesses, through which only the axe can clear a way, with its tall, flowering groves, its ancient trees covered with a luxuriant parasite growth that flings downwards to earth and upwards to heaven its showers of lovely colour, it is marvellously beautiful. the wonder of it is this haze of parasites, so varied in species, in colour, and in growth, with their invincible determination to live at all costs, which wrap the giant tree from root to highest twig in a monstrous profusion of new forms of life. the dead branch on which we trample has preserved, even in decomposition, the frail yet tenacious creeper whose blossoms had crowned it high aloft. the tree is no longer a tree: it is a laocoön twisted in a fury of rage beneath the onslaught of an ocean of lives whose torrents recognise no barriers. whichever way one looks, hairy monsters are agonising in despairing contortions, victims of a drama of dumb violence; and the spectacle conveys a keen realisation of the eternal struggle for life that is going on all around us, from the summits of these verdant heights to the subterranean depths whence issues this living force. and, as episodes in the universal tragedy, the brilliant colouring of lovely birds lights up the gloomy enchantment of the silent tumult of anguished lives whose effort after mastery can only end in death. having not yet learnt to know man's baseness, the royal magpies of paraguay, with their startling plumage, pause on the branches close beside our path to gaze on us in, perhaps, the same astonishment as we on them. but already in the great clearing shots resound, betokening the salute of the first arrivals to the denizens of the forest. now, my parrot friends, make for the fields as fast as you can, out of reach of the horde of enemies! but it is precisely these clearings that the parrot loves, for here he, like us, can satisfy his appetite. when his tribe descends upon an orchard, good-bye to the fruit harvest. we were in a vast clearing, inhabited by a small colony of farmers, whose huts are built along a rivulet on the slope of a meadow. here are fields of maize covered with dead stalks. the cattle wander freely where they will. in an orchard stands an orange-tree, the tallest i have seen, full of golden balls. hard by a well, on a wooden post, there sits a green parrot, with red poll, his plumage ruffled, his eye full of contempt for the human race. attracted by the noise, two women come out from a dark hut. gossips probably, though what they can find to talk about in such a spot it would be hard to guess. one of them attracts attention by the beauty of her form, the nobility of her pose, and the warm, coppery tint of her face. she is a creole equally removed from the two races. her thick hair, intensely black, falls in a plait upon her shoulders. instinctively she has twisted pink ribbon--found, probably, in a box of biscuits--in her hair, where it makes a line of light in the night of her tresses. erect in the simplicity of the semi-savage, without a word, without the least acknowledgment of our presence, and without a trace of embarrassment or affectation, she stands looking at us, desiring, apparently, no better occupation. her features are regular and delicate, according to the canons of european æsthetics. two or three pock-marks make a startling patch. all the soul of the native race is visible in the dark light of her eyes, heavy with feelings that belong to an epoch too primitive to be comprehended, even dimly, by our aged and vulgar civilisation. that surprising pink ribbon and the shyness--like remorse for some unknown crime--expressed through the ingenuous and compelling eyes, are probably the secret of her charm. whatever it springs from, the effect is the same. whether girl or woman it would be hard to tell. this uncertainty often gives its brilliance to feminine power. i tear myself from contemplation of the lady and wander into the forest in the wake of the chattering birds, carrying with me, by way of viaticum, an orange whose freshness and perfume have left me a souvenir no less delicious than that of the charm of the young beauty. i was slowly returning to the glaring sunshine of the clearing, absorbed in admiration of a flight of bright-plumaged parrots, when a vexatious gunshot brought me back to the realities of our sinful race. one of our party had concealed himself among the brushwood at the foot of the tree in which the birds were holding their parliament. the danger of the institution was instantly apparent, for five birds fell to the murderous lead. i still hold with parliaments, however, and with parrots which debate in the branches. i know not what they find to talk about, but, judged by the criterion of noise adopted at home, it must be of great importance. when we teach them to speak our language, i am aware they utter the words but attach no meaning to them. i have known humans to do the same without the birds' excuse. moreover, a very remarkable trait in the parrot's character is that he is altruistic in the last degree, and will face any danger to assist a friend in distress by voice and gesture. when one is wounded, the rest, who have at first flown off in alarm, return with loud cries to the scene, abusing the sportsman and calling on deaf gods for justice. if further volleys make fresh victims, the flock will not give up its work of pity, thus exposing themselves to further slaughter. all this is to explain how it was that, on my return to the place i started from, i saw on the ground a beautiful green parrot with a crimson head, lying now in the stillness of death, while two or three of his friends limped and fluttered round him, hurling maledictions at the human race. i fear they all figured later on the supper-table of the colony. the young woman with the pink ribbon, for whom the scene probably offered nothing new, stood and gazed at us as if we were the curiosity of the moment. one of the wounded birds had climbed a stump beside her, and, without any preliminaries, had nestled up against her like a child. the woman took no notice. her questioning eyes seemed to be seeking forms in which to clothe her thoughts, but her tongue could give no assistance. i, too, would have liked to speak to her, to learn something of her story, of her notions about the world, and the ideas that influenced her actions. but i knew of no signs in which to clothe such questions, and not a word of either spanish or _guarani_ (the name of a small tribe now applied to the relics of their language, which is that of the natives). with a rhythmic walk she returned to her hut, emerging once more to join our circle, with a tiny grey parrot perched on her shoulder, by way, perhaps, of a conversational opening. the bird, fluttering its wings, stepped down as far as her fingers, which were slim and coloured as though with henna, and i ventured to tease him. the long, red hand came slowly forward, accompanying the movements of the bird, without a shadow of a smile on her impassive face; and so, the time for our departure having come, we parted for ever with all our questions unasked. on the following day we drove to the _salto_, another clearing in the forest, enlivened by a waterfall. we fired at some hawks that we took for eagles. large blue birds flew mocking above our heads, and our hunters ended by shooting at imaginary fish. they thought a walk in the forest absurd, so whilst i and two comrades ventured a little way, they chose the most natural occupation in the world for men who have come from the ends of the earth to see an almost virgin forest, and made up a game of poker. oh, the joys of modern travelling, undreamed of by the early explorers! meantime, i wandered straight before me through the woods, at the risk of losing my way. once i thought i was going to know the pleasures, which are not unmixed, of being hopelessly lost. already i saw myself reduced to the necessity of hunting for an _ornero's_ nest, the opening of which is always in the north side; but one of the party pointed out a line of bluish-grey lichen on every tree-trunk, which indicated clearly, without the help of the birds, from which direction blows the north--naturally the warm--wind. finally, by way of putting a finishing touch to my education, he assumed that i was thirsty, and leading me to a creeper growing parasitically on a large branch at the height of a man above the ground, he dexterously inserted his knife into the joint of the leaves, and there burst forth a jet of water slightly aromatic in taste, like the fine juice of some grass. the traveller's sherbet! a few minutes later we came upon a peon mounted on his mule, who, more surely than either bird or lichen, set us on the right path. the first sugar factory founded by m. hilleret was at lulès. there we found a fine forest, wilder still than that of santa ana, with gorgeous great trees bearing bouquets of flowers, some white, some pale violet, and some pink. fine gardens, and a park where, under the management of a french gardener, every fruit-tree of the subtropical zone may be found, from the banana and coffee-plant to the mango and _chirimaya_, beside a thousand other strangely named growths better calculated to surprise the eyes than charm the palate. of an evening there was dancing in the garden. though national in character, dancing here is much what it is elsewhere, since there is but one way to move the arms and legs. the most striking part of the picture was the attitude of the dancers when resting. in our countries these assemblies of young people would have been the excuse for jokes and laughter, often, probably, carried to a riotous excess. here the immovable gravity of the native does not lend itself to merriment. young men and young women exchange, now and then, a few words uttered in a low voice with the utmost composure. on the invitation of her partner, the young girl rises in exactly the same way that she would move to perform some household duty, and goes through the rites of the dance with its rhythmic measures without the vestige of a smile or a ripple of gaiety on her expressionless face. it is not, however, for lack of enjoyment, for no opportunity is missed of dancing, and the balls are prolonged indefinitely into the night. we must only see in this deportment a conception of dignity and of conduct that is not our own. on my return to tucuman a great reception was given by the french colony in my honour. i went to call--as, indeed, it behoved me--at the house of independence, more modest but no less glorious than that of philadelphia. it was here that the first national congress was held, and here that the oath of independence was taken (july , ). in order to preserve the humble house, now an object of public veneration, it has been built into a large edifice, which will preserve it from decay in the future. there is no decoration--some commemorative tablets only--but it is enough. when the heart responds readily to the call of duty, an unobtrusive reminder is all that is necessary. i was infinitely touched by the grandiose reception given me by the french colony. in a fine theatre, which is their own property, the frenchmen of tucuman extended the warmest of welcomes to their fellow-countryman. i found a surprise in store for me. it was arranged that i should lay the foundation-stone of the new french school of tucuman, and, if i am to believe the inscription on the silver trowel that remains in my possession, given me for the purpose of spreading the cement, the school will bear the name of him who was thus its first mason. this honour, which is wholly unmerited, sprang, of course, from the natural longing to attach themselves in any way to france. not a word was spoken that was not an invocation of our country, of its fight against ignorance, source of all human woes. there was a numerous and fashionable company present, whose large befeathered hats proved that tucuman is not so very far from paris after all. the ceremony was concluded by a pretty march-past of small boys and girls carrying the argentine and french flags, and singing the national hymn, the _marseillaise_. the little people put a world of spirit into their song. one little girl, about two feet high and gaily beribboned, was very determined to vanquish "tyranny." how congratulate her? i tried to express the very sincere pleasure the scene had given me, and remarked that these little argentine tongues had a slightly argentine accent in the _marseillaise_. "that is not surprising," said their proud master. "they do not know a word of french." then what about that charming baby's loudly expressed hatred of tyranny? it is true the significance of the hymn lies rather in the music than in its phraseology, now a century old. children, begin by learning french, and do not wait for the opening of the school whose first stone i have just laid. all things shall be added unto you. footnotes: [ ] to give an idea of the capacity of the port: there are kilometres of quays and kilometres of railroad to serve the docks. the large elevator measures cubic metres. it can handle tons from the parana and tons from the railway per hour. [ ] speaking of a recent election, a well-known leader in the province of buenos ayres said: "i have been reproached with spending money. i silenced my enemies by asking them what other means of action they had left me." making due allowance for exaggeration natural enough in the circumstances, the words contain a hint that may be usefully retained. [ ] the sugar industry in the argentine is but fifty years old. there are , hectares now under cane, with refineries, the majority of which are in tucuman. the total output is estimated at , tons. [ ] was it not surprising to find in the hall of a tucuman house casts of some of the best busts of the louvre and comédie française? chapter xi uruguay and uruguayans montevideo, at first sight, had given me so favourable an impression that i was anxious not to lose an opportunity of seeing more of it. but i had begun with the argentine, and in such a country the more you see the more you want to see. i tore myself away from it with great regret, conscious that i was leaving much undone. time had passed all too quickly. i had now only three weeks left for brazil, where long months ought, rather, to be spent. small as it is, uruguay is for many reasons one of the most interesting of the south american republics. how far could a few days be made to go there? in its general features the country is not very different from the argentine pampas. there are the same alluvial soil, the same _estancias_, the same system of agriculture and cattle rearing. for me the principal interest lay in the uruguay character. three visits of one day each furnished me with an occasion to converse with some of their most distinguished statesmen, but is this sufficient ground on which to form an opinion of a race whose superabundant activity is directed towards every department of knowledge, as of labour, now the first essential in any civilisation? i do not pretend that it is. still, i consider that even a brief investigation, if perfectly disinterested and unprejudiced, can and should furnish elements of sound information that are not to be despised. but perhaps i shall be excused if, instead of making affirmations that are open to challenge, i give myself the pleasure of dwelling on the splendid qualities of these courageous and modest men who are engaged in building up a social structure that is worthy of all our admiration. uruguay, once the "oriental band" of the argentine, lies between that republic and brazil, forming thus a buffer state which, in the event of war between rio de janeiro and buenos ayres (which the gods forfend!), would make it somewhat difficult for the two hostile armies to get at each other. if for this reason alone, i am disposed to think the constitution of an independent state between the river uruguay and the sea a very wise provision. i am aware, however, that peace between the argentine, brazil, and chile is the accepted maxim of south american foreign policy; and it is very sound doctrine, the triple hegemony offering a fairly solid guarantee against usurpation by one. notwithstanding its diminutive size, as compared with its gigantic neighbours, uruguay appears well fitted morally to fulfil the conditions of an independent state. there is a marked development of national spirit among its population, whose most striking feature is a mental activity that is sometimes carried to excess. brazil has laid out immense sums of money in the purchase of _dreadnoughts_ (not always perfect), and the argentine felt, consequently, in duty bound to burden herself also with some of these sea monsters. against whom are the argentine and brazil thus arming? they would both find it hard to say, since they have plenty to do at home without directing their creative energy in european fashion to the business of destruction, unless absolutely forced thereto. let me tell them that it is but vain bravado that has urged them on the dangerous, downward path of armament. where will they stop? when you have a population as large in proportion as that of the united states, it will be time enough, alas! to claim your share in the great international concert of extermination. begin by giving life, oh, happy folk, who have been robbed by none and who have nothing to recover! i have already spoken of the appearance of montevideo. a broad bay, commanding the entrance of the rio de la plata, magnificently situated for a commercial port, the government has not overlooked its advantages. in tenders were invited, and a french syndicate was granted the contract for the construction of the docks. there are important quarries in all parts of uruguay, which is more favoured than the argentine in this respect; and the builders found all the stone they needed close to hand. the colossal work is now nearly ended. in two of our armoured cruisers, the _gloire_ and the _marseillaise_, visited the port of montevideo. the comfortable boats of the mihanowitch company, which run daily between buenos ayres and montevideo, moor alongside the quays. why the large european vessels should be forced to remain outside in the roads is a puzzle; the only explanation seems to be a quarrel between the different governing bodies, to which, i trust, the uruguay government will speedily put an end. as things are, the building of the docks is but a sorry farce, and the more regrettable because one of the features of the handsome harbour is a simplification of the harbour dues, which entails the least delay on the vessels calling there.[ ] m. sillard, who has been in charge of the works from the beginning, took us to various places on the bay; and, in his motor-car, we climbed half-way up the famous cerro, so that we might have the pleasure of walking a short distance over a road now under construction, which was spoilt for us by the disagreeable _saladeros_.[ ] if i may say so without hurting the feelings of my friends, the cerro fort is not, i believe, impregnable. its demolition has, it is said, been decided upon. if an hotel or casino were built on its site, the montevideans would have a pleasant object for excursion, for from the top of the hill there is a grand view over the town and estuary to the ocean and the river uruguay. the lieutenant of the city--an american of european education, with five years spent in the diplomatic service at rome behind him--kindly offered to do the honours of the town for us. under the guidance of m. daniel muñoz,[ ] who is as well known at buenos ayres as at montevideo, we saw every part of his domain, from the business quarter to the luxurious suburban villas, the well-planted public squares, and large parks that are growing rapidly, to say nothing of a handsome promenade along the sea-front, and the unpleasant smelling _saladeros_ of some of the environs. a short halt at the prefect's private house gave us an opportunity of judging of the comfort and luxury of the big montevidean dwellings. as for the city itself, there is little to remark beyond the curious contrast offered by the tall, handsome, modern buildings and the singular little "colonial houses" so popular in montevideo, which look as if some sprite had cut them off short at the first story for the fun of whisking the rest out of sight. as the town of montevideo can boast, and must obviously preserve, the aspects of the capital city, these over-ornamented "half-houses" and the clumps of green trees scattered everywhere lend it a youthful charm which i hope it will not soon lose. as a matter of fact, these houses are charming in effect--in the eyes, at least, of those who do not walk about with their heads too high in the air--a pose that is not to be recommended. they not only constitute a very agreeable _façade_, taken all together, but their _patio_ is so designed as to be admirably adapted to the special needs of the climate. if i were going to live in montevideo, it would certainly be in one of these little houses. they have another virtue also, since they illustrate the necessity of experiment in building before one is committed to the settled plan. if the town council insists on constructing houses of several stories in some of the avenues, the measure may have its justification in the interest of the æsthetic and the useful. but before they trouble about the effect which their streets may produce as photographs, the montevideans will, i hope, devote attention to comfort. let the town spread freely, since there is plenty of space available. is it not the curse of all our large european cities to be cramped and confined? new york, between two arms of the sea, has been obliged to invent its hideous "skyscrapers." one must encourage expansion to get all the air and light necessary to health. the population of montevideo must be nearly a million now.[ ] it has many a fine beach on its coast. a rich vegetation exists in all parts. let no childish vanity induce it to attempt too soon to vie with europe! its friends can wish it nothing better. i have said nothing of the public buildings, because they are everywhere the same, except, perhaps, in those european countries where the masses have taken possession of the palaces of their former masters. to me they were less interesting than their inmates--that is, the members of the government. of the three presidents who did me the honour to receive me in the course of my journey, each has now, in the normal course of events, yielded his place to a successor. señor williman, who left the presidential chair on the st of march, had the keenest possible sense of his responsibility to his country. he was the son of an americanised alsatian, and seems to have imported into his exercise of authority that valuable quality of well-reasoned idealism which has made his race one of the most precious constituent parts of the french nation. it must not be forgotten that an american president is first and foremost a man of action, exactly the reverse of the chief of the state in our european democracies; and a turbulent opposition, ever ready to rush to extremes, makes the task of government every day more difficult. señor williman gave me the impression of being somewhat reserved, but the genuinely democratic simplicity of his welcome and the slow gravity of his speech betokened a man whose convictions would be deliberate but profound. we touched on the political questions now engrossing europe, and i found he had long been familiar with all the problems that are keeping us so busy. it is not easy for me to give a personal opinion about the parliamentary world. the senate organised a friendly reception in my honour at which we exchanged cordial toasts. but what can a frenchman do when he knows not a word of spanish, unless his spanish hosts can speak french? there were only two or three members of senate or chamber with whom i could talk. smiles and gestures of good-will, as we clinked our glasses of champagne, were all that was left to us. the eyes asked questions that could be but imperfectly answered. amongst graver politicians were many young men eager for reforms. one of the "youngsters"--in this fortunate land even the senators are scarcely out of their teens--observed to me, with gently emphasised irony, that uruguay had travelled farther along the road marked out by the french revolution than our own present republic. "the pain of death has been abolished in uruguay. it has been retained by the argentine and...." "and in france, i acknowledge. we are, moreover, confronted with a strong retrogressive movement in favour of the right of society to take life." "we have divorce by mutual consent. the argentine has nothing even approaching it. the question of divorce has been raised there. the influence of the clergy prevented all discussion. as for the french republic...." "we have still retained the traditional system," i confess. "and then our code grants the same rights to the illegitimate child, when recognised, as to those born in wedlock--this is common equity." "i do not deny it. but the prejudice that exists in our public mind on this subject appears to me so deeply rooted that, without venturing on risky predictions, i think we shall not obtain the solution of the problem that your democracy has accepted without encountering the keenest resistance." none will be surprised to hear that the conversation drifted quickly towards the uruguay revolutions. here the thread of our talk was picked up by a young journalist--a deputy--who has spent a long time in paris and is generally considered to be a coming man. in witty and picturesque language, he explained that uruguay's revolutions had no more importance than a fit of hysterics. one is red; another is white. a tie or a bit of stuff sewn on the hat serves as a badge.[ ] the cradle supplies the bit of stuff; in a moment of popular excitement it is adopted, and becomes at once a point of honour. then some little thing happens which, for one reason or another, leads to a heated discussion, and immediately there follows a general conflagration. the only fixed idea left in you is that you are a red and the whites must be exterminated, or _vice versa_, according to the camp in which you may be enrolled. there is nothing for it, then, but to let the effervescence escape. but when i remarked that the life of a man counted for nothing when uruguayan effervescence was escaping, the ready assent they gave me showed that on this point no discussion was possible. "but i understood you had abolished the death sentence." "it is legally abolished, but illegally...." "just so. modern law, but ancient--very ancient--practice." as may have been noticed, there is a general tendency towards comparisons--i ought, perhaps, rather to call it jealousy--of the relative progress in argentine and uruguay. the "oriental band" is, in buenos ayres, talked of with affectionate good nature, as if it were a sulky member of the family. you cannot praise uruguay without winning universal approval, accompanied by a smiling reserve that seems to say, "the orientals are worthy to be argentinos." at montevideo you are more likely to be asked frankly which country you consider foremost; and if you reply that you are quite incompetent to judge, be sure that your answer will be interpreted according to the inclination of the party interested. this often happened to me--annoyingly enough. every nation has its strong and weak points, which must be judged according to the form they take and the times in which we are moving. i certainly did not go to the south americans for a classification of the different states of europe. why should i have been expected to draw up a scale of civilisation for them? the argentine, uruguay, and brazil are, each in their way, grand social structures, having their defects, like the countries of europe. i am telling what i saw, leaving to all the liberty of replying that i was mistaken in what i saw. that is sufficient. but one of the best ways of moving ahead of one's fellows is to acquire the capacity of self-judgment and self-reformation. amongst so many kindly hosts i may pick out the youthful minister of foreign affairs, señor emilio barbatoux, whose polished parisianism made him the mark for all the questions dictated by my ignorance. with unwearying courtesy the statesman, who is perfectly conversant with the french point of view, succeeded in adapting himself to my particular line of vision, and greatly facilitated the too superficial examination i was making by the clearness of his information. i was invited to a very french dinner at the uruguay club, where i found the greatest comfort combined with franco-american luxury; and i was able to study at my ease the pure latinity of the uruguay politician. if i had foreseen these "travel notes" i should have jotted down on paper some of the speeches to which i listened on my travels, when french culture was eulogised in the highest terms by the natives of these countries, whose future is of such interest to us. it was not till i had left it all behind me that i became conscious of the omission. i can only say that in the uruguay club, and again in mme. sillard's charming home, i found france again, as also in the _salons_ of the french minister at montevideo.[ ] there was something of france, too, in the editorial offices of _la razon_ and of _el dia_--for, of course, an old journalist could not resist the temptation of calling at a newspaper office.[ ] having gone there intending to interview the editor in my own way, the tables were turned on me and a volley of questions fired off at me. next morning there appeared the very interview i had been avoiding, and all my "ah's!" and "oh's!" were cunningly interpreted to make up a tale. consequently, all i can report of uruguay journalism is that my _confrères_ of montevideo excel in the art of the abbé de l'epée, who managed to make the dumb talk. i trust this remark will be taken as praise. the few occasions i had for talking with my _confrères_ have left a very pleasant recollection. i can truthfully proclaim them all latins of the purest water--latins by their vivacity, by the warmth of their temperament, by the trend of their mind towards general truths, by every sign of their predilection for wrestling with ideas. in this respect it was impossible to think them otherwise than youthful and delightful. the estimable renan, who was indulgence itself, gently reproached me once with a lack of leniency. alas! time, the mother of experience, brings to us all in the end the faculty of appreciation in the sense in which the philosopher meant it, and he himself never consented to sacrifice one of his early opinions unless he could at least preserve its terminology. still, it is a serious question, not only which is the better, but which has wrought the more good in the world--youth, with its presumptuous eagerness, or weary wisdom. now, is it possible to deduce any definite ideas of the special features of the people of uruguay from these faithfully reported but necessarily diffuse notes, culled in chance encounters? if i had not just come from the argentine i should have plenty of material. but as it is, consider, pray, that i have only to modify some epithets in consideration of the smaller proportions of the subject and all i might tell you of the aspect of town or country, as also of the mind and character of its inhabitants, would, to all intents and purposes, sound in your ears like a twice-told tale.[ ] then, you will say, the argentine and uruguay are practically one and the same. that i cannot admit. as well might one confound marseillais and brestois, who, however, are of the same country. i prefer not to pronounce an opinion that might foment the never-slumbering rivalry that exists between the two hispano-american peoples of la plata. but as the common-sense of governments and peoples generally prevails over public excitement, and as the paramount interest of both countries is the same in economic matters as well as in the more or less clearly defined field of american politics, there is, i think, no reason to fear that either can take offence at an opinion inspired by equal respect for both parties. what more shall i say? a country of , , inhabitants; a town of , souls. if buenos ayres is the second latin city in the world, montevideo follows--at some little distance, perhaps, but with a creditable total. the soil is no less well worked, cattle-rearing is equally successful, while the _saladeros_ and large factories, like those of the liebig company at fray bentos, provide a market as good as the freezing-machines for buenos ayres. the political and social institutions are much alike, both inspired by the same regard for equality as proclaimed by the french revolution, and permeated by our own doctrines of justice and liberty. and if the uruguayans have ventured to carry purely logical solutions farther than we have done, the reason is probably that the democratic governments of these new countries have not had to contend with the same atavistic resistance that must be reckoned with in older lands, where men's minds have been moulded by long history. a cheap criticism might here be made by considering only such and such an aspect of these young communities. we lay great stress on their revolutions, and whilst it is to be hoped that violence will before long be laid aside, i have unreservedly set down all i learned about these movements. nevertheless, we must admit that uruguay is not without a show of reason when she replies by throwing up at us the floods of blood that we have shed in the course of our civil wars, and that down to our most recent history. let the sinless throw the first stone. the ardent nationalism of uruguay has nothing to fear from that of the argentine. there are advantages and disadvantages in importing too great sensitiveness into every question. as a contribution to the international exhibition in honour of the argentine centenary, uruguay published a very handsome volume, in which there was set forth in pictures and figures the entire history of their national development, the text being given in french and spanish. the title was _uruguay through one century_. the evolution of the oriental republic is therein set forth. of course, the weak spot of such works is that they gloss over the deficiencies; and thus, though hiding nothing, there is always the risk of discomfiture when they are subjected to the brilliant light. it remains none the less true that the economic growth of uruguay is in no whit inferior to that of the argentine in these last few years, and the promise of the future justifies the highest hopes. it is possible that on either side of the estuary the heat of political and social verbiage is not always in accordance with cold reality. this is a criticism that might be made of any land, and i could apply it easily to those i know best. when all defects and excellences are taken into account, i should say the uruguayan is distinguished from the argentino by his impulsive idealism. less sober-minded and less attached to novelty of doctrine--these are the two points that struck me first in his character. for this very reason he is more prone to argue about theories, and more expansive about himself and others. it may be that french is less current at montevideo than at buenos ayres, though it seemed to me that, intellectually, french influence, if less profound, is more patent on the surface. the mixture of european races is about the same in the two countries. how is it that the first impression is one of greater latinity?--latinity of feeling, which lends a charm to social relations; latinity of thought and action, with all the advantages of spontaneity, all the defects of method, its alternations of enthusiasm and hesitation in fulfilling its plans. the latin conceived and created this modern civilisation, which the northerner has appropriated to his own solid and empiric structures; but he has only succeeded in giving them their present universal application by renewed contact with the ideal in which the descendant of the roman conquest too readily found consolation for his own desultory practice. south american latinity has allowed itself to be left far behind by the great anglo-saxon republic of the north, just as european latinity has suffered its fiercest attacks from those who were designated the "barbarians" by ancient rome. yet how great would be the darkness if the light of latinity, as it survives even in its enemies, were suddenly to go out! if man could always measure the obstacle, he would frequently lack courage for the leap. it was the force of latin impetus that sent modern humanity forth to besiege the fortresses of oppression, and it is the task of the experimental method to convert them by patience and perseverance into asylums of liberty; we know that to accomplish the miracle it will be necessary for the citizen to be made anew by the exercise of self-control and a primitive respect for the liberty of his neighbour. considering all the feats that have been accomplished by the latin races, i see nothing before them but this last and crowning marvel to complete their amazing history. in uruguay the first indication of this new order of things will be the suppression of revolution. before this comes to pass there will be great changes on both sides of the ocean, in the reflex action of humanity and, in a less degree, in its reasoning consciousness. here is an educational work which offers a vast field for future effort. the government of uruguay is well aware that the greatest difficulty in the way of self-government is to establish the relation between principle and practice. it seeks, therefore, to implant in the young those broad general principles by which our private and public life must be regulated.[ ] i lacked time to visit the schools, which are the most unmistakable thermometer of any social structure. a glance at the catalogue sent by the primary schools council to the third congress of school hygiene, held in paris, august to , , will give us some light on the subject. this is not the place in which to describe the admirable organisation of obligatory primary teaching in uruguay and the remarkable development of the primary schools under señor williman's presidency. the syllabus for a period of school life from the sixth to the fourteenth years is, i think, most interesting. in all the schools which are ranked as of first, second, or third degree, and in the country schools, the characteristic of the course is the revival of the object-lesson, still too often sacrificed in our european schools to the subjective teaching of olden days. in the very first year's work i note that the following subjects are included (to be carried farther in later years): geometry, notions of locality, the human body, animals, plants, minerals, weights and colour, demonstration lessons, etc. it is obvious that the first notions of such matters must, if they are to reach the minds of infants of six years, be of the most rudimentary character. but is not this the right age at which to begin to give a bias to the child's mind? in successive years it will be taught to observe and make simple experiments, so that it is progressively prepared for contact with the world in which it will be called to live, in a way that has little in common with the absorption of general rules which, until very recently, constituted the bulk of what we call education. the very fact that they have evolved this system of education, and that they have put their theories into practice, proves that the latins of uruguay are on the right road to succeed in the realisation of their hopes. for if they claim to impart to budding intelligence a solid base of observation and experience, or, in other words, to teach them the sensations that different phenomena give to us, and offer such explanations as we can supply, they will surely not be checked by the higher generalisations which are the natural outcome of scientific study and also its crown. thus, in the catalogue of the school libraries for the use of pupils and professors i find such french works as these: le bon--_psychologie de l'Éducation_, _l'Évolution de la matière_; le dantec--_les influences ancestrales_, _de l'homme à la science_; henri poincaré--_la valeur de la science_, _la science et l'hypothèse_. if we are not careful these "savages" will outstrip the "civilised." i shall make no bold predictions. there is, as i hinted just now, so wide a margin between understanding and the act that should result from it that the magnificent progress made in words is out of proportion to the slow evolution of action. it remains for our uruguayan friends, as for their european judges, to surprise the world by a new history of human society. whatever this history may hold in store for us, i am glad to think that our latin republics of south america--and uruguay amongst the first--will offer the spectacle of a splendid effort of high achievement. i will not seek to hide the great pleasure it gives me to record the fact, because, in the first place, the sight of man labouring to raise himself is always suggestive; and, secondly, because for a critical mind there is no better complement than the need of hope. footnotes: [ ] the docks were built by the state alone without the help of a loan. in the tonnage of vessels entered and cleared in the port was fourteen millions. [ ] meat drying and salting is the principal industry of the country. in the _saladero_ the animal is killed and cut up, and the flesh dried and salted by a process analogous to that used with cod. uruguay possesses thirty of these _saladeros_ (as against fifty in the argentine and brazil), with brazil and cuba for its chief markets. this article of food is now much esteemed in both countries, though formerly it was reserved for slaves. at fray bentos there are the large establishments of liebig that must be mentioned to complete the list. [ ] señor daniel muñoz is now minister of uruguay at buenos ayres. [ ] of these, , are foreigners. [ ] the reds are the advanced party, the whites the conservative. it was from the reds that garibaldi borrowed the famous red shirt that he brought back from montevideo. [ ] i should have liked to thank m. and mme. carteron for their kindness. alas! mme. carteron's sudden death has left a blank in her home. [ ] the papers are distributed in the streets of montevideo by children on horseback. they fling the sheets skilfully into the doorways, where they frequently remain, respected by all passers-by. [ ] there is only one point that it is only just to repeat: it is that the women of uruguay are very beautiful. more or less so than the argentinos? in the pan-american congress the ladies of buenos ayres gave the palm to a celebrated beauty of montevideo, in an outburst of hospitable chivalry. i would not have the bad taste to say a word either way. the two banks of la plata appear to me equally propitious for the development of feminine æsthetics, and for the foreigner who loves art the handsomest model is ever that which is before his eyes. [ ] on the initiative of señor claude williman, the late president, country schools have been opened in uruguay, so that the total number of primary public schools supported by the state reaches at the end of , , and gives us a ratio of one public school per of the population. chapter xii rio de janeiro the _orissa_ is an old coasting steamer of the pacific line, which calls at the western ports of south america, beginning at callao, and passing through the straits of magellan, pushes as far as montevideo, whence santos and rio de janeiro are reached on the way to southampton, the end of the journey, with a halt at la palice. the _orissa_ is not a rapid boat, but she is very staunch, and if her internal arrangements, of the oldest description, be not more than rudimentary, the voyage i made in her was very agreeable, thanks to the company of the captain, who i found knew india well. a heavy sea and a head wind made us a day late--a fair record in a journey only supposed to cover three days. the greatest trial on board was the music that played at mealtimes, when, without any provocation, three old salts, of pacific aspect as befitted servants of their company, made daily distracting attempts to draw piercing discords from instruments which proved a cruel test of the harmony of our constitutions. one blew wildly into the little hole of a metal rod which shrieked in response; the second scraped furious sounds from his strings; while a piano, built probably about the time of columbus, vainly endeavoured to bring the others into tune. it took an alarming quantity of ginger and worcester sauce to settle the nerve-cells so cruelly exasperated by the rapid absorption of food in the discordant tumult of this orchestra. we know the ancients believed in the soothing influence of divine harmony. i wondered whether the _orissa's_ fife might not have had something to do with the saraband of the wild waves we encountered. i lay the doubt before the directors of the company. one thing is certain; at dawn, with no music at all, and (remarkable coincidence) with a sea that had suddenly calmed down, we entered the santos river. a long arm of the sea between low-lying shores ending in a vast bay framed in high mountains; marshy plains covered with a tangle of tropical vegetation, or a low line of hill buttresses; all that is visible of the land seems to be sending upwards to the blue sky its tall shoots of foliage, which testify to the effect of the vivifying orb on the quivering sap of the tropics. on all sides, under the swaying lacework of green leaves, there appeared brightly painted cabins, which set a note of bold colour in the sea of verdure.[ ] _pirogues_ made from the hollowed trunks of trees and painted in the crude tones beloved of savages glide up and down the transparent waters. nothing here that recalls europe. this is where the curtain rises on the new world. shadowy forms, in strange draperies, pass to and fro before the little cabins whose colouring gives them a strong resemblance to children's toys, and then suddenly disappear as though swallowed up in the luminous mystery of all this foliage. the relative proportions of all things are new here. nature has broken her usual limit in these countries and developed immoderately, leaving man, by comparison, dwarfed and insignificant. too small, he appears in a world too large. but already he is engaged in taking a revenge, as is shown by the disappearance of the yellow fever from the marshes of santos. we know that no other town has been more cruelly tried. the simple fact of drying up the marshes when the harbour was building sufficed to destroy the scourge. the low shores of santos bay are still covered with salt marshes where little scarlet crabs clamber amongst the brushwood, but every trace of fresh water has disappeared, and we know that it is only in fresh water that the dangerous mosquito can live. the _orissa_ moored alongside the quay, amongst the large cargo-boats down whose yawning holds long lines of porters were flinging bags of coffee. each in turn advanced with alert step along the swinging plank, and as soon as the man in front of him had deposited his sack the same movement of the shoulders, repeated immediately after by the man behind, gave an uninterrupted cascade of yellow bags,[ ] falling from the docks, where were heaped the mountains of berries, to the vast bosom of the ship. you, who, like me, have heard creole laziness abused a thousand times, learn that the "lazy" brazilian only relaxes this hard labour for the period strictly necessary for rest; and not even in the hottest part of the summer, when the sun is at its fiercest, does he indulge in so much as a _siesta_. in brazil, indeed, the _siesta_ is unknown. i do not mention the fact in order to reproach europeans. my only intention is to do justice to the toilers whose reputation has suffered at the hands of the ignorant and foolish. to return to santos. we are impelled towards the quay in the first place by a strong desire to penetrate to the very heart of the marvellous landscape, and scarcely taking the time to shake the french hands outstretched to us on the landing-stage, we set out for the beach of saint vincent. oh, surprise! a french hotel, all white, and redolent of the modern watering-place, where there awaits us a table decorated with orchids. but behold a tramway that runs to the end of the beach! in these countries to be in a tramcar is to be in the open air. so we follow the wide curve of silvery sand, bordered with villas whose gardens are enchanting with flowers and unexpected plants, whilst on the rocks of the small wooded islets, a cable's length from the shore, high waves are breaking stormily to melt softly away at our feet. the first impression is one of vigorous vegetation. in my first delightful surprise it seemed this could never be surpassed. we stop at saint vincent, and then return. according to the legend, it was in the little bay of saint vincent that calval with his warriors and monks first landed on these shores, thus discovering brazil, which it only remained to conquer and convert. naturally the event has been commemorated in stone and bronze. but calval himself has reminded us that, if we would land in time, we must first catch our boat. a hasty lunch, and we are again on board the _orissa_, which to-morrow at sunrise will enter the bewitching bay of rio. the entry is triumphal in this inland sea encircled by high mountains, with bristling summits like rocks in battle array, but relieved by sunny shores, with flowery and mysterious islands, where the dazzling lights of sky and sea are blended under the sensuous sunlight in the clear shade of lofty leafage. at four o'clock i was already on deck. haze, a fine rain--there will be nothing visible at all. jagged rocks emerge from the mists, which all at once conceal them from view. we are moving through a cloud. two forts, the são joão and the santa cruz, guard the entrance for the sake of appearances. in one of the recent revolutions they bombarded each other for a whole month for the entertainment of the inhabitants of rio, who used to come out to the quays of an afternoon to criticise the firing. at the moment they are in a spasm of peace. farther away, we are shown the soft outline of the _minas-geraes_, the redoubtable _dreadnought_ which--but we must not anticipate the story. then come the hideous steeples of gothic sugar-icing which the emperor dom pedro ii. felt himself called to place on the most ridiculous palace that ever disgraced a small island. we stop here, for the quays are not sufficiently extensive for us to draw up alongside. now we can see the town, with its spots of bright colour on the misty background of swelling green hills. we have reached rio de janeiro--the january river--so called by the first comers from portugal, who took the bay for a river as the spaniards had done for the la plata estuary. perhaps in january--that is, in the height of the summer--these explorers had like us the excuse of a fog, for tropical vegetation is only possible when there are alternations of rain and sunshine such as the climate of rio abundantly supplies. it is the rarest of phenomena to see the horizon perfectly clear. the distance is invariably wreathed with a light haze which softens the violence of the colours. after the fierce sun, a refreshing rain; after the shower, the joy of warm light. for the moment we are enjoying a fog. a bark hails us, the national flag flying at her bows. she brings a delegation from the senate, with their speaker at their head, come to offer a brotherly welcome to their french colleague. next arrived the brother of the president of the republic, who acts as his chief secretary, and who was accompanied by an officer of the military household of the minister of the marine. many complimentary speeches were made as usual, and a handful of brother journalists followed, having among them m. guanabara, editor of the _imprensa_. what touched me most was the way in which they all spoke of france and her _rôle_ of high civilisation which she plays in the world. the president of the senate, m. bocayuva, whose son is just now brazilian _chargé d'affaires_ in paris, is a republican of the old school and unanimously respected by all parties. one realised as one listened to the heartiness with which he called up a picture of the moral authority of france that he was in close harmony with the traditions of the french revolution. in this way are we in full communion of mind and heart with the main currents of thought and feeling which are carrying the nations of the world towards the better forms of justice and liberty. here in brazil, too, i shall find once more my country, as i quickly discovered in the course of the conversation i had with señor bocayuva during our drive from the farou quay to the handsome house which the government has done me the honour to place at my disposal. the sun had scattered some of the fog by the time we reached the avenida central, a magnificent highway which would be the pride of any capital city,[ ] and as the motor-car sped swiftly down it or along that equally fine promenade above the quays jutting into the bay, whose features now grew gradually visible, and the gay villas with their frame of gorgeous foliage, we got a highly attractive view of the town, softly caressed on one hand by the luminous waters with their ever-changing horizons, and on the other, ever threatened by invasion of the tropical forest, struggling with the eagerness of the builder, whose efforts are ever hemmed in by parks and gardens and trees of all sorts that spring up from the soil at haphazard, evidences of the irresistible force of life that is here in nature. since the day when the sea brought man to the country, the struggle for existence has continued between the encampment of the budding city and the impenetrable thickets that ever repelled the invader. on the spurs, the ledges of the round green hills, everywhere the painted cabin has obtained a footing facing the bay, cutting out for itself with the axe openings through which may enter the daylight. below, the town, which spreads out to the beach, would appear to be cut up by the farthest buttresses of the mountain range, and, pending the time when they will be tunnelled, the _flumineuse_[ ] will still be obliged to make many a long _détour_ to reach any given point. but why linger in the city, except to mention the municipal theatre, which cost far too many millions, and the pleasing monroe palace built for the pan-american congress? even the parks, whose extraordinary trees draw loud exclamations of surprise from us every minute, cannot compete in interest with the forest. we can never get tired, however, of the wondrous promenade on the quays, seven kilometres in length, and presently to be doubled. following the graceful lines of the sea front, with its array of flowers, whence at every moment we get a new view of the bay, we drink in the ineffable light that makes the sea palpitate and the mountain leap in a single voluptuous rhythm. in the distance a white line, nicterchy, the capital of the state of rio ( , inhabitants); at the entrance of the bay the tall cone of granite known as the "sugar-loaf"; then the green islets, the rocks, the mountains that melt in the blue gauze of the horizon, and if you turn round, the high "corcovado," hovering over the city, from whose summit the whole expanse of the bay will be revealed to us--rapidly changing scenery whose excess of living quality defies pen or pencil. the infinite variety of the rio bay ( kilometres in extent[ ]) with all its hidden indentations in which lie screened from view so many richly wooded shores, where new forests are in process of formation, is beyond all possibility of description. i have said enough: i have seen it, and my dazzled eyes will not soon forget the picture. my first visit was, of course, to the president of the republic, who was about to yield his place to marshal hermès da fonseca, whose visit to lisbon, planned in all ignorance, was destined to coincide with the portuguese revolution. a warm reception from señor nilo peçanha, who showed me round his fine park, where royal palms which are one of the glories of rio de janeiro form a gorgeous avenue down to the very shores of the bay. the baron de rio branco (a family ennobled under the empire),[ ] minister of foreign affairs since , was at one time consul-general in paris. he knew many of our public men and received me with the cordial simplicity of a friend. "the baron," as he is commonly designated, enjoys sovereign authority in all matters pertaining to the external policy of the country. friends and foes unite to leave him a free field in this respect, and all unite, too, in praise of his remarkable talents as diplomat. he does not conceal the fact that his sympathies are with france, though his admiration is reserved for germany. the german military mission to brazil was his idea, but it came to nothing. some one in his immediate entourage told me he considers the german instructor to be specially capable of instilling into brazilian troops the sense of military duty. too many instances of insubordination--some very serious--have indeed shown the urgent necessity for such teaching. but can señor de rio branco really think it possible to instil into the mind and manners of a democracy the doctrine of absolutism in military duty such as william ii. has laid it down in repeated public utterances? if such absurd stress had not been laid upon the supposed rivalry between the states of saint paul and rio de janeiro, i believe that baron de rio branco must have admitted like every one else the merits of our admirable french military mission to saint paul, of which i shall have occasion presently to speak again. if i may speak freely, i do not consider it diplomatic for france to leave so important a post as rio for more than one year in the hands of a simple _chargé d'affaires_, no matter how experienced. whatever happens, two features in the brazilian character will to my thinking remain predominant. they are democratic idealism and a consequent innate taste for french culture. this was brought powerfully home to me at the official reception with which i was honoured by the senate. this demonstration was carried by a vote that was almost unanimous, there being only one against.[ ] in a public sitting, the speaker chosen for the occasion seated me on his right hand and then made in french a noble speech, in which after the usual compliments he declared that his country also upheld the glorious traditions of the french revolution. then a senator from the amazon, señor georges de moraès, got up to speak, and, also in french, delivered an admirable harangue on the _rôle_ of french culture in the general evolution of civilised society towards social justice and liberty. this oratorical effort was frequently interrupted by the unanimous applause of an audience quick to grasp the crisp outlines of our splendid dogmas of latin idealism. this magnificent homage to my great country, coming from the highest representatives of the noble brazilian democracy, itself invariably attuned to the realisation of humanitarian justice, touched me profoundly, and i could but say how great was my joy to hear my nation spoken of with the respect and gratitude due to the grandeur of its action on the world. i wished i had at my disposal the same eloquence to express, in my turn, the deep gratitude i felt for this movement towards france, whose history has, by some fate, been so grievously checkered by many painful conflicts. what encouragement there is for us in this brilliant demonstration of disinterested cordiality! what hopes for the future may be founded on this bond of union between peoples working equally in the cause of democracy, and towards a great and universal peace based on the rights of man in all civilised continents! i endeavoured to make this clear, and the simple words of brotherly friendliness that sprang to my lips roused unanimous applause from the benches of the august assembly. i wish i could have done better. i trust my good intentions will speak for me. never did i feel so strongly the influence of the loftiness of human nobility and its power to raise our minds to the highest aspirations after justice and liberty. before bringing the sitting to an end the president called for three cheers for france, for president fallières, and for the guest of the senate. and all the assembly on their feet, with the gravity of suppressed emotion, gave three times the cry of "_vive la france!_" amid the applause of the spectators. i am sorry to say i cannot speak of brazil in the way i should like. i was there only three weeks, just long enough to recognise how great an interest is attached to all the developments of this marvellous land in the different departments of human intellectual and physical activity, but far too short a time to warrant any opinion of the prominent men i met there, or on the multiple questions which are raised by the political and social progress of this democracy. i was able to converse with only a few politicians, and in my anxiety to see everything, i touched on too many subjects in too brief a space to have succeeded in assimilating the very complex impressions which might have enabled me to speak with some degree of authority. i can therefore only offer to the public a few rapid impressions for which i claim only the merit of sincerity. when i said that the ancestor of my friend señor acines de mello had given a performance of voltaire's tragedies in his home, kilometres from the coast, in , it sufficed to show that neither general civilisation nor french culture is a new thing in brazil. the republic of brazil is an "ancient" latin community which can show titles of intellectual nobility and lofty social ambitions. its economic development, if less sudden in origin than that of the argentine, is none the less remarkable in all respects and holds out no less hopes for the future. coffee, india-rubber, timber, sugar, cotton, rice, and mines are a source of wealth that the future will reveal. there are immense stretches of country that are and must long remain unexplored. the effort of a fine race has too long been held in check by slavery, but its incessant activity has already produced astonishing results. for numerous reasons, one of the principal being the domination of theocracy, neither spain nor portugal has up to the present been able to give in modern europe the full measure of their force. in south america they are making ready a magnificent revenge, which, however, will not, i hope, prevent their taking and keeping in europe the position that is their due. if i may venture to make a hasty judgment from what i was able to see, the distinctive traits in this people would appear to be an irresistible force of impetuosity in an invariably gracious guise, and every talent necessary to insure the fulfilment of their destiny. i have spoken of the crossing of the race in the argentine, where the black element has been re-absorbed. it is not the same in brazil, where at every step one comes across the african half-breed amongst the masses. the portuguese woman and the negro seem to get on well together, as is evidenced by the innumerable young half-breeds to be seen in their serene bronze nudity at the doors of the cabins. it is difficult to estimate the general results of this mixture. the negro has the reputation of being idle, childlike, and kind except in his outbursts of rage. as i have said before, the vice of laziness cannot be imputed to the brazilian. it may be that african blood is partly responsible for the demonstrations of emotional impressionability and unexpected violence that sometimes take hold of the populace. i dare not carry this argument too far. yet, to my mind, the mutiny of the crews of the _saint paul_ and _minas-geraes_, as of the troops of marines in barracks in the island of las cobras, was largely due to the excitable african blood. the "governing classes" seem untouched by this infusion of blood. but for some reason or other, their virtues and their defects seem remarkably well adapted to the corresponding characteristics of the masses. idealists with a cult for intellectuality, equally ready for higher culture as for the hard labour without which nothing is ever achieved, gentle and violent by turns, or even simultaneously--the variable sons of this soil, less disunited, however, than one might suppose, may invoke in their favour with a just pride a work already grandiose though but a feeble embryo by comparison with what it must in time become. in every department of modern activity brazil need have no fear of the criticism of europe, for she possesses men comparable with any of our chiefs of industry. even a short visit suffices to show that there is no lack of either intellectual quality or business method. but the field is so vast that it would need innumerable legions to fully occupy it. considered in this light, every effort appears totally inadequate in comparison with its immense possibilities. admirable labourers they are, none the less, hard at work, in their modesty and perseverance, with no wish to spare themselves, and asking nothing from the struggle with inanimate nature but ground for fresh hope. does this imply that in certain directions of public action there is no wavering visible? how happy would modern society be if this could be said only of brazil! politicians are never in very high favour with the intellectuals of a country. i will say nothing against either the one or the other. the celebrated retort: "'nothing' is a wide field: reign there!" may with some slight modification be applied to the most gifted of men when they persist in riding the eternal hobby of the ideal heedless of earthly conditions. some of the problems with which humanity has wrestled for centuries have been solved by a single illuminating word uttered in calm authority by men who would not have shone in _rôles_ that call for a gradual development of character. politicians, on the other hand, whatever their shortcomings--and i must acknowledge that, in a moment of trial, they are frequently disappointing--have yet this merit, that they play the labourer's part. they have to handle every kind of problem, not to find a graceful solution that will delight the intellectuals, but to extract therefrom certain conditions of private and public life which according to events may make the fortune or misfortune of the public. it may be that in brazil they are too much attached to the higher culture always to give sufficient consideration to the common necessities of our daily life. it may be that they are too intrinsically latin always to be able to resist the temptation of rushing events. these defects, if they really exist, are being cured. the politicians with whom i had an opportunity of exchanging views, both at saint paul and at rio de janeiro, would bear comparison, whether as regards culture or systematic firmness in action, with any in the world. an aristocracy had grown up around the person of the emperor, the last remnants of which are now being fast submerged in the current of democracy. i shall mention no names, for i do not want these hasty notes to bear the smallest resemblance to a distribution of prizes. let me only mention one case--a very rare one in latin nations--of a leader who is universally obeyed. i have no doubt that señor pinhero machado possesses all the qualities of a leader deft in handling men, but it is less his talents that astonish me than his self-abnegation, which has brought into line so many politicians of latin temperament. the more momentous political questions of the day relate to organisation, there being no room for any serious attacks on principles that have been proclaimed and incorporated in the constitution of the republic. it is in practice that difficulties are apt to occur. the empire showed a marked tendency towards centralisation.[ ] the republic, being, like the united states, a federation of states, is based on the theory of pure autonomy. but if the autonomy of these states is to be more than a vain word, some way must be found of constituting in each province of a territory which is eighteen times as large as france, and contains twenty millions of inhabitants unequally scattered over it, a sufficient force of intelligent determination to create a select governing body which will express the intellectual and moral capacity in the masses; otherwise democracy becomes only tyranny disguised. in some states, notably in that of saint paul, there is obviously a superabundance of energy. in others there is not enough. time and community of effort can alone remedy this condition of affairs. meantime, the balance is destroyed, and the constitution enjoys principally a theoretic authority. it is inevitable that the result should be some confusion in press[ ] and parliament, although the strife is rather one of dogma than of action, and lies principally between federals and unionists. religious questions are practically outside the public domain. the separation of church and state in brazil goes with a papal nuncio, by means of whom south american innocence supposes the fact adds a distinction which should dazzle the outer world. i fancied that some of the public men viewed the activity of the religious orders with apprehension, but i will say nothing further on the point. laws for the protection of agricultural and industrial workers are here unknown. the brazilian republic will want to place itself on an equality with other civilised countries on this head as soon as possible, for already a number of colonists in lands where the administration has shown itself slow to take action have protested so loudly against the grave abuses that result that some latin countries have been obliged to forbid emigration to brazil. take heed lest the states invoke their sovereign rights, which would be tantamount to declaring the central authority void. this throws light on the obstacle which now confronts progress on these vital questions--namely, the lack of an adequate constitution in some of the states for the work of self-government, and of balance between those which have already a highly perfected civilisation and the districts theoretically on a footing of equality, but whose black or indian population can only permit of a nominal democracy stained by those irresponsible outbursts which characterise primitive humanity. as might be expected, the same remarks could apply to public instruction. there is in certain states--as, for instance, saint paul--a magnificent group of schools which respond to the general consciousness of a pressing need for the spread of higher education; in other parts there is a lamentable deficiency.[ ] it was, moreover, inevitable that the federal government itself should suffer from the unequal distribution of its military effectives. the state of saint paul is justly proud of an armed force which it owes to french instructors. i need not criticise the federal army, which is officered by men of fine public spirit; but all agree that the force needs reorganising. there is no question, of course, of preparing for war; but the public interest requires that a military force should be at the disposal of the government, capable of enforcing obedience to the laws. to me it seems more urgent than the acquisition of _dreadnoughts_, which swallowed up millions of money and gave nothing but mutiny in return. naval discipline necessarily suffered by the amnesty imposed by men who had just massacred their officers. as we know, this deplorable incident was followed by a mutiny amongst the marines stationed in the island of las cobras, which, however, for once, was severely put down. i inspected this body of troops at the manoeuvres arranged for my visit. the young officers gave me an excellent impression, and the barracks certainly left nothing to be desired; but there were far too many coloured men in the ranks. who can tell the effect produced on these impulsive natures by the capitulation of the public governing body before a military rebellion? the rebels cruelly expiated the faults of others by adding thereto their own. as regards municipal administration, the greatest services have been rendered to the city by the prefect, who interests himself especially in his schools amongst a long list of other duties. but the man who deserves the most from his country is dr. oswaldo cruz, who has devoted himself to the improvement of the sanitary condition of the city and has instituted a service of sanitary police stationed at every point of contamination, and who, by dint of unwearying labour, has freed rio of yellow fever. the government has lent him generous pecuniary assistance in his work, but what is money without the man's perseverance and zeal? as we know, the disease is propagated by the sting of the female mosquito (the _stegomya calopus_) just before the egg-laying season. in dr. oswaldo cruz, having obtained from congress all the necessary powers, began his fight with the fearful scourge. a body of sanitary police, organised by himself, was charged with the mission of getting rid of all stagnant water in the streets, houses, courtyards, gardens, roofs, gutters, and sewers, and from all other spots where the larvæ of the _stegomya_ could exist. in this he found material assistance in the scheme of public improvements then being carried out in the city--the building of the quays,[ ] the drainage of marshy land, destruction of insanitary houses, cutting of new avenues, etc. in the course of the first year of these sanitary works there were deaths from yellow fever; in the following year the number fell to forty-eight, and for the last three years not a single case has been recorded. needless to say, the sanitary police brigade are continuing their duties, and in all parts of the city and in all the houses every trace of standing water is swept away. this constitutes a never-ending tyranny; but the result is the complete purification of a city which was once a den of pestilence, and is now one of the loveliest ornaments of the planet! dr. oswaldo cruz was making ready to go to the amazon, which is in a specially wholesome condition; he had already fulfilled a mission there last year. he will now complete the task of general sanitation already started, for which the congress has furnished the necessary funds. this, perhaps, is the most important part of his project, for it will throw open an immense region of unlimited productiveness to every sort of civilised activity. such a work would suffice to the glory of any one life, but dr. oswaldo cruz is one of those men who are capable of continuing indefinitely their labours. the ex-pupil of the pasteur institute was anxious to endow his country with a similar school of therapeutics and prophylaxy. in a picturesque loop of the bay there stood a small building which was used by the engineer of the prefecture in the burning of rubbish. dr. oswaldo cruz has transformed it into the _institut manguinhos_ (institute of experimental medicine), with the special mission to study infectious and parasitic diseases in men and animals, as well as hygiene, and to prepare the different serums which modern therapeutics has adopted. it was hardly necessary, perhaps, to add all the _fioritura_ of moorish architecture to a building intended for studies that call for no flourish of trumpets; still, there is something about these fanciful lines which harmonises agreeably enough with the natural arabesques of the prodigal learage. the institute aims at supreme perfection, and supplies having been furnished without stint, the results place it beyond comparison. vast laboratories, comfortable studies, fitted up with all the latest appliances; operating-rooms for animals, with the most complete surgical outfits, disinfecting-rooms, vacuum machinery; lifts everywhere, gas, electricity, pipes for water and for compressed air; library and magazine-room, with all foreign periodicals properly classified; separate buildings for the study of infectious diseases and the preparation of the corresponding serum. each building has its own stable, so constructed as to be readily sterilised, with boxes permitting a close watch over the animal as well as feeding him without opening the door; and its own hall for experiments and laboratory, a furnace to destroy all refuse, electric generating engines, etc. a group of young brazilian _savants_ were at work under the guidance of dr. oswaldo cruz and two german bacteriologists. one of them, dr. chagas, a brazilian, is well known in the world of science for his studies in bacteriology and parasitology. there is an immense field open, for tropical diseases are still uncharted, whilst in the field of marasitic diseases of men and animals there is fully as much to learn. the _mémoires de l'institut de manguinhos_ are published in portuguese and in german. i was struck by the effort that the germans are making to draw towards themselves the medical corps of the country. the heads of the laboratories and their assistants had all been brought from germany, and their scientific method had been cordially accepted. at the berlin exhibition a first prize had justly been awarded to the manguinhos institute. of late years two french _savants_, mm. marchoux and salimboni, of the pasteur institute, have been charged by the brazilian government with a mission to study yellow fever. to-day two of our army veterinaries are investigating the _morve_ at rio. but it is time to leave the abode of the mosquito killer (_mata mosquitos_), as dr. cruz is nicknamed. the sun is mounting above the horizon. in the enchanting light of the bay there are now revealed to our gaze the serrated outlines of the soft shores where the intensely profuse vegetation runs riot, the glowing masses of bare rock which rise high above the water to meet the sun against the filmy background of the distant mountains, and, lastly, the islands with their rippling masses of rich verdure, which spring skywards like an offering from the sea. impossible to pass the island viana by in silence. on the neighbouring island señor l----, the descendant of a french family, has set up his dockyards for naval construction, which he took us to see with a modesty that was not without a point of legitimate pride. i shall not describe what is well known. there was a surprise in store for us, however, in the form of a colony of japanese labourers working in wood and metal, and learning in this distant land a trade to be practised later in their own. most diligent of workmen, remarkable by their gravity and steady application. amongst them, tool in hand, one of those small boys whose oblique eyes we have learned to know by heart through the picture-albums of nippon; dumb, motionless, the whole of his mind concentrated with intense force on the work in hand, this child of some ten years is taking a demonstration lesson in technical work that, as you see by his attitude, he is determined to profit by. i would rather have seen these little chaps playing at ball. i seem to see them as they show themselves to us, gathering up all their powers, even at the threshold of life, in order to take possession of the future. i was told that in the evening schools they accomplish wonders. the day's work ended, señor l---- crossed a short arm of the sea and landed in his own island of viana, where he has laid out a large park which at the same time satisfies his love of the beautiful and of comfort. each member of the family has a house to him- or herself--and what a house!--english, or perhaps american in style, with the finest supply of light and air provided by great bay windows opening upon that immense expanse of sea framed in beflowered shores and broken by high blue peaks which lose themselves in the sky. kitchen-gardens, flowery meadows, lawns, groves, woods--there is nothing wanting, and each in turn is planted in the best possible way to take advantage of the splendours of the views. and to make viana a world in itself, all the loveliest birds of brazil are to be found in this earthly paradise; and the supreme magnificence of the brazilian types of winged and feathered creatures repays in beauty what man's munificent generosity daily distributes. here within reach of my hand a large yellow bird is pouring out its mad and merry song, while two toucans, with their exaggerated beaks, light up with gold and clear sapphire hues the sober green of the thicket. i pretend to try to catch them; they barely feign a retreat. eden before the fall! i congratulate señor l---- on the artistic way in which he spends the money he succeeded in making in business--two talents that are seldom found together. "it is all very well," he murmured in reply, "but you see what happens. my wife prefers paris, and my children, who might have found here, at twenty minutes' run from rio, a worthy occupation for their time, have elected to try their fate in the unknown. my eldest son is in new york. _ma parole!_ i believe he sells seltzer-water there, or something of the sort. what do you think of that?" i said nothing. but i thought to myself that in the pursuit of happiness not even the most favoured escape some setbacks. footnotes: [ ] in brazil there are none of the half-houses of the argentine and uruguay. the brazilian eye loves, on the other hand, bright colours. the houses are therefore daubed with blue, yellow, and red, which harmonise as they may with the green background. [ ] a sack contains kilogrammes. [ ] like florida in buenos ayres, ouvidor in old rio still remains, notwithstanding its inadequate dimensions, the principal business thoroughfare of the town. [ ] the _flumineuse_ is the native of rio. there is no excuse for people who, knowing that there is no river in rio, yet insist on being named after a stream (_flumen_) that is non-existent. [ ] the rio harbour, built by the english for a french company, represented in eight millions tonnage entered and cleared. [ ] the father of baron de rio branco, minister under the emperor dom pedro ii., is the author of the law of the _ventre libre_, which emancipated all slaves to be born in the future. in remembrance of this measure, which preceded the abolition of slavery, a statue has been raised to him in one of the rio parks. [ ] the vote of a senator belonging to the church party. [ ] the emperor dom pedro ii. is kindly remembered. every one speaks of him with respectful sympathy. [ ] the rio press is not so fully equipped for news items as the european or american papers, but it is literary in tone and occupies a worthy place in the corporation. the largest circulation is claimed by _el commercio_. the _imprenso_, whose editor is alcindo guanabara, member of the brazilian academy and deputy, is, with _el pais_, one of the most important party sheets. [ ] we must do justice to the effort made by the brazilian government to extend education. according to an article in their constitution, the "unlettered cannot vote," but i will not swear that the rule is severely applied. in each state the primary schools are supported by the municipalities and states themselves, as are also the training colleges. there are too many calls on the strength of the youth of a new country for secondary education to be very enthusiastically welcomed. on the other hand, the different institutions of higher education attract the rising talent of the land. [ ] at santos, one of the most severely tried, yellow fever was entirely stamped out by the building of the quays, which drained off the marshes. chapter xiii brazilian society and scenery i have already jotted down a few characteristics that struck me in the people of brazil, and these will form a sort of prelude to what i am now about to say. for a traveller who claims to convey only first-hand information, the difficulty, of course, is to make any definite statements when aware that his observations were all too hasty and brief to warrant generalities. brazilian society is very different from that of the argentine, its elements being more distinct and more complex, while equally european in trend, and with the same immutably american base; the strain of french culture is more attenuated, the impulsive temperament more apparent, but for steady perseverance and capacity for hard work the brazilians cannot be surpassed. in criticising the social conditions in brazil, it must be borne in mind that the abolition of slavery dates only twenty years back. i do not think the slave-owner was systematically cruel, but slavery does not precisely rest on any inducement to kindliness. certain buildings that i came across and the explanation of their use that was given to me showed plainly enough, what we already knew, that the blacks were treated like cattle, with just as much consideration as was dictated by self-interest. since man is almost as humane as he is cruel, no doubt the masters had their benevolent moments, but the institution was, nevertheless, fully as demoralising for owners as owned. the blacks multiplied, however,[ ] and if the abolition of slavery was not accompanied here as in the united states by acts of violence, the reason is that, to the everlasting honour of the white man, the institution had been universally condemned before emancipation was proclaimed. it has been said that in brazil slavery was buried beneath flowers. the fact is it had become practically impossible when its disappearance was publicly and officially acknowledged. and as, happily, there was no race hatred between whites and blacks, these two elements of the population were able to continue to live peaceably side by side in a necessary collaboration. they went farther than this, as a matter of fact, and the races mixed with a freedom that i noticed everywhere. from the point of view of social concord, this is cause for rejoicing, while it must be left to time to correct any lowering of the intellectual standard. every one knows that the principal feature of a slave-owning community is the absence of a middle class whose mission it must be to hold the balance in an oligarchy and prepare the way for the emancipation of the oppressed. when the principle of democracy was proclaimed by the "big whites" of brazil, they could rely for support only on the leading intellectuals of sound general education, and on the inorganic masses of the population formed or deformed morally by slavery, and its attendant evils, with an incoherent admixture supplied by immigration. this, necessarily, was the situation that had to be faced on the morrow of the decree of emancipation. by degrees this state of affairs has been and is still being improved. the substratum of the community remains, however, such as i have shown it. i am aware, of course, that in this immense territory there are vast districts of varying soil and climate where indians and blacks are very unequally divided. for the purposes of this brief summary, i am naturally only taking into account representative centres of population. in some parts the negroes have deserted the plantations for the towns to which they were attracted by the opportunities for employment, and their place has been taken by italian colonies who have established themselves as small farmers. elsewhere the ex-slaves remained in their cabins and continued their accustomed tasks with more or less zeal, content if thus enabled to live as they liked. they appear to work and live in perfect harmony with their former owners. as regards the social _élite_, it is less easy to pick out its general features here than it is in the argentine, where on every hand there are visible points of comparison with europe. we are constantly obliged to revert to our starting-point, which is a feudal oligarchy, the centre of culture and refinement, which by a voluntary act is in process of formation into a single heterogeneous mass without any jarring of racial relations. for a long time the empire preserved a nucleus of aristocracy of which only a vestige remains to-day. there might now be a danger of submersion beneath an inferior intellectual element which lacks the powerful bias towards higher education peculiar to the brazilian mind. it is necessarily this element which will prove the salvation of the country. it is on his plantation (_fazenda_), in the centre of his influence, that we must seek the planter (_fazendero_). of a highly refined theoretical feudalism, deeply imbued with european ways of thinking, and with the generous social standards that distinguished, at one time, our own eighteenth-century aristocracy, sublimely unconscious--and destined probably to remain so--of the first spasmodic movements of forces whose evolution towards a new order implies confusion at the outset, he is infinitely superior to the generality of his kind in europe, who are either the product of tradition or the outcome of democratic circumstance. he leads the broad and simple life of the large landowner in a land whose soil offers every inducement to try fresh experiments. everywhere within you will notice evidences of his search for the beautiful and his thirst for knowledge. and everywhere without you will see the convincing proofs of his endless activity. in paris one of these influential men may pass unnoticed, so little does he resemble his prototype as invented by satirists, with his modesty of speech and simplicity of bearing. he would, however, repay a closer study, and when he comes among us to obtain fresh force for his strenuous task, i should like to see some of our young men seize the opportunity to improve themselves by paying him a visit. all these social forces have a natural tendency to form themselves into groups. but the brazilian planter, like other feudal survivals in europe, is exposed to the attack of every modern commercial and industrial force that is tempted to wield some sort of social authority. this is now the base of all communities--in rio, in saint paul, or in any other city of the world. a reception on extremely parisian lines given by senator azeredo, assisted by señora azeredo, proved once again how strong is the likeness between circles that believe themselves to be utterly different. a single telegram suffices to give uniformity to the toilettes of all the women in the world, and if those to be seen in señora azeredo's _salons_ were less extravagant than some parisian examples, rio struck me as being quite as eager as paris in its pursuit of beauty's adornments. shall i mention that brazilian women have large black eyes, which seem to ask a thousand questions, usually pale complexions, sometimes of a golden bronze tint, that they are vivacious in speech and take a delight in conversational tourneys? señores pinhero machada and guanabara were kind enough to give me an invitation that enabled me to see a little more of some of their politicians. señor pinhero machada has a house that is built among the palm-trees on a height that commands the whole of the bay. i confess that in this enchanting place i was more tempted to open my eyes than my ears; still, in spite of the counter-attractions of the lovely landscape, i managed to study the mysteries of brazilian politics a little more closely, and, as i had begun to do at señor guanabara's, to realise that reasons for union are and will remain predominant providing that the question of personalities does not obtrude. how shall i fail to speak of the ball given in commemoration of the independence of chile, where i had the pleasure of meeting the flower of rio society together with the representatives of all the foreign powers? i should only give it a passing mention were it not that the president of the republic, who opened the ball in person, had conceived the idea of inviting me to form one of the official quadrille, with the thought, of course, of paying a compliment to my country. when the excellent prefect of rio announced this decree of public authority, i believed a catastrophe was imminent, and did not hesitate to impart my fears to his charming wife, who declared herself ready to go under fire by my side. the worst of it was that i had before me the mocking eyes of the papal nuncio with whom i had just shaken hands, and i could see that he was far from wishing me success in the perilous career on which i was about to embark. timidly, i broke it to my partner that it was over fifty years since i had danced a quadrille, and she returned my confidence by acknowledging that her education as regards the art of dancing had been totally neglected. the great fat man in scarlet, whose ring was large enough to boil an egg in, found our predicament vastly amusing. i saw myself about to become the scandal of christianity. uniting our ignorance, my partner and i took up our positions and arranged to imitate to the best of our ability the movement that might be suggested by the music to the youthful couple that formed our _vis-à-vis_. thereupon, the orchestra, a piano and some other instrument, began to play, and we saw that the charming young couple on whom we relied were obviously waiting for us to set the example. what was to be done? i looked at my neighbours. they could not agree. one advanced, the other retired. the president of the republic tried to encourage the rest of us by getting himself into hopeless muddles. i soon saw that all we needed to do was to tread on the toes of our neighbours and then bow our apologies, to begin again immediately the same manoeuvre. this i accomplished, to the great disappointment of the scarlet man, who was obliged to give a wry smile at the spectacle of the grace i managed to display in the service of my country. i should have liked to see the theatres. time was lacking. i saw only a performance of _the daughter of the regiment_, given in italian at the lyric theatre, formerly the principal play-house of rio under the empire. the imperial box was placed at my disposal and proved to be a veritable apartment, furnished in the style of louis philippe. i was told it had been kept unchanged. the municipal theatre, practically a copy of our own opera-house, is one of the finest buildings in the brazilian capital, its only fault being that it swallowed up too many of the public millions. on the ground floor there is a very luxurious restaurant containing a faithful copy in glazed bricks of the frieze _the immortals_, brought by m. and mme. dieulafoy from suez and now in the louvre. here the french colony gave a dinner in my honour. a certain number of statesmen accepted the invitation of my compatriots, and thus i had the great pleasure of assuring myself by my own ears of the friendly relations that exist between french and brazilians. at one time we had a very important colony in rio. for reasons that are not too clear to me, it has dwindled away of late. i found, however, at the reception held by the french chamber of commerce that if lacking in quantity, the quality of these french representatives left nothing to be desired. the natural affinity between the two peoples is so obvious that the multiple attractions of this great and beautiful country are for french people enhanced by the joy of a genuine communion of thought and feeling which links their hopes and aims. to my intense satisfaction, i had a proof of this at my first contact with the public of rio, and the same experience was pleasantly renewed later at saint paul; i found that i could speak with the utmost freedom as a frenchman to frenchmen, for there was not the smallest suggestion of a foreign element in the mind of my audience to remind me to adapt myself to new susceptibilities. i know not how adequately to thank my audiences for what in french eyes appeared the supreme gift of a spontaneous manifestation of french mentality. the academy of medicine were good enough to invite me to pay them a visit, and i will freely confess that a consciousness of my unworthiness made me hesitate to face this learned assembly. on this point they reassured me by declaring that the meeting would be merely in honour of french culture. i went accordingly, and scarcely had we exchanged our first greetings when i already felt myself at home in a french atmosphere. medical science being out of the question, the delicate fare offered to me was some reflections on the general philosophy of science, as developed by the magnificent intellectual labour of france, and on the powerful lead given to the activities of civilisation by our country. could anything be more encouraging than this disinterested acceptance of the testimony of history, considering how many there be who would exalt themselves at the expense of france? a very different atmosphere awaited me at the bangu factories, where are admirable spinning and weaving mills; here the raw brazilian cotton is transformed into those printed stuffs of vivid colourings in which the working classes love to drape themselves and thus supply a feast for our eyes. here there were fewer abstract terms employed to declare the esteem so freely accorded to france. but here, as in other parts of the great republic, i found the few brief words uttered in private encounters still more convincing than the noisier demonstrations. wherever the work of social evolution is being carried on, wherever there is seen a fine promise for the future, their it is a joy for the french to find the name of their country associated with the forward movement. the splendid industrial development of bangu among many other similar centres shows what is being done in brazil in this direction. i have seen nothing more striking in europe. the brazilians possess in an equal degree with the argentinos the capacity of bringing to the highest possible perfection any work to which they set their hand. i have already said that in brazil our laws for the protection of industrial and agricultural labourers are unknown. not but what politicians have studied the matter. but in the imperfectly centralised organisation of all these floating authorities, it is difficult to see how such laws, if voted, could be effectually applied. all the more credit is therefore due to the large employers of brazilian labour who have done their best to improve the material condition of their hands without waiting to be compelled to do so. the working population of bangu is scattered about the country in _chalets_ that appear to be admirably hygienic, and all wear the aspect of the finest of physical and moral well-being. a large building has been provided for meetings of all kinds and a theatre in which the hands may amuse themselves with theatricals and concerts. it is unnecessary to state that we were received to the strains of the _marseillaise_ and that the french republic was vigorously cheered. i do not go so far as to say that there were no dark sides here or elsewhere to the picture. i have not concealed the fact that immigrants complain loudly of the want of supervision from which they suffer in some regions. it seems fair to infer from what has already been accomplished that more is being attempted. it is naturally the farmer on the _fazendas_ who receives the most attention because he is the deep and almost inexhaustible source of the national wealth. it would appear that there are no limits to the productiveness of this soil, whose fertility has been developed and renewed during so many centuries by the combined action of sun and rain. side by side with the barbarism of slavery there has been a barbarous system applied to the land, which has resulted in its impoverishment. now the relation between production and fertilisation has come prominently forward. there is still, however, much virgin land that awaits the farmer. the real problem of a rational system of agriculture to be applied in brazil will be left for a future generation. meantime, their finest forests are burning and filling the horizon with smoke. this represents what the brazilians call "clearing" the land. but the brazilian forests deserve a volume, not a paragraph, or chapter--and its writer should be both learned and a poet. i did not visit the fairylike regions of the amazon, but however amazing they may be, i think they could scarcely surpass the powerful impression made on me by the forests of saint paul. there is a limit to our nervous receptivity, beyond which point we become insensible to sensation. we in europe have dwelt amid a beautiful harmony of the forces of nature which have moulded all our impressions in a certain form of beauty; to find fault with them would be sacrilege, since the highest inspirations of art have been drawn from this source. thus, consciously or not, we have lived in an equilibrium of pleasing emotions, that imposes on us certain limitations of sensation to be derived from the spectacle that nature provides. therefore, when we are suddenly confronted with an unknown nature, whose power and vigour shatter all our preconceived notions, and alter the whole focus of our organs, the only possible effect at first is one of complete bewilderment. we must take time to get used to this new order of sensations before we expose ourselves to another and get back again to the standpoint of a corresponding sense of æsthetics. i had to endure several headaches before i could rise to the level of the genius of berlioz or wagner. what if we compared our own landscape with the music of gluck or mozart? then you may grasp the wagnerian fury of the virgin forests which produce a stupefaction that leaves you incapable of analysis and a prey to a tumult of superlatives. and all this happens simply because we have been exposed to the shock of a higher manifestation of the terrestrial forces of the world. the botanical gardens of rio are famous the world over. the astounding forms of foliage, the bold growth of ancient tree and young shoot, the illimitably dense profusion of every form of vegetable life, recalling what must have been the earliest stage of the life of our planet, reduced me to a state of speechless surprise. i promised myself a second visit to its marvels, but never accomplished this, for spectacles of even greater magic detained me elsewhere. "bon vista," the emperor's country house in a suburb of rio, is surrounded by a fine park which is going to be turned into a public garden. the _flumineuses_ make frequent pilgrimages thither, with their families, to spend a day in the shade of its trees during the hot season. but, to tell the truth, while they in this way enjoy europeanising themselves in artificially made gardens, i took a delight in drinking in the americanisation that awaits you in the outposts of the young corcovado forest, which seems to be advancing to the attack of urban civilisation and pursues man even in the very streets of rio. this urban forest is one of the charms of the brazilian capital. it clasps the city in its powerful embrace and seems determined to drive back the population into the sea, whence it sprang, creeping insidiously into every open space, blending with the avenues, spreading over squares and parks, and everywhere declaring the triumph and victory of the first force of nature over the belated but redoubtable energy of humanity. trees, creepers, ferns, shrubs--all these forms seem to be mounting to the heights that crown the bay in order to draw from the sunshine a renewal of their vigour. the high peak of the corcovado (over feet) that broods over the city, looms large on the horizon, and one can readily believe that the first thought of the invader was to climb that height and survey the marvellous panorama before him. unlike the galilean, he needed no tempter to sow in his mind the desire of possession. but, alas! the task of appropriation is not accomplished without encountering some obstacles, and the would-be mountain climber is forced to concentrate his attention on one spot of the planet that holds him in the grip of an irresistible attraction. a funicular railway performs this office for him; and with no more trouble than that of letting yourself be drawn up under the branches, you suddenly emerge on a height whence you get a magic vision of rio, with her bay, her islets, and a mass of mountains heaped one upon the other, until they are finally swallowed up in the sea. a new world is here revealed to your gaze--a world in which the whole miracle of the earth's multiple aspects is epitomised, where the eternal play of light and shade constitutes an ever-changing picture that creates a world-drama in inanimate nature. are you surprised to meet some parisians up here? no, not much. the first result of our industrial equipment is to diminish the proportions of the globe. it is easier to-day to go from one continent to another than it used to be to go from one village to the next. i am personally glad of this, for nothing could be better for us french people than to travel in foreign countries, since in this way we get a standard of comparison that we badly need. coming down from the corcovado, you must stop at "silvestre," whence a shady path cut in the mountainside will bring you back to the city, through a wilderness of wood where a profusion of parasitic growth covers the boughs, tying them up in a mad confusion of tendrils. next after the corcovado the tijuca will attract you, and, like the former, it ends in wondrous points of view. in this case the pleasure is in getting there. you pass now through lines of tall bamboos, whose light foliage meets overhead; now you follow the course of a noisy waterfall that seethes amid the verdure of the forest; anon you descend into a valley that is shaded by the fresh and delicate foliage of the banana-trees, or rise to the top of a hill from which all the indentations of the great bay are plainly visible, and a small gulf hidden in an avalanche of rocks and boulders lies revealed, where the mysterious waters sob and vanish on a bed of flowers. ever onward, the motor-car pursues its headlong way at a speed one longs to check. often we stop to prolong the pleasure of a moment, but if one did not take care one might stop for ever. the pen is powerless to convey what, perhaps, the brush might reveal--the joy of life that swells to bursting the sap of every twig and leaf, every flower and fruit, from the humblest blade of grass to the loftiest extremity of the tallest trees, and renders so impressively active every organ of the vegetable world. i remember pausing before a simple creeper which had produced some billions of blossoms, and had imprisoned a whole tree in a kind of tent of blue flames. this example alone will serve to give the measure of the tropical fecundity. the object of our drive was the "emperor's table" and "china street." after the view from the corcovado this seemed less grandiose, but in any other country of the world it would arouse a rapture of admiration. we returned to the city by another route, traversing a part of the mountain where rows of villas embowered in flowers seemed hung up half-way between sky and sea. you are back in rio before you realise that you have left the forest. it is impossible to speak of rio without mentioning petropolis, which owes its success to the yellow-fever mosquito. the _flumineuses_ formed the habit of migrating to this mountain station in order to escape from the attacks of the plague-carrying mosquito, which is so active after sunset. a well-founded fear of the scourge drove all those who could afford it out of rio, and at their head were the emperor--later the president of the republic, the ministers, and diplomatists, with their families. thus petropolis, an hour's journey from rio, became in some sort a fashionable watering-place, whose charming villas stand in a forest of tropical gardens. it is a delightful spot for all who can turn their back on the business of the outside world, which seems, indeed, far enough away. for this reason the european diplomatists spend long days here, filled with visiting, excursions (there are many charming ones to be made from this centre), or the idle gossip that constitutes that work is lacking; but we know that everywhere custom is stronger than utility, and custom is very exacting. now that the mosquito has deserted rio the government has settled in the capital, leaving the mountain station to the diplomats and their papers. how can diplomacy exist without a government round which to "circumlocutionise"? for the smallest formality one must take the train. coming back in the evening is fatiguing. one goes to the hotel for the night. your friends take possession of you, and while you are dawdling in rio all your correspondence is lying unanswered at petropolis. there is, in consequence, a strong feeling now that "the diplomats ought to settle at rio," near to the baron de rio branco, who somehow invariably manages to be at rio when they are at petropolis and _vice versa_, just to upset our worthy "plenipotentiaries." all this is not done without a certain expenditure of money. budget commissioners, beware! theresopolis is another mountain station, three hours from rio. on the opposite shore of the bay a railway climbs or winds round the lower slopes, cutting its way through the forest as far as a vast plateau, whence radiates a number of paths that invite you to wander amongst the astonishing phenomena of this fiercely abundant vegetation. a "circus" of bare rocks bristles with pointed peaks, one of which, bearing some resemblance to the forefinger of a human hand, is known as "the finger of god." whichever way you bend your steps this formidable and imperious finger lifts itself against the horizon, as if tracing the path of the planets through the heavens. the beauty of theresopolis lies in its madly bounding torrents, which leap the giant boulders heaped up in its course, ruthlessly destroying the green growths that make a daily struggle for life. for me this giant strife provides an incomparable spectacle. i confess that the series of forest panoramas that open out on either side of the railway, from rio bay to theresopolis, give a magic charm to the day's excursion. tall ferns raised against the sky the transparent lacework of a light parasol, monstrous bamboos threw into the mêlée their long shoots, shaped like green javelins; shrubs, both slender and stout, and of every kind of leafy growth, encroach upon the heavy branches, worn out with the weight of parasites; the creepers twined like boas round their supports, flinging back from the crest of the highest trees a wealth of fine tendrils that, on reaching once again their native earth, will there take fresh root and draw renewed force for the future fight with fresh resistances, a single one of the family, with leaves like a young bamboo, so fine that the stalk is well-nigh invisible, entirely shrouding a whole tree in its frail yet stubborn network, transforming it into a green arbour that would put to shame any to be found in our ancient and classic gardens--all these and many other aspects of the marvellous forest arouse an unwearying and never-ending admiration, mingled with wonder at the blows dealt on a battlefield of opposing forces where the weapons are none the less deadly for being immovable. there is no forest to be seen on the road from rio to saint paul. here man has passed. on all sides are visible the signs of destruction wrought by systematic fires. thanks to señor paul de frontin, the company's manager, and two friends of whom i shall have occasion to speak again later--señores teixera soarès and augusto ramos--i made the journey under the best possible conditions. the great point was to see the country as we passed. could any better way be imagined than that of placing the locomotive behind the coach, which was arranged like a _salon_, its front wall being taken away and replaced by a simple balcony? with rugs to guard against the freshness of the breeze, you find yourself comfortably installed in the very centre of a landscape whence you may see mountains, rivers, valleys, fleeing before you in the course of a run of five hundred kilometres. for the whole of the day i was able to drink in the fresh air and strong lights, as i looked out eagerly to discover new beauties. as a matter of fact, i saw nothing but mountains and hillsides that had been wantonly despoiled of their native vegetation. here and there a small banana-wood growing in a crevice showed the proximity of the cabins of negro colonists and their offspring, who displayed in the sunlight the unashamed bronze nakedness for which none could blush. they were leading the nonchalant life of the farmer who expects to draw from the earth the maximum of harvest for the minimum of trouble. whether under cultivation or lying waste, at this time of the year the land presented the same appearance of bare wildness. sometimes on the top of a hill there would be seen one of the old plantations surrounded by walls built to imprison the slaves, or coffee-gardens, now abandoned because the soil was worn out for want of dressing, or long stretches of pale green denoting young rice crops, watercourses dashing over rocks and gliding through brushwood--the last resort of the birds,--vestiges of calcined forests where the new growth of vegetation eager to reach the sun was ever cut back and repressed; and everywhere flashes of red light that resolve themselves into birds, shuddering palpitations of blue flames that become butterflies, or the bronzed reflections of phosphorescent light that reveals a dancing cloud of hummingbirds. on the horizon spots of black smoke, betokening forests that are blazing in all parts to make way for future harvests--a melancholy spectacle of a wanton destruction of natural beauties that has not even the excuse of necessity, since the splendid forests are only attacked to save the trouble of fertilising the land exhausted by cultivation. i was told that at the first outbreak of fire the great birds of carrion come up in flocks to cut off the retreat of the monkeys and serpents that flee in terror. i did not witness this part of the tragedy, but i was near enough to see all the horror of the fearful flare. in the crackling of the burning palms, in the whirling clouds of blinding smoke furrowed with a sinister glow, boughs and branches lay heaped up on the ground in immense flaming piles, through which the charred stumps of boles, brought low by fire, crashed noisily to earth, where their corpses lay and slowly smouldered to ashes on the morrow's coffee plantation in accordance with the law of nature, which builds fresh forms of life out of the decomposed elements of death. at nightfall, we entered the station of saint paul, where the cheers of the students, loudly acclaiming the french republic, made us a joyous welcome. a few minutes later we found ourselves at a banquet attended apparently by representatives of every country of the world, and brazilians and frenchmen here united to express their brotherly aspirations in words of lofty idealism. the city of saint paul ( , inhabitants) is so curiously french in some of its aspects and customs that for a whole week i had not once the feeling of being abroad. the feature of saint paul is that french is the universal language. saint paul's society is supposed to be more markedly individual than any other community in the republic, and it offers this double phenomenon of being strongly imbued with the french spirit, and, at the same time, of having developed those personal traits that go to make up its determining characteristics. you may take it for granted that the paulist is paulist to the very marrow of his bones--paulist in brazil as well as in france or any other land; and then tell me if there was ever a man more french in courtesy, more nimble in conversation in his aristocratic guise, or more amiable in common intercourse, than this paulist business man, at once so prudent and so daring, who has given to coffee a new valuation. talk a little while with señor antonio prado, prefect of saint paul, and one of the leading citizens, whose mansion, set in the frame of a marvellous park of tropical vegetation, would be a thing of beauty in any country, and tell me whether such elegant simplicity of speech could imaginably express any but a french soul. the same might be said of his nephew, señor arinos de mello, of whom i have already spoken, a clever man of letters who divides his life between the virgin forest and the boulevard, and who might easily be taken for a parisian but for a soft creole accent. frenchmen basking in brazilian suns, or brazilians drinking deep of latin springs--what matter by which name we know them, so that their pulses beat with the same fraternal blood! the fact that the paulist character has been strongly developed along lines of its own and that the autonomy of brazilian states permits of the fullest independence of productive energy within the limits of federal freedom has led some to draw the hasty conclusion that there is a keen rivalry between the different provinces, and to see separatist tendencies where there exists nothing but a very legitimate ambition to forward a free evolution under the protection of confederated interests. the states of saint paul and rio stand at the head of the confederation, both by reason of their intellectual superiority and by their economic expansion, and the steady increase of their personal weight in the federation is naturally in proportion to the influence they have succeeded in acquiring in the exercise of their right to self-government. as no one seeks to infringe any of their prerogatives, and as the only criticism one might make would be that certain states are at present unfit to fulfil all the duties of government, while any attempt at separatism must tend to weaken each and all, no serious party, either at saint paul or rio, or, indeed, in any other province, would even consent to discuss the eventuality of a slackening of the federal tie. the paulists are and will ever remain paulists, but brazilian paulists. my first visit was paid to the head of the government of saint paul, who extended to me the most generous of hospitality. señor albuquerque lins, president of the state, received me in the presence of his ministers--señor olavo egydio de souza, minister of finance; señor carlos guimaraès, minister of the interior; señor washington luis, minister of war; and señor jorge tibiriça, who had just vacated the presidential chair, and was one of the most distinguished statesmen of saint paul. señor augusto ramos and our vice-consul, m. delage, whose tact, intelligence, and wide understanding of his duties are above all praise, were also present on the occasion. the president, who had an exaggerated opinion of the defects of his french, managed to convey to me in excellently worded phrases his warm sympathy for france, which, indeed, he proved by his cordial reception of us. i, in my turn, assured him of the fraternal sentiments of france for brazil and brazilian interests in general, as also for saint paul and paulist society in particular. and then, as though to prove that our compliments were not merely those demanded by etiquette, the conversation turned upon matters in which saint paul and france were so mixed that the paulist seemed to take as much pleasure in acclaiming france as did the frenchman in expressing his admiration for the stupendous work carried out by the paulists with such giddy rapidity, in developing a modern state that founds its hopes for the future on the miracles accomplished in the past. it was a joy to me to run about the city at haphazard. you do not ask from saint paul the stage-setting furnished by rio; yet there is no lack of the picturesque. the suburbs of saint paul, where costly villas make bright spots of colour in the gorgeously beflowered gardens, can offer some fine points of view. at the end of an esplanade bordered with trees the plateau suddenly falls away into a gentle valley which would seem admirably designed for the site of a park, worthy the ambitions of saint paul if the authorities would but set about it while the price of land is still moderate. the only public garden at present owned by the town is a pretty promenade that can scarcely be considered as more than a pleasant witness to a modest past. in the course of our walk we came upon the museum, which stands on the hill, from which the independence of brazil was proclaimed. it contains fine zoölogical, botanical, and paleontological collections. i was shown moths of more than thirty centimetres in breadth of wing, and hummingbirds considerably smaller than cockchafers. i paused for an instant before the cases containing relics of prehistoric america, with utensils, ornaments, and barbaric dresses of the aboriginal indians who to-day are sadly travestied in abbreviated breeches and remnants of hard felt hats. there was no time to visit the schools, to whose improvement the paulist government attaches high importance. i promised, however, to call at the training college, and, indeed, could scarcely have done less, since this marvellous institution would be a model in any country of europe. i can but regret that i am unable to lead the reader through the building to see it in all its details--its rooms for study, its gardens, its workshops. the young headmaster, señor ruy de paula souza, who was a pupil at our auteuil college, does his professors the greatest credit and does not conceal his ambition to surpass them. a much too flattering reception was given me, in the course of which i had the surprise of hearing quotations from some of my own writings introduced into a speech made by one of the professors. france and french culture received a hearty ovation. the warmth of the welcome given me at saint paul could only be outdone by rio. the charm of a hearty expansion of fraternal feeling was added to the cordiality of the demonstrations in honour of our country. the pleasure felt when members of the same family meet after separation, and find their mutual affection has been generously developed in the course of life's experience--this was the impression made on me by the greeting of the students both at the training college and at the law schools, where one of the young men delivered a speech in excellent french that formed the best of introductions to the lecture that followed. in the evening the same young men organised a torchlight procession. i stood at a window with a french officer on either side of me. a moving speech was made to me by a student who stood on the balcony of the house opposite. the procession passed by to the strains of the _marseillaise_, amid a tumult of hurrahs, in honour of france. i mentioned two french officers. there is here now a french military mission, to whom has been entrusted the training of the police force, whose duty it will be to ensure order in the state of saint paul. colonel balagny, who is in command, was away on furlough. lieutenant-colonel gattelet, who takes his place, is a highly deserving soldier, who appears to combine strict discipline with the national urbanity. i observed with satisfaction that the mission was very popular at saint paul. when the march of the _sambre-et-meuse_ rang out a crowd assembled to watch the passing of the troops with their french officers at their head. intensely proud of this force, the public takes a delight in cheering them. i was present at a fine review held on the field of manoeuvres at varzea de corma. the soldier of saint paul would figure creditably at longchamp, for in precision and regularity of movement he can bear comparison with any. i must add that the brazilian officers who second the efforts of the mission are actuated by a zeal that merits a large share of the credit of the results. when i congratulated colonel gattelet i felt i ought to inquire whether he had been obliged to have frequent recourse to punishment in order to bring the men to the point at which i saw them. "punishment!" he said. "i have never had to administer any. i have no right, for one thing; and if i wanted to punish i should have to ask the permission of the minister of war. but i have never had occasion even to think of such a thing, for all my men are as docile as they are alert and good-tempered." i could only admire. it is true we were discussing a select troop, who enjoy not only special pecuniary advantages but also quarters called by the vulgar name of barracks, but which, for conveniences, hygiene, and comfort, far surpass anything that our wretched budgets ever allow us to offer to the french recruits. footnotes: [ ] it was the custom in many plantations to free any negress who bore six children. the master in such cases had done a good piece of business. chapter xiv brazilian coffee it is not possible to speak of brazil, still less of saint paul, without the coffee question cropping up. the fabulous extension in recent years of the coffee plantations and the crops that have permitted the present extraordinary accumulation of wealth have drawn the attention of the whole world to the brazilian _fazendas_. big volumes have been written on the subject, and i gladly refer my readers to them. there they will find all the figures that i as well as another might quote, but i adhere to my intention of leaving to statistics their own special eloquence, and of giving here an account of only such things as my eyes have seen. if you want to inspect the brazilian coffee plantations you have only to look around you. i can show you the coffee-plant, a shrub between three and five yards in height, which, for foliage and manner of growth, bears a strong resemblance to box. the flower is very like that of the orange-tree, but with a more subtle scent. the fruit, or "cherry," red at first, then of a brownish colour, contains two kernels. the characteristic feature of the coffee-plant is to bear flowers and fruit at the same time, in all stages of maturity, when once the first flowering is over, providing a spectacle that interested me greatly. but under these conditions it follows that at whatever season the harvesting may be carried out the crop is bound to be very unequal in quality. the only rational way to meet the case would be to have several harvests each year, but the cost of the proceeding would not be covered by the difference in the quality obtained. for this reason the _fazendero_ generally makes but one harvest a year, plucking at the same time berries of varying quality, from the small rolled _moka_, which is found on all plants, to the more or less perfect berries destined for the average consumer. not that the _fazendero_ makes the mistake of placing on the market a mixture of coffee of all qualities. when the berries have been dried in the open air on asphalt floors they are sorted by machinery, and thus seven different kinds are obtained, whose value naturally depends on their quality. but, unhappily, the canny dealers who buy the brazilian product classified in this way have nothing more pressing to do than to invent fresh combinations, tending to increase their own profits but, at the same time, to ruin our palates. here we have the bercy mysteries of wine adulteration imported into the coffee market! we need not be surprised, therefore, to learn that to some palates coffee is only drinkable when mixed with chicory, with burnt fig, or roasted oats--the last more especially appreciated by the north american public. the best of it is that at home with us brazilian coffee bears but an indifferent reputation among the epicures who like only the _moka_ of santos. i confess that one of the surprises awaiting me in brazil was to find their common coffee infinitely superior to any we get in our best houses. it is a light beverage, with a subtle, soft scent; and, being easily digested, it does not produce the usual nervous tension that causes insomnia. in the hotels and railway-stations of brazil a cup of coffee is a perfect joy, not only for its delicacy of flavour but also for its immediate tonic effect, and cannot be compared with the article offered in similar places at home. the cups certainly are smaller than ours, but i fancy the average brazilian drinks quite five or six in a day. it is true i did hear "brazilian excitability" put down to coffee intoxication, but one would like to know just what this "excitability" amounts to, and, besides, i am not clear that alcoholic countries have a right to take up a critical attitude towards coffee-drinkers. man in all parts of the world seeks to stimulate his powers, and only succeeds in obtaining temporary results--which have to be paid for later on in one way or another, either by a reaction of debility or by hypersthenic disorders. no one needs to be astonished, then, to find coffee in every mouth, both as a drink and as a topic of daily conversation. if it be true that coffee has made saint paul, i can testify that saint paul has repaid the debt. the muscles and the brains of the entire population are devoted to the same object. enormous sums of money are invested in it, large fortunes have been made in it; and when the famous "valorisation" was operated, it looked as if a fearful catastrophe were preparing. this is not the moment to dwell upon the economic conditions of coffee-growing in the states of saint paul, rio, and minas-geraes. i shall confine myself to recommending the reader to refer to the excellent book that m. pierre denis has published on the subject.[ ] as for the "valorisation," a stroke of unparalleled audacity, it consisted in forbidding the laying out of new plantations at a moment when the market was menaced with a glut that seemed likely to bring about a "slump," and in forcing the state of saint paul to purchase the whole of the surplus stock--some eight million bags--and hold it until prices had recovered their tone, when the article could be placed gradually on the market at a remunerative figure, the scheme to be executed by means of a financial operation the details of which need not be gone into here. this is a piece of advanced state socialism which looks like succeeding, contrary to the expectations of the economists, but which it would be highly imprudent to repeat on any pretext. as may be imagined, the scheme aroused the keenest opposition, for in case of failure the risks might have amounted to some hundreds of millions; but it sufficiently denotes the extraordinary mixture of audacity and foresight that belongs to brazilian statesmen. the perilous honours belong more especially to the president of the state of saint paul, m. tibiriça, and to señor augusto ramos, a planter of the rio state. as i took a keen interest in the peripatetics of this social drama that threatened to swallow up both public and private fortunes, i naturally desired to visit the great laboratory of the _fazendas_, where modern alchemy transmutes into gold the red earth that contains the mysterious _diabase_ which is the essential element in coffee-growing. a member of the prado family kindly offered to show us his _fazenda_ at santa cruz. the beauties of the landscape were, unhappily, concealed beneath a haze of fine rain, but man, alas! had done worse--for it is a disastrous introduction to the glories of the _fazenda_ to cross smoking tracts of forest on fire. in the distance huge trees were still blazing, around us was a waste of ashes and of half-consumed boughs, and the falling rain seemed only to quicken the dying conflagration. in some of the great green holes were fearful gaping wounds through which the sap was oozing, while some tall trees still stretched to heaven their triumphant crown of foliage above a trunk all charred that would never sprout again. the brazilians contemplate spectacles such as this with a wholly indifferent eye, and, indeed, even with satisfaction, for they see in the ruin only a promise of future harvests. to me the scene possessed only the horror of a slaughter-house. at least we have the grace to hide ourselves when we massacre innocent beasts, since an implacable law of nature has decreed that life can only be supported on life. why can we not hide in the same way the savage destruction of the beauties of the forest? between two harvests the _fazenda_ is a scene of quiet repose. we witnessed all the different operations--from the drying to the sorting, and to the final departure of the bags to the santos warehouses. although our tour of inspection was arranged by the proprietor himself, he was only present on our account. the imposing mansion, the splendid gardens--all were deserted. the italian colonist has taken the place of the slave. the former master, now the employer, is no doubt attracted towards the city. the overseer looks after the colonists, who are collected into a village, and the labour is organised as it might be in a factory. the families seemed prosperous enough beneath their coating of original dirt. only babies and pigs were to be seen--scarcely distinguishable the ones from the others, except that the pigs occasionally wallowed in a chance pool. this was risky, however, for the terrible jaws of the crocodile lie in wait on the banks of the neighbouring pond. the coffee plantation furnishes occupation for entire families. men, women, and children bring equal zeal to bear upon the task of weeding, which has to be repeated five or six times a year. the prolific italian reaps an advantage from the size of his family. moreover, plots of land are set apart for him, on which he raises forage for his cattle and the maize, manioc, and black beans on which he lives. often, too, he gets permission to raise his private crops in the open spaces between the coffee-plants. all the colony is afoot when the time comes to pluck the berries. the saint paul growers claim that they have only a single crop, all the berries ripening at the same time. i saw them full of blossom, covered thickly with bouquets of white flowers. but i noticed also in the sorting-rooms a great irregularity in the grains. we walked out to the plantations--vast stretches of red earth in which the shrubs are planted at irregular intervals. beside the path and amongst the young plants there were great charred branches rotting in the sun, the melancholy remains of forest monarchs laid low a dozen years ago and awaiting final decomposition. here and there colossal tree-trunks were still erect, though hemmed in on all sides by the green bushes whose monotonous uniformity triumphs over the dethroned sylvan power. occasionally some forest giant that has escaped by miracle from the flames raises to the sky its splendid stature, sole evidence of past splendours. in the bare flatness of the immense plain covered with the low coffee-plants, where no outstanding feature provides a scale of measurement, it is difficult to realise the real dimensions of these relics. it is only when standing actually beneath a bole that you can estimate its proportions, and a series of "oh's!" and "ah's!" of amazement burst from all lips. one of these trees, whose trunk was no less than seventy metres in height, had a girth so immense that eleven men stretching their arms in a circle round it could not entirely span it. i was told that it was worth from two to three thousand francs. there would be some expense attached to getting it to the place where it was wanted. still, under a gentle sprinkle of rain, that fell like drops of clear light, we proceeded towards the great forest, across which a fair carriage-road has been made. this is not the decaying forest whose timber feeds the factory furnaces, such as that of santa ana or of lulès. this was the forest that had stood for countless centuries, as is shown by titanesque survivals of those unknown ages, but it remains the forest eternally young, its vital force still unimpaired by time. the grand architectural lines of trunks and boughs, where the sunlight plays tenderly in an unending scale of changing tones upon its depths, offer a feast for the eyes. creepers entwine themselves among the branches, making a thousand fantastic turns and twists, while slender stems spring like fireworks heavenwards, there to burst into bouquets of rich blossom. part only of the monstrous tree-trunks are left visible. beneath its inextricable tangle of boughs the _jequiticaba_, all in white, its spurs and ramparts high enough to conceal a man, rises high above the rest--a tower of babel that has escaped the destruction of the others. yet at our feet there lay a colossus that fell only three days ago, and seemed to point to the final destiny of all earthly glory. it was no tempest that had thus laid it low. healthy, straight, and tall, it had fallen before it could be weakened by age, simply because the fatality of the action of underground forces crowding upon it from all sides had decreed that it should end then and there. we felt it, measured it, and examined every part of the gigantic corpse, and not one was inclined to quote the assassin of the duc de guise--"i thought it larger." no. lying here at our feet it was no less amazing in its might than it had been in its ephemeral glory. even in the beauty of death the splendour of life is impressive. in the clearings, where the slender stems of tall palms sway their parasol tops in the wind, flocks of large parrots were busy exchanging opinions as to the reason of our presence; and, if one may judge by the inflections of their cries, they thought it an ill omen. in the patches of blue sky visible between the branches we could see them swirling overhead, uttering loud curses. i had been promised a glimpse of monkeys, but it appears that our cousins retreat before the sound of wheels, and only tolerate--at a safe distance--the company of pedestrians. i thought if i separated from my fellows i might happen on the sight of one or two. failing a specimen of the _pithecanthropus erectus_ any little chap on four legs would have found a brotherly welcome. since none came, why not go after them? but walking is a dangerous pastime, since at every moment one stands a risk of treading on a _trigonocephalus_ concealed in the brushwood, here as high as a man's waist, to say nothing of the fact that there are no landmarks, and that before i had taken a hundred steps i should have hopelessly lost my way. i walked about twenty yards, and that calmed my ardour. i saw neither monkey nor snake. i was not inconsolable, however, for the brazilian snakes had no mystery for me. i saw them in all their forms collected in a charming little garden which dr. vital brazil has laid out expressly for them at butantan. the coral serpent, the _trigonocephalus_, the rattlesnake, glide about the grass, climb the bushes whose branches effectually conceal them, or seek the shelter prepared for them in solitary corners. but for the absence of mother eve one might fancy oneself in eden. i must add that a moat full of water, with a wall above, renders impossible the machinations of the evil one; but i confess i did not go near them, even under these conditions. dr. brazil showed them to me in his laboratory, preserved in transparent jars, where the aggressive force of the creeping beast is revealed by means of sectional surgery, and again in the narrow yard of his menagerie; here one alarming-looking reptile after another was fished out of its prison on the end of a stick, and then seized by the throat and forced to choke up its venom into a small glass. you may suppose that in all this dr. brazil has some plan. you are right, and it is worth explaining. he is engaged in a quest after a cure for snake-bites, or even perhaps for some way of rendering humanity immune. brazil and india have a specialty of the most venomous of snakes. dr. brazil, who spends his life in their company, declares that even the most deadly species is without hostile feeling for man. no one has ever been attacked by a snake. his poison (i refer to the snake) permits him to paralyse instantaneously the prey destined for his food. but if by mistake you walk on his tail he is carried away by a desire for reprisals. i do not want to argue about it. it is sufficient to state that some hundreds of brazilians and some thousands of indians whose pleasure it is to walk barefoot in the forests die annually from the deadly sting of this philanthropist whom they have unwittingly annoyed, notwithstanding the humanitarian opinions of snakes in general. this is the evil for which dr. brazil is trying to find a remedy. the butantan institute, half an hour distant from saint paul, prepares antidiphtheric and antitetantic serums, but its specialty is the antiophidic serum. dr. calmette was the first to discover a method of procuring immunity, but the serum of the lille institute, prepared from the poison of indian cobras, proved, in the hands of dr. brazil, powerless against the brazilian rattlesnake. in this way dr. brazil made the discovery that each south american species had a special poison, the serum of which took no effect on other poisons. accordingly, at butantan three different serums are prepared--two act on special species, and the third, called "polyvalent," is used in cases where the owner of the poison has omitted when stinging his victim to leave his visiting-card and thus establish his identity--the most common case.[ ] but dr. brazil is not satisfied to cure or render immune those who seek ophidic inoculation. he has discovered a superprovidential serpent, which, having no poison of its own and being invulnerable to the stings of its kind, renders them all innocuous to humanity by eating them. this is the friendly _mussurana_. they offered him to me for inspection, and he looked neither better nor worse than the _trigonocephalus_--i should not at all like to find him in my bed. i tried to coax him, however, to munch a poisonous comrade. he had just breakfasted, and wanted only to sleep. dr. pozzi, luckier than myself, had the pleasure of seeing him swallow a certain _jaracaca_, whose slightest caress is deadly. the story has been published in the _figaro_. how must we regard this phenomenon unless as a freak of nature? to try to multiply the _mussurana_ in order to exterminate rattlesnakes seems to me a dangerous experiment. dr. brazil has not yet succeeded in obtaining a single young one, and for my part i cannot yet see man and the _mussurana_ living in harmony together. as a final surprise, we were informed that dr. bettencourt rodriguez had obtained some excellent results by treating yellow fever with antitoxic serum. the most certain method seems, however, to suppress the mosquito, the propagator of the disease, as rio and santos have done. santos, now a healthy city, is an agreeable place whose only mission is to receive the coffee from saint paul and export it to all the continents of the world. we had a brief look at it as we passed, and saw enough to wish to return there. but this time, instead of approaching by sea, we descended upon it from the plateau, feet in altitude, which shuts the city in with its salt marshes, bounded by mountain and sea, using the famous electric railway which is celebrated throughout the world for the picturesque moving panorama it offers to travellers. from an industrial point of view the port is not equipped to cope with the present traffic, statistics for showing that ships left its quays, carrying millions of kilogrammes of coffee--three quarters of the total output of the world. as for the brazilian _floresta_, it is difficult to judge of it at a distance. i was placed on a little balcony in front of the motor, between the minister of the interior of saint paul and señor augusto ramos, and thus enjoyed an unrivalled point of view, while, at the same time, i was relieved from feeling any excess of heat. mountains, valleys, forest-clad slopes--it might have been switzerland or the pyrenees, and i have assuredly no inclination to belittle either. yet what a difference from the impression produced by a walk in any part of the forest, where every step lifts you to an ecstasy of admiration. shall i confess it? the railway stations, melancholy halting-places on the mountain, have left the best souvenir in my mind. in the first place, there were rows of cups of coffee awaiting us there--coffee which revives and refreshes a traveller and perfumes the air with an aroma unknown in europe. then, and still better, there were delicate orchids climbing over the verandas, irradiating showers of warm light, and left there out of respect for one of nature's _chefs d'oeuvre_, for they ill support the fatigue of railway travelling. the orchid season was just beginning when i left brazil. what i could see of it in the forest, where the earth was piled up with all kinds of decaying vegetation which the marvellous harvest was already preparing, delighted me, for such beauty gains much from being viewed in its natural setting. and in the desolate railway stations, from all these wood chips, there spring sheaves of vivid colours transforming everything, as if the yawning rags of some beggar revealed a fabulously rich treasure. for the brazilian flora has extraordinary resources. when i crossed the bay of santos to take the tramway, which runs in twenty minutes to guaruja beach, i had no idea that the pleasure of the journey could excel that of my first arrival. the guaruja beach is extremely fine. it lies in a frame of rocks and forests, and in its fine sands it filters the high waves that rush in from the open sea in magnificent cascades of fury, which suddenly melt away into great rings of pacified foam. but how find words to express the enchantment of the road! the low shores of santos bay are but a broad marsh, where a frail vegetation rejected by the forest has full sway. on both sides of the road there is an ever-changing sorcery of leaf and blossom in the most lurid of hues. not an inch of space between two boughs but is promptly filled by stem, bud, creeper, parasite, and some kind of growth, large or small. trees that are wasting beneath the cruel tendrils eating into their flesh don a robe of orchids. cannas make patches of flaming scarlet in the thickest part of the brushwood, and the wild banana-palm lifts a tall head from above the two-cornered spirals of saffron-coloured flowers, which gives an effect like monstrous crustaceans warring with the branches--a wild scene, in which it looks as if all the forces of terrestrial fecundity were convulsed in one impudent spasm. just as i was closing my visit to brazil, with great regret at leaving so much unseen, i had accepted an invitation from señor teixeria soarès, the owner of a _fazenda_ in the state of minas geraes. señor soarès is the manager of a railway company besides being devoted to land and its fruitful joys. modest and quiet, he tries to efface himself socially, but his methodical and clear mind is attracted by every big problem, and forces him into the front rank of all the different enterprises which are an honour to his country. i was greatly impressed by the way he spoke of his _fazenda_, the management of which he has confided to his son. it was easy to see that he had centred there, if not the best of his energy, at least the highest pleasure that can be derived from the collaboration of man with the soil. when i inquired of one of the _fazenderos_ whether it was true, as señor soarès boasted, that he grew the best coffee in brazil, and obtained for it the highest market prices, i was told that the fact could not be disputed, but that señor soarès had the reputation of spending more on his coffee than it could bring in. i could not help fancying the words covered an acknowledgment of inferiority. idealism, in agriculture as elsewhere, is apt to be costly. it may not, however, exclude the active qualities that make for success. señor soarès devotes himself more particularly to the improvement of coffee-plants and the raising of new species. now it was said that he had got from an horticulturist (of montmartre) a certain plant with whose fame the world would shortly ring. he wanted me to open the new plantation, and as an ex-montmartrois, i certainly could not refuse the invitation. i shall say nothing of the journey. as usual, there were miles of forest destroyed by fire. in the villages cabins and colonial houses were scattered about on the river banks amongst great groves of trees. the parahyba made amends for the melancholy waste of the land by its innumerable rocky headlands, its tree-stems, its islets where a note of beauty was lent by the brilliant plumage of birds. small, impatient horses were waiting for us at the station, and seated in "_boggies_" that bounded over the deep ruts of the road, we passed through woods where large-leaved creepers made a magnificent stage-setting which only ended in the acropolis of santa alda. this rustic baronial hall, that belongs to days of slavery, is set on the summit of an eminence which commands a tangle of valleys, and it offers a comfortable simplicity of arrangement clothed in an avalanche of flowers. wide verandas, colonnades, arches, are all overgrown with multi-coloured bouquets that are perpetually in flower, and under the rays of the sun distil a delicate ambiance of scented prisms. the impression is one of charm as well as of force, and when the young planter, accompanied by the pleasant queen of the domain with her group of small children, is seen in this background of rustic nobility, you are conscious of a fine harmony between man and nature. the strains of the _marseillaise_ burst out, as we crossed the threshold, from instruments concealed in the plantation. it was a greeting to france that was touching enough from these africans, but yesterday ground down in an odious slavery and to-day the free and light-hearted comrades of a man who by his kindly ways has retained the little colony in a place where the associations must be painful enough. the attraction of the gardens is too strong to be resisted, and we wander out, strolling amidst the clumps of tall, brilliantly coloured plants, anon gazing in rapt admiration at the warm line of the distant hills which hold up against the gorgeous crimson of the sunset a delicate fringe of palm foliage, or watching the hummingbirds which chase each other in the branches and form a dancing cohort of glowing brands. when night fell a golden light pervaded the atmosphere. we did not go in until we had taken a look at the stud, which boasts some of the finest english sires, and we wound up the evening by an amusing performance by an agreeable african conjurer, who gave an explanation in french of all his tricks and was clad in gentlemanly attire--frock-coat, white tie, tan shoes, all the latest style of the _floresta_. to-morrow, a good hour before sunrise, we are to start for a last visit to the brazilian forest, and although a heartless doctor has forbidden me riding exercise, i have not the strength of mind to refuse the expedition. they set me accordingly upon a plank, having a high wheel on either side, and soon i taste the joys of football, not as player, but as ball, leaping with its round elasticity heavenwards after a vigorous kick. and the pleasure of bounding upwards is as nothing to the austere sensation of falling back again on the implacable boot sole. in this fashion i was rolled through a series of black holes which i was told would appear in the sunlight to be valleys. as luck would have it, we presently came upon a hill that had to be climbed, and my courser dropped to a footpace. the violent shocks of the earlier part of the journey now gave place to a comparatively simple sensation that suggested an anvil beneath the blows of a hammer. then the day broke. señor soarès, junior, who watched my progress from the back of a tall steed, pointed out his first experiments with rubber-plants and with cocoa, and described his coffee-gardens, of which i had already seen some specimens. the sufferings of the lower part of my person now gave way to the admiration of the higher as i mentally compared the wretched, stunted lives in our cities with the wide freedom of existence led by this high-spirited youth who was wrestling out here in the glorious sunshine with the exuberant forces of a fruitful nature which he is certain to master in time. o you, my french brethren who in alpaca coats sit eternally on your stools, bent over useless documents, know that the earth has not yet exhausted her gifts, learn that there is another life, free from the anæmic, cramping condition which you know! this thought was still in my mind when we turned our reins across the moors that led to the coffee plantations, where dried palm-leaves protect the young shoots from the heat of the sun, and where the new species derived from a plant grown on the sacred hill of montmartre-en-paris is being carefully cultivated. come out here, young men in shiny threadbare sleeves who make your way homewards nightly to the close dens around the sacré coeur; come and see these black coffee-planters--men, women, and children--living close to nature on the outskirts of civilisation, and compare your own wretched quarters furnished by dufayel on the "hire" system, that has cost you such anxious moments, with the blissful nudity of these cabins, and tell me where you see the worst form of slavery, here amongst the newly emancipated africans or at home under your own roofs. the forest! the forest! i have seen it once and again, but i could never tire of it, and my great regret is that i cannot come back again to it. the sun has made its sudden appearance on the scene, glowing like a violent conflagration, and a thousand voices from the winged population of the woods have greeted him, singing the joy of light returned. everywhere is the same eternal hymn to life. i was shown a small bird whose female dances round her spouse as soon as he begins to pour forth his love serenade in joyous notes. blue and yellow toucans dazzle us with their splendour. valleys filled with colossal ferns open out in the daylight their unexpected vistas of a delirious vegetation. i ask after the monkeys. alas! they do not leave their retreats before two o'clock in the afternoon. they only arrive for five o'clock tea! but for no inducement would they leave their dressing-rooms until the sun has gone down to the horizon. when you have once seen the heart of the forest wilderness, where the same luxuriant life in manifold manifestations is to be seen at your feet and in the high tree and hilltops, where profusely flowering creepers wind themselves around every twig and bough, placing these forest kings in tender bondage, you will not blame the monkeys for being content to remain in their sumptuous domain. i was shown fruit half eaten, the refuse of a monkeys' restaurant. i can well believe it. a wood-cutter told me he was attacked yesterday by a dozen, who were so pertinacious that he had to defend himself with his stick. thus, though i never saw a monkey, i did see a man who had seen one. at last we reached a waterfall which was, it appears, the limit of our excursion. on our way back we came to a difficult crossing, and as my horse was even more exhausted than myself by the rough treatment he had given me, he was taken out of the shafts, and a swarm of some eleven negroes pulled and pushed me along, with bursts of laughter at their performance. but for their chuckles, i might have fancied myself some roman victor arriving in triumph. it lasted only ten minutes, but i should have been covered with confusion had some chance cinematograph been on the spot to reproduce the scene. this misfortune was spared me. thanks to the fact, i take the pleasure of holding myself up to ridicule. the ceremony of inaugurating the montmartre coffee-plant took place half-way. the operation is less difficult than might be thought. i climbed up a slope from whose top i could see rows of holes, with heaps of coffee-plants, their roots carefully wrapped up, and each in a small basket by itself, lying at intervals over the prepared ground. one of these baskets with its young green stem was offered to me, i stuck it in the first hole that came handy, and thus the glory of montmartre, like that of brazil, reached its apogee. i do not know what will become of _my_ coffee enterprise at santa alda. it is more certain that señor soarès has begun to manure his land instead of merely scattering the shells of the berries over it. it is possible that the brazilian _fazenderos_ will be a little worried by this example, seeing in it only a way of increasing expenses. but the established fact that señor soarès's coffees are in great demand seems a curious coincidence, for no one can suppose he amuses himself in this way for the fun of losing his money. when i left santa alda, i carried with me a pretty collection of canes made from the finest woods produced on the _fazenda_, and on board the _principe umberto_, which brought me back to europe, i discovered a chest of coffee, which enabled me to give my kind hosts the authentic testimony of a consumer. the _principe umberto_ is in every way like the _regina elena_, as indeed she ought to be considering her origin. there are the same comfortable arrangements, the same excellent service, the same latin courtesy from the officers. we had two adventures on the voyage. a madman threw himself into the sea one night. the siren shrieked the alarm. a boat put off but returned after a fruitless search. i was told that this was a typical "return" case. on the way out hope holds us by the hand. to make one's way back, after disappointments, is for human weakness perhaps a sore trial. we do not all get to corinth. let us pity those who make this an excuse for never setting out. the commissary told me the story of one third-class passenger, all in rags, who deposited with him when he came on board the sum of , francs. there are evidently compensations. the second adventure was more general in interest. it took the form of a strike among the coal-heavers of st. vincent. the harbour, with its border of bare rock, lay still and deserted. a few saucy niggers dived for our edification after coins flung from the ship. but that was all, neither white nor black man appeared, for the order had been given that no one should come off to meet us and we on our side were forbidden to land. we need not be astonished if the first lesson learnt by the blacks from their white "superiors" is that of violence preached by grandiloquent politicians, trembling inwardly with fear, but, none the less, tenacious in their inglorious arguments. the negroes have the excuse of having reached our civilisation late in the day. are we too exigent when we implore the whites to preach by example? we coal at las palmas, the capital of the grand canary. as other boats are there ahead of us, we are obliged to spend an entire day in harbour. we land, therefore. the "happy isles" have inherited from the ancients such a reputation that some disappointment is inevitable. seen from the sea, the canaries show only a cluster of arid rocks devoid of vegetation. las palmas is a picturesque town whose palms can but inspire an amiable benevolence in people who have seen brazil. the country is purely african in character. square white houses without windows, banana-groves down in the valleys, hills of calcined stones. after an hour or two along a road that is thick with dust, you reach a pretty restaurant standing in a garden whose exotic vegetation would be charming if one had never seen the riviera. the canary of the islands that is said to abound revealed itself to me in the guise of a vulgar chattering sparrow. yet the boatmen who boarded our ship offered authentic canaries in cages hung from a long rod, but i was told they had been procured from holland. these birds have a particularly sweet song, and they sing to order, oddly enough. it is enough to shout to the seller, "your canary does not sing," for the birds to burst into a flood of trills and turns. it is the triumph of a songster with the imitative faculty. buyer and seller both are taken in and the greatest _serin_ (canary, also used to mean "duffer") is not the one you might think. before i take my leave of the reader, i want to say a word for the creation of a line of fast ships making the journey between france and south america. so little space remains to me that i cannot treat the subject as i should like. the case is simple; formerly the french line was very popular, but it has allowed itself to be entirely outdistanced by other companies who have built more rapid boats while we continue to send our old vessels over the sea. the contract held by the messageries maritimes expires in . by some culpable negligence no steps have been taken to improve the service or even to continue it. the matter cannot rest there. if we are to enlarge our dealings with south america, it is of capital importance to france to have a service of rapid boats fitted up on the most comfortable of modern lines. i shall venture to make a brief extract here from a report that i got my friend edmond théry to make out for me, since his authority in matters economic is universally known. for the last twenty years there has been a prodigious increase of production and public wealth in the two americas. this fact accounts for the enormously increased proportion of travellers to europe drawn from north america, mexico, brazil, the argentine, etc. the proof is that the luxurious hotels springing up anew almost daily in paris and on the riviera to cater for this class of customer are always crowded. brazil and the argentine republic have more especially profited by the rise in value of their land. in the course of the last ten years, from to , their working railways have gone up from , kilometres to , in brazil, and from , to , kilometres in the argentine republic. these , kilometres of new lines ( per cent. increase since ) have opened the door to agriculture, cattle-breeding, forestry, in immense and hitherto desert regions, and the results of this may be traced in the increase of their foreign trade: foreign trade of brazil and the argentine republic in ten years. ------------------+----------+----------+----------------------- | | |total increase in . | millions | millions | millions | |of francs.|of francs.|of francs.| per cent. |----------+----------+----------+------------ brazil | | | | imports | | | | exports | | , | | |----------+----------+----------+------------ total | , | , | , | |----------+----------+----------+------------ argentine republic| | | | imports | | , | | exports | | , | , | |----------+----------+----------+------------ total | , | , | , | ------------------+----------+----------+----------+------------ thus during a short period of ten years the exports--_i. e._, the surplus of home-grown articles after supplying the needs of the country--have increased in value by millions of francs, per cent., for brazil, and millions, or per cent., for the argentine republic. as for the total value of the foreign trade of the two countries, it has risen millions of francs for the former and millions for the latter: in other words, an average of millions of francs per annum for brazil and millions for the argentine. these startling figures show clearly enough the importance of the economic advance the two countries are making, and we may say that french capital has built up this prosperity. we ought now to seek to retain the advantages to be drawn from our financial intervention in the new brazilian and argentine undertakings, and one of the best ways to attain this end is to make sure of rapid means of communication between france and the two great south american republics, which shall be up-to-date in every way and luxurious enough to induce brazilians and argentinos to come to europe and return to their own country in french boats rather than in english, german, or italian vessels. such means of communication are already in existence between france and the united states, but are wholly lacking in the direction of brazil and the argentine republic. the french boats which call at these stations have been a long time in use, and their fittings are in no sense in conformity with modern ideas of luxury such as the class of travellers to which i have already alluded invariably expects. as for their average speed, it certainly never goes beyond fourteen knots, for they make the journey from bordeaux to rio de janeiro, with the different scheduled stops by the way, in a minimum of seventeen days, and if they go on as far as buenos ayres, in twenty-two days. the distance between bordeaux and these two ports being and nautical miles respectively, it is only necessary to have boats capable of doing twenty knots as an average, or twenty-three miles an hour, for the journey to rio de janeiro to be performed in ten days and five hours, and that to buenos ayres in twelve days fifteen hours. there is nothing to add to this clear statement of the case. * * * * * and now, how can i resist the temptation to draw some sort of conclusion from these rambling notes, made with the sole desire to make use of the knowledge acquired for the benefit of french extension, and this in the interest of humanity at large? in every calling there is but one road to success--work. when candide returned from buenos ayres, he brought back from his travels the lesson that we must work in our gardens. since his days our gardens have grown considerably, and since we are ourselves the first elemental instrument for all work, the first condition of improvement must be the improvement of the material. therefore let us work. footnotes: [ ] "brazil," by pierre denis. translated by bernard miall. london: t. fisher unwin. [ ] the reader who desires further information will find it in the article written by my travelling companion, dr. segard, on the butantan institute. index a aborigines of patagonia, _n._ - agricultural society of buenos ayres, the shows of, - agriculture: waste entailed by system in vogue in the pampas, wasteful brazilian methods, - , - _see_ cattle, cereals, coffee, horses, pampas, _etc._ alcorta, señor figueroa, president of the argentine republic, algeciras conference, alienism, _see_ open door, the america, south: impressions of, iii cities of, vii, viii architecture, vii races of, viii early culture, ix people of, unjustly ridiculed, - produce of, - america, united states of, americans, south, characteristics of, - anarchists, russian, oppressive measures against, - argentine exposition, - argentine republic, the, - arrival in, - maté, trade of, - agricultural produce, - foreigners in, patriotism, - powers of assimilation, - officials, - types and manners, - women of, - exaggerated conventionality of society, - girls of, - fathers, gambling, - land speculation in, cookery, - politics, - parliament, - the executive, - the press, - society, - the pampas, - argo, alpha of, aristocracy of brazil, - armadillo, the (_tatou_), army, the brazilian, arrowheads, primitive, _n._ - arts, the, in the argentine, - asylums: excellence of, in the argentine, for aged, for widows, for lunatics, - avenida central, rio, b bacteriological research, - ball, official, at rio, band, oriental, _see_ uruguay. bangu, factories at, - battleships, extensive purchases of, belgrano, general, _n._ betting in the argentine, - black pot, the, bon vista, botanical gardens: of buenos ayres, - , of rio, bouvard, m., brazil, , ( - ) recent troubles in, domestic architecture, _n._ , french culture in, products of, politics, federal government, saint paul, - society, - planters, women of, agricultural methods, - _see_ coffee, rio de janeiro, saint paul brazil, dr., his antitoxins for snake-bites, - buckle, his prophecy relating to brazil, - buenos ayres, - elevators of, - city, architecture, docks, - slaughter-houses, - , - excessive population, schools, - asylums and prisons, - buenos ayres, fair of, butantan (sero-therapeutical institute), c cabred, dr., alienist, - calval, campo, the argentine: men of, - drought in, - fauna of, - morals of, canaries, the, cape verde islands, cattle: exaggerated sums paid for, , herds of the argentine pampas, - decimated by drought, - , , cedar, false, cereals, , , cerro, the, - church, the, in brazil, cinematograph, the, clover, giant, coal, absence of, in the argentine, coaling at st. vincent, cobras, las (island), mutiny on, , coffee ( - ) the shrub, - harvest, valorisation of, plantations, - columbus, iii-v conscription as affecting the french in south america, - cookery in the argentine, - corcovado, - creole balls, creole beauty, a, - cruz, dr. oswaldo, valuable medical services of, - d dances of the pampas, dancing, democracy, m. clémenceau's lectures on, divorce in uruguay, dolphins, e education: in the argentine, - in uruguay, - emigrants: italian, , yearly, syrians, emigration to brazil prohibited on account of abuses, england: at international exposition of buenos ayres, - her industrial rôle in south america, english: in the argentine, in patagonia, - as builders of railways, estancias: of the argentine, of the pampas, , - estanciero, the, his habit of enlarging his holdings, - his life, - f faction fights disappearing, family life in the argentine, - fauna of the campo, - fazenda, the brazilian, , - fazendero, the, ferri, prof. enrico, - finger-print system, - flax, flying-fish, fonseca, marshal hermès da, president of the brazilian republic, forest: the south american, - the brazilian, destruction of, - , - forestry, need of competent, france: at the international exposition of buenos ayres, failure of her capitalists to realise their opportunity in south america, military law of, as affecting the french in south america, - french colony, the, in the argentine, , - as engineers, french school at tucuman, french theatre at tucuman, french military mission to saint-paul, , g game on the pampas, - gaucho, the, , - , - , - genoa, scenes in harbour, , germans in the argentine, gramophones, groussac, p., his adventures, - as a spanish author, founds the public library, personality, - groussac, de, - guanaco, the, guiraldès, señor, city lieutenant of buenos ayres, h half-breeds, life of, - , harbour works, _see_ rosario, montevideo hares on the pampas, harvesters, italian, hilleret, m., sugar-planter, - , horse-racing, - horses: at the buenos ayres horse show, of the pampas, - , - curious power of finding their way home after revolutions, - methods of breaking, - hospitals: excellence of, , the "open door" for insane patients, , - rivadavia hospital, hotels, - house of independence, the, huret, jules, i idealism, latin, - immigration, - indian blood in the argentine, , - indians, south american, _n._ , _n._ individualism, characteristic of south american constitutions, insurrections, danger of, in the argentine, international exposition at buenos ayres, - isabella, the infanta, visit of, - italians in brazil, , - j jacques, outlaw and educationalist, japanese in brazil, - jefferson, _jettatore_, belief in, jockey clubs of buenos ayres, - l la plata, , , - lakaluf indians, _n._ land: increase of value upon cultivation, speculation in, las cobras, island of, mutiny on, , larreta, e. r., novelist and argentine minister in paris, law of literary property, - law schools, liguria, literature of the argentine, _n._ llamas, locusts, lulès, m manguinhos institute (sero-therapeutical), - mar del plato, martinette, the, - maté, - secret of growth from seed, meat, frozen, medicine, - french culture of doctors, protective regulations, sero-therapeutical institute, - middle classes, abstention of, from politics, military service, french and argentine, - _minas geraes_, battleship, mutiny on, , miscegenation, - , monroe doctrine, - montevideo, docks, city, architecture, - harbour, moreno, moriano, _n._ , morra, - motor-cars: in the campo, shooting from, - _mussurana_, a cannibal snake, o ombu-tree, the, - , - onas indians, _n._ onelli, señor, director of buenos ayres zoölogical gardens, - "open door," the, asylum for insane, - ornevo (cardinal bird), ostrich, the, , owl, the prairie, , p palermo (racecourse), , - pampas, the: life on, - enormous herds of, - _pampero_, the, , pan-american congress, - parana, the, , partridges, - patagonians, account of, by señor onelli, _n._ - peçanha, president, pellegrini, president, an _insoumis_, peña, president, , penguins, petropolis, - photographers in the home, - police, argentine, politics, - , in uruguay, - in brazil, - polyvalent serum for snake-bite, prado _fazenda_, the, - press, power of the, - , - , prisons, - protectionism in the medical world, q québracho, , quintana, the late president, r _rabat_, a method of hunting hares, race-course, palermo, railways, , _rastaquouère_, the, reds of uruguay, the, garibaldi's shirt borrowed from, _n._ refrigerator industry, the, , revolution, the french, x. revolutions: south american, things of the past, method of raising men, , in uruguay, rio bay, - rio branco, baron de, rio de janeiro, - aspect of city, - from corcovado, roca, president, rosario: cattle show at, , docks, deficiency of schools, rosas, dictator, _n._ s st. lazare, prison, st. paul (_saõ paolo_), - government of, city, _st. paul_ (_saõ paolo_), battleship, mutiny on, , st vincent, coaling station, , , st. vincent, brazil, san martin, santos, shipments of coffee at, , - santos bay, santos river, sarmiento, _n._ , schools: in the argentine, - secondary, training college of st. paul, - sculpture, abundance of mediocre, in buenos ayres, - sera: preparation of, - snake antitoxins, - sheep, in patagonia, shipping, lines to south america, , - siesta unknown to brazil, slavery: in brazil, abolition of, - evils and advantages of, snakes, of brazil, - soarès, señor, his model _fazenda_, - southern cross, the, spain, influence of her traditions, - sport in the pampas, - stone age, the, _n._ - sugar-cane, fields of, t tchuleches indians, telegraphy, wireless, thays, m.: director of parks, etc., at buenos ayres, - 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'i will footnote p. 'i will' loc cit. footnote p. loc. cit. vimdas p. viudas children moving about an all fours p. children moving about on all fours concidence p. coincidence similiar p. similar arrow-heads index arrowheads fazendeiro index fazendero fonsica index fonseca larretta index larreta minas geraès index minas geraes moreno, moriana index moreno, moriano quebracho index québracho quintano index quintana race-course index racecourse rastaquoère index rastaquouère therezopolis index theresopolis in addition, a doubled line: "this centre), or the idle gossip that constitutes" on p. was removed.